Up until the final moments of Alien: Earth Episode 7 “Emergence,” Prodigy medic Joe Hermit (Alex Lawther) has done all he can to protect the characters around him. However, when his old security service pals run afoul of Hermit’s sister Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and her hybrid pal Nibs (Lily Newmark), Hermit makes a split second choice to hurt one character to save another. It’s a pivotal moment in the FX show, one where Hermit reveals something deeper about his own loyalties and his own relationship with his humanity.

**Spoilers for Alien: Earth Episode 7 “Emergence,” now streaming on Hulu**

In Alien: Earth Episode 7 “Emergence,” Hermit attempts to make good on his plan to spirit his sister and the other hybrids out of Neverland. In last week’s episode, the recently fired Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl) secretly helped Hermit out by disabling the hybrids’ trackers and offering him tips on how to leave the island base. This week, Hermit is able to convince Wendy and Nibs to join him on this journey, only it turns out their escape plan is actually a trap. Prodigy soldiers, including Hermit’s buddies Siberian (Diêm Camille) and Rashidi (Moe Bar-El), are waiting at the boat meant to ferry them away to recapture Boy Kavalier’s (Samuel Blenkin) precious property.

Nibs freaks out, using her stuffed doll, Mr. Strawberry, to threaten the soldiers. One of the Prodigy soldiers yanks Mr. Strawberry out of the hybrid’s hands, throwing him in the water. This sets Nibs off and she murders one of the guards, sparking a violent showdown. When Nibs tries to kill Siberian, Hermit stuns the hybrid to save his friend. Wendy sees it as an immediate betrayal, asking her brother, in horror, “What have you done?”

So where do Hermit’s loyalties lie? What does his impulse mean for the future of Alien: Earth? And how do the stars of Alien: Earth see that tense showdown? Here’s everything you need to know about what goes down on that boat at the end of Alien: Earth Episode 7 “Emergence”…

Alien: Earth Episode 7 Ending Explained: Why Does Hermit Betray Wendy and Nibs?

So does Hermit realize that he’s basically revealed to his “sister” Wendy that he doesn’t see the hybrids as human, or even equal to humans when he chooses to save Siberian over fighting? To paraphrase Wendy herself, what did he do?!? Has he alienated Wendy forever or merely acted like a normal, rational person who doesn’t want to see anyone hurt?

“It is a weird one, isn’t it? He’s revealed the hierarchy that he’s placed everyone on by choosing the sanctity of Siberian’s life over that of the hybrids,” Alex Lawther said. “I think that some unlearning or some learning that Hermit has to do to actually find acceptance for these other beings.”

“From the beginning, when he first treats Wendy and Slightly in the crash site, he realizes that the synthetics and I think he’s kind of repelled by anything that isn’t human.”

Lawther revealed that he had decided to invoke an Ancient Latin phrase from Roman playwright Terence — “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto” — as Hermit’s secret motto.

“I had this thing in my head of Hermit saying to himself, ‘I am human and nothing that is human is alien to me,’” Lawther said. “I kept on thinking that for Hermit, it was always his sort of mantra.”

“Actually he needs to learn about the humanness of these hybrids. Because instinctively he can’t help but understand them as sort of metal and computer chips. There’s an exception for his sister because he relates to her in a different way, but I think he proves himself in Episode 7 to have actually not really made that full journey yet into accepting the hybrids as beings deserving of equal respect.”

“And yeah,” he said, “reveals himself to his sister and she picks him up on it big time.”

Wendy might be devastated by this betrayal, but Alien: Earth star Lily Newmark told DECIDER that Nibs is probably less upset at Hermit than she is with Wendy.

“I think it’s definitely a betrayal, but the time in which they have connected, Hermit and Nibs, Nibs is already dissociating at that point and she’s really in a fantasy land,” Newmark said. “So, I don’t think she’s so focused on Hermit as an individual.”

“He’s just a kind of extension of Wendy and a vehicle to take her on to the next place. So, I think the betrayal would probably be more directed at Wendy, because she’s got a closer connection to her.”

“But honestly, yeah, like, anything could trigger Nibs,” Newmark said. “You know, even someone she doesn’t know very well betraying her, I’m sure could push her over the edge.”

So it sounds like Hermit’s going to be in bigger trouble with Wendy in next week’s Alien: Earth season finale than Nibs.