Resident Alien Finally Revealed Why The Greys Abduct Human Babies — And It’s For [SPOILER]?!
Resident Alien Finally Revealed Why The Greys Abduct Human Babies — And It’s For [SPOILER]?!
Of all the answers Resident Alien could have given us with regards to why the Greys abduct human babies, we did not expect the revelation provided in Season 4, Episode 6, “Soul Providers.”
Following his mysterious disappearance from the diner last week, Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) is brought before the Galactic Housing Council, which charges him with several cosmic crimes, including the theft of the Hawthornes’ infant daughter from the Greys’ secret base on Earth’s moon. According to the plaintiff, the child was an “essential” part of SHP, or the “Soul Harvesting Program,” which is exactly what it sounds like.
The Greys have created a thriving industry around the collection of souls — defined as “an immaterial consciousness with quantum correlation that gains it eternal life” — from humans because we are the only species in the universe to produce them. Baby souls make for the best product because of their “purity, untouched by life’s experiences,” goes the explanation.
A rather beautiful sentiment… until you realize what that spiritual energy is used for.
Why do the Greys abduct human babies on Resident Alien?
The Greys abduct human children and harvest their souls not to gain eternal life, but to turn the coveted substance into an anti-wrinkle cream that also doubles as a “savory dipping sauce.”
It’s the kind of brilliant, sci-fi anticlimax you’d expect from a passage in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books. A metaphysical question our species has debated for centuries is both answered and completely and audaciously turned on its head in the most mundane fashion when placed within the context of a vast and uncaring universe. The meaning of existence is 42, and human souls are worth nothing more than a cosmetic commodity.
You gotta love the chutzpah!
Alan Tudyk came up with the soul reveal gag in Resident Alien Season 4, Episode 6
“That was Alan’s idea, actually,” creator, showrunner, and executive producer Chris Sheridan told USA Insider over Zoom. “It solved some problems because we spent a lot of time trying to figure out, ‘It’s gotta be this grand thing! Where are we going with it?’ And then Alan pitched, ‘Maybe it’s just a wrinkle cream.’ It was so funny and honestly so perfect for what it is. All this work and all these abductions for some ridiculous reason seems so fitting for things today. That was Alan’s idea, and it was great.”
“This show really speaks to me,” Tudyk said. “The world that Chris has created… if you set out to create it, you’re not gonna get there, or else everybody would. [It’s a place] where you can have real interactions between characters and meaningful, touching moments, and actually say something like art should.
“Simultaneously, you can do some of the goofiest, craziest, silliest, most bizarre, gross things,” Tudyk added. “It leaves that open because of the alien [element]. They’re aliens, and since the beginning, it’s always had that ability to go completely [bonkers] because it’s all unknown. It’s anything, so after reading it, it just struck me, just because I identify with the show and what Chris has created so much. I happened to catch it.”
Season 4 of Resident Alien drops new episodes on Fridays on USA Network and SYFY. All episodes will be available to stream exclusively on Peacock one week after they air.
