Commentary: ‘Resident Alien’ Has A Tone Problem
by Frank Martin
As time goes on and stories are forced to work harder to be original, genres have begun mixing conventions even more. Science fiction is blending with horror. Action is mashing-up with fantasy. And even drama is along for the ride with comedy. But there needs to be a seamless blend between the two in order for a story to work. Opposing genres need to work together in a synergistic relationship for a story to be successful. It’s very hard to keep the two separate and yet they operate within the same plot and using the same characters. But that’s exactly what Resident Alien tries to do and it suffers because of it.
The series is about an extraterrestrial on a mission to Earth who accidentally crashed lands on the planet. This alien, who begins the show by killing a man named Harry (Alan Tudyk) and taking his place, is cold, heartless, and has no sympathy for humanity, at least at first. His callousness comes across with deadpan humor as he completely lacks any sort of social context and cues that humans naturally have. But he isn’t the only main character. A good portion of the story follows a nurse named Asta (Sara Tomko) as she struggles to grieve following the death of her friend and boss.
The show undoubtedly works best when the alien is on the screen. His black humor coupled with Tudyk’s performance is marvelous and hilarious in every scene he’s featured in. But Asta also takes up a good portion of the show. Her plot line is not meant to be comedic. It’s traumatic in nature and pretty profound on a character level, but it works against the show’s primary goal, which is to make people laugh. Drama and black comedy can go together very well, but they need to blend into a singular tone. Resident Alien does not do this. For the most part, it keeps both aspects separate, which creates a whiplash effect as the show’s scenes bounce back and forth between one and the other. While it certainly has its highlights, Resident Alien could benefit more by toning down the drama and using it as subtext for its comedy.
Resident Alien is now streaming on Netflix.
