On the midseason finale of Resident Alien‘s second season, Harry had returned to his lakeside home with Goliath and Violinda’s egg, only to find Ben had thrown him a surprise birthday party. After Harry put the egg away in his bunker, it hatched, letting loose one very agile, and carnivorous baby…
1. Another One Bites the Dust
In the cold open, David Logan reunites with General McCallister on a river bridge, offering her the alien orb he recovered — after Sahar and Max stole it from Harry — in exchange for his old life back. Unfortunately, an alien sniper (played by none other than Agent Carter‘s Enver Gjokaj), kills him, causing his body and the orb to fall into the river. Poor David Logan: he had to put up with dearly departed maniac Lisa Casper for a whole season, got his ass kicked by Ben and Kate, and now he’s dead — so much for the redemption arc I was hoping for. Still, Enver Gjokaj as an alien assassin? That’s exciting.
2. It’s an Alien Dinner Party, Geddit?
If Alien was a slasher movie set in space, then “Alien Dinner Party” would be a slasher movie set in and around… Harry’s loghouse, which, OK, isn’t any different from a regular slasher movie, but you get the idea. The parallel dawned on me when the “humalien” baby cloaked itself against the wall while sneaking up on Ben: although the idea is more reminiscent of Alien‘s sister franchise Predator, the way the baby’s tongue stuck out, preparing to lick him, brought to mind the Alien’s infamous second set of jaws. It has to be said though: if this was a slasher movie, Ben and Kate would’ve been eaten first for being the horny couple, instead of that poor raccoon Max and Sahar saw get ripped to shreds.
3. Shifting Tones Effortlessly
There’s a great five-minute stretch in this episode that demonstrates part of why this show is so great, effortlessly shifting from touching to scary to funny: Jay arrives at the party to deliver the cake, and asks Asta if she’d like to have lunch with her during her 18th birthday. Asta agrees, and goes to the bathroom to shed tears of joy at her daughter’s apparent forgiveness. Then, she discovers the baby from Hell hiding in the toilet, and this is our first full view of it, so I was naturally startled and on the edge of my seat. Then, after it hisses and flees, Thompson comes to use the bathroom, explaining he’s had too much of Liv’s deviled eggs; I laughed at him being in denial over his self-consciousness, and yelling that he could still see D’Arcy (who had come to check on Asta) hovering outside.
4. This Argument Subverted All My Expectations
Drama finally erupts between Ben, Kate and D’Arcy when the two ladies realize he gave different reasons for taking photos of the resort Jessup is building, and Thompson decides to intervene by interjecting it wasn’t Ben’s fault D’Arcy kissed him. (Despite previously describing in great length how that was a bad idea: he must’ve been drunk.) I was surprised by how Kate objected more to the weed in Max’s bedroom than kissing Ben, but it transpired she wasn’t shocked D’Arcy was “drunk and sad;” then more astonishingly, Kate let slip that she’s pregnant while confessing how she feels trapped in Patience. Oh, and then she and Ben reconciled by having sex in Harry’s bathroom, despite her admitting part of their problem is that they have sex instead of talking stuff out.
I think Harry spoke for us all, when his only response to all this human drama proved to be congratulating the Hawthornes on their new baby.
5. Cliffhangers Crashing into Each Other
Harry goes out to lure the Alien Baby with pie, and it bites him on the head, causing a psychic connection to Goliath (I’m guessing he turned himself into a baby the way God the Son did.) He informs him their people aren’t coming to destroy humanity, because another species (presumably that of Gjokaj’s sniper) is already planning to take over the planet. Unfortunately, the connection is cut off when one of Galvan/Powell’s men shows up and shoots Harry, causing the baby to scutter away. Asta appears, and shoots and kills him, something that horrifies her when it sinks in what she’s done. So a ravenous baby’s on the loose, there’s a new alien threat, and Harry and Asta need a cover story that doesn’t involve explaining he’s an alien and therefore didn’t really get blackmailed into murdering Sam by this group.
Continued belowI could really go for some pie — bye!
Bonus Thoughts:
– I love how understanding everyone is about Harry’s overwhelming preference for pie over cake: us real-life aliens/neurodiverse can be really picky about our food, and there should be nothing wrong with that.
– Can’t believe it took Max and Sahar this long to realize the military abducted Ethan Stone: kids, amirite?
– Thompson carries some of Jesse’s ashes in his necklace, which is, um, wow, yeah, quite something.
– Pee fetish jokes? Oh my god, this show is really breaking new ground huh?
Well, that’s it for now, until some unspecified time in the summer. (Bummer.) So, who’s excited for D’Arcy’s date with Elliot?
