Heartwarming / Resident Alien

Comics

General

• Harry's quick Character Development as he goes from living in isolation to becoming part of the community of Patience, greatly enjoying the company of its human inhabitants and welcomed as a friend. In the end when Harry has the chance to leave, he makes up a story that he has to remain on Earth for a "confidential mission": choosing the life he's built on Earth over returning to his home planet.
• Asta and her father Dan acting as Harry's Secret Secret Keepers and later straight-up Secret Keepers, assuring him that they're his friends and won't betray him. Harry, after a moment of introspection when he's alone, decides he does trust them and further doesn't want to want to leave Patience just because protocol called for it.

Welcome to Earth!

• Following the death of the only doctor in town, Harry is asked to cover for him until a replacement is found in a few days which reluctantly does to maintain his cover. After it falls through, Harry figures out the mayor hasn't found a way to break the news and so with little prompting offers to cover for another week. The mayor is overjoyed that Harry is so understanding not knowing its partially, if not mainly, because Harry enjoys the break from his three years of isolation and being a hermit.
• Despite all narrative evidence pointing to him, Lance Whitehead is revealed to not be the killer despite everyone who died being a person who "wronged" him in some way. He actually doesn't hold any grudge at the breaks he's had in life and only recently turned to the bottle because of the death of his wife whom he was Happily Married to.
  • While its clear he has some mental issues, the killer's motivation was as Harry suspected: to get revenge on those who seemingly had a hand in ruining Lance's life years ago. Harry sets him straight that Lance had moved on and was quite happy, explaining to him that Lance would never had wanted those people hurt or killed.
• The final scene of the comic has Harry, after being accidentally shot by Astra trying to shot the killer, relaxing and recuperating in his bed as he drifts off to sleep. As he does, he dreams of relaxing in a boat on a lake with the landscape clearly being his homeworld. What makes it heartwarming is both the serene look on his face as well as how it resembles the mountains by Patience indicating he chose the location for both its beauty and it reminded him of home.

The Suicide Blonde

• When the new doctor Ethan arrives, he's only there a week before pissing off both the staff and making the patients uncomfortable due to him swaying between arrogant around the former and being a Nervous Wreck when treating the latter; Harry goes to Mayor Bert with his concerns and offers to help run the clinic for the three months Ethan is contracted to work there...before taking over for the next year.
• Harry's motivation in investigating the death of the titular Suicide Blonde is because the mayor Bert is linked to her and it looks pretty damning that he was the last one to see her. He knows that Bert is a good man and just as importantly his friend, the trip to Seattle being to clear the mayor's name.
  • Bert can't thank Harry enough for clearing his name especially as due to Karen's unintended tampering of the suicide scene he could've easily been pinned for murder. He also decides that he needs to resign as mayor once the scandal that he had been seeing a prostitute even if the affair ahd ended a while ago. It's implied that it's less pragmatism and more that he believes that he's lost the trust of the people showing he's every bit the good man Harry knows him to be that once to do right by his townspeople.
• The Sheriff telling Harry even though this issue's death turned out to be suicide and no murderers were at large this time, he is to never get himself involved in a criminal investigation again as it could result in endangering himself. It's clear that its Anger Born of Worry and the Sheriff does appreciate what Harry did to clear Bert's name.
• Brad, one of Chief Mike's officers, asking Amanda out after some Ship Tease between the two earlier in this volume and the last and she's clearly delighted that he finally asked her. Becomes even sweeter when they get married and he's shown to be a caring attentive step-father to her daughter Honey.

The Sam Hain Mystery

• While at the clinic, Brad brings his girlfriend's kid Honey to the clinic after she tripped and cut her lip and Harry is as kind and gentle as you expect him to be. Honey, who is implied and latter confirmed to be able to see through Harry disguise to his true form, nervously asks the doctor if he's a "goodie" or a "baddie". This leads to this exchange as Harry remains oblivious to why she asks this:
  Harry: Um, I...I like to think I'm a goodie.
  Honey: [Considers him for a moment then wraps her arms around his neck as if hugging him] Ok. I believe you.
  Harry: I'm very glad to hear it.
  • Honey's mom Amanda later thanks Harry for taking good care of her and while she thought it was unnecessary to get so riled up and twisting into knots, she really appreciated how much care and concern Brad showed for her.
  • The scene takes place at the diner because Harry now has a standing lunch appointment with both Bert and Mike where just shoot the breeze with each other. This includes Harry taking about a book he finally found, them teasing him when Amanda gives him a free slice of pie for treating Honey, and them taking about the upcoming mayoral election.
  • Speaking of, despite deciding at the end of the last volume to resign following the scandal involving the titular Suicide Blonde, Bert is revealed to have decided to wait out until the election next month. Wether he wins or loses, it'll be the public's choice and Bert will at least be able to say he didn't go down without a fight. It's also implied that his opponent D'Arcy Bloom and him are romantically involved yet remain friendly despite being political rivals.

