S01.E03: Secrets

[jewel21]

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Harry races to keep his secret safe as Asta is forced to face her own past.

Airdate: 02/10/2021

ETA: While this episode is apparently available online, it will only air on Network TV on 02/10/2021 so read at your own risk. 

[AnimeMania]

Wow, I guess I was right, the poisioning might have something to do with the missing prescription pad.

It is amazing how the town can be so small and so large at the same time. There are no people in the town, yet the school is packed with kids and so is the high school party.

I would love to find out if Harry can still use his small arms while in his human form.

The aliens were funny, I liked Harry in the Cowboy Hat, the humans not so much this time, although I did like that there was a refreshing beverage stored in the bucket with the foot. Even D'arcy trying to seduce Harry didn't make laugh.

This episode addressed a lot of loose plot points for me. Maybe next episode we will find out that Harry is considered a less intelligent screw-up on his planet and the other two aliens are here to clean up his mess.

[cardigirl]

It's a fun episode, and deepens the mystery. 

[Amethyst]

I know Asta was a young mother, but she barely looks older than Jay.  Is Jay in high school or college?

I wonder if Jay was selling the pills with the stolen prescription pad, or just taking the pills herself.  It would explain why she’s always knocked out.

Glad Max made a friend, although I don’t think the girl saw Harry as an alien, but as a human.

Still think the pilot was the best episode.  These past two haven’t really been engaging me.  😞

 

[possibilities]

I'm confused. If his spaceship crashed in New Mexico, why is he looking for parts of it in ... now I forget what town he settled in, but it doesn't look like NM to me. Or, if it is, then why does the show give us a "New Mexico" title card for the scenes with the horse and the "alien trackers".

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I'm confused. If his spaceship crashed in New Mexico, why is he looking for parts of it in ... now I forget what town he settled in, but it doesn't look like NM to me. Or, if it is, then why does the show give us a "New Mexico" title card for the scenes with the horse and the "alien trackers".

 

Harry crashed in Colorado and has settled in Patience, Colorado. He (presumably) encountered the cowboy in Colorado after he crashed but before he encountered real!Harry and killed him..

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I only noticed the New Mexico title card for the final scene, the cowboy was in New Mexico. Could be that he fled Colorado after his close encounter with Harry (and who could blame him?). Could be that he was from New Mexico and just visiting Colorado when he encountered Harry. Could be he went to New Mexico to meet up with alien encounters people/the "alien trackers." 

New Mexico and Colorado share a border, so it could be that parts of the spaceship landed in New Mexico.

[iMonrey]

The success of this show rests entirely on the performance of Alan Tudyk, at least for me. This subplot with Asta giving up her baby seems like it should be on a completely different show. It's pure soap opera, whereas everything to do with Harry is absurdism at its finest. I don't think the more dramatic elements blend very well. 

I'm also having trouble keeping track of who is who among the female characters, as someone mentioned last week. Who is the girl with the multi-colored hair - is she the bartender we met in the pilot? And is this girl Asta apparently gave birth to a new character or have we seen her before?

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Harry crashed in Colorado and has settled in Patience, Colorado. He (presumably) encountered the cowboy in Colorado after he crashed but before he encountered real!Harry and killed him..

In his voiceover Harry said he spent the first few weeks or months in New Mexico. I didn't get that either.

[UnknownK]

The intro video shows his craft hit by lightening and a piece falling off. He is digging for his craft using a search pattern (he is not sure where it is) and finding pieces so it isn't in one piece. I assume the piece falling off was a escape pod with him in it that landed safely and in one piece somewhere far away from the main craft which he needs to find since it is berried under snow when he got to it a few weeks later.

[Suzysite]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Who is the girl with the multi-colored hair - is she the bartender we met in the pilot? And is this girl Asta apparently gave birth to a new character or have we seen her before?

Yes, she's the bartender.   And Asta's daughter is the one who Harry said had a fly on her neck in the pilot.  I think she helps out at the clinic.

[SoMuchTV]

55 minutes ago, Suzysite said:

And Asta's daughter is the one who Harry said had a fly on her neck in the pilot.  I think she helps out at the clinic.

Wait do we know that for sure?  I’m not sure how old  Asta’s supposed to be but there doesn’t seem to be enough of a difference between her and Jay.  Did I miss where that was made clear?

