In last week’s pilot episode we discovered the nature of Harry’s mission to earth – to wipe out the human race. Despite his obvious fascination with us, and the beginnings of a friendship with Asta, he doesn’t seem to be in the slightest bit reluctant to carry this out.

He can’t do much about that yet as his ship is still buried somewhere under mountains of snow, so in the meantime he has to get on with his day job as the town’s new doctor. As with last week there’s much hilarity to be had at Harry’s expense, as his unfamiliarity with human physiognomy causes any number of faux pas, especially involving his female patients. One notable patient is Max, son of the town’s mayor, who sees Harry as he really is. Harry’s determination to murder a child doesn’t sound like the stuff of comedy, but it’s an amusing ongoing thread that absolutely works, largely due to the performances of Alan Tudyk and Judah Prehn, rather adorable as the frightened but resolute Max. The editing and direction (by Robert Duncan MacNeill, Star Trek Voyager’s Tom Paris and now a very experienced director) are also spot on for the comic sequences here.

Outside of work Harry goes on his first date, a bowling session with bar owner D’Arcy (People of Earth’s Alice Wetterlund) and unsurprisingly his attempt at a strike, for all his mathematical knowledge, does not go as planned. We also have a couple of amusing flashbacks to Harry’s first days on Earth, as he tries to learn how to control his “new” body. The sequence involving a cow had me laughing longer and harder than I can remember, one of a number of “spit out your drink” comic moments here. As I noted last time, it’s really rather remarkable that a show which is comical rather than overtly a comedy (if that distinction makes sense) manages to be far funnier than most sitcoms.

There’s a distinct change in tone in scenes involving Asta Twelvetrees, as she continues to mourn her boss, the town’s murdered doctor, and we discover their relationship ran rather deeper than just employer and employee. Sara Tomko continues to impress in this largely dramatic part – in fact with the possible exception of Elizabeth Bowen’s deputy sheriff all the female characters are written and played more or less dead straight, most of the comedy being reserved for Harry and Cory Reynold’s ridiculous sheriff “Big Black”. It’s an interesting approach which probably helps ground the town and its inhabitants in reality and makes Harry’s intention to wipe them all out all the more intriguing. I worry slightly that this will go down the route of the emotionless alien learning to love but with the credentials of those involved I suspect, and hope, this will play out rather more cleverly even if we’re in no doubt he won’t actually carry out his mission..

Verdict: Belly laughs aplenty sit alongside some dramatic developments this week. Once again I can’t wait to see where this goes 8/10

Andy Smith