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Recap: Resident Alien's women are straight-up running this show in Episode 4
To outsiders, Patience, Colorado, might very well appear to be a town run by men. It's got a male mayor, a male sheriff, a history of male physicians, and now a male alien.
But as anyone who has lived long in Patience — or has been watching Resident Alien up to this point — knows, the truth is just the opposite: This town owes everything to its women. They're the ones keeping it running, taking necessary risks, and speaking truth to power. And it's about dang time that somebody props them up as they deserve!
So we shall.
**SPOILER WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Resident Alien Season 1, Episode 4, "Birds of a Feather."**
For those seeking small-town examples of strong women challenging the patriarchy, look no further than Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen). Soft-spoken and insecure, Baker is still no shrinking violet. For although she's been relegated to getting the Sheriff's coffee and translating his language from rated R to something a bit more family-friendly, she has a much better handle on the case of the severed foot (read: the real Harry's foot) than her boss does.
When their all-night lake cruise fails to produce a body, Baker consults the current tide schedule and realizes the corpse must have washed up onshore. Baker uses science and her powers of deduction to arrive at a (quite accurate) conclusion. Meanwhile, Sheriff Thompson (Corey Reynolds) gets there by relying on his, um, primal instinct: "I can feel it. In my balls." That sounds... inadmissible in court.
The policing pair also dredged up some jetsam from the lake, most of which is immaterial to the case. But Baker got hold of the detached doorknob from Vanderspeigle's cabin door, which, you'll recall, the alien rent and tossed into the lake upon his first visit. Thompson tells Baker to forget about the knob, attributing it to a houseboat that lost a door.
Smartly, Baker doesn't comply with her boss' order to let it alone, and instead enters the doorknob as evidence. May we say on behalf of everyone: You go, Deputy.
Next is Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko). In addition to keeping the medical clinic running smoothly, Asta is the only one piecing together clues to a parallel crime: The death of Dr. Sam Hodges.
Clue 1: While cleaning up the late doctor's desk, Asta discovered one of his prescription pads was missing. Now, either Sam is spending his afterlife fashioning miniature airplanes out of Rx paper, or someone else nabbed it.
Clue 2: While unwittingly attending a high school rager, Asta confiscates a bottle of prescription painkillers from one of the scofflaw squirts. When she inspects the bottle, she sees it was prescribed by Dr. Hodges... after his death. It's looking less like paper airplanes, and more like a felony.
There's also Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke), Max's friend from school. Bullied for being a practicing Muslim in this small town, Sahar and Max (Judah Prehn) are kindred spirits. Sahar actually believes Max's claims about the alien and agrees to help out with the invader.
So when the Hawthornes invite Harry (Alan Tudyk) over for dinner and Max freaks out, Sahar talks him down and turns the intrusion to their advantage. While Max keeps Harry distracted, Sahar executes her daring — if mildly unlawful — scheme: She sneaks into Harry's pickup, steals his house keys, gets them duplicated, and replaces the originals without the alien knowing. Major skills, this one.
After she and Max break into Harry's house and basement, it's Sahar who has the courage to touch the apple levitating over a plate of Tellurium. She does end up getting blasted clear across the room after laying a finger on it, but that's only to be expected when handling otherworldly substances without the proper precautions.
Possible concussions notwithstanding, these women are truly in a league of their own. Whether it's committing petty (but justified) crimes, or solving big ones, they've got grit and guts. We have a feeling Patience is going to need both when the military finds out there's an alien holing up there.
Episode 5 of Resident Alien premieres on SYFY next Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 10 p.m. ET.
