Recap: Resident Alien S01, Ep. 9 “Welcome Aliens” – Christopher Columbus of the Sky

Resident Alien, Season 1, Episode 9 “Welcome Aliens”

Air Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 10:00PM – 11:00PM ET/PT on Syfy

Reviewer Rating: 4 Stars ★★★★★

***WARNING: Spoilers Ahead ***

“Allah knows? How many people have you told?” – Harry

“Welcome Aliens” begins with the quintessential alien abduction…of sorts. 30 years ago, a young couple board a city bus; the woman is very pregnant. Before I spoil it immediately, I have a theory about this. And there is still the whole matter of Harry’s (Alan Tudyk) leg being “chopped off” in last week’s “End of the World As We Know It.”

Back to the bus.

After all the lights go out, everyone else is frozen in time except the couple. As the young man looks outside at an ominous glow, he turns to find his wife suspended in mid-air. When they all regain mobility, the woman stands up and she’s not pregnant anymore. I think you get the picture.

Asta (Sara Tomko) learns that Harry’s leg, currently a squiggly tentacle-like appendage, can regenerate because his people “are descendants of octopuses.” Makes sense now why he was talking to the one in the noodle shop. Asta isn’t “leg shaming” Harry, it’s just a little jarring seeing a squirmy tentacle coming out of someone’s shorts where a human leg used to be.

After Asta leaves for work, Harry realizes his device has been damaged from the accident. “The power source is damaged. Built to provide energy for 5,000 years but apparently not built to withstand an unprotected fall into a crevasse. Certain alien races implant tiny transmitters into human beings to monitor their activity. If I can find one of those, I can reverse engineer it to reboot my device.”

Then a knock at the door provides Harry an unexpected lead on finding an alien transmitter – “UFO Con.” But the conversation Harry and Max (Judah Prehn) have is so much fun. It had me cracking up. It’s so sweet of Max to stop by and check on Harry after learning he fell into a crevasse.

Harry: “If Asta wasn’t there, I would be dead. Except, now she knows the truth about me.”

Max: “You told her? I thought this whole alien thing was just our secret.”

Harry: “It stopped being a secret when you told your little friend over there in the head covering.”

Max: “She must have followed me. Don’t worry, she’s not gonna tell anyone; she swore to Allah.”

Harry: “Allah knows!? How many people have you told?”

Seriously, kudos to “Welcome Aliens” episodic writer Nastaran Dibai for this. Not only is this funny dialogue, it’s made even more hilarious with Harry in his ‘alien form’ since Max is able to see him as he truly is.

Before I dive into all the wonderful awesomeness that is “UFO Con” in “Welcome Aliens,” I want to briefly talk about Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds). Finally taking some surprisingly wise advice from his curmudgeon father Lewis (Alvin Sanders), the Sheriff goes back to the dueling murder boards and figures out Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen) has had the answers all along. And as suspected, especially after seeing her on a date, the Sheriff finally arrests Abigail Hodges (Deborah Finkel) for the murder of her late husband Dr. Sam Hodges’ (Jan Bos).

Realizing the error of his ways, Sheriff Mike crashes in on karaoke night at the 59 Bar while Liv is singing “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Their duet combined with the lyrics of this song is pure magic. And damn, Reynolds can sing! Bowen isn’t too shabby either. I love these two. When the Sheriff gets down on one knee and holds up that shiny gold star badge, that’s how an apology for being a complete jerk looks like.

UFO CON

The UFO Convention portrayed in “Welcome Aliens” is definitely a smaller affair than what probably happens. While I would love to go to one of these (post-pandemic), I love how the production/set designers brought all the elements of a convention like this into an episode. People in cosplay, vendors, and various speakers like the well-known [self-proclaimed] alien expert Giorgio A. Tsoukalos as himself. Many may recognize Tsoukalos from the History Channel series Ancient Aliens.

While I won’t spoil everything that happens, the scene with Tsoukalos and Harry in a private waiting room is priceless. “I have no problem hiding aliens.” The way Tudyk attacks the “flower shaped fruit” is everything. Damn, Tudyk is so good.

