Avian Flu is the thirtieth episode of the science fiction comedy television series Resident Alien and the fourth episode of the third season. It premiered on March 6, 2024.
Synopsis[]
Harry gets distracted from his mission, while Mike and Liv make a huge discovery.
Plot[]
The Housing Council[]
Five years ago, a woman and her husband are walking down the corridor of a lab. She tells him that she chose last time and that she wants to go where he wants to go. "How about Antonio's?" he suggests and she asks if he really wants to do pasta. She asks where she would want to eat if she were him. They agree on tacos, her telling him to have fun in the lab. He enters Lab 205 and she receives a summon over the intercom telling her to come to Lab 209. However, almost immediately after she sets off, there is a massive explosion behind her. An alarm starts blaring. She runs over to the door of 205, trying to open it and then pleading for somebody to open it. Her husband's hands press against the window. He is surrounded by smoke and shouts for help. Lines have formed on his face, as though he is rapidly being irradiated. "Oh my God, Gary!" pleads the woman.
Inside Harry Vanderspeigle's cabin in the present day, Asta tells Harry that "they" can't just make him leave Earth, that they will fight the summons. He tells her that she doesn't understand, that the Galactic Federation has referred this to the Housing Council and that it is over. She tells him that he can't just give up, that they need him and she doesn't care give a shit about the Housing Council. Harry clamps his hand over his mouth, telling her that she cannot talk that way about the Housing Council. D'arcy picks up the papers. He asks what she's doing and she tells him that she's putting them where all eviction notices go - in the fire. He laughs, telling her that they will not burn, that they aren't paper, but rather Moldar skin.
A portal appears and Harry tells them not to be distracted by the processor's pretty face, that pubescent aliens have holograms of Blue Avians above their beds. The processor appears. "You are a bird," comments Asta and the woman groans and curses the portal, saying that she's supposed to appear as the life forms of the destination and now she's breaking galactic law. Harry tells her that she doesn't need to, that she's perfect as she is. She complains that the portal has been touchy since some idiot from probate tried to sneak fruit through it. She tells Harry to just give him the signed papers so the Housing Council will come and collect him for eviction. "You smell woodsy, I will sign them," agrees Harry, but Asta starts to plead with her, calling her "Mrs. Bird." The woman tells her not to, that her Earth name is Heather. "Rhymes with feather," D'arcy points out and Heather agrees, saying that she wished someone had told her when she picked it. Asta tells Heather that Harry is there to save the planet, suggesting she look the other way. She tells Asta she gets paid by the hour. As D'arcy distracts Heather by telling her the papers are on the floor, she tosses a banana through the portal, causing it to short out. Heather says that it sucks, that she now has to call the repair guy and it'll take forever. She complains about being stuck, saying that she needs to use the bathroom to change. D'arcy comments that she just saved the world with a banana and she and Asta high-five. Heather returns from the bathroom, now in human form, asking if any of them can recommend a hotel.
A bad boy[]
At the Hawthorne family home, Kate Hawthorne is sitting at the dining room table with a sketchbook. Ben comments that she's up early and she tells him she still can't sleep, that she was up half the night terrified and didn't know why. She tells him that she was thinking he's often stressed, but not when he's making candles because he has a creative outlet. She continues that she hasn't picked up her sketchbook in a while and thought that she would do a children's book. He tells her that as a kid he always wanted a book with a baby elephant and a monkey. She tells him this isn't that and when he asks to see, says that she'd rather wait until it's finished. "Say no more," he tells her, starting to walk away, but then saying that if there is a baby elephant, it should have a sailor's cap.
Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv are in the woods. Mike asks Liv why a respected military chemist would end up living there like some kind of witch. Liv tells him that she lost it after seeing her husband die in a lab accident. Mike asks if they could be facing a supervillain. She tells him that she wasn't and he tells her that he can't while he's trying to figure out what happened to his best deputy. He asks her to tell him again what she saw when she was going by Joseph's house and she tells him she's going to come back to the "best deputy" comment. She tells him it was empty, that he's gone. Mike agrees that it's suspicious and she says what's even more suspicious is right when they were looking for a deputy, the perfect candidate happened to show up. Mike tells her that it's just how it works for handsome people, like himself.
