Spider-Man: Wolfpack and the Kirkwood Haunting (1979, Joseph Manduke and Don McDougall)

Wolfpack and the Kirkwood Haunting once again proves me very wrong in thinking these two-episode compilation movies were the way to watch the old “Amazing Spider-Man” show. However, that revision is less about the narrative packaging this time and more about the show itself. Independently or consecutively, Wolfpack and Kirkwood are stinkers. But the Wolfpack half is at least a fun stinker, whereas Kirkwood is mind-numbingly dull. Except when Spider-Man (Nicholas Hammond or his stunt man) fights a lion, and a bear; oh, my.

Wolfpack also has the much better guest stars. While Gavin O’Herlihy and Will Seltzer are fairly dull as Hammond’s grad school buddies, Allan Arbus plays the villain. He’s a shitty scientist turned middling middle manager who has been overseeing O’Herlihy’s grant from Dolph Sweet’s chemical company. When O’Herlihy accidentally discovers mind control mist, Arbus sees his chance to finally get rich. However, instead of robbing a bank or anything simple, he does things like getting O’Herlihy and his sidekicks to steal a Gutenberg Bible or brainwashing the local military base into helping him pull a heist.

Arbus is phoning it in, but with enough energy it’s fun to watch him seventies camp it in a Spider-Man. Chip Fields has been helping out O’Herlihy and Seltzer—in their unregulated human experimentation trials they’re all obviously doing—so she gets to be in the main plot, and she’s delightful. Even when the scenes are dull exposition full of fake science words for eight-year-old boys who talked their parents into letting them watch prime time, Fields is a delight. Other series regulars Robert F. Simon and Ellen Bry are around a bit—Simon’s a gruff old grandpa in this half, much different than his “We blue bloods need to stick together (with international arms dealers)” in the second. But Wolfpack treats Bry like garbage, as though her agent demanded they shoehorn her in, so her scenes are usually just Hammond telling her to go away because she’s not part of the main cast.

Bry does a little better in the second half (Wolfpack and Kirkwood are compiled in reverse order, presumably because there’s never any character development, so what does it matter). Simon has Hammond go check on his arms dealer friend’s widow, a suffering (the role) but earnest Marlyn Mason, who’s getting shaken down by psychic huckster Peter MacLean. Hammond’s supposed to suss out whether Mason is actually haunted or if it’s fake. Given the first scene with Mason seemingly unintentionally reveals it’s fake—MacLean’s sidekick, Paul Carr, starts the episode (sorry, half) as the medium but then becomes the sound van guy. It’s like no one can see him except MacLean. Wait a second… he’s just walking around like a regular person….

Anyway. Much like there being wild animals all around the mansion who terrorize Bry and Mason at various times but are never a danger to the actual villains, so there are no good comeuppance scenes, Kirkwood misses any opportunities it might (accidentally) have.

Manduke's Wolfpack direction is nothing spectacular, but it’s much better than McDougall’s attempts at sophisticated suspense. Though MacLean’s such a hack, Kirkwood never has a chance. Maybe if he’d brought some Arbus-level scorn to it, but no. Kirkwood tasks MacLean with more than he can handle.

Also, Fields is barely in Kirkwood, which is a bummer. While Bry’s better when she’s not just around for Hammond to clown on, Fields’s the closest thing to a breakout in Spider-Man. She’s at least got a personality.

There are some decent stunts, occasionally solid music from Dana Kaproff (and occasionally not), but Wolfpack and Kirkwood is bland and blah.

My Life Is Murder (2019) s03e08 – Gaslight Sonata

This episode seems to be setting up “My Life Is Murder: Season Four,” with Lucy Lawless unexpectedly getting an adorable niece played by Nell Fisher, who is apparently not related to anyone in “Murder” but is appearing in the next Evil Dead movie.

Lawless is married to one of the producers or executive producers or whatever. Rob Tapert. Is there a story? Maybe. Does it matter? No, because Fisher’s perfectly good. She’s ten years old and able to cyberstalk already, plus she’s sarcastic, so she’s just what Lawless needs in a protege. Fisher is Lawless’s brother Martin Henderson’s previously unknown little kid, whose mother wants to share custody now Henderson’s out of jail.

Fisher and Lawless have a great scene talking about Henderson. The show’s such an interestingly balanced ensemble this season, though Tatum Warren-Ngata has to sit this one out (to make room for Fisher, perhaps), and Rawiri Jobe again gets very little. Though Fisher does ask for a relationship update on Jobe and Lawless, which is maybe the first time this season they’ve remembered it was a thing.

