Alien: Earth

I was so disappointed by this. It looks amazing and it's clear the series had a huge budget. Whey then is the story so appallingly stupid? There are too many things to list that just aren't how things would work in reality. Many of these things are not integral to the story and I cannot understand how no-one pointed them out during production. Some of these things (mainly character decisions) are central to the story and are just maddening. On top of this none of the characters are sympathetic (they are all stupid to be) and by the end I just wanted them all to die. I really, really wanted to love this show and I actually kind of hated it.

Like many, I had really high hopes for a new take on the franchise. And elements of the show did live up to my expectations, albeit only to be deeply overshadowed by a mess of a plot, and characters that made no sense.

I enjoyed the glimpses we got into the world-building with the mega-corporations, I enjoyed the creativity put into the new alien species, and I even enjoyed the take on the immortality trope as presented in the show.

But despite my readiness to check my disbelief at the door, no amount of blind-eye turning could allow me to just accept the stupidity of the decisions made by characters, or the nonsense plot holes that achieved nothing that a little more thought and care in the writing could have.

All that being said, episode 5 was exceptional. That alone could've been rewritten as a standalone cinematic sequel to the original Alien and Aliens, and IMO would've been accepted as a worthy finale to the trilogy.

The renewal of Alien Earth for a second season is perhaps the most surprising plot twist of all, given the massive disappointment that was its first outing. While the series started with a tantalizing glimpse of potential, Season 1 ultimately crashed and burned under the weight of incoherent storytelling and a truly dreadful roster of characters.

The journey began promisingly. The pilot episode was "okay," but Episode 2 truly sparked interest, introducing fascinating new ideas and broadening the scope of the established Xenomorph universe. The series touched on compelling philosophical themes-exploring the nature of humanity, the role of the creatures, and the hubris of those who "played God" with the scenario. For a brief moment, it felt like Alien Earth was poised to deliver the intellectual horror the franchise has often chased.

Unfortunately, that promise dissolved quickly. By the time we reached the Season 1 finale (Episode 8), the struggle to find positive elements became overwhelming. The central, unforgivable sin of the season was a plot that simply stopped making sense. Events unfolded illogically, narrative threads were either poorly executed or dropped entirely, leaving the viewer more confused than engaged.

However, the greatest source of viewer frustration lay in the characters. Simply put, the show featured zero likable characters. Every person on screen seemed determined to be irritating, incompetent, or morally bankrupt. The true failure of the season, and perhaps its most frustrating oversight, was the narrative's refusal to deliver satisfying consequences. The characters one desperately wanted to see killed in a suitably horrific manner were, bafflingly, spared, leaving the audience with an emotionally hollow and dissatisfying resolution.

Alien Earth Season 1 ultimately delivered a bad end product. Despite a few interesting concepts in the early episodes, the season failed on fundamental levels: coherent plotting and character investment. While the show has a second chance, it will need a radical overhaul to make anyone care about the world or the fate of its inhabitants.

Verdict: D- (Disappointing and Disingenuous)

Not talking about the kids in your living room, the on-screen versions are the ones that botched the alien franchise. It COULD have been great, because scenes are well-built and the adult characters work, especially the on-board android, but somehow, someone decided to give the main lead to a 12-year old, that acts and think like a 12-year old, with 10 year old friends as the entourage to battle extremely violent and blood-thirsty monsters. It doesn't work. And the constant switching of timelines and pace deludes the storyline more than helping it. Sorry, my rating is generous. A 12 year old would probably rate it higher, but I am not 12.

The best part, and maybe one of the only grown up scene of the show so far, which is the story of the ship carring the monsters, is abruptly fast forwarded so they can get fast to the part they can play and be Disney kids.

They are super fast, they can jump from the moon, yeah yeah, action starts and I was surprised they didnt sit on the floor and cried.

It is kinda of fair their excuse to use kids because of the growing brain and so, but in a super future world where you have no clue a giant space ship is gonna hit your planet, and you have technology from a 90's future perspective gives me the impression that reasonability was not the priority, but rather extract money from every age group possible.

Aimed to please shareholders, not fans.