Resident Alien: Autopsy

Hey! Wake up, Drunky! Better not be pissing in there! People don't listen. How's he even, like, breathing in there?

Episode description: “Asta is overwhelmed with guilt after she, Harry, and D'arcy get rid of the dead body.”

The previous episode ended with Asta shooting and killing a man who had just shot Harry in the shoulder and was about to shoot him dead. As she stands there, aghast by what she has done, D’arcy arrives.

I've got to admit, D’arcy really steps forward in this episode. She puts on gloves, searches the dead body, and makes really practical suggestions on how to move it in order to cover their tracks and to muddy the evidence. She credits being a fan of CSI for her knowing what to do – and I’m sure that helped – but I’ve got to think that D’arcy has been plotting crimes for a while.

Resident Alien often makes fun of Judy Cooper, but I like her. She’s not bright, but she’s sweet, and she tries to expand her horizons, such as doing murder tours (a previous episode) and in this episode, doing audiobooks. Her gift to the Sheriff was adorable. Best expression was when she wondered how the guy in the hot tub was even breathing, and then realized he wasn’t. She has the characteristic of being too enthusiastic, like eating too many of Liv’s eggs and then falling into the hot tub (even Harry is perceptive enough to say he told her she did not need to do this). Poor Judy wasn’t invited to the surprise party, and wasn’t clever enough to find out and crash it, the way D’arcy did.

Mayor Ben knows the exact boundaries of his town and notes the hot tub is located in Jessup. Harry wants the autopsy and Sheriff Mike wants the murder so there’s a conflict (really, Ben should just go with Patience being a murder town). However, the Jessup connection allows Resident Alien to introduce us to Lena Torres, the sheriff of Jessup.

But the core of the episode has to do with Asta and her guilt. Asta knows she was defending Harry; that it was self-defense, or at least defense of a friend, but she is suffering. After all the effort Harry goes to in order to do the autopsy – becoming town doctor again, listening to Ben and Kate in their therapy session, and getting the body back by planting evidence to make it look as if the murderer was standing near the Patience-Jessup border – Asta walks out on the actual autopsy. She goes and does day drinks with D’arcy. She almost confesses to Liv, but then she sees her father and she remembers the danger that would come to her and her family if others learned she killed the dead guy.

This episode also shows the affection between Harry and Asta. Harry may be alien – he almost seems severely autistic – but in the aftermath of the shooting you can see how much they care about each other. Perhaps there’s no physical attraction but there’s a deep bond. And neither of them is doing OK. Asta is full of horror and guilt. Harry, who would have died if Tanner Carrington were a better shot, can’t stop thinking about nearly dying.

Asta’s guilt keeps reminding Harry of his own terror. As she says she cannot get over it, like a guy, he tries to solve the problem instead of talking her through it. As Asta cannot bear her memories, Harry erases them, without asking permission. This means that Asta, although happier, stands up Jay who is waiting to have a lunch with her biological mother.

Title musings. “Autopsy” is the title of the episode, and it most obviously refers to Harry’s shenanigans to get to do the autopsy of the man shot by Asta. However, the word autopsy’s second meaning (according to Merriam-Webster) is “a critical examination, evaluation, or assessment of someone or something past.” Asta is exploring the trauma of having shot a man dead. Harry is dealing with having nearly died. David Logan is surprised he is not dead. Others: Mayor Ben, Deputy Liv and even D’arcy are evaluating the impacts of their own past experiences. An excellent title.

Bits and pieces

Malcolm X as Malcolm the 10th is really funny.

The writers are spot on with the dialogue. I love how Harry calls Mike “Sheriff Hat” and Liv “Deputy Sadsmile” – perfect.

We get a few glimpses of David Logan, the undercover alien-seeking agent.

Resident Alien remembered to use the tell from Asta when she’s lying. Instead of confessing to Deputy Liv, Asta hugs her.

At the Copper Ridge motel, they shoot a scene in the rain in which they mention the yellow crêpe paper dissolving due to the water. Rain has to be a pain to create. I suspect it was just raining and they decided to deal with it.

