Resident Alien: Daddy Issues

D’arcy: Now that the baby is safe, I want to tell Ben and Kate the truth. Like, all of it. And I know you have feelings about this. So you can come with me if you want. Or if you don't, that's -- that's also fine.
Asta: Let's go.

Harry faces an impossible task; D’arcy works on sobriety; Mike and Liv track the serial killer; two people tell Asta to leave town, and Ben and Kate struggle on how to introduce the newest member of their family.

Harry’s dad is in this episode. Ed – he has chosen that name – has the task of determining whether or not Harry should get back his alien essence. Ed is played by Stephen Root, who has a long career, but whom I last noticed in Brooklyn-Nine-Nine when he played Charles Boyle’s humble, unassuming father. In this episode he plays another father, but one who is insulting, demanding and cruel. Well done, Mr. Root!

Harry’s dad says he will only return Harry’s alien essence to him if Harry kills a human being. This is one of those wonderful dilemmas introduced by Resident Alien: sometimes committing a lesser evil or doing something that appears outrageous in order to prevent something from much worse from happening. We saw it in Pilot when Harry interrupted the burial of Sam Hodges to take another look at the corpse. Of course, as an alien – and even now as a human but without having been steeped in what human cultures deem acceptable/not acceptable his entire life – he just went with what was most practical and stopped the burial (better than exhuming it later). That's when he determined Sam was trying to give himself a tracheotomy. At first Asta was horrified when Harry reopened the casket, but when she understood more, she supported him. This flexibility is a quality that makes Asta special.

Resident Alien has given us other instances. In Girls’ Night – not a great episode – Harry started to seduce Kate’s cousin Carlyn to access her lab for equipment he needed to save humanity. Asta said that’s wrong, so instead he drugged Carlyn and entered her lab by shapeshifting. Asta said that was also not good, but she lets him go ahead in order to save the world.

In this episode, Harry confesses his dilemma about needing to kill a human in order to get back his alien powers so he can save the rest of humanity. Asta maintains killing other humans is never right. He reminds her she shot and killed a guy, but she says that was in order to save his life. After several additional permutations, Harry attacks Jimmy, Asta’s ex-husband, as Jimmy hurt her in the past.

Unlike the TV and movie deaths that happen after a single blow to someone’s head, Jimmy doesn’t die. And Harry feels remorse – possibly due to that pesky soul he’s grown - and he offers to take care of Jimmy. Jimmy accepts Harry’s help without a reproach, which is sort of strange. We’ve been told to hate Jimmy, but with the exception of the first few episodes, he’s always been reasonable. And we learn that Jimmy was beaten in his youth by his father. Another character with a Daddy issue.

It’s not all about fathers. Asta is irritated with D’arcy and the loss of the money (even though it was found). It's about time she showed more irritation with D'arcy. Her relationship with Jay has reached a place where they are comfortable with each other. The person urging her to make changes is Dan, who says it’s time for her to get out of Patience and to see the world (not the moon) - another daddy issue. Dan is even thinking of closing down the diner!

Ben and Kate now have their baby girl at home, and they’ve got some explaining to do. Adoption? Fake pregnancy? What do they name the child? They’re still curious about where the heck she has been during this time and they are suspicious of D’arcy.

Mike believes the Mantid is still out there; the dead deer surrounded by cigarette butts confirms his suspicions. He suspects FBI agent Jules, which Deputy Liv pushes back against. It makes sense for it to be someone close to the investigation. Are there other reasons to suspect Jules and not Lena? Well, here’s something I don’t think they brought up: Lena wants to keep the investigation going but Jules wants to shut it down. As you do not quickly close down serial killings where humans’ heads are getting bitten off, this indicates the current form of Jules may have a special reason for want to end it. Mike and Liv set a trap for Jules as Mantid, but it fails because the Mantid can read minds (we saw that before on the Moon). Still, Mike later learns he was right, and also discovers that shooting the Mantid is pointless.

D’arcy, now in AA, wants to stop all her lies, which means also telling Ben and Kate about the baby. Asta agrees to help. So that’s important.

