Episode description: "Harry accompanies the Hawthornes to Yellowstone to find out what the Greys are up to."
In this episode, several plot threads become much more serious. Of course, this is Resident Alien, so comedy is still rampant. Harry is intent on following Ben, whose subconscious is being influenced by his Grey abductions, and so he insists on joining the Hawthornes on their journey to Yellowstone (in the middle of winter). Hilarious, because traveling with Harry is just weird, what with his recitation of the Law and Order episodes and entering their room in his underwear. But his insistence on going is not much worse than when Ben broke into Harry's cabin and foisted a surprise birthday party on Harry, even when Harry and Asta told them to go away. Or, like when Ben passed out Harry's number to people before asking him to be the town doctor or the time when Harry had only consented to do an autopsy. Of course Max, recognizing Harry must have an important reason for tagging along, helps his parents accept the addition to their party.
On a heart-wrenching note, Kate is being taken by the Greys to spend time with her baby daughter, but she's never allowed to remember. Still, her subconscious haunts her, to the point that she tracks down a woman with a baby and begs to be allowed to hold it. Harry seems unaware of the fact that Kate is also being taken by the Greys. Instead he follows Ben's subconscious and determines the Greys are somehow using a gravel facility. With Max's assistance, Harry is able to visit Sullivan Gravel and figures out the Greys are planning to blow up the Yellowstone caldera.
I really appreciated Harry's monologue about how we humans don't seem to realize danger is always lurking. This is true in real life, too, and not just natural events such as the caldera in Yellowstone. Many threats are stopped by the TSA and the NSA and the FBI and the FAA and the EPA – most of us don't know anything about them, but they are there. Our bodies are also constantly attacked by microbes (thank your T cells today!). Harry and Dan are right; our lives are brief and we should not put off what matters, because one of the threats could break through at any moment.
Speaking of threats, Deputy Liv is doing what she can to determine who killed Peter Bach. A still image shows the other person in the car was wearing a plaid flannel shirt. D'arcy, learning this, joins with Asta and Dan to burn all of Harry's plaid flannel shirts.
Mike and Liv may be the police, but they are also good guys – especially Liv! I understand why the truth is being kept from them, but at some point our heroes will have to determine whether or not to trust them. As Harry has the protection of General McCallister, the Patience police could learn that this is all a matter of national security (it is!) and could drop the case.
Poor Judy! Dismissing her is so easy but it's just not fair. True, her mother had her at 14 – but Asta had a child at 16 – and Judy, as far as we know, has not had a child. Judy is loose, but so is D'arcy, and anyway, I'm so sick of women being judged for having sexual relationships. Judy is so sweet and loving and ready to try, but she's not very bright. At least, for once Resident Alien shows the pathos instead of just making fun of her. At least Mike doesn't dump her by text but has the decency to break it off in person, and he does say some nice things about her.
Liv is badly hurt by her grandmother, a truly nasty human being. Liv finally breaks down in front of Mike. "I try so hard!"
What is extra touching about these situations is that both Judy and Liv get comforted by some of the people who matter most to them – even though neither D'arcy nor Sheriff Mike is the best at comforting. Mike helps Liv and D'arcy helps Judy.
And the episode also showed the characters deciding to do something meaningful in their 141 seconds. Asta goes to join her daughter at the movies. D'arcy helps Judy get over her disappointment with Mike by coming to celebrate her birthday with cake and a present. And Liv and Mike – who are musically a hoot together – are seen jamming in the squad car.
Title musings. "141 Seconds" is the title of the episode. It refers to the amount of time a human life is compared to the age of the planet. I like how it emphasizes how trivial, in the grand scheme of things, our little lives are – and yet, as Harry notes, how important to us. A good title, except for potential math issues (see below).
Bits and pieces
We have seen several stories from the Patience Post but I don't think we've met any of the reporters. However, this time we hear about one of them. She was a classmate of Ben's, and he was better than she was at math.