[Suzysite]

I guess we don't know for sure. But we did see her walk into the house where Sam took Asta's baby in the past, so it's just an assumption.

I guess we don't know for sure. But we did see her walk into the house where Sam took Asta's baby in the past, so it's just an assumption.

[SoMuchTV]

9 minutes ago, Suzysite said:

I guess we don't know for sure. But we did see her walk into the house where Sam took Asta's baby in the past, so it's just an assumption.

I guess we don't know for sure. But we did see her walk into the house where Sam took Asta's baby in the past, so it's just an assumption.

When  Asta was talking to her dad about the baby she gave up, it seemed like she didn’t know what happened to it. But maybe that was just a misdirect. I guess we’ll find out eventually. 

[Quilt Fairy]

Count me on the confused side re: the New Mexico scenes.  In the pilot, the implication is that Harry crashed into the snow in Colorado and shortly thereafter comes across the doctor's cottage and kills him, presumably the first human he has encountered.   With that in mind, the non-snowy scenes with the cowboy and the cow in the barn make no sense.  As another poster noted, though, New Mexico and Colorado do share a border, so perhaps the writers can twist the logic somehow.

I also wonder why Asta is being given such a deep (and dark) back story.  I'm not sure if this show knows yet what its balance between comedy, drama and science fiction will be.   The mysterious (and murderous) couple at the end provide another twist.  

[roctavia]

I think his ship was falling apart as he crashed, dropping his killing device in Colorado but Harry actually himself crashing in New Mexico initially... having his run in with the guy... not sure what made him decide on the doctors cabin as where he needed to take up permanent residency to find his device?? 

 

My take on the Asta thing, she was pregnant too young and went with to give up the baby, but only saw the house.... but then doesn't know who lives in that house/ didn't know where Jay lived... so when they pulled up to that house to drop of a girl who is the right age to have been her daughter, Asta put two and two together that Jay is her daughter?? I somehow missed a whole thing about Asta giving up a baby somewhere along the line, so it was already a what the heck sort of moment... 

[Quilt Fairy]

57 minutes ago, roctavia said:

My take on the Asta thing, she was pregnant too young and went with to give up the baby, but only saw the house.... but then doesn't know who lives in that house/ didn't know where Jay lived... so when they pulled up to that house to drop of a girl who is the right age to have been her daughter, Asta put two and two together that Jay is her daughter?? I somehow missed a whole thing about Asta giving up a baby somewhere along the line, so it was already a what the heck sort of moment... 

There was nothing about Asta having a baby before this episode, only that she had a break with her father when she was younger and Dr Sam had filled that role for her since.   There's a clear implication that the teenage girl is her daughter as she has a flashback to dropping off her baby at the same house.  But re-watching this on the TV as opposed to my laptop, I find it hard to believe that Asta is old enough to have a teenage daughter - unless it's a Gilmore Girls situation where she was 16 when she got pregnant and is only in her early 30's now.   Also, at that breakfast with her father she suddenly and rather randomly cries out "It was a girl".  If it was 16 years ago, in the same supposedly small town that they both live in, is there any way her father wouldn't have already known that?  

I think I have to stop over-analyzing this show. 

[possibilities]

I see no reason why she wouldn't have been 16 when she got pregnant and in her early 30s now. She seems to have implied she was very young when it happened, and that's why she thought she wasn't able to handle it and gave the kid up for what she thought of as the kid's own good. Also, it explains why she left town. Maybe it was a scandal, or just too painful. Maybe her father pressured her to give up the baby, and she resented him for it. Then, eventually she forgave him? Or she ran wild for a while and then when she hit a wall she came back home because she had no choice. Her dad seems pretty awesome, so far. 

I agree the show is throwing too many plot threads at us, and too many tonal shifts. Is it a goofy show about an alien trying to pass as human? Is it a horror show about an alien who's ultimate goal is to wipe out all humans? Is there a whole shadow alien invasion working for this goal, and he's just one agent who might switch sides now that he's starting to empathize with humans? Is it a small town with a lot of secrets?Are all these quirky people quirky for a reason? Is it Northern Exposure or is it Twin Peaks?

