Resident Alien (spoilers)

[Patrick Thistle]

I've watched the first six episodes of this show. The central theme is an alien who has crashed in Colorado takes on the appearance of a human he has killed to hide while trying to put his ship back together.

The thing thatnis odd about this show is that every character has a complicated back story. Alien character (played by Alan Tudyk) has to fill.in for the town doctor who has been murdered. The nurse in the surgery has about four different story lines going on, including giving a child up for adoption years previously, an abusive partner and being from a first nations tribe. There is a cop investigating the murder who has turned his back on a big city job to care for his ungrateful father. The barmaid in the pub was an Olympic skier who blew her knee out. The mayor is married to the high school principal - their kid can see the alien. The guy the alien killed and replicated has a wife who is English and an artist. There are military types hunting the alien operating on different sets of orders.

It's a strange approach as if the scriptwriters had an ideas meeting and then decided to use absolutely everything they came up with. As a result the show feels very complex, more than a show like this should be.

[Ginger Yellow]

I dunno, it feels too straightforward to me. So far, the backstories are mostly there to throw up obstacles/opportunities to become more human for Tudyk. I'm not finding any of them particularly engaging in their own right - the nurse is the most developed, but even so it's pretty thin gruel. It's not really funny enough to be a comedy and I don't care enough about the characters for it to work as a drama - and it just reeks of network show with its formulaic episode structures. Oh no, our beloved genocidal alien is about to be uncovered. Whew, he's managed to cover it up, but he's learned something along the way.

[Patrick Thistle]

Actually, yes, that's exactly right. Almost like its trying to add depth by heaping in storylines.

I've laughed a few times. The rigor mortis joke after Darcy kissed him had me giggling for ages.

[Ginger Yellow]

I've just realised what I've been subconsciously comparing it to, which may be why I'm so underwhelmed — Santa Clarita Diet. Takes many of the same tropes and the same basic premise (have to hide the murderous secret in a small town community), but executes it so much better and with more imagination.