This article contains spoilers for Alien: Earth episode 4.No Alien project can ever recapture the sense of cosmic horror upon seeing H.R. Giger’s xenomorph for the first time. So when it came time to design a coterie of fresh monsters for prequel series Alien: Earth, creator Noah Hawley went for the eyes … literally. The so-called Eyeball Monster (or more formally Trypanohyncha Ocellus) is a deeply upsetting creation: an intelligent white sphere supported by tentacles that invades its prey’s orbital sockets and operates their corpses like puppets. “There was a revulsion that came from each stage of [the xenomorph],” Hawley says. “So that’s where I started with this idea of ‘if we have a new creature, what’s the most revolting function it can provide?’ Then we’ll design the creature around the function.”Hybrids Nibs (Lily Newmark), Curly (Erana James), and Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) first discover the ocular abomination amongst the wreckage of the USS Maginot, where it has inhabited the body of a cat (perhaps in a grim homage to the original Alien‘s ginger shorthair Jonesy). Thankfully they all survive the encounter and the Eyeball Monster is brought to Prodigy’s Neverland compound where it will never bother anyone ever again. About that … cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});One of the most striking images presented in the series thus far is that of a singular sheep hooked up to various electrodes and standing around in the Prodigy lab. The enigmatic animal featured prominently in both the trailer and two-part season premiere. In fact, a graphic of a sheep’s head has served as a sort of unofficial symbol for Alien: Earth, popping up in promotional easter eggs and as the title card for a March screening of the show’s first 15 minutes in Austin that several outlets (including Den of Geek) were invited to. Now Alien: Earth episode 4 “Observation” finally explains what Prodigy CEO Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) has planned for his livestock. In what’s one of the most horrifying scenes in recent television history and all the Alien canon, Boy K and company let the Eyeball Monster loose on the poor ram. The process, rendered in some truly impressive CGI, is as bloody and upsetting as one would expect. T. Ocellus flings itself on to its prey and pries the left eye out with its tentacles. The invader eyeball then nestles itself in the empty socket and takes control, ending the desperate thrashing. It then stands up on its hind legs and falls back down to the ground, dislodging the dangling extra eyeball from the sheep’s head like a booger. It’s in this moment you begin to get why every episode of Alien: Earth ends with a heavy metal needle drop.Even moreso than the brief cat attack in episode 1, this scene is a perfect example of the primal revulsion Hawley is looking to capture with Alien: Earth‘s new critters. To state the obvious, people really don’t like to have their eyeballs messed with. Eye gore is one of the last remaining taboos in horror with only the most hardcore projects giving it a go. But the revulsion and fear goes even deeper than the gore. This alien-possessed farm animal presents the horror of the familiar tainted with the unknown. As hybrid Tootles (Kit Young) notes upon viewing a nearby computer monitor, the sheep’s “wavy lines are totally different now.” His synthetic mentor Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) confirms that that’s because this creature is highly intelligent. Sure enough, the sheep is no longer merely looking at its captors but observing them through two mismatched, yet clearly discerning eyes. The use of the sheep as a sacrificial object to this unknown evil is also symbolically significant. The electrodes attached to its head resemble horns, giving an animal usually associated with innocence in the Biblical canon the more goat-like appearance of the devil himself. Additionally, the false messianic figure known as Dajjal in the Islamic tradition is said to be missing an eye. One Hadith (an anecdote surrounding the life of Muhammad not presented in the Quran) even clarifies that Dajjal will have a blind right eye and an oversized left eye, which sounds an awful lot like a sheep we just met. While the xenomorph remains nature’s perfect organism, it’s nice to know that there is still room for fresh horror beyond comprehension in the Alien universe yet. New episodes of Alien: Earth premiere Tuesdays on FX and Hulu at 8 p.m. ET, culminating with the finale on September 23.The post Alien: Earth’s Eyeball Monster Taps Into Primal Fears appeared first on Den of Geek.