Resident Alien Review: Love Language (Season 1 Episode 5)
We knew this would happen eventually, maybe we just didn’t expect it five episodes into the first season. Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 5, “Love Language,” is the episode where Harry Vanderspiegle starts to see the good in humanity.
Harry is still an awkward character and the arrival of Isabel has added to his stress, but it’s something that’s much needed. Her introduction gives a peek into the life of the real Harry Vanderspeigle, which hasn’t been explored, and clearly, there were some secrets he was hiding.
I said a little bit in my review of Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 4, “Birds of a Feather,” that the fact that we know nothing about the real Harry is troubling.
Usually, when a character attempts to impersonate another, they excavate that person’s life. (Think Sarah in Orphan Black saying ‘You’re damn right’ when she pretended to be Beth.) With alien Harry, being well, an alien, he wouldn’t have known to do that and instead focused on Jerry Orbach.
His constant Law & Order references are amusing, but they don’t provide enough drama to sustain the show. The tension between alien Harry and the guy he’s impersonating is the most dynamic, and there’s a lot of room for error since he doesn’t understand the cultural mores and idioms.
That’s not a new threat though, and the intrusion of Isabelle is much more pressing. Watching him freak out when she goes downstairs to get the steak out of the freezer, or how she interrogates what he’s doing.
As annoying as it is for him to have someone else in his space, this is a chance for him to learn about love, and have his first sexual encounter as a human. (And yes, it’s exactly the kind of humor this episode needed.)
Around Harry there are complicated family dynamics at work. Jay found out Asta’s secret and now has to process the fact that Asta is her mother.
This episode clues everyone in to this secret and it’s a good thing because this secret was running out of ground. Now that the secret is out, they can work on their relationship. As those relationships repair Harry can learn more, and develop empathy towards the human race.
Especially since there are alien hunters somewhere out there.
In addition to those two plot points, we get to see a bit of the Sheriff and his father. That relationship is very different, and if his father sticks around it will be interesting to hear Harry’s observations of them.
Then we have Sahar and Max, another pair whose story is starting to run out of road.
Max’s scenes in Harry’s office were a great way to bring that into perspective. The way that Harry plays on his parents emotions and how Max delivers his comebacks is funny.
Their final scene in the dinner is also the perfect way to bring up the truce. Sahar is brilliant for brokering it, and the way that it goes from contention to questions is refreshing.
Now that Harry can’t kill Max, the only question for next week is, what’s the new threat.
Stray Thoughts:
- Anyone else falling in love with Deputy Liv? Her Agent Mulder-esque questions are the small conspiracy theory thread this show needs.
- I love the callback to “Everybody poops!”
- The scene between D’Arcy and Isabelle could have gone very badly, I am glad it didn’t.
- Harry as a ninja is the best analogy, please let him become Asta’s protectivec ninja! I feel like this skill will come in handy later.
What did you think of this episode of Resident Alien? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Resident Alien airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Syfy.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.