During the convention, Asta and Harry wander around, sitting in on lectures and other demonstrations, but one that I found quite interesting is when a man talks about several different alien species – “the Grays” which Harry claims are “insidious assholes.” Then “the Arcturians” who are apparently “jerks, so cheap.” The most infamous, “Little Green Men,” who are “cute but so know it,” and a few more, even one that owes Harry money.

The real surprise of this UFO Con is the famed “alien tracker” named Peter Bach (guest star Terry O’Quinn). While there is humor in most of the episode, the thought of Peter using a “10,000 volt” taser to handle aliens he captures is a bit violent. And probably not a surprise, Peter can see Harry’s alien form.

When Harry finds a woman (Arianna McGregor) claiming to have been abducted then implanted with a device in her arm, he tracks her down to “cut it out.” I think that photobooth will come back to haunt Harry later. So many photos of him holding a scalpel.

Some other plot points and fun stuff I noticed in this episode:

• Judy (Jenna Lamia) going to the 59 Bar to see D’Arcy. “You bitch; I almost lost you…I just feel like, you should buy me a drink or something ‘cause I’m like -ahhhh- my nerves are like fried eggs.” Yeah, the one who almost died should buy drinks, am I right?
• Jay (Kaylayla Raine) has a sudden moment of remorse when she finds out that Asta could have died in the accident.
• Ben (Levi Fiehler) and Kate (Meredith Garretson) are the cutest odd couple ever. And we all know Ben is kind of a stickler for routine so when Kate makes “Branzino” on “taco night” for some dinner guests, it’s the catalyst for so many comical things. Ben really needs to get out of his comfort zone. But good suggestion on making it “fish tacos.”
• The dinner guests are Lt. Logan (Alex Barima) and his trigger-happy partner Lisa (Mandell Maughan) who are pretending to be a married couple named Richard (aka “Dick”) and Sarah Houston. Lisa/Sarah does some recon in the house and finds a piece of Harry’s ship that Max hides in a candy box. Kate, please do not let this woman babysit your son.
• Ben shows Lt. Logan/Dick his candle making operation and it’s glorious. I love crafting and candle making is an art, but the way Ben twirls that flame-lighter then turns the pot on with a button… Is it inappropriate to use LOL in a recap?
• The pool table conversation between D’Arcy and Judy made me laugh so much because I think Judy may be watching too many True Crime shows. D’Arcy worries that something has happened to Asta. Then here comes Judy with comforting reassurance, “Yeah, probably something bad did happen to her. I don’t know; she probably got kidnapped or something or, like, people are after her and, like, she’s in the back of a car, like, in a trunk,” and like, screaming and, like, pounding and, like – or she could be dead.  She could be dead in a ditch somewhere, like, covered in blood, and like, intestines are, like trailing out–” Wow, Judy…thanks for that visual.
• And after hearing all those delightful scenarios, D’Arcy goes to Harry’s cabin looking for Asta but makes a shocking discovery in Harry’s basement freezer. Not sure how Harry (the alien) is going to explain why there is a dead look-a-like of him under the frozen fish.

Back to UFO-Con. Harry prepares to extract what he needs from Peter’s neck when the conversation gets quite interesting.

Peter: “No, wait. Where’s my baby?”

Harry: “What baby?”

Peter: “The one you took out of my wife 30 years ago on the bus.”

Harry: “We don’t do that. That’s the Grays.”

Peter: “You’re a Gray.”

Harry: “How dare you?”

Peter: “Please don’t take it out. It’s the only way they can find me if they come back. It’s the only way I’ll ever meet my son.”

Harry: “They’re not coming back for you. They already got what they wanted.”

The plot thickens.

Toward the end of the episode, Asta meets a fellow Native-American man (Ray G. Thunderchild) at the convention who warns her about trusting the alien from the story she shared on stage. “Be careful…for all you know, your alien is Christopher Columbus of the sky.”

Resident Alien’s season one finale is next week and I’m very curious to see how it all plays out. Who’s the baby that got abducted 30 years ago? Will it be Mayor Ben or, and this is my own theory, is it the new doctor in town, Dr. Ethan (Michael Cassidy) who we hardly know anything about except a piece of paper that says he has credentials and some possible photoshopped pictures?

RESIDENT ALIEN, S01, Ep. 09 “Welcome Aliens” Photos

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Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.

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