However, I'm not sure Resident Alien is good at math. My rough calculation, using Harry's 141 seconds and 85 years, gave me an age of Planet Earth of about 1.61 billion. Scientists currently say the earth is about 4.54 billion. Want to check what I did? 85 years = 2,682,396,000 seconds (Calculation: 85 years x 365.25 days/year x 24 hours/day x 60 minutes/hour x 60 seconds/minute). 141 divided by 2,682,396,000 = 5.25649 x 10-8. 85 years divided by 5.25649 x 10-8 = 1,617,047,234 years.
As the Sullivan Gravel company has been around for 70 years, we can assume the Greys have been working on their project for at least that long. Although perhaps Resident Alien is miscalculating again.
According to Wikipedia, the last major eruption of the Yellowstone caldera took place about 640,000 years ago (the Lava Creek event). However, it did have a smaller eruption about 70,000 years ago. Maybe that let off some pressure and so we don't need to worry – at least not about that particular threat.
We heard about Blue Avians and the Galactic Federation in prior episodes. The tag shows Harry getting served by a Blue Avian on behalf of the Galactic Federation.
Quotes
Harry: (to self) I do not understand why they are so upset about Joseph nearly killing them. Every being must fight to survive. Moths camouflage themselves from predators. Cacti grow spikes. Humans are no exception. They forget they are surrounded by forces greater than themselves. Survival is never guaranteed.
Mike: Look how he's sitting – upright, prepared. And what does that suggest? I'll give you a hint. It begins with the letter M.
Liv: Military.
Mike: Mime...
Liv: Or, thinking outside the invisible box, what if he were military, but served a long time ago, which could explain why we didn't get a hit on his prints, because of a backlog of military archives?
Mike: Now, that's true, but there's just one problem. There's no mimes in the military. They got "Don't talk, don't tell."
Max: Why are we going to Yellowstone in the winter? It's freezing there.
Ben: Winter is the best time to go anywhere. Seasonal depression increases suicide rates, so fewer people are traveling. We are going to have the whole park to ourselves.
Harry: I will go get coffee once I know what we are doing for the day.
Ben: Uh, we?
Harry: Oh, I cannot be alone! I'm sad again because of dead parents. May they rest in one piece.
Asta: You do know that the police don't need the actual phone to retrieve digital records on it, right?
D'arcy: That's a good point.
Kate: You bought a hat off a stranger?
Ben: Well, not just any hat. It's Sullivan Gravel Company. They've been around for, like, 70 years.
Kate: But was it on his head?
Mike: In my defense, I was drunk, and – and she smelled like vanilla. I don't mean vanilla perfume. I mean, like a damn cake, and it just caught me off guard, and I was so hungry. I know! Look, I like Judy. I mean, she's cute and kooky, and actually, she's really sweet in her own kind of weird way, but yes, no, I should not have – have done that. I'm gonna – I'ma write her back, and – just – you know what? I am going to talk to her in person.
Dan: Jimmy's gone from your life now, and you've got me and D'arcy and that general to help you with that alien. You can breathe easy. So what does life look like for Asta when she's not in crisis mode?
D'arcy: You want to talk about it?
Judy: Talk about what? Oh, I'm – the party was just, like, a stupid idea anyway. I'm just gonna call my mom and tell her to cancel it. I totally don't care. I feel so stupid. I just – you know. When is it gonna be my turn?
Max: Tell me what's going on. You still owe me.
Harry: I owe, you? You would be an exhibit in a zoo on my planet if I hadn't brought you back.
Max: And you'd be dead in a Grey alien trap if I hadn't saved you.
Harry: Oh, I see, tits for tats. You play well. You have good tits.
Max: Inappropriate.
Harry: In a few thousand years, the Earth will return to normal, reborn.
Dan: He's right. The volcanoes are a big part of the cycle of things. They've been going on a lot longer than we have.
Asta: Yeah, but what are we supposed to do with this information?
Dan: What did you do with it before?
D'arcy: Not know it?
Dan: Well, just keep doing the only thing you know to do while you're still alive. Live the best life you can.
Overall rating
Entertaining, moving the plot along in interesting ways, and occasionally touching. Three and a half out of four plaid flannel shirts.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
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