# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![RetiredButWorking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@RetiredButWorking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetiredButWorking)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/121 "2021-02-27T23:39:26Z")
I enjoyed the comic. Nothing especially great about it, but still a decent read. In a way Resident Alien comic vs TV series is like Starship Troopers; except Resident Alien the series does not suck. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RetiredButWorking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@RetiredButWorking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetiredButWorking)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/122 "2021-02-27T23:46:49Z")
In the comic ( as in the series) one in a million people can see through Harry’s “disguise” and recognize him as an alien. Cameras in the comic also show him as an alien; this has not been addressed in the series yet. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/123 "2021-02-27T23:49:06Z")
We are loving the show, but the Op was incorrect- it is nothing at all like Quincy. ---
**Author:** ![RetiredButWorking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@RetiredButWorking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetiredButWorking)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/124 "2021-02-27T23:51:41Z")
If the plot line concerning the doctor’s murder is anything like the comic, then the missing prescription pad will be related to the murder. So alien Harry would not be the perp. ---
**Author:** ![RetiredButWorking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@RetiredButWorking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetiredButWorking)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/125 "2021-02-27T23:53:44Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > And as people have said, likely upcoming revelations that human-Harry was a bad guy will further build sympathy for our Resident Alien. If the original Harry is revealed to be evil, then it might look bad for his seemingly nice wife to want him back? ---
**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 28, 2021, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/126 "2021-02-28T01:03:57Z")
> [@simster](#): > > it was self defense - alien-Harry had no choice, human-Harry struck first. Not even close to self-defense, legally or morally. Legally - Colorado is a castle doctrine state, and human-Harry tried to retreat anyway. He was backed up against a table but alien-Harry continued towards him in a threatening manner when human-Harry struck him with an improvised weapon. Human-Harry had a legal right to use force, even lethal force at that point, so alien-Harry’s retaliatory actions were absolutely not legal self defense. And morally - while throwing human-Harry through the door onto the porch may have been morally defensible (though I personally don’t think it was), following him out there, picking him up, and throwing him off the porch was not. Alien-Harry could have just left the premises at that point - he clearly was in no further danger from human-Harry’s fire poker, but he chose to continue fighting instead of leaving. ---
**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 28, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/127 "2021-02-28T02:16:04Z")
In A-Harry’s view - he specifically says it. ---
**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 28, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/128 "2021-02-28T03:05:28Z")
Then he didn’t learn as much from Jerry Orbach as he thought. Clung clung! ---
**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 28, 2021, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/129 "2021-02-28T04:28:44Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gP3MuUTmXNk/maxresdefault.jpg "Law & Order Sound Effect (HQ) [+Download Link]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP3MuUTmXNk) ---
**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 28, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/130 "2021-02-28T08:02:23Z")
Another beautiful theory dies in the harsh light of reality. The doctor’s wife has done everything but shout, “I DID IT!”, and until the, “human Harry killed the doctor” thought occurred to me, she was the obvious suspect. . .though perhaps too obvious? ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/131 "2021-02-28T09:58:35Z")
I haven’t yet watched the most recent episode, but I thought the chicken salad (prepared by the wife) was the obvious murder weapon. ---
**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 28, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/132 "2021-02-28T22:32:26Z")
> [@simster](#): > > … 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. Right–the killer (wife or otherwise) couldn’t have known Sam would try to give himself a tracheotomy. So far the wife is the only one with a motive ($$$) to want the death to look like it occurred from natural causes. \ > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > The doctor’s wife has done everything but shout, “I DID IT!”, and until the, “human Harry killed the doctor” thought occurred to me, she was the obvious suspect. . .though perhaps too obvious? She IS obvious, but if I recall she was absent from both the second and third episodes. That’s a common technique: show the killer early, then neglect to show or mention them for a stretch, hoping the reader/viewer will forget about them. Then when the Reveal happens, the reader/viewer will be delighted at having been fooled. In theory. Some writers use this with more finesse than others, of course. It’s kind of cheap. Of course if the killer is someone else entirely, then the writers will have been clever! \ > [@RetiredButWorking](#): > > If the original Harry is revealed to be evil, then it might look bad for his seemingly nice wife to want him back? If the wife actually is a nice person, then how can viewers be thrilled when Harry becomes romantically involved with Asta? So I think the wife has to be shown to be at least somewhat not-nice. (She was being rather sneaky at that art show, wasn’t she?) ---
