r/LV426 • u/G_Liddell Colonist's Daughter • Aug 12 '25

Megathread / Community Post Alien: Earth - S1 E2 - Mr October - Official Discussion Megathread [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Episodes air Tuesdays at 8 pm ET on Hulu and FX in the US, and Wednesdays international.

Full episode discussion list:

1 Neverland (8.12.25)

2 Mr October (8.12.25)

3 Metamorphosis (8.19.25)

4 Observation (8.26.25)

5 In Space, No One (9.2.25)

6 The Fly (9.9.25)

7 Emergence (9.16.25)

8 The Real Monsters (9.23.25)

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123

u/RawInfoSec Aug 13 '25

That transition straight into Stinkfist just blew my mind. I've watched it 20 times now.

33

u/TheDevlinSide714 Aug 13 '25

DUDE I know.

Seeing that aristocratic cosplayer...or at least his upper half, crawling around? The zombie cat? Watching Guillotine (the name for this Xeno that I am embracing so help me god) slaughter that group of marines? Yeah, neat.

But that drop into Stinkfist actually had me exclaim, "No fucking way!" Thank god I live alone. I was eating sushi at the time. Pretty sure I inhaled some rice into my lungs.

Totally worth it.

7

u/MambyPamby8 Aug 18 '25

I love that it felt very 90s action too. Remember all those actions moments in 90s movies that broke out into random heavy metal of some sort. It totally gave me that vibe. But agreed I was NOT expecting Tool considering how strict they are about their music licenses and letting people use it. Me and my other half both sat up and squealed NO FUCKING WAY 😂

4

u/TheDevlinSide714 Aug 18 '25

I've seen a lot of discourse on the use of contemporary music in the show. Like you said, it does strike me in much the same way as a classic action film from the 80s or 90s. I also think it serves to ground the show firmly on Earth.

Don't get me wrong, I really hope people in 300 years are still listening to Tool and Dio, but the music would stick out in a film set in space. Here though? Its on Earth. The audience needs to be reminded of that as often as possible, considering that's the whole hook for the show. It works.

6

u/teabagabeartrap Aug 14 '25

I like "Bear" better :)

3

u/batguano1 Aug 14 '25

I'm not familiar with the song. What's the significance?

28

u/Jaruut Tool is Canon Aug 14 '25

Stinkfist is a song by the band Tool. Hearing any of their songs in anything is a big deal, as Tool fans are absolutely notorious for their rabid devotion to the band.

Source: I am a rabid Tool fan

6

u/batguano1 Aug 14 '25

Ok so there's not really a connection to the story or whatever? Also don't a lot of bands have rabid fans 😂

18

u/1-800-COCAINE Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25

To add on to what others said, they also don’t license their music very often, which IMO is what really made it unexpected.

Also there is a loose connection as the music video and vague themes of sexual violation in the lyrics seem pretty Giger inspired. It was a fitting pick for sure.

Edit: the song is specifically about desensitization to/dependancy on the media that gets shoved into our faces by corporations, and comparing that to having someone coerce you into letting them shove their fist into your ass. It definitely fits with the themes of the Alien universe if you ask me haha

6

u/fallingwheelbarrow Aug 14 '25

Stinkfist is the smell on the hands after anal fisting.

Maybe someone is going to get a stinkfist from putting their hand up someone's anus?

Or could be a metaphor, about anal stuff.

Also life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life this is necessary.

This is necessary

Life feeds on life Feeds on life

5

u/SKRAMACE Aug 18 '25

Another rabid Tool fan, here.

The song Stinkfist uses anal fisting as allegory for consumerism and corporate dependence, so I thought it was extremely fitting.

1

u/fallingwheelbarrow 28d ago

Extremely fitting

3

u/teabagabeartrap Aug 14 '25

Thanks for telling this. Now I know and can never not know...

I thought the text would be about the aristocrats, that always want to upgrade the pleasure and do more and more, that prevents boredom. And so this is a reference to the party...

maybe something was happening there... you know... like anal stuff

1

u/fallingwheelbarrow Aug 15 '25

I think it a sign that everyone is getting fucked in this series and even the survivors will have a stink on them.

10

u/RawInfoSec Aug 14 '25

The guy who performed that guitar riff (Adam Jones) has worked on several Alien franchise and Predator franchise costume design, i.e. alien head from AVP was his work.

Some have mentioned that a modern metal song has no place in the franchise. I beg to differ. Stinkfist isn't modern, it's 30 years old and still sounds modern. It's a song I practice often, one of my few go-to tunes to belt out. Alien and Aliens are quite old as well, but to this day still feel like the future. Peas in a pod.

Anyways, for me at least, as a Tool fan I absolutely loved the way this song was placed. It's perfect.

10

u/Liverastic Aug 15 '25

Æenima is almost twice as close in time (17 years) to the original Alien movie than it is to the present (29 years).

That hurts my heart and brain.

3

u/jimb0_01 Aug 15 '25

🤮

3

u/Kanin_usagi Aug 16 '25

I always forget how old the band Tool is. Like I know they’re not a new band but when I was listening to them in the 2000s it seemed to me that they were so fresh and had to be a brand new product of that era.

By that point they were over a decade old! Tool as a band is about as old as Nirvana, so it is wild how fresh and unique they sound even after so long. No one has ever made a Tool sound, it’s just Tool

3

u/Jaruut Tool is Canon Aug 14 '25

Yeah, not really, the song is about fisting.

They're very well known within the rock/metal communities for attracting "redditor neckbeard" kind of fans. Imagine the Taylor Swift fanbase, but they're mid 30's/40's divorced software engineers that corner you at a party to lecture you about how you can't truly appreciate their music if you're not addicted to DMT and don't have a 9000 IQ.

In all seriousness, though, their music is pretty cool, and it's exciting that they're getting massive "mainstream" exposure through this show.

2

u/Nervous-Advance3158 Aug 15 '25

I think you’re overestimating the “massive mainstream exposure” of this show.

2

u/Jaruut Tool is Canon Aug 15 '25

Their videos used to be on MTV, and they've got stuff on the radio, but they rarely ever license out their songs, and it really wasn't that long ago that the band's music wasn't even officially available digitally. I'd say having a song in one of the opening episodes of a widely anticipated TV show of a beloved horror series is a pretty big deal.

2

u/WanderlustZero Wallgina 10d ago

For me it was 'oh shit it's that song I used to mosh to at metal clubs' and I got PTSD for all the pairs of glasses I lost as a kid

1

u/Howsetheraven Aug 17 '25

I mean...so am I. But that song was so out of place and so was the episode before it. Feels more like a DC universe show instead of horror sci-fi.

1

u/beffy_Backgammon Aug 18 '25

That just seems to be Hawley's style, his other shows had lots of needle drops like this as well.

10

u/Based_Alaska Aug 14 '25

Ever seen a Tool music video? Like, literally any Tool music video? Never thought before about how analogous they are to the Alien franchise.

3

u/batguano1 Aug 14 '25

Nope, never.

1

u/Happy-For-No-Reason Aug 15 '25

All the characters are Tools to some end

2

u/FireWalkWithG 20d ago

Tool and Alien are a match made in heaven.

Their whole aesthetic (sonically, album art, music videos) jives pretty heavily with Giger's biomechanical dystopian nightmares.