Episode description: "Harry tries to bond with Heather, a.k.a. the Avian alien."
Asta and D'arcy are worried about the Greys' plan to blow up the planet with the caldera, as Harry will not be able to stop it as he is being recalled by the Galactic Federation. The Housing Council sounds like an extremely mundane group, but Harry and Heather give it power by how they talk about it.
D'arcy is quick thinking, and buys some time for the save the human race team by throwing a banana – "the best one," Harry complains – through the portal. This means that Heather is stuck on Earth, apparently known as the shittiest planet in the galaxy. This, of course, gives Harry and Heather an opportunity to spend time together.
Harry, whose species seems very standoffish, is not accustomed to feeling physical attraction. I love how Resident Alien portrays this, from Alan Tudyk getting weak in the knees and the different approaches birds have to life. Harry also acts in a middle school like manner and gets Max – who sees her avian face – to take over a message. Heather originally says no, they should be friends as she's only there a short while, but she comes to his cabin in the end.
D'arcy, who is used to being admired for her bold achievements, is struggling to keep things secret. Harry and Asta were right not to tell her. Still, it must be difficult to know you just saved the world with a banana but not be able to tell anyone, as she discovers she's happy for Elliot in his new relationship. Asta goes through something similar with respect to Harry, although I don't think she has ever been in love with him.
Kate is still stressed without knowing why. She thinks sketching will help her work through her trauma, but she ends up creating the most terrifying pictures of owls tearing apart other creatures. Ben and Max talk to her about it. Max sees this as an opportunity to introduce the subject of alien abductions. Ben dismisses aliens as not being real, and Kate doesn't encourage it, but later we see her doing internet searches on the subject. Maybe Max's parents will finally believe him.
I enjoyed the visits to the "rez" in other episodes, but this time I was bored. Yes, it's nice for Dan to sing and it's nice for Jay to meet her biological mother's adopted family, but it went on too long. Am I terrible to say that I don't find the Asta-Jay storyline very interesting? Or even at all interesting? However, the visit to the rez allowed an important plot point to occur: Asta learns that the Alien Tracker van is hidden on the rez and that Mike and Liv are investigating it. Harry, although he did not kill Peter Bach, was in the van so suspicion may fall on him.
Fortunately for the save-the-human-race-in-secret group, Mike and Liv discover another far more important clue, and finally start suspecting the real murderer: Deputy Joseph (apparently Harry's plaid flannel shirts did not need to be burned). In the meantime, General McAllister re-recruits David Logan in order to work on the
Title musings. "Avian Flu" is the title of the episode. As the episode features a Blue Avian, I expect the writers couldn't resist the phrase. The most obvious application is Harry's out-of-the-blue crush on Heather, which has him so lovesick that he's literally weak in the knees. However, there's at least one relevant second meaning: Kate is traumatized by images of owls. I didn't find any additional applications of the title, but I quite like it.
Bits and pieces
Resident Alien's married guys seem to like Mexican food a lot. We know Ben is crazy about it. So was Dr. Beasley's husband.
They did a great job of making Dr. Beasley look older and sadder five years later. Or maybe they did a great job making her look younger and happier five years earlier.
I don't agree with D'arcy's analysis about what it means to love. I was always happy when a guy I'd broken up with found someone else, and it did not mean that I regretted the break-up. Not at all! No, I was relieved because I could stop feeling guilty about the break-up. I only wished I had learned about his new romance earlier.
Aaron Douglas, who plays one of the generals, was in Battlestar Galactica, Chief Galen Tyrol.
Asta has dithered about Jay too long, and not always consistently. Moreover, she doesn't take responsibility for her past choices, blaming Dan and Jimmy when it was really her decision (and Sam's which she or maybe Resident Alien seems to have forgotten). However, some of these complaints belong to other episodes, not this one.
Sheriff Mike's obsessions with vehicles, from Hot Wheels cars to everything else, pays off in this episode as he can identify immediately how the van has been altered.
Owls and alien abductions are a thing.
Resident Alien is bringing back Terry O'Quinn, albeit apparently in cyber form. Still, they show him with his shirt off, and he looks pretty good for a man born in 1952. Respect!
Quotes
Harry (putting his hand over Asta's mouth): You cannot talk that way about Housing Council. It is very dangerous.
Asta: [MUFFLED SPEECH]
Harry: Sorry, I didn't catch that.
D'arcy: I can translate. It's mostly about losing a hand.
Heather the Blue Avian: This thing has been touchy ever since some idiot from probate tried to sneak fruit through it.
D'arcy: Why can't you take fruit?
Asta: That's the question you're asking right now?
Note the question is actually relevant.
Heather: I need to use the bathroom.
D'arcy: Uh, do we put down a newspaper or something?
Heather: It's to change, you dick.
Harry: It is down the hall on your right. I hope I put the seat down.
D'arcy: I just saved the world with a banana.
Harry: I cannot help it. I feel l-love for her. It's... it's like how I feel love for you, Asta, but it is different. It is not just in my head or in my heart, but it is in my pants.
Asta: Oh.
Harry: Is that why they call it "in love," because it is in your pants?
D'arcy: Yeah, I've been doing stuff, big stuff. This morning I had a crazy thing happen – before laundry – where I did this huge thing. I can't tell you what it is, but pretty major. Kind of top secret, but – I'd say, without me, the world would be over. Lots of people saved. Banana was involved.
Sheriff Mike: Once again, I have followed your instincts and led us to victory.
General Devanney: How does an alien species dig an underground cavern in the middle of a national park for 80 years and we don't know about it?
Harry: I can take that one. Humans are stupid.
D'arcy: If you do something special and nobody knows about it, are you still special?
D'arcy: Elliott is happy. And I was actually happy to see him happy.
Harry: If you were happy that he was happy, then why is your face all mopey and your voice is like wet underwear?
D'arcy: Because if I want him happy, even if he didn't want me, then that means that I love him, and I ruined something real.
Harry: (to self) If I have learned one thing from meeting with the generals, it is that mating is like war. You cannot sit around and wait. You have to take action.
Heather: You can't have feelings for me. Your species has no emotions.
Harry: I do. It's the human in me.
Heather: You ate a human?
Harry: No. I mean, the DNA.
Heather: Got it. Because I was going to ask you how they, you know–
Harry: Taste?
Ben: Okay. Well, I think we were both just expecting something a little more cute and – and upbeat for a children's book.
Kate: It's a beautiful story about a mother feeding and protecting her babies.
Ben: Objectively, if you were in your classroom and you saw a student drawing this – would you maybe call their parents in to talk?
Kate: Oh, my God, what is happening to me? I can't get these owls out of my head.
Max: I saw a movie once where a person saw an owl, and it meant they were being abducted by aliens. Does your butt hurt?
Overall rating
Up for funny stuff with Harry's being in love. Down for the Jay stuff and the boring bit at the rez. Three out of four of the best bananas, thrown through a portal to save the world.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
I might have laughed more during this episode than any other. Alan Tudyk's melting knees were too funny, and "Heather" doing Alan Tudyk was very funny, too. Harry has slowly become lovable.
ReplyDeleteA few bullet points.
-- Re: Title musings: Flu is a homonym for "Flew"? :)
-- Terminator General versus Battlestar Galactica General!
-- Amazon Prime is Optimus Prime's wife? Sometimes Mike makes me snort-laugh and this was one of those times.
-- Really. How *do* you tell people you know that you saved the world with a banana? Is there anything that would cover that situation?
-- Okay, I liked the Rez stuff. Everyone should have a place like that. I certainly don't.
-- And one more bullet point. Yay for Terry O'Quinn!