Welcome back Resident Alien fans, for the third last episode of what will officially be the first season! (That is if Syfy doesn’t pull a Stumptown or I Am Not Okay with This on us.) Last week saw Harry, Asta and D’Arcy fall into a crevasse that suddenly opened on the glacier, which left Harry injured, and unable to maintain his human appearance.
“End of the World As We Know It”
Written by Christian Taylor
Directed by Shannon Kohli
1. Not the First Migrants Their People Had to Deal With
Asta discovers Harry’s secret early on, as does her father at the end. (He says he suspected Ben was the alien, which is odd given how repulsive he found Harry, but it’s a great zinger nonetheless.) She mentions stories of her people encountering others from the sky, which Harry explains were memories of first contact; his people regularly met humans, until they became too fearful, and now he believes without them, we have become something terrible, though he naturally stops short of telling Asta the truth of why he came to Earth. I imagine Asta and Dan can empathize, given their people’s history.
2. Harry is so Alien it Hurts
A lot is revealed about Harry and his species here, from the oral cavity in their bellies (which certainly brought back memories of the first Iron Man film), to Harry’s absolutely unpronounceable real name (which demonstrates just how talented a voice actor Tudyk is.) The big reveal is that his people must die to reproduce, which is how his mate died, and that their bodies spawn hundreds of offspring, who must then venture into the wilderness to prove themselves worthy of living. It’s a genuinely alien and offputting culture, and you realize just how empathy’s Harry’s gained by living among us — it’s also a reminder that it’s often not nature or nurture, but both.
Also, we learn the shapeshifting reptilians from conspiracy theories do use Earth as a lab, and have major hygiene issues — I really, really hope we meet some other aliens by the end of this season, or next.
3. Toxic Masculinity
Harry’s people are described as being social Darwinist, and that erroneous school of thought can be often applicable to jerks who mistake their cruelty for maturity: for all we know, Harry’s conversation with Asta may be the first time he’s ever had therapy. Meanwhile, in the episode’s subplot, we see Ben coming to blows with Thompson after he insinuates he’s a pushover towards his wife, but yet deciding he should take his advice about being more assertive planning their anniversary dinner.
Ben winds up cutting his lip eating escargot, putting Kate off kissing him, so how was that for rugged manliness? Maybe Dan suspected he was the alien in his kitchen because he and Harry are both afraid to look soft.
4. Casper’s Scary
McCallister sends Casper and Logan to Patience after detecting the signal from Harry’s device. Logan thinks they’re on a wild goose chase, given the signal range was too large for them to narrow its location, and wants to inform the feds, so Casper decides to put him in a chokehold, and nearly kills him until one of the posters Liv made for Max happens to fly onto their windshield. This woman is dangerously unhinged, and the way she subsequently ingratiated herself to Kate was creepy: you think Harry is weird? No one really human can befriend someone to get closer to their kid that quickly.
5. Seriously Harry?
OK, so it may be the delirium talking, but does Harry really, really still plan on killing all of humanity after Asta — and her dad — saved his life? I get it sucks they had to amputate his frostbitten leg, but he can just grow it back right? What I’m actually saying is, if this wasn’t the moment Harry decided that humans aren’t all so bad after all, then the scene where he finally decides to give up on his genocidal nonsense should be really dramatic and satisfying, because I can’t imagine being that ungrateful. Sure, he’s an alien, but we know — and he knows — he’s more human than meets the eye too.
Continued belowBonus Thoughts:
– I was genuinely worried D’Arcy died from the whiplash at the start. (Harry’s an alien, he could’ve resurrected her perhaps.)
– Harry’s seen Frankenstein and The Wizard of Oz, and naturally empathized with the flying monkeys in the latter.
– OK but really, Ben and Mike’s office confrontation was so funny: it was like seeing two very online people trying to get the last word.
– Quite surprised to see Liv and John — the other member of the avalanche control team — on a date: I feel like I missed something, or some foreshadowing got deleted from an earlier episode.
As always, be sure to let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments, and we’ll be back next week for the penultimate chapter of season 1 — boy is Asta gonna have to concoct a hell of an explanation for leaving D’Arcy like that…