While Lawless is hanging out with Fisher and doing acerbic but heartfelt bonding, Ebony Vagulans leads the field investigation. There’s a stretch of a camera brooch so Lawless can watch along, but the whole mystery feels stretched this episode. It’s too bad because Chris Hawkshaw, who wrote last episode, has a co-writer credit here with Stephen J. Campbell. The previous episode had a great mystery. This episode has similar trappings—all the suspects live in the same building, so Vagulans can quickly get from interview to interview—but the mystery’s not as good.

I think the death even involves another car.

Last episode, it was a car too. If Campbell wrote the Fisher stuff and they rushed Hawkshaw on a mystery… the episode makes a lot more sense.

Fisher’s a fine addition to the recurring cast; everybody—Lawless, Jobe, Vagulans, Naufahu–will be cute with a kid around. And Henderson’s struggling to do better ex-con makes for a nice character arc.

Really good direction from Kiel McNaughton, regardless of the pat procedural. However, the finale’s very tense, like Hawkshaw wanted to do a Rear Window homage, but there just wasn’t time. They couldn’t set it up and introduce Fisher.

So. Ho hum mystery, engaging characters; it’s a good episode for Vagulans and, of course, Lawless.

My Life Is Murder (2019) s03e07 – Breaking Bread

Dollars to sourdough loaves (it’ll make sense), I think this episode of “My Life Is Murder” is the best-plotted mystery of the season. So far, obviously, but I think it’ll go the distance. It’s an outstanding whodunit, plus Lucy Lawless gets to be petty about her baking.

The episode opens with Ebony Vagulans and Joseph Naufahu watching a YouTube food influencer review Naufahu’s cafe, including Lawless’s sourdough bread. The influencer, played by Mirabai Pease, gives it an okay but unenthusiastic rating, which does not make Lawless happy. Especially not when Rawiri Jobe’s next case involves two rival bread shops. Pease rated Lawless’s bread in seventh, and these two shops are one and two; Auckland’s apparently got a competitive, vindictive bread market.

Star bakers Aidee Walker and Rick Donald were once a married team, but their legendary bickering eventually divorced them. Messily. They owned Donald’s family business together, and when they split, Walker got some of the intellectual property (the heirloom sourdough starter). So Donald opened a spite bakery a few doors down from the original, trying to confuse the customers (the businesses have the same name). It’s hilarious and petty, with Lawless immediately disliking Donald but then not warming to Walker, either.

See, Walker got a new fiancé, and then he died. He drove into a lake while on an early morning delivery run, but something doesn’t add up.

In order to solve the mystery, Lawless will have to buddy up with unlikely allies, bite her tongue about her bread baking, and put up with the unsophisticated bread palates of Jobe and Vagulans.

Because, thank goodness, bread plays into the solution.

Chris Hawkshaw gets the script credit; again, it’s phenomenal. Not just the mystery—but also the mystery. Lawless has great grating chemistry with all the guest stars; she’s got a fellow baker thing with Walker, but Walker’s kind of a dick, Donald condescends to her, she suspects pastry chef Greg Johnson, and then there’s the animosity with Pease. Donald can’t keep up with Lawless, which is the joke, but Walker and Pease return barbs. It’s fun. It’s a fun, good episode.

Even if a recurring guest star only seems to be in the episode to give Lawless her eureka moment. It has to come from somewhere, but the guest star makes it seem shoehorned. But it again pays off.

Nice direction from Kiel McNaughton, too; great timing for the cast, and the limited locations help. There are enough to keep Lawless busy, but they’re constrained enough to be familiar.

It’s a strong episode for Lawless too. Not all that heart she’s been showing this season, just the acerbic capability.

Good stuff.

Resident Alien (2019) s02e16 – I Believe in Aliens

Well, they got me. After last episode’s seemingly reductive, overly saccharine stumbles, I thought I’d figured out how “Resident Alien” was going to be closing out season two. I was wrong on most counts. The arc I was most hoping would get some resolution does—it’s something they’ve literally been putting off half the split season, so it’s long overdue. Given how recurring guest stars drifted in and out, I wonder how much Rona shooting affected things.

Anyway.

Everyone’s back for this episode, even if they’re just background. One scene promises a Jenna Lamia and Diana Bang friendship, which ought to get a whole episode to itself. Alan Tudyk’s also got a character development arc, which isn’t particularly easy because he’s playing an asshole alien who’s cagey in his narration about himself. Thanks to the script—credited to series creator Chris Sheridan–Tudyk can get past it long enough; it’s a powerful sequence given who’s inciting the revelation.

