ORBzine - Resident Alien (2021) TV Review

[Season 1 !Season 2 !Season 3 ]

Resident Alien (2021)

Season 1

    
Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 1] Pilot
Shown 27 Jan 21

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) is hanging out in his cabin in the woods in a remote part of Colorado, USA. A UFO crash-lands nearby, so its pilot kills Harry and disguises itself as him. Now the alien tries to pass as a human at least until it can recover its cargo and complete its mission.

Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) and Deputy Liv Baker ( Elizabeth Bowen ) conscript Harry-the-Alien into helping investigate the death of the town's doctor. Luckily the alien has been learning to speak American English by watching re-runs of Law and Order. The death looks like suicide, but the nurse Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) insists it must be murder.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 2] Homesick
Shown 03 Feb 21

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) blends in by taking over as the town doctor. He realises his biggest problem is the little boy who can see through the alien disguise. Unfortunately, spending time in human form means he has developed human emotions.

The whodunnit sub-plot is ignored this week. However, a new alien-hunter sub-plot begins.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 3] Secrets
Shown 10 Feb 21

The nosy little boy befriends a little muslim girl.

It turns out that a couple of plain-clothes Military Intelligence types are searching for aliens.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 4] Birds of a Feather
Shown 17th February 2021

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) accompanies nurse Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) to her family's place on the local Native American reservation.

The nosy little boy and his gal-pal decide to search Harry's place while he is out of town.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 5] Love Language
Shown 24th February 2021

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) discovers that his wife is in town. Well, technically she is the real Harry's widow. Anyway, he has to stop her from discovering the truth. She assumes he is on the run from debt collectors, because some mysterious men were looking for him in New York City. Naturally, Harry does not bother to enquire any further.

Nurse Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) has family problems of her own. The daughter that she secretly gave up for adoption is doing work experience in the clinic.

The nosy little boy continues to insist that Harry is an alien. Luckily, Harry develops a non-violent strategy and convinces the parents to send the kid to a boarding school thousands of miles away.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 6] Sexy Beasts
Shown 03 Mar 21

This episode starts with a couple of flashbacks. General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ) is finally introduced, and the two storylines start to converge.

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) gets replaced by the Mayor. Unfortunately Harry becomes jealous of his replacement, a smug know-it-all who steals Harry's thunder at every opportunity. Also, Harry's wife seems intent on coercing him into having sex.

Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) and the Deputy start to make progress in the murder investigation.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 7] The Green Glow
Shown 10 Mar 21

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) realises his spaceship has been been taken. He recruits an unlikely ally to help him. Yes, it turns out that one of the locals sees The Green Glow around alien artefacts.

Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) and the Deputy start to make progress in the drugs investigation. She takes a leaf out of the Agent Carter book of hot pursuit.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 8] End of the World As We Know It
Shown 17 Mar 21

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) and his two lady friends are stuck in a crevasse. One of them tries to get to the top. The other tries to keep Harry alive. Unfortunately his injuries mean he can no longer maintain his disguise.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 9] Welcome Aliens
Shown 24 Mar 21

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) lost his leg due to the injuries from his fall into the crevasse. Now he has to grow it back.

The MIBs have arrived in town. They schmooze the mayor and his wife.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 1, Episode 10] Heroes of Patience
Shown 31st Mar 2021

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) has the special device that he needs to complete his mission. Now he has second thoughts about it.

The MIBs close in on Harry. Their first target is the nosy boy, Max.

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Resident Alien (2021)

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3 , Episode 1 ]
Shown th April 2024

Reviewed in our special supplement Resident Alien (2021)

Resident Alien (2021)

Season 2

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 1] Old Friends
Shown 26th January 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) the alien and Max the boy return to Earth. Unfortunately the ship crash-lands, and Harry ends up as a naked amnesiac in a local hospital. By the time his female sidekick Nurse Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) finds him, he thinks he is Detective Lennie Briscoe from Law and Order.

The MIBs have been beaten off, and Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) has an APB out on them. Max's parents deal with the psychological trauma they underwent.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 2] The Wire
Shown 2nd February 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) knows his people will send someone else to finish the job. Since the only human he cares about is his friend Asta, he builds a bunker so the two of them to survive the apocalypse together. She suggests he makes more human friends, and he agrees - so he can recruit a servant who

The young boy stole one of Harry's tech pieces. It has a strange effect on him, sending him through puberty at the age of ten. Luckily his friend the muslim girl helps him. The police are very unobservant, because they are focusing on Harry as their only suspect.