The episode ends with Harry going home to find that his father Ed is demanding that Harry kill Max, who is tied up on the sofa. Harry picks up the poker to do it – but kills his own father instead. Note this meets the condition Asta set earlier: you can kill someone to prevent that person from killing someone else - especially someone you care about. Harry finally admits he really, really cares about Max. They don't mention it here, but it has come up before repeatedly, sometimes mentioned by Max, and other times mentioned by Harry. Harry cares for Max as if he were his son, even though he just says they are friends.

Title musings. “Daddy Issues” is the name of the episode, and it apples many different ways. Harry has to deal with his own father, and he feels like a father to Max (and of course Bridget, who he also defends from Ed). Asta is getting advice from hers. We learn that Jimmy, who abused Asta, was abused by his father and he carried on the abuse. (Good thing that Jay was put up for adoption). However, there were other storylines that had nothing to do with fathers. A fair, but not a great, title for the episode.

Bits and pieces

Makes sense that Ed the alien keeps lowering the thermostat, as his species prefers the cold.

So much negativity and prejudice toward humans. Why?

I remember when the phrase “pasta salad” started getting tossed around and I had the same objections Mike has to it.

Ed Vanderspeigle mentions that Harry has a brother. Hmm, a loose plot thread offering the writers some development if they need it.

Wondered why they did not include Sheriff Mike’s father, Lewis Thompson, in this episode. The actor, Alvin Sanders, appears in the final episode of the series, so it’s not as if the actor has died or anything. Maybe it just didn’t fit in with Mike’s storyline. Would love to see Mike telling his dad about aliens.

It was nice for Mike to be right about the perpetrator instead of Liv. So often Resident Alien has made her out to be smarter than he is. But, interestingly, Jules the Mantid remarks on the weirdness of Sheriff Mike’s mind. Well, he does leap from one topic to another.

Impressive that Harry in human form could kill his father who is an alien. Humans are not nearly as strong.

Quotes

Harry: Humans are born dependent on a parent for survival. They require a close emotional bond to feel safe, and later, to trust that the parent will not murder them for wrecking the car on prom night.
Note: it was not prom night, but I once had to tell my parents I had hit one of their cars with the other in the driveway, damaging them both severely.

Harry: Failing does not make me a failure. I have that on a sign just above the john.

Deputy Liv: Poor Bambi.
Sheriff Mike: Deputy, Bambi wasn't the one that was killed. His mother was the victim. Don't make me have to screen that movie for you. I'll be a wreck for months.

Asta: Too big a coward to tell me that she lost the diner money, even though she told me to my face that she deposited it.
Jay: Well, does she know you got it back?
Asta: No. She's probably out committing crimes right now, trying to replace it. And when she goes to prison for those, I'm not going to visit. And she can forget about asking me to write a letter to the parole board. The answer is no.
Jay: You've given it some thought.

Mike: What is that?
Jules: Pasta salad.
Mike: Well, which is it? Those are two entirely different food groups.

Dan: Do you really want to stay in Patience your whole life?
Asta: I've never thought about it, Dad. Where is this even coming from?
Dan: It's coming from I love you. Between the army and my band, I'd seen the whole world before I settled here. You haven't gotten past Denver.
Asta: How about New York City? Also, let's not forget the moon.
Dan: OK, I'll give you the moon.
Asta: I get it. I should leave. Why not? I'm not needed here. You don't need me. D'arcy doesn't need me. Apparently, she has Harry now, you know, and Jay has a family, right, Jay?

Mike: Get out of my head.
Jules the Mantid: But it's so interesting up there.
Mike: I don't doubt that, but I need you... I need you to freeze.
Jules the Mantid: Such a complicated mind, not as linear and readable as deputy dumb questions in there.

Jimmy: A couple of stitches is nothing. When I was a kid, my dad gave me 16 of 'em.
Harry: He was a doctor?
Jimmy: No, I'm saying he opened a cut or two over the years.
Harry: He hurt you.

Dan: You have this great talent for making the best of what life gives you. But sometimes it makes you accept whatever you have.

Max: You killed your own dad to save me.
Harry: And to get my alien energy back.
Max: And to save me.
Harry: Yes. Because even though you said you are not my friend, I am yours. And this is what real friends do for one another. Sometimes they kill their own fathers with a fireplace poker.

Overall rating

Three out of four pasta salads.

Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.