‘Alien: Earth’ Is the Most Obvious Show on TV

“This ship, to be clear, is an object, not a location. It’s a ball that got hit over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. I’m the neighbor. So the ship belongs to me now.”

If there’s anything that Alien: Earth really did right, it was casting Timothy Olyphant. As Kirsh, the sardonic synth who acts as the ultimate right-hand man, Olyphant is firing on all four cylinders. There’s a little bit of Raylan Givens’ cocksurety in how Kirsh declares control of the downed space vessel on behalf of his employer, Prodigy, to the gun-wielding cyborg, Morrow (Babou Ceesay), who’s trying in vain to maintain ownership on behalf of his employer, the familiar Weyland-Yutani for Alien franchise fans. It’s a cool moment, with Kirsh’s steeliness playing off of the clear threat presented by Morrow.

Then the scene ends with repeated cries of “Bro!” and “Dude!” and the spell is broken. Creator, showrunner, and writer Noah Hawley has a lot of great work under his belt—I maintain that the first season of Fargo is one of the best television seasons of this century, with the second season a near tie—but his storytelling prowess occasionally gives in to an overreliance on cautionary tales. When they become intrusive, my appreciation for big creative swings has inclined me to offer graciousness, even when they toe the line toward awkwardness (Fargo season four’s homage to The Wizard of Oz complete with tornado, comes to mind).

For Alien: Earth, there’s a Peter Pan parallel that isn’t introduced to viewers as much as it’s foisted on us like overpacked luggage. Here, the Peter Pan figure is an uber-rich young punk called Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), and the Wendy (Sydney Chandler) he’s fixated on is partially a creature of his own making, who, thanks to him, now finds herself tending to the ragtag Lost Boys, in this case a group of boys and girls who, like Wendy, are super-powered synthetic-human hybrids made to look like adults but quite literally possess the minds of children. They’re never gonna grow up, see? Do you get it? I’d be stunned if you didn’t because Hawley practically draws viewers the metaphor in crayon.

This only accounts for some of my agitation with aspects of the series. Having actual adults act childlike already tap dances into annoying territory (see the aforementioned ‘bro/dude’ exchange for reference), but what truly sticks in my craw is how bizarrely on the nose all of it is. When Wendy’s brother, Joe (Alex Lawther)—whose full name is Joseph DiMaggio Hermit, because Hawley’s sci-fi future is peppered in anachronistic references that are old by even today’s standards; beside the NY Yankee center-fielder there’s also a casual Agatha Christie mention, and the 2002 film Ice Age continues endearing itself to children more than a century after its initial release (it would seem the future is hard up for new entertainment)—and a fellow soldier attempt to warn a group of partygoers of the crashed ship, it’s not enough for these obnoxiously obtuse revelers to be situated in a penthouse to signify their class status. No, they’re donning Louis XVI-era costumes, and the phrase “eat the rich” is made literal when a xenomorph makes pâté out of them.

It’s not subtle. Precious little is here. Boy Kavalier, whose ridiculous name escaped me long enough that I started referring to him as Handsome Boy Modeling School (if they end up as one of the show’s many needle drops, I’m taking credit), is an obvious blend of several real-world terrible one-percenters. Nonetheless, the point’s driven home again and again: “It’s not about the money. People always think it’s about money with trillionaires,” he says while chomping on an apple (media’s preferred fruit to denote a devil-may-care recklessness) in his ever-present pajamas/robe combo sans shoes (footwear is for adults, you see). Boy Kavalier isn’t a character inhabiting a story so much as an avatar representing the worst of humanity. It’s the kind of shorthand commentary memes are made of, but is it sustainable enough for long-form storytelling?

Alien: Earth has more than enough to entertain, but there’s little sign of anything made to endure. As of right now, name recognition is enough to keep the show going for however long FX is willing to throw money at it, so there’s not much in the way of artistic pressure happening here. I’m not demanding the series be prestige TV; that’s a lofty and unnecessary expectation for a franchise that features the cash-grabbing likes of Alien vs. Predator. But the persistent need to loudly illustrate so many of the show’s themes, especially while ignoring so many interesting ones, makes Alien: Earth feel more like something aimed at children when it would be much better served for the show to grow up.

Alien: Earth is streaming on FX and Hulu, with new episodes available every Tuesday.

Kaleena Rivera is the TV Editor for Pajiba.