The Greys

A Grey alien speaking with Harry Vanderspeigle

It is not the Alpha Draconians here on Earth. And please, stop sending them messages. We don't need those idiots down here."
"You are the Greys."

A Grey alien and Harry Vanderspeigle, "Harry, a Parent"

The Greys are the overarching antagonists of Resident Alien.

They are a hostile alien species that terrorize, abduct and torture life forms across the universe. Their intention is to alter the Earth's atmosphere and gravity, turning into a world in which only they can survive. A side effect of this would be the desolation of the planet and native lifeforms. To this end, they are creating Grey/human hybrids to blend more easily into the Earth. Their normal forms are considered too spindly to survive long in Earth's atmosphere.

Psychology & Behavior

They have the ability to communicate telepathically, among themselves, with other aliens, and even with humans. They are said to have "ass fetish" and abduct humans to probe them. They have been infiltrating the Earth for years as part of their plans.

Technology

They operate spaceships that can freeze time and the living beings inside a specific location.

A Grey's restraint holding an abductee's hand.

They restrain abductees with flexible (possibly alive) devices that wrap themselves around the abductees to hold them in place.

A baby in a Grey's maturation chamber

They have the ability to extract a living human baby out of the womb. They place the baby into a maturation chamber.

Plot Summary

Harry Makes Contact with MORE Aliens - Resident Alien (S2 E13) - SYFY

"We have the Greys."
"Insidious assholes."
- An alien convention presenter and Harry Vanderspeigle to Asta Twelvetrees

Harry first mentions the Greys in "Homesick" saying even they won't touch almond milk - implying that Harry looks down on Greys as intellectually inferior to his people but not as much as humans.

Harry again mentions the Greys in "Birds of a Feather," complaining they have an ass fetish shoving things up people's butts.

In "Welcome Aliens," Harry calls the Greys "insidious assholes" and they are a hot topic at the Alien Convention. Harry, looking for a battery to recharge his device at the Alien Convention, finds that a few of the people who encountered aliens have a chip installed in their bodies and mentions to Asta that the Greys input chips into a witness of the abductee or the abductee themselves as part of a migration tracking device. He then gets pursued by Peter Bach, an alien hunter who accuses him of abducting his baby right out of his wife on a bus in New York around the early 1990s until Harry defends his people don't kidnap anyone, that's the Greys. Harry proceeds to extract a chip made by the Greys that was planted in Bach's neck to finally repair his device and make it fully operational again.

In "Radio Harry", it is possible that the man talking to the therapist is Peter Bach's son, who the Greys have returned back to Earth and so he was about to look for his parents until he gets captured by General McCallister as proof of aliens existing. However, General McAlister has ID'ed him as "Robert Hutchins."

In "The Weight," Robert Hutchins is in a prison cell at McCallister's black-site. He pleads with a guard, Joseph Rainier, telling the guard that he is not an alien but rather that the aliens were the one who took him. The guard then communicates with him telepathically, saying that he remembers and that he isn't supposed to remember. He warns him that if he wants to stay alive to not forget that he belongs to them.

In "The Alien Within," Harry experiences the desolation of Earth at the hands of an unknown species. He then survives for around 500 years before taking a portal back in time and becoming Goliath, impregnating himself with the DNA of a woman named Violinda Darvell in order to conceive a child, the humalien. He then sends messages to his self in this altered timeline, fossilizing upon the laying of the egg. The egg is discovered by Harry and Asta and taken back home to Patience, Colorado. After hatching, the humalien tries to send Harry a message implanted within him by Goliath, revealing which alien species is on Earth. The message, however, is interrupted.

The Greys visiting Harry

In "Harry, a Parent," Harry believes that he has figured out which species is on Earth and that it is the Alpha Draconians. He begins sending them rude messages. Later, however, as he is riding with Asta and D'arcy Bloom, an alien stops time for everyone but him. The alien turns out to be a Grey, who asks that Harry stop sending messages to the Alpha Draconians, saying that they don't need them on Earth. He asks the Grey what they're doing there, that the Greys have never cared about Earth. The Grey calls him stupid, then tells him that they know who he is and there is no use for him to try to get in their way because they will destroy him and everyone he cares about.