The thing is, I am really enjoying it right now, so I'm mostly just rolling with it. But I do wonder if they have a plan or if they're just kind of meandering one episode at a time and not really sure what they want to do.

[iMonrey]

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But I do wonder if they have a plan or if they're just kind of meandering one episode at a time and not really sure what they want to do.

So many shows want to be everything at once because they think its edgy or daring or whatever. The trouble is the comedy aspect of the show is super wacky and Alan Tudyk is playing it really goofy. That just doesn't pair well with drama.

[cardigirl]

I like that the show is giving us bits and pieces of information, rather than laying it out all at once. As far as Asta's story goes, she did say things about leaving the town at one time and it didn't work out, that she and her father had not been close but they were better now, and the fact that she said "It was a girl."  just like that at the breakfast (or dinner?) table was fine by me, I could make the connection.  

Definitely think Jay is probably Asta's daughter, that Dr. Sam set the adoption up for her, And maybe that is why Asta left town for awhile who knows? Maybe the show will reveal, maybe not. But glimpses into the characters, keep me coming back for more, and the way they are revealed makes this show different from 95% of the rest of the stories being told. 

I also am enjoying that Max is not too intimidated to stand up to "Harry" anymore. That relationship is fun!  Until the alien gets super serious about killing him again. 

I really like the sheriff's deputy. She seems to know what she's doing. 

[Cotypubby]

I’m not sure what is left to “reveal” about Jay being Asia’s daughter, they were pretty clear about that being so during this episode. 
Asta sees Jay walk into her home, realizes/remembers it’s the same place Sam took her baby when Asta was a teen, and the shot dissolves back to Jay and shows Asta full of tears. Then we see her confronting her father and saying “It was a girl!” 
I didn’t get any ambiguity in these scenes at all. Asta got pregnant as a teen, Sam took the newborn to a family to raise it, Asta never knew anything more until now.

[tennisgurl]

The teasing between Max and "Harry" is becoming a real highlight of the show, especially now that Max has moved beyond blind fear and into just mocking this weird alien guy who is following him around. "A castle might fall on me because we live in imaginary castle times." I also thought the impromptu town meeting with the sheriff and the mayor doing a poor job at calming the townspeople was pretty funny. "There's a bear?!" "We got us a serial killer yall!" 

I am really liking the show, but the abrupt tonal shifts can sometimes give me a bit of whiplash. We go from absurdist/dark comedy to the murder mystery to the quirky townsfolk to some serious drama with Asta giving up her daughter when she was a teenager, there is just a lot going on. On the other hand, it can also work to the shows advantage. It makes for a very unique series, and I am enjoying its oddness. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

So let's just run down the story character arcs thus far and let's see what has been set up:

1. Will Harry find the missing pieces of his ship?

2. Will Harry stick to the Destroy All Humans mission?

3. Will Harry be outed as an alien/murderer?

4. Will Harry be able to maintain his disguise?

5. Will Harry solve Sam's murder?

6. Will Harry be able to form friendships/relationships with other townsfolk?

7. Will Asta be able to come to terms with her father/adoptive father/daughter she gave up for adoption/abusive ex?

8. Will bartender get over her crush on Harry/deal with her rivalry with other chick?

9. Will the sheriff show any growth or just be a big blowhard?

10. Will the mayor get a spine?

Yeah, I am finding it hard to care much about the non-Harry arcs (beyond a superficial interest in seeing bartender chick in sexy time)

 

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

On 2/13/2021 at 12:33 AM, Quilt Fairy said:

There was nothing about Asta having a baby before this episode, only that she had a break with her father when she was younger and Dr Sam had filled that role for her since. 

That's not true.  In the episode where Harry pulls her ex through the wall she tells Harry that she ran off when she was 16 and got pregnant.  Her ex convinced her they were too young to care for a baby so she gave the baby up for adoption.  We didn't know until this episode that Sam helped her with the adoption.

[SoMuchTV]

Okay, was anyone paying better attention than I was? I just watched the “60 second recap of episode 3” on syfy or nbc or whatever it is I apparently have on my tv, and the last item is “the mysterious woman from episode two kills a guy“. I’m blanking on where we saw her on episode two. Help?

