“Resident Alien” has been navigating viewers through ridiculous and hilarious plot twists and making us laugh alongside an immature, egotistical alien that was sent to destroy Earth for four whole seasons, but Harry’s (Alan Tudyk) hyperspace ride across the galaxy is finally over. Although a movie continuation is not out of the question, any project is likely at least two years out, so Friday’s finale would be our last chance to see the gang together for quite awhile… and boy did they go out with style.
The penultimate episode of the series, “Tunnel Vision”, tied up the killer Mantid storyline. that has been the focus of season 4, which left all of us viewers at home wondering what the finale was going to be about. The series introduces it’s final threat in the opening scene, which also includes the return of Dr. Ethan Stone (Michael Cassidy), who hasn’t been seen since season 2. As a whole, this finale hits a lot of bittersweet emotional notes and of course plenty of laughs. The chemistry between the cast is undeniable and it’s obvious that they don’t want to say goodbye just yet. Warning, beyond this point there are heavy spoilers for anyone who is not up to date on USA Network’s “Resident Alien.”
The series introduces it’s final threat in the opening scene, which also includes the return of Dr. Ethan Stone (Michael Cassidy), who hasn’t been seen since season 2.”
The episode starts off with Dr. Ethan returning to Patience, consumed by anger towards Harry and his alien identity. In a stroke of bad luck for the good Doctor, a spaceship, very similar to Harry’s ship lands on top of Ethan’s car and he clearly gets un-alived. The spaceship opens up to reveal another alien the same species as Harry. Harry’s species has never actually been named in the comics it was based off of or in the TV series although Harry has called octopuses his cousins. Episode 9 had needed with Asta (Sara Tomko) having a clairvoyant dream about aliens arriving, which comes to fruition after the opening scene.
Harry os hilariously tying to order 100 pies before leaving town to go to his birdie baby mama. Harry predictably is upset that life will go on without him and tries to come to terms with leaving the place that turned him into someone with a soul. Tudyk saves one of his best performance for last here as he showcases all the great things about Harry we’ve grown to love over the years while still sowing off his characters growth and understanding of new situations. Asta and D’arcy (Alice Wetterlund) are both excited for Asta’s impending move, but when Jay (Kaylayla Raine) finds out, she makes her unhappiness known, Asta’s biggest emotional conflict has always been her relationship with her daughter and the finale does a good job of showing that emotional storylines don’t get wrapped up in neat little bows. Eventually, Jay reads all the notes and letters her birth mother write her over the years during her adoption years and it completely wins her over. The two end up in a better place by the end but still obviously have room for growth.
Asta soon realizes that her premonition was real and that an alien has returned to Patience. Harry gets the news and sees it as an opportunity to prove to all of his friends that he’s irreplaceable and ;I’ve should not go on without him. Harry’s ridiculous immaturity contrasted with his supreme alien intelligence has always been a winning formula and that same combo is on full display here in the last hurrah. Max (Judah Prehn) spots the new alien version of Dr. Stone and lets Harry know. Harry confronts Ethan and has a sarcasm filled conversation. Harry convinces Ethan that the phrase for the fuel he needs is ball sack in one of the most childish jokes in the series. Harry plans to kill Dr. Stone later after making his friends realize how much they need Harry.
When Harry gets to the emergency meeting of all of the main cast, he is in rare form until he finds out that Asta has already explained to the crew all of the important details. In trying to make himself seem superior, Harry ends up alienating Sheriff Mike (Corey Reynolds) when Harry accidentally lets it slip that he implanted Mike’s favorite memory of fishing with his dad. Reynolds has done a spectacular job all series long of playing an ignorant cop with a good heart and saves some of his best logical word diarrhea for this last outing. Mike declares Harry his sworn enemy and tries. to arrest harry until the group points out they need Harry to save the world form this new alien threat. This also leads to all of the characters acknowledging all of the good deeds Harry has done throughout the series, even if he tried to kill Max. Mike argues with the group about Harry’s value and one of the funniest confrontations in the show happens here when D’arcy and Sheriff Mike are posturing to physically fight in the goofiest way possible. This scene carries a lot of emotional weight as each character weighs in with their heartfelt input… but Mike can’t be convinced.
Harry is so bothered by someone hating him that he first decides to kill the Sheriff with baby aspirin (really) and then decides to trick Mike into meeting his dad to go fishing, which strangely works.
Ben (Levi Fiehler) and Kate (Meredith Garretson) have their moment of growth and realization when they see the girl scout grey alien that had previously threatened them. The two boldly confront her. With some other scouts and threaten to kill them all… only to find out that the other girls weren’t with her. Ben’s innocent naivety has made him one of the more sweet and honest characters in the show who yo want to root for – while laughing at him.
The next major story beat is when Sheriff Mike is snatched by the government agency designated to track aliens asks him to join them. Mike refuses to be a part of their organization without Deputy Liv (Elizabeth Bowen), who he has recently really started to treat well after largely ignoring her earlier on in the series. Both of these characters have had a great arc and could be the subject of a comedic X-Files spin-off down the road, at least this reviewer would watch it.
The finale then shifts to Harry’s planned meeting with Ethan. The whole gang is there to help and they decide to get Ethan drunk. Ethan quickly darts too being human and starts showing signs of kindness a lot quicker than Harry did. We get a great dance sequence here where Harry realizes that no fighting is necessary and that Ethan will also become human over time and not be a danger to the survival of Earth. Although some kind of last battle would have been cool, “Resident Alien” just isn’t that show.
The creators chose to focus on how life is cyclical and pointed out how dozens of aliens may have come before Harry and all been won over by the humanity of the earthlings. The end of the show is a bit drawn out, but pretty ,duh everyone gets a chance to say their proper goodbyes. There’s still storylines that could be revisited, but Creator Chris Sheridan has done an outstanding job of wrapping up this series in a heartfelt way that wasn’t very predicable yet still gave viewers what they’ve come to expect in an episode.
What do you think? Is the world safe from Dr. Ethan? What kind of mischief will Sheriff Mike and Liv get into? How will Harry deal with fatherhood and his Avian wife? Will Harry ever return to Earth? Are we ever going to get a “Resident Alien” movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
