We get much more of Max – the young actor does really well – and more of the other characters, usually as patients in Patience, in this episode. Harry starts experiencing human emotions.
Harry, although a scientist on his planet, has never doctored humans before. So, just before each appointment, he researches the next procedure. This does not always work. He expects the next patient to be a boy who needs a wart removed, but instead he meets Judy who’s there for her pelvic exam. While under the sheet to examine her, Harry is looking up pelvic examinations on his phone, but accidentally takes a picture. This surprises Judy, but she’s actually pretty cool with it.
Another source of humor is Harry's failure to observe human niceties, such as telling the truth when society demands he should not. Sometimes it works out. Patient Gerard appreciates Harry’s honesty when he says Gerard does not have long to live. Harry gives him excellent advice: celebrate Christmas early and eat anything he wants. I mean, if you're dying, why not indulge in a whole pie?
Other times he misreads what is going on. When Asta says, “Don’t just stand there,” she means, help clean up. Harry, however, interprets her words differently and simply leaves the room. When he goes bowling with D’Arcy, he also ups and leaves when an idea occurs to him. On the other hand, being abandoned in the middle of a date seems to happen to D’Arcy with some regularity.
What helps Harry fit in, or at least fit in enough, is how messed-up and clueless the humans are themselves. D’Arcy totally misunderstands Harry’s interest in her – he doesn’t have much – and we get the sense that she has overestimated male interest before. Still, she does have a cool backstory as a world class skier.
Again, I have problems with Asta’s backstory. I don’t think it’s the actor (Sara Tomko), but the inconsistencies inserted by the writers. She claims she couldn’t talk to her father, Dan Twelvetrees, when she was younger, but she gets along fine with him now. In fact there’s a warmth between the two that is really nice, but is at odds with how she describes her past.
The main source of drama and humor in the episode comes from Max insisting the new doctor is not a human but an alien from another planet. And a dangerous one as well, because Harry has tried to kill Max several times. Max keeps telling his parents, but they cannot see the alien and are extremely frustrated. Max also tells the police. Sheriff Mike mocks Max, but Deputy Liv is kinder, offering to sketch what Max sees.
All throughout the episode Harry is experiencing emotions: his own, and even the emotions of other humans. It’s both new and disturbing for him but I like the insight he shows into the residents of Patience.
Title musings. The title of the episode is “Homesick,” describing the experience of several characters in the episode. Mostly it describes Harry, who, as he has assumed human form, is experiencing some human emotions. One such emotion is homesickness – naturally, he misses his home planet. Max is home, or at least not at school, because he is sick. Also, Asta says she missed her home so she moved back in with her dad. Although the episode has a few examples of homesickness in the episode, the title does not seem inspired.
Bits and pieces
Deputy Liv is kind to Max by sketching the alien he describes. Perhaps she is trying to humor the upset little boy – but then she actually puts copies of the sketch all around town.
Like how Asta shows her grief at the death of Sam Hodges by cutting her hair. However, given how long her hair is, it’s not the great sacrifice as when you truly shear your head.
Harry, when complaining about Max and his persistence, talks about helping humans make Stonehenge. A popular theory about aliens is that they are responsible for some of the ancient structures with really large stones: Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and Gobekli Tepe. How ancient humans managed to move those stones is still hotly debated.
I love how neither Harry nor Max knows how much a postage stamp costs.
I enjoyed how Judy and D’Arcy both insult each other and then move on to bowling with each other after Harry takes off.
One thing I don’t understand about our society is why certain words are considered bad and how people are shocked when kids use them or when people use them around kids. Sure, the use of bad words is not a good thing, but it seems to me that many reactions to them are disproportionate.
Near the beginning of the episode, Harry is complaining about the stupidity of humans, while the episode shows us a human doing something really stupid: taking a selfie near the edge of a cliff and then falling off. He lands on something invisible and his dead body is discovered three months later by people who are not as surprised by the discovery as they should be.
Quotes
Kate: You are going back in there, and you are letting that doctor take a look at your sore throat.
Max: And while I'm in there, you can buy a four-foot coffin.
Mike: An alien? What you mean? Like, he ain't got a green card or something?
Max: No, like, alien-alien from outer space.
Deputy Liv: Hey, I know the sheriff can seem kind of mean sometimes, but he's just a teddy bear – with severe control and anger issues.
Max: But he didn't believe me when I told him about the alien. Nobody does.
Deputy Liv: Well, look, maybe he didn't believe you because he can't see the alien, right? It's probably putting up some kind of mind shield that only you can see through because you're special.
Max: Yeah, that makes sense.
Deputy Liv: One of my skills as a deputy is to work as a sketch artist, so if you describe the alien to me, I could draw a picture of him.
Harry: I discovered that the woman does not have cancer. I also discovered that "tit" is not the preferred term for breast.
Patient Gerard: How long do you think I have?
Harry: Do you like Christmas?
Gerard: Yes, very much.
Harry: Celebrate it before June.
Gerard: Oh, okay. But between now and Christmas?
Harry: You can eat anything you want.
Gerard: I like you. This is the first time that a doctor's been totally honest with me.
Harry: This kid is a menace. He just won't give up. Where was that effort from the humans when we were helping them build Stonehenge? A bunch of idiots just sitting around drinking mead, making us do all the work.
Harry: Don't call me stupid...you little shit.
Max: S-H-I-T is a bad word, stupid.
Harry: I had an emptiness that no amount of potato chips or hot dogs would cure, but when I found the tellurium, the ache went away. It wasn't coming from my stomach. It was coming from my heart. Human emotions are growing inside of me.
Overall rating
The second episode in a series is always a challenge, as a story goes from the introduction of a strange and engaging situation to ongoing story. Max really shines in this episode. Three out of four postage stamps.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
Clearly, Harry hasn't included Star Trek in his television watching, because if he had he would know what happens every time non-humanoid aliens assume human form.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was little Max who put the picture of Harry around town. It was labeled with very kid-like handwriting. :)
ReplyDeleteYou may be right!
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