Alien: Earth – Mr October review S1 E2

Mr October served up far more action than the season premiere of Alien: Earth as the series leans further into the goriest installment of the franchise yet.

Kavalier has to deal with Weyland-Yutani CEO Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver), who asks permission to retrieve her property from the ship. He blows that off and with his curiosity now piqued, wants whatever Yutani had on the ship.

Kirsh, Wendy and the rest of The Lost Boys — Slightly (Adarsh Gourav), Curley (Erana James), Smee (Jonathan Ajayi), Tootles (Kit Young) and Nibs (Lily Newmark) — arrive on Prodigy City to aid in the relief efforts. Naturally, Wendy is more concerned with finding her brother, Hermit. The Prodigy Corp. officers’ response to this youthful looking crew with no protective gear entering a hazard zone is pretty funny.

Hermit wouldn’t find it quite so amusing. He’s going deeper into the wreckage caused by the space freighter with Rashidi (Moe Bar-El) and Siberian (Diêm Camille). Their exploration in the freighter takes them into the hypersleep chambers where they see the massacred bodies of the crew. Thankfully, Hermit checks the medical records and learns than an alien was brought aboard the ship.

The bad news for the crew is the xenomorph is already stalking them. This is one of those situations where Hermit can’t get killed until he reunites with Wendy, so Mr October has to give him some basic plot armor even though any other character would be bleeding out moments later. Despite going on this search and rescue mission carrying more guns than bandages, neither Rashidi and Siberian manage to get any shots off at the xenomorph.

Director/writer Noah Hawley goes heavy on spark effects to help illuminate scenes. This is effective as it provides a somewhat natural solution to poorly lit backdrops although with so many sparks it’s surprising that something didn’t ignite.

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The xenomorph chases Hermit to an elevator, which Wendy uses to track him down. In a flashback, we’re shown how Hermit tries to get out of his contract with the corporation to pursue his medical degree. Wendy temporarily hacks the computer to recite the next line of the cartoon they watched repeatedly when they were younger. It’s a nice moment that Hawley uses to foreshadow a future development in Mr October.

Kirsh sends Slightly to go with Wendy while he and the others carefully explore the ship. There is some fun with the notion of children — who look like adults — but very much still kids, operating in an environment with an alien on the loose. The real test of Alien: Earth’s viability is if Boy Kavalier is incorrect and they actually can still be killed. An Alien series where the main cast is protected by virtue of being children doesn’t sound very exciting at all.

This notion gets tested somewhat as the Lost Boys find some alien activity in the hypersleep chambers although it’s not the xenomorph. While they are presumably invulnerable, the Lost Boys definitely still have a childlike manner in dealing with these situations including calling an alien a “monster.” In terms of sheer gross out moments, Mr October sets a high bar with the eye alien inhabiting the skin of the cat.

For now, Hawley still has enough random victims to use as xenomorph fodder. In Mr October that includes a Victorian theme house party who has somehow completely missed the fact that a ship crashed into the building. They’re fully oblivious and ignore Hermit and another trooper’s warning. In easily the biggest disappointment of Mr October, the other soldier gets killed in the lamest manner possible by watching the xenomorph walk up to him and getting impaled.

The xenomorph uses the soldier’s body to maul the dinner party and slowly heads over to Hermit. Since he’s got plot bubble protection over him, the xenomorph can’t kill him and gets incapacitated by Morrow. He doesn’t care for the thanks and zaps Hermit with the electro-shock device.

Mr October shows how frustrating an Alien show can be with protected cast members as the xenomorph breaks the sealant bag Morrow covered it in just in time to save him from getting arrested by other Corporation officers.

When he awakens, Hermit finds one of the balls Reggie Jackson — Mr October himself — cracked for three home runs in the 86 World Series. He can’t finish reminiscing over the story his father told him about Mr October when Wendy arrives. That was a quick reunion.

Initially, Wendy tries to keep her identity a secret, but Slightly spoils it. That was appreciated so we don’t have some long, drawn out deal where it’s the season finale when Wendy tells Hermit she’s his sister. She does the movie mantra and convinces him by answering a few more questions only she would know.

Despite the crazy carnage and bloodshed in this episode, this was a sweet moment.

Slightly, Wendy and Hermit head out to try to help some more people when they find some xenomorph eggs. Uh-oh. Thankfully, Hermit decides against getting any closer to it to avoid being a carrier. That doesn’t stop the xenomorph from leaping at him and sending them both further down into the wreckage.

Wendy just got her brother back so she’s absolutely going to do whatever it takes to get him back. Not a bad cliffhanger at all.

Mr October doubles down on Alien Earth being the bloodiest version of the Alien franchise yet. And we haven’t even gotten a chest bursting scene yet. Now. Hawley shows the clear focus for the next six episodes. This one could be fun.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: FX

Enjoyed Mr October? Check out the most recent Alien movie, Alien: Romulus now available on Blu-Ray at Amazon.

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