D'arcy: Oh, and notice I didn't ask why you're cuffed to the bed. That is something a mature person would do, and I want credit.
Kate: Yeah, I noticed. Thanks for that. It's nothing weird. It's – it's not a sex thing.
D'arcy: Actually, the sex version would be the not weird explanation.
Episode description: "Harry and Asta get surprise visits. Ben grows suspicious of Mike and Liv's private investigation."
An episode looking at several relationships of parents and kids. However, they follow different paths.
First, Kate thinks she is being abducted by aliens while she's sleeping. To prevent this from happening, she has handcuffed herself to the bed. She wakes up and she's still handcuffed. Then Resident Alien gives us one of the funniest scenes ever, when Kate, about to unlock herself, accidentally flips the key to the handcuff out of her reach and has to call someone to release her (fortunately, Kate's phone is not out of reach). Calling D'arcy makes sense, as D'arcy has done embarrassing things herself (Liv would be another option, but Liv works regular hours, while D'arcy, who works shifts at the bar, would be available). I love the expression on D'arcy's face as she realizes that Kate – not just Ben – is being abducted by aliens. What I don't get is why D'arcy isn't more explicit with her. Well, I do get it. I mean, it's a hard thing to tell anyone (still, D'arcy is not known for subtlety). Of course, the main reason the writers chose a different time is because we're dragging this out and the impact of the reveal, when it comes, is much better later.
Harry is super depressed about Heather. I loved how he's driving people nuts by playing a song over and over at the clinic. It's a great way to demonstrate his situation; who hasn't had a song on repeat when in some emotional state? The depressed Harry gets a visit from a very depressed Ben. The source of Ben's depression is Sheriff Mike's hiding an investigation from him (Ben suspects, rightly, the last deputy was a murderer). Ben's depression does not quite make sense to me as Mike and Ben are not exactly close – on the other hand, Ben, traumatized by having been abducted so many times, even though he doesn't remember, is emotionally fragile. Ben, while talking to Harry, decides to learn what he can. He spies on Mike and Liv, mostly without success, but saves their lives at the end.
However, the emotional heart of the episode are the different variations of parents and kids. First, Bridget is back, and he has gotten better at transforming into other humans. At first, we see Harry with Liza, and we think human Liza has come back. But no, this is baby alien Liza (and now we know one of the reasons the creators chose to give human Harry a daughter and to make alien Harry deal with her). Bridget is angry at having been sent to Harry's planet by himself. He wants to kill Harry, but first threatens to ruin his life by going to Harry's favorite hangouts and ruining Harry's reputation in these places by pretending to be Harry.
Alan Tudyk is great playing different characters: the human Harry, alien Harry, and now Bridget Harry. The scene where Bridget tries alcohol for the first time is simply brilliant.
Asta finally starts treating her biological relationships realistically instead of romantically. Her biological mother tries to sell her information about herself, and won't even tell her who her father is without being paid for it. Asta finally has the strength to say no to her biological mother. As for her own biological daughter, Jay, she takes her back to the people who raised her. Still, they separate on good terms. I hope we don't get any more drama in either direction here; I never liked either storyline much. Asta's attitudes always seemed too rosy for someone we're counting on to save the world.
D'arcy has more luck with her biological relatives. It starts off with an emergency call from her mother – her father had a heart attack – and she goes to see him in the hospital. Her relationship with her mother makes no progress, but she gets some time alone with her father. He tells her how proud he is of her and how brave she is. He's right, D'arcy is brave. He does also call some of her stuff crazy, which is also true.
The hunt for Bridget gives Resident Alien the chance to involve lots of other actors. Sahar makes sense, because Bridget actually cares about Sahar, but Bridget's ability to shapeshift means that anyone who has been in Harry's cabin can be replicated. So we get most of the regular cast, as well as characters such as Liv's husband John, second ex-wife Isabelle, and even a pizza guy. The incarnation where Bridget takes on the form of Max – via a bit of snot – is the one where Harry and Bridget reconcile. This is most appropriate as Harry's most parental relationship with another human is with Max. And the healing of the Bridget-Harry relationship is what allows Harry to heal from the breakup with Heather, as he discovers he is still capable of love.