Without getting into the big spoilers for next season, how the episode “works” is where I was most wrong. I thought it’d be a reset point for the series, what with Tudyk rescuing his alien baby and “adopting” the almost thirty Paul Piaskowski. While those characters play into things, it’s not for reset purposes. It’s for ongoing narrative things; “Alien” doesn’t wind down to prepare for its next season; it revs the engine. Three to five revelations, double agents, double-double agents (maybe not), and unexpected alliances. The episode has to race through montages to get the setup done.

There’s great acting from Tudyk, Sara Tomko, and Corey Reynolds. Reynolds has more than a dozen four-star one-liners and blathering monologues. It’s so many they’re either doing it to distract, which isn’t impossible, or they just needed to use all the room’s great lines before the end of the season or something. Regardless, Reynolds is hilarious. He also gets a character development arc, supporting deputy Elizabeth Bowen, who should get a bigger one but doesn’t exactly. Bowen’s excellent, and so is Alice Wetterlund, but they both get a little less than it seems like they should.

Because the episode’s too packed with Tudyk’s full realization of the evil grey alien plan and the cosmic repercussions, not to mention the fate of planet Earth.

The episode’s also got a fun framing device, even though it raises some timeline questions.

While the episode ends on many an ominous note, it’s settled enough; waiting for next season isn’t going to be an antsy thing.

Also, last thing—Robert Duncan McNeill again directs. Last time I accused him of Capricorn. This time, there’s no Capricorn, and he does a fine job. Though distracting with Capricorn also might’ve been the point….

Resident Alien (2019) s02e15 – Best of Enemies

There’s only one more episode this season, so I guess some of the subplot resolutions make more sense now. For some reason, I thought there were two more episodes. This episode does Capricorn for the first time, and it’s rather disappointing. One of the season’s subplots turns out to just be busywork for a couple of the supporting cast members.

Besides that failed scene, which comes right at the end, so it stands out, the episode’s successful. There’s nice character development for both Alan Tudyk and Sara Tomko. Tudyk’s got an unexpected partner while Tomko’s got an unwanted house guest; Alice Wetterlund detoxed at Tomko’s and has been hanging out with Gary Farmer all week. That Capricorn—Farmer, Tomko, Wetterlund—it’s all good.

The episode opens with another flashback, this time to New York City almost thirty years before, which sets up part of Tudyk’s adventure for the episode. He’s got an action episode, which “Alien” doesn’t often do, and he spends most of the episode in his alien form (or at least a significant portion of it), something else “Alien” hasn’t done for a while. It’s a special effects extravaganza, ably directed by Robert Duncan McNeill. I was happy to see McNeill’s name on the director credit, but it’s going to be hard to forget the bungled Capricorn going forward. It’s the first time I remember “Alien” getting tedious, other than when they do too much country rock for the montages.

Corey Reynolds and Elizabeth Bowen both get a little to do—at least one fantastic one-liner from Reynolds—but they’re mostly just treading water; Bowen’s worried because special guest star Terry O’Quinn disappeared, Reynolds is preoccupied with a potential romantic partner and mayor Levi Fiehler’s stress-induced insomnia. Fiehler’s upset because wife Meredith Garretson is lawyering against his resort plans, leading to various people talking about his childhood sleepwalking.

That childhood sleepwalking is almost indistinguishable from the alien abduction flashback details, which seems like the show’s making a big swing regarding Fiehler.

Or not, apparently. It’s just some filler; give the town supporting cast something to do while Wetterlund’s hiding out with Tomko and Farmer. Tomko’s ready for Wetterlund to go, Farmer wants to keep playing PS4 with her. Tudyk going on a dangerous adventure upends things.

There’s good acting from Tudyk, Tomko, Farmer, O’Quinn. Wetterlund doesn’t get much to do, mainly playing for laughs, including teaming up with Jenna Lamia for a scene or two.

Big things happen, nothing will ever be the same, and it’s no wonder the show got renewed for another season, based on the foreshadowing. As long as they can keep the saccharine out, it’ll be just fine.

All Rise (2019) s03e07 – Through the Fire

So, even after going through a whole episode to close off the Sean Blakemore arc—he’s Simone Missick’s law school love, and he’s around again; it’s causing feelings, which are always awkward because Blakemore and Missick haven’t got any chemistry together. Returning guest star Ronak Gandhi does a great job pretending he’s in the middle of a chemistry-soaked scene when it’s ice-cold flirting. It’s nice to have Gandhi back, especially since there’s the inexplicable Blakemore.