**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:** [March 1, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/133 "2021-03-01T00:53:11Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > So I think the wife has to be shown to be at least somewhat not-nice. (She was being rather sneaky at that art show, wasn’t she?) You mean posing as the drink lady when she was really the artist? ---
**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:** [March 1, 2021, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/134 "2021-03-01T01:35:58Z")
That’s not what I thought was going on in that scene at all. What I thought was going on: it was a charity art action (“It’s for a good cause, isn’t it?”), Isabelle was one of the artists whose work was being auctioned (presumably if she were the only artist she would have been introduced to the bidders and Harry would have recognized her), and whoever was hosting the auction paid for food and drinks but not for servers, so Isabelle was helping out with bussing OR she’s just kind of a neat freak and was bussing just because she hated seeing empty glasses and dirty napkins the serving staff didn’t get to quickly enough cluttering up the exhibit. It seemed to me like it was bog standard Mistaken Identity Meet Cute, not that she was being “sneaky.” ---
**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:** [March 1, 2021, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/135 "2021-03-01T02:20:32Z")
While I cannot say if she bussed other tables - she was absolutely cleaning stuff up from in front of her piece when Harry walked up to flirt. I didn’t see her being sneaky perse - just like any aspiring artist wanting to hear people talk about their work. I couldn’t catch the other bids - were they all in the hundred(s) range? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/136 "2021-03-01T09:36:51Z")
Was it just me, or was there a Voyager-type human outline in the artwork in question? They didn’t show it for long. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/137 "2021-03-01T12:57:05Z")
there was. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/138 "2021-03-01T15:04:49Z")
She was carrying a silver tray just like the other servers, and when Harry said “I thought you were the waitress”, she replied “I’m undercover”, so she was definitely intentionally being sneaky trying to hear what people thought about her artwork. I don’t see anything wrong with that however. She freely admitted she was the artist after Harry told her what he thought. > [@simster](#): > > I couldn’t catch the other bids - were they all in the hundred(s) range? The first bid was $4700, there were a few more, then one from Harry for $7000, then one from the bastard who outbid him. Couldn’t see that one, Harry’s hand blocked it, but obviously was somewhere between $7000 and $10,000. But Harry definitely liked the painting long before he was attracted to the artist since he bid on it already, which speaks well for him. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/139 "2021-03-01T15:18:40Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > She was carrying a silver tray just like the other servers, and when Harry said “I thought you were the waitress”, she replied “I’m undercover”, so she was definitely intentionally being sneaky trying to hear what people thought about her artwork. I don’t see anything wrong with that however. She freely admitted she was the artist after Harry told her what he thought. I took that as her making a joke about the Mistaken Identity, not an admission that she was literally trying to disguise herself as a server. If she was trying to eavesdrop, her method seems a bit odd. Harry sees her by herself, away from any of the guest, and approaches her to chat her up. Although I suppose that might be what she was trying to do, just hanging around her painting on the off chance someone would wander by and comment on it. It’s not how I took the scene when I watched it, but it’s definitely not a hill I want to die on. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > The first bid was $4700, there were a few more, then one from Harry for $7000, then one from the bastard who outbid him. Couldn’t see that one, Harry’s hand blocked it, but obviously was somewhere between $7000 and $10,000. But Harry definitely liked the painting long before he was attracted to the artist since he bid on it already, which speaks well for him. Yeah, I thought the leading bid was $7,400 (I might well have seen the $4,700 and the $7,000 and interpolated a $7,400 bid). The implication I got was that Harry had made a casual bid in the interests of charity (“It’s for a good cause, isn’t it?”), and then to impress the Cute Artist, he made a big, round number bid as a “let’s cut out this nonsense and end the bidding right now” gesture, but not a bid big enough that it was just ridiculous (as a $10,000 bid when the previous high bid was in the hundreds would have been). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/140 "2021-03-01T19:09:33Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Was it just me, or was there a Voyager-type human outline in the artwork in question? That type of plaque is immediately what came to mind for me. (It had a few other symbols on it, too. It made me think of a scene in a not very good movie called _Absolutely Anything_. In an early scene aliens pick up the Pioneer probe and see the plaque and toss it aside. Then you see a group of other plaques removed from other space probes, each showing outlines of alien species and symbols they had hoped would send a clear message. It was the only clever part of the movie.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719.md?page=8)