Review: Resident Alien season 1, episode 8 – “End of the World As We Know It”

The eighth episode of Resident Alien saw Asta and Harry in an icy hole after the conclusion of last week’s episode. The prior episode saw Asta, Harry, and D’Arcy fall down a crevasse that opened up while the three were on a glacier. This week’s episode picks right up where that one left off, with D’Arcy clinging to the side of the glacier inside of the crevasse, while Asta and Harry lay at the bottom, still alive but with Harry in bad shape.

The episode revolves around two major storylines, first with Asta finding out Harry is an alien, and doing everything she can to save him, and D’Arcy, who’s clinging to life herself while contemplating giving up. Both set-ups give some really great insight on who both women are, and how they connect not just with one another but the greater scheme of the world.

For Asta, she believes all life is important and refuses to leave Harry to die, even though he’s an alien. She bonds with him on a deeper level and begins to understand why he is the way he is. She finds out a lot about him and his people but Harry doesn’t tell her that he was there to destroy all mankind.

For D’Arcy, viewers got to see how she handled the injury that ended her Olympic hopes, and just how important Asta was in her recovery process. Obviously, all three survive, but watching D’Arcy climb out of the crevasse and use the wench on Harry’s snowmobile to pull both up showed the strength and determination D’Arcy has rediscovered. It was a nice moment for the character.

The other smaller arcs this week saw Mayor Ben and Sheriff Mike engage in a hilarious war of words, and frankly, gave some of us viewers a great idea of what a work-place comedy would feel like with them as the stars. Mike mocks Ben’s more agreeable demeanor and convinces him to be more of a take-charge type, something Ben’s own wife had suggested the episode prior. This leads to an awkward anniversary dinner that needs to be seen to properly digest.

On the flip side, the military’s two operatives who have been following Harry across the country have finally landed in the small town, who have confirmed Harry is in fact in town.

The episode is tremendous and does a great job to showcase not just Harry’s developing emotions, and his connection to Asta, but further highlights how Asta views the world. The growth of Asta and Harry’s friendship was a true highlight. Then of course D’Arcy being more confident and sure of herself and not just falling back into destructive tendencies as she normally would have should hopefully push the character into a new state going forward.

This is an A+ episode.