As an alien hell-bent on destroying mankind, Harry probably never expected his No. 1 nemesis on earth would be a pint-sized grade schooler.
On Wednesday’s episode of Resident Alien, Max and Harry’s rivalry came to a head, leading to the formation of a mutually beneficial truce between the two enemies. After Max admitted to his parents that he stole Harry’s keys to break into the doctor’s house — which, of course, landed him in some boiling hot water with mom, dad and law enforcement — the boy and his friend Sahar made Harry an offer he couldn’t refuse: If Harry tells Max’s parents that the kid isn’t crazy, Max will stop telling everyone Harry’s an alien.
Though the two agreeable parties sealed the deal with a handshake, series creator/EP Chris Sheridan assures TVLine that their adversarial relationship is far from over.
“I don’t want them to be friends,” says Sheridan. “Harry is a child. He’s immature, if not more immature than Max is, and Alan [Tudyk] plays it so beautifully. It’s something we tapped into early on and realized there’s an energy to. It’s a dynamic I want to keep up as the show moves forward.”
Thus far, Max remains the only Patience, Colorado resident who can see Harry for what he truly is: a bug-eyed alien with razor-sharp teeth and a massive dome. As Harry broke down in the episode, “some humans are genetically more in tune to the frequency of other dimensions, so they can see beyond my molecular reconstruction.”
“Harry’s opinion at the beginning of the show is, ‘It’s very simple. I’ll just kill him. I don’t understand what the problem is?’” says Sheridan. “That’s his mission, to quiet the kid, but the kid doesn’t go away so easily. It was fun for a few episodes having Harry try to do away with him, but I knew he couldn’t try to do that forever.”
With the threat of his parents sending him away hanging over Max’s head, the two characters realized they both needed something from one another, ultimately leading to the aforementioned alliance. But will this truce hold strong, or is it just a temporary fix to their problems?
Teases Sheridan: “They’ll never be best friends, and they’ll always be somewhat antagonistic with each other. I think that’s where a lot of the fun comes from.”
Are you loving the dynamic between Harry and Max? Should they remain “frenemies” forever? Sound off in the Comments!
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