Resident Alien, Season 1, Episode 7 “The Green Glow”
Air Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 10:00PM – 11:00PM ET/PT on Syfy
Reviewer Rating: 4 Stars
***WARNING: Spoilers Ahead ***
“Are you upset because I drugged you?” – Harry
Resident Alien treks into more dangerous territory as Harry (Alan Tudyk) realizes someone has taken his ship and he still hasn’t found his humanity-destroying device. But as “The Green Glow” progresses, things become increasingly complicated when Harry enlists the help of an unlikely ally in his search.
“The Green Glow,” written by Elias Benavidez, begins with a brief introduction about how small our universe is; “it’s tiny and finite, and smells of slightly burnt caramel corn.” According to Harry’s narration, about “540 million years ago” an asteroid that hit Earth was supposedly teeming with microscopic life that evolves into our present-day marine life such as squid and octopus. This will play out later in the episode.
Where “Sexy Beast,” ends, “The Green Glow” picks up (after the universe thing) when we see Isabelle (Elvy Yost) is the one driving the dark sedan. She realized Harry has been drugging her so she faked being knocked out to follow him out into the desert. Harry knows someone has taken his ship and the area is being watched; he starts talking really loud making it seem like it’s a lovers’ quarrel.
Isabelle storms off and Harry thinks he needs a disguise. “I would grow a mustache but then I’d have to get a job as a firefighter or pedophile.” Not really his only options but he is an alien with limited human knowledge. The latter is just a horrible choice.
After Harry is unsuccessful in his attempts to persuade Isabelle to stay, he begins to see that everything he’s done on Earth has been a complete and utter failure. So, with that, he decides that self-medicating would be helpful. The next sequence of scenes leads down a darkly comedic rabbit hole.
Harry wakes up to see the dead human Harry in his kitchen cooking a steak. Of course, alien Harry asks, “can I have some?” The conversation between the two clearly indicates that alien Harry is having an existential crisis.
Dead Harry: “You have nothing. You lost your device; you can’t even find your spaceship. You had one simple mission; you completely failed. And that makes you more than just a loser, that makes you human.”
Alien Harry: “Don’t call me that. That’s the most hurtful think anyone has ever said to me.”
Dead Harry: “You wanted to destroy the human race; the human race destroyed you; you sad, pathetic, stupid little shit-stick.”
Alien Harry: “Now that is the most hurtful thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Aren’t drug and alcohol induced nightmares fun? Add that to job hunting in a small town, now you’re talking about a swell time. I love the montage of various jobs Harry thinks about – newspaper delivery, barista, tattoo artist. It’s a must-watch scene!
Harry fails at finding a new job and now he’s playing Galaga at the bowling alley for hours. Judy (Jenna Lamia), who works at the bowling alley, calls D’Arcy (Alice Wetterlund) and Asta (Sara Tomko) for help. Harry tells them about his wife leaving then says, “I already tried booze and pills, but they didn’t make me feel any better.” And of course, D’Arcy is concerned. “You can’t use booze and pills to feel better; Judy, get the pot.”
I adore Wetterlund so much. Her sense of humor, the way she delivers her lines, it’s so funny. And I know I haven’t talked about Judy much, or at all, because she has my name, and she’s the town “skank” as D’Arcy puts it. She also seems obtuse in many ways. Perhaps D’Arcy is right to ask, “Is the spray that you put in those shoes a little toxic?” And Judy says, “A little bit, yeah.” See, that’s just a concerned friend asking a valid health question. Asta’s a nurse too, so she might be able to help.
I digress.
After Asta, D’Arcy and Harry smoke a bit from a bowling pin bong, they head over the local noodle joint. [Now, I’m craving ramen!] Harry is baked but he sees a strange octopus (possibly voiced by Nathan Fillion) in a tank at the restaurant. He goes over and begins having a telepathic conversation. Things are said which lead Harry to an epiphany – Max (Judah Prehn) can see the “alien stuff” in the back of Harry’s truck.
The scene with Harry in Max’s room munching on chips (because he’s still high) is another must-watch scene. I laughed out loud! “Hey, can you have your mother put popcorn on the shopping list?…I peed in your bed.”
There’s a small matter of Harry telling Max’s parents he was wrong about the diagnosis and that he doesn’t need to go “that dumb school in Georgia,” but it’s fine. Ben (Levi Fiehler) and Kate (Meredith Garretson) aren’t upset at all that they nearly sent their only son away based on a misdiagnosis. I’d love to digress about this couple because with Kate’s bossiness and Ben’s obvious need to be a people pleaser (and what’s up with the candle making?), they are both at least two paragraphs worth of dissection. But I’ll save that for later…or not.
Flash back time to about two weeks ago; Lt. David Logan (Alex Barima) is talking to the General (Linda Hamilton). He has a theory about the alien who crashed on Earth. After doing some research about lost ancient civilizations, “I think this alien is here to kill everybody.” Well, well, well; look who’s insightful?
Meanwhile, Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds) and Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen) are still investigating leads about the missing prescription pad taken from the late Dr. Sam Hodges’ (Jan Bos) office. Of course, Liv knows the Rx pad has nothing to due with Sam’s actual murder, but the Sheriff isn’t as keen. He’s talking about taking his dog Cletus on “Dateline” and taking credit for all Liv’s hard work. Plus, he’s a food-stealer. He takes yogurt from the office fridge just for the “fruit on the bottom;” he’s despicable.
The Sheriff doesn’t know what’s good for him. I am applauding Deputy Liv for standing up to him. She stopped the guy known as “Pharmacist,” because she knew the school better than the Sheriff. He’s ego is bruised so he gives her the silent treatment then says she is being “disrespectful.” This is too much forcing Liv to quit. And she takes that smashed up burger meant for Cletus with her. “It’s not right to waste food!” You tell him, Liv!
Harry and Max head to the local school (at the same time the Sheriff and Liv are there) to get supplies for Harry to build a scope to help Max find the “green glow” of his device on the mountain. Once Harry pinpoints the location, he sets off but it’s on a glacier with dangerous crevasses. Max, in an uncharacteristic move, tries to stop Harry from going.
Asta and D’Arcy witness this unusual display so, they stop Max to ask him what’s going on. He tells them about Harry going up to the glacier, forcing the two women to trek up there on snowmobiles to find him. Harry successfully finds his device just before Asta and D’Arcy reach him but with the weight of the snowmobiles and two additional bodies, they all fall into a crevasse.
Tune in next week to see how this plays out – two humans and an alien fall into a dangerous icy crevasse. Someone is bound to be hurt and, by the looks of the trailer for episode 8, “End of the World As We Know It,” I think Harry’s secret ain’t a secret anymore.
Tune in to Resident Alien, Wednesdays at 10PM E/P on Syfy.
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Judy Manning
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