Later tonight, I am going to watch the series finale of one of my favorite shows of all time: Resident Alien. Why am I writing this before watching the finale? Well I have been burned too many times by a shows finale. Some have been so bad that they honestly ruined the show for me (How I Met Your Mother and The Wire). Others, like The Sopranos, were just so bad that they put me in a bad mood for quite a while but they did not ruin my previous enjoyment. So I wanted to get this out there while I am still all puppy dogs and ice cream (pizza and pies) about the show.
If you have never seen Resident Alien, you are in luck because you can binge all five seasons now. The show centers around an Alien played by Alan Tudyk who has taken over the body of a small town doctor in Patience Colorado. Tudyk is one of my favorite comedic actors. You may think you don't know him, but I assure that you do. In addition to his live action roles, Tudyk is one of the best voice actors around. He has voiced many robots including Gary in Superman, K-2SO in Rouge One and Andor as well as The Joker and Clayface in Harley Quinn. To be honest, he has been in too much to list here but he is always awesome. In Resident Alien, he plays Dr. Harry Vanderspeigel like a human being who is neurodiverse or is on the Autism spectrum. Although this leads to some hilarious situations, the writers are never making fun of neurodiversity.
The show is filled with very entertaining side characters like a way too young mayor of the town, his wife and their son... who just so happens to be able to see aliens even when they are taking on human form. That son, max, pals around with a precocious young girl his age named Sahar who gave off Hermione Granger vibes in the best way. Their capers could have carried the show.
But the show is not all comedy. It has a HUGE heart. This is shown between the relationship between Harry and his nurse Asta (played beautifully by Sara Tomko). Instead of going for the cliche "will they or won't they" it is established in concrete that Harry and Asta are just friends. Seeing their platonic love develop is one of the purest most beautiful things I have seen on TV. Asta having to teach harry how to show empathy and love was simply beautiful. in addition the love between Asta and her adoptive father is incredible.
Actually now that I think of it, maybe Asta is more like Harry's mom. Either way it is a beautiful relationship.
One of my favorite things about the show is how they people Native American culture in the forefront. Asta, her adoptive father, her daughter who she gave up for adoption are all native American. Again it is not used as a gimmick. It is more like a "Hey. Native American people exist. They can be awesome characters. Why don't we ever just show them as people? Why does everything have to be so cliche?" I love how the writers seamlessly weave in Native American cultural. It adds another level of pleasantness to the show.
But honestly, the humor is what really makes this one of my favorite shows of all time. It is simply hilarious. There has never been an episode where I did not laugh out loud at least 5 or 6 times. The sheriff and his deputy alone could have been the main characters and I would have still loved it. It also seemed that every season, they added something else fun. I don't want to spoil anything but Harry eventually has a baby. Every scene with that baby is simply hilarious.
Resident Alien is one of the best combinations of heart and humor I have ever seen. After every episode I felt warm and happy.
Oh here's a pro tip. Don't fast forward over the credits. The cartoons they show during the credits are really funny and always give a preview of what is going to happen.
I will definitely miss this show.
