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After D’arcy’s (Alice Wetterlund) portal closes in the previous episode, Galactic Federation representative and Blue Avian alien Heather (Edi Patterson) is forced to stick around Patience. Luckily for Harry (Alan Tudyk), this now means his dream girl — since Blue Avians are the most desired of alien species, per his assessment — is sticking around. Cue Harry’s awkward attempts to earn her adoration right back!

Imagine the universe just dropped your perfect dream person right in your lap, and you find out that they don’t like you that way. Welcome to Harry (Alan Tudyk) the alien’s hell in this week’s Resident Alien episode, “Avian Flu.”  

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Alan Tudyk is delighted to play Harry as a metaphorical teenager this season

Alan Tudyk told SYFY WIRE that getting to play this side of Harry has been nothing short of fantastic. “He’s kind of a teenager this season,” he said of Harry’s human emotional space this year. “He falls in love for the first time. And like it was for me when I was a teenager, those feelings come on very strong.”

With Heather, Tudyk said that Harry now has an alien peer amongst his exclusively human friends. “And it becomes romantic so he has an equal suddenly. Not just an equal, she’s above him. She’s an avian. They’re the most beautiful aliens. And they can relate to one another. They’ve seen the same TV commercials, or whatever the commercials are for moldar skins…’Try and rip it, you can not.'” the actor sang with glee.

“And there’s the Trixian saliva bed,” Tudyk continued. “We’re hearing stuff that nobody would ever ask Harry about, and wouldn’t be able to relate to Harry on that level. It’s a fun journey that he has with Heather and Edi Patterson is a joy to work with.”

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In fact, comedian and actress Edi Patterson was hand-picked by Tudyk to improv their way through Harry’s first love. “She’s so next level,” Tudyk enthused about his scene partner. “I did an improv show with her as a guest at Groundlings, where we met. We didn’t talk after that. But in my head I was like, ‘Funniest person I’ve met here in Los Angeles.’ So, when this came along, I suggested her and she was up for it.”

Showrunner Chris Sheridan picks his favorite scene in “Avian Flu”

It’s all fun and games until someone gets their heart broken, as evidenced when Harry has Max (Judah Prehn) drop a “do you like me?” note with Heather to gauge her interest in him. But as a visitor to Earth, Heather says it’s not feasible to try anything, and they would be better friends.

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Showrunner Chris Sheridan said that watching Harry’s heart shatter into a million pieces is an “incredible scene” because of the way Alan Tudyk plays it. “The only thing sadder than someone crying is someone trying not to cry because there’s something so real about that,” Sheridan said. “It’s all Alan, but it’s also Edi. I didn’t expect this, but you could tell that she wanted to say yes, but couldn’t. She was breaking a little bit too as she was trying to be the adult, as he was breaking in half.”

Sheridan continued, “That vulnerability is, to be honest, the reason why Alan was perfect for this role from the beginning. No matter how funny he is, there’s a human in there. There’s a vulnerability and a childlike way that he looks at the world and that all came through. In that moment in particular, it was pretty mind-blowing to watch that. That’s how you get sucked into these characters entirely.”

Resident Alien is currently in the midst of its third season, with new episodes airing on Wednesdays at 10/9c on SYFY, and streaming next day on Peacock.