The Man with No Name

• Rufus, the drug addict who broke into the clinic in the first story, makes a brief appearance when he's asked if he's heard anything about the meth lab that recently gone up in flames. He hasn't...because he's been clean ever since he was arrested and Harry helped him get into the program.
• The volume is sprinkled throughout with Ship Tease between Harry and Asta:
  • When Harry reveals he's having lunch with Asta and her father Dan, Bert shows surprise that she's introducing him to her father not realizing their relationship had progress that far. Harry denies there's any romance between the two and the exchange implies that the whole town believes he and Asta are an item.
  • The three have a lovely lunch which is revealed to have been a pretense on Asta and Dan's part to talk Harry about them being Secret Secret Keepers this whole time. And the reason for this is because the government agency that has been looking for Harry is in town and wanted him to be alerted.
    • During the conversation itself, Dan reveals that he has (correctly) deduced that Harry is stranded and not part of some malevolent invasion or threat. The conversation hints that he also suspects there is something between them to Harry's denial yet Dan himself doesn't seem offended or put-off by the idea itself.
• The scene by the lake where Harry reveals his past and how his family is likely long dead due to the nature of his traveling to Earth took many years to Asta. She's obviously sympathetic especially when she learns Harry had a lover who chose not to wait for him due to her family obligations.
  • Harry for his part doesn't hold it against her and likely had already resigned to the reality she wouldn't be able to wait for him to return. In hindsight, given his crashing, she was saved from being stuck in suspended animation for who knows how long.
  • This line which shows that Harry means it when he says that are worse places than Earth he could have been stranded on:
    Harry: My people are so certain about everything but it has made them cautious and stale. So much is held inside. Repressed and raging. Humans are frail but they they strive. They make mistakes and fail and fall. Then rise again. I have learned so much from you.

An Alien in New York

Your Ride's Here

• The Men in Black agent stationed in Patience to find Harry does exactly that...and reveals that after only a short observation concludes that the extraterrestrial is just a Nice Guy stranded far from home. He reveals to have made arrangements that will lead his superiors in the agency to believe Patience is a dead-end and only approach Harry because it's the reason he joined in the first place. To meet a visitor from another world and nothing more, sounding like a little kid who just had his biggest, most impossible dream come true.
  • Harry not only choosing his life on Earth but, after confirming he would not be leaving anyone behind, gives said agent his spot on the ship.. The agent had earlier asked that Harry tell his people that humans are still growing and to allow them the chance to learn from their mistakes. Harry decides to offer make him an "ambassador" to teach so that the agent can do it himself; the agent does not hesitate and seems more worried about Harry being left behind than the fact he'll likely never return to Earth.

The Book of Love

• Harry and Asta's relationship throughout the volume especially throughout the first one as
  • The second issue has Harry deciding to take their relationship to the next level and ask her to move in with him when he relocates back to his old cabin. What scares her most isn't the idea itself but how natural it feels to do so, finding it also overwhelming how much she feels for him. Harry isn't upset in the least and understands that she needs some time. Time as it what it seems like only a day and a talk with her father before showing up at Harry's with her things.
    Asta: [Sees Harry's dumpfounded face] This is where you say "welcome home" stupid.
    Harry: [Picks her up and kisses her] Welcome home stupid.

Series

Season 1

Pilot

• The origin of the town motto "Fifty-nine died to save one." In 1884, fifty-nine miners escaped a cave-in but when they realized one person was still inside, they all went back in to save them. The mine collapsed, killing them all.
• Harry drives away from Asta's house, leaving her alone with her abusive ex-husband, saying he's going to go back to focusing on his mission. Then he turns around, goes back to her house, and rescues her.

Homesick

• Asta's father suggests he cut her hair to mourn Sam's death in accordance with their traditions. At first she refuses, but she later hands him a pair of scissors and lets him do it.

Secrets

• Max helping Sahar, a Muslim classmate, pick up her things after bullies knock them down, immediately earning him her loyalty and friendship.
• Asta gives Jay a pouch of cedar to burn and smell the smoke if she ever needs comfort. It's then revealed that Asta is Jay's biological mother.

Birds of a Feather

• Buoyed by his belief that Max isn't trying to expose him anymore, Harry actually tries to be nicer to people. When Asta drags him out to the Ute reservation to treat her grandmother, he is actually courteous to her grandmother, accepts an invitation to play basketball with her cousins, and later tries to apologize when he accidentally reveals Asta's big secret.
• Harry actually seems truly impressed by Max's model of the galaxy as amazingly accurate. Given he's literally been in space, his praising a human child making it work is telling (even as he points out Mars is "actually a transit station").
• Dan making it clear he's upset to have never known Jay was his granddaughter but still loves Asta.
  Asta: Are we going to be okay?
  Dan: Even when we're not okay, we're okay.
• Liv Baker visits the bar and tells D'Arcy that it's one of those days where she's questioning if she even deserves to exist. D'Arcy tells her that she's amazing cop, that she's always fair and the one cop that people actually want to see. She urges her to stand up to Sheriff Thompson. Later, when Liv tries to draw the sheriff's attention to a doorknob he had dismissed as evidence earlier, he brushes her off again, but after his back is turned, she secretly logs it as evidence.

