Review: Resident Alien – Heroes of Patience s01e10

Revelations and challenging moments make the Resident Alien season finale, ‘Heroes of Patience’, a dynamic and at times frenetic episode.  *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*

With a name like ‘Heroes of Patience’ you might initially think that this will point to one specific incident, but here it can be pretty much applied to everyone in town.  Some elements in this series have been a relatively slow burn, with some characters only doing a little bit here and there, but this week everyone gets some significant action, and can claim that title.

At the end of last week, we were left with the image of D’Arcy (Alice Wetterlund) freaking out, having found the frozen corpse of the real Harry Vanderspiegle.  This continues this week with her bringing in the Sheriff (Corey Reynolds) and Deputy Liv (Elizabeth Bowen) to investigate.  Sadly, for D’Arcy, while she was getting the Sheriff, Harry (Alan Tudyk) has returned and moved the body, so there is nothing to find in the cellar.  Obviously, no one then believes her and she starts to spiral, getting more and more agitated.  It doesn’t help that when Asta (Sara Tomko) bails her out of jail, D’Arcy can tell that Asta is hiding something from her, so she gets even more suspicious.

It’s quite an interesting turn of events that the writers have chosen to keep D’Arcy on the outside, in terms of who knows the truth about Harry.  It definitely makes for more conflict and there is a nice sleight of hand that this allows later when Jay (Kaylayla Raine) reveals to her that Asta is her mother.  That D’Arcy is likely to assume this is the secret that has been kept from her will keep the tension rolling for a little while to come, although that tension won’t be released easily.

Despite all the issues D’Arcy has on her plate, her actions here with Jay show her innate goodness, although she does undercut them a bit with pure recklessness at one stage.  I suspect we’re supposed to see her actions when Jay speaks to Jimmy (Ben Cotton) as a positive, but really it’s just massively irresponsible.  It’s unclear how that message is going to help Jay, but it is at least in keeping with the erratic nature of D’Arcy’s character.

In some ways, D’arcy helping Jay is redemptive, and that is a theme that runs throughout ‘Heroes of Patience’, as quite a few have a redeeming moment.  The most surprising of these is Mayor Ben (Levi Fiehler), whose character is normally one of a pathetic, unsure flake.  Even after having been kissed by D’Arcy in a moment of her weakness and feeling guilty about it, he unexpectedly becomes a proper hero, helping to save his family.

It’s quite a cathartic moment for both the audience and for him, changing his perception in the eyes of Kate and Max.  It’s necessary because Lisa (Mandell Maughan) and David (Alex Barima) have taken Kate (Meredith Garretson), Max (Judah Prehn), and Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) hostage, trying to find out who the alien is.  While it doesn’t surprise anyone that Kate smashes her way out of the locked cupboard she’s been put in, that Ben pops up swinging is a breakthrough.  That it is also then soundtracked by Dr Hook’s ‘Sharing The Night Together’ is just the icing on the cake, which additionally becomes a musical motif later.

That motif rears its head again at the climax of Harry and Asta’s journey through this episode, which takes quite a few turns.  Through a combination of events, Asta has figured out that Harry killed the original Harry Vanderspielgle, and can’t forgive him for it, thus ending their friendship.  Due to the pain, that action makes Harry realise that it is Asta that he loves, which is then used in the denouement of the whole episode to explain his motivations.

Not destroying all the humans just to save Asta is seen as an example of how he has grown and changed, so is his redemptive moment.  The problem with that is the show appears to treat his changing attitude as enough to convince Asta to forgive him and become friends again, which just doesn’t ring true.  If the second season doesn’t start with Asta stating that she was lying and that it was all an act, then they will have severely impacted the integrity of Asta’s character.  The chopping and changing of support for Harry from Max is more understandable, but with Asta, they need to be careful.

In contrast, the Sheriff and Liv work relationship seems to be building rapidly over the past couple of episodes, with it expanding their characters significantly.  That is has also done it in a believable and hilarious way shows the strength of writing here when it is right.  While Liv has always been a badass, the biggest growth comes from the Sheriff, who is stubbornly and awkwardly showing that he respects her.  From admitting she has good instincts on the murder case, and to getting an espresso machine for the office, he is opening up.  They’ve handled this extremely well, with Reynolds and Bowen doing a fantastic job as the ‘odd couple’ crimefighting duo.  They are also destined to become even greater ‘Heroes of Patience’ going forward based on where we see they’re taking their investigation.

Ultimately, everyone gets to show a bit of mettle and growth, even if that is then sullied a little by other actions, and redemption is clearly the overriding theme for the episode.  It wasn’t clear how they were going to try to wrap up this season, and it didn’t look like enough elements were in place for it to satisfactorily come together, but it does.  Closing this chapter effectively does mean that there is a lot of action packed into one episode and it could possibly have been drawn out longer, but it does work.  It also has a nice button on the end that indicates how they are going to bring things back, at least initially, for the next season.  When it does return, it will be in fine shape, with many interesting questions to have answered, and we can’t wait.