Alien: Earth — “The Real Monsters” — Episode 8 Spoiler Recap and Review

Heading into the finale of Alien: Earth, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and Hermit (Alex Lawther) seem to be on opposite sides. Wendy has been torn between her Hybrid family and the memories she still has with Hermit. Her belief in Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis) has also left her vulnerable. However, after the death of Isaac and the shocking of Nibs (Lily Newmark), the Hybrid revolution needs to begin. “The Real Monsters” is the conclusion of Alien: Earth‘s season, which appears to be the first of several seasons in a continuous story.

Alien: Earth “The Real Monsters” Plot

Arthur’s body washes up on the shore, where a Xenomorph discovers it before returning to the jungle. It watches from the foliage as Dame Sylvia leaves flowers at the graves of the children. It sneaks up on her, but before it tries to kill her, soldiers shoot at the Xenomorph, scaring it away. While they save her, we see the adult Xenomorph kill dozens of others on the island. Atom (Adrian Edmondson) confirms this as he urges Boy Kavalier to evacuate the island. Kavalier barely pays any attention, instead watching videos of Wendy as a child and speaking to the Eye in the sheep.

Wendy and the other synthetics are held in Containment Cell A. She remains angry at her brother, and Curly starts to ask why they’re in this situation. The boys don’t tell everyone about Arthur, but they do tell them about Isaac’s death. Nibs accuses Curly of snitching and thinks the flies could kill them.

Wendy reminds the group that “Peter Pan” grew angry because the others grew up. They’re not kids and not adults. She tells everyone about the graves, and Nibs calls them ghosts. Wendy uses this to remind the group that the humans should actually be afraid of the Hybrids. She sends out sounds to communicate with the Xenomorph and disables all of the cameras using her powers.

Kavalier reaches out to Kirsh and asks him what to do next. Kirsh gives him an update on Morrow, who has been contained, but he expects Yutani to continue pestering them. Wendy disables the communication as Kirsh tells him to act rationally. This angers Kavalier, who considers giving the Eye a human so he can communicate with someone “worthy.”

Rashidi (Moe Bae-Il) and Siberian (Diêm Camille) move Sylvia back to her office. When they step out of the office, Wendy begins playing random pieces of tech and footage to torture Sylvia. Hermit and Morrow are trapped in a secondary cell, where they discuss what it means to be a cyborg. Rashidi and Siberian lead their team to the armory to pick up more weapons. However, Wendy starts the self-destruct sequence to torture the soldiers before opening the elevator with seconds to spare.

Wendy stops her torture to watch her brother. She’s still angry at Hermit, but Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) admits Nibs was out of control. Besides, he’s one of them. Wendy remembers writing a letter to her brother while he was at war, and we see him crying over the letter in an armored vehicle. She opens the door for Hermit and Morrow, who escape easily. Morrow tells Hermit to save the children because he’s going to burn Neverland to the ground.

Morrow sneaks into the lab where Kirsh is working,f and the two of them fight. Eventually, Morrow throws Kirsh into a steel table, breaking his body in two. Kirsh seems beaten, but Morrow is distracted by the baby Xenomorph escaping. Kirsh chokes out the cyborg to take him down.

Kavalier comes to the synthetics and taunts them for being locked in a cage. Smee asks if he’ll let them out, but he makes more jokes about telling them a story. When Curly accuses him of lying, he brushes it off. Wendy snaps her fingers and opens the door, which surprises Kavalier. He tells them a story about building his first synth to kill his father. Kavalier reminds them he’s a trillionaire capable of building whatever he wants to, and they are the “floor models” for his next great venture.

The Lost Boys get up and start walking towards him, and Nibs takes out the lone gunman with Kavalier. Wendy tells the “genius” to run. As he does, she reminds the boys they’re going to play “Hide-and-seek,” sends Nibs after Sylvie, and points Curly (now Jane) in the direction of the soldiers. She tells them no one will touch her brother, but elsewhere in the facility, Atom convinces Hermit to meet with Kavalier.

The boys discuss Arthur, but Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) blames Morrow for what happened. They find Kirsh on the ground and tie him up. Slightly knocks out Morrow, and they take him prisoner as well. Nibs finds Sylvia in her office while a Xenomorph kills more soldiers. Atom brings Hermit to Kavalier’s office, where the container for the Eye is empty. It attacks him, but he’s saved by Wendy.

