Secrets is the third episode of the science fiction comedy television series Resident Alien. Although the episode premiered on Syfy on February 10, 2021, Syfy advance-released the episode to its official website and other streaming platforms on February 4, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Official episode synopsis: Harry races to keep his secret safe as Asta is forced to face her own past.
Plot summary[]
Back in the present, the Harry Vanderspeigle alien spends a restless night, wishing for it be 6 A.M. and thinking of the many things he needs to do, including finding his device, exterminating the human race, killing the boy Max Hawthorne and getting milk. He decides that if he can't sleep, he can spend his time becoming a better doctor and looks up circumcision on his laptop, only to cover his eyes in horror. He reflects that humans are a savage people.
That morning, he continues his search for his device and the pieces of his spaceship, but an avalanche causes him to realize that he is not the only person out searching the mountains. That morning, Kate Hawthorne pays a visit to his cabin, telling him that her son told her that he's an alien and he's trying to kill him. He is disturbed by this and readies a knife, until Kate continues, asking why he thinks it is that her son is making things up. Relieved that Kate doesn't believe her son's story, he plays the role of counselor as she shows him one of the wanted posters that her son created. She asks if there's anything they can do and he suggests that she and her family move away, that Scotland needs mayors like her husband. Seeing her dislike of the idea, he plays it off as a joke, telling her that her son is probably just looking for attention. She agrees that having a mother who works at school isn't the easiest thing and he runs with this, telling her that she's neglecting her child. She is thrown off by his apparent blunt honesty and agrees to spend more time with Max. Later that morning, he meets Max outside the clinic. The two get into a childish argument with each other, ending with Vanderspeigle swearing at Max as he walks away.
Inside the clinic, a nurse named Ellen asks Asta if she's seen Dr. Hodges's prescription pads. Asta agrees to search for them and tells off Vanderspeigle, who is staring at the sleeping Jay. He tells her that he's trying to learn how to sleep. She suggests that he try meditation. Vanderspeigle is then summoned downtown on the news that another dead body has been found, this time in the lake. He arrives at the sheriff's office, where Sheriff Mike Thompson reports that Jack Rooney, a fisherman, found a foot in the lake. Realizing that the foot is that of the human Harry Vanderspeigle, the Vanderspeigle alien suggests that it could be nothing, that the man may have simply been attacked by a bear. Thompson, however, declares that the appearance of the foot means that there's a serial killer in town, saying that it's a good thing, because serial killers are easier to catch than normal murderers because they lie in wait to strike again. He declares that they're going to send the foot to Denver for DNA testing, but Vanderspeigle tells him that they don't need to send off the entire foot. He claims to be a pathologist and therefore able to get a sample. The two end up getting into an argument over Thompson being sexist by using male terms to refer to the potential serial killer, but the upshot ends up being that Thompson agrees to let Vanderspeigle get the sample. Vanderspeigle then talks a woman into letting him circumcise her child, then passes off the foreskin as the sample of the foot to Thompson.
At school, Max is ostracized by his peers for his claims of the new town doctor being an alien. They bully and shove him, as well as young Muslim girl named Sahar. At lunch, Max comes in for more teasing when Kate comes by, telling him she just wanted to see how he was doing, then hugs him before leaving. The other kids laugh, except for Sahar, who comes and sits across from him at his lonely table. He asks if she wants to make fun of him too. "No. Because I believe you," she replies. That evening, Vanderspeigle relaxes at home, convinced that his problems are over, when suddenly Sheriff Mike Thompson, his deputy Liv Baker, their police dog Cletus, as well as Ben and Kate all arrive on the beach. Thompson tells him that the rest of the body is out there somewhere, and he intends to find it. Ben chastises him, saying that there's not enough money for this in the town's budget, but Thompson shoots him down, saying that they're going to search the entire lake. They head off, leaving Cletus there on the beach. Meanwhile, Asta and D'arcy set up elsewhere on the beach to watch, D'arcy telling Asta that she needs to get her mind off of Sam Hodges's death and this could be quite the show if they find the body. She continues that her boyfriend ghosted her and she's hoping maybe it's him out there, that she could get some closure. She suggests that later they could attend a party being hosted by a guy named JT, an old classmate of theirs.
Ben and Liv try to abandon their search, Liv saying that Ben is seasick, but Thompson tells them that they're not stopping just because Ben's tummy is a little upset. Back at shore, Vanderspeigle gets nervous from Cletus's barking, lamenting that he was on his own for two weeks after his ship crashed but none of it concerned him. In a flashback, approximately three months before, a cowboy is out riding in the cold wilderness of New Mexico when he comes upon the Vanderspeigle alien. The alien ends up taking both his horse and hat. He hears Cletus barking again and discovers that the dog has found the body of the human Harry Vanderspeigle, washed up on the shore. He fights the dog and manages to drag it inside his cabin, just as Asta and D'arcy decide to pay him a visit. He tells them he's just standing at home doing nothing and they reply that they were watching the lake being dragged, that it's like the town's version of drive-in. They use his bathroom and then leave, telling him that they're going to a party and that they're sorry he's not invited, but it's kind of a girl's night thing. The two do indeed head off to said party, only to discover to their embarrassment that it's actually a high school party, D'arcy having forgotten that JT also has a son by the same name. While there, Asta discovers one of the kids with drugs supposedly prescribed by Sam Hodges, but with a prescription with a date after he died. She realizes what happened to Hodges's prescription pad and confiscates the drugs, warning the kid that if he has a problem with it, she'll call the cops. They then discover the girl Jay passed out and help her to get home, telling her she's too young to know how sorry the party really was. Asta tells her that if she's having a rough time, to burn some cedar and pull the smoke around her and it'll help, something that her father taught her. Jay thanks her and she leaves D'arcy, flashing back to the time when she had to give up her own child, who is strongly implied to have been the young Jay.
