Warning: This article contains spoilers from ‘Alien: Earth’ Episode 6, ‘The Fly.’
Noah Hawley’s ‘Alien: Earth’ is bold in a way that few sci-fi series ever attempt. There is obviously the intertwining of the classic mythology of ‘Peter Pan’ and the existential terror of the ‘Alien’ franchise here. Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), the charismatic, ruthless, and entirely boyish CEO, is the fulcrum of this magnificent romp, his journey and arrogance echoing the “Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” in disturbing ways.
Kavalier’s Neverland is no paradise. After all, it is a fortress of extreme isolation, experimentation, and control. It is an island where he makes human-alien hybrids and plays god with the consciousnesses of innocent children. Sydney Chandler’s Wendy is the only one of these constructs that warrants notice as an avatar of both innocence and power, which is so powerful that it resonates with the maternal weight of her literary counterpart. Blenkin himself says that Kavalier’s take on Peter Pan is a “fun but dangerous misinterpretation,” which is a heroic delusion. Kavalier thinks of himself as the bold Peter Pan, who is the disruptor and the ultimate authority in his Neverland.
Bare Feet, Billion-Dollar Boards, and the Dark Irony of Eternal Youth in Hawley’s Universe
Episode 6, ‘The Fly,’ represents this aesthetic and psychological complexity that left us in awe and confusion with never-ending theories. Kavalier is shown to enter into the corporate battle with Weyland Yutani’s CEO (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) barefoot, wearing pajama-like clothing that indicates his defiance and dominance simultaneously. Blenkin points out that these design choices were deliberate, and the shoes would have allowed Kavalier to stay connected to reality. However, walking barefoot shows his lack of willingness to be tied down. His need to be unattached and untamed is like a disruptor in every way. The arrogance is literal and symbolic as it is stretching itself out across the conference table where he discusses billions, as well as showing his nonchalant disdain, as his aim is to make every boardroom meeting a theater performance for the fans.
But Kavalier’s swagger is certainly not to be taken lightly. As he struts his stuff in corporate boardrooms, trouble is simmering in the background of Neverland. Aliens break free from being held in captivity, all the hybrids are in danger, and foreshadowing Joe (Alex Lawther) and Wendy’s scheme. The precise control Kavalier wields is contrasted with the unpredictability of his scientific experiments, and we are reminded that in Hawley’s world, pride can be just as deadly as any xenomorph.
Hawley’s Alien: Earth weaves all these strands of story together with meticulous Peter Pan canons, from the obvious “Neverland” installation to Wendy’s artificial body and then all the way to those well-known Lost Boys and Girls counterparts that we all know and loved from Disney’s Peter Pan. The series pays homage to and knowingly deconstructs the original source material, as these elements work in tandem because they position us within a familiar narrative framework but retell it through the prism of the corporate dystopian apocalypse. The anti-aging requirements of these hybrids also tell a tale of defiance against growing up, which is itself symbolic of the original Peter Pan narrative. The author was careful to illustrate the dark meaning that exists in the underbelly of the concept of immortality, which in this instance is itself manufactured, unnatural, and just plain frightening.
But beneath the fascinating premise of this alternate Alien installment, Alien: Earth poses the most profound questions to fans of the entire franchise. What, then, does it mean to be human? In a world where cyborgs and androids rule, what exactly does it mean to be human? Is it our capacity for compassion, our memories, or the flesh and blood of mortal experience? Or perhaps, as Hawley subtly suggests, is it our arrogance and capacity for cruelty that define us most? The plight of Wendy, especially in her struggle to distinguish herself from the aliens around her, poses this question. The show argues that perhaps humans, in their relentless drive for control and immortality, are in fact more alien than the very beings they fear.
How Hawley Combined Horror, Philosophy, and Childhood Myth
Visually and thematically, the series also pays homage to the essential roots of the franchise. The slow, chilling camera movements are the existential terror and alien encounters; these all evoke Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic, while the expanded TV series gives way to more introspection and world-building for us. The Disney animated Peter Pan series is projected onto the ceiling of Kavalier’s lab, tying the fantastical and terrifying elements together, making the hybrid of innocence and ambition tangible. Ultimately, it is Boy Kavalier who is the soul of Alien: Earth, and he is a character who represents both the appeal and the danger of Neverland and eternal childhood. He is Peter Pan without the magic, a troublemaker in a world of human ambition, and a reflection of the audience. And are we, in our quest for power and immortality, any different from the aliens we are studying? In a franchise that expertly walks the line between terror and philosophy, action and allegory, Hawley challenges us to consider whether the most terrifying monsters may not be alien, but entirely human ones that we project into the universe itself. Alien: Earth doesn’t simply add to the mythology of the franchise, but instead forces us to confront our own Neverland, where immortality is an option, but innocence is never regained.