At Joe's Diner, D'arcy suggests that they fake Harry's death, that you can't get evicted if you're dead. Harry says that he has no choice but to leave Earth, that they've been brainstorming all morning with nothing. Kayla arrives at their table, asking Asta if she'll be at Drew's party tomorrow. Asta tells her she will. Harry tries to take the pie she's holding, but she tells him it's for her paralegal. This gives D'arcy an idea, and she asks Kayla what she would do if her friend was getting evicted. "My first piece of legal advice would be to not co-sign a lease with this one," replies Kayla, thinking that D'arcy is talking about herself. She continues that for her other friend, she would just wait it out or countersue. So Harry goes to Heather, telling her that he is countersuing. She asks if he even realizes how much paperwork that is. They bond a bit over their love of Moldar-skin pants and she asks what's going on, that nobody has taken on the Housing Council before. She asks if he's some kind of bad boy. He nods, agreeing that he is. He takes a pencil and snaps it, telling her that he isn't even a real doctor. "That is bad," she continues, and he continues that he killed a man, albeit one that was evil. He says it's nice to talk to another alien, suggesting he could show her around town. She gets up, saying that she's just going to head back to the hotel, that her back has been killing her. He tells her it's the human bed and suggests taking her to the exam room so that he can look at her back.
At the Patience Health Clinic, Harry tells Asta to make Heather more comfortable, whispering to her to get a blanket and spit on it. Disgusted, she tells him she will get her a blanket, but that she's not doing that. He tells her he's sorry for primitive Earth medicine. He holds a stethoscope to heart, saying that she's dying. They laugh at this. He has her remove her jacket. He touches her back and collapses to the ground. She tells him it's probably a mite, pronouncing the word in his language. He is shocked but delighted to discover that she speaks his language. She tells him it's one of the most beautiful languages in the universe and he thinks that she is perfect and that he would like to smell her. Asta walks in on Harry as he is doing this, asking to talk to him to a minute alone. He spits on the blanket Asta brought and exits with Asta. She asks just what the hell he was doing and he tells her that his knees are weak and his palms are sweating. He says he's seen this in human movies: love. "You just met her," Asta points out, but he tells her he cannot help it. He says it's like how he feels love for her, but different, not just in his head or heart, but in his pants. "Oh," moans Asta. "Harry, you coming back?" asks Heather and Harry collapses again.
The key[]
Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv arrive at a cabin in the woods. Mike knocks on the door. Dr. Beasley opens a shutter and Liv addresses her by name. She asks who they are and Mike tells her they want to talk to her about the Alien Tracker, Peter Bach. She replies that Peter Bach is dead and closes the shutter. Liv tells her that they know that and that they believe he was murdered. She opens the shutter again. At the clinic, Asta tells Harry that she knows someone's first crush is everything, but that they're trying to save the world. She tells him he can't be distracted by a relationship. He starts writing poetry. "Oh, boy," comments Asta, as Harry recites "I'd like to touch you where the eggs pop out." She leaves. In the cabin, Liv tells Dr. Beasley that they're there because they found her fingerprints in Peter's van. She asks where the van is and Mike asks why it's important. She replies that he wouldn't believe her and that if he does, they'll get to him and tell him that she's crazy. She says that she knows what happened to her husband, that it wasn't a gas leak and it wasn't made by humans. Seeing what she believes to be a skeptical reaction from Mike and Liv, she asks if they think she doesn't know that look. She tells them they need to leave. Liv, however, tells her that she saw a UFO when she was a kid and everyone said she made it up for attention. She tells her that Peter was the only person who ever believed her. She tells her she needs to find out what happened, that Peter trusted her. She asks if they have the key. Mike shows her the key to the van, but she just says that if Peter trusted her, he would have given her the key. She tells them to get out.
