TV Recap: "Alien: Earth" Episode 7 - Betrayal, Bloodshed, and a Monster on the Move

After the shocking events in the secure lab, Alien: Earth Episode 7, “Emergence," raises the stakes on every front. Loyalties shift, escape plans falter, and the creatures stalking Neverland become harder to contain. Here’s a look at the penultimate chapter.

Episode 7: “Emergence" – Written by Noah Hawley and Maria Melnik

Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) hides in his quarters with Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl) unconscious beneath the bed, the facehugger latched tight. A wet, rhythmic sound signals that something inside Arthur is alive. Desperate to keep him stable, Slightly tries to drip water through a straw into Arthur’s mouth, but the parasite convulses and spits fluid, squeezing tighter around its host. Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) knocks insistently and eventually forces the door open, discovering the scene under the bed. Panicked, Slightly pleads with his friend not to tell anyone, explaining that “the man from the ship" promised Arthur’s safety once the monster was delivered. Reluctantly, Smee agrees to help move Arthur to the beach.

Alarms draw Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) back to the secure lab, where a Fly feasts on Tootles’ body. He notices that one of the egg pods has hatched, and the control panel by the door has been damaged by fly acid. He tasks soldiers with corralling the flies, while Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) coolly surveys the carnage. Kirsh insists this wasn’t an accident. Boy Kavalier is surprised that the flies were capable of killing one of his hybrids. "They digest their food outside their bodies," Kirsh explains, with their acid breaking down minerals for consumption. Boy Kavalier gives new instructions - no “kids" in the secure lab, except Wendy.

Kirsh and Boy Kavalier look at the security footage of the zombie sheep ramming the crate to distract Tootles/Isaac when he entered with the try. Boy Kavalier orders the sheep to be moved out of the secure lab.

Wendy (Sydney Chandler) enters and recoils at Tootles’ corpse. The captive Xenomorph perks up at her presence. “What happened to Isaac?" she asks. “Science," Boy Kavalier replies, urging her not to alarm the other hybrids. Her brother’s warnings echo in her mind: they aren’t safe. Wendy tries to leave, but soldiers block her path, Wendy calls to the Xeno, which slams the glass in response. “You can’t just erase things," she warns Boy Kavalier as the guards step out of her way so she can exit. Boy Kavalier wants to get to the other hybrids before Wendy does. Kirsh tries to locate them on his computer. “Someone turned their trackers off," he informs his boss.

Hermit (Alex Lawther) finds Marcy in her room, mourning Isaac. He urges her to flee with him, sharing that Arthur disabled their trackers. She refuses to leave without the others. Together they find Nibs (Lily Newmark) in her room with Curly (Erana James). Curly blames Wendy for upending their lives when they went to save Hermit, but Nibs sides with her, agreeing to keep their plans secret. Wendy goes to the screen, manipulating the cameras to check on the Xenomorph. She wills its cage to unlock, and it does.

Every soldier in the secure lab is slaughtered.

In Dame Sylvia’s (Essie Davis) quarters, Boy Kavalier presses her about Arthur’s disappearance, informing her that he didn’t leave the island last night. He accuses them of trying to shuttle the kids away together, having seen Arthur disable the hybrid trackers on security footage. Their tense conversation is halted by an alarm. Once again, it’s from the secure lab.

Down by the service corridors, Slightly and Smee maneuver Arthur through patrol routes. Kirsh catches them but, instead of stopping the mission, he ushers them toward a secure elevator leading to the lower docks. “You’re going to be late," he says, sending them on their way.

Wendy, Hermit, and Nibs happen upon makeshift graves marked with the kids’ real names. “It’s not us," Wendy tells Nibs as she seems distraught to find hers - Rose Ellis. Hermit takes a moment to mourn Marcy’s grave. “We’re still here," she says. The somber moment is disrupted by the sound of a patrol nearby. Hermit pushes them onward before they’re caught.

Why had Kirsh let Slighty and Smee go so easily? Their unease only grows as a patrol sweeps the path ahead, forcing them to duck into the undergrowth with Arthur still slumped between them. Once the soldiers pass, they rise, only to find Arthur gone. Before they can react, the facehugger drops from an overhanging branch, skittering toward them. Slightly lunges and crushes it underfoot, smashing it.

Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl) stirs, groggy and disoriented. “What is that?" he mutters, staring at the dead creature. He looks around, bewildered, asking where they are. The boys spin a hasty story: there was an accident in the lab, a contamination, and they’re escorting him to safety. Slightly claims Dame Sylvia is waiting on the beach. Arthur frowns, struggling to connect the pieces — he remembers an argument with Sylvia, but nothing after that. He asks where Tootles is, but the boys try to stop his questioning, insisting there was a gas leak and everyone has been evacuated. Arthur studies them, reading fear in their faces, but thanks them anyway: “I think you maybe saved my life."

By the time they reach the shore, fragments of memory return, leaving Arthur uneasy. “This is wrong," he says quietly, halting near the tideline. “Whatever it is, you don’t have to do it." He tells them they haven’t yet learned how to lie, and that their terror is written all over them. He assures them he loves them and will understand, but pleads for them to go back with him. Arthur steps toward the trees, hand outstretched; Smee instinctively clasps it, while Slightly lingers, torn between orders and guilt. “It’s gonna be okay," he tells Slightly, who finally joins them. A spasm of pain cuts Arthur off — he doubles over, blood trickling from his mouth. Before the boys can act, his chest convulses and a chestburster tears free, spraying crimson across Smee and Slightly. The tiny creature scurries into the brush as Smee stands frozen in shock. “You said he was gonna be okay… you lied to me!" he cries, collapsing beside Arthur’s body and calling for help. Slightly, pale and frantic, scans the treeline for the escaped parasite, then steels himself, gripping Arthur under the arms. With grim resolve, he drags the lifeless body toward the drop site, determined to finish the mission no matter the cost.

Curly seeks comfort from Dame Sylvia, tearfully calling her “Mom." Sylvia promises everything will be all right, a promise she doesn’t seem sure she can keep.

Using a raft, Slightly and Smee ferry Arthur’s body to a cove where Morrow (Babou Ceesay) and a Yutani strike team surface. He orders Team 2 to make landfall, with instructions including “shoot to kill." Morrow berates Slightly for bringing company, and when he sees that Arthur is dead, he asks where the creature is. “Everything went wrong," Slightly protests, saying he didn’t know there would be another monster. “You’re acting like a child," Morrow warns him. Like a child, Slightly just wants to hear confirmation that his mom will be safe. “Bring Them," Morrow orders his team, who apprehend the boys. “Target 1 failed, moving to Target 2," Morrow calls over the radio.

Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson) briefs Boy Kavalier about the escaped Xenomoprh. The zombie sheep now sits in a glass cage in his office, with Kavalier testing the sheep’s intelligence by scribbling the first three digits of pi on his hand and coaxing the Eye Midge to prove it knows what comes next by stomping. It makes a joke of the third number, which delights him. “Oh, if only you could talk," he says. When Atom Eins shares his fears that the eye could jump to a human host, Boy Kavalier gets in idea. "I know just who to use," he says with a sinister smile.

Meanwhile, Hermit leads Wendy and Nibs toward the dock. Soldiers ambush them. Wendy warns them to leave, but they don’t listen. On her command, the Xenomorph drops from the canopy, slaughtering the guards but sparing Wendy and her companions. She wipes blood from its face, whispering a command: “Hide and follow." Hermit seems disgusted.

We see the slithering chestbuster get caught by nets. We don’t see whose nets they are.

Morrow and his team escort Slightly and Smee back inside the base, rifles aimed as they close in. They don’t get far before Kirsh steps out, carrying the chestburster sealed in a case, flanked by Prodigy’s army. Kirsh orders Morrow’s troop to drop their weapons; after a tense pause, Morrow complies, and Kirsh calls the boys to his side. “Finders keepers," Kirsh remarks about the specimen, staking his claim. Morrow glares, warning, “This isn’t over," to which Kirsh coolly replies, “Nothing is over." He then instructs the soldiers to lock everyone up and grounds Slightly and Smee, leaving the boys pale and silent as they’re led away.

At the dock, Hermit readies a boat, only for Rashidi (Moe Bar-El), Siberian (Diêm Camille), and Chief Nagg (Sahajak Boonthanakit) to spring a trap. Nagg tosses Nibs’ plush toy into the sea; enraged, she tears off his jaw. Wendy is about to call the Xenomorph in when Hermit stops her. Siberian shoots Nibs just as Hermit stuns her with a taser, leaving Wendy screaming at her brother: “What did you do?" Above, the Xeno lurks, awaiting her next order. “WHAT DID YOU DO?" Wendy repeats to her brother.

Next Episode: “The Real Monsters" - Tuesday, September 23rd, at 8/7c on FX and Hulu

A new power dynamic emerges.