In "Best of Enemies," Harry Vanderspeigle and Peter Bach team up to infiltrate General McCallister's black-site. There, they instigate a riot and a mass-release of the various individuals who have been imprisoned there. While there, Harry discovers the humalien and receives the rest of Goliath's message, though at this point he, of course, already knows that it is the Greys on Earth. He tries to abandon the alien baby before realizing that he feels a parents love for it and decides to save it.

As he makes his way to escape the facility, Peter Bach makes his own through the facility, searching for his son, Robert Hutchins, whom he has learned is being held there. He discovers Robert, only for the guard from before, Joseph, a Grey alien in disguise, to tell Hutchins to stop and not go to Peter, that he belongs to them. Robert ignores him and embraces Peter. "You made the wrong choice," thinks Joseph, pulling out at a gun and firing at Robert, but Peter positions himself in front of Robert, taking the bullet in the heart instead. He then moves to shoot again, but Harry arrives, knocks away his gun and strangles him, then leaves him for a number of other escaping prisoners to have their way with. He goes to Peter, who pleads with him to save his son. Peter dies, but Harry and Robert make a desperate escape, as Joseph, who is still fending off the attacking prisoners, shouts after Robert.

In "I Believe in Aliens," Harry has the alien baby reveal Goliath's full message to Asta. Within it, he informs Harry that not only are The Greys taking over, but they have been for years creating human/Grey hybrids in order to blend more easily into Earth society. Furthermore, the members of Harry's species have given up on the idea of destroying the Earth because they have ceded it to the Greys. Additionally, he reveals that he killed General McCallister and warns Harry to not do the same thing, as her information and resources may be vital to saving the planet. Following this, Harry is eating at Joe's Diner when Joseph Rainier freezes time for everyone there but him. He then reveals that the Greys have provided him the means of safe passage off the planet, as their quarrel is not with him. Harry decides to leave and take the alien baby with him, feeling that he cannot win as he has already failed once as Goliath.

Upon arriving at the vessel the Greys have provided for him, Harry realizes that he cannot go through with leaving behind everyone on Earth he has come to love. He instead sends away only his alien baby, whom he has named Bridget, in order to keep him safe. He also bids goodbye to Robert Hutchins, giving him one of his alien balls in order to keep him safe. He then reveals himself to General McCallister's forces and has himself brought before her in order to enlist her help.

The Greys again abduct Robert Hutchins, despite Harry having given him the alien ball for protection. They claim the alien ball for themselves and it glows a bright green. Along with Robert, they have also abducted Patience mayor Ben Hawthorne, whom they have been abducting since childhood, along with his wife Kate Hawthorne, whose unborn child they had previously abducted, leading her to believe that her pregnancy was a false one. "Do not be afraid. Your baby is here too," one of the Greys tells Ben, indicating his child, who is developing nearby in an incubation tank.

Harry discovers that Joseph Rainier has remained on Earth, posing as a deputy with the Patience sheriff's office. He decides to try to use it to his advantage, hoping he can find out out from Joseph the exact nature of the Greys' plans. The scheme, however, turns out to be a bust, as he eventually realizes that as a Grey-human hybrid, the Greys do not entirely trust Joseph, and thus only let him work for them without actually revealing the full details of their plans for the Earth. However, just when this possibility has fizzled out, he discovers an entirely new lead: the fact that the Greys have been abducting Mayor Ben. When he learns that Ben has planned a family trip to Yellowstone National Park, he decides to tag along, believing that Ben's subconscious is secretly leading him to Yellowstone.

