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Who Killed Dr. Sam Hodges in Resident Alien?
Resident Alien begins with a murder mystery. Uncover the truth with Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle.
This story contains spoilers for Resident Alien Season 1 and 2.
The alien impersonating Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle could have lived a simple country life as he plotted the Earth's demise if it weren't for Dr. Sam Hodges. Or, rather, if it weren't for Dr. Sam Hodges' corpse.
Resident Alien, the hit SYFY original series starring Alan Tudyk and based on the Dark Horse comics of the same name, starts off Season 1 with a murder mystery. Sam Hodges (Jan Bos; Apollo 18, The Flash) is the only doctor in the quaint town of Patience, Colorado. So when he turns up dead in his own office, the local sheriff, Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds; The Closer), drives just out of town to fetch another doctor to do the autopsy.
For more on Resident Alien:
What We Know about Mizar-Alcor, the Home of Resident Alien's Harry Vanderspeigle
Is Patience, Colorado Real? A Guide to the Shooting Locations of SYFY’s Resident Alien
Did You Know Resident Alien Star Alice Wetterlund Did Stand-Up? Watch Some of Her Set!
It just so happens that doctor, Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle, is also dead, and a shape-shifting alien (without a medical degree, mind you) has taken his place.
Who killed Sam Hodges in Resident Alien?
While Sam's death was initially ruled a suicide, it's far more complicated than that. Throughout Season 1, Alien-Harry and his new BFF Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko) realized that the real Harry Vanderspeigle killed Sam Hodges. Kind of.
The plot thickened in Season 2 when we learned that the real Harry and Sam were caught up in an evil corporation's web; the pair discovered that the shady Galvan/Powell Group was dumping toxic chemicals in Hawthorne Creek and poisoning locals. Despite the payoffs and threats from Galvan/Powell, Sam began to waver and told the real Harry that he was considering going to the police. So, to save his own skin, the real Harry poisoned Sam.
With his throat closing up, Sam performed a tracheotomy on himself to try and stop it, but was unsuccessful. Hence, Alien Harry's initial theory that Sam had killed himself.
While this was all going down, the town's real police, Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen), also started uncovering their own evidence that Galvan/Powell was poisoning locals, and that the real Harry was somehow involved. But with everyone involved with the initial plot dead (or being impersonated by an alien), the main focus of Season 3 — now airing new episodes on SYFY and next-day on Peacock — is now firmly on the Greys and their world-ending plot.
The show is currently in the midst of its third season, which officially kicked off last week. New episodes air on Wednesdays at 10/9c on SYFY, and next day on Peacock.
