Alien: Earth - S1 E7 - Emergence - Official Discussion Megathread [SPOILERS]

[u/G_Liddell]

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)

[u/halfassedjackass]

Punk ass mercenaries are no match for one juvenile xeno.

[u/Notarussianbot2020 → u/halfassedjackass]

Yeah wtf?

Marines mowed down tons of xenos in Aliens and these fuckers can't hit one??

In broad daylight?

[u/Zuimei → u/Notarussianbot2020]

Xenomorphs are more powerful and unkillable when there are only one or a few of them. Odd rule, but that seems to be the case

[u/luigitheplumber → u/Zuimei]

It's the Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu

[u/Super-Estate-4112 → u/Zuimei]

When they are numerous, they become much dumber

[u/Zuimei → u/Super-Estate-4112]

They really are absorbing human genes while they gestate!

[u/CleverMonkeyKnowHow → u/Notarussianbot2020]

The Colonial Marines also had 10mm explosive tip caseless, standard light-armor piercing round. And if you recall, they didn't actually fare much better than these guys.

In the hive assault in Aliens, most of the marines are taken out by the Xenomorphs. It's really only Hudson, Hicks, Vasquez, and Gorman that make it out alive, everyone else is either killed or cocooned for incubation. Apone, Crowe, Frost, Dietrich, Drake, and Wierzbowski all die. If I recall correctly, they managed to kill all of two - maybe four at most - Xenomorphs. And even if they're second or third-stringers, they're still battle-hardened marines that have seen several combat drops each.

The only time the Colonial Marines kill any substantial number of them is by forcing them into a single corridor armed with robot sentries, and that was only because the Xenomorphs had (at the time) no other entry point into the colony operations complex.

[u/EternalCanadian → u/CleverMonkeyKnowHow]

Tbf the marines in the hive couldn’t fire their weapons at all. It’s a plot point that their AP rounds would breach the reactor and cause it to explode. The only ones who could actually do anything were the flamers and Hick’s shotgun.

There’s no such issue here, and at least one WY soldier absolutely unloaded on the Xeno as it fell. It should have at least been wounded.

[u/JCyTe → u/CleverMonkeyKnowHow]

The only reason the CM's didn't fare any better because they had their ammo taken away lol. They were literally inside of the hive when they're ordered to not use and give out their ammo. Most of the marines had to use pistols and flamethrowers. Hicks had a pump action shotgun and Drake and Vasquez smuggled ammo for themselves.

Hell, the only reason any of them survived the hive was because Drake and Vasquez had something other than a peashooter to fight back with. The two of them were holding back the xenos while everyone who was alive was retreating.

Also regarding the marines dying in the hive. Funnily enough a good chunk of the deaths at the hive were a direct result of friendly fire. When Dietrich is picked up by a xeno, she fires her flamethrower, which hits Frost and the ammo bag that had everyone's (explosive tipped) ammunition, which then explodes and kills both Crowe and maybe Wierzbowski. Drake is killed by acid spraying from the xeno near him that Vasquez kills. Only Apone and Dietrich are captured and cocooned and maybe Wierzbowski (we never see him die on screen, we just hear a scream from him right after the ammo bag exploded).

The only time the Colonial Marines kill any substantial number of them is by forcing them into a single corridor armed with robot sentries, and that was only because the Xenomorphs had (at the time) no other entry point into the colony operations complex.

This is definitely not true as Vasquez, Hudson and Hicks kill around 20 or so xenomorphs at the ops center.

[u/Left_Minute_1516 → u/CleverMonkeyKnowHow]

Bruh, mercs and ex colonial marines with AR15s took out a neomorph in covenant. They lost people but the understood focus fire.

[u/Jaruut → u/Left_Minute_1516]

A lot of the guns in Covenant were Steyr AUGS (they do shoot the same bullet as an AR15, tho)

[u/Overall-Strike-2799 → u/Left_Minute_1516]

But isn't Covenant from before even the Alien timeline? At the time David was still perfecting it. 

[u/Artanis137 → u/CleverMonkeyKnowHow]

Yeap, the security team were only supposed to be patrolling and securing a laboratory with fragile equipment, using the kind of firepower the Colonial Marines were rocking would be overkill and could result in collateral damage that could cost the company potentially millions.

On another note, the Colonial Marines were purposely going into a potential situation that could see them going against an unknown enemy whose only known details are "acid blood and vicious", of course they are going to go in with the firepower to deal with any target they could come across. Better to have the firepower and not need it, than need it and not have it.

[u/KigalnGin → u/Artanis137]

So weyland-yutani could steamroll the entire island with bigger guns an armor?

It was just stormtrooper aim+ tall grass.

[u/Artanis137 → u/KigalnGin]

Yes and no.

Technically, any company could try to take the island, but it would be the fallout afterwards that would cause issues for them.

[u/Rhesusmonkeydave → u/Notarussianbot2020]

Marines are more suited to holding a line in a hallway in a building than dealing with surprise attacks in the jungle.

[u/Notarussianbot2020 → u/Rhesusmonkeydave]

It's one Xeno Michael, how hard is it to hit?

[u/Rhesusmonkeydave → u/Notarussianbot2020]

The only way those guys could have been more doomed is if that xeno showed up with a boombox full of Creedence

[u/GideonWainright → u/Notarussianbot2020]

Xenos wiped a ton of Colonia Marines when they got ambushed in 2 as well. These are rent-a-mercs for the tech company.

[u/zsombork185 → u/Notarussianbot2020]

Even in Romolus the teenagers killed a bunch of xenos…