Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 7 Review: The Green Glow
Carissa Pavlica
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Ding dong, the wife is gone. Long live the wife!
Yes, Isabelle is annoying as hell, but her curiosity kept Harry safe, so it's hard to be angry with her.
And by the end of Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 7, she was almost a distant memory.
The murder story, too, appears to be moving into the rearview mirror.
D'Arcy appealed to Asta's common sense, and she admitted to Mike and Liv that she thought Jimmy stole the prescription pad.
Jimmy did steal the pad, but he sold it for cash to the school's janitor, who turned out to be The Pharmacist.
You have to laugh at someone as naive as Jimmy. He seemed genuinely shocked that Ferguson would sell drugs to kids, never connecting his job at the school with the prescription pad.
Liv, of course, was the mastermind behind netting Ferguson, even if Mike continued taking the credit.
His last straw with Liv was using a contraction while giving Miranda rights, and her last straw was just Mike. She's been twirling that last straw between her fingers for a long time.
If you watch Resident Alien online, you know that she's one of the smartest people in Patience, a town that has a combination of the most intelligent and some of the dumbest people ever congregated in one location.
It won't be hard for her to find another job, but she loves investigating, so I hope Mike realizes what he's lost.
Since he used his father's lessons to guide him, I have to believe there is hope for him to see the light. But would Resident Alien be as enjoyable if Mike found his way toward that light?
Honestly, his dumbass one-liners and long way around justifying his terrible actions are worth him annoying the hell out of Liv. If only she could find a way to refocus the way he treats her so that she always comes out on top, it would be a perfect match.
She's the brains behind the operation, and everyone knows that.
I wish Liv could ride in the Sheriff's office's sidecar while making all the right calls, realizing that she's there to help Mike become a better person. He's stubborn and will take the long route getting there as he does with everything else, but it's the best option for our entertainment.
Liv can't allow what he thinks about her to affect the way she sees herself. That's more easily said than done, though.
Dr. Ethan has proven to be malleable. Perhaps he's not intended to be anything other than a minor distraction because he's aiming toward frolicking with the likes of Mike and the dummies in town.
A doctor who backs up another doctor no matter what they say is useless. Although, his comparison to the behavioral school and being sent away on a lacrosse scholarship was comical.
Those of you who recognized that Kate and Ben were having problems can rest easy since she thought so, too. But if you thought Ben had eyes on D'Arcy, I don't think that's the case. I think he's just a simple man with simple desires.
Kate, though, has higher aspirations. At the very least, she'd like a man not to be like Dr. Ethan, rolling over when faced with a challenge. Apparently, that challenge only goes so far; telling all the truth isn't what she wants either.
Sadly, I'm just not that interested in Ben and Kate and wonder how they managed to raise such a slick kid. He's levels above both of his parents. Maybe they've given up, and he's still got the wonders of life ahead of him.
We also checked in with the General's operation, another story that got about as much time as it deserved so far.
None of the characters involved will be playing with the smart kids in Patience, not even David. He was the first to write off Harry as a husband in the midst of a marital tiff. If anyone bought Harry's theatrics, they don't deserve success.
I can only assume that they had the book on the ancient, extinct people on hand because of its similarity to the ship. Frankly, I'm shocked he managed to see a connection.
The biggest misconception that humans have about the universe is that it's enormous. It's not. It's tiny. It's also finite and smells of slightly burnt caramel corn. I understand why these dumb humans don't know anything about the extended universe; they've never been there.
Harry
That book and the opening scene suggested that Harry wasn't talking to Nathan Fillion's trapped octopus because he was high, either, but genuinely because they're an alien species. If you watched My Octopus Teacher on Netflix, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that very scenario.
And hello! Firefly reunion! Two favorites in one scene together again. Who can complain? Fillion does great voices.
I'm currently listening to an audiobook he narrates, and he never disappoints. It's why I can't stop watching The Rookie, even though this season has lost a bit of its luster.
But with the walls closing in on Harry -- all of them, not just the glacier's walls -- he's bound to find himself in the General's hands even with as inept as they seem to be.
They stole my ship. They know I'm stranded here. They must be searching for me. I would grow a mustache as a disguise, but then I'd have to get a job as a firefighter or a pedophile.
Harry
They didn't get him this time, but now that he knows they're hot on his tail, Harry's getting careless.
He's ultra-focused on finding his device because he feels like a failure, something that is utterly human and entirely new to him.
Harry: I'm still depressed, but it doesn't matter. I don't care.
D'Arcy: You're doin' depression right. The key is to embrace it. Once you accept that you've got nothing, then you've got nothing left to lose. The low point. That's where freedom lives.
But with all that alien intelligence he's always bragging about, he's making a fool of himself.
The writing was on the wall when Harry and Max made their truce that day that Harry would count on Max for help. Nobody else has a clue about who he really is. Well, at least they didn't until the end of "The Green Glow."
While Harry has been gallivanting about town with alien stuff in the back of his truck, he's also been acting as if nobody else in town can see him at all. An adult acting oddly is going to get recognized. You don't have to be glowing green to be seen.
Harry: You will help me find my device.
Max: Why? What's it do?
Harry: [internal] Cook your monkey ass. [to Max] Consider it a radio.
It's sure as heck odd seeing a child who once feared you pleading with you in the middle of the street.
D'Arcy and Astra chased after Harry, unbeknownst to him, and we'll never know whether he would have been in trouble on the glacier alone or whether the additional weight of two snowmobiles and two other people caused the collapse. It really doesn't matter.
But it does matter that D'Arcy is supposed to be an expert on that glacier, and other than poking her stick into the ground once they arrived at Harry's side, she didn't seem to care a lot about where they were traveling otherwise.
I guess finding a crevasse is a crapshoot.
With all three of them, the snowmobiles, and the device now fallen inside of a crevasse, will that device be their salvation? And will that require letting D'Arcy and Asta in on his little secret?
Maybe Patience is meant to house an alien long-term. The town is filled with people who feel less than they're worth. They're begging for something to fulfill them.
Being in a small town, it might feel like their options are limited. But having their own alien could go a lot way toward satisfying their appetites for adventures.
And if I wasn't feeling the love during Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 6, Harry's words alone breathed life into this episode. He was crackling with alien sarcasm again, and it was beautiful.
Check out the Resident Alien quotes for those that I managed to capture, and share your favorites down below.
This is my life now -- human being. So I have to live like humans do. Occupy my time at a job I loathe, slowly rotting away until I die. What are my choices?
Harry
As for a favorite scene that didn't fit into the review, I have to go with Harry investigating odd jobs. From knocking over an old lady with a newspaper, sporting dreads to serve coffee, and giving D'Arcy her lifelong dream of a Jerry Orbach tattoo, what's not to love?
We're winding down and have yet to hear about a renewal, but with the audience that it's capturing, there's no way we won't have another season at our disposal.
If you have theories or want to pick a nit about my review, the space below is all yours!
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 X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
