johnnyzmayhem

Generally this show lets us see Harry's awkwardness in a genial, humorous way, without delving into outright cringe. Some people like cringe humor, and that's fine, but I don't. In fact, I find cringe humor to not even be funny, so when this episode veered into it - for example, when Harry was trying to one-up Ethan - I groaned. Being socially awkward without being hard-core cringey is a difficult trick to pull off, and until this episode, Resident Alien managed it. But, this episode felt like it was missing a step.

But, there's also the cliche elements. I loved the fish out of water story of the alien trying to fit in with the small-town locals, all while trying to dodge around a murder case, and a little kid who knows who and what you are. But, whenever you have a space alien, I suppose they have to get chased by the FBI/CIA/Men in Black (doesn't matter what branch they're from, it's all the same.) Up to now, the hard turn into cliche-land wasn't so bad, as it was very limited. And I'll admit, parts of it were funny, like in this episode, when Lieutenant Logan first meets his new partner. But, it all starts getting dull very fast. I'm hoping the next episode will give us a surprise on that score, but I'm not hopeful.

This is a two season podcast, and each season is very different in tone and style.

The first season is about Lia Haddock, an investigative reporter, who is trying to track down what happened to the people of Limetown ten years earlier. She meets several people who had been there, records her interviews with them, and we get to hear what happened the same time Lia does. In the Napoleon episode we learn how one survivor learned to communicate with a pig. It didn't end well, the result was horrific and gave me chills. In the final episode of the first season, Lia meets a survivor who finally starts to put the pieces together for her. But in a twist, the survivor sets a timer and gives her 12 minutes to ask questions before brutally ending the interview. It was a damn good end to the first season.

The second season involves two people discussing the events of Limetown and its aftermath. We haven't been introduced to these characters in season one, and it's difficult to say much about it without giving spoilers, but it's basically a cat-and-mouse game of deception. We get more answers, but the edge is gone, and in time, the discussions get tedious. By the time we got near the end, the show was dragging and if it had had a third season, I probably would have given up. The ending was... well it was an ending.

I gave this seven stars overall. Season one is a ten, season two is a four. Combined, that's a seven.