Welcome back for the second episode of Resident Alien, Syfy’s Dark Horse comic book adaptation starring Alan Tudyk as Harry Vanderspeigle, the alien disguised as a small town doctor. This week, Harry continued his attempts to kill the mayor’s son Max, who can see his true appearance, but not before accidentally finding himself on a date.
“Homesick”
Written by Chris Sheridan
Directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
1. History Channel or Syfy Channel?
There were a couple of memorable instances playing on common UFO tropes that I’m surprised weren’t used in the first episode: the first comes during one of Harry’s rambling narrations, where he reveals his people have made contact with humans before, and built monuments like Stonehenge — I don’t know about you, but I find the mental image of “lazy druids” just lying back on deckchairs, and sipping on cocktails while Harry’s ancestors realized they made a bad deal, absolutely unforgettable.
The second moment subverts the urban legend of aliens mutilating cattle, by revealing the night Harry fell to Earth, he survived by finding refuge in a barn, and… by sucking on a cow’s teats.
Something he tries it again when he suspects hunger is the reason he feels so empty.
(I am thankful we were spared the sight of Tudyk sucking on a cow, because it was gross enough seeing the alien version of Harry do that.)
And to top it all off, there’s a cameo from infamous ancient astronaut conspiracy theorist Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (he of the bizarre hair and “aliens” meme) on a show watched by Deputy Baker. She’s the only authority figure who doesn’t patronize Max about his wild claims, and you know what they say about the quiet ones…
2. Dunning-Kruger Effect
Harry may be an alien, but after this episode I think it’s safe to say he’s a genuine dummy: I don’t care where you’re from, no kid is going to be fooled by you posing as another kid they don’t know, or believe that a cow can consent to feeding a human, or that standing in the middle of a road isn’t obnoxious! (Oh, and planning to murder someone without considering an alibi is dumb, but murder is bad anyway.) If Harry didn’t steal his identity from an actual human, he’d have been arrested for posing as a fake doctor ages ago.
To take it seriously for a moment, I think Harry’s species are clearly predators, who’ve never really had to think about surviving, or explored the sensitivities of those around them. Harry thinks the empathy he’s begun to develop for humans is a result of him taking on their “molecular” properties, but I think as time goes by, he’ll realize emotional intelligence is one way humans have survived over the centuries, and that is an edge we have that he’ll realize he wishes he had.
3. Harry’s Imagination
I really enjoyed the (even more) surreal diversions into Harry’s imagination, when he fantasizes about how he could make Max’s death look like an accident, from the hilariously hokey dialogue he thinks the boy’s parents would say, to the Looney Tunes-esque sight of a piano landing on the kid. It spices up the show, and likewise the gag of Harry accidentally throwing back a bowling ball into Sheriff Thompson was made funnier by the ’80s-style graphic of him trying to chart the best course towards the alley pins, building up our expectations before the painful anticlimax.
4. Small Town Girl in a Lonely Town
Harry winds up being invited to go bowling by bartender D’Arcy Bloom (Alice Wetterlund, who, unlike in the pilot, sports blonde hair here). We get to learn about her past training to be an Olympic skier, until an accident that nearly claimed her life scuppered that, leading her to remain in Patience, still trading barbs with her high school frenemy Judy (Jenna Lamia). I didn’t expect D’Arcy to play such a big role, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ultimately became Harry’s love interest, because who better to lift you out of a dump than an alien?
5. Asta’s Family
We get to meet Asta’s adoptive father, Dan (Gary Farmer), as well as her cousin, Kayla (Sarah Podemski), and her son Sage (whom Harry manages to tickle while social distancing). Dan is understandably protective of his daughter, and he can tell something is off about Harry, though he says it’s because — unlike the past men in her life — he can’t deduce anything about him. We also get to see Harry’s predecessor Sam Hodges (Jan Bos) in flashback, and learn that he and Asta were much closer than we thought, to the point she feels ashamed she wasn’t there the night he was murdered. Dan encourages his daughter to truly mourn her loss, and I really liked how, while we haven’t been explicitly told they’re Native Americans, we got to see that from the ritual cutting of her hair, and the burning of the sage.
Continued belowBonus Thoughts:
– Harry confirms what we suspected all along: almond milk is the leading cause of human death.
– I’m amazed Deputy Baker got away with humoring Max to the point of putting up wanted posters of the alien across town.
– You can really tell Harry loves Law & Order from him namedropping Jerry Orbach this week.
As always, we’ll be back for more of Resident Alien‘s dark shenanigans next week, so be sure to let us know your favorite moments from this week’s episode in the comments, until then.
