#Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Love Language

Love, sex, and friendship all in one episode?

After Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 5, won’t it be even more difficult for Harry to end the human race?

It might be the first time that his complaints began to dissipate while his realizations and understanding of the strange things we do began to make more sense to him.

Human Harry had a wife, and it wasn’t a fly-by-night relationship but the real deal that included a meet-cute montage right out of a classic Woody Allen movie.

There was romantic music, the cityscape of Manhattan behind them, and smooches on a penthouse balcony as they quickly fell in love.

It doesn’t take a psychologist to realize that something went wrong with their marriage. Harry was at a secluded cabin in Colorado while Allison remained in New York.

But whatever it was, Allison never imagined it would go as far as it did. Tossing divorce papers at Harry was an unconvincing attempt to show him that she was done with him, but who could blame her if she did want a divorce?

Their love story turned sour somewhere, and he escaped West. But it might not be an argument at all. Isabelle said that a couple of men showed up looking for Harry. That’s odd, and we’ll discuss why a little bit later.

Isabelle’s trip to Colorado was an attempt to woo Harry back to her, and if Harry had been Harry, it might have worked far better than it did with our Harry.

Despite the men at her door, Isabelle never thought twice about all of the locks in the house. She bypassed them easily, nearly uncovering a surprise in the freezer that would have totally spoiled their dinner, and never introduced Harry to sex!

When your mind is trying to wrap itself around humanity and their relationships, there’s no better treat than sex for the first time. Harry went from trying to eat steak around the back of Isabelle’s head to sounding like a choked chicken in the bedroom after a short burst of enthusiastic sex.

Before Harry’s spectacular discovery in Isabelle’s Arms, he was eager to toss her to the curb. He thought everyone should consider family in the same way as his people — like they don’t care if they live or die.

Why is she still here? How am I supposed to get into my underwear and watch Jerry Orbach with that hot ham in my house?
Harry

Sure, he enjoyed the hamminess of Isabelle, but she was a distraction from his goal, offering nothing in return.

Even as he grew nearer to Asta and she shared her reasoning for giving up her child for adoption, his mind struggled to understand how or why people had such a hard time rectifying their feelings with regard to family.

Did sex have anything to do with how he and Max and Sahar found their way to a truce? We can’t rule out the physical changes Harry’s body has undergone since Isabelle arrived.

Max and Sahar got caught, of course, and it only made things worse for Max. Harry used his most doctorly voice to toss wild opinions at Kate. She was so exasperated that she seriously considered sending Max to a Georgia school to get the help he needed.

Desperation can lead to inspiration, and by letting Sahar take the reins of his conundrum, they arrived at not only a stalemate with Harry but a genuine meeting of the minds. The way they were sharing information, it wouldn’t surprise me if they became actual friends.

Harry admitted that he never hated Max; he got angry around him because the boy made him feel vulnerable, exposed. That’s not a great position to be in when you’re trying to blend into a foreign atmosphere, and he lashed out instead of reaching out.

Now that Harry has gotten to know more about the people he’s living amongst, the error of his ways is apparent. He can learn something from Max. Now that he’s not in danger of exposure anymore, maybe he can focus more efficiently on his task to annihilate humanity.

It’s doubtful that he’ll want to go through with that task the more time he spends here and the more integrated he becomes, but it will still take some doing to convince him to abandon the mission.

Before we launch into what some others in town were dealing with, we need to examine the men who showed up at the apartment in New York. Were they there before or after our Harry killed human Harry?

I genuinely cannot remember if the two bumblehead agents on Harry’s trail are specifically looking for an alien or if they’re just tracking Harry. It has to be alien-related, right? Harry hasn’t done anything to hide his identity while in Patience.

If he’s that easy to track down, then the two groups hunting Harry can’t be related, or they’d already be at his front door. The agents we’ve seen are tracking an unknown; the agents (assumption?) in NY were looking for Harry.

Do you have any thoughts on that? It’s highly suspect.