At Joe's Diner, Asta finds Jay hunched over a laptop. "Still filling out your college application?" she asks her and Jay tells her that the essays are stupid. She says that she doesn't want to go, but her mother thinks college will give her options. Asta agrees that options are good, that she didn't have many and thus lived with her dad until her 30s. "And that's why I'm still single," comments Dan. The essay is about how Jay's family history shaped her life and Jay points out that she's adopted and so she doesn't know her family because Asta doesn't know her family. She grumbles that apparently only people with enormous family trees can get into college. Hearing this, Dan tells her that she's a part of their family. When she points out that she's not a blood relative of Dan's, Dan asks Asta if she's taken her to the rez yet. She tells him she hasn't yet and he tells Jay that she's coming to meet the whole family. Asta says that she wanted a family tree and got a whole forest.
In his cabin, Harry makes a model of the Yellowstone Caldera, thinking to himself that it will help him figure out the Greys' plan. He notes that he has to present his findings to General McCallister tomorrow and still doesn't know why they want to blow up the super volcano. He thinks that if he can figure it out, it will impress Heather, but then messes up and thinks that just thinking about Heather is messing him up. He tries calling her, but is unable to even get a sentence out. He takes her call back, putting on a deep voice and claiming that she called him. She says she was going to call him anyway, that she found a hole on her stomach in human form and doesn't know when it's for. He tells her it's gross, that humans grow babies inside their bodies. "And then they come out of that bump?" she asks. "No," he tells her, saying that the reality is not much better. She tells him that she's going to go back to exploring her body and he faints.
Meeting with the generals[]
While out doing laundry, D'arcy runs into her old flame, Elliot. She asks how he's doing and he tells her he's good. Just then, a woman comes out of a shop next to him. He introduces her as Natalie. They awkwardly greet each other and Elliot asks how D'arcy's been. She tells him she's been doing big stuff, that it's kind of top secret and without her the world would be over. She says a banana was involved and Natalie says they have to go. As she walks off, Natalie screams in the distance. Meanwhile, Harry gives a presentation to a group of generals, including McCallister, about the Greys' plans to use the caldera to create a super volcano. He keeps peppering his speech, however, with asides about his love for Heather. One of the generals asks how they don't already know about this when the Greys have been doing this for 80 years. Harry replies that humans are stupid. They argue back and forth a bit until McCallister cuts through the chatter, telling them they need Harry's help. The general says he recommends an assault, with tasers and mass electrocution. Harry calls it a terrible idea, that the Greys will just freeze their soldiers and kill them all. The general says that they can't just do nothing. McCallister tells him he has one week, then they're moving in.
On the Ute Reservation, Asta, Dan and Jay arrive for the party. "These are all your relations," Dan tells Jay. He introduces a large group. She tells them it's nice to meet them, but she might need to go over the names once or twice. Asta hugs Drew and he and the others ask about Harry, calling him her boyfriend. Asta then finds a group discussing Mike and Liv having something hidden on the reservation. "It's a van," says one of them, telling Asta they're trying to get fingerprints. Asta calls interesting, asking just where this is. Meanwhile, Liv tells Mike that there must be something they missed, like a keyhole. Mike agrees that there's something defintely off with the van. He tells her that his buddy has the same van and everything in this one is standard model, except for the flooring, which is aftermarket black PVC thermoplastic lining. He tells her that if they get the lining out, they'll find what they're looking for. He starts talking about needing heavy explosives. "Found it," Liv tells him, after moving aside some stuff. "Well, well, well, we got ourselves a keyhole," saying that he followed her instincts and led them to victory.
At Joe's Diner, Harry is sitting near Heather, thinking to himself that mating is like war and you cannot sit around and wait, that you have to take action. He passes a note to Max, telling him to give it to Heather. "I think I know which one she is," agrees Max, as he can see her alien form. Max gives her the note, which reads "Are there any doctors in town you like more than a friend?" which options for "yes," "no" or "maybe." She comes over, saying that she's flattered, but he can't have feelings for her, that his species has no emotions. He tells her he does, that it's the human in him. "You ate a human?" she asks and he explains that it's the DNA. She says she was going to ask how they taste. "Probably like chick--" he starts to say, then cuts himself off, claiming he was going to say "ChapStick." She agrees she's eaten quite a few of them. She tells him he's great, that his kind is usually so cold and he is a lot different. She says that the thing is that she's only hanging out there until the portal is fixed. "So what would be the point, as she say?" she asks. She suggests they just be friends. He tells her he understands. "Let's just be friends," he says, asking if she's circling no and sobbing. She tells him she wants to circle yes, but it's not feasible. "That's really all I want is friendship," he lies, thinking to himself that he wants to die.