There are a couple of familiar names in the credits this episode. The octopus is voiced by Nathan Fillion (Tudyk's co-star from Firefly ), while the director is one of the producers - Robert Duncan McNeill from Star Trek: Voyager .

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 3] Girls' Night
Shown 9th February 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) needs to build a laser-based communications device, so he can phone home and get his people to spare the human race. Unfortunately he needs a specific component. By incredible coincidence, he gets a female patient who works as a scientist at a laser research lab in New Mexico. He tries to seduce her, with hilarious results.

Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) and the rest of the main female cast meet up for a girls' night out. They get upset when they discover that the town's female employees get paid less than males doing the same job. Yes, the old gender pay-gap propaganda is dug up. There is a lot of female entitlement in this episode. For example, the female scientist feels entitled to be with a more attractive man - even though she is the equivalent of her male counterparts.

The ending is a montage sequence, to the tune of Suicide is painless - theme song of M.A.S.H.. Although that show is a sitcom, it is about a war in the 1950s - an era with a strong gender divide, when men suffered death and injury in the war while the women were in the privileged position of nurses. This is particularly hypocritical, as the episode promotes an increase in female privilege which will clearly put further burden on the males of the species.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 4] Radio Harry
Shown 16th February 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) has finished his interstellar communications device. Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) does not trust him, so she insists that she accompany him to the transmission site. The site is a mountain on native American land, so Harry attends a barbeque with Asta's tribe. Unlike hanging around with the town's white people, this allows Harry a chance to experience humans' strong sense of community.

The MIBs are still abducting people who had contact with aliens. General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ) interrogates the replacement doctor, because she is convinced he is an alien himself.

Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) and the deputy carry on with their lives. However, sooner or later they will realise that they have missing time ... and that they were mind-wiped by an alien. Oh well.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 5] Family Day
Shown 23rd February 2022

The Mayor holds a carnival for the town residents. He even writes a stage-play for the schoolchildren to perform, about the famous self-sacrifice of the 59 miners.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 6] An Alien in New York
Shown 2nd March 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) and Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) go to New York City with a couple of jobs. He wants to find the local alien, who turns out to be a mysterious Banksie-type street artist named Goliath. She wants to find out how the original Harry got a bag full of cash. Is he linked to a criminal conspiracy based in New York?

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 7] Escape From New York
Shown 9th March 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) and Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) find Goliath, the alien artist. The good news is that Goliath has a gift for them. The bad news is that the MIB assassin woman is after them. The good news is that she did not bother to bring any backup.

Back in Colorado, Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) decides to re-investigate the murder.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 8] Alien Dinner Party
Shown 16th March 2022

General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ) tries to buy the alien orb that was stolen from Harry. An alien assassin (Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse ) intervenes.

The main characters have invited themselves into Harry's house and hold him an impromptu birthday party. The Mayor's plan is to talk Harry into taking the job of town doctor again. The Mayor's wife has her own issues with her suspected pregnancy. This get-together of the major characters seems like a prime example of the Bottle Episode, a self-contained story with no new sets or guest-stars.

Of course, this is very awkward for Harry. After all, the alien egg in his bunker has hatched. The alien baby will seek to gorge itself on junk food, and will probably settle for human flesh. Who will be its first victim?

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 9] Autopsy
Shown 23rd March 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) and Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) cover up the killing. This involves moving the body so it is in the next jurisdiction.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 10] The Ghost Of Bobby Smallwood
Shown 30th March 2022

Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) realises that she cannot remember the previous day. Obviously Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) had something to do with it.

Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) and the lady detective from the next County discover that they have a lot in common.

The human children discover the alien child.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 11] The Weight
Shown 6th April 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) tries to find the alien baby.

General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ) realises she has captured the wrong suspect, and the real alien is still in Patience.

The alien assassin (Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse ) has infiltrated the MIBs.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 12] The Alien Within
Shown 13th April 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) teams up with the muslim girl to find the alien baby.

General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ) goes undercover as the school lunch lady. She is also after the alien baby.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 13] Harry, A Parent
Shown 20th April 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) gets dragged along when Darcy competes in the Olympic skiing try-outs. She pays him in Churros, but demands he secretly gives her pain medication so she can compete with her busted knee.

Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) comes along to meet her mother. The same mother that abandoned her as a child. This affects Asta's relationship with her own daughter in future episodes.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 14] Cat And Mouse
Shown 27th April 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) knows that the alien overlord (George Takei - Star Trek: TOS ) is plotting to take over the world.

The Alien-Hunter, Peter Bach (Terry O'Quinn - Lost ), has been summoned by the Deputy. He bears Harry a personal grudge - after Harry ripped Bach's alien implant out, the aliens stopped abducting him.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 15] Best of Enemies
Shown 21st September 2022

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) teams up with Alien-Hunter Peter Bach (Terry O'Quinn - Lost ). They play the Wookie Prisoner trick, and visit the local MIB base to see General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ).

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 2, Episode 16] I Believe In Aliens
Shown 28th September 2022

This episode starts with a prelude by Mike Richardson, CEO of Dark Horse Enterprises. There is an interview with some UFO witnesses at every advert break.

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) shares his message with Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ). He has given up hope of saving the world, so he says his goodbyes and prepares to return to his homeworld.

The deputy hears that Bach has died in a car crash, but she assumes it is a cover-up story to conceal murder. Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) is sceptical at first.

Resident Alien (2021)

Season 3

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 1] Lone Wolf (62 min)
Shown 14 Feb 24

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) now has an extra day job, working for General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ). Predictably, he is a disruptive element in the office.

The alien assassin (Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse ) is now working as a deputy in Patience. Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) wants to date him. Harry forbids her, but she insists on doing it anyway. Harry plants a bug on her, so he can listen in on their date.

Deputy Liv stumbles upon a missing persons case - Bach's son, who was abducted by the Greys ... again.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 2] The Upper Hand (61 min)
Shown 21 Feb 24

Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) dates the alien assassin (Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse ) to distract him. Meanwhile, Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) breaks into the assassin's home. Of course, Harry underestimates his opponent.

The muslim girl has been sent off to boarding school. The Mayor's son has to make new friends, so he tries to convince the conspiracy theorists that Harry is an alien.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 3] 141 Seconds (61 min)
Shown 28 Feb 24

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) joins the Mayor's family on their trip to Yellowstone. He uncovers the Greys' plan to destroy the world's surface, by dumping millions of tons of water into the supervolcano's caldera.

Asta Twelvetrees ( Sara Tomko ) discovers the Sheriff has a photo incriminating Harry. His face is not visible, but his plaid shirt is. While Harry is away, Asta must destroy all his shirts.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 4] Avian Flu (61 min)
Shown 06 Mar 24

An alien process server has delivered Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) his eviction papers. Asta's friend decides to delay the process by sabotaging the portal. The alien woman must stay in town for a few days until the portal is fixed, so she disguises herself as a human called Heather. Harry has fallen in love with her.

Harry briefs General McCallister ( Linda Hamilton ) and the MIBs on the Greys' plan. One General (Aaron Douglas - Battlestar Galactica (2003) ) does not trust him.

Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) and his deputy investigate the Alien Tracker's van. They trace a set of fingerprints to a scientist ( Erin Karpluk ) who lives in the nearby woods.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 5] Lovebird (61 min)
Shown 13 Mar 24

The alien assassin (Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse ) is assigned to capture Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) for the Greys.

Harry takes three days off work, having sex with Heather. Asta and redhead have to break the happy couple up, because Harry plans to leave with Heather ASAP.

Harry lets slip to Asta and redhead that Ben the mayor has been repeatedly abducted by the Greys. Redhead starts to recover memories of her own. Since the deputy and and the Mayor's wife are also abductees, we have to ask - how many people in town have not seen an alien?

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 6] Bye Bye Birdie (61 min)
Shown 20 Mar 24

The alien assassin (Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse ) forces Heather to betray Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ). This leaves Harry heartbroken, which distracts him from completing the bomb and saving the world.

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 7] Here Comes My Baby (61 min)
Shown 27 Mar 24

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) discovers his alien child is in town, intending to kill him for abandoning it. In a subplot, Asta is reunited with the mother who abandoned her.

Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds - The Terminal ) plots to trap the alien assassin (Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse ).

Resident Alien (2021) Resident Alien (2021) [Season 3, Episode 8] Homecoming (62 min)
Shown 3rd April 2024