Syfy’s Resident Alien is Back and Just as Funny as Ever With the Return of Season 2.
It’s been several long, painful months since Resident Alien season 2 went on break. And though I haven’t covered the show in the past, I’ve been a fan since the very beginning. Now that Resident Alien is back with the latest episode, Autopsy, things start escalating very quickly, and a relatively simple murder quickly gets out of hand.
Autopsy starts pretty much where the last episode ended all those months ago, with Asta shooting the man that shot Harry and killing him dead. D’Arcy stumbles onto them and then helps them awkwardly hide the body from an oblivious Sheriff Mike. Helping their cause is baby Goliath, who murders two more witnesses to Asta’s crime by dragging them into the water.
As for Harry, he’s handling his near-death experience as well as can be expected. After Asta helps remove the bullet so his body can look human again, he realizes he doesn’t enjoy fearing death. On his planet, everything was part of the same ecosystem, and thus never really died. Here, if his human body is killed, so is he. Now saddled with human emotions, he’s not sure what to do. So, of course, he pushes his emotions aside and pretends they don’t bother him. This is honestly one of the most human things this goofy alien has ever done.
Asta isn’t doing much better than Harry, but for a while, her bestie D’Arcy helps her rally. She even volunteers to throw the body in a wood chipper, but then Harry realizes they can implicate the dead man in Sam Hodges’ murder. So the new plan is to dump the body at the motel he was staying at, the Copper Ridge Motel.
Slutty Judy works there, but D’Arcy does a great job of distracting her from her horrible recording of Frankenstein with deviled eggs while Harry and Asta toss the body in a jacuzzi to help remove evidence. While this happens, Harry complains about how humans decay so much faster and smellier than his species, which conveniently turn into stone when they die. The next morning, Judy discovers the body, though it takes her a while to realize that floating upside down in water means the man is dead.
Meanwhile, Liv and Mike are trying to piece together the names they found hidden in Hodges’ office, which all point back to the Galvan/Powell Group. There’s also a darling moment when Deputy Liv tries to convince Mike how tough she is, and how she swears all the time. Let’s just say she fails miserably and leave it at that. It all seems like it’s going according to plan until the mayor discovers another murder in Patience, and because of how the motel lies near it and Jessup, tries to say it’s their jurisdiction. Of course, he does this in the most infantile way possible, pretending to call in a tip.
Thus, we’re introduced to the Jessup detective Torres, who’s both cute and arrogant as hell. It’s clear she thinks Patience is just some pitiful little town, and I actually felt some sympathy for Mike and Liv when they had to deal with her. Though I did appreciate how she reacted to Mike calling himself Big Black by referring to herself as Medium Brown. Understandably, Harry is furious about the body being taken away since that would screw up his chance to fake the autopsy in a way that benefits him and Asta.
As for the agent that got sniped by an alien while trying to trade the sphere for his life, he’s doing better than you might expect. David survives being shot and falling to his death all thanks to the alien sphere. Then he meets up with Linda Hamilton’s character, who actually is helping protect him. Well, at least when she’s not drugging him for fun. It’s a weird relationship, but far from the worst partner, David’s been saddled with.
Harry eventually manages to get things back on track by planting evidence and using Judy as his unwitting assistant. My favorite part of that scene is when he mispronounces her last name first as Pooper and then as Cooter, which almost makes the scandalous woman blush a little. Then after he gets Torres to agree to give the body back to Patience, Judy decides to take an impromptu jacuzzi session in the same place they placed the dead body.
There are some really great little moments in Autopsy, such as Harry agreeing to be a town doctor again, but having some utterly ridiculous demands. My favorite is threatening nurse Ellen with capital punishment if she steals another granola bar. Asta and D’Arcy also bond with some day drinking, which temporarily helps Asta get out of her head. Harry is even forced to play therapist to the mayor and his wife, which he immediately tries, and fails, to sabotage. D’Arcy even has a sweet moment with her Native American beau and goes on a date.
As funny as the latest Resident Alien was, it ends in a surprisingly dark place. Though Harry is doing slightly better at thinking about others, he does something horrible in a misplaced attempt to help. Asta is overwrought by killing the man. So, of course, Harry decides to erase her memory, including her remembering to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. And the baby Goliath vomits up someone’s driver’s license, which is sure to cause some trouble. Overall it’s another excellent episode of Syfy’s absolute funniest new show. Tune in next week for our coverage of the next installment of Resident Alien!