Out of retirement[]
At the reservation, a dance ends. Dan introduces another dance for the happy couple, Drew and Manuel. Asta steps away and makes a phone call, pleading for Harry to pick up, that she's called five times. She tells him that the van is on the reservation and his DNA may be in there. Asta talks with Kayla, sighing and telling her that she wished that when she was 16, she could have looked ahead and seen all this. She says she would have known if she held on to Jay, it would be alright. Kayla, however, tells her that the 16-year-old gave up the most precious thing in her life and it must have hurt. She continues that she did it knowing that it was the best thing for Jay with everything going on in her life. They dance. As the music continues, Asta joins Jay and they dance together. Late that night, Harry walks the sidewalks of Patience, staring through windows at happy couples.
At the Hawthorne residence, Ben spots Kate's sketchbook. He opens it and finds it to be filled with horrifying images of an owl chasing after, killing and eating mice. "Oops, that's not my checkbook," comments Ben and she asks just how much he saw. He tells her only the scary parts and she replies that there aren't any, that it's a children's book. "What's this?" asks Max, approaching it, and seeing the image on the page, he turns away, screaming and running off. "No," says Kate, grabbing the sketchbook.
At McCallister's secret base, Lieutenant Hill goes to McCallister, telling her that they have a problem, that Anders just walked off the Darling Project, that he said the results she wants are impossible. McCallister tells her to get someone else and she replies that there isn't anyone who's done this before. "Yes, this is," disagrees McCallister. She then pays a visit to David Logan, who is doing yoga. Upon seeing her, he freaks, telling her he's retired, that she retired him. He asks what happens if he says no and she tells him she doesn't know, suggesting they find out. She says it would be fun.
True love[]
Back at the Patience Sheriff's office, Liv arrives with a box of supplies from Amazon Prime. He, however, thinks she's talking about Transformers. He shows her some schematics, saying that her instincts were dead-on. There's a hidden compartment, and they just have to figure out how to open it. He finds the magnet he's using to clip the images to the board is unusually strong, asking Liv where she found it. She tells him it was stuck to the desk. "What desk?" he asks and they run footage of Joseph Rainier going through the bag belonging to Peter Bach's son Robert Hutchins. They find that he was reading Robert's diary and that the therapist mentioned in it died a day after Joseph saw the diary. Mike realizes that Joseph came there to spy on them and still could be doing it. "Dr. Beasley," realizes Liv. They return to her cabin in the woods to find it gutted and Beasley dead on the floor. They are too late.
At Harry's cabin, a squat alien tries to fix the portal, saying it's on its last legs. Harry asks how long until it's fixed and if he can make it last longer. D'arcy arrives, telling Harry she brought him pretzels. "Is that a human?" asks the alien, saying D'arcy can't see him, that it will go on her record. Harry, however, claims that it's only D'arcy's human form, that it's a slug-species. D'arcy comments that seeing your first alien is mind-blowing and then it's just "eh." He asks why she's there and she asks him where they're at with saving the world. He tells her that there's no "we," that he's building a model, but ran out of glitter. She asks if she can add some trees. She tells him she has a question, whether it bothers him that he can't tell anyone about saving the world. He tells her it was at first, but then Asta found out and he was no longer. She says it what she means, that she saw Elliot and seeing his girlfriend made her feel bad. She says if she could tell Elliot what she was doing, then she'd had something too. She asks if you're still special if you do something special and nobody knows about it. The little alien asks who Elliot is and she tells him to go away. She continues that she was happy to see Elliot happy. He asks why her face is all mopey if this is really so. She says it's because it means that she loves him and ruined something real.
