The new season of Resident Alien is finally here, and there’s no doubt that you’ll want to jump straight into the episodes. Can you do that with the kids around? We take a look at the show as a whole as Resident Alien season 4 gets started.
While the series started with an alien crash-landing on Earth with the intention of blowing it up, he started to learn more about humans and the planet, leading to him deciding that he didn’t want to go through with his race’s plan after all. Since then, we’ve watched as Harry has learned more and more what it means to be human, but now he’s trapped on another alien spaceship while a shapeshifting alien takes on his form.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Mike is struggling to deal with everything that he saw at the end of Resident Alien season 3. He doesn’t want to believe that aliens are real, but how can he explain the creature that he saw? And as all that goes on, Ben and Kate are preparing to get their baby back from the Grey aliens.
Resident Alien age rating: Is this really a TV-14 series?
While the official age rating for Resident Alien is TV-14, it does appear that the series has been aimed at slightly older audiences. There are some elements of the story that aren’t quite suitable for the younger teens, but older teens could certainly enjoy it, especially if they’re Alan Tudyk fans.
There is only one episode of season 4 out right now, which doesn’t give too much in terms of content for the season. However, there are three previous seasons to work with to know what to expect.
Sex & nudity: There isn’t that much in the way of sex and nudity shown on screen, but there are innuendos continuously made. In fact, there’s a mention of a character ovulating in the Resident Alien season 4 premiere, with one of the aliens wanting to mate with her because of it.
Throughout the series, there have been scenes used to mimic elements of sex, mostly using the alien creatures as they learn more about human acts. We see an alien sucking on the udder of a cow, and there is a scene where a doctor is giving a woman a pelvic exam, although nothing is shown.
We can expect much more of this as the season continues. Some of the comments are used to make the humans in the show uncomfortable, and that’s part of the humor.
Violence & gore: The first season starts with the main alien trying to kill people, including trying to kill a young boy. However, as the seasons go on, the focus is on other aliens coming to attack the human race, leading to a few fight scenes. The violence and gore aren’t too graphic, but there is one scene that stands out in an earlier season when a woman breaks a man’s neck and he drops to the ground.
The start of the show does involve the murder of the real town doctor, and his foot is severed and later hidden. This foot shows up throughout the first season, giving us a clear view of what it is and what the severed part looks like.
Language: Despite being a basic cable series, there is some profanity used throughout. The S-word is the most commonly used one, but there are also mentions of “b***s” and “d**k” at various points.
Some of the characters, particularly Harry, use derogatory words for women in the series, including the S-version of the terms. There are also many obscene gestures to omit the wording used.
Alcohol & drugs: As some of the show is set in a bar, there are characters who drink regularly. In the Resident Alien season 4 premiere, the alien pretending to be Harry also smokes a lot, even inside his own office. There is also discussion of hard drug use at various points, although none of this is explicitly shown.
Overall verdict: Who is Resident Alien appropriate for?
While this does carry a TV-14 age rating, I wouldn’t say that this is suitable for younger teens. It’s definitely not something for the tweens and younger members of the family. There are a lot of innuendoes used that are sure to make children uncomfortable.
Like the graphic novels that Resident Alien is based on, this series is aimed more at the older audience. If this was purely a streaming show, I’d suspect that it would have been given a TV-MA rating instead, but because it’s on Syfy, it’s landed a TV-14 rating.
Resident Alien airs on Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy and USA Network.