[redpencil]

54 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

Okay, was anyone paying better attention than I was? I just watched the “60 second recap of episode 3” on syfy or nbc or whatever it is I apparently have on my tv, and the last item is “the mysterious woman from episode two kills a guy“. I’m blanking on where we saw her on episode two. Help?

I believe she and the guy she was with were the ones who saw the poor hiker and birds frozen in air above the piece of Harry's ship. She wasn't really presented then as "the mysterious woman" though, so it took me a minute to figure out what that was referring to. Just seemed like two hikers who happened across it. But we saw in this episode that there was clearly more to them (I assume also aliens).

Edited February 15, 2021 by redpencil

[Quilt Fairy]

10 hours ago, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

That's not true.  In the episode where Harry pulls her ex through the wall she tells Harry that she ran off when she was 16 and got pregnant.  Her ex convinced her they were too young to care for a baby so she gave the baby up for adoption.  We didn't know until this episode that Sam helped her with the adoption.

My bad.  There are so many storylines going on here that I missed that.  

4 hours ago, redpencil said:

I believe she and the guy she was with were the ones who saw the poor hiker and birds frozen in air above the piece of Harry's ship.

Wait, the hikers who found the floating guy are the same two who killed the New Mexico guy outside the bar?  I missed that as well. 

[possibilities]

I didn't think the hikers were the same as the killers, either.

The killers killed the guy in NM who saw Tudyk's undisguised alien self.

The hikers found the dead climber and birds hovering above the spaceship remnants, which were in CO where "Harry" was searching. They triggered an avalanche, but I don't get why they would show up in CO and not "visit" Tudyk or otherwise do something other than bury the ship remnants in snow?

Also, do we know Tudyk's alien name? I guess we have to call him Harry, since that's the only name he uses. But it isn't his real name, it's just the name of the guy he killed.

This show is more confusion than I realized.

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

You didn't get this right.

I didn't think the hikers were the same as the killers, either.

The killers killed the guy in NM who saw Tudyk's undisguised alien self.

You described two different hikers. The man and woman on the Snow Mobiles that found the dead Selfie Hiker with the two dead birds are the same ones that killed the guy for his manuscript. They are aliens just like Harry. They probably used alien tech to find the Tellurium disk and just happen to find the dead hiker as well.

The hikers found the dead climber and birds hovering above the spaceship remnants, which were in CO where "Harry" was searching.

I think this was in New Mexico since the man and woman alien only learned they should be looking for Harry in Colorado from the man with the manuscript they killed.

They triggered an avalanche, but I don't get why they would show up in CO and not "visit" Tudyk or otherwise do something other than bury the ship remnants in snow?

That was a completely different man and woman that triggered the avalanche. The woman was the same one that is the bartender in town and has the hots for Harry. They were doing something called "Avalanche Control" triggering avalanches when no one is around so that one doesn't occur when people are around. Unfortunately they didn't realize Harry was there or they wouldn't has caused the avalanche.

Also, do we know Tudyk's alien name? I guess we have to call him Harry, since that's the only name he uses. But it isn't his real name, it's just the name of the guy he killed.

This show is more confusion than I realized.

 

[possibilities]

I understand that I originally didn't get that they were the same people, but what I meant to be saying was that even with this clarification I find it confusing that they showed up to bury the spaceship parts in snow, but not to remove them or check on or debrief or otherwise deal with "Henry." If they are the sort to kill someone who saw an unmasked alien, surely they are trying to make sure the alien presence is not discovered.

The snow is going to melt. They went out of their way to establish that, when "Henry" asked a local how long it would be before it melted. So what's the point of burying the ship parts in snow, if they're only going to be exposed during the melt? I guess maybe they don't know the snow will melt, like "Henry" didn't know OriginalHenry would die if tossed around. Actually, that is pretty funny and fits with the premise of the show, which is that these aliens have imperfect knowledge of how the planet works.

[AnimeMania]

10 hours ago, possibilities said:

I understand that I originally didn't get that they were the same people, but what I meant to be saying was that even with this clarification I find it confusing that they showed up to bury the spaceship parts in snow, but not to remove them or check on or debrief or otherwise deal with "Henry." If they are the sort to kill someone who saw an unmasked alien, surely they are trying to make sure the alien presence is not discovered.