However, before Hermit can kill the creature, Atom throws Wendy through a table. The Eye goes for Hermit again, but she knocks it away. It scurries into the floor. Atom tries to attack her, but she freezes him in place. He’s a synthetic, and because he’s connected to the network, she controls him. Hermit and Wendy fight about what happened with Nibs. He calls the situation complicated, but she calls him out. “That is what powerless people say to do nothing. And I am not powerless.” She admits she likes the aliens because they are honest, even if they’re predators. Hermit says he’s sorry.

Kavalier calls out to his system, offering a million dollars to the first person who finds him. He’s surprised when the adult Xenomorph is waiting for him, and the Prodigy soldiers quickly try to help him. Wendy enters the room and sends the Xenomorph after the other soldiers. Kavalier thanks them, but Hermit knocks him out.

In the lab, Siberian is killed by the hanging plant, and Curly knocks out Rashidi. The Eye finds Arthur’s corpse on the beachfront. Weyland-Yutani ships arrive at Neverland, preparing themselves for “invasion and recovery.”

Inside, Kavalier, Morrow, Kirsh, Sylvia, and Atom are all tied up in cell A. Sylvia tries to reason with Wendy, but she calls out everyone for serving Kavalier. He wanted to be Peter Pan, but he’s just an angry, hateful man. Slightly tells Wendy the Eye and the plant got away, but they’re not worried about it hurting them. Jane/Curly asks what’s next when the adult and baby Xenomorphs appear on the outside of the cell. “We rule.”

Is Alien: Earth “The Real Monsters” worth watching?

Yes, not only because this is the end of the season, but because it is clear we are getting more Alien: Earth in the future. We also get the full gamut of the Alien experience in “The Real Monsters,” with plenty of creature horror, Xenomorph-related gore, and even the impact of killing your creator. Noah Hawley and his team are really having fun with the iconography and philosophy in the series, and “The Real Monsters” gives us an excellent finale before we dive into more.

Most importantly, “The Real Monsters” puts a button on many of the running fights through the season. Wendy and Hermit make up, even if the brother is extremely worried about her ideology and what she might become. The people who have done the most harm to the Lost Boys are jailed. Several other soldiers have been captured, and even

Arthur’s corpse looms over most of “The Real Monsters,” both opening and nearly closing the episode. Kavalier was worried about what could happen if it ended up in someone competent, and frankly, it might have ended up in the body of the most intelligent man on the island. How that shakes out could be extremely intriguing, especially as Slightly and Smee keep their involvement in Arthur’s death a secret. Weyland-Yutani does not know about the creature either, meaning that the Eye could easily infiltrate their forces. This also should mean more David Rysdahl, a huge win for Alien: Earth as a whole.

“The Real Monsters” mostly belongs to Chandler. The actress has been slowly developing Wendy over the season, with each new data point culminating in this episode. She’s wiser than before, more willing to step into danger, and even sassy. When she drops the moniker of “the boy genius” and instead calls him “Boy K,” that’s incredibly effective. However, the conversation with Hermit is delivered impeccably. We see Chandler express the frustrations and holdups of her old life while hinting towards a darker, controlled future.

Additionally, Chandler is very funny in this episode. The line delivery on “Run?” to Kavalier is maybe the best of the season. She even has a flair for the dramatic as she waits until the perfect time to open the cell door. Taking the “ghosts haunt houses” idea literally exerts maximum mental anguish on the humans, and it’s very fun to watch her work. Chandler delivers a phenomenal performance in “The Real Monsters,” and we cannot wait to see how she develops.

Finally, the visual spectacle of “The Real Monsters” is what differentiates this show from many of its peers. The split diopter shot in Sylvie’s office (with the tablet stuck on a repeating child) was one of the most unsettling moments of the episode. The adult Xenomorph looks good through most of its encounters, despite the final moment serving as one of the weaker CG effects. The gore looked good, the dread built well over the episode, and while Alien: Earth is confined to a jungle island facility, it feels much grander in scope. With more seasons ahead, we’re excited for what this could mean for the show.

Watch Alien: Earth “The Real Monsters” on FX on September 23, 2025. All eight episodes for Season 1 are now available on Hulu.

Alien: Earth — “The Real Monsters” — Episode 8 Spoiler Recap and Review

The best episode of the season gives us great Xenomorph action, an excellent performance from Sydney Chandler, and all the philosophy we’d expect from the Alien franchise.