WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Alien: Earth episode 3.
Alien: Earth episode 3, “Metamorphosis,” features the cyborg security officer Morrow going to great lengths to protect the alien specimens on the crashed Weyland-Yutani spaceship.
Following the events of Alien: Earth episode 2, which saw Morrow shoot Joe, the brother of the world’s first-ever hybrid being, Wendy, Morrow has proven to be a dangerous threat. When he finds two Prodigy hybrids, including Adarsh Gourav’s Slightly, goofing around next to several Xenomorph eggs, he has more than a few questions, including a riddle: “When is a machine not a machine?“
Morrow’s “Machine” Riddle In Alien: Earth Episode 3 Explained
The core idea behind Morrow’s “When is a machine not a machine” riddle seems to be that a machine stops being a machine when it stops working. More specifically, a machine stops being a machine when it ceases performing its designated specific task and when it no longer has an operator or master who can flip an on/off power switch to give it life.
When a machine with consciousness, intelligence, and self-awareness has the ability to simply exist, form an identity, and not follow orders, it is arguably no longer a machine because every machine has a primary, often singular, function. Slightly and the other Lost Boys may not know it yet, but Boy Kavalier and Prodigy certainly have a purpose for their hybrids.
This riddle also pertains to Morrow’s internal struggle, which clearly pits his humanity against his machinery. He has freedom of will, but it is in accordance with his cyborg programming. Defying his code is like a human being betraying oneself and going against their nature. Morrow calls the alien specimens his “life’s work” to Yutani only because he serves her.
Why Morrow Wants To Be Slightly’s “Friend”
Morrow wants to be friends with Slightly because he wants to know what Prodigy is up to with their synths, especially after the mention of their parents, not knowing they are hybrids. It sounds like Morrow plans to kidnap one of the hybrids, likely Slightly, in order to make an exchange between Boy Kavalier and Yutani for the alien specimens.
While Morrow was telepathically talking to Slightly, he was looking up background info on Kavalier. Odds are, Morrow is trying to turn Slightly against Prodigy and Boy Kavalier by becoming his “friend,” which will help him gain insight into Prodigy’s top-secret hybrid innovations, ultimately serving his Weyland-Yutani master.
In the classic Peter Pan movie, the character Slightly remembers more about what life was like before coming to Neverland than the other Lost Boys do. This sounds like a good indication of Morrow’s strategy to win Slightly over by reminding him that even though he feels alive in his synth body, he’s no longer human. This could freak Slightly out to the point of revolt against Prodigy in future episodes of Alien: Earth.
