Resident Alien (2021) s02e06 – An Alien in New York

There are a couple big surprises this episode, which sees Sara Tomko and Alan Tudyk going to New York City to find another alien from Tudyk’s species. It’s not New York, New York, it seems to be the more Manhattan-y streets of Vancouver, but they do a decent enough job of it. Tudyk hates all the people, the smells, and probably the noise. There’s a lot of street noise; it’s particularly good sound for a show where they don’t have to think about constant background noise very often.

The trip to New York doesn’t start the episode—they first started talking about it in the episode before last but got busy with more pressing matters—instead, it’s trip prep, which includes the two big surprises. If you haven’t read the comic, I guess there’s another surprise later on, but the New York stuff is the most faithful adaptation of the comic’s plot to date.

One of the surprises is a profoundly affecting character death (including a montage with Bee Gees accompanying—lots of great songs this episode); it follows a hilarious scene for Tudyk and Gracelyn Awad Rinke. Judah Prehn and Meredith Garretson aren’t in this episode, which means Rinke’s got to tell Tudyk she lost his silver Starman space ball on her won, and then Levi Fiehler will be free for a character development arc with Alice Wetterlund since wife Garretson and son Prehn aren’t around.

The other surprise involves Tudyk’s human version before the alien arrived and killed him. The episode opens with a flashback to human Tudyk and town doctor Jan Bos in some kind of trouble with a New York company; serious trouble. And, of course, human Tudyk’s going to be a bad guy who kills Bos, but the show hasn’t explored their relationship (or Tudyk’s motive) until now. The surprise isn’t that flashback, however. It’s alien Tudyk having found a big bag of cash hidden in the house, presumably a pay-off. He doesn’t tell anyone about it until now when Tomko complains they’re low on spending money for their trip.

The bag of cash also has some clues about Bos’s murder, which gets Tomko into investigation mode. When they get to New York, she wants to investigate since the company’s there, while Tudyk’s fixated on finding his alien brethren. The investigating has some ups and downs, and ends with them in a trendy gallery where someone gets Tudyk to take LSD.

At first, it seems like LSD doesn’t work on aliens… but, no, it does, and gloriously so.

While Tudyk and Tomko are out of town, there are character development arcs for some of the other cast members. First, sheriff Corey Reynolds makes an effort to help mayor Fiehler, leading to Fiehler and Wetterlund’s arc. Then deputy Elizabeth Bowen toggles from her unapproved UFO investigation to trying to figure out what Reynolds has been so upset about lately.

It’s a nice arc for Fiehler and Wetterlund, with some good comedy moments. The Reynolds and Bowen arc is a lot more dramatic, again with some great acting from Reynolds.

The cliffhanger’s a little abrupt, but otherwise, it’s a very strong field trip episode. The show’s never gotten out of its little mountain town like it does here before, and they do a good job of it.

Lea Thompson’s directing again and just as solidly capable as last time.

Resident Alien (2021) s02e03 – Girls’ Night

I kept wondering why they weren’t using any recognizable licensed music during this episode, even though it’s about (as the title suggests) a “Girls’ Night.” They’re listening to music multiple times, and then there’s a sequence with an accompanying song, but nothing big.

Then the finale uses a very famous, very recognizable theme song, and I imagine licensing it ate up the music budget for the episode. To great effect too.

The episode begins with a flashback to the nineties, with the main townie cast all kids out camping. There’s some good old sexism and toxic masculinity—intentionally—before establishing Elizabeth Bowen’s gotten the poop end of the stick since childhood. It comes up later, with the main plot involving Bowen never getting a raise as sheriff’s deputy, but the scene primarily serves as a tension break from last episode’s cliffhanger.

Bowen and boss Corey Reynolds had just discovered Alan Tudyk killed someone (not Tudyk the alien, Tudyk the human, before the alien killed him—making alien Tudyk a “murderer murderer”). There’s a fast, simple resolution to the cliffhanger—and the entire subplot—because “Resident Alien: Season Two” is also introducing new alien powers for Tudyk. Rarely used ones, like his silver Starman balls, discussed at one point to good comic effect.

So while that leftover thread from the first season is resolved, there’s still the matter of calling off the alien armada from destroying Earth; Tudyk needs more technology than his small mountain town can provide, so it’s good there’s a guest star.

Alex Borstein guests as Meredith Garretson’s cousin, who’s just hanging out. They happen to meet Tudyk, and Borstein’s quite taken with him, eventually leading to both a hilarious seduction sequence (complete with Tudyk in a cravat) and Borstein getting to do a Tudyk impression. Borstein’s fantastic.

She and Garretson go out with Sara Tomko, Alice Wetterlund, Bowen, and some other female semi-regulars for a night on the town. At the same time, Garretson’s husband, mayor Levi Fiehler, organizes a boy’s night for him, sheriff Reynolds, and Reynolds’s dad, Alvin Sanders. Since it’s a small mountain town, they all end up at the same bar.

It’s a funny episode, which eventually gets serious as the women realize Bowen’s lack of pay raise might not be exceptional for the town’s women. Also, Tomko charges Tudyk to think about things from women’s perspectives.

