Great piece. Totally agree about Ripley’s ‘mother’ arc, but even when the reveal of Ripley’s child dying of old age was cut from the original theatrical release, the film still worked remarkably well – not least because I think there is a second, parallel, character arc running here.

In a way, the second arc is even more satisfying because it carries over from Alien, and neatly ‘concludes’ Ripley as a character by the end of Aliens.

Ripley begins the sequel the way she ended the first film: absolutely terrified of the creature. Cameron makes this clear by including scenes of Ripley being plagued by recurring Xenomorph nightmares. Ripley is not a cool, gun-toting, unfazed badass in the first act, indeed she isn’t even able to talk about the creature without getting choked up.

Ripley’s maternal instincts are evidenced not just in her love for Newt as a surrogate daughter, but by her blind rage when Newt is threatened by the monster. It is a fury so all-consuming that it burns up her fear, and, in a delicious role reversal – in the final gripping scenes where Ripley enters the hive nest and confronts the queen – it is the monster who is now afraid of her.