TV Review: Resident Alien Season 1 (2021)

Resident Alien Season 1 (2021) created for television by Chris Sheridan based on the comics by Peter Hogan and Steven Parkhouse

An alien (Alan Tudyk) comes to Earth to wipe out the human race. His ship crashes and he loses his mass extinction device. The nearest town is Patience, Oregon, a small and somewhat isolated place. He kills and takes on the appearance of a local doctor, Harry Vanderspeigle. He winds up faking the doctor's social and professional life, which is complicated since the main doctor in town died in mysterious circumstances. He is roped in to be the new doctor. The local police chief (Corey Reynolds), a blowhard who puts more credit in his dog than in his deputy (Elizabeth Bowen), runs a slow and unsteady investigation. Harry's biggest problem is Max (Judah Prehn), a young boy who can see through Harry's disguise and tries to expose him. Max's dad is the town's milquetoast mayor (Levi Feihler) who tries to get along with everybody, to the town's detriment. Vanderspeigle's nurse assistant Asta (Sara Tomko) has a lot of her own small town drama to deal with in addition to the strange new behavior of her boss.

The series shifts the plot from the comics, where Harry is just trying to get along until he can contact home to come and get him. Even with the darker "kill them all" element, this show has a much more light-hearted tone. The alien is sarcastic and superior even though he comes off quite clueless about how humans interact. Tudyk is brilliant in the role both physically and in his line delivery. A lot of voiceover happens with Alien Harry commenting honestly on situations in which he has to try to blend in and be "normal." The show has numerous side plots like the conflict between the sheriff and his deputy, Asta dealing with a daughter she had abandoned in her teens who is now in town, and others. Most things are played for laughs and the show is very enjoyable, if very adult. Harry has a hard time dealing with sexual matters (his species does not have complementary sexes) and some dialogue is surprisingly graphic, though again it's played for laughs more than shock value or social commentary.

Recommended--the show isn't for kids but is very entertaining.