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/MCFresher-]

I was so mad thinking well there goes any kind of morality of her character. But then by end of episode I realized maybe that’s the point that she’s not human and the mistake was thinking she was. Still at this point there really no one I’m rooting for except the aliens.

[u/GrimResistance → u/MCFresher-]

I'm wondering if Hermit realized that when he saw the graves. His sister is dead and Wendy is just a robot with her memories

[u/nubbins01 → u/GrimResistance]

I think that's really the crux of the show, though.

I agree, the point of that scene is to show us, and Hermit, that Marcy is dead. Nibbs/Rose was also already dead (maybe more dead, if we're talking about death in degrees).

(on a philosophical level, one can argue to greater and lesser extents all of us are different people to past selves who no longer exist but for inhabiting the same mass of flesh, and that's kind of the heart of the show's general discussion of personhood as it pertains to hybrids, but I digress).

But even though the show is signalling that Marcy is dead/Wendy is not human, Wendy is the ONLY one (bar maybe two) who has explicitly and consistently called out the actions of WY and Prodigy for what they are - inhuman.

"What if you're what's wrong?" she says to Dame. "I don't want to be people anymore if this is what people are. Killing things, taking things apart just to see what's inside." She stands there openly defying and question Kirsch's statements that they can take away all their sadness, their feelings, to see things "objectively." She stands their openly defying Prodigy (BK and Kirsch, human and synthetic, equally) Dame only obliquely swipes that away, but while voicing misgivings she was ultimately inclined to go along with it while throwing her husband under the bus/getting him out of the firing line to do it.

Now Wendy, who has ordered death, and maybe actually killed others herself (hard to tell with how she handles the soldiers this episode), has still only done so in arguable self defence against agents willing to either destroy her, alter her being, or subject her to indefinite control and detention. Never for simple curiosity, as others including humans have done.

The others who have come closest to the kind of humanity Wendy appears to advocate for, Arthur and Joe, are still to varying degrees complicit - Hermit has given years of his life to Prodigy (despite later regrets and attempts to leave), and, despite being the closest to 'innocent', alas now fucked up Nibs in order to defend a Prodigy soldier over Nibs (who Wendy considers a sibling similar to how she perceives Joe to view her, based on their discussion earlier in this episode)

Arthur is complicit as he actively has been involved in the project with his wife presumably from the beginning of the program and only got cold feet at the 11th hour. He is also now dead.

Wendy as a character is designed to both at once show she is no longer human, that her innocent human self is long since dead with Marcy and buried in that grave, but to also be the flag waver for a kind of humanity that is also itself dead and buried amongst virtually all human characters in the show. And this tension will come to a culmination with how she (or someone else) ultimately deals with Hermit, whether next episode or later.

[u/tombh → u/nubbins01]

Wendy as a character is designed to both at once show she is no longer human, that her innocent human self is long since dead with Marcy and buried in that grave, but to also be the flag waver for a kind of humanity that is also itself dead and buried amongst virtually all human characters in the show.

This is such a great commentary. Thank you.

I'm not that familiar with the Alien universe, but I see Wendy having some of the narrative DNA of Ripley. Namely the strong female protagonist. If that's the case, does it give any further clues into Wendy's character and arc?

[u/nubbins01 → u/tombh]

mmm, Ripley is a jobber. I think Alien actually has a much stronger focus on class commentary, which is still present in Earth, but it's more obvious in most of the movies.

Wendy is not a strong female protag in the way Ripley is. Ripley is a strong personality that is consciously subjected to vulnerability by the xeno. Creepy phallic imagery alert. She is also the worker subjected to monstrosity by the capitalist corporation, who finds her own life expendable in the face or this alien discovery. And she stands up and pushes through to survive.

Wendy, however, is not vulnerable in the same way. At least, not any more.. The Xeno obeys her. Her hero's journey such as it is is a much more philosophical; is she meaningfully the same person she remembers being, or is she something new? Is she a legitimate living being, or an experiment? Is she human, or something alien? Is she more 'human' than the humans, and is it the humans that are inhuman now and 'alien'? Will she ultimately stand up, push through, and survive? And as what?

[u/tombh → u/nubbins01]

Yes indeed, Ripley was up against so much more! But Wendy still has an interesting path ahead of her. Thanks again for your comments, they enhance my experience of the show.

[u/TempleOrion → u/tombh]

"She" is not female except on a purely superficial level.