Blakemore’s defending a wealthy client’s son in a drunk driving case. Gandhi was supposed to plea it down, but things got screwed up. It’s a tedious case, with only Gandhi keeping it going. Though when Lindsey Gort’s still involved (she and Blakemore are partners now), she does fine. It’s Blakemore and Missick. This arc’s exasperating.

The good case this episode is J. Alex Brinson’s. He’s defending an ex-con who’s experiencing homelessness and charged with lighting fires in encampments. Nick Fink plays the kid; he’s okay, nothing more. T.J. Ramini plays the district attorney, an obnoxious British guy who’s never lost a case in his career. If the character’s supposed to be annoying and incompetent, Ramini does a fine job. The real surprise is Roger Guenveur Smith. He’s the judge. And he’s great. Smith’s been incredibly uneven this season, but he’s outstanding.

The episode’s mostly a Brinson showcase, outside Missick’s shenanigans. Lindsay Mendez gets a largely thankless subplot about a client—she’s a victim counselor for the D.A.—punching her out in a courtroom. She starts questioning her place in the halls of justice and even… wait for it… no-calls, no-shows to go to brunch with Jessica Camacho.

Wilson Bethel’s got very little to do, playing manager to Mendez, witnessing the Missick courtroom’s car accident (putting him on the stand), and getting a perfunctory exposition sequence with Gort. They can only have a good time for so long before Bethel (like always) brings up Gort’s not impending enough divorce. It’s most of Bethel’s personality at this point.

Oh, and there’s a very weird hangout scene for Bethel and Missick. It makes a little bit of sense because he’s a witness in her courtroom, but the joke they can’t find a new place to hang out is very tired seven episodes into the season. Especially since it’s a fourth-tier subplot.

There are the definite minuses, but Brinson’s case is “All Rise” at its earnest best.

And it’s great to see Gandhi again.

All Rise (2019) s03e05 – It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

Last season we got a plot about Wilson Bethel’s relationship with Lindsey Gort getting unsteady as college crush Ryan Michelle Bathe started hanging around. It got very soapy. This season, it’s Simone Missick’s turn. And it again involves Bathe. She’s in L.A. (for the first time this season) with her new beau, Sean Blakemore. Blakemore was Missick’s college love, and he’s giving her feels.

Unfortunately, Blakemore’s not particularly charming, and he and Missick don’t have any chemistry, so she’s working overtime to sell it. It’s a waste of Bathe, who doesn’t get anything else to do in the episode, despite she and Gort presumably having law practice stuff to go over.

Most of the episode focuses on the cliffhanger trial. J. Alex Brinson is defending an accused murderer, Geoffrey Owens, against pal Bethel. The last episode ended with a double-DNA bombshell, which the opposing lawyers spend the runtime sorting out. Kind of. Bethel’s investigation keeps hitting convenient dead-ends, padding out the time until they can set up a second act surprise.

The other case is Jessica Camacho getting her first juvie case, defending a criminal TikToker, Kayla Maisonet.

The main case is mostly character development stuff for Brinson—they’ll probably spend at least a couple episodes repairing his relationships after his bombastic court performance—but it’s also a procedural for Bethel. An ongoing procedural. I can’t remember if “All Rise” has ever tried a more-than-two-parter arc, but apparently, they’re going for it now, halfway through their first streaming season.

The episode’s well-directed—Paul McCrane does a good job—but the script’s middling (Katrina O’Gilvie gets the credit). Between Missick’s character 180 on the college ex and the A-plot being constructed for multiple reveals, nothing else… well, it’s good the Camacho plot works out so well. Despite being third-billed, she feels like the fifth wheel this season since she’s no longer hanging around the halls of justice.

The juvie case, requiring her to learn new procedures and protocols, gives Camacho a nice professional arc. Especially as she bonds with Maisonet. Camacho’s really good this episode too. Maybe because she’s the only one not trying to force behaviors to fit the plot.

Also, good performances from Owens, Maisonet, Brinson, and Bethel. It’s nice to see Bathe back, but she’s got nothing to do.

