Very mild soiler below:
Second edit:
Plot holes. Plot holes. I've gone back and forth on giving this three stars and four stars. I've been updating this as I watch. It is annoyingly predictable.
Edit: I updated my review and gave it one more star because of the great effects and good acting. I really like Timothy Olyphant's character. I still have the same problems, though, some of the plot line is a little obvious and silly.
Generally speaking, it's an interesting addition to the Alien franchise. There are definitely some really good Sci-Fi elements and some interesting characters and creatures. Sometimes the writing feels a little slow and a little predictable. The show is very visually stunning which helps me overlook some of the poor writing but there are two big annoyances, which I'm sure some will think is pedantic, but it just makes the writing seem lazy to me:
1. This is supposedly set 100 years in the future, give or take, yet the writing refers to the synthetics using "lithium ion batteries", which sounds farfetched and kind of dumb since we already have newer technology in the works now that likely will far surpass lithium ion batteries... especially in 95 years. I can overlook this, but it feels like lazy writing and lazy research on the part of the writers. The biggest mistakes that sci-fi writers make is that they don't set advanced science fiction far enough in the future, and they base it on current day technology which is pretty dumb. It makes it impossible to suspend disbelief.
2. Another big problem is, for some reason, science fiction writers insist on using the term "mainframe" when it is mostly a relic of technology that's essentially on life support now... it confounds me that science fiction writers continue to use the term "mainframe" to make things sound technical. Why not simply say "main computer"? Using "mainframe" just makes it sound like more lazy writing and lazy research on the part of the writers. How about hiring a technology consultant for these kind of shows and movies so you don't say dumb things?