Everything with Asta and Jay happened so fast! How the heck did Jay get her hands on papers that shared Asta’s personal history? She didn’t even beat around the bush. She knew immediately what it meant.

Asta: Are you listening to me?

Jay: This paper says you had a baby, and your baby was born on my exact birthday. It’s fine. It’s not like I didn’t know I was adopted.

Even with all that had happened recently within her family and Harry so callously exposing the secret, it still caught Asta by surprise. But similar to Harry’s lesson from Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 3, fear is a great motivator for keeping secrets, but it’s also a very poor reason for doing so.

Asta has been fearful about her daughter from the moment she got pregnant. She didn’t know whether to raise her or give her up, if her family would accept her or not, and then she spent years worrying that she’d made a mess of Jay’s life in one way or another and might be held accountable.

So many secrets and so much fear; that’s not an easy way to live. D’Arcy nailed why she found Harry so refreshing. He says what’s on his mind come what may. If only others could be the same if, perhaps, a little more subtle in their delivery, who knows what a difference it would make to our society?

Harry: Humans lie. It’s what they do.

Asta: Why?

Harry: Maybe they don’t want people to know who they really are.

Shockingly, even Jimmy thought the way she handled the situation was messed up. His issues with how she got close without revealing the truth and all that jazz are different than those of a normal person, but they’re in the same ballpark.

Asta’s dad (does he have a name?) reacted perfectly to what she was feeling. Asta still has issues with how she was raised, but he remembers vividly the day her mother left, tucking her in bed at night with the promise that she would never have to walk this life alone.

Asta may have left Jay, but he guarantees that Jay has a family at home who loves her as if she were their own. With as downright funny as Resident Alien is, it’s also downright profound.

And we can’t leave out Sheriff Mike’s cruel, if funny, treatment of Deputy Liv.

When she was playing with that yoyo and he couldn’t do the same, tossing it aside with a  “Now look what you did. You broke it,” I laughed out loud. That’s such typical human behavior. It’s so ugly but very real.

Meeting Mike’s dad explains everything.

A simple breakfast with his father that included trying to get the older man to take his pills was filled with disparaging comments about Mike’s ineptness. His dad felt bad for Sam for getting killed on Mike’s watch because he’s such a useless sheriff. No wonder Mike takes a similar stance with Liv.

It’s unwarranted, but he doesn’t know any other way to be. Maybe he’ll go on a journey of discovery if he gets closer to Harry. Harry’s discovering things about humanity left and right; why not spread the love?

As a personal aside, I have been adding “sticks” to everything. Son of a f*cksticks has, for some odd reason, become a profane favorite. Well, I watched the first seven episodes of the series for press day, and NOW I know why. This damn show has infiltrated my life!

Holy shitsticks! We got ourselves a murder!
Sheriff Mike

With Sam’s autopsy concluded as not suicide, well then, holy shitsticks, they got themselves a murder!! That simple exclamation stuck with me and permeated my already profane language. How awesome is that?

It’s also awesome for Sam’s wife, who can collect the insurance money (and unless it was a new policy, most likely could have even with a suicide, just sayin’).

What’s next? Harry might have two groups of people on his tail. He’s got a wife he can’t shake. He’s making friends. He’s got to get rid of the body in the freezer, for sure. Might I suggest a chainsaw and bags on his frequent trips to the snow-covered hills?

I don’t really care what’s next, as long as the story continues. Resident Alien is one of the highlights of my week. I’m betting it’s yours, too!

The funniest Resident Alien quote of the night goes to:

Jimmy: What the hell is he doing here? What? Is he your new boyfriend or something?

Asta: No!

Harry: No. I’m just here eating cake.

Jimmy: What? Are you her bodyguard now?

Asta: Harry.

Harry: I prefer ninja.

Asta: Harry, you don’t have to do this. [to Jimmy] Just ignore him.

Harry: You shouldn’t ignore ninjas.

So if you haven’t seen it already, watch Resident Alien online and hop below to join the discussion. I didn’t get all mushy about the funny bits today, so you can fill in the blanks!!

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.