D'arcy released Kate from the handcuff after a night when Kate wasn't abducted. But on another night, Kate does get abducted; she puts a message on her arm telling herself "IT'S REAL" (I thought that was very clever of Kate/Resident Alien). She goes to Harry for help in his doctor capacity. Harry sees the implant and hypnotizes Kate in order to get information about the Greys. He learns nothing strategically useful but finds out about her baby. Understanding how important it is for parents to be with their children, Harry says, even though it will cause her pain, "You will remember everything." Kate bursts into tears when she understands what has been happening, and kudos to Harry, he goes right over to her and comforts her (no after talk about aliens, which would be natural in real life, but inconvenient for the story). Meredith Garretson, the actor playing Kate, was fabulous. It can't be easy to sob so completely on cue like that.
Ben is hearing again about aliens, this time from Deputy Liv. This annoys the skeptic Mike, but Ben has known Liv his entire life and trusts her. He was able to dismiss D'arcy, who has a reputation for drinking and drugging and does not always tell the truth, but Liv is sober and reliable.
D'arcy is the one who steals the bomb. It's reasonable for her not to trust Harry, as she just encountered the baby alien version of Harry. Before that he was just moping about his bird. Still, although it's brave on her part, it is rash, as she doesn't know that much about aliens.
Title musings. "Here Comes My Baby" is the title of the episode, and given the episode's storylines, it works well enough.
Bits and pieces
I actually liked the song Harry was replaying. It's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," with Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick.
Sheriff Mike knows a lot about various animals, both real and imagined. In this episode he talks about the fennec fox. They are really cute, the smallest member of the fox family, found in North Africa.
Ben thinks that detectives are called gumshoes because they get chewing gum on the bottoms of their shoes, but that's not the origin. The gum part refers to the rubber soles of the shoes. The word gumshoe comes from the time around 1900, when that's how rubber-soled shoes were called, and when detectives had to do their work by walking the pavement as opposed to going through the internet or video surveillance evidence.
Octopuses do not have teeth, so Harry was right to be surprised when the Bridget 42 bit him.
Given that Sheriff Mike has an active imagination – he has talked about why he wouldn't date a mermaid (they must smell like fish) and how the killer of the original Harry might have had a couple of extra arms due to some laboratory accident – his reluctance to believe in aliens is not quite in character.
Quotes
Ben: You know, you have a strange method, but I'm starting to get it. You say the wrong thing for me to learn the right thing.
Harry: Wrong.
Ben: Right. Great session.
Liv: And did you hear the part I said about our murder board?
Mike: I hear everything, deputy. I'm like a fennec fox. Look it up. It's cute as hell.
Mike: Hell, I saw a coked-out squirrel driving a tricycle that drive better than that.
Harry: Are either one of you going to kick me in the nipple?
Kayla: I mean, I wasn't, but now it's all I can think about.
D'arcy: What are you doing?
Bridget-Harry: I was having drinks. It's not my first, because I'm an adult human. I drink alcohol. My stomach is so warm.
D'arcy: I am sorry about your bird, but you need to snap out of it. OK? You got shit to do.
D'arcy's dad: You're my hero.
D'arcy: I'm your hero?
D'arcy's dad: You're everything that I wasn't in my life. I had things I wanted to do. Of course I did. I took the safe way, no risks. Not you.
D'arcy: How would you feel if, um, I didn't have any more races?
D'arcy's dad: Ah, then you'd do something else great. I'll meet you at the bottom of that hill, too.
Sahar: I don't even have a child, and I know not killing it is, like, the main thing.
Harry: He was broken. He didn't love me anymore.
Sahar: He doesn't have to love you. You're supposed to love him.
Harry: That does not sound like a good deal to me.
Asta; I love you, but this is the right thing for you. I've loved every second of getting to act like a mom to you. But I love it so much that I've skipped over all the parts of knowing how.
Harry: You were abandoned by the one you love, just like I was by Heather. I am sorry.
Bridget: Because your girlfriend broke up with you?
Harry: No, because...What is this? I thought it had gone forever when Heather left me. But it came back. Because I love you.
Overall rating
The acting in all the scenes was just terrific, so I'm being generous, despite some minor character inconsistencies. Four out of four heartbreak songs on replay.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
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