Sahar: Maybe you can't because you're a bad golfer, but he got a hole in one, and in that hole was bird poop. So now your silver alien ball is covered in bird poop.
Harry: I changed my mind. I am going to tell my people to save everyone but you, and when you are dead, I'm going to freeze you and make snow cones out of your gross, dead ice and add the worst snow cone flavor to it – papaya.
Episode description: “Is Harry building another bomb? Asta is going to find out as they go camping on the reservation.” For once, Resident Alien's episode description is fairly reasonable.
Harry may say he's going to build a radio, but not everyone trusts him. Sahar remembers he already once planned to destroy the human race. She quotes Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Her words make enough impact on Asta such that she decides to accompany him to make sure he's making a radio. Good. Given the stakes, Asta can hardly do less.
Harry needs to set up his radio on land inside the reservation. It's soothing to revisit that area and to spend time outside. I like most mountains in summer. I also appreciated how Drew assisted Asta to make sure she had some alone time with Harry. Drew has gotten some interesting development; I wonder if we'll meet him again.
Alas, Asta shows amazing lack of judgment by sabotaging Harry's call home. Fifty years would be a lot more time to work out a solution than fifty days. But she didn't even know that there would be as many as fifty days. What if the destruction crew were a week away?
In this episode, D'arcy's behavior also falls short. Yes, her parents were making suggestions that might not be to her liking, but to do that to the table in the restaurant? She couldn't just say, not interested, thanks, and leave it at that? If that happened in reality would be disgusted and furious. It was not just an insult to her parents. It was rude to everyone who worked at that restaurant.
On the other hand, pulling the tablecloth off a table is a fun thing to watch on screen, so I didn't mind. But it made me like D'arcy even less. I'm beginning to think that's the point, as Resident Alien is aware of D'arcy's issues. While some people in Patience admire her – and some viewers may as well – Harry points out that D'arcy, thanks to her careless behavior, can be expected to die well before Asta. Her parents are also aware of her problems.
Deputy Liv, compared to many others on the show, is both mature and responsible, even if she sometimes lacks confidence in her own abilities. She's standing up more to Sheriff Mike. She should be talking to D'arcy about her stupidities, but she does help D'arcy by going to that dinner and by making sure she flirts with Elliot. Deputy Liv's also noticing that some of her memories are missing. Harry's deletion of some of hers should have been more surgical, but he took out an entire day.
It's intriguing to talk to the human who was kidnapped while he was in utero. We also get some follow-up on poor handsome Ethan Stone, who is not an alien and who doesn't know what General Wright is talking about.
The rivalry between the mayors of Patience and Jessup is pleasantly done, as is D'arcy's potential new romance. But neither warrant more than this paragraph.
Title musings. “Radio Harry” is the title of the episode. When I typed it into search engines to see if there were any other meanings associated with the phrase, I didn't find any. Admittedly, I did not spend a lot of time looking. Still, distinctively identifying the episode is kind of the function of a title – just as a distinctive name helps keep characters straight in readers' minds – so that's fair. Also, at the end of the episode, he receives a message in his own language, which means that it works with the word “radio” as both an adjective and a verb. The title's fine.
Bits and pieces
There are so many shows with people in their thirties and forties still complaining about parents who were not perfect. If the parents were truly abusive, that's one thing, but it sounds as if D'arcy's parents supported her in her skiing and after. However, Resident Alien seems to be doing this on purpose.
Nice to see a small-town baseball game. When I visited my grandparents – decades ago! – in a small town in Nebraska, our grandfather took us to the local baseball games.
The actors who play Robert Hutchins (abducted by aliens) and Ethan Stone (abducted by General Wright) look too alike for me. But that may be me, as I am terrible with faces.
At least according to Wikipedia, Sahar is wrong about Maya Angelou when she claims Angelou was a real doctor. This is from the entry on her: “Angelou did not earn a university degree, but according to Gillespie it was Angelou's preference to be called "Dr. Angelou" by people outside of her family and close friends.” So, not a doctor, certainly not medical, and apparently not even a PhD. Couldn't find even that she was awarded an honorary doctorate (which she certainly deserved). If someone knows otherwise, please post in the comments.
Again, I must admire whoever is creating the dialogue for Sheriff Mike. I love his TED talk on manpons.
I also enjoyed how Kate speaks to the mayor of Jessup.
Resident Alien is apparently filmed in Canada and not Colorado. It's still very pretty.
I liked how Harry proved to be a good doctor, even though he's not a doctor. And how he learns medicine by watching YouTube videos. They haven't helped me through any medical procedures, but they sure have been useful with some repairs around the house.
Quotes
Asta: He's building a radio to save us.
Sahar: Are you a goldfish? It's not a radio. It's a bomb.
Sahar: When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
Asta: That's pretty deep for someone your age.
Sahar: It's Maya Angelou. Dr. Maya Angelou. An actual doctor, unlike the alien who pretended to be one. What else does he pretend to do?
Deputy Liv Baker: Sir, how many tampons do you think I need?
Sheriff Mike Thompson: Shit, as many as you can carry. Tampons are extremely versatile. You can use them for gunshot wounds, for a sweaty brow. They actually should market them to men and call 'em manpons. I'd buy them.
Deputy Liv Baker: That's quite the TED talk, sir.
Asta: Mm, I think you're lying about what this is.
Harry: Painful.
Asta: Your last radio ended up being a human death bomb, and you lied that whole time.
Harry: Well, you just lied to me just now about being interested in radios.
Drew: You're that Harry weirdo who came with Dan and Asta.
Harry: And you're that weirdo who talks to weirdos. Weirdo.
Drew: You're welcome.
Asta: What?
Drew: I'm a ho. I know about ho shit. Go be a freak in the forest. I won't tell no one.
Mayor Mitch: Look, a little rivalry's good for the both of us.
Kate: I actually have a name. It's Kate. I'm a teacher and I have a JD/PhD. In Environmental Law from CU Boulder.
Mayor Mitch: I meant no disrespect.
Kate: Oh, yes, you did.
Liv: It doesn't make sense. Like, how could I drop a whole dress off at the dry cleaners and not even remember?
D'arcy: That should have sounded really cheesy, but it didn't, and I'm suspicious. I'm gonna need to see some ID.
Elliot: That's a clever way to get my name.
Elliot: Now can I buy a drink for your friend down at the end of the bar for telling you to flirt with me?
Harry: You were going to be dead long before they come!
Asta: How do you still not get this? This is not just about me. What about everyone that I care about?
Harry: D'arcy will be dead many years before you.
Harry: If my device had delivered its message, we would have years to figure this out. Now we will have days if we are lucky.
Asta: No, we would have had years for you to do nothing! I know that you don't care unless it's me. So guess what. It's me again.
Harry: You and you, help keep Sunny's thighs up towards her stomach. Asta, place your hands suprapubically over the fetal anterior shoulder, applying pressure in a CPR style in a downward lateral motion. Be sure to like and subscribe.
Overall rating
I was not impressed by Asta and D'arcy and their behavior in this episode, although Asta was self-sacrificing and keeps up the urgency for the plot of the show. And I think we are not meant to respect D'arcy. Sahar seemed more insightful, as always, but even she (or Resident Alien) seems to have failed to research Maya Angelou. Harry's reflections on children fell flat. Hope the New York telephone number leads to better things. Two and a half out of four papaya snow cones.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
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