Resident Alien Review: The Green Glow (Season 1 Episode 7)
Harry Vanderspiegle is in deep now. On Resident Alien Season 1 Episode 7, “The Green Glow,” General McCallister has Harry’s space ship while Harry recruits an unlikely ally to help him find his device.
“The Green Glow” serves Resident Alien‘s usual brand of comedy as the discovery of his missing spaceship leads him to deal with another human trait: failure. This leads us to a look at Harry’s deep inner thoughts as he attempts to self-soothe with booze and pills.
The result: Harry Vanderspiegle meets the corpse of Harry Vanderspiegle who is not too happy with the sounds he heard coming from the bedroom.
The scene where Alan Tudyk plays off himself is one of the most cutting. Listening to a manifestation of his victim say that whatever Harry thinks he has isn’t really his cuts deep. The revelation that wanting and appreciating those things, and his failure of not being able to find his device makes him human scares him. Understandably so.
“The Green Glow” expands the alien lore on the show a bit too. The opening sequence, when Harry talks about the expanded universe and how humanity has never been there is through provoking. Even more so, when he ends up talking to the octopus in an Asian restaurant.
The telepathic connection where the distant alien cousin gives him a way to find his device is an inventive way to get Harry back on track. It also gives us a little insight into what Harry’s real motivations might be. The octopus makes a comment about things getting “bad for us” and how his brother has a plastic six-pack container wrapped around his rear. This could be planting some seeds for the why behind Harry’s mission.
On many levels, “The Green Glow” seems to be establishing the idea that Harry isn’t the first, and that aliens have visited earth before. General McCallister, Lisa, and David’s plot in the hanger with Harry’s ship also seems to be planting the seeds for a larger and involved history when David talks about a group of humans that had been wiped out.
The more intricate and involve the mythos behind why Harry is on earth, the better this series will be. It just needs to remain true to the heart of the story it’s telling and that’s Harry and the people in Patience.
While Harry’s search for his device is the prominent story on “The Green Glow,” Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv are still searching for the prescription pad thief. The death of the town doctor has been slowly sliding into the background and really just serves to highlight the dynamic between Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv. It is getting tiring to watch Liv put up with Sheriff Mike’s condescending attitude.
Watching Liv finally stand up for herself and quit is an amazing moment and something she richly deserves. She’s done the work of figuring out how Sam died, but Mike is getting the glory. He needs to realize exactly how valuable she is to his success.
In the end, “The Green Glow,” really puts Harry a step closer to finding his device, and coming closer to completing his mission.
Yet, the final moments with D’Arcy, Asta, and Harry falling through the crevasse sets us up for even higher stakes in the coming episode.
Stray Thoughts
- Who wants to take a guess how long it will be before Lisa and David track down Isabelle?
- Did anyone else have a favorite job for Harry in the fantasy montage? I think I either liked him as a tattoo artist or a barista. He’d fit in well at a coffee shop and I am sure he would just insist on tattooing Jerry Orbach on everyone’s arm.
- Watching a baked Harry in bed with Max is a great bit of comedy, and something we probably should have seen coming since it’s already established that intoxicating substances affect Harry just like they do humans.
- The mayor and his wife are kind of cute as they are, but I am glad they are getting a little more in-depth storyline instead of just being flat parents with a kid who happens to be special. Let Resident Alien be an example that you can have characters with dimension and still be funny.
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.