Resident Alien

Created by Chris Sheridan

Based on Resident Alien by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse

Produced by Universal Cable Productions, Dark Horse Entertainment, and Amblin Television

January 27, 2021 to Present

Syfy

Cast

• Captain Hah Re / Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle-Alan Tudyk
• Asta Twelvetrees-Sara Tomko
• Mike Thompson-Corey Reynolds
• D’arcy Morin-Alice Wetterlund
• Ben Hawthorne (mayor)-Levi Fiehler
• Max-Judah Prehn
• Deputy Sheriff Liv Baker-Elizabeth Bowen

Recurring

• Kate Hawthorne (the mayor’s wife)-Meredith Garretson
• Sahar (Max’s friend and classmate)-Gracelyn Awad Rinke
• General McCallister-Linda Hamilton
• Lisa Casper (a sociopathic woman who works for General McCallister)-Mandell Maughan
• Lieutenant David Logan (works for General McCallister)-Alex Barima
• Dan Twelvetrees (Asta’s father)-Gary Farmer
• Jimmy (Asta’s abusive ex-husband)-Ben Cotton

An alien whose mission it is to destroy humanity gets stuck in a small Colorado town and now must blend in until he can find all the pieces of his doomsday device and get off the planet.

Since this is coming from Syfy my expectations were low. Bottom of the barrel low. I would of needed to start digging a hole to get lower. They have a habit of plopping out dreck and keeping that on. There has been the occasional bright spots such as Farscape or the Stargate shows or Dark Matter or The Expanse but this network dumped those for no good reason and chose instead to go with microbudget shows or reality competitions with broadcasts of films like Braveheart or Skyfall.

This is a rare ray of sunshine on their otherwise bleak schedule, and it makes me happy that they reportedly renewed this fantastic series for a second season. It is one of the best shows Syfy has put out in quite a long time. While it is a low budget series, but it is a well put together low budget series that does not try to exceed its grasp and fail.

When I originally watched the pilot episode, I was certain that Asta would get back with her abusive ex Jimmy but mercifully I was wrong. I was also under the impression that she would eventually start dating Harry. No but they do get closer over the course of the series in the way friends would. Up until recently though she was completely unaware of his true nature. I expected that reveal to come sooner.

The regular cast is all quite good. The only casting issue I have is among the recurring and that is with Linda Hamilton as General McCallister. I just do not buy her in the part. She seems just a little too tired and does not have the same strength she once had. I think maybe her character should have been just some general government functionary.

They are not above getting a little meta here. For instance in tomorrow’s episode the Ancient Aliens guy himself Giorgio A. Tsoukalos shows up. How can you like not like that bit of casting? This show is willing to simply be fun and that does not happen nearly often enough in entertainment. You will genuinely laugh while watching the show. There are plenty of jokes and of course the usual attempts at insight on humanity courtesy of the character of Harry.

Each episode of Resident Alien is standalone but also contributes to the overall narrative. You could miss an episode and still pick up on where the story is. Shows have forgotten how to do that these days. Too often they are married to making complicated storylines where if you miss an episode you have no clue what’s happening, or you are left confused for some time.

At this point in the series Harry seems to be struggling a little with whether or not to destroy the Earth. Not enough to prevent him from doing his job though. I am left wondering how they are going to resolve Harry destroying the Earth and the character growth he has experienced since the pilot.

If you have not watched Resident Alien yet I need to recommend that you do. It is a great TV show that will leave you laughing and hungry for more.