Episode three, `Metamorphosis` is slower than the opening two, with only one real big action sequence though this doesn’t mean that the threat lessens, rather it allows the production to ramp up those Xenomprph scares. Like the best of this franchise the producers know that you don’t need to show the alien(s) a lot, just insinuate that they are lurking in a shadowy location of just round the corner. Then when they do appear it’s all the more effective.
Spoilers after the break...
The narrative lingers
at the crash site for two fantastic scenes. One sees Joe and Marcy frantically
trying to escape the Xenomorph amidst the dirty metal and echoey walkways with shocking
results. It allows Sydney Chandler to channel Ripley as she manages to
effectively corral the alien away from her brother. A sequence involving a
large metal elevator door deploys very effective sound effects and by the end
of it at first it looks like they have both been killed. (Spoiler- they haven’t)
Meanwhile Smee and Slightly,
the most child like of the synths, are under interrogation by Morrow. The acting
in this scene is excellent, especially from Adarsh Gourav who delivers Slightly’s
lines with all the mannerisms of a scared kid. Mind you anyone would surely be
intimidated by Babou Ceesay’s Morrow, a character who dominates every scene he
is in. Director Dana Gonzales shoots to make the most of the actor’s size but
its in his face and voice that are the dark heart of this cyborg and make it so
threatening. Even when Morrow later `calls` Slightly in a friendly tone you wouldn’t
trust him! The interaction between Ceesay and Gourav is perfectly pitched and hopefully
we’ll get more of it.
Soon after everyone is
whisked away to Boy Kavalier’s island giving Samuel Blenkin plenty of screen
time as the eccentric yet wilful trillionaire. I suppose there is a little of
Elon Musk in this character though Kavalier is quite young and does have an
abrasive self - satisfied charm. At times with his curly hair, odd grin and
scarf he comes across like a baby Tom Baker though there is a creepier undercurrent
to the character hinted at in the scene with Curly. What develops leaves us in
no doubt as to just how ruthless Kavalier is in the name of science.
In the first couple of episodes,
I didn’t even especially notice the synths were all named after Peter Pan
characters and as the story envelops different characteristics are emerging.
While Slightly and Smee still snicker like kids, Nibs has clearly been mentally
scarred by her encounter with the aliens to the point of near catatonia while
Curly is becoming more forthright and seemingly seeing herself in competition
with Wendy to be Kavalier’s” favourite”. Their guardian Kirsh, played with calm
authority by Timothy Ollyphant looking like a hero from a Fifties sci-fi comic
(or maybe Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner was the inspiration) remains an
enigma. He answers back to Kavalier yet is an enabler for his work. Whose side
is he on?
There’s very little
dialogue in the last segment of the episode replace by roving camera pans that
allied to creepy music have a menace to them as we finally realise exactly what
is happening. Presumably at Kavalier’s behest, one of the alien eggs is being
spliced open while elsewhere Joe is being operated on, we assume to deal with
his injuries. Yet in a slow methodical way we realise that the tiny organism is
being placed in Joe’s lung which has been removed. Thankfully they’re not
putting it back in him! Recovered from her injuries Wendy / Marcy again seems
to have a telepathic connection with the aliens, that clicking noise she heard
in earlier episodes now strong enough to send her crashing unconscious to the
floor.
There are two things
which happen in episode four `Observation`, which if asked I would never
have thought I would witness. One is a sheep standing on it hind legs to push
out its eye allowing a replacement alien eye to insert itself. The other is
someone petting an Xenobaby just after its bursts out into life. The sheep
sequence is bizarre and strangely disturbing especially when it stands up or
later when it is just staring at everyone. Probably because we’re used to sheep
being harmless and docile watching this is just as scary as the more familiar
xenomorph.
The tension of the
series is now established as being how far people will go to satisfy Boy
Kavalier’s undisciplined approach to matters given how little they know. And
indeed how little he really knows. This
applies as much to the cyborgs as it does to the aliens. Each of the former are
changing in direct ways, judging from the concern on Arthur’s face in a sequence
when Wendy reproduces the alien voice she has been hearing in her head. While
Tootles’ evolution leads no further than wanting to pursue science and change
his name to Isaac, others have more worrying behavioural patterns. Nibs
believes she is pregnant even though this is impossible yet when challenged by Sylvia
leaps across the room and threatens her. Slightly continues to receive transmissions
from Morrow who tells him he must infect someone so an alien can be extracted
from the lab. Of course, we know who the handy human sitting around is.
All of which is essayed
in a series of scenes which director Ugla Hauksdóttir frames with maximum time
on the actor’s reactions- after all the episode is called `Observation` which could
just as well be a description of us watching such a talented cast as it is of
what is happening. With each scene the viewer can feel the tension rise like a
volcano that is about to blow. What each character is saying to the other is
full of undercurrents and links back so well to the main stories.
These mostly two person
scenes are engrossingly, inscrutably played- the warmth between Sydney
Chandler’s Wendy and Alex Lawther’s Joe provides a rare reassurance in this
harsh world with a familiarity that convinces, the innocence of Slightly’s attempts
to appease Morrow underscore how both Adarsh Gourav and Babou Ceesay are superb
at their work here; the characters really are total opposites. Meanwhile Samuel
Blenkin seems to be having a whale of a time as the shoeless Kid Kavalier. The
Peter Pan inserts and allusions scattered through the production add another
level- Kavalier is a self-centred version of his hero.
Most interesting is the
way Wendy seems to respond to and agree with Kavalier more than anyone, even
Joe. While the sight of her making the same creepy noise the aliens make seems
to shock most of the characters, she is clearly fascinated by her ability. There’s
still plenty of opportunity to worry about Joe, given what Slightly has to do,
and the casual way Kavalier dismissed him as “the brother” and you also feel
that something bad is going to happen to the Sylvias. Then again that is a
signature style of the Alien franchise- nobody is safe!
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