Asta: Yeah.
Harry the alien: No, no, I'm not a dinosaur. I'm an alien.
D’arcy: Whatever. Same thing. Oh, my God, of course you didn't tell me.
Episode description: “Harry comes face to face with his greatest enemy and makes a choice that may affect Earth forever.”
The episode, the last of Season 2, does a great job answering questions, satisfying some of our emotions, and setting up Season 3.
First, the episode is very entertaining. As usual, we have Sheriff Mike’s dialogue, which hits it out of the park – perhaps to the moon. Harry sports a contraption that gives him teats with which he can nurse the baby – an image, as Asta says, one does not forget. Harry’s exchange with Joseph, when he’s using the frustrating lingo of kids has no response, is laugh-out-loud funny.
We learn that the second child of Ben and Kate is still alive, having been taken by the Greys. Kate’s pregnancy was not imaginary, but she did not have a miscarriage. Also, given how much earlier the Greys took the fetus than they did when it was Robert Bach, their technology seems to have improved.
This episode explains the source of Ben’s nightmares and his underlying insecurity. He was traumatized by the Greys repeatedly in his childhood, and is being traumatized again as he is being kidnapped while asleep in order to have time with his unborn child. I’m impressed by how well Levi Fiehler has done the subtext of repressed terror for the past two seasons.
There are nice bits with Max, Sahar, the General, and Harry’s realization that he has been changed by the baby and so he might be able to save the Earth. However, the most satisfying storyline, in my opinion, belongs to Sheriff Mike. His affection for Deputy Liv is clear, and even though she’s asking him to believe a lot, he finally looks into things. (Note this is important for all people trying to convince another of something peculiar: give it time to sink in.) Sheriff Mike finds enough evidence to suspect a cover-up in Peter Bach's death, and he, with the help of Liv’s husband John, move Peter Bach’s van to the rez.
I appreciated all the clips of people who come out and say: “I believe in aliens.” As the Alien Tracker is now dead, someone else must be continuing the work. The last example we see is Deputy Liv, even though she said earlier that she could not do it. I think the support she got from Sheriff Mike and husband John gave her the courage she needed go before the cameras.
We’re well positioned for the next season! Ben and Kate’s unborn child was taken by the Greys; Harry is working with the General, and Sheriff Mike has hired Joseph, a Grey-human hybrid, as a new deputy.
Title musings. “I Believe in Aliens” is the title of the episode. There are those, such as Deputy Liv, who make an outright declaration to the public, and all the others in the documentary the Alien Tracker’s organization was producing. D’arcy now knows about aliens. Sheriff Mike and John Baker are at least open to the idea. And even if Kate and Ben don’t yet believe in aliens in their waking lives, they are being impacted by them.
Bits and pieces
The first person in the episode to talk about his alien encounter was Mark Richardson, the actual CEO of Dark Horse media, the company that produced the original Resident Alien comics. Perhaps he really had an encounter. I don’t know about the testimonials in the other clips.
I know what it’s like to have something so weird happen that you cannot explain it with the usual tools. My experience does not involve aliens, but a dream about someone who had just died (or was just dying). Although I appreciate skepticism, I posit there’s a lot we humans are too limited to understand or perceive. Although our species is pretty bright, we’re not always as bright as we make ourselves out to be.
I liked how the baby alien could communicate with Asta as well as with Harry when it sat on her head. Well, it’s a hybrid. Besides, the octopus could communicate telepathically with her as well.
Love the name Bridget as serving a bridge between the species. Sahar was inspiring.
How sweet, that Jay and Asta finally had some mother-daughter time together.
Whatever species Harry actually belongs to must be perpetually hungry.
Perhaps Harry’s artistic ability is a function of the human form he has taken. When we originally saw the original form of Goliath, he was painting and the alien Goliath went on to create fanciful art. But alien Harry only does stick figures.
Quotes
Goliath: I was there. I failed to protect the Earth, and I watched it die. And there is only one person who may have the resources to stop the Greys, an Air Force general named Eleanor McCallister. But I killed her. Do not make the same mistake. She may be Earth's only hope. Oh. Also, I'm you from the future.
Sheriff Mike: As a matter of fact, go ahead and put "hooker jail" on that list for me. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure if that's the proper term anymore. It's probably "sex worker jail." You can put that down there, 'cause you know hookers, they love to use that modern terminology. And I want to be as respectful as I can to all them hard-working hoes out there.
Harry: I will do what human failures do. I will ignore my horrible life by being a parent and passing my resentments on to my children.
Ben: Well, I can give you one more deputy and this Hot Wheels car Max left in my office.
Sheriff Mike: You got one of them loop-de-loop things for it to go on, but you gotta make sure it goes fast enough or else it don't get past the loop-de-loop?
Ben: I can bring you one from home.
Joseph the Grey hybrid: We may be enemies, but I think we can be professional about this.
Harry: I know you are, but what am I?
Joseph: What?
Harry: She is horrible. She steals food from my office!
Joseph: Why don't you just lock your door?
Harry: Because then it's complicated. It's – I have to carry a key.
Sheriff Mike: You know, there's an old saying about a turtle.
Deputy Liv: Of course there is.
Sheriff Mike: It goes, "if you want to read something into a situation, it will become whatever you want it to be."
Deputy Liv: What does that have to do with a turtle?
Sheriff Mike: I don't know. I forget the turtle part.
Harry: We can take a field trip, and I can bury you up to your neck in the dirt and kick you in the head. Rip off your eyelids.
Baby alien: [CHITTERING]
Harry: They grow back. They grow back.
Ben: I was having that same dream again. I was in bed. My whole family was there. And now, suddenly, I'm here. Next time, don't wake me up until I've finished the dishes.
Kate: Oh, sweetie. Come to bed.
Harry: Me and the alien baby are going home to my planet. And we are leaving here forever.
Max: No, you're not. You care about me way too much to leave.
Sahar: You can't name him Chaz. He is significant. Extraordinary. He is the bridge between your people and mine. And his name should reflect that.
Harry: I will name you – “Bridget.” Come to Papa, Bridget.
Deputy Liv: Thank you for believing me. And I'm sorry you had to break the law to lie to the police.
Sheriff Mike: Don’t be sorry, because I didn’t. Those two, they weren’t real cops. There’s no Lieutenant Meegan in Braddock.
Deputy Liv: Oh, my God.
Sheriff Mike: So now I need you to tell me who you think they really were. If you say something about aliens – well, maybe this time, I’ll listen.
Harry to self and to Bridget: The angry girl is not the only one who has been changed by the baby. I have been changed too. That is why Goliath gave you to me. I am different now. And I do not have to fail. I am not Goliath. Oh! You forgot your snacks! I'll eat them for you.
Asta: You have to trust me.
D’arcy: Trust you? You have been lying to me for a year. You don't trust me. But you trust some random-ass weirdo who just eats pizza all goddamn day, and I guess is a murderer?
Overall rating
Such a satisfying episode! D’arcy learns the truth, and she’s completely understanding. We discover what is going on with Ben and his unborn child. Sheriff Mike comes around; Asta spends quality time with Jay; Deputy Liv goes public and Harry decides to work with General McCallister in order to save Earth. Some great stuff set up, too, for the next season. At any rate, I really enjoyed this, and I’m giving it full marks because I enjoy the whole show so much. Four out of four Hot Wheels loop-de-loop things.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
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