Resident Alien Season 4 Just Debuted The Show’s Darkest & Most Shocking Moment Yet, And I Was Totally Not Prepared

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Resident Alien season 4, episode 2, “The Lonely Man.”Resident Alien has had some pretty dark moments since the show began in 2021, but season 4, episode 2, “The Lonely Man” just caught me massively off-guard with a surprise reveal that trumps them all. While the Resident Alien cast is primarily responsible for making the audience laugh, showrunner Chris Sheridan also puts the residents of Patience in some pretty dire scenarios. One of the most recent examples of this is in “The Lonely Man,” but it also somehow finds a way to inject some dark humor into the scene.

A new villain was introduced near the end of Resident Alien season 3, called the Mantid. Voiced by Clancy Brown, the Mantid immediately showed a proclivity for beheading his victims and consuming what he removed. That said, the show revealed almost none of the process, with most of it happening offscreen while sound effects did most of the heavy lifting. The Mantid stole the life of Alan Tudyk’s Harry Vanderspeigle after escaping from the Greys, and Resident Alien season 4 has been far less coy about the Mantid’s acts of violence.

The Shock Reveal Of Joseph’s Torn-Up Face Is The Most Gruesome Thing Resident Alien Has Ever Done

The Mantid really went to town on Joseph in “The Lonely Man”

As dark and dramatic as Resident Alien is capable of being, gore isn’t something that’s typically in the show’s bag of tricks. There have been a few minor examples of Resident Alien being gory, but they’ve all been incredibly tame. So, I didn’t expect the injuries of Enver Gjokaj’s character to be anywhere near as severe as they were in “The Lonely Man,” and the surprise reveal of just how badly the Mantid had hurt Joseph made me audibly gasp to myself as I watched it.

The makeup on Gjokaj to represent Joseph’s devastated flesh is shockingly convincing. I gradually got accustomed to looking at it, and the additional reveal of his arm being torn off, while not directly shown, doubled down on how hurt Joseph had been by the encounter. Just as I was starting to get used to the damage, the spurting of blood from Joseph’s open wounds made it gross again. Uncharacteristically gory moments aside, Resident Alien still somehow managed to make the scene hilarious. In fact, the gore probably made everyone’s unfeeling comments even funnier.

Joseph’s Injuries Weren’t The Only Gory Thing In “The Lonely Man”

Bruce’s disintegration was just one more example

“The Lonely Man” seemingly wasn’t satisfied with restricting the gross-out factor to a single scene, as the episode did something similar more than once. The most prominent example is when Bruce (Jinkx Monsoon) starts disintegrating after spending too long on Earth. As a Grey Alien, Bruce isn’t built for long periods on the human homeworld. After just a day and a half of living his dream of visiting the planet in “The Lonely Man,” Bruce started to fall apart and turn into a puddle of goop. While already unpleasant to look at, smearing it on Harry’s face is even worse.

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“The Lonely Man” even ends with another gory moment. While showing a guest to her room, Jenna Lamia’s Judy Cooper happens across the remains of the Mantid’s latest victim, who will presumably become the villain’s next disguise. The headless corpse is on the bed, blood squirting from recently severed veins. Even Judy, who rarely reacts to anything appropriately, seems terrified by what she’s found as she makes her excuses and ushers the guest away.

It’s unclear whether Resident Alien season 4 will continue with these unpleasant moments or if they’re just going to be confined to “The Lonely Man.” With a villain like the Mantid on the loose, it would make sense if they were to continue, and it adds a new dimension to a show that’s now running on an otherwise familiar formula in its fourth season. I think they make a great addition to Resident Alien, although overusing them could reduce their impact.

Resident Alien

Release Date

January 27, 2021

Network

USA Network

Showrunner

Chris Sheridan