This week on Resident Alien, Harry enlisted Max to help him find the Alien Baby. Max agreed as long as Harry paid him, an arrangement the good doctor began taking advantage of. Meanwhile, Liv asked Asta to help her look into the people whose medical records were kept by Galvan/Powell; Kate decided to check if her pregnancy test results had been a false positive; and D’Arcy rediscovered her passion for skiing.
1. The Power of Apologies
Harry recruits Max not just because he can see the Baby in its true form, but because Asta is still upset with him, and Max agrees as he’s now into music, and wants a drum kit. Some part of the boy must’ve got pretty tired of being roped into being his “butler” though, as he lets slip he knows the Baby hasn’t taken the form of a girl, forcing him to confess Sahar is looking after him. Harry confronts Sahar, demanding “Bobby Smallwood” join him, causing him to run off into the woods (denting poor D’Arcy’s car en route.) Sahar forgives Max after he apologizes for blabbing, causing Harry to realize he and Asta might reconcile if he comes clean too, culminating in a rather touching ending where he admits he is a “bad friend,” and informs her about the bad aliens on Earth too. Aw: Tudyk’s really pulling my heartstrings this season.
2. Harry’s Such an Innocent
The scene where Harry recruits Max in the diner did a hysterical job of reminding us of how childlike he really is: first he tells us he went online to figure out what size shoes the Baby might be wearing, only to wind up with lots of pictures of feet in his inbox, and then tells Max paying him might cause problems, citing a Law & Order episode where a man got arrested for buying a child stuff like a “chicken sandwich.” I just had to laugh at how much Harry does not understand the extent to which humans can be vile and twisted: someone please, please keep him supervised while online. I suppose this all reinforces why Kate would believe his claim that he’s paying Max because he thinks they (the mayor’s family) are poor — he’s so clearly neurodivergent to the rest of Patience.
3. Sharing Makes it Easier
By helping Liv, Asta learns Galvan/Powell and Sam Hodges conspired to cover up a number of Patience residents (including Judy’s uncle) developing cancer as a result of metal poisoning in Hawthorne Creek. (How Erin Brockovich.) However, knowing how much of a harmful scumbag the man she killed was still doesn’t relieve Asta of her guilt, so she goes to confess everything to her father. Dan empathizes, telling her he’s always been haunted by the lives he took in Vietnam, and perhaps now sharing this will make it easier, for both of them. I imagine even if D’Arcy hadn’t left to rekindle her interest in skiing, that Asta would’ve still gone to her father, since her best friend still isn’t in on the whole “Harry is an alien” thing.
4. False Positive
Kate’s blood test comes back negative, meaning she’s not pregnant after all, and breaks the news to Ben at the 59. He awkwardly admits he’s relieved, even though he was far more about enthusiastic about the prospect than she was, because raising kids is hard work, especially when they’re a decade older. I think kids are very much the definition of two things being true at once: they’re a delight, but also exhausting. Besides, there’s already one Baby causing havoc in town (and honestly, given all the rug pulls on this show, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben and Kate wound up being its guardians or something as extreme.)
5. Watch Out, McCallister’s About
David Logan and McCallister’s storyline revealed a lot this week: we learn the men Harry knocked out at the warehouse in the first season finale have since remained unconscious (and are being cared in a sleeping arrangement that resembles the sleeping pods on the Nostromo in Alien.) We also see Enver Gjokaj’s alien assassin is a guard at the facility all the suspected aliens are being held at, and that some of the prisoners are indeed sleeper agents, waiting to have their memories of their extraterrestrial lives reawakened.
Continued belowFurthermore, after watching his surveillance footage for some time, and hearing about more strange incidents in Patience, David comes to the conclusion Ethan Stone is not the alien they were looking for, something McCallister verifies by pranking him. She then pushes him off a cliff with Harry’s silver ball, which protects Ethan from dying (although he’s still grievously injured), demonstrating its powers for her. She then has Ethan dumped in Albuquerque with some heroin and a syringe to make it look like he’s a relapsed drug addict, which certainly adds insult to injury, and will make it a lot harder for him to expose her once he returns to Patience, where she’s now personally on the prowl for Harry.
Bonus Thoughts:
– You can tell how much of an impact of Torres is having on Mike now that he’s embracing his D.C. nickname MerMike, despite ranting before about how much he hates the idea of mermaids.
– Seriously, how could Ben and Kate tell Max Cousin Frank is alive?! That is so messed up.
– I don’t know about you, but seeing the birds attack Harry makes me hope for a lot more Alfred Hitchcock homages.
– Harry gave us two very important pieces of wisdom this week: “Do not be ashamed of being poor,” and “You are not my friend. I’m your friend. See, there’s a difference.”
– Dark Horse Comics tie-in alert: the comic Max reads is 2004’s “B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs” #1.
See you all next week for “The Alien Within.”
