There’s Ghosts in Them Mines in the Latest Episode of Resident Alien
Are we sure that Alan Tudyk isn’t actually an alien pretending to be a human pretending to be an alien? Because after watching his amazing alien warbling in the last couple of episodes of Resident Alien, I have my doubts.
All jokes aside, The Ghost of Bobby Smallwood was a fantastic episode of the latter half of season 2. I enjoyed last week’s episode as well, but this one was much more jam-packed with laughs, which is a big reason I keep watching the show. The mixture of humor, heart, and insanity come together for a heady alchemical brew.
It all starts in Patience 81 years go. Little Bobby and his sister are out hunting rabbits for dinner, when he misses his shot and chases the rabbit into a mine. Yes, that mine, the one so many miners died in later, as told by D’Arcy back in season 1. Unfortunately for young Bobby, he never makes it out of the mine alive. But in a weird way, his story continues on.
Asta is much happier without the guilt eating her alive, but the cost is too high. Harry erased everything that happened that night, thinking he was helping her. That includes baby Goliath escaping, her shooting and killing a man and reconnecting with her daughter Jay. Harry loves seeing Asta happy, and is even shocked to realize she has teeth after she greets him with a wide smile. He tries to keep the happy train running with cobbled-together news about how his race isn’t trying to destroy humanity anymore, though he conveniently leaves the other alien race out of the conversation.
Yup, it’s all coming up roses for Harry. His falsified autopsy to the mayor, Patience PD and Torres goes well, despite the mayor still fighting reality. Then something unexpected happens. A milk farmer wanders into Harry’s office, talking about a chupacabra biting him and milking his cows. Which can only mean one thing – baby Goliath is on the hunt! Harry nearly catches him, but the untimely intervention of the farmer scares him away (and sends a milk crazed Harry running as well). Much to his chagrin, baby Goliath wanders into the same mine Bobby Smallwood disappeared all those years ago. Harry finds himself overwhelmed by his newfound fear of death, and he flees without finding the little alien.
Mike and Liv are following their murder investigation, and discover the boat used by two men that Goliath subsequently killed. At first Mike and Liv are having a lot of fun making fun of the Jessup cop, but then Mike and Torres bond over being big city cops in the past. Him in D.C. and her in NYC. And as expected, this quickly leads to poor Liv getting left out and ignored.
As for D’Arcy, she alternates between being a fierce protector of Asta to a lover of her new beau, Elliot. There’s a really touching moment where they’re both at a dig site for Native American artifacts, and both of them help each other realize they’re capable of more. Later on, when D’Arcy starts leaving his bedroom doing the walk of shame, she realizes she should stay, putting her insecurities aside. They’re a cute couple, and despite how tumultuous the show can be, I hope they make it work.
Though it’s easy to make fun of Mayor Ben for being a week-kneed, spineless coward most of the time, he earned some points in this episode. Admittedly, he starts by trying to convince Sheriff Mike to leave the investigation to Jessup, and getting horrible therapy advice in return. But later he confides fully in his wife, and though that temporarily makes everything worse, he manages to repair some of the damage by reminding her of why they love each other.
Everything is calm until Asta visits D’Arcy and hears Judy and her new girlfriend Brenda playing pool. The smack of the cue triggers a memory. Then Asta meets Jay, and is angrily blamed for missing her birthday meetup. She quickly figures out Harry erased her memories, and confronts him about the need for feelings to be felt, not repressed. Harry has a hard time with that, and manages to eat his feelings like any good human. But eventually she gets through to him, and by the end of the episode, Harry realizes how to face his fear and get past it.
The big twist in The Ghost of Bobby Smallwood is when suddenly young Sahar sees Bobby Smallwood walking around. Stranger yet, his now old woman of a sister recognizes him, and when she tries to embrace him, he hisses and runs away. Being the brilliant young woman she is, Sahar instantly realizes this Bobby is actually Goliath in a skin suit, and she chases him down and somehow captures him. And in one of the funniest parts of the episode, she commits to training him to be a good alien, mostly by spraying him when he misbehaves.
Another fantastic and hilarious episode of Resident Alien. I appreciated how they didn’t waste a ton of time with Asta not remembering everything, and especially appreciated Max and Sahar getting more screen time this week. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long to get real answers about the new alien race that’s threatening the folks of Patience, and perhaps the entire human race.
