Episode 487 – Adult Robot Children vs. Alien

When Your Child Downloads Feelings and Your Pet Alien Downloads You

This week on the podcast, Brian and Darryl are talking Alien: Earth.

Episode Index

Intro: 0:07 Alien: Earth:12:30

Alien: Earth (FX/Hulu)

Out of 10 When Your Child Downloads Feelings, and Your Pet Alien Downloads You Darryl: 6.8/10 Brian: 7.34/10

Episode 1 – “Neverland” Summary: In 2120, five companies control Earth and the colonized Solar System, including the recently founded Prodigy Corporation. The USCSS Maginot, a Weyland-Yutani C-class deep space research vessel, approaches Earth after a 65-year expedition to obtain extra-terrestrial specimens, among them facehuggers. On Earth, at Prodigy’s Neverland research island, a terminally ill child named Marcy Hermit becomes the first hybrid, having her consciousness transferred to an adult synthetic, and renames herself Wendy. Adjusting to her new body with the assistance of synthetic mentor Kirsh, Wendy oversees several other children who undergo the procedure. A malfunction compromises the Maginot’s navigation, placing it on a collision course with Earth. Some specimens get loose, and a grown Xenomorph kills most of the crew. It crashes into a tower in Prodigy City, New Siam, where Wendy’s human brother Joe Hermit works as a medic and corporate soldier. CEO Boy Kavalier asserts that Maginot’s contents now belong to Prodigy, and deploys Kirsh, Wendy, and the other hybrids to assist with search and rescue to test their enhanced capabilities. Security officer Morrow, who survived the crash in a reinforced panic room, moves to protect the cargo and detains two Prodigy soldiers, who are killed by a leech-like specimen. Wendy remarks to Kirsh that she wants to save her brother from death.

Writer & Director: Crafted and helmed by series creator Noah Hawley.

Cast: Sydney Chandler as Wendy, the first hybrid (a person who has their human consciousness transferred into a synthetic body) and Joe’s sister, formerly known as Marcy Florence Bensberg as Marcy, a terminally ill 11-year-old, and Wendy’s original human form Alex Lawther as Private Joseph D. Hermit, a medic for the Prodigy Corporation Security Service, and Wendy’s brother Essie Davis as Dame Sylvia, an employee of the Prodigy Corporation and Arthur’s wife Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier, the CEO of the Prodigy Corporation and the world’s youngest trillionaire Babou Ceesay as Morrow, the USCSS Maginot’s cyborg (human with some synthetic parts) security officer Adarsh Gourav as Slightly, a hybrid Rishi Kuppa as Aarush, a terminally ill 12-year-old from Mumbai, and Slightly’s original human form Erana James as Curly, a hybrid Lily Newmark as Nibs, a hybrid Jonathan Ajayi as Smee, a hybrid David Rysdahl as Arthur Sylvia, a scientist and Dame Sylvia’s husband Diêm Camille as Siberian, a Prodigy Corporation Security Service soldier Moe Bar-El as Rashidi, a Prodigy Corporation Security Service soldier Adrian Edmondson as Atom Eins, a senior employee of the Prodigy Corporation Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, the Prodigy Corporation’s synthetic chief scientist, who serves as Wendy’s mentor and trainer

Air Date: August 12, 2025—simultaneously on FX and FX on Hulu.

Rating & Viewership: Nielsen: Approx. 0.589 million U.S. households; 0.11 share among 18–49 demographic. Critical reception: overwhelmingly positive—IGN praised its franchise integration, Vulture gave a perfect 5/5 stars, Collider rated it 9/10, TV Fanatic also 5/5.

Episode 2 – “Mr. October”

Summary: Boy tells his colleague, Dame Sylvia, that he formed the Hybrid project to compete with artificial intelligence, and has granted Wendy additional abilities as he wishes to create a person smarter than him. He declines Weyland-Yutani’s request to secure Maginot’s proprietary contents, warning any incursion on his territory will be considered a hostile act. Joe is chased by a Xenomorph and separated from his colleagues. It tracks him to the higher floors of the tower, killing another soldier and massacring an apartment of wealthy residents who refused to evacuate. He is saved by Morrow, who tasers him and the Xenomorph, but it regains consciousness and escapes after killing numerous other soldiers, sparing Morrow. Arriving in Prodigy City, Hybrids Tootles, Smee, Nibs, and Curly encounter two other dangerous extraterrestrial specimens. Wendy locates her brother with Slightly, a fellow Hybrid, but Joe does not recognize her. Slightly reveals her true identity to a shocked Joe, who believed Wendy/Marcy had died. The three encounter several Xenomorph eggs and are ordered by Kirsh to contain them until a HazMat team arrives. Joe is dragged away by the Xenomorph, and Wendy chases after.

Writer & Director: Written by Noah Hawley and directed by EP Dana Gonzales.

Cast (Guest Appearances): Sandra Yi Senc