Sexy Beast

• Sheriff Thompson discovers that Deputy Baker has created her own murder board regarding the Sam Hodges case. She then shares with him her theory that Hodges's insulin injection was poisoned and that this would mean that the killer wouldn't have had to have been at the office on the night of his death. Figuring he's just going to be dismissive of her again, she says that it's stupid, but he tells her "No, that's not stupid. It ain't stupid at all. Good job, Deputy."

The Green Glow

• Max and Harry spend the entire episode working with each other. At first Max is only doing so because Harry promises he will tell his parents that they don't need to send him to a special institute. However at the end, after Max has helped Harry find where his device is and having no longer any obligation towards Harry, he still tries to stop him from going to the glacier, as he fears of his life, showing that he actually cares for him now. Considering that Max spends the six previous episodes fearing/hating Harry (and the feeling being mutual) it's actually quite sweet to see the shift in Max's feelings towards Harry.

The End of the World as We Know It

• Asta learns the truth about Harry after he becomes too injured to maintain his disguise. While she's horrified at first, her concern for Harry wins out and she helps him stay alive until D'arcy rescues them.

Season 2

Old Friends

• After spending most of the episode trying to remember why Max was unharmed by the crash while he himself was struck with amnesia, Harry finally remembers - when the ship crashed, he threw himself over Max to protect him, then carried the unconscious boy to safety before collapsing.

Girls' Night Out

• Harry uses his alien powers to erase Sheriff Mike and Deputy Livs' memories and replace them with being approached by an FBI agent who tells them that they're taking over the case of the "dead-foot killer" and that Harry is not the murderer. The next morning, when the two greet him and Asta cheerily, Asta asks the obvious question: if Harry can do this, then why didn't he replace her memory? "Because I am not alone anymore," he tells her.
• After finding out that Liv hasn't gotten a raise in years, the ladies of Patience all team up to break into the mayor's office and see the town's budget, where they discover that the town's laws still allow the town to pay female employees less than male employees. Afterwards, they organize a campaign for equal pay for town employees.

Family Day

• Having been released from jail due to lack of evidence that she killed her husband, Abigail Hodges is running a face-painting booth at the Patience Family Day. Asta comes over to her booth, sits down, and tells her "I know you didn't kill Sam." Abigail, looking greatly relieved, tells her that she has no idea how much that means to her. Asta then hands her a ticket to get her face painted.
• After being at odds with each other for most of the episode, Harry and Liza finally connect at Family Day, Harry providing her with a genuinely sweet fatherly relationship despite not being her actual father.

Best of Enemies

• Harry reunited with the missing baby, and it calling him "Da Da".
• Ben saying nobody cares about him, and then all of the townspeople coming to the clinic in the middle of the night to see him after his accident.

I Believe in Aliens

• Sahar comes to see the alien baby off. He thanks her for helping him. She tells him that he helped her, that she never thought that she could raise a human hybrid alien baby toddler boy, but she did and she feels like a different person since she met him. She then tells Harry that he can't name the baby "Chaz," that he's the bridge between their peoples and deserves a special name. Harry then names him "Bridget."
• After previously chastising Deputy Liv for making off with Peter Bach's van because of her alien conspiracy theory about why he was killed, Mike checks the security footage and realizes that the van was driven into town hours after Bach was killed. He then sets up a card game with her husband in her garage and after he's succeeded in fooling the phony police officers, explains to her that the van is at the Ute Reservation. He tells her that he needs her to tell her who she thinks the phony police really were and if she says something about aliens, he might just listen this time.
• Harry realizes that he no longer wants to eat his baby, nor to destroy the Earth. He sends Bridget away to protect him, while remaining to try to protect the Earth from the Greys.
• D'Arcy tries to end her friendship with Asta after discovering that Asta was hiding the Botulinum toxin used to kill Sam Hodges. Seeing how this is crushing Asta, Harry reveals his alien form to D'Arcy. D'Arcy instantly forgives Asta.
• Asta and Jay finally reconcile and later Jay asks Asta to take her dress shopping to replace an awful dress her adoptive mother bought her that doesn't match her skin tone at all. They make a date to go shopping at a new vintage store. Asta promises that she will be there; Jay tells her that she knows she will, smiling.

Season 3

Lone Wolf

• Asta volunteers to spy on Joseph for Harry.

Avian Flu

• Asta and Dan take Jay out to the reservation to meet extended family.
  Asta: You wanted a family tree, well, now you've got a forest.
  • Drew, Asta's gay cousin from the previous season, is revealed to have gotten a partner, Manuel. The rez is holding a party to celebrate them.