This article contains spoilers from Alien: Earth episodes five and six.
Alien: Earth has been a colossal success in bringing the classic Alien soul to the small screens. Although the series might have been a bit shaky in the beginning, Episode 5 got the story back on track by taking us to the beginning. Halfway through the season, the audience finally learned what happened to the Maginot crew and why the ship crashed.
Shockingly, everything was orchestrated by Prodigy’s Boy Kavalier for acquiring the alien lifeforms for himself. However, no matter how hard I try to believe that it was all Kavalier’s doing, I can’t ignore the glaring incompetence of the ship’s crew. Compared to Nostromo, the Maginot folks were a group of foolish people who never stood a chance, but was it deliberate or pure coincidence?
The Crew’s Incompetence Was Practically Oozing Out of the Ship
Morrow from Alien: Earth holds a gun.Image via FX
Ever since I first started watching Alien: Earth, I was confused out of my mind about that convoluted introductory montage of the Maginot ship in Episode 1. The series never gets back to the massacre aboard the ship until the masterful fifth episode that practically breathed life into every diehard Alien fan. I loved the fact that the episode could be watched as a stand-alone mini-film, especially for someone who hasn’t caught up on the show.
If you aren’t a fan of the series, you can watch “In Space, No One Can…” and take it as an extension of the original film with no strings attached. It was a delight watching similar events unfold in episode five, the familiar dread and the ineptness of the crew that led the aliens on a free buffet rampage in an enclosed ship. However, what flabbergasted me the most was that, compared to the Nostromo, the Maginot crew was laughably more reckless and even idiotic.
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I had expected some level of corporate manipulation and interference to be at play that would have led to the crash, but everything seemed circumstantial. One mistake led to another, and before Morrow could help it, things spiraled out of control. Before the chaos, the episode lays the foundation for the mission by implying that the crew was fully aware of what they were dealing with.
Unlike how the Nostromo crew was manipulated into taking the xenomorph detour, the Maginot was sent out on a 65-year mission with the sole purpose of collecting potentially hostile and invasive alien species and bringing them back, even if it meant sacrificing their own lives. Therefore, I couldn’t help but pop my eyeballs at the level of clumsiness the crew showcased in handling such dangerous cargo. Forget the fact that they were sabotaged, I think they would have pretty much ended up the same way even without outside help.
How Did the Maginot Manage to Capture the Aliens In the First Place
Image via FX
It’s difficult for me to accept the fact that the Maginot crew was efficient enough to capture such intelligent and dangerous lifeforms on their own. They don’t remotely seem like a bunch that would have the particular set of skills needed to deal with such a sensitive mission. That’s why I firmly believe that the Maginot must have been solely used as a courier for transporting the specimen back to Earth.
Weyland-Yutani wouldn’t have been so inefficient as to rely on such misfits and risk billions of dollars. It also made me curious about how the corporation tricked the Nostromo into going to the planetoid LV-426 because they had already set up shop there. There’s no evidence suggesting that the Maginot was Weyland-Yutani’s first attempt at taking the xenomorphs; therefore, it’s highly likely that an extraction team might have been placed there beforehand.
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However, it is mentioned during the crew’s table talk that they lost many people in retrieving the eggs, so it may be that they lost the only people capable of handling aggressive extraterrestrials. This leads me to wonder why Weyland-Yutani hired people who clearly lacked the necessary combat abilities to deal with alien life forms. Except for Morrow, no one had any idea about the repercussions of having one of the lifeforms escape containment or the protocols of how to deal with an emergency. From Zaveri to Chibuzo, no one crew member felt as if the corporation meticulously handpicked them for such a crucial objective.
Did Weyland-Yutani Deliberately Leave the Crew Unprepared?
Image via Hulu
Weyland-Yutani is like any other megacorporation; they prioritize the company’s welfare above all else. Therefore, every deep space mission from the company had one ultimate protocol for its synthetics and crew members – nothing matters except the cargo. That’s why I’m shocked and strangely creeped out about the fact that there was no SOP or contingency plan in place in case containment was breached.
There was no extra security onboard, and it seemed completely foolish to keep Morrow in cryogenic stasis while experiments were being conducted on the specimen. From how Zaveri and Morrow immediately devised an emergency plan, it appeared they knew more about the xenomorphs than the Nostromo crew did, yet they failed more badly than the original crew. I’d say, forget everything—forget the facehugger ever escaped—and just focus on what was happening in that research lab.
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I mean, I have never seen such a violation of safety protocols that was happening in the lab under Chibuzo’s supervision. Not only did she not wear a hazmat suit, protective gloves, or even a mask, but she also ate and drank next to extraterrestrial lifeforms that were positively known to be hostile. Moreover, she seemed highly incapable of properly keeping tabs on the specimen’s containment and security.
In my opinion, next to Zaveri, she was the most incompetent person on the entire ship. As the cherry on top, I literally screamed when Rahim decided to do a surgery on a potentially infected person with no protective equipment on. How dumb can they get? Instead of quarantining Malachite, Chibuzo and Rahim thought it would be better to cut him open with no precautionary measures.
Unfortunately, the two died from toxic fumes released by the parasites in Malachite’s body, though credit goes to Zaveri for sealing the lab at the last moment. Of course, it would be nice to imagine a tight 15-minute sci-fi thriller where the crew survives simply by following strict quarantine protocols — but that’s not how this story unfolds. The Maginot crew’s actions were downright foolish, to the point where even the Prometheus and Covenant crews look sensible by comparison.
Anyways, coming back to the million-dollar question–did Weyland-Yutani deliberately choose such a questionable crew to avoid anyone being suspicious of their motives? It seemed they selected the most vulnerable and desperate people available who would easily give up 65 years of their lives and were expendable. Ultimately, it makes sense that Weyland-Yutani would willingly place liabilities on their ships to ensure there are no loose ends when push comes to shove.
Several Things Don’t Make Sense About the Maginot Mission
Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh in Alien: EarthImage via FX
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, to me, the biggest mystery is all the ambiguity and secrecy surrounding the Maginot mission. A lot of things don’t make sense or feel deliberate on the company’s part, but it’s better if Alien: Earth fills in the gap before wrapping up the series. For instance, where did Maginot pick up alien forms other than the xenomorph eggs?
Did they happen to just come across these incredibly interesting species, or did Weyland-Yutani also handpick them? I understand the appeal and scientific value associated with the xenomorph, but why would they want a walking eyeball that can burrow into one’s head? I, for one, would love to know more about the origin of the Eyeball monster and the other aliens, and the rare feat of the Maginot crew acquiring them.
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It would greatly benefit the franchise as a whole if Alien: Earth finally delved into the background of how Weyland-Yutani discovered the lifeforms in the first place. How did they specifically know that the xenomorph was the “perfect species,” or why does Yutani seem like she’d throw a fit if Boy Kavalier didn’t return her specimen? The way Morrow is progressing with his Slightly situation, they’ll have a xenomorph in their hands in no time, but Yutani seems to have serious reservations about having shared custody of such a rare specimen.
Clearly, there’s still something more to unearth, and I think that would ultimately explain Weyland-Yutani’s endgame. With only two episodes left in its debut season, Alien: Earth has a lot of ground to cover, especially with a classic Alien situation unfolding on a remote island. Yet again, the aliens have found a way to thrive on human folly and greed. There’s a facehugger on Arthur’s face, Tootles is practically dead, the Eyeball monster may be the main villain, and Kirsh is all set to make his grand “David” reveal about how he is passionate about perfecting humans.