Resident Alien - Radio Harry - Review

Well that wasn’t at all what I was expecting, which is one of the reasons this show is so much fun.

Soooo, last season when we met General Wright, I wondered if she was bonkers…or just quirky, like most of the residents of Patience, CO. This week confirmed it. Bonkers.

She’s collecting abductees because she’s certain one of them is an aliens as opposed to a returned human.

Although I’m not clear if she’s looking specifically for Harry or any old alien. Given that Harry stole back his space ship and took off, at the end of season one, there’s no reason she should be looking for Harry specifically.

I think her logic is all kinds of flawed. If an alien were going to hide among humans….why replace an abductee?

Harry’s approach was much more logical and efficient. Get rid of the person you’re replacing with no one noticing.

Not to mention the fact that the number of people she’s questioned illustrates the principle that ‘crazy is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.’

I’m wondering if the season is headed more for the general zeroing in on Harry (thanks, I’m guessing, to former agent David Logan) than Harry’s people arriving on Earth with the new bomb.

Or perhaps the general will come face to face with one of Harry’s people. I don’t imagine that will go as the general as expect.

The military is always so certain that their guns will defeat an alien race with technology advanced enough to get to Earth.

***
Mayor Ben Hawthorne is looking a little extra quirky these days. He is more than slightly annoyed by the lackadaisical attitude of his townspeople toward Jessup (and their mayor).

Kate tried to get Ben to mellow out until she met Jessup’s mayor Mitch Green. At which point she ripped him a new one. That was fun.

And really, who wants water that tastes like smoke?

***
Now that the radio is ready, Harry is focused on sending the signal.

Thanks to Sahar, an extremely smart young woman who, after scaring the heebie jeebies out of Harry (think on that for a moment), decided not to take Harry at his word.

As I said, smart.

Not that Harry is lying, but she doesn’t understand how Harry feels about Asta.

Harry’s desire to push Max (and Sahar) away by being mean, is because it disturbs him how much he cares about those kids.

His meanness only works because they've managed to keep Harry’s behavior on the level of a 9 year old.

It also helps that Harry is absolutely no match for Max or Sahar.

Sorry, I wandered away from my point a bit.

Sahar doesn’t trust that Harry’s actually built a radio. Sahar quoted Maya Angelou to convince Asta to verify it.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” — Maya Angelou

Asta decided that Harry send his signal from a location on the reservation.

I’m loving the insight that we’re getting into this community.

I feel like there hasn’t been enough balance in the way Indigenous communities are depicted in film and television. It is really nice to see some balance being brought into the mainstream.

I’ve wondered whether the bomb was meant to destroy the planet, or just destroy all life, leaving a deserted rock that Harry’s people can take over.

This episode seems to confirm that the bomb will only eliminate the humans.

I'd argue that, it's kind of difficult to say we deserve a chance, but I suspect Harry's people don’t care about that at all.

I think they just want the planet for themselves.

(It'd be ironic if the reason is that they've destroyed their own planet and want a new one. A very human attitude if you ask me.)

The episode spent quite a bit of time providing Harry with examples of hope for the human race.

Unfortunately, his take away wasn’t “I am making the right decision telling my people to call off the bombing.” It was “Give me 50 years, until the one human I like dies of natural causes.”

I wish I could say that was a surprise.

Asta immediately forced Harry to start looking for a Plan B.

She destroyed the radio before the signal could be sent. So, if Harry wants to save her, he’s going to have to find a way to save Earth.

Go Asta!

Miscellaneous

• One of the best conversations in the episode was the discussion about tampons. For a hot second it looked like it was going to be an embarrassing moment quickly shut down by Liv.
  
  But nope, the good Sheriff listed several legit reasons to consider them a tool that every office should have in their equipment belt.
  
  
• I felt so bad for D’Arcy. Her parents are so desperate to get their old daughter back that they are avoiding the daughter that’s in front of them. But when she is with them, they’re not listening to what she needs.
  
  D’Arcy might be forced to begin to move forward and maybe begin healing. That is something I would love to see.
  
  The writers managed to round out Sheriff Thompson without losing his quirk. I’d like to see D’Arcy begin to heal from the devastating loss of her ski career.
  
  
• Does anyone else see trouble ahead for Liv? The mystery of her dry cleaning may lead her to figure out that Harry messed with her memories. If she does remember, what does that mean for Harry?
  
  

As usual, I really enjoyed the episode. The set up we’re seeing for the rest of the season has me really excited.

What did you guys think of the ep? What were your favorite parts?