Syfy
I often approach a new Syfy series with both excitement and dread, depending on how much money NBCUniversal is willing to throw at a show on the lesser watched, more directly focused of their networks. So I hoped for the best but expected the worst when I checked out the pilot for Resident Alien, based on the Dark Horse comic, and starring the great Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Subergatory, Doom Patrol). I’m happy to say the pilot, at least, exceeded my expectations.
I’m not familiar with the comic so I am coming into this with fresh eyes. Tudyk stars as Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle … who is actually an alien who crash landed on Earth after his ship was hit by lightning. Stranded in a very small town in Colorado, three hours from the nearest hub of civilization, the alien stumbled upon the cabin of the doctor who vacations there for a week every year. The fact that he’s been at the cabin longer than a week and hasn’t been seen in town has raised some suspicions. And there’s another problem — a suspected murder in town requires Dr. Vanderspeigle’s attention because it’s the town’s doctor who has been murdered. Alien Vanderspeigle (he’s used alien technology to assume the look of the doctor, but he’s disposed of the body in the currently ice covered lake) must accompany the police officers into town so as not to raise suspicions, but all he really knowns about forensics comes from watching reruns of Law & Order, which is where he also learned the English language.
Aside from the suspicious police officers, Sheriff Thompson and Deputy Baker, he meets the town’s very young mayor, Ben Hawthorne, and Asta Twelvetrees who worked with the deceased doctor, and imposes herself on ‘Harry’ as he fakes his way through an autopsy … and he’s almost a bit too gleeful when dissecting the body and pulling out the organs (and has a very unfortunate incident with the brain which he didn’t need to remove at all). ‘Harry’ is certain that the doctor was not murdered, but actually killed himself but no one can understand why the man would have so awkwardly stabbed himself in the neck.
Asta invites ‘Harry’ to join her at the local watering hole for a drink, which he at first turns down, but gives in to her prodding and has a great time. Perhaps too great as the next day his reaction to a hangover is quite a new experience. As ‘Harry’ attempts to assimilate himself into the town now that he’s finally seeing it’s not such a bad place after all, there are two complications (aside from the suspected murder which he does solve): Asta is attempting to escape from an abusive relationship that ‘Harry’ tries not to get involved with but does in a quite unexpected way, and the fact that one in a hundred million humans can see through his disguise … and in a town of 1,000 people there’s one ‘snot-nosed kid’ who can see his true form. So of course ‘Harry’ has to kill him, but the kid is a bit more than he bargained for. So ‘Harry’ has to be very wary. But it eventually may not be that big of a problem.
Syfy
The reason the boy may not be a problem comes down to the kid is known to have an over-active imagination, always scared of aliens under his bed. So when ‘Harry’ breaks into the kid’s room while he’s sleeping, the parents don’t think twice about actually looking under the bed when he starts screaming in the middle of the night. The other reason none of these things may matter is because ‘Harry’ was actually coming to Earth on a mission, and he is desperate to find his ship, buried in the snow, before the Spring thaw. The alien wasn’t here just for a visit. He wasn’t even supposed to touch the surface. All he was meant to do was …
Wipe out the human population. ‘Harry’ just wants to complete his mission and go home. But as he bonds more with the townspeople, will he be able to let go that easily?
Syfy has really hit a home run with Resident Alien. Tudyk does awkward like no one else, and he can be both comical and sinister at the same time. There are some great comic moments in the pilot, but one of the best involved ‘Harry’ looking up the definitions of ‘douchebag’ and ‘taint’. Tudyk does a great take of horror when looking at the pictures accompanying the definitions that had me laughing out loud. And even with their initial awkwardness, Tudyk and Sara Tomko have great chemistry, and we have to wonder how long it will be before Asta learns ‘Harry’s’ secret(s). The production looks great, from the design of the town, to the sweeping vistas of the Colorado mountains (which, in one shot with ‘Harry’ and Asta, I have to assume was some excellent green screen work). The alien design is also pretty solid and terrifying when it needs to be. The writing for the pilot was top notch, and everything from direction to editing to special effects are of the highest quality. I hope the season can sustain this high budget look and feel.
For now, I highly recommend Resident Alien and look forward to the next nine episodes of the first season.
What did you think of the premiere? Start a conversation in the comments section below.
Resident Alien airs Wednesday at 10:00 PM on Syfy.
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