Recap: Harry and the Alien Tracker mount a daring rescue in ‘Resident Alien’ Season 2, Episode 15

The penultimate episode of Resident Alien Season 2 is so jam-packed with major narrative developments, that you might have mistaken it for an explosive finale. But no! We've still got one more week to go before the hit SYFY show closes out its sophomore outing (thankfully, a third chapter is already in production).

Sworn enemies become tentative allies, secret government installations are broken into, kids are thrown out of the comforting nest they've known all their lives, and an entire town shows just how close it can be when tragedy strikes. In short, Episode 15 represents a perfect encapsulation of what makes Resident Alien so great: larger-than-life genre hijinks counterbalanced with genuine human stories. You love to see it! Now, without any further ado, let's get to it...

**SPOILER WARNING! THIS RECAP CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR RESIDENT ALIEN SEASON 2, EPISODE 15, "BEST OF ENEMIES"**

This week's adventure begins on a rather heartbreaking note as the show rewinds the clock 28 years to the recent aftermath of the young Bachs losing their unborn child to unseen alien invaders. Despite the fact that they never got to know their baby, the young parents continue to celebrate the kid's birthday. Kind of beautiful... and also really, really, really sad. Before they can sing "Happy Birthday," however, Mrs. Bach is once again taken by the extra-terrestrials. She disappears only for a moment (at least for Peter), but it's enough time to see the baby boy she never met. It's a powerful prologue that underscores everything the Alien Tracker has dedicated his life to.

Back in present day, we learn that Mayor Ben (Levi Fiehler) has begun sleepwalking — something he did as a young boy — as a direct result of the resort-based arguments he's been having with his wife, Kate (Meredith Garretson). He's also plagued by nightmares of helplessness and starts to suspect that everyone in town is out to get him. Kate begins to question whether she's doing the right thing by opposing the mayor's plan to bring an influx of cash and tourism to Patience.

Over at the Twelvetrees abode, D'Arcy (Alice Wetterlund) has fortunately kicked her addiction to prescription painkillers. The only problem? She refuses to leave. This doesn't sit well with Asta (Sara Tomko), but Dan (Gary Farmer) doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he's just grateful that someone else is doing the cooking for once.

Even so, Asta asks her dad to give D'Arcy a nudge out of the house. Dan agrees, though things don't go according to plan and he ends up lounging around and playing video games with D'Arcy and Judy (Jenna Lamia). When a frustrated Asta confronts her father about this, he realizes that the person who needs to leave is her: it's time for his baby girl to strike out on her own. With that said, she won't be going it alone as D'Arcy agrees to be her roommate.

Asta heads down to Harry's cabin, where we learn that the Alien Tracker (Terry O'Quinn) is mercifully alive, albeit as a tied-up captive in the fake doctor's doomsday bunker he built in the Season 2 premiere. Bach explains that both he and his wife were able to visit their son, Robert, over the years, but those little meet-and-greets stopped when Harry (Alan Tudyk) cut out the tracking chip embedded in his neck. This profound sense of parental love serves as a nice counterpoint to Harry's apparent apathy for his own kin.

Realizing that Harry and the Alien Tracker can probably help one another, Asta unties Bach, who tells of a top secret military base in Wyoming that may not even be funded by the government. The once-sworn enemies form a tenuous alliance and head off to rescue Robert and the newborn alien child. Meanwhile, Deputy Liv (Elizabeth Bowen) correctly theorizes that her idol has been taken captive by an extra-terrestrial presence. There's not much she can do about it as Bach uses a caged Harry to gain access to the black site run by General McCallister (Linda Hamilton).

Their little Trojan horse plan is a rousing success: Peter handcuffs the general, downloads classified files, and frees the prisoners — while Harry searches for the baby. The base's security force converges on the scene, but Harry's got one more trick up his sleeve. Those sleeping human subjects we've briefly glimpsed throughout the season are actually the soldiers Harry subdued with his spaceship back in the Season 1 finale. With just one touch, he's able to turn them into mindless fighting machines.

Now shielded by these fleshy drones, Vanderspeigle continues on and has a hilarious exchange with the one and only Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (the Ancient Aliens personality guest starred in Season 1 and moderated the show's panel at San Diego Comic-Con back in July). Harry then finds his child, hears the rest of Goliath's message about The Greys, and comes to realize that he actually does care about the child's well-being (à la the hardened Din Djarin warming up to Grogu in The Mandalorian). Freakin' adorable!

Harry, Bach, and the baby try to make a hasty retreat when Peter realizes that his long lost son is one of the prisoners. They enjoy a criminally brief reunion when the mysterious Grey operative, Joseph (Enver Gjokaj), attempts to shoot Robert for choosing family over his duty as a lab rat for The Greys. Bach ends up taking the bullet in a final act of love for the son he chased for decades. Now filled with admiration and respect for the Alien Tracker, Harry fulfills the mission, escaping with Robert and his child.

On a dark and lonely road in Patience, a sleep-deprived Ben falls asleep at the wheel and gets into a car accident. Luckily, he emerges with no major injuries, but the near-death experience is enough to make him confront his deep-rooted insecurities about wanting everyone to like him. His worries about being the most-hated person in town turns out to be wholly unfounded when everyone — from Judy to Sheriff Mike (Corey Reynolds) — heads down to the health clinic to make sure he's alright.

New episodes of Resident Alien air on SYFY every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET before hitting the SYFY app and Peacock the following day. The hit show has already been renewed for a third season.