This week on Resident Alien, Harry got into a game of one-upmanship with Sam’s full-time replacement, Dr. Ethan Stone (Michael Cassidy), while Deputy Baker began to suspect Jay was the one stealing prescriptions from the clinic. Also, we were introduced to our big bad, General McCallister, played by the one, the only, Linda Hamilton.
“Sexy Beast”
Written by Emily Eslami & Jeffrey Nieves
Directed by Jennifer Phang
1. Sarah Connor, Alien Hunter
We’re introduced to McCallister as a little girl in the opening flashback, set in Maine 50 years ago, when she and her father, a lighthouse keeper, saw an alien spaceship fly over their tower. Between this and Harry being, well, a murderous alien, McCallister is established as a very sympathetic antagonist, who just wants the world to share the wonder she experienced as a child — you can see how moved she is when she’s shown the piece of Harry’s ship Casper and Logan recovered. She has a pretty anti-authoritarian streak for a general, given her goal is to ensure their discovery isn’t covered up by the feds — don’t get me wrong though, she is still quite ruthless: sending a fake message so Logan’s girlfriend would break up with him was ice cold.
2. The Sexy Beast
Ethan is just perfect: he’s a handsome, competent, Médecins Sans Frontières veteran who’s fluent in French, who charms the pants off everyone, especially D’Arcy, whom he makes a delicious breakfast for after (surprise!) they hook up. Harry gets jealous, and challenges him to an arm wrestling match at the bar, causing him to dislocate Ethan’s shoulder — which simply endears the new guy to everyone else even more. I think deep down, Harry’s upset no one, other than Asta, will miss him at the clinic, and I love the moment where he realizes the cognitive dissonance of him trying to prove he’s smarter than Ethan, by deciding to fulfil his original mission (because it would mean they’d all be dead anyway.)
3. Aspie Moments
By the way, as an Aspie, the bit where Harry decides Ethan is a son-of-a-bitch after he disses Law and Order, is more close for comfort than I’d like to admit: Hans Asperger considered autism a kind of “psychopathy,” and that anger generated by people mocking my interests is something I’ve had to learn to suppress. (When people joke about getting a personality beyond what you like and dislike, just consider how hard that might be for us.) The other moment that stood out to me was how much of a deer in headlights Harry seemed when the coffee maker broke: when stuff like that happens to me, I similarly can’t think, and stand aside, especially if I don’t know the solution to a problem (ie. where the tissue paper is), rather than trying to solve it, because it’s so outside my narrow purview.
4. Town’s Greatest Detective
Liv Baker proves she’s a much better detective than Thompson: while he demonstrates he’s the world’s worst interrogator at the school, she gleans information about the drug deals there by simply talking to the kids like an adult. I also really like how she privately discloses to Asta she suspects Jay is the one supplying the drugs, indicating she feels this issue does not require punitive justice. Asta is pretty suspicious of her ex, given his shared history with Sam, but Liv is clearly not an idiot, and I think this is pointing to what will probably be an emotionally raw reconciliation between mother and daughter.
5. All These Drugs Can’t Be Good
Speaking of drugs, all this stuff Harry is slipping Isabelle, so he can continue repairing his spaceship undisturbed, can’t be good for her: it’s a good thing this is a comedy show about an alien invader, because it’d start to get a bit disturbing. (Or even more alarming, depending on how you currently feel of course.)
Bonus Thoughts:
– What is it with comic book adaptations and Barry Manilow? Hellboy II, Days of the Bagnold Summer, now this episode: I love “Can’t Smile Without You,” but I feel like it’s stalking me.
– Have to admit, the close-ups of Harry and D’Arcy on the glacier looked pretty fake; now if only there was a cheap way to simulate cold air…
– I may have died laughing at Harry’s incredibly graphic (by TV-14 standards, anyway) description of how he was going to ravish Isabelle, as well as the metajoke about her keeping her bra on.
As always, feel free to share your thoughts on this week’s Resident Alien in the comments, and we’ll be back next time to discuss Harry’s confrontation with the military.
