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.
