When I caught a glimpse of an orange cat in Alien: Earth‘s first episode, I thought, “What a precious Easter egg!”
The cat appears during the show’s extended opening sequence onboard the Weyland-Yutani deep space research vessel Maginot. The whole sequence pays tribute to Alien, capturing the crew dynamics and atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s film. Alien: Earth‘s cat is just another part of that sequence, echoing the role Jonesy the cat played on the Nostromo in the original film.
Anyone who’s seen Alien knows that Jonesy is the film’s fuzzy MVP. One of the film’s two survivors, alongs with eternal badass Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), he’s the only Alien character who could hiss at a Xenomorph and somehow get away unscathed.
Because Jonesy is such an Alien icon, seeing his doppelgänger pop up in Alien: Earth feels like a sweet piece of fan service. I saw it as series creator Noah Hawley gesturing out to one of the most beloved elements of the franchise, and I believed that, just like Jonesy, no harm would befall the Maginot’s cat.
How wrong I was.
In Alien: Earth‘s first episode, the Maginot crash lands on Earth, which certainly does not bode well for anyone onboard — including sweet cats! However, perishing in a crash landing would be infinitely better than what actually happens to the Maginot’s cat.
Viewers discover the cat’s fate in episode 2, when Prodigy Corporation’s team of hybrids explores the Maginot wreckage. There, they discover the Maginot’s lab, where a familiar feline lurches into view. His meows are gurgled, his fur is caked in blood, and his back paws drag awkwardly behind his body.
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The image is horrifying in itself, but any cat owner who’s ever shepherded their pet through a medical emergency will feel an extra layer of dread. Aspects of the cat’s movement and vocalizations reminded me of my own experience caring for my ill cat. Trust me when I say, from one former cat owner to the many cat owners out there who watch this show, that it’s more than okay to take a break here.
Especially since the scene only gets worse.
The Maginot’s cat turns his head and reveals that one of his eyes is unnaturally large. That’s because it’s not actually its original eye — it’s the creature known as T. Ocellus, a parasitic eyeball-octopus hybrid that replaces its hosts’ eyes and takes over their brains.
T. Ocellus, recognizing the hybrids as being more advanced hosts, exits the cat’s skull in a flood of tentacles and gore, leaving the poor animal well and truly dead. Justice for the Maginot cat!
The sequence doesn’t even last a minute, yet it’s among Alien: Earth‘s most disturbing. Obviously, as a cat lover, I’m inclined to be extra scared. But the frights here go beyond the blood and brain matter.
So much of the horror around the Xenomorph is tied to the primal fear of losing bodily autonomy. In the Xenomorph’s case, hosts become unwilling parents, “birthing” the chestbursters into the world. T. Ocellus, on the other hand, moves away from reproductive anxieties and instead introduces the fear of having your very movement (really, all your brain functions) being co-opted by some outside force. It’s a nightmare, pure and simple, and rendered extra effectively thanks to the death of the Maginot’s cat in particular.
Anyone who’s watched Alien knows the fear of thinking Jonesy will die, and the overwhelming relief when he survives. Hawley plays with these expectations coming into Alien: Earth, luring us into a false sense of security about the Maginot’s cat.
“Surely this is just an Easter egg and won’t come to anything,” you might think, as I did. “Surely the cat will follow in Jonesy’s footsteps and be fine!”
Not in Hawley’s house of horrors! He makes an upsetting example of the poor cat, demonstrating both the terror of T. Ocellus and a chilling truth about Alien: Earth. Going forward, no one is safe.