Back at the lake, the group is forced to call off their search due to Ben Hawthorne's continued illness. Thompson and Baker returns to Vanderspeigle's cabin, where Cletus's barking leads them directly to the freezer. Vanderspeigle shouts that they can't go in, but they pursue the dog and Thompson opens the freezer... only to discover various packages labeled with meats, such as "bison" and "pork chops." Seeing this, Thompson comments that it's no wonder Cletus is losing his mind. He and Baker exit, leaving the Vanderspeigle to crow over his successful hiding of the body of the real Vanderspeigle, which lies in the freezer below the packages of meat. At her home, Asta has breakfast with her father. She tells him that the child she had was a girl and that she had thought she would be better off without her. "What if that's not true?" she wonders. Dan tells her that that she's a mother and wherever that child is, she'll always be connected to her and one day the connection will bring them back together. Later, she meets Vanderspeigle at the clinic, telling him that she bought a lock for his desk drawer, where Hodges kept his prescription pads. He tells her that he also has some things to lock away and, bemused, she asks who he even is. "Just... a guy," he replies.
Vanderspeigle is eating at a cafe, which Max Hawthorne and Sahar enter. "Scary, right?" comments Max and Sahar agrees that Vanderspeigle is "disgusting," saying that he definitely cut the brakes on Max's bike. She tells him she needs to get a closer look and, despite Max's pleas, walks straight up to Vanderspeigle's table, then knocks over his drink.
In a bar somewhere in New Mexico, David Logan and Lisa Casper, the two who encountered the floating skeleton, are speaking with the cowboy who encountered the Vanderspeigle alien. He tells them of his encounter, saying that he kicked the alien's ass to the next county, and that it got away with his horse and his hat, but he knew it wouldn't mess with him again. They tell him that they knew when they saw his video online that they had to speak with him, that they love traveling around and meeting other "alien experiencers." Casper asks him just where it was he saw the alien and if he knows where it was headed. He replies that liquor has already made him say too much, but that they can read about it in the book he's writing. They then follow him outside, where Casper ambushes him and seizes his manuscript. "Are you insane? You killed him?" asks Logan, saying that they're not supposed to kill people, those aren't their orders. "Looks like you and I have different orders," she shoots back.
Cast and characters[]
Starring:
- Alan Tudyk as Dr. 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
- Judah Prehn as Max Hawthorne
Guest Starring:
- Meredith Garretson as Kate Hawthorne
- Elizabeth Bowen as Liv Baker
- Gary Farmer as Dan Twelvetrees
- Mandell Maughan as Lisa Casper
- Alex Barima as David Logan
- Gracelyn Awad Rinke as Sahar
- Sarah Podemski as Kayla
- Diana Bang as Nurse Ellen
Co-Starring:
- Keith Abruthnot as Alien Harry Double
- Brylee Smith as Young Asta
- Kaylayla Raine as Jay
- Jan Bos as Dr. Sam Hodges
- Rick McLean as Jack Rooney
- Trevor Carroll as John Baker
- Kalvin Olafson as Townsperson #1
- Cameron Michael Hallman as Cool Kid #1
- Garth Hodgson as Mr. Briscoe
- Christine Tsiliverdis as Mrs. Briscoe
- Brent Stait as Roy the Cowboy
- Madeline Rose Kelly as Ponytailed Woman
- Pavel Romano as Handsome Teen
- Julian Nelson as Lanky Stoner
- Brian Sutton as Lovely Man
- Lisa Penz as Lovely Woman
Quotes[]
"Circumcision. What is that, eye surgery? (clicks, gasps and covers his eyes) They are a savage people.
- Harry Vanderspeigle, researching medical procedures
"If Max doesn't drop the alien thing, I'm gonna kill him."
"You and me both. (chuckles awkwardly)"
- Kate Hawthorne and Harry Vanderspeigle
"I can't sleep at night. I want to learn how."
"Okay, well, please stop, it's creepy."
- Harry Vanderspeigle, staring at Jay, and Asta Twelvetrees
"I want it so quiet in here, you can hear a mouse piss on cotton, understand me?"
"Nope."
- Mike Thompson and D'arcy Bloom
Trivia[]
Gallery[]
Still images[]
Videos[]
[]
External links[]
- Syfy - "Resident Alien's third episode to stream for free before its TV debut"
Secrets on the Internet Movie Database
- Transcript @ TV Show Transcripts
- Transcript @ Scraps from the Loft
- Transcript @ Forever Dreaming