# Resident Alien, aka Quincy, E.T **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 28, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719 "2021-01-28T22:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/101 "2021-02-26T08:58:39Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > It was a fun episode. No spoilers, but I thought this one was excellent. Every time Harry has to deal with the kids is comic genius. Great chemistry there. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/102 "2021-02-26T14:50:58Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Every time Harry has to deal with the kids is comic genius. Great chemistry there. Definitely. And he’ll be able to learn a lot about human culture from the kids. At least as much as from Law and Order. It’s odd how when Harry was trying to kill the kids, it was funny, but when he convinced his parents he was mentally ill and to send him away, it got sad and uncomfortable. I like how he still considers murder as the first perfectly valid solution to every problem: “You’re so quiet, what are you thinking?” “If I could fit your body in the freezer next to the other guy.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/103 "2021-02-26T15:25:40Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > It’s odd how when Harry was trying to kill the kids, it was funny, but when he convinced his parents he was mentally ill and to send him away, it got sad and uncomfortable. I kind of assumed he was suggesting Max’s parents move to Georgia and put him in that school. (And when he was talking to Max’s parents, his speech patterns reminded me of the aliens from Galaxy Quest.) BTW, where did they get the photo of Harry they used for the photo lineup? Because if someone took a picture of Harry now, they’d get what? A photo showing the alien but they’d only see Harry? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/104 "2021-02-26T15:46:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > BTW, where did they get the photo of Harry they used for the photo lineup? Because if someone took a picture of Harry now, they’d get what? A photo showing the alien but they’d only see Harry? “Harry” happened to have a photo of Harry laying around, or just found one online. It looked like a staff photo, possibly just printed off of the website for Harry’s old practice. He’s apparently a fairly wealthy New York pathologist (he drops $10,000 on a painting just to impress a cute girl); there are probably no shortage of images of him. If someone took a photo of “Harry” now, I think they’d get a picture of Harry, not the alien. The show hasn’t been entirely clear on how his shapeshifting works, but in this episode “Harry” says something about Max having higher dimensional awareness that lets him see through “Harry’s” molecular reconstruction. I _think_ what’s supposed to be going on is that “Harry” has reconstructed himself on a molecular level into a human body, but Max (and one in a million other humans) have a awareness of _technobabble dimensions quantum handwave_ that allows them to see “Harry” as he is “under” the molecular reconstruction. Don’t apply logic. It’s a narrative contrivance that, IMHO, works for the level of humor they’re pitching this show at. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/105 "2021-02-26T16:01:17Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Well, that was literally fun while it lasted. The first four episodes streaming for free were apparently a tease, and it requires a subscription to continue watching from Episode 5 on. You have to sign up for a “Peacock Free” account to stream the newest episode. It’s free and does not require a cable carrier, and does not require you to enter any credit card information. I did sign up, but then couldn’t figure out how to sign into the new account on the SyFy app on my Fire TV stick. I did manage to download the SyFy app on my tablet, sign in to the account, and watch the episode. It’s still free to watch, with ads. I can’t tell if I used up one of my three free credits to watch it or not. I can’t find anything on my Peacock account page that tells me how many credits I have left. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/106 "2021-02-26T16:24:27Z")
I liked how Max responded to the question about interndimensional stuff with a ‘duh’ … And never ignore the ninja! ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/107 "2021-02-26T17:01:36Z")
I signed up for a NBCUniversal account. It was free, and didn’t require anything other than my email address. Watching the episode did use up one of my three free credits, so apparently I can only watch two more episodes… Before creating an account, when I tried to open the episode on the Firestick SyFy app, the app gave me a code to enter on the SyFy/NBCUniversal site to unlock three episodes. I did that on my Chromebook, and as soon as I registered, the episode automatically unlocked on my Firestick (Magic!). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/108 "2021-02-26T17:48:52Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > You have to sign up for a “Peacock Free” account to stream the newest episode. It’s free and does not require a cable carrier, and does not require you to enter any credit card information. I did sign up, but then couldn’t figure out how to sign into the new account on the SyFy app on my Fire TV stick. I did manage to download the SyFy app on my tablet, sign in to the account, and watch the episode. It’s still free to watch, with ads. I can’t tell if I used up one of my three free credits to watch it or not. I can’t find anything on my Peacock account page that tells me how many credits I have left. I don’t have a Fire TV stick but my guess is that you needed to open the Peacock app and not the SyFy app to watch the show? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/109 "2021-02-26T18:40:10Z")
I don’t think so. I used the SyFy app on Firestick. All of the NBC Universal apps appear to cross over on Firestick. When I select a locked episode on any of their apps, it gives me a code to enter on the website to unlock the episode. I _think_ the key is you have to have the app open with the episode selected and the unlock code onscreen while you enter the code on another device. At least, that’s how it worked for me. It’s clunky. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/110 "2021-02-26T20:47:35Z")
I had an avi Kaplan day yesterday, and noticed there was a lot of mention of resident alien on his “change on the rise” video. I had seen teasers for this show, thought it looked fun, and hey, Alan tudyk. I tend to watch shows all in a clump or at the end of the season, but thought, any show smart enough to use avi Kaplan’s music has to be good. So I watched the first 4 episodes in a row. Really good and fun, and hey, Alan tudyk. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/111 "2021-02-26T22:42:13Z")
