Alien: Earth Episode 6 “The Fly” ends with the inevitable. After weeks of watching Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) shrug off concerns about keeping five different, and clearly hostile, alien species in the Prodigy labs, mayhem breaks loose on the FX show. Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) finally finds a way to get a facehugger to Morrow (Babou Ceesay), two alien species gang up on one poor unwitting character, and Wendy (Sydney Chandler) begins to suspect all might not be well in Neverland…

**Spoilers for Alien: Earth Episode 6 “The Fly,” now streaming on Hulu**

This week’s Alien: Earth features a showdown between Boy Kavalier and rival Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver), a tense elevator ride shared by Morrow and Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), Wendy discovering that their makers have erased poor Nibs’s (Lily Newmark) memory, and Hermit (Alex Lawther) making major moves to get his sister out of Prodigy’s clutches. However, the two developments most likely to stick with viewers happen to do with two aliens ganging up on one Tootles (Kit Young) —or Isaac, as he prefers — and Slightly taking advantage of the mayhem to get a Facehugger on poor Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl).

Isaac’s death is a massive wake up call to viewers because it should not only underline how intelligent the Eye Midge is, but expose the Fly, a hitherto background monster, as a key threat to the hybrids and synthetic characters on the show. Arthur Sylvia’s compassion, rushing to Isaac’s aid, gives Slightly the easy opportunity to deliver a Facehugger to Morrow, thus saving his own family.

But lets circle back to poor Tootles, aka Isaac. What the heck happened there? Which alien is really responsible for the poor hybrid’s death? And what does this mean for the future of Alien: Earth? Let’s let Noah Hawley break down what went down with the Fly in Alien: Earth Episode 6…

Alien: Earth Episode 6 Ending Explained: Noah Hawley Explains That Wild Hybrid Death by Fly (and Eye)

Isaac’s fate comes about thanks to a series of innocent mistakes and intelligent plotting. The science-minded hybrid is asked to check in on the aliens by an out-of-office Kirsh. The wizened synthetic instructs Isaac to work alongside Curly (Erana James), the group’s other A-student. Isaac does not do this, though. He lies to Curly and takes the gig of feeding their hyper lethal pets all on his own. Thus he seals his own fate.

“I sat down and I wrote what is probably the most disturbing scene that people will see on on television this year, you know, with the sheep,” Alien: Earth creator and showrunner Noah Hawley said. “I had the sheep, that is not by design an evil creature, right? And there’s comedy to that, right? That it’s like an evil sheep. You know, goats, we get. Goats have a satanic history. This idea that the sheep, who are not known for their intellect, was a sort of mastermind was kind of irresistible to me.”

While in the lab, Isaac breaks the Fly’s feeding drawer and decides it’s okay for him to open the pen to feed the mysterious alien himself. You know, he’s a hybrid. He’s premium. He can’t be hurt. However, the super intelligent Eye Midge watches all this in her sheep form and makes her move.

“I liked the idea that that it’s watching, it understands cause and effect, and that ultimately Isaac is killed because the sheep saw an opportunity and took it,” Hawley said. “You begin to realize, oh, this thing isn’t just like ‘animal smart.’ This thing is maybe a consciousness that has the potential to really take over.”

The Eye/Sheep butts against the glass of the enclosures, stunning Isaac into slipping into the Fly’s pen. The door automatically locks behind him, exposing him to the one alien aboard the USCSS Maginot with a taste for metal over flesh. The episode’s eponymous Fly finally emerges from its next and descends upon Isaac, devouring his seemingly impervious skin.

“There has to be a threat level. You can’t have these hybrids be actually immortal,” Hawley said. “There has to be some natural predator for them among these creatures.”

“I would say that given how the Xenomorph is a main character and these other creatures clearly have designs on biological life, it may not have occurred to a viewer that one of these creatures would be a threat to the either the androids or the hybrids.”

Hawley has reiterated many times that one of the key reasons he wanted the Maginot to have five different species on board was to recreate the dreadful feeling of discovery that viewers experiencing Ridley Scott’s Alien had over the course of the feature. Since audiences already know the lifecycle of a Xenomorph, he wanted to keep us — and Alien: Earth’s characters — on their toes.

“Alien is so much about the gruesome discovery process of the life cycle of these creatures and what they eat and how they reproduce and all of that. So, you know, I would say that if you haven’t seen one of these creatures eat or reproduce yet, we still have things to show you, right?” he said.

And in poor Isaac’s, or Tootle’s, case, the Fly definitely had something to show him.