Review: Resident Alien – Birds of a Feather s01e04

We’re only four episodes into Resident Alien, and ‘Birds of a Feather’ shows that they’re not afraid of shaking things up almost immediately.  *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*

It would be very easy at this stage of a series to ease into a formula and establish a very sedate way of doing things.  Thankfully, there seems to be the desire to keep everyone on their toes, as here they not only introduce new characters, but also mess with the underpinnings of ones they’ve just established.

Principally for Harry (Alan Tudyk), they aren’t giving him any chance to settle, which is great as it keeps him off-kilter and guessing.  This allows us to see him flounder more and more, as he has to endure new situations, although why he isn’t called on his weirdness more often is anyone’s guess!  Somehow, despite his, shall we say unconventional responses and demeanour, D’arcy (Alice Wetterlund) is still infatuated with him.  While there is the suggestion that D’arcy is a bit of a party animal and not that picky, it is still surprising that she’s put up with some of his quirks.  Maybe it’s the quirks that are the draw.  Either way, it does seem like they are playing this as a more superficial way to put Harry in awkward situations, while they target the long game of a romance with Asta (Sara Tomko).

The big reveal at the end of ‘Birds of a Feather’ would put in a spanner in all those works though, as the arrival of the real Harry’s wife is going to make things infinitely more complicated.  At the very least, Alien Harry is going to have some explaining to do, but may not realise the full extent that this complicates matters.  Not only will his relationship with D’Arcy take a hit, but how he is going to convince a wife, who in theory knows him extremely well that all is well, is uncertain.  It is possible that they may try a different tack and have his wife play along with the deception.  We’ve seen this kind of thing before, e.g. in ‘Dave’ (the 1993 film starring Kevin Kline), where while the main character is replaced, his wife realises the switch, but likes the new version better.

Elsewhere, another switch has happened as Max (Judah Prehn) decided to go on the charm offensive, putting Harry off-guard.  This is all so Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) can steal Harry’s keys and then investigate his house while he’s away.  Sahar has been an excellent addition to the show so far, and the duo with Max works exceptionally well.  It was important to have an ally for Max as he was in danger of becoming isolated, but now there are many more possibilities in how they can play with the Harry and Max dynamic.  Once Lisa (Mandell Maughan) and Dave (Alex Barima), the mysterious agents on Harry’s trail get to town, this could expand dramatically.

Clearly though, the writers are not afraid of changing things or upsetting the status quo, as last week they quickly removed any doubt that Asta is Jay’s (Kaylayla Raine) mother.  In ‘Birds of a Feather’ they went one further and had Harry spills the beans to Asta’s family.  They’re certainly not dragging this out and have made it so that it will have to be dealt with one way or another.  There is a chance the plot could deviate into Jay still being kept in the dark, but hopefully that won’t be the case as that could be a step backwards.

This show is definitely becoming more interesting and it isn’t just relying on the talents of Alan Tudyk to keep the interest going.  There are now plots on several fronts that will hold an audience’s attention, while also playing into the larger narrative at work.  Obviously, the central attraction will be Harry and his attempts to remain hidden, but there is so much value in all the stories surrounding it, that sometimes you just want to focus on those.  D’arcy’s Olympic career and more backstory on Deputy Baker (Elizabeth Bowen) for instance, would be good avenues.  They’ve opened the door slightly there already, so hopefully they continue to step through and keep on with their excellent work so far.

Resident Alien airs Wednesday’s on Syfy