Recap: Doctor Ethan and Cletus return as Harry gets a butler in 'Resident Alien' Season 2, Episode 11

We're only three episodes into the Season 2 return of Resident Alien, and things are starting to seriously heat up in the town of Patience, Colorado.

A baby alien is on the loose, the authorities are getting closer to the heart of the Galvan/Powell Group conspiracy, and General McCallister (Linda Hamilton) refuses to give up until she's got her hands around an honest to goodness visitor from beyond the stars. The stakes have never been higher, but the show never forgets to take a moment and breathe with the inclusion of quieter character moments for the likes of Asta (Sara Tomko) and D'Arcy (Alice Wetterlund).

**SPOILER WARNING: THIS RECAP CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR RESIDENT ALIEN SEASON 2, EPISODE 11, "THE WEIGHT"**

Episode 11 begins with the return of poor Doctor Ethan Stone (Michael Cassidy), who remains a prisoner at the top-secret government black site housing suspected extra-terrestrials. David Logan (Alex Barima) remotely monitors the facility, on the lookout for the mole in the General's organization. The infiltrator turns out to be one of the guards, telepathically revealing himself as an alien while assaulting one of the prisoners. No one suspects a thing, however...at least not at the moment.

Back in Patience, Asta and Ellen (Diana Bang) discuss the passing of Gerard at the health clinic. As we know, Harry (Alan Tudyk) helped the dying man depart this life at the end of Episode 10. This macabre favor not only put Gerard out of his misery, but helped Dr. Vanderspeigle come to grips with his own fear of death. Harry pretends to be surprised by the news, but pretty much gives himself away when he talks about ransacking the dead man's home for milk and a hat.

There isn't much time to mourn the loss of a pillar of the Patience community, though. Harry needs to find the newly-hatched baby alien, toot sweet, so he can hear the rest of Goliath's warning. Still rankled over her temporary loss of memory, Asta ignores Harry, who sets off alone.

He returns to the boarded-up mine, this time venturing inside, where he discovers a set of alien footprints leading to the skeletal remains of Bobby Smallwood. Like Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke), Harry deduces that the child most likely assumed human form. The child is currently with Sahar, who hopes to domesticate it. Unfortunately, the newborn is having trouble adapting to Earth's bathroom customs. But hey! At least he's speaking English now. That's what we call progress.

Over at the Hawthorne household, Max (Judah Prehn) tells his parents that he wants a drum set. Ben (Fiehler) and Kate (Meredith Garretson) refuse, explaining that A) a drum set is too expensive and B) it would cause too much noise. Ben nearly spills the beans on Kate's pregnancy, but she forestalls him, not wanting to tell anyone this early.

Meanwhile, Asta and D'Arcy meet up for lunch at the diner. Asta vents about forgetting Jay's birthday to a distracted D'Arcy. The bartender and former ski champion says that while things are going really well with Elliott (Justin Rain), she's worried about her new boyfriend uncovering the truth behind her talent for hiding corpses and faking murder evidence. D'Arcy departs and Asta's father, Dan (Gary Farmer), approaches the table. He says Harry left the restaurant without paying his most recent bill. This causes Asta to blow up at her dad, exclaiming that she and Harry are not conjoined at the hip. When Dan inquires further on the matter, Asta says that she needs some time apart from the alien, whose immaturity and penchant for keeping secrets have caused her to reach an emotional breaking point.

Asta's troubles follow her back to the clinic, where Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds), Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen), and Detective Lena Torres (Nicola Correia-Damude) show up, hoping to establish a connection between Sam Hodges and the dead member of the Galvan/Powell Group. Asta claims she doesn't know anything, but the shrewd Torres suspects she's holding back on crucial information. The medical files the officers have in their possession pertain to Sam's end-of-life house call patients. 

With Mike and Torres unintentionally ignoring her input on the investigation, Liv takes matters into her own hands and summons the surviving family members of the deceased patients to the clinic for questioning.

After a number of interviews, Liv and Asta establish a number of common links between the departed patients: every single one of them spent time at the nearby Hawthorne Creek and had some sort of terminal ailment, as well as rashes on their hands or feet. Asta postulates that heavy metal poisoning in the creek water might be the culprit. It's the biggest revelation in the GP Group conspiracy plot-line we've had so far!

Law enforcement receives another break in the case with the wallet of one of the missing GP Group men attacked out on the lake. Given the area in which the wallet was found, Liv theorizes that their suspects may be hiding in a system of nearby hiking trails. Cue the return of Cletus! The goodest of boys is brought into the field (with his very own Fitbit, no less) to sniff around for evidence. While Mike and Lena explore the trails, we learn more about the Sheriff's impressive reputation as a cop in Washington, D.C. Apparently, he gained the moniker of the "DC Mer-Man" (or "Mer-Mike," as he was known around the department) after pursuing a diamond thief off a bridge and into a body of water.