The snow is going to melt. They went out of their way to establish that, when "Henry" asked a local how long it would be before it melted. So what's the point of burying the ship parts in snow, if they're only going to be exposed during the melt? I guess maybe they don't know the snow will melt, like "Henry" didn't know OriginalHenry would die if tossed around. Actually, that is pretty funny and fits with the premise of the show, which is that these aliens have imperfect knowledge of how the planet works.

The people who buried the spaceship with an avalanche was not the alien man and woman, but the lady in town who is the bartender and another man that we hadn't met before. They were doing "Avalanche Control" and had no ideal that Harry or the spaceship was there.

[possibilities]

Ok. I do know what avalanche control is. I thought someone was saying the people doing it were the people in NM who killed the guy who saw unmasked"Henry" and was talking about his alien encounter. And if that was the case, I was thinking that instead of avalanche control, they were burying the space ship debris. 

But now I'm realizing that no one said that.  What was being said was that the killers are the hikers who found the dead climber and birds.  I didn't recognize them, but I didn't think they were the avalanche people, either, and it does make perfect sense that they found the space debris with their alien tech.

I think I'm sorted now. Apologies for the confusion!! And thanks for the generous clarifications!!

 

 

[Tachi Rocinante]

Since there was no resolution with the "hovering body" I was about to ask if the episodes were shown out of order. Then I realized (with help upthread) that the hikers are the two people at the end who kill the cowboy.  Not quite sure if they are aliens or not.

Alan Tudyk is brilliant in this role.  "My taint remains unchanged."  Indeed.

[DanaK]

This is a such a goofy show with a few tonal shifts and maybe too many plotlines, but so far I'm enjoying it, mostly because of Tudyk

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Patience is no Fargo.   Stop trying, producers.

The precocious kid who now has no fear is going to be obnoxious.  The flip from hunted to hunter was fun.  Now, what?  Did the girl see an alien or a human form in the restaurant?  

It can't be good for our boy that others were sent to clean up his mission for him.  Is our lead alien in trouble with his superiors for not having killed the cowboy, necessitating that others come in to finish the job?  Which leads me to...

Why didn't the new aliens simply do the Death Star thang themselves?  Surely, the loss of a single scientist, who screwed up his mission anyway, would be acceptable to TPTB.  How did their superiors know that they had encountered the cowboy?  They have real-time comms with the homeland?  Why wouldn't the first one?  Or, has he been avoiding such a thing, without the "thought bubble" narration indicating that he was conscious of such communication possibilities? 

 

[Ottis]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:49 PM, iMonrey said:

The success of this show rests entirely on the performance of Alan Tudyk, at least for me. This subplot with Asta giving up her baby seems like it should be on a completely different show. It's pure soap opera, whereas everything to do with Harry is absurdism at its finest. I don't think the more dramatic elements blend very well. 

ITA about the different tones. After the pilot I thought this show was nonsensical and lacking. Since then I have come to appreciate that it is just intentionally ridiculous and I should expect very little logic or common sense. I can deal with that. But then the baby drama? No.

I think most anyone could have played the alien. It's a lot of overacting and emotionless delivery. It reminds me of Third Rock from the Sun, and Lithgow crossed with the youngest bot whose name I forget.

[Paloma]

On 2/13/2021 at 12:33 AM, Quilt Fairy said:

I find it hard to believe that Asta is old enough to have a teenage daughter - unless it's a Gilmore Girls situation where she was 16 when she got pregnant and is only in her early 30's now.   

I can believe that she was 16 when she got pregnant, but she looks like she is just in her 20s--maybe late 20s--now. However, her bartender friend looks older, at least early 30s, despite acting immaturely. So if Asta and the bartender went to school together, Asta is the same age.

[Paloma]

On 2/14/2021 at 5:15 PM, Cotypubby said:

I didn’t get any ambiguity in these scenes at all. Asta got pregnant as a teen, Sam took the newborn to a family to raise it, Asta never knew anything more until now.

It's still ambiguous to me because Jay presumably lives in or near town, and Asta would presumably know where they dropped off the baby. Even if Asta left town right after that, she's been back for at least a few years--long enough to be the nurse at the town clinic. So it would be easy for her to find out who lived at the house where they dropped off the baby. And if Jay has been working at the clinic for a while, there may have been other opportunities to see where she lived.