Why Ripley shooting up the Hive in Aliens was actually her smartest decision
This is one of the most baffling things to me when watching the movie, I've seen reactions on YouTube and they're always like "why is ripley doing this she should just get out and let the explosion take care of it" and im like???????
When one of the eggs opened now she's gonna have a facehugger following her and newt as they escape which is not good as we saw earlier in the movie, and am I the only one who thinks Xenomom wouldve never let ripley and newt get away anyway??? The entire existence of this species and their propagation depends on a host, the truce was temporary and xenomom was tricking her, cause the moment she leaves the egg pit to escape there's no saying that the remaining xenos won't attack her. They have 2 viable hosts right there, she has no reason to let them leave, especially considering they're not gonna get hosts that often. You do NOT turn your back to an enemy, let alone an apex predator which needs and desperately wants to use you as a host.
So ripley realises seeing the egg open and thinks "bitchhhhh" and burns the eggs, kills any incoming xenos and grenades the sacks that mom is attached to to put her in enough pain, creates a barrier of fire so they can make a relatively uneventful escape. Doesnt work ofc xenomom is pissed enough that she literally mutilates herself just to kill ripley which is a GREAT decision because it shows just how complex these creatures are.
People are always like, this was an emotional decision and im like nooooooooo, its more stupid for ripley to leave while trusting that a species which needs to kill and use others as hosts in order to propogate is just gonna let them go. If the xenos and that face hugger pursue them as theyre leaving theres a huge chance of acid splattering all over them if she tries to kill them, and they dont have any armour to protect themselves either. She made the best decision imo, she just didnt take into account how rageful xenomom would be that she would be willing to tear that sack off just to get revenge.
Her decision also makes sense regarding her trauma, she wouldn't wanna know any xenos were alive as they were escaping, considering the last movie. She just didnt expect xenomom to tear herself off the sack and free herself and pursue her.
EDIT: i need people here to know the ovipostor is an integral part of the Queen's lower body, not some background furniture. Ripley launching grenades at the sac IS HER LAUNCHING GRENADES AT THE QUEEN, AT THE MOST SENSITIVE AND VULNERABLE ORGAN OF THE QUEEN. its very much inspired by insect ovipostors, which if torn or damaged can kill the insect. Xenomom tearing, and like I've written, MUTILATING HERSELF AND BEING OK, is a good way to not only show how incredibly strong xenomom is but also how full of rage she is. Just because the sac usually detaches after sometime(I'm assuming if it's inspired by insects) doesn't mean it wasnt a part of her then, or that ripping it off or any damage to the sac happening prematurely won't cause her pain(it's like saying ripping your milk teeth before they naturally detach won't hurt), infact if it was easily detachable, as though she just had a "sac eject" button, that would make the queen less scary, its the fact that she was ready to mutilate herself in that moment just to get ripley which makes her sooooo terrifying.