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Recap: Dr. Ethan & General McCallister return & Harry DMs his people in 'Resident Alien' Season 2, Ep. 4
We’ve got a radio to build, people.
Aliens live among us in the world of SYFY's Resident Alien. But not everyone is privileged to this information, as we're reminded of at the top of Season 2's fourth episode, "Radio Harry."
An unknown man spills his guts to a soft-spoken therapist about his abduction experience five years ago — only for his doctor to make a call that gets him Man in Black-ed. He's taken by government agents and locked away in a futuristic-looking prison. Overseeing the whole thing is General Eleanor McCallister (series guest star Linda Hamilton), who we see has also been detaining Dr. Ethan Stone (Michael Cassidy) for 65 days and counting.
But more on poor Dr. Ethan later. We've got a radio to build, people.
**SPOILER WARNING: This recap contains spoilers for Resident Alien Season 2, Episode 4, "Radio Harry."**
Our resident alien himself, Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk), finds his frenemies Max (Judah Prehn) and Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) at the local diner, where he tries and fails to convince them to give the silver ball they have back. You'll recall the sphere and its three counterparts are all that remains of Harry's ship, but our favorite troublesome twosome refuses to hand it over because Sahar is convinced Harry is going to use it to build a bomb, not a radio.
At the baseball field, D'Arcy's (Alice Wetterlund) hitting on a cute dude and her team is being cheered on by all our favorite townies, including Jay (Kaylayla Raine) and her new boyfriend. Asta's (Sara Tomko) determined to keep her distance to minimize drama. However, drama ensues anyway when Sahar and Max pull her aside to inform her of their bomb theory. Despite Asta's doubts, Sahar's logic — Harry's done it once before, so why wouldn't he do it again? — is undeniably, well, logical.
That is, of course, when Harry shows up to collect some of the flowers that resulted from his spaceship's momentary demise. They're pretty, but they're also going to help fuel the radio, which Asta asks to see. She's suspicious now and begins asking enough questions to make Harry suspicious in response. He does explain, though, that a fissure of tellurium not far from Patience will help bounce the signal into space and reach a transit station on the giant space rock humans have named ‘Oumuamua. (You can read more about ‘Oumuamua here.) Because of her recent doubts, Asta tells Harry they'll be going to the reservation in order to send the signal and that she and her dad, Dan (Gary Farmer), will be going with him to keep an eye on his plans.
Later at the reservation, Harry's welcomed with smiles and a giant plate of food. He also meets Drew (Tommy Pico), who's visiting family and seems to have immediate insight into Harry's place as an outsider.
As Harry prepares to contact his people, Sheriff Mike (Corey Reynolds) and Deputy Liv (Elizabeth Bowen) are working through their own puzzle. Liv doesn't remember dropping off her dry cleaning, which we of course know is because Harry erased a whole day of memories from her and the sheriff's minds at the beginning of the season. The sheriff's got other things on the brain, though, specifically Judy Cooper (Jenna Lamia), who's determined to go on a date with him after their run-in at the bar. (For what it's worth, Liv's a fan of the idea.)
Across the hallway, Kate (Mederith Garretson) convinces Mayor Ben (Levi Fiehler) to check out the neighboring town of Jessup, much to Ben's chagrin — even if they do make amazing tacos.
After lunch, Harry sets off into the woods with the Twelvetrees family, only to be joined by Kayla (Sarah Podemski) and Drew. His companions are determined to enjoy themselves on this camping trip, but Harry's in a hurry, so Asta does her best to shake the others. It's only thanks to Drew's savviness (and his incorrect assumption that Asta's trying to get Harry alone for… non-camping things) that Asta and Harry will be able to go on a morning hike alone; they have to position the radio at just past 11 a.m., and they can't have others holding them up.
That night, our five campers enjoy the great outdoors and some music. Harry's companions lament how little untouched land remains, and Harry uses this as yet another excuse to convince himself the Earth's destruction is a good thing. Humans are killing the planet anyway, so why not just speed up the process?
Back in Patience at The 59, we finally discover the name of D'Arcy's mysterious partner in flirting and baseball rival. It's Elliot, and after a little prompting from Liv — wherein the deputy also agrees to have dinner with D'Arcy's parents the next day — D'Arcy agrees to meet for "dessert" after dinner with her parents.
In Jessup, Ben and Kate are having dinner and are approached by the mayor of Jessup, who does everything in his power to underhandedly put the Hawthornes and Patience down in the same breath. Kate puts the rival mayor in his place, and they leave to go home.
Harry probably also wishes he were home, but instead he's fighting off mosquitos in a tent. Unable to sleep, he wanders into the woods and comes face to face with an enormous, pale bison. Revitalized, Harry and Asta head up the mountain the next morning to set up the radio.
They make it just in time. The radio turns on, begins transmitting… and that's when Harry reveals that the signal will tell his people not to come and kill everyone "for 50 years." Then they'll come and kill the human race, once Asta is dead. Naturally, Asta's not into this plan, and she fights Harry off to stop the transmission. She's successful, which means that to save Asta (and the bison and everything else beautiful Harry is beginning to love about Earth) he'll have to come up with a new plan to tell his people to stay away.
"I know you don't care unless it's me. So, guess what? It's me again!" Asta exclaims, right before she gets a call telling her that one of the girls back at the reservation, Sunny, has gone into labor. They rush back, and Asta takes matters into her own hands despite Harry's presence. But when complications ensue, Sunny's family asks Asta to let Harry step in, and she does because Harry knows what he's doing (even if he just learned about human birth a few weeks ago by watching YouTube videos).
They're successful, and Sunny gives birth surrounded by her friends and family. Harry, still struggling with his human emotions, is struck by the love and joy he sees before him.
Meanwhile, D'Arcy and Liv sit through a disastrous dinner with the former's parents, who go out of their way to point out everything they dislike about D'Arcy and her life. They're sat across the room from Sheriff Mike, who's on a date and gets asked about his mysterious past in D.C. When the woman pushes, Mike loses his temper and leaves, but not before telling her that he was a cop who made a mistake, and that resulted in his best friend — his partner — dying. It's not long after Mike leaves that D'Arcy can't take her parents' criticism anymore; she stands, tears the table cloth away, flips them off, and bounces.
Her parents aren't the only people she leaves hanging, though. Upon seeing Elliot waiting for her at the diner, D'Arcy is so overwhelmed that she chickens out and ends up not going on their date. And Liv? She's starting to think she might have been abducted by aliens. What other explanation is there for her memory loss?
The birth has left Asta emotionally wrecked. She wants to, one day, have a relationship with her daughter. Harry says he understands wanting to have that relationship (he has no relationship with his own "offspring," after all) but his reassurances aren't enough. That night, Asta returns to her abusive ex-husband, Jimmy (Ben Cotton).
Finally, we return to Dr. Ethan. He's brought to General McCallister, who's all dolled up and had a fancy dinner prepared for them. It's an attempt to get him to admit he's an alien. (Please recall: He's not an alien. He's just a very confused, very handsome doctor.) And she's more than happy to let him rot until he shows his "true form."
Just then, though, her team picks up an alien signal. It's Harry's people. They're contacting him via his radio and have some information for him: a New York City phone number.
New episodes of Resident Alien premiere on SYFY on Wednesdays at 9/8c.
