Night Song

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at the ‘mercenary adopts alien pups’ premise—until about 30 minutes in, when Wandrey made me *care*. Alan Porter isn’t some soft-hearted hero; he’s a pragmatist who sees the pups as a liability until their instincts start saving his team’s hides. The way their bond develops—through stolen rations, mid-battle distractions, and the pups’ eerie, pack-minded intelligence—feels earned, not saccharine. McLaren’s performance sells it: his Porter is a man who’s spent decades burying emotion, but the cracks in his voice when the pups are in danger? That’s award-worthy stuff. That said, the middle act drags slightly with *just* a touch too much tactical jargon (yes, we get it, the *Silent Night* crew loves their breach protocols). And while the Zuul’s ‘language’ is creative, there are moments where the audio mixing makes their clicks hard to parse—though that might be intentional, mimicking the characters’ confusion. But when the final act hits? The payoff is *brutal*. Wandrey doesn’t flinch from the cost of war, and the pups’ role in the climax is both heartbreaking and triumphant. If you’re tired of sci-fi that treats aliens as either monsters or mascots, *Night Song* threads the needle perfectly. Just maybe don’t listen while walking your dog—you *will* side-eye them afterward.