One of the most famous tag lines in cinema history came from Ridley Scott’s original Alien from 1979. It went “In space, no one can hear you scream.” This tagline has been mimicked and parodied endlessly since. Yet back in the day, it did a very effective job of selling this weird horror/sci-fi hybrid movie. Now, the title of Alien: Earth’s fifth episode is “In Space, No One,” giving the show a meta twist. This episode pays homage to the original film in a massive way, as we flashback to the last days of the Weyland-Yutani science research spaceship Maginot, in almost a beat-for-beat recreation of what happened to the Nostromo in Alien.
The first episode of Alien: Earth gave us a very truncated version of the final days of the Maginot, at the very start of the episode. In quick cuts, we see how the ship was carrying alien specimens, including the Xenomorph. We saw how the Xenomorph laid its eggs in one of the crew, and the ensuing chaos that resulted in the ship crashing on Earth, with nearly all hands lost. But we didn’t get all the details on what happened in episode one. Not until the show’s fifth episode, which was a loving tribute to the events of the classic film. Only with the Maginot substituting for the Nostromo, and the character of security chief Morrow, the Weyland-Yutani cyborg, substituting for the synth Ash, played by the late Ian Holm.
The episode opens with Morrow (Babou Ceesay) awakening from hyper-sleep on the Maginot, which looks almost identical to the Nostromo from Alien. Production designer Andy Nicholson matched the look of the ship interiors almost exactly. It’s a science vessel and not a mining ship. However, since they are both Weyland-Yutani ships, the designs are almost the exact same. After being informed that the ship’s captain and science officer had facehuggers attached, and that the Captain died when they tried to remove it, he takes control. Morrow believes there’s a saboteur on board, starting a fire on the ship, allowing the many specimens to get loose. This rankles the crew, especially the executive officer, Zaveri (Richa Moorjani), who believes command falls to her.
After a thorough investigation (and a few more dead crew members), Morrow discovers the person sabotaging the ship is its chief engineer, a man named Petrovich. He discovers communications between Petrovich and Prodigy CEO Boy Kavalier on Earth, where Petrovich promises to crash the ship in Prodigy territory. He’d then deliver the alien species to Weyland-Yutani’s main rival company. In return, he asks that Prodigy provide him with a new synthetic body. Morrow manages to find and kill him, using his cyborg hand transformed into a blade, but it’s too late. The Maginot is headed for a collision with Earth. He knows the specimens are a priority for the company, and informs the ship’s computer, MU-TH-UR, that the crew is dead. Even if the XO wasn’t quite dead yet when he said that.
Morrow escapes death by locking himself in the Impact Room inside the floor of MU-TH-UR’s control center. Earlier episodes show how he survives the crash by going inside that chamber. It also shows how he escapes it, ready to track down the runaway species for his company. The end of the episode finds him in Weyland-Yutani HQ. There, he speaks with the current Yutani heir and CEO. She tells him her grandmother was very fond of him. Morrow says she found him as “a feral boy with a palsied arm” replacing it with cybernetics. This ensured his lifelong loyalty. Even though he had to leave his young daughter behind to complete his 65-year mission. A daughter who tragically died while he was away. In a way, episode five framed Morrow not just as Ash, but also Ripley — the sole survivor of a doomed mission.
Alien: Earth releases new episodes every Tuesday on FX and FX on Hulu.