To call the ending of the sixth episode of Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, “The Fly,” monumental in its impact feels like an understatement.
After spending several episodes establishing Prodigy’s Neverland research base, the inherent danger of the creatures being housed there (from the Xenomorph to The Eye to The Fly), and allowing the motivations and interactions of the ensemble of characters to simmer within these confines, the ending of “The Fly” saw the sword of Damocles finally fall in the most satisfying of ways.
Several characters met grisly, shockingly gruesome ends (I never thought I would see a character’s face dissolve entirely off of their face on cable television, but Toodles endures precisely that kind of fate), and for the first time in the entire series, we get to see a facehugger well-and-truly get somebody, in the form of Arthur Sylvia.
"Emergence" sneak peek
Now, a new trailer has been released for next week’s penultimate episode of the series, titled “Emergence.” If “The Fly,” one of the best episodes of the series thus far, is a stellar shot, this trailer is the chaser. The new “Emergence” trailer does a great job of further selling the wide-ranging ramifications that are bound to stem from the massive beats within the finale of the last episode, and further showcases how several of the primary characters are finding themselves at moral impasses with one another.
The first portion of the trailer is devoted to showcasing Slightly’s efforts to stow Arthur’s comatose body after the facehugger gets him. Considering that Slightly is responsible for this, in his efforts to appease Morrow and save his hostage-held mother, this makes perfect sense, and also results in a very darkly humorous beat, as he attempts to hide the body underneath his bed.
Not only does this promise an entertaining moment in its own right, but it also keeps the tragic nature of the story at the forefront: these hybrid characters are still children at the end of the day, making the horrific events unfolding around them that much more impactful.
The latter parts of the trailer showcase what one would assume unfolds after things go haywire with Arthur’s body, the freshly escaped Flies, and maybe even the Eye-controlled sheep. The previous episode carved out a chunk of time for Joe to catch up with his marine buddies who are patrolling the island Neverland is built on, and it looks like that is going to pay off in spades here.
The majority of the action showcased in this trailer sees Marines out in similarly exotic locales, on the defensive against something.
It all culminates with a very impassioned line from Wendy, in which she is standing on a beach and shouting, “What did you do!?”
Considering the close relationship she formed with the young Xenomorph in the prior episode, this could very well be related to the Marines actually killing one of the creatures, and her feeling personally hurt by these actions. Regardless of how things proceed, Alien: Earth promises to deliver nothing if not high-stakes action and suspense in its final two episodes.
Watch the penultimate episode of Alien: Earth on Tuesday, Sept. 16 on FX and Hulu.