Resident Alien - Alan Tudyk on Syfy

For a pilot I thought it was great. It definitely did its job of getting me on the hook for the next episode, even though as other have noted it’s pretty clear what the plot lines are going to be.

My wife and I watched the pilot last night and quite enjoyed it. Nothing was too surprising given the premise, but it was all pretty well presented and it’s really hard not to immediately like Alan Tudyk, whatever the role.

So, this is basically a sci-fi remake of “Dexter” where instead of a psychopathic serial-killer trying to fit in and do right while keeping his true nature a secret, the main character is a xenocidial alien, right?

Did he not explain that? That there’s only so many humans within thousands that can see through his shift and ‘it’s some bullshit’ that one happens to be in a town that doesn’t even have pizza?

I enjoyed the first two episodes. I feel like I’ve seen it before a fair few times but as noted, it’s really well presented and I even laughed out loud a couple of times. It’s nice, harmless, mindless TV.

Episode 3 is out and I’m digging the way they’re building the kid/alien relationship - it’s going a little differently than I expected, which is nice.

No, you’re not getting what I’m saying. He’s either under some sort of illusion in which he still is the alien, but only appears to be human - which supports that the kid can see through the illusion and his additional strength, but doesn’t support the fact that he’s physically larger, has extra arms and is adopting human traits (since he just appears to be human, he’s still an alien)…OR…he has physically morphed into a human, which supports the human traits, and his ability to navigate a human sized environment, but doesn’t support the kid seeing him, or his beyond-normal physical strength.

Maybe a better example are his hands. His alien hands look to have 3 fingers and are much wider. In particular the middle phalanx looks huge, before the distal phalanx tapers to more of a claw. The operation of many human hand-held devices would be awkard/exceptionally difficult/impossible with such a hand.So does he have a human hand or the alien hand? Well, apparently that depends on who’s looking at him.

https://fastly.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1140x640_hero/public/2021/02/nup_189440_0174.jpg?offset-x=0&offset-y=0

I still am enjoying the series, but the writer playing fast and loose with this sort of thing digs at me.

Ah, fair play. I see what you’re saying - either he’s an illusion of a person, projected onto an alien body but still with the physical attributes of an alien, or he’s genuinely inhabiting the human body?

In which case, I dunno… ;)

It’s pretty easy to understand. See, you have to ask yourself, “Which version would be funnier and more dramatic in this scene?” And then you have your answer.

Well, yes, the real answer is ‘because plot’. But that’s not quite the point of the discussion I think.

I’m really enjoying this show so far. Alan Tudyk is fantastic as expected and I’m really digging the the strands of dark humor that run throughout. I wasn’t expecting this to be a black comedy. It’s had me laughing out loud.

The scene where Tudyk sabotages the kids bicycle and his subsequent doctors visit was hilarious

Second episode didn’t really make me think this is going to be anything special. I’ll watch Tudyk in anything, but it seems pretty by the numbers for a show about a genocidal alien.

I think it is fairly by the numbers for most of the ‘strange person in a strange land’ sort of programmes so far. But, as someone said upthread, for me, it’s so well presented and nicely done that it’s a really nice watch.

The show seems to present a combination of the two. He’s physically morphed his body into a human-like shape, taking on mostly human characteristics (no longer 10 feet tall, no extra belly arms), but there are some things that he isn’t able to fully change (skin color, etc) so he’s using an additional cloaking device on top of that.

This still isn’t very satisfactory for some things (e.g. his fingers), but that’s artistic license I guess.

It’s based on a comic, and looking at some pages, the intent seems to be that he has almost entirely human anatomy (Abin Sur style), although he’s missing a finger. The finger issue may just be a physical costuming issue. There are some significant differences between the show and comic though.

Anyone still watching this? It’s not amazing but I’m enjoying it as a guilty pleasure.

I am, although I haven’t watched this week’s episode. Last one,otoh, was very funny.

My wife and I watch it every week and enjoy it… though we usually don’t get around to it until the weekend.

It’s fun and well done with the wacky alien/kid shenanigans mixed in with some small-town family drama pathos. Most of the actors do a good job.

Yep, same for me. Great weekend viewing.

We just straight up like it, no guilt.

It’s starting to get some legs, and I’m enjoying it.

Linda Hamilton!

And a guy who looks like Paul Rudd who isn’t Paul Rudd!

He sure had that Rudd vibe though.

Loving this show.