I like that the real Harry may not have been all that nice a guy after all. It’s possible they will frame it that his being killed won’t be that great a loss to the community, redeeming his murder a bit (in a Dexter kind of way, I guess). > [@muldoonthief](#): > > I like how he still considers murder as the first perfectly valid solution to every problem: I also like how when an alternative solution to murder comes up, he prefers the easier option. The way human emotions are evolving him is a fun process to watch. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/112 "2021-02-27T00:06:04Z")
yep - his inner monologue is decidedly human. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/113 "2021-02-27T05:12:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I like that the real Harry may not have been all that nice a guy after all. It’s possible they will frame it that his being killed won’t be that great a loss to the community, redeeming his murder a bit (in a Dexter kind of way, I guess). What’s the timeline like? Is it possible Human Harry killed the doctor? No, I don’t know WHY he would have, but it would be an interesting twist, that Alien Harry has to duck responsibility for a murder committed by the guy he murdered and mimicked. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/114 "2021-02-27T05:15:39Z")
I think Harry had been there for a while before Harry killed Harry. Harry had to have time to watch enough Law and Order (ka kang) and learn how to speak before Harry was asked to look at the dead body of the Doctor that Harry replaced. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/115 "2021-02-27T13:32:51Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > What’s the timeline like? Is it possible Human Harry killed the doctor? No, I don’t know WHY he would have, but it would be an interesting twist, that Alien Harry has to duck responsibility for a murder committed by the guy he murdered and mimicked. > [@simster](#): > > I think Harry had been there for a while before Harry killed Harry. Harry had to have time to watch enough Law and Order (ka kang) and learn how to speak before Harry was asked to look at the dead body of the Doctor that Harry replaced. I may well be misremembering, but I thought “Harry” had mentioned in his internal monologue that it had taken him weeks just to figure out how to sit. And didn’t HumanHarry’s wife say no one had heard from him in weeks? Between that and the “learn to be human” flashback montage, I think the implication is clearly that AlienHarry had replaced HumanHarry at least a few weeks previously. Certainly much longer than the previous day, when Sam the Town Doctor would have been poisoned. On the other hand, HumanHarry’s wife said something about “two men” showing up looking for him, and that she would stick with him no matter what trouble he’s in, so it seems pretty clear that HumanHarry had his own secrets. I think we are going to find out that HumanHarry was not actually a good guy, and that AlienHarry will actually wind up being a better person. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/116 "2021-02-27T13:55:22Z")
Thats the gist of how I remember it as well. HarryWife specifically said he had ghosted her and teh attorneys for ‘months’ regaurding the divorce. She also said he abandoned his practice in New York. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/117 "2021-02-27T14:13:34Z")
The first episode clearly established the following: It’s now spring (voiceover at beginning). Harry has owned the cabin since 2004, used to come for a week at a time, but came last winter and never left (deputy tells sheriff this when they’re coming to get Harry to look at Sam’s body). The ship crashed 4 months ago (flashback scene). The alien killed Harry in his cabin, possibly the same night? (though later episodes seem to contradict this - i.e. he was still an alien when he stole the rancher’s horse & hat in New Mexico). Alien spent a lot of time in the cabin, learning to be human, watching Law and Order (clung clung!). Once he learned that, he also started searching the mountains for pieces of his spaceship, and has been doing so for a long time. So human Harry was probably just there for a week, but alien Harry showed up and killed him and took his place. No way human Harry killed Sam, and no reason to believe he had anything to do with it either. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/118 "2021-02-27T22:41:35Z")
If real Harry killed the Doc, it would complicate alien Harry’s new life too much. I don’t think that’s where the story would take us. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/119 "2021-02-27T23:10:47Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > If real Harry killed the Doc, it would complicate alien Harry’s new life too much. I don’t think that’s where the story would take us. . I agree. (And my money is on Sam-the-doctor’s wife as his poisoner. They made a point in the first episode of saying she “had an alibi” for the time of his death, but giving him something with poison in it, that he would later ingest, could have happened days before the actual death.) \ > [@simster](#): > > I think Harry had been there for a while before Harry killed Harry. Yes, it does appear to be established that human-Harry had been at the cabin for weeks (maybe) before alien-Harry showed up. I’m a bit fuzzy on when the ‘alien is searching through desert and acquires horse and cowboy hat’ sequences fit into the timeline, though. As for alien-Harry killing human-Harry: a re-watch shows that though alien-H is definitely responsible for the death of human-H, human-H _was still alive when thrown toward the lake_. So they’re making it ambiguous as a means of keeping us on alien-Harry’s side (presumably). They struggle, the alien throws the human at the lake, and the human dies–the cold stops his heart or water in his lungs stops his heart or maybe hitting ice with his head leads to his heart stopping. But he was alive when he went in. And as people have said, likely upcoming revelations that human-Harry was a bad guy will further build sympathy for our Resident Alien. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/120 "2021-02-27T23:15:24Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I agree. (And my money is on Sam-the-doctor’s wife as his poisoner. They made a point in the first episode of saying she “had an alibi” for the time of his death, but giving him something with poison in it, that he would later ingest, could have happened days before the actual death.) And its very important for her that it be a murder - and not a suicide, at this point. I’m guessing the original plan was for the death to look like natural causes. > [@Sherrerd](#): > > As for alien-Harry killing human-Harry: a re-watch shows that though alien-H is definitely responsible for the death of human-H, it was self defense - alien-Harry had no choice, human-Harry struck first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719.md?page=7)