The last subplot is the kids’ one, with Gracelyn Awad Rinke finally figuring out what’s going on with Judah Prehn’s testosterone boost.

It’s a really good episode, with the show—script credit to Jenna Lamia, directed by Shannon Kohli—showing it’s got places to go with many of its characters, not just Tudyk. It’s still mostly Tudyk’s show, plus Tomko’s, but it’s got some well-executed and robust ensemble tendencies.

Resident Alien (2021) s01e09 – Welcome Aliens

It’s the penultimate episode of the first season and it’s got a couple big cliffhangers. Not funny ones either, very, very dramatic ones, which might not be easily resolved in a single episode… and they might also greatly affect the second season.

So while “Resident Alien” is out of the the two episodes ago rut—excellent direction from Shannon Kohli this time, plus a good script credited to first-timer on the show Nastaran Dibai—the show’s not assured. The season’s backloaded with a bunch of rush-to-resolve. Who knows, maybe not dealing with these threads made the first half of the season stronger. Though there seems to be an entirely different set of writers.

Anyway.

This episode has Alan Tudyk recovering from last episode’s fall, with Sara Tomko taking care of him, and discovering he needs another part to repair his device. Luckily sort of pal and former nemesis Judah Prehn (I’m not sure if Prehn’s really good or just really well directed; it doesn’t matter here but he’s so effective) tells him where he can get alien materials—a UFO convention. Gracelyn Awad Rinke tags along with Prehn, leading to another great showcase for her.

Hopefully they’ll someday do an episode just with Tudyk hanging out with kids Prehn and Rinke, who until last episode were the only ones to know his secret. They’re really funny together.

Tomko tags along to the UFO convention—Tudyk’s on painkillers and can’t drive himself—where Tudyk offers commentary on all the various alien abductor races and so on. Lots of smiles and some laughs. Special guest star Terry O’Quinn eventually shows up and it turns out he’s able to see through Tudyk’s human disguise.

Meanwhile back in town, Alice Wetterlund’s got an arc about resenting Tudyk and Tomko for shutting her out after last episode’s daredevil rescue, which leads to one of the big subplots. It’s okay, but pairing Wetterlund with one note (character or performance, it’s unclear) Jenna Lamia for most of the subplot (eighty-sixing a far more interesting subplot sidekick in Kaylayla Raine, who’s actually got emotional involvement in it too) is a mistake. So qualified okay. We’ll see.

It doesn’t matter so much because the show is able to fix the Elizabeth Bowen situation. She’s still on the outs with Corey Reynolds, who gets to do a bunch of character development this episode before they get around to the fix. The fix is phenomenal, leveraging Bowen and Reynolds’s ability a lot more than the writing. Some great acting from Reynolds throughout the episode.

Then there’s another subplot for evil army intelligence people Mandell Maughan and Alex Barima hoodwinking unsuspecting Meredith Garretson and Levi Fiehler. It’s an effective subplot—Maughan’s onto Tudyk through Prehn and therefor parents Garretson and Fiehler—but the show is really overemphasizing Fiehler the dipshit husband. Garretson’s mostly support for him, when it’s been far stronger the other way around.

It’s a good episode and maybe they’ll figure out how to land it next time. But it’s hard to believe they’re not going to shove a bunch off to next season. Some outstanding acting from Tomko too.

Resident Alien (2021) s01e07 – The Green Glow

Something seems off this episode. I tried to ignore it through the opening, which resolves the previous episode’s cliffhanger while also introducing another alien species to the show. The alien species introduction is solid, the cliffhanger resolution is not. In fact, by the time Elias Benavidez’s name shows up as the writer credit… well, it’s good Jennifer Phang’s directing. She can’t save it entirely, but I imagine it could’ve been a lot worse.

The episode manages not to give anyone particularly good material, with some of the cast getting far worse than others. Corey Reynolds, for example, not only doesn’t get to do any great comedic scenes but is additionally so static a character he becomes unlikable for the first time. Willfully cruel. Benavidez’s development on Elizabeth Bowen—deputy to Reynolds’s sheriff—also takes a nose dive. It’s like every plot point the episode needed to hit, it fumbles. Also Benavidez seems dedicated to failing Bechdel, pairing Sara Tomko and Alice Wetterlund for a series of nothing scenes where they talk about one dude or another, until they bring in a third woman to talk more about dudes. It’s a spin-out for Tomko as second lead, but given the episode also whiffs hard on new town doctor Michael Cassidy—he’s useless to have around the show seems to realize—nothing should come as a surprise.

Though the pairing of Judah Prehn and Tudyk—the titular Green Glow is something only Prehn can see emanating from Tudyk’s space ship materials—is delightful. Except it’s not Tudyk, it’s Keith Arbuthnot in the alien mask and presumably Tudyk doing a voice. But Prehn’s great. Even if his character’s a little bit too forgiving when Tudyk (or Arbuthnot) and Benavidez immediately flush some character development from previous episodes just to create three or four minutes of drama here.

The episode does really badly by the other characters who all happen to be women—Levi Fiehler gets to be a man’s man by being shitty to wife Meredith Garretson and the resolution to Elvy’s current arc as Tudyk’s wife should have her telling her agent to negotiate better. It’s rather disappointing.

