I do not normally do guides to single episodes of television shows but Aline:Earth is special. More specifically, Episode 5 "In space, no one..." is one of the most special episodes of television I have ever seen.
All I needed to see was the title of the episode and I knew I was in for a treat. Not only does it use ellipses... which I LOVE, but it is also a very clever reference to the original 1979 movie Alien. If you are too young to remember, the tag line of Alien was "In space no one can hear you scream."
A few months ago I raved that Alien: Romulus was the closest thing to an Alien movie I had seen since Aliens way back in 1986. Well that is no longer true. Episode 5 of Alien: Earth is now officially the best Alien content since Aliens.
I honestly cannot believe what I saw. At just over one hour of run time, the episode truly felt more like a mini movie than a television episode. It had the same suspense and terror of the first Alien (well as close as you can come to it). And it is not like they just rehashed the original movie... although there were some great similarities. The special effects were as good as anything I have seen on the big screen recently and they were far better than the original Alien. Even though this modern version had the special effects crutch to lean on, it did not. It still built suspense the old fashioned way with great writing, excellent cinematography and sensational music. I have never been so terrified by a water bottle in my entire life (trust me, you will be too).
This episode felt like a great combination of Alien and The Thing. It involves a mystery as well as sci-fi horror. What made this episode even better was the fact that it could 100% stand on its own. The episode is actually a prequel to the first episode of the season and has a very solid first, middle and third act. It was incredible! Perhaps my favorite part about it was that this episode did not just relay on the big bad Xenomorph. It includes other fleshed out (no pun intended) Aliens who might be equally terrifying. Even though the main method of terror is suspense and the anticipation of something terrible happening, there is also a ton of great action in this episode.
Although it is clearly intended to be told in this non-linear way, if you are on the fence about whether or not to watch Alien:Earth, start with this episode. if you are a sci-fi or horror fan, I guarantee you that you will immediately want to watch the rest.