The pilot of Resident Alien, following the adventures of an alien who absorbs the identity of a human doctor to blend in with a snow-laden small town up in the mountains
Tropes
- Adults Are Useless: When Harry sets out to kill Max, the boy screams and Harry has no choice but to either run back out the window or hide under the bed. Harry goes with the latter (and riskier) option, and when Max tries to squeal to his parents who barge into his room that Harry is right under, the parents don't even bother checking under the bed saying it's just in Max's head.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: After taking at least 5 shots of alcohol, Harry gets the not so bright idea of killing the little boy Max who can see through him which would only risk him being exposed further. Bonus idiot points go to Harry not pulling out his extra arms to strangulate Max and kill him off swiftly as he did with the original human doctor he killed and replaced.
- Alien Catnip: Parodied. Harry thinks that his alien anatomy is responsible for the terrible hangover he is experiencing after a night out drinking. It's unimaginable to him that humans would subject themselves to drinking if they had to deal with the same after-effects as he does.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: The female bartender says this to Harry.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Harry has a lot of things he's searching for: the parts of his ship that fell off before he crashed in a lightning storm including the device that can eradicate all humans, the boy Max who can see through Harry's disguise and ultimately expose him to the authorities, the unknown assailant who poisoned the town doctor, and a decent pizza place.
- Barrier-Busting Blow: Harry attacks Asta's ex from behind a wooden wall.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Harry saves Asta from Jimmy, her violent ex-husband.
- Car Radio Dispute: Deputy Liv turns on the radio in the police car but the sheriff turns it off immediately.
- Cassandra Truth: Max tries to convince his parents that there is an alien under his bed but they just think he is imagining things.
- Death Notification: When Sam Hodges is found dead, Mayor Hawthorne is tasked with telling his wife, but doesn't want to. Sheriff Thompson says to give him her number, that he'll do it, that he doesn't give a shit.
- Domestic Abuse: Jimmy attacks Asta off-screen as when we see her after Harry returns, Asta is laying on the ground with a bloody nose.
- Due to the Dead: Harry, despite not having any empathy for the death of the town doctor Hodges, still tries to give him a proper "preservation" by burying him under snow (this is most likely normal in his alien kind's culture). The sheriff Mike "Big Black" Thompson denigrates this as an improper if not illegal means of burial while Harry objects he meant no disrespect to the doctor.
- Enemy Rising Behind: At the cabin, the real Harry doesn't notice the alien Harry behind him until it's too late.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Harry has one at the funeral when Asta mentions fresh air which gives him a new lead about the doctor's self-inflicted incision.
- Face-Revealing Turn: Early on, Harry is revealed to be an alien when he turns towards to camera in his fishing boat.
- False Reassurance: Harry when ambushing Max in his bedroom:"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to kill you."
- Flipping the Bird: Harry grows fond of doing this.
- Food as Bribe: Asta offers to buy Harry dinner at the bar if he helps her move all her stuff out of her house as he possesses a pick-up truck and she only has a bicycle. Harry decides he has no choice but to help her as he needs to look like he fits into the community after he got made by Max and spooked the late doctor's wife by offering to shake her hand with his hand smeared with her dead husband's brains.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Not accustomed to human norms, Harry unwittingly makes a scene at the doctor's funeral when he opens the coffin to get another view on the incision.
- Gender Flip: Honey the girl is replaced by Max, a boy, who was the only human who could see through Harry's human disguise let alone cannot see Harry as a human at all and has the genetic mutation to outright see Harry as just an alien.
- Henpecked Husband: Ben, the town's mayor and also Max's dad, gets blamed by his wife for Max having "nightmares" (really it was Harry trying to kill him) by showing him late-night alien movies. Ben justifies that E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial didn't give him nightmares as a child.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Harry grabs and strangles Jimmy down to the ground with the intent to kill him. Asta begs Harry to let go, saying it's not worth it. Harry relents, and walks away with Asta giving spiteful kicks.
- It Began with a Twist of Fate: The reason Harry's ship crashed was that the night he arrived on Earth was during thunderstorm; a bolt of lightning struck his ship and damaged the engines.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Asta does this to Jimmy, her violent ex-husband, after Harry helped her with the "They Are Down" part.
- Kill and Replace: It turns out that Harry stole the identity of an actual human doctor through this method.
- Klingons Love Shakespeare: Harry dislikes Earth and humanity in general, but he did like pizza since the series began. The fact that the town Patience doesn't have a pizza place aggravates him, and as the series progresses he goes on to enjoy drinking alcohol, partying and dancing to Nicki Minaj.
- Mathematician's Answer: After just seeing the doctor's dead body and giving a brief summary of it, Harry tries to bolt, but Ben tells him he has more work to do such as the autopsy.Ben: Please don't tell me that you're leaving.
Harry: Okay I won't. (goes for the door anyways) - Mushroom Samba: When Harry takes whiskey and sleeping pills, he collapses and has a nightmare that the corpse of the real Dr. Vanderspiegle comes to life to chastise him.
- Painful Transformation: The Kill and Replace procedure doesn't seem to come painlessly for the alien.
- Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: Harry crushes his ringing alarm clock with gusto in the morning.
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: Harry attacking Max at night in his sleep.
- Wall Pin of Love: Asta's ex uses the pose to intimidate her during their dispute.