As long as we’re pursuing logic, any friends of Tanner (the guy Asta shot) would naturally be suspicious of Harry if Tanner is discovered anywhere near Patience. Putting him in the hot tub may fool the police but it shouldn’t fool Tanner’s friends. Luckily for Harry, the alien baby ate two other bad guys who were sitting in a boat in the lake.

I bet the writers had fun coming up with those rich people names.

When Asta first learned Harry was an alien, she didn’t want him to do any doctoring. She seems to have changed her mind in this episode, and I don’t think it’s just about the fact that she needs protection from her crime. In an earlier episode, Harry proved his worth by delivering a baby on the Rez.

Quotes

D’arcy: I was just gonna see if you had, like, a wood-chipper I could chuck the body into.
Asta: What? No! We have to tell the police! We should've told Mike. This is self-defense.
Harry: You cannot do that. If you tell the police, then the bad people will know that you killed their friend, and then they will come and kill you and everyone that is close to you.

D’arcy: We have to plant the body somewhere. He was staying at the Copper Ridge, that shitty motel on the edge of town. It's in the middle of nowhere, quiet, no security cameras. It's one of the top three places to plant a body in town. We'll bag the body, limit how much DNA we get on it. I'll drive his car to the motel. You two dump his body in the hot tub out back. We want the body in hot water to help muddy the evidence. We'll plant his gun on him, make him look shady. Harry, you melt down the rifle that shot him.

General Wright: This way.
David Logan: You set me up.
General Wright: If I had set you up, I would be with all those men and dogs that are clearly chasing both of us.

Asta: Oh, are you okay?
Harry: No. Are you?
Asta: No.

Asta: That doesn't help me. Harry, even if they think that he killed Sam, I still killed him.
Harry: It will work. Mayor snowflake has asked me to be the town doctor. I will accept. I will do the autopsy. I will fake the results. I will make sure that Sheriff Hat and Deputy Sadsmile do not think you did it.

Sheriff Mike: Look at them rich people names: Troy Hendricks, Tanner Corrington. Sound like old-money murderers who killed their way out of trouble. The parents too busy buying yachts and wearing visors to teach 'em right from wrong.

Deputy Liv: Sir, you're not gonna believe this. The victim was one of the names on Sam's list: Tanner Corrington... And he had a gun in his jacket.
Harry: What an interesting name I've never heard of.
Sheriff Mike: Well, well, well. So Mr. Silver spoon fancy pants was carrying and got murdered?

Sheriff Mike: Yeah, maybe it was an ice gun firing an ice bullet, right? The bullet friction, that'll melt the gun right away, so that's a one-time-use-only weapon, and the killer, he's gotta be somebody who knows how to meditate or something, keep the body temperature low enough that their hand don't melt the gun. So maybe the killer's like a Tibetan monk, right, who mediated before he shot the guy... Not enough to bring him inner peace, though. He was still angry enough to kill a man. That's sad.
Deputy Liv: Or maybe he was shot with a regular gun, and the murderer left with it.
Sheriff Mike: See, that's thinking inside the box.

Torres: You still haven't introduced yourself. I guess they don't have etiquette teachers here in Patience?
Sheriff Mike: I'm Sheriff Mike Thompson. You can call me Big Black.
Torres: In that case, you can call me Medium Brown.
Deputy Liv: I'm Liv. I'm white.

Woman bringing body into the clinic: One deceased male, fatal gunshot wound. Where do you want him for the autopsy?
Asta: Uh...
Ellen: Alive people wait in the lobby. Dead people wait in exam one.

Harry to self: I can feel her pain as if it is inside me. If she could just pretend it did not happen, she would feel better.
Harry aloud: Do not think about the pain.
Asta: How?
Harry to self: If she cannot push the bad feelings away, I can help her. I can erase all of her memories of that night for her, and she will be happy again. She will forget, and everything will be okay.

Overall rating

Another excellent and entertaining episode – there are so many other bits I liked that I had to leave out. Three and a half out of four audiobooks.

Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.