Spoilers for Episode 3 of Alien: Earth to follow.

When Joe and I discussed the two-episode premiere of Noah Hawley‘s Alien: Earth last week, we wondered if the season’s timeline was going to be relatively short, potentially spanning mere hours or days. We also questioned if we were going to spend most of the season on board the crashed USCSS Maginot or, you know, actually get into the “Earth” of it all.

Well, consider those questions answered in Alien: Earth‘s third episode, “Metamorphosis,” an exciting entry into the season that lays to rest any fears that the series would put the Xenomorph on the back-burner for the bulk of its eight episodes.

Written by series creator Noah Hawley and Fargo producer/writer Robert De Laurentiis and directed by Dana Gonzales (returning after helming “Mr. October”), “Metamorphosis” is divided into two halves, with the first half picking up right where “Mr. October” left off, seeing Hermit (Alex Lawther) captured by the Xenomorph as it attempts to lure Wendy (Sydney Chandler) into a trap. This leads to one of the episode’s most action-heavy (if slightly silly) sequences in which Sydney gets into a tug-of-war with the Xenomorph’s tongue, culminating in the partial decapitation of the creature. Meanwhile, Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) and Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) have a tense run-in with Morrow (Babou Ceesay), continuing the series’ philosophical interrogation of what it means to be human and concluding the first half of the episode.

The second half of the episode switches gears as everyone returns to Prodigy’s headquarters to reap the benefits of their bounty. No longer bound by the haunting walls of the Maginot, Alien: Earth gives more screen time to characters who were underserved in the premiere, notably Curly (Erana James), who fights for Boy Kavalier’s (Samuel Blenkin) attention, and Arthur (Fargo‘s David Rysdahl), who shares his reservations about Boy Kavalier’s methods with his wife Dame Sylvia (The Babadook‘s Essie Davis).

We also get another appearance of Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) in this episode, as Morrow checks in with her to update her on the status of her precious cargo. That she doesn’t seem disappointed or angry with Morrow and the current situation of the mission (she seems totally fine, actually) was unexpected, and we can’t wait to see more of her.

Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier

Alien: Earth is juggling a lot of characters, but it does so with such confidence that it’s hard to resent the fact that about half of the Lost “Boys” are currently glorified background characters (looking at you, Tootles). It’s only the third episode, but considering we’ll be at the halfway point of the season after next week’s episode, we hope that they’re given more to do in the coming weeks.

Refreshingly, Hawley & Co. show more restraint when it comes to franchise callbacks than they did in the premiere, with Slightly’s discovery of the Xenomorph’s skin harkening back to a similarly shot sequence with Harry Dean Stanton in the original film. They do seem to be sticking with inserting Disney-owned Fox IP into the proceedings, though. Following the Ice Age: Continental Drift of it all last week, “Metamorphosis” includes footage from Fox’s apparently not-forgotten 2013 animated film Epic, much to Joe’s chagrin.

Lest you thought we had seen the end of the Xenomorph after Wendy dispatched it, the episode concludes with the extraction of a Xeno-sperm (Xeno-zygote?) out of a Facehugger, which is promptly injected into a solitary lung. This is but a brief expansion of series lore that we find incredibly exciting. It raises more questions, like whether or not that lung will birth a Xenomorph as we know it, or birth some altered version of it, but we’re still waiting for an answer for the most important question of the series: will we ever find out what that plant-like pod creature does?

Listen to our full conversation on the episode below:

Cross out “Metamorphosis”!

Coming Up Next: Next week we’re discussing episode 1.04, “Observation.”

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