An alien with an unpronounceable name – who later becomes Harry – takes up residence among humans in Patience, Colorado.
Our protagonist crash lands in the snowy mountains at the beginning of winter. He walks to a cabin on the edge of a lake where he strangles the owner (somewhat in self-defense, although we can understand the point of view of the human at the sight of a monster in his house) and assumes his form. The cabin’s isolation – apparently a few miles from town – gives Harry the Alien several months to watch lots of television, mostly Law and Order, from which he learns English. He is only approached by the town residents when there’s an emergency, as the Harry he replaced was a doctor (at his vacation home). Patience’s doctor was found dead, and Harry is needed to perform the autopsy. Fortunately for our Harry, Law and Order has given him some insight into autopsies. He drives into town, which he has avoided up to now, due to the bad parking and the lack of pizza and the fact that he is not sure he will fit in.
Alan Tudyk, who plays Harry, is brilliant. His delivery and his gait convey the sense of an awkward alien (especially when he dances after getting drunk in the local bar). His comments range from the profound to the mundane, and from the brilliant to just plain wrong. It makes excellent entertainment.
Though Harry the Alien is weird and says strange things, others in Patience are also off-kilter (which makes Harry's weirdness easier to accept). Sheriff Mike wants to be called Big Black while Liv Baker, his deputy, has trouble standing up for herself (a bad quality in a cop). Mayor Ben Hawthorne is passive-aggressive, but even though he does not seem to stand up for himself directly, he does hand out Harry’s number to the people in Patience who need medical care. D’Arcy the bartender is totally messed up, swilling whiskey and throwing herself at Harry. Even Asta Twelvetrees is messed up from a marriage with a physically abusive husband.
There’s a nice little mystery with respect to the death of Sam Hodges, the town doctor. I enjoyed how quickly Harry solved the death – Hodges killed himself! – and the logic with the blood on his hand. Asta counters nicely during the autopsy, saying that Sam would never kill himself, and if he were trying to do so, wouldn’t he go for the carotid artery? Her argument earns her some respect from Harry, who compliments her by telling her she’s smarter than a panda. A couple of scenes in the Sam Hodges arc are really funny, especially when the police demand to know what Harry did with Sam’s body. He shows them that he put it in a pile of slush, which is a way to keep it cold (apparently the town of Patience doesn’t have a morgue, or at least Harry doesn’t know where it is) a reasonable solution to a problem.
Near the end of the episode we realize Sam Hodges was murdered, and at the very end of the episode we learn that Harry’s mission on Earth is to kill all humans. Two promising hooks to keep the series going!
Title musings. “Pilot” is the title of the episode, which is so often the case for the very first episode of a series. However, in this case, pilot has a double meaning as it is about an alien pilot who has crash-landed on earth. The title works.
Bits and pieces
This series is based on a comic book (graphic novel) that was apparently more serious. As Alan Tudyk has such comedic chops, they lightened it.
I love how Harry learns English by watching Law and Order. This is mostly because I have fond memories of Jerry Orbach, and because I improved my other languages by watching favorite television shows.
According to Wikipedia, the alien language we see – that shimmers into English – is actually Esperanto, in an invented alphabet.
It is not politically correct to say so, but I agree with Harry on one point: pandas, though charming, are not that bright.
I loved how Harry looked up the word douche-bag and how he mispronounces vagina.
I did not care for the Asta and the abusive husband storyline. It allowed Harry to play the hero, but it makes Asta look pathetic for having stayed as long as she did.
Quotes
Sheriff Mike: Excuse me, sir. You Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle?
Harry: Yes, that’s me.
Sheriff Mike: Yeah, I’m Sheriff Mike Thompson. Everybody calls me Big Black.
Harry: Because of your truck?
Harry: I’m Harry Vanderspeigle. I’m a doctor. Mayor Snowflake had them bring me down to look at the dead body.
Mayor Ben: Please don’t call me that.
Harry: The answer’s simple. It’s nighttime. I’ll just break into that kid’s house and kill him. I’ll say one thing about whiskey, it’s allowing me to make smart, rational decisions.
The next day.
Harry: Whiskey, headache, nausea, severe dehydration. Alcohol must not affect humans the way it does us. If it did, they obviously would never drink it.
Harry: Why is everyone in town calling my phone thinking I’m the new town doctor?
Mayor Ben: Well, you know, everyone has the right to medical care. And as the mayor, it’s my job to do what’s best for the people of this town. And then that is to fight to make sure that they have a doctor. Also, I had a standing 4:00 therapy appointment on Tuesdays with Sam, so…
Harry: And now you want to talk to me instead?
Harry: Maybe there’s something redeemable about the human race after all. Unfortunately for them, it’s too late. It’s only a matter of time before I find the rest of my device, and when I do, I can finally complete my mission and kill them all. Every single one of them.
Overall rating
The alien-comes-to-our-planet genre has been around since I started watching television – My Favorite Martian and Mork and Mindy were around when I was young – but it’s still fun because there’s so much that can be done with it. I enjoyed this. Three out of four shots of Patience whiskey.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
I'm so happy you're reviewing this one, Victoria, and it's great timing because I started watching it the last time you mentioned the show to me and now I've seen it all. Or all that's aired, anyway.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tudyk is a brilliant comic. Oddly, I'm not sure I like Harry. Here in the pilot, he is *so* alien that he's difficult to relate to, and constantly threatening to kill a child -- and meaning it -- isn't exactly funny. The Sheriff is hilarious, though. OMG.
Well, thanks to this review, we've burned through the first 6 episodes of series 1 (having just had flu and COVID jabs helps excuse this behaviour). Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's all very funny, though I do wonder whether the dark approach would have been just as good. Maybe have to read the comics at some point. With the comedic approach, the alien sometimes seems just a bit too stupid — but that's fine.
I kind of wish the two government types were more obvious Scully and Mulder knock-offs; that would have made for some good laughs — but maybe they figured The X-Files is so 20th century these days, and the yoof wouldn't get the jokes.
I was quite chuffed at being able to locate the alien's home star system, 47 Ursae Majoris, just from the one scene of the night sky in one of the episodes (I forget which now). It's a yellow dwarf star, similar to Sol, about 45 light-years from here, and is named Chalawan. Has three known planets. I discovered later on that my finding is apparently in line with the general consensus on Resident Alien-related websites, so, huzzah for me.
Anyway. Brilliant show, lots of fun, and many thanks for turning us on to it. Looking forward to more episodes today!
Also have to say, I think Ray Walston could easily have pulled off being on a mission to exterminate humanity, but I think the network execs would probably have balked.
ReplyDeleteNomadUK, I agree that Ray Walston could have done that. He was such a great character actor.
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