The following contains spoilers for Resident Alien Season 2, Episode 13, "Harry, A Parent," which debuted Wednesday, Sept. 7 on SyFy.
Resident Alien Season 2 has been a life-changing experience for Harry. He's accepted mortality and gotten less annoyed with humanity, but he's continually struggled to prove to Asta that he can be good. Her distrust stems from him tampering with her memories but is also influenced by how he bends his moral compass and corrupts those around him -- just to protect how he's a shape-shifting alien.
However, the second season of the SyFy series hasn't been as kind to Asta. Her killing someone to protect Harry and her own personal turmoil have created an emotional upheaval in her life. Season 2, Episode 13, "Harry, A Parent" dealt her yet another blow -- but Harry was able to find a silver lining in it.
When D'Arcy attended a ski competition, Asta and Harry accompanied her outside of Patience. Their trip took a detour when Asta found an address linked to her birth mother, who had given her up for adoption. The duo did find Mary Ellen at the address -- but rather than a happy reunion, they discovered she was uncaring and selfish. Harry even chided her as they left, believing Asta deserved much better.
Sadly, Asta now had confirmation that her birth mother didn't want anything to do with her. This particularly hurt Asta because she also had to give her estranged daughter Jay up for adoption when she was a teenager. Her experience informed why she was trying to mend her relationship with her own child. Seeing her crying afterward ate at Harry because his memory-altering decision had earlier caused Asta to miss Jay's birthday.
In "Harry, A Parent," Harry finally understood what he did to Asta and Jay -- and the importance of being a parent. Parenting involved care, compassion, empathy and warmth -- all things he;d never displayed, apart from having a crush on Asta. He also learned that being a parent meant being a friend, giving him further clarity on why everyone in Patience looked out for each other. It was all about love and if someone had a child, that love should be magnified exponentially.
That changed his perspective on his mission to rescue his baby from the military, no longer thinking it was just a tool that held information on the coming invasion. After discovering Goliath was a time-traveling version of himself and seeing what Asta endured, Harry wants to do justice by the child. That new purpose is a major change for the character -- making him more human as the father he never thought he'd be, while also possibly saving the world.
New episodes of Resident Alien air Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. on SyFy.