After a while there, Harry discovers Ben to have oddly purchased a hat straight off someone's head, one from the Sullivan Gravel Company, as well as a map with several logos matching that of the gravel company on the hat. With aid from Max Hawthorne, he infiltrates a secret area employed by a number of Grey-human hybrids. He then discovers a secret underground lake. At first, he cannot understand, but then his previous visit to Old Faithful and tourist display regarding underground magma leads him to connect the dots. The Greys are planning to connect the lake to Yellowstone's magma chamber, creating a massive volcano, turning the 2,000 miles of Yellowstone National Park into the most devastating natural bomb in the history of the world.

Harry, however, continues to wonder regarding the final puzzle piece: why the Greys want the Earth at all when they cannot survive well in its atmsophere, given their squat size and spindly legs. The answer comes in the form of a formula for a Grey chemical compound which Harry discovers in notes obtained by Sheriff Mike Thompson and Deputy Liv Baker. He discovers the that the compound has the ability to alter the Earth's atmosphere and gravitational pull, such that only they can survive and have the Earth to themselves. The compound can easily be mixed into the water used to fuel the volcano.

Harry decides to build a bomb in order to destroy the Greys' spaceship, hoping his will put in an end to their ambitions. Initially, he decides to leave the handling of the bomb to General McCallister, intending to leave the Earth with Heather, a Blue Avian whom he has fallen in love with. However, after Heather breaks up with him and unexpectedly betrays him to the Greys, he intends to simply leave by himself. The plan changes again upon the return of his baby, Bridget, whom he comes to realize he never should have sent away in the first place. He decides that he will handle the Greys himself, but when he shows the suitcase that is supposed to contain it to General McCallister, they discover that it is empty. Convinced that she is destined to do something big, D'arcy Bloom has stolen the bomb and the plans for using it, taking to Yellowstone National Park to detonate it herself.

General McCallister pays a visit to Harry's cabin. She despairs at the loss of the bomb, which Harry believes has been taken by Joseph Rainier. Harry, however, reassures her that all is not lost, that he can still get the bomb back and stop the Greys' plan. Not long after McCallister leaves, Asta arrives. She immediately recognizes it as having been D'arcy who took the bomb, explaining that D'arcy had visited her ex-boyfriend Elliot and told him that she was going to do something big that would make people proud of her. Harry is disbelieving, but their conversation is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Joseph Rainier. "It was him!" declares Harry, saying that he took the bomb. "What bomb?" asks Joseph and Harry seems to recognize that he is telling the truth and actually has no idea what he is talking about.

Trivia

An alien convention presenter pointing at a poster of the Greys

• It is possible that the alien ship that General McCallister encountered in her childhood belonged to that of the Greys. The spaceship she saw in her childhood bears some resemblance to the spaceship Harry was piloting to come to Earth, and very different from the spacecraft piloted by the Greys in "Harry, a parent". In addition, in General McCallister's childhood encounter, it was the physical devices (specifically the clocks) that were frozen, but on the bus in "Welcome Aliens" and in the car in "Harry, a parent", it was the people who were frozen.
• The Grey aliens are a popular alien archetype, first attested to in science fiction works of the late 1800s but later popularized in stories by reports of the Betty and Barney Hill abduction in the mid-1960s. The Greys have since become prevalent in various science fiction media, particularly in the United States.
• The Grey alien encountered by Harry Vanderpseigle is voiced by George Takei of Star Trek fame. According to Resident Alien creator and showrunner Chris Sheridan, Takei was already on the minds of the show's staff for possible casting as a Grey and Alan Tudyk (Harry Vanderspeigle) was enthusiastic about the idea when it was proposed to him. Some of Harry's dialogue for the conversation was recorded before it was certain that Takei would have the role. Both the Grey alien and Harry use the phrase "Oh my," which is Takei's iconic catchphrase.
• Joseph Rainier, the Grey/human hybrid, is portrayed by Enver Gjokaj. Gjokaj previously worked with Resident Alien star Alan Tudyk (Harry Vanderspeigle) in the sci-fi series Dollhouse on FOX.
• It is unclear why Harry Vanderspeigle's people would ally with them, assuming The Greys are telling the truth, as Harry's original mission only involved killing all humans in order to preserve the Earth.

Joseph, a Grey-human hybrid

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