No actor is as strange as Alan Tudyk, the man who gave “Firefly” his silly soul and stole “Rogue One” from almost everyone else in the cast, although he never appeared on the screen in his own skin.
Syfy’s “Resident Alien”, based on a comic book series, divides the difference by launching Tudyk as an extraterrestrial trapped on our planet after his malicious mission went wrong. Here, Tudyk is a being who goes by the highly unusual name of Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle and forces the citizens of Patience, Colorado, to live up to the name of the city in virtually all interactions with him.
The distance from the place and the need for a new doctor in town practically forces them to do so after their longtime doctor appears dead. On the way to all the remote places where the odds are good and the assets are strange, Harry’s strangeness and flat affection seem harmless. The guy whose life he stole is a rich part-time resident, which also helps a lot, since no one really knew him.
In general, the public sees his character as most of the city’s inhabitants see him, as another human being who does not feel comfortable in his own skin, does not master the subtleties of body language or what to do with his face and interpersonal skills. insignificant.
Some people see the “doctor” as the huge-eyed, amphibian-looking creature that he really is, and it scares him and them, until fear gives way to curiosity and curiosity turns into something like affection.
This is the story that “Resident Alien” is trying to tell from the perspective of Tudyk’s bizarre but charming character, and when he does it is a sweet series that shows the actor’s natural ability to surprise us in new ways with each episode.
If you were to judge by the double meaning of the title – the term “foreign resident” is used to describe an immigrant who achieves legal resident status in the United States – you may be expecting the program to use Harry’s situation to metaphorically examine obstacles faced by newcomers in a land that looks welcoming, but it really isn’t.
Presenting Tudyk’s character as both the stranger in a strange land and the role of interspecies fanatic allows the program to approach this worn-out concept in an unusual way. He is a stranger hidden from view who learns English and earthly customs by watching “Law and Order”, but he is also a member of a race totally convinced of his own superiority.
Harry explains in one of the show’s many voice narration examples that if the universe had an intelligence scale, “humans would land just below the lizards”. A crash on our planet forces him to interact with the lower life forms he believes we are, and he slowly begins to realize the many ways his species misunderstands and underestimates humans.
However, he refuses to deviate from his original guideline, even though he is increasingly at odds with his growing emotions and evolving connections with the people around him like Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko), the doctor’s assistant who works with him at the medical clinic in town.
Harry and Asta make a wonderful Platonic pair because they both feel strange, and the most interesting people to follow also fit that description, even if they don’t specifically say it out loud. And each of them nurtures relationships that are solidly established enough to create interesting plots.
Asta’s best friend, D’Arcy (Alice Wetterlund), is a bartender who drinks a lot with dollar signs in his eyes and throws himself at Harry, and his efforts to ignore his complete lack of charisma allow Wetterlund to shine in his antics.
But a nerdy boy named Max (Judah Prehn) can see through his disguise, and that worries Harry more than a horny whiskey addict could ever. The alien quickly makes it a priority to eliminate this small threat, but, predictably, Max ends up being a worthy opponent.
Seeing the world through Harry’s calculating and emotionally icy perspective allows the show to circumvent potential discomfort by addressing any realistic issues related to race and culture in Patience, at least initially. Little moments acknowledge the existence of common human prejudice in this world, especially when a subplot involving Max’s smartest friend, a classmate who wears a hijab, comes on the scene.
In the end, however, Patience is a kind and kind and diverse city on TV that frees itself from the usual portraits of the tensions of a small town in ways that can be a little sickening. Corey Reynolds, for example, plays city sheriff Mike Thompson as a combination of Boss Hogg and Rosco P. Coltrane, and in case we’re not getting the homage he loudly adores to his designer dog Cletus.
He is also the only black man you see on the streets of this mountainous city, which may be a clue that he is exaggerating his efforts to fit in with the culture. Or maybe this is a totally unnecessary flourish.
Playing the ridicule of your characters gives the show a slight flavor of “Northern Exposure”. Based on that, thoughtful exploration of Tomko’s character script through the lens of his personal life also highlights Asta’s Native American heritage in ways that seem genuine and not forced, and the fact that I have to point this out shows how it still it is unusual in TV.
Where “Resident Alien” doesn’t work entirely is his desire to be on many shows at the same time, while winding his way to find out what stories he eventually wants to tell. The alien metaphor for immigrants or outsiders is a well-trodden path on TV, seen in series that treat it with solemnity (“Alien Nation” and “Roswell” come to mind) and with excess humor (“ALF”, “3rd Rock from the Sun “and” Mork & Mindy “which, like this show, takes place in Colorado).
“Resident Alien” takes what we know about these programs and gestures to modernize its paradigm to connect with 2021 audiences with an appearance of depth through this alien who is in part genius and ignorant.
If his misfortunes and Asta’s emotional journey were the main events of the season, that would be more than enough to successfully sustain the first season. Instead, the writers decide that each character needs multiple cases to keep them busy. Just because a show is blessed with a capable cast does not mean that each character needs a mystery to pursue in order to capture our interest, but if that’s the approach, they’d better do something vital to the main plot or something absolutely fascinating. . This is not the case here.
In fact, I didn’t even mention the government agency chasing Harry during these episodes because the agency’s representatives aren’t even interesting enough to mention. You could cut most scenes with this D storyline and have a leaner and more meaningful story.
When “Resident Alien” resists the urge to wander and settles with Harry’s various epiphanies about the human need to belong and longing to establish ties with others, it shines with the potential to be as sincere and contemplative as it is dark and funny. These forces are lost on their initial journey, but with Tudyk serving as your beacon, it may not matter. He will continue to steal our attention until the rest of the show finds out where he needs to go.
“Resident Alien” opens on Wednesday, January 27 at 10 pm on Syfy.