Later on, Liv brings the metal poisoning information to Mike and Lena, who finally commend her for a job well done. Now all they have to do is figure out how the dead GP Group guy was involved in the potential cover-up. The Sheriff and Detective Torres head out of the office to grab a bite and "discuss the case," though Liv knows flirting when she sees it. Now that things are finally starting to go her way, D'Arcy visits her old skiing grounds and reconnects with the coach that helped her become an Olympic champion before the tragic accident that prematurely ended her career. She's quite a celebrity among the coach's current crop of students and starts to mull over the idea of a professional comeback.

Out of leads in his pursuit of the alien baby, Harry begs Max for help. Although he knows where the child is, Max agrees, seeing an opportunity to get his drum set after all. He says he'll help if Harry pays him to do chores around the cabin.

The boy essentially becomes the alien's butler, pouring fresh milk and serving as a human ottoman. In exchange for the menial labor and humiliation, Max is compensated handsomely and purchases the drums. When Kate learns of this, she attempts to reprimand Harry for going behind her and Ben's backs. Harry then lies his butt off, claiming Max said he received permission from his parents because the family is poor. Too insulted by this accusation of destitution, Kate swallows the fib and starts to think her son has problems with telling the truth. And since she's at the clinic anyway, Kate decides to take a blood test to confirm her pregnancy.

Max gets in trouble for his dishonesty and begins to resent Harry for it. He asks why Asta isn't helping and Harry begrudgingly admits that she's not talking to him at the moment (you can tell the admission is hard for him to speak aloud). The two sit outside, where Max reads B.R.P.D.: Plague of Frogs #1, a spinoff of Mike Mignola's Hellboy universe published by Dark Horse Comics, which also happens to be the publisher behind the Resident Alien comics upon which the hit SYFY series is based. It's a nice little Easter egg reward for eagle-eyed viewers.

Ok, back to business: Max accidentally lets slip that he is aware of the alien baby and Harry demands to know where it is, threatening that the child will eat Sahar if it gets the chance. Max relents, leading Harry to the RV at the same time Mike and Torres snoop around the woods. Harry unveils another one of his secret alien powers, "a special call that confuses the brains of intelligent animals." In short, he can control animals. The high-pitched screech is successful, throwing Cletus off the trail, but attracting a swarm of pecking birds right to Harry's face. With Johnny Law off their heels, Harry and Max make it to the RV, where Harry and Sahar vie for the affections of the child. Harry speaks to the newborn in their native language, but Sahar has already taught it human self-preservation skills like "stranger danger." 

Harry threatens to send the child to the Ice Wind Desert with no food for two weeks (basically his species' form of grounding). In the end, the baby runs off with inhuman speed. He makes it to the road and collides with D’Arcy’s jeep, but escapes before she can get a good look, allowing her to think it was some sort of wild animal. Despite Max's inability to keep his trap shut, Sahar forgives him because it's what friends do (also, it's against her religion to hold grudges).

Unable to live with the guilt of murdering another human being for much longer, Asta seeks out her father, who, sensing the severity of the situation, sends everyone out of the diner, mid-meal. Seriously, Dan needs a Dad of the Year mug ASAP. Asta finally unloads her remorseful burden. Dan empathizes, recalling his own traumatic experiences during the Vietnam War. He says that this feeling of remorse means his daughter still has a soul and she no longer needs to carry around the weight by herself.

Even though the General still believes that Ethan is her man, Logan starts to wear down her resolve with reports of strange occurrences in and around Patience since they kidnapped Stone. These include — but are not limited to — someone stealing an octopus from a Japanese restaurant. However, it should be noted that Logan makes an egregious error in assuming that the cephalopod thievery is not connected to their cosmic target. In any case, he wholeheartedly believes the alien is still active in the town.

Wanting to put this hypothesis to the test, McCallister takes Doctor Stone to a cliffside, hands him the alien ball, and demands to know how it works. A desperate Ethan tries to bluff his way out of the situation, insisting that the ball is a deadly alien laser. This finally proves to the General that Stone is just another mortal man. She reveals that he's actually holding a pool ball painted silver and brings out the real alien sphere. She gives it to Ethan before pushing him off the cliff. He ends up pretty battered, but still alive, clearly saved by the alien tech. Sadly, he's no longer of any use to the government and is unceremoniously dumped in a back alley of Albuquerque with some heroin.

Home stretch: Ben meets Kate at The 59. She reveals the results of her blood test: she's not actually pregnant. Relieved beyond measure, the couple celebrates with a pitcher of margaritas. At the bar, D'Arcy tells Asta about her desire to get back into the skiing game. There isn't much time to dwell on this when Harry shows up, wanting to talk. He leads Asta to a nearby table and tells her about the alien plot to take over the planet and, perhaps more importantly, owns up to being a bad friend. Asta — who is used to world-ending news by this point — thanks him for being transparent with her for once. Their friendship and trust in each other is restored.

Worlds suddenly collide in the closing moments as the General steps into The 59 and asks D'Arcy for a shot of Jeremiah Weed (a favorite among the fighter pilot community and a brand promoted by ZZ Top). McCallister accepts her drink and surveys the bar, painfully unaware of the fact that she's standing just feet away from the alien she so desperately hopes to capture.

New episodes of Resident Alien air on SYFY every Wednesday at 10 p.m. Eastern before hitting the SYFY app and Peacock the following day. The hit show has already been renewed for a third season.