Evil (2019) s03e03 – The Demon of Sex

This episode ends with an odd, incomplete feeling. There’s no oomph to any of the storylines, and the resolutions are all put off until next time. There’s not even a cliffhanger, just Katja Herbers and Andrea Martin not being shitty to each other. It feels like a long episode cut up, but it also feels like the first really streaming episode of “Evil.” Whenever there’s an F-bomb, it’s a good F-bomb, onscreen, in scene, not tacked on later to flex.

The investigation plot this episode involves a newly married couple—Freddy Miyares and Freddy Miyares—having troubles in the martial bed. They’re both virgins, and whenever they try getting busy, he gets nauseous and she breaks out in hives. Initially, now priest Mike Colter thinks they just need a couples’ counselor, but nun Martin convinces him there’s a demon. Because she can see and talk to the demon. I’m not sure if it’s a new demon costume, but it’s not a good one. It’s like “Evil” knows it’s got its audience; it doesn’t need to try anymore.

Colter calls Herbers in to consult, then disappears for the episode, presumably off on secret Vatican secret service business like covering up more Indigenous Canadian child murders or something. Herbers and Martin don’t hit it off, but they agree to work together—there’s a weird “we’re being condescending to another woman” stand-off they do, but it’s well-acted weird, so it’s okay.

Will Herbers figure out how to keep the demon out of the martial bed? Will Martin get in trouble for talking during the meetings? It’s high-stakes stuff.

Aassif Mandvi’s got the other main plot. He’s suffering from depression thanks to his job; specifically, the mysteries of “Evil” leaves unresolved after the episode finishes. His sister, Sohina Sidhu, decides she’s going to help him out of his funk. It’s a good character episode for Mandvi, who gets to do more and different things than usual. His semi-breakdown starts when he can’t fix Herbers’s toilet; her husband flushed a shrunken blood sacrifice to Satan head down the toilet in the first episode of the season, and it’s been causing plumbing problems since. It gets to be too much for Mandvi.

Then there’s some stuff with Herbers and her kids being mentally abusive to one another. It’s unsuccessful except for tying into Christine Lathi’s superior workplace subplot. Michael Emerson tasks her with selling demonic crypto, only he really puts her millennial drones in charge. Lathi’s not going to take their shit and has to figure out how to succeed selling nonsense. Crypto and religion. “Evil”’s got all the nothing for sale.

Lathi’s great this episode, Mandvi’s great this episode. Martin’s only okay, which isn’t great. And Herbers is only okay, too; despite being around a bunch, she’s got nothing to herself.

It’s a peculiar episode. If it’d had some kick, it’d be one of the better this season. But, instead, makes you wonder if they know what they’re doing. Like when Monsignor Boris McGiver comes off like a total rube and draws attention to him always being a total rube, which is a problem since he’s the patriarch.

Nelson McCormick’s direction is fine; it’s the dramatically stalled script, credit to not new-to-“Evil” Aurin Squire.

Resident Alien (2021) s02e02 – The Wire

This episode allays sophomore slump concerns, maybe completely.

While there are still leftover plot threads from last episode and season, the show seems to be going full ahead with sheriff Corey Reynolds and deputy Elizabeth Bowen investigating Alan Tudyk as a serial killer. There’s a very funny moment when they confront Sara Tomko about it; however, she knows the easy explanation is he’s a formerly genocidal alien visitor but can’t tell.

Reynolds and Bowen’s investigation is the B-plot, but the show plays it more like a comedy plotline, where they’ve got to pose as a married couple to find out details into Tudyk’s past. But Tudyk’s an entirely different “person” now; the revelations would surprise him just as much as anyone else, which sort of figures in.

The A plot is Tudyk building a bunker so he and Tomko can hide out when his alien species sends someone else to nuke Earth. Tudyk’s now got a regular roomie—Nathan Fillion voicing a rescued-from-the-kitchen octopus (Fillion’s outstanding)—and so there’s constant banter. Tudyk still gets some great narration, including a lengthy bit during a diner scene with kids Judah Prehn and Gracelyn Awad Rinke. Will it ever stop being funny when Tudyk’s alien is super-shitty to ten-year-olds? Possibly, but probably not. It remains absolutely hilarious, especially since Rinke keeps up with Tudyk’s malarky, and then they both can laugh when Prehn’s behind.

Tudyk’s got to use his Starman balls to build the bunker. Prehn’s stolen one, and it’s having odd effects, but that resolution’s not in this episode. It does create some good rancor between Tudyk and Prehn, which Rinke doesn’t understand because Prehn’s lying to her about stealing the space ball too. The balls appear to have the same rules as Starman: The Movie and maybe “The TV Show,” where Tudyk can use it once to do something seemingly magical, but really it’s alien technology. One he uses to build the bunker, the other he saves for something else. There are four total, so there are two left. “Resident Alien”’s not wasting its time moving through them either.

