At the halfway stage in this first season of Resident Alien, episode five: ‘Love Language’, definitely feels like a serious pivot point in the show’s early journey. *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*
Last week’s episode, ‘Birds of a Feather’, showed that they weren’t afraid to shake things up a little and this is followed up by more evolution in the main premise. Up until now the main setup has been that Harry (Alan Tudyk) is on his own, with his principal struggles being: maintaining his cover as a human, finding his ship, and eradicating the threat from Max (Judah Prehn). That dynamic with Max took on a Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote style feel, until they then expanded it with Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) brilliantly joining Max’s side to make it have a lot more potential.
As an audience we knew they were correct and saw them find hard evidence, yet they were still disbelieved, as is always the trope that children have to deal with on TV. This could have been the template for the show going forward for many, many episodes. Much like child size Carries (Homeland), or Jack Bauers (24), every episode would then have them having to go against the grain. Here though, in ‘Love Language’, they have subverted that potential outcome and switched it around, so that Max and Sahar get the satisfaction of being treated seriously.
This happens through the calling of a truce with Harry, that ends up with them having something of a nice conversation about their differences and coming to a more productive conclusion. This probably marks the beginning of a whole new approach to how the show deals with Harry in the long run. As he forms more relationships within the town, it is likely that a few more people will discover his secret and eventually decide to help him. Unless of course they discover his true mission, but that will be a subplot in itself.
With the eventual arrival of Lisa (Mandell Maughan) and David (Alex Barima), the mysterious Agents tracking Harry, it would not be a surprise if the town protected him as one of their own. Like ‘Mork and Mindy’, ‘ALF’, and ‘Superman’, it is a common trope for this kind of community (or family) vs the government situation to evolve. In the long run it may provide more scope for the overarching narrative, as there won’t be the need for our suspension of disbelief to be tested to the limit regarding Harry’s blending in.
For Harry, the truce with Max and Sahar is probably for the best as his life is now more complicated than ever, with the arrival of his wife Isabelle (Elvy Yost – The Catch). While their interactions do push the envelope in terms of what a wife would or would not suspect, they do successfully throw the cat amongst the pigeons. Both in terms of Harry’s plans and his newly formed relationships in town. On both fronts he now has issues, as he doesn’t have the time or freedom to search for his ship, while he also has some explaining to do with D’Arcy (Alice Wetterlund) and Asta (Sara Tomko).
So far this has been handled in an ok fashion, although the personal interactions between Harry and Isabelle in ‘Love Language’ have to be accepted with acknowledgement of the comedy environment. Without that caveat, they make no sense and would just be ludicrous. Isabelle should immediately know that he isn’t her husband, or that something was seriously wrong. The shift in behaviour and changes in his physicality would no doubt be immediate warning signs, and when coupled with the lack of knowledge of his own history, would they become a blaring klaxon.
A more subdued and painful alarm bell goes off for Jay (Kaylayla Raine) and Asta, as Jay discovers that Asta is her real mother, through complete chance. This whole plotline has been accelerated through much earlier than expected, but does nicely bring some weight to the comedic elements surrounding it. There is real pain here, with Tomko especially handling things exceptionally well. How this plays out over the latter part of the season will be interesting, and the dynamic between Asta’s father Dan (Gary Farmer), Asta, and Jay is an intriguing one, especially as Dan is Asta’s adoptive father. It will certainly trigger stories revolving around the nature of family and belonging, probably also juxtaposed against Harry’s alien history.
So, in quick succession over the past couple of episodes, Resident Alien has established itself, shaken that up, and now pivoted slightly to what is potentially a whole new framework for the show going forward. It is clear that the writers know what they are doing, and handle the tropes with skill, using them cleverly, and knowingly to subvert expectations. With this level of invention and awareness of what is possible, this show could become much more than just a well-crafted comedy show. Something much, much more.
Resident Alien airs Wednesday’s on Syfy