The cliffhanger sets up what’s got to be the end run to the season (and potentially series) finale in a few episodes. The subplot with Linda Hamilton’s alien-hunting army general gets a lot of rapid, silly expository dump development—even though I don’t remember Hamilton actually having any lines, which would be a heck of a way to keep guest star costs down, nickel-and-diming SAG rules?

Or did something happen behind the scenes to result in such a big opening cop out?

Fingers crossed it’s just a bad script from Benavidez. Because otherwise, if the series is going to stall out so immediately and so badly… well, no second season is better than a garbage second season.

Three cheers for Phang though, especially her direction on the Prehn stuff.

Resident Alien (2021) s01e06 – Sexy Beast

Lots happens this episode, lots of good stuff. There’s maybe the funniest scene so far in the series—based on measuring breath lost to laughing—there’s a montage of great Corey Reynolds acting, there’s deputy Elizabeth Bowen not just getting some character development but a lot of it, there’s the new doctor in town (Michael Cassidy, who’s basically if Martin Donovan and Paul Rudd merged), there’s the murder mystery getting underway (and reminding a lot of the comic), and then there’s special guest star Linda Hamilton.

The episode opens in flashback—fifty years ago Maine, a little girl and her David Harbour-looking dad (it’s not him) seeing aliens—skip ahead to nearer the present and we learn the little girl has grown up to be an Army general played by Linda Hamilton. For a few seconds, it seems like they may be doing a riff of Hamilton as the Connor who survived but then they aren’t. Then it seems like Hamilton might be great. She’s fine. She’s not great. Hopefully it won’t affect “Alien” too much.

She’s in charge of the secret agents (Alex Barima and Mandell Maughan) after the alien. Only it turns out they’re just Army and Army Intelligence and their operation is off the books so Hamilton can get the tech.

Anyway, it’s the C plot. The A plot is Alan Tudyk being irrationally, uncontrollably jealous of new doctor Cassidy and gloriously making an ass of himself at every opportunity. The B plot is Bowen and Reynolds investigating how a stolen prescription pad might figure in to their murder investigation. For what seems to be the first time, Sara Tomko’s just support in the two main subplots—though she does get a great scene opposite ex Ben Cotton, who’s started bringing new girlfriend Jill Nixon around.

Tudyk’s also contending with unexpected wife Elvy hanging around and intruding on his mission, which seemingly should get easier to execute once he’s not stuck playing town doctor—great farewell but obviously not really because it’s a small town scene for Tudyk and Tomko when he leaves the clinic—but Elvy has all sorts of ideas for what they should do with their renewed martial bliss. The threat of that martial bliss leads to the aforementioned funniest scene in the show so far as well as the episode’s cliffhanger. It’s a dramatic, hard cliffhanger, but far less interesting than the softer ones having Cassidy around creates; it’s possible someone’s going to check up on Tudyk’s most self-serving diagnoses.

The episode’s got a new director to the show—Jennifer Phang—and new credited writers—Emily Eslami and Jeffrey Nieves—and they do some excellent work. The character arc for Bowen is the best part of the narrative, while Tudyk and Reynolds really just get to let loose with their performances.

It’s such a good show. I hope it gets renewed. Dang it.

Upload (2020) s01e05 – The Grey Market

Does “Upload” have a show bible the writers ignore—in this case Mike Lawrence, who at least writes a funny enough episode even if it completely breaks with the show’s established future logics-or does the show not have a show bible. Because it doesn’t lean heavy enough into the sitcom to not have its utterly broken reality not appear utterly broken.

And it manages to do it on multiple levels.

The Grey Market is where Robbie Amell takes fellow Upload (dead person’s consciousness uploaded to The Matrix ™) Rhys Slack to the shady digital app vendor spot. Where you can get unofficial patches and upgrades to your Upload avatar, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but hey, it’s been long enough “Chappelle's Show” rips can be homage and not rips.

Slack is a kid—who fell into the Grand Canyon, making him a YouTube hit—whose parents keep him the same age as when he died even though he wants to go through puberty. It’s the foulmouthed kid trope, but at least it’s funny? This episode’s got more laughs than any other episode of “Upload.”

It also has a decided lack of Allegra Edwards, which works out. It shouldn’t be such a boon given the major reveal in the previous episode’s cliffhanger but Edwards is such a energy suck it’s better to skip the A plot than involve her.

Anyway. Amell’s babysitting Slack and Kevin Bigley—who oscillates from as bad as he seems to less bad than he seems—convinces him to go to the grey market so they can get hacks to go to the VR floors, where living people have avatars, and have virtual sex with real women… only without letting these real women know they’re dead guys.

It’s charming.

The episode does get to the right places eventually—surprisingly so—but it’s cheaply done. But also funnier than usual and without Edwards. Plus more Zainab Johnson, who’s at least good, even if her writing is thin.

Andy Allo’s got a subplot with her dad, Chris Williams, who’s nowhere near good enough in what should’ve been a stunt cast. But Allo’s effective even with the bad future setting writing.

And the cliffhanger is genuinely distressing.