After an awkward interaction with Tudyk, Gary Farmer advises Tomko she needs to get Tudyk caring about more humans than just her. The A plot then turns into Tudyk trying to bond with the locals, including a poker game against Reynolds, mayor Levi Fiehler (whose absurdist kinky sex subplot with wife Meredith Garretson gets back-burnered, but they leave the flame on), and some other folks, including nurse Diana Bang. Bang’s been in the show since the pilot or soon after, usually giving Tomko crap at the medical clinic where they work, but now she’s loose amongst more cast, and she’s incredible.

Besides being around for Tudyk’s bunker-building plot (though she knows nothing about it), Tomko gets the C plot, which is just she and Alice Wetterlund being best friends and figuring out how to support one another. Even though Tomko can’t dump all the secrets on Wetterlund (only dad Farmer also knows Tudyk’s an alien, well, plus the kids), the scenes give Tomko a space to decompress from the rest of her adventures.

Sarah Beckett gets the script credit. It’s excellent; lots of good jokes for everyone and peculiar character moments for Tudyk. Robert Duncan McNeill’s directing again and doing well. There are still some very CGI-looking backdrops, but the show’s also got an extended mountain lake boating sequence, which widens the scope for a bit.

And the cliffhanger’s good.

“Resident Alien”’s fantastic as ever.

Resident Alien (2021) s02e01 – Old Friends

It’s been nine months since the first season finale of “Resident Alien” aired, and this episode picks up the following day. So, long enough I’ve forgotten who was doing what and where; other than Alan Tudyk finally free of Earth and his evil pursuers, headed into the stars, on his way home.

Only to discover kid nemesis turned pal Judah Prehn stowed away.

This season premiere starts with Prehn back home with mom Meredith Garretson and dad Levi Fiehler, who successfully defeated assassins last time and are now very into each other. Obnoxiously kinky on main, basically. Sara Tomko and Prehn have a great moment uncomfortably watching Garretson and Fiehler canoodle, with many other cast members getting similarly great moments throughout the episode.

Prehn knows where the spaceship crash-landed but not where Tudyk has ended up. The audience, however, knows he’s in the hospital somewhere (a nearby town, it turns out), and he’s got amnesia. But only of his cover story; he’s more than happy to tell everyone he’s an alien come to Earth to decimate the population.

The main action is getting Tudyk back home and back to normal—it’s a bumpy road to recovery, including a diversion into pretending he’s Jerry Orbach’s Lennie Briscoe character from “Law & Order Prime,” which is hilarious. There are several subplots, including Tomko and best friend Alice Wetterlund checking in after Wetterlund found out town teen Kaylayla Raine is Tomko’s kid. It’s season finale resolve material held over for the next season premiere, but it’s what happens when you’ve got big cliffhangers.

But the biggest subplot is sheriff Corey Reynolds’s investigation into Tudyk; he and deputy Elizabeth Bowen don’t think he’s an alien monster, of course, just a serial killer.

Lots of great acting. Tudyk gets numerous showcases thanks to amnesia, then Tomko and Reynolds both get subtle and profound arcs. The stuff with Garretson and Fiehler’s hilarious. Also really funny—as always—is Gracelyn Awad Rinke as Prehn’s friend. Rinke’s actually superfluous, but she’s so delightful it doesn’t matter. Kind of like how Gary Farmer seems a tad extra—very, very welcome, but he’s mostly around for the one-liners, even when he and Tudyk have a nice bonding moment.

“Resident Alien” doesn’t seem to be suffering any sophomore slump—there’s a little more CGI composite shots than before, presumably because of COVID-19 restrictions—and the cast is strong as before. Especially Reynolds. Tudyk, of course, but it’s his show. Reynolds has always quietly walked off with “Alien,” but even more now, since he gets to share his scenes with Bowen instead of crowding her out (due to character hubris, not Reynolds’s performance).

The episode—script credit to series creator Chris Sheridan, directed by Robert Duncan McNeill—also makes sure to check in on the friendship between Tudyk and Tomko after the latest developments have settled, including her knowing he’s a genocidal alien invader.

Last thing—great cameo from Nathan Fillion. He only does a voice, but his timing opposite Tudyk’s so outstanding it’s an even better performance if they recorded asynchronously.

Season two’s off to a fine start.