Joseph: I'm sorry, that means something where I come from.
Episode description: “Harry and Asta work together to try and get something.”
That is the laziest episode description I have ever seen! But we’ll review the episode based on the episode, and not on whoever whiffed the description sent out by their marketing department.
This episode continues from where we were at the end of the previous episode: Harry (now human), Asta, the two kids and Bridget are driving away from Harry’s cabin after having barely escaped the jaws of Mantid Harry.
Resident Alien’s creators are deft at getting characters out of the way when they would be inconvenient. It’s fun to watch our Harry stay with Asta and D’arcy, but having Bridget there as well would have been a distraction to both the emotional arcs and the budget. It’s also much more convenient to have only Asta accompany Harry to Las Vegas, so D’arcy reveals she’s been banned from all Nevada casinos (given her problems with substance abuse, that’s not so impossible). They also skipped the fight scene between Joseph and the Mantid. It was certainly funnier, and more emotionally relevant, to listen to Joseph tell what happened while D’arcy makes snarky remarks.
Resident Alien also provides comedic entertainment with trivial props. For example, Debra, who is not a policewoman but who works in the police department, brings in balloons to Sheriff Mike in order to welcome him back. She says that a mental health crisis is still a health crisis, and these unwelcome words set the irritated Sheriff Mike to popping the balloons. In response to the noise, Deputy Fred arrives with his gun, and has to be told by Deputy Liv, apparently again, that it’s just balloons. The episode also does wonders with a young violinist and even a blue glove Asta was using in an examination.
Ben and Kate are still trying to get their baby daughter back. They suspect Joseph, but Kate doesn’t want to go to the police, even though Deputy Liv believes in aliens, because they are afraid Joseph will clam up.
Lena out of Jessup reports finding a headless hunter in the woods and wants help (she and Sheriff Mike are both excited at having some real crime to work on). We have another great scene where Deputy Liv accuses Mike and Lena of being sexist when they don’t want her to search the caves alone. Mike and Lena may be speechless (Liv’s words defied logic) but Mike has the good sense to follow Liv and discovers she’s been hiding Peter Bach. Mike hadn’t seen Peter since he was turned into a cyborg. Peter's logic is sufficient to make Mike think there might be aliens after all, and he reexamines the bag where he put the Grey alien. A more thorough search reveals the gray goo residue that remains, and at last Sheriff Mike believes.
We end up really liking Joseph the Grey and respecting his affection for Asta. Of course he has murdered plenty of others in his existence, to the point where he can’t be rehabilitated for a committed relationship with Harry’s favorite human. But his proposal with the violinist is both sweet and funny. He also sacrifices a limb and his looks to protect Asta and her friends, and explains how she makes him feel like a good person. Isn’t that real love? And then – this touched me – he leaves a note for the Hawthornes to let them know their baby is safe on Earth.
Was sorry, too, to see Bruce the Grey melt into a pile of goo. Well, he certainly knew the risk of spending any time on Earth, so we can’t completely fault Harry for the Grey’s death. But he was so sweet! It makes me think that maybe the Greys might not be so bad – although of course there's selection bias in the Greys who choose to help the humans.
Title musings. The title of the episode is “The Lonely Man.” That’s also the title of a Western that came out in 1957. I have never seen the movie, but it’s described as being a character study of a gunfighter who tries to reform. Applies mostly to Joseph, but Harry deserves mention as well.
Bits and pieces:
Love how Sheriff Mike knows so many tidbits about various animals. In this episode we hear about orcas and bonobos (and cats and a painting pig).
This is not the first time I have heard of characters being banned from casinos; Ella Lopez in Lucifer was banned in Las Vegas because she was too good at counting cards. I was curious if this really happens, so I asked Bing and this is what popped out: “Nevada does maintain a centralized banned list. At present, there are 36 men and 1 woman on the Nevada casino banned list. Typical reasons for being banned include the customer being too loud, rowdy, drunk, or winning too much money. There are 441 casinos in Nevada, with around 150 in Las Vegas alone.”
In my experience, the police really do enjoy the thrill of a real investigation. When some criminals were on the run in my neighborhood and the gendarmes had to set up roadblocks, it was clear they were happy to have something important to do.
Loved how Joseph could not spell the word "sincerely." There are words I perpetually mess up.
Quotes:
Harry: But of all the flaws humans have, the biggest one is their ability to lie to themselves. Luckily, I am not human, so I do not have that flaw.
Harry: They conducted many medical experiments and probes on me. You cannot imagine where.
Max: Your butthole?
Harry: You're stupid, and that is cliché. Yes, actually.
Kate: Where were you?
Max: Didn't you notice I wasn't at dinner?
Ben: I did notice I had enough food to eat for once.
Kate: Our son out there with a killer alien on the loose. Man, they'll just let anybody be parents, won't they?
Sheriff Mike: Now you tell me what type of animal can bite a head off with one bite, I mean, besides an orca, obviously.
Harry: Men will do anything for love. I ate worms.
Bruce the Grey: You gave me the best day and a half of my entire life. I got to see the most beautiful planet, saw my first sunset, and I may have married a Greek man named Milos last night. I don't know. I was pretty drunk.
Peter: We can believe in things that make no logical sense, like – like love, but reject things that we see right in front of us. Just ask yourself this. Why would the government spend billions of dollars on turning a 70-year-old podcaster into a weapon?
Joseph: Being with you made me feel good. You made me feel like I could be good. What if I never feel that way again?
Asta: If you felt good with me, it's only because I brought out the good that's already inside you.
Sheriff Mike: Son of a bitch. I believe in aliens.
Overall rating:
I really enjoyed this. Three and half out of four get-well balloons.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
As a fan of Enver Gjokaj, I was so happy to have his character somewhat redeemed. :)
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