At the Hawthornes, the family has dinner. Max asks if they're really not going to talk about "Mom's murder story." Kate starts up, saying "God forbid I write a stupid children's book." Ben says that there are worms coming out of an owl's stomach and she objects that they're entrails. Max groans, saying he's done with dinner. Ben says that Max is right and they do need to talk about. "Go ahead, Max," he says, and Max says there's no way he's going first. Ben tells her they were expecting something more cute and upbeat. Kate says that it's a beautiful story about a mother feeding and protecting her babies. He asks if she were in her classroom and she saw a student drawing it, if she might call the parents in to talk. "Oh my God, what is happening to me?" wonders Kate, telling him she can't get the owls out of her head. Max says that he saw a movie in which someone saw an owl and it meant they were being abducted by aliens. He asks if her butt hurts, and Ben says they've been over this, that there's no such thing as aliens.
The alien fighter[]
At Joe's Diner, Asta and Dan commiserate over the dance. Asta says that she thinks she did a bad thing by telling Harry not to pursue his romance with Heather. She says she told him was because they need to save the world, but that she doesn't think it's why she did it. He asks if she's feeling jealous and she tells him that she isn't, not romantically. "Maybe, yeah," she says, saying that it was always Harry and now he's not even answering her phone calls. She says that seeing everyone surrounded by love made her realize Harry should get to have it too. Jay comes in. She thanks Asta for bringing her, that it was a lot, but she loved it. She then says she and her mother got into a fight, asking if she can crash with her for a few days. She asks her to just think about it, that he has to go.
Harry thinks to himself that there are many terrifying things in the world, but the most terrifying one is love. At the Hawthornes, Kate gets on the Internet, doing an Internet search on owls and alien abductions. She clicks on a page with the heading "Am I being abducted?" saying that owls can be a sign of false memories. Mike and Liv return to the van, trying the magnet on the secret keyhole. A flashback shows Robert obtaining this magnet from Peter. They open a compartment, revealing a notebook. At the 59, D'arcy stares at photos on her phone of her and Elliot. Heather finds a nest at her hotel room with a note from Harry reading "I want you to be happy." He thinks to himself that love is wanting the person you love to be happy, even if you are not. As he works on his caldera, he sees Heather outside his window in her bird form. She coos and chitters at him. He growls and she flies at the window, but smashes into it. He curses and goes outside, taking her hand. She coos and they kiss. She flies, levitating him off the ground.
In the secret base, McCallister asks Logan to tell her about when he worked for DARPA's autonomous robotics program. He replies that the VA would donate soldiers in a vegetative state and they kept them alive and ran experiments. He tell her that he quit the job, that he still has nightmares. She scans a keycard, leading him inside a room. Inside is a human-sized robotic suit. "No way in hell am I putting that thing on," he tells her. She replies that it's not for him. "It's for him," she says, pulling aside a curtain to reveal a catatonic Peter Bach. "Who better to fight aliens than someone who can see aliens?" she asks.
Cast and characters[]
Starring:
- Alan Tudyk as Harry Vanderspeigle
- Sara Tomko as Asta Twelvetrees
- Corey Reynolds as Sheriff Mike Thompson
- Alice Wetterlund as D'arcy Bloom
- Levi Fiehler as Mayor Ben Hawthorne
- Elizabeth Bowen as Deputy Liv Baker
- Judah Prehn as Max Hawthorne
Special guest star:
Guest starring:
- Terry O'Quinn as Peter Bach
- Meredith Garretson as Kate Hawthorne
- Gary Farmer as Dan Twelvetrees
- Alex Barima as David Logan
- Sarah Podemski as Kayla
- Tommy Pico as Drew
- Kaylayla Raine as Jay
- Jennifer Podemski as Rachel
- Justin Rain as Elliot
- Erin Karpluk as Dr. Wendy Beasley
with
- Edi Patterson as Heather
Co-starring:
- Rachel Colwell as Lieutenant Hill
- Taylor Kinequon as Natalie
- Jeff Gladstone as Dr. Gary Beasley
- Edna Manitowabi as Grandma Ruth
- Aqqalu Meekis as Will
- Guilherme Babilônia as Manuel
- Aaron Douglas as General Devanney
- Michelle Choi-Lee as General Li
- Linden Porco as Dale
- Michel Issa Rubio as Yoga Teacher
- Derek C. Miller as Sampson
- Murray Porter as Peter
- Shakti Hayes as Aunty Mena
- Richard Brown as Hunter
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Still images[]
Kate Hawthorne's sketchbook[]
