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Recap: Harry meets his daughter & we get Sheriff Mike's backstory in 'Resident Alien' Season 2, Ep. 5
Harry Vanderspeigle can fight off government agents and save the world. But fatherhood? No thank you.
We begin this week's new episode of SYFY's Resident Alien with a flashback. Here, we see Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds) during his time in Chicago as a beat cop. A call goes wrong and his partner and best friend Jesse is shot dead, throwing Mike into a depressive spiral but resulting with him adopting Jesse's French bulldog Cletus.
In the present day, Harry's (Alan Tudyk) struggling with reaching out to the alien whose number he got at the end of last week's episode.
**SPOILER WARNING: This recap contains spoilers for Resident Alien Season 2, Episode 5, "Family Day."**
Asta (Sara Tomko) wakes up at Jimmy's (Ben Cotton) house, and we learn they talked about their daughter Jay. Nothing else happened, it seems, but Asta is still overcome with regret and rushes out despite Jimmy's protests. The Sheriff also had a rough night after his disastrous date. Deputy Liv (Elizabeth Bowen) offers a sympathetic ear, but rather than work on himself emotionally, he decides to work on work. Liv has been investigating the pair's memory loss. Just as they start getting into it, they look out Mike's office window and see a pastel-haired girl stealing a bike across the street and Mike gives chase.
Down the street at the clinic, D'Arcy (Alive Wetterlund) is recovering from her wicked hangover with Nurse Ellen's (Diana Bang) help and seems to be avoiding Asta. Lucky for her, Asta's got an alien phone number on the brain.
Harry insists the phone number must be a trap, but everyone's favorite telepathic octopus (voiced by Nathan Fillion) tattles and tells Asta Harry's actually afraid his people will reject him because he's become too human. Harry relents after Asta insists, but gets cursed out and hung up on. It's with a bit of online sleuthing (or "searching a phone number on the internet") that Asta uncovers there's a pizza shop on the other end of the line.
They're going to New York!
Not so fast, though, because Harry gets a phone call from the good sheriff informing him that his daughter — yes, his daughter — has been arrested for stealing a bicycle. The teal-haired youth, Liza (Taylor Blackwell), is the real Harry's daughter from his first marriage. Her mother has sent her to boot camp after a string of shoplifting and general no-do-gooding, and now she's here to see her dad despite how many times he's abandoned her in the past.
Harry is very Harry about her arrival and seems happy to let her leave, but Asta insists he has to at least try and be a father to her. (This isn't bringing up any personal issues for Asta *at all*.) When Liza storms out, Asta follows and chases off a pervy older guy and lays down the law. Liza's still a teenager and she needs a parent — and Liza seems to want a relationship with her parents despite their distance.
"At least he used to go through the motions of being a father," she tells Asta of Harry, and Asta asks Liza to give this different Harry a chance.
While visiting her aunt's grave at the cemetery, Liv runs into Mayor Ben (Levi Fiehler) and Max (Judah Prehn). Patience's annual "Family Day" is going to be themed to The 59 in order to rebrand the tragedy as a heroic tale, and Mayor Ben's even written a play the kids will be putting on.
Harry and Asta bring Liza back to the cabin and while Harry insists he hates kids, Asta tells him he's gotta keep a low profile and not let Liza in on the whole "I'm an alien who killed your father and took over his body" thing. Harry takes this as a personal challenge
In town, D'Arcy and Jimmy run into each other and immediately begin threatening each other. This is, of course, how D'Arcy learns that Asta spent the previous night at a very smug Jimmy's house. Given how abusive Jimmy is, D'Arcy is understandably furious and scared for her best friend. Why would Asta do that?
At the diner, Mike meets his dad Lewis (Alvin Sanders) for dinner and Lewis tells his son that his medical diagnosis is looking up. However, Mike doesn't remember taking his dad for any tests, thus adding to the memory loss mystery. Lewis sees something deeper, though; he's concerned his son has never been the same since Jesse's death, and Mike doesn't take kindly to his father's prying.
Cut to Harry trying (and failing) to cook dinner for Liza. She wants him to call the boot camp to tell them she can't come back, but Harry feels weird about lying.
D'Arcy meanwhile calls Asta out on spending the night with Jimmy rather than dealing with her reaction to her cousin's baby's birth with friends. They get into a nasty fight, with Asta accusing D'Arcy of drinking too much and D'Arcy fighting back with her relationship with Jay (Kaylayla Raine). D'Arcy storms out.
In an attempt to bond with Liza, Harry steals the dog Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) has been looking after and presents the pooch as a gift. Liza isn't impressed (her mom's allergic), so Harry tries other tactics: pedicures, a tea party, sex education — nothing's working.
So they hit up Patience Family Day and Harry, in another attempt at bonding, lets Liza drive on the way there, which proves dangerous to both their safety and any chance for a relationship when Harry snaps at her.
To try and get her charge back, Sahar and Max go to the abandoned RV in the woods to fetch the silver sphere they stole from Harry and exchange it for Murphy. But it's not there, and we soon find out that David Logan (Alex Barima) has it.
At Family Day, Harry and Liza get into a water balloon fight as they take their frustrations out. However, Ben, who's micromanaging the whole event, get ballooned when father and daughter find a common enemy. Despite the chaos, Family Day is going well. Soon, Harry and Liza sit down to eat and share a few sweet moments. Liza was afraid her dad hated her after not being in contact for three years and admits she took a big risk in coming to Patience. If Harry still wants nothing to do with her, he could send her back to boot camp. But Harry comes through and calls the boot camp right then and there to tell them Liza won't be coming back to their "stupid" camp, which earns him some major Good Dad points.
On the other side of the fair, D'Arcy preps for the annual hot pepper eating contest with Jay's help, which prompts a jealous Asta to get in on the spicy action. It… does not go over well for Asta, who's not exactly big on spicy food. But D'Arcy — the competition's reigning champion — is distracted by her ongoing argument with her best friend and loses to Ellen.
Over at the fortune teller tent, Mike pulls Harry aside to ask about memory loss issues. The irony, of course, is that Mike forgot a full day from two weeks ago because of Harry. Mike even has a rare, open moment and reveals that he doesn't think he's been the same since his friend's death, but Harry being Harry, he takes the opportunity to plant some more memories in Mike's brain under the guise of a healing meditation.
After, Ben's play begins. A gaggle of kids (including Max and Sahar) recreate the tale of The 59 with an extra twist: a reveal of what happened in the mine after it collapsed. It is, to put it mildly, horrifying. Just watch the clip below and you'll see what we mean:
The play's left people in a contemplative mood. D'Arcy and Asta — proving again that friendship is the most important thing — make up. Ben's a bit bummed afterward because "everybody hated the play," but is (perhaps too) reassured by how much Max seemed to love it. Kate (Meredith Garretson) and Max leave to go visit her mom, leaving Ben to his own devices.
Liza's also taking a trip back home, and, much to Harry's shock, she tells him she likes this version of him best. The interaction leaves Harry satisfied but more determined than ever to reach his own family. He's ready to go to New York and meet this mystery alien.
At Town Hall, Liv finally gets up the courage to tell the sheriff that she thinks an alien erased their memories from that day. Mike, however, now believes the story Harry inserted: That he spent the afternoon fishing with his dad.
How long before Liv discovers the truth, though? And what adventures await Harry and Asta in New York? Find out when new episodes of Resident Alien premiere on SYFY on Wednesdays at 9/8c.
