Resident Alien: How Much Does Liv Really Make As Deputy?

Warning: Spoilers for Resident Alien season 2, episode 3, “Girls’ Night”.

The first few episodes of Resident Alien season 2 have wisely put more focus on Deputy Liv and her personal life, and episode 3 revealed just how much she makes as a sheriff’s deputy–and it isn’t much. Understandably, Resident Alien season 1 largely centered on a few core characters: Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk), Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko), Max Hawthorne (Judah Prehn), and D’Arcy Bloom (Alice Wetterlund). While the other supporting characters certainly got their time in the sun, their personal lives weren’t really explored. This includes Elizabeth Bowen’s put-upon Liv Baker, the deputy for the town of Patience, Colorado.

Resident Alien season 2 has begun rectifying this, more fully fleshing out the supporting characters and putting more focus on their personal lives. Seeds are already being planted that Deputy Liv will grow more assertive this season and learn to ask for what she deserves. Throughout Resident Alien season 1, it was clear that she was far smarter than her boss, Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds). While well-intentioned, Sheriff Mike’s antiquated, passively sexist views kept him from valuing Liv and her contributions as she deserved until late in Resident Alien season 1. Even after their breakthrough, Resident Alien season 2 has shown there’s still a long way to go before Deputy Liv is on equal footing as Sheriff Mike.

Sheriff Mike and Patience at large undervaluing Liv finally comes somewhat to a head in Resident Alien season 2, episode 3, “Girls’ Night,” when it’s revealed how much Liv makes as the deputy sheriff. More accurately, it reveals how much she doesn’t make, as she and her girlfriends discover just how horrifically underpaid Liv is after they drunkenly let themselves into the mayor’s office. Her salary isn’t explicitly stated in the episode, but an astute Redditor took a screengrab of the sheet of Patience’s budget and determined that Liv gets paid only $22,481 a year (via Reddit). That’s an insanely low salary compared to what she should be making, especially with how long she’s been in the position. Patience may not exactly be crime-infested, but it has had multiple murder investigations (and now one missing person, Ethan, in Resident Alien season 2), and Deputy Liv plays a crucial role in it all.

By the end of the Resident Alien episode, Mayor Ben (Levi Fiehler) vows to correct the budget and give Liv a well-deserved raise, but that won’t fix the deeper issue. For starters, Ben only agrees to it in order to avoid confessing to his wife, Kate (Meredith Garretson), that D’Arcy kissed him a few weeks ago. Deputy Liv’s greatest hurdle to finally being treated as a professional and the savvy investigator and law enforcement officer she is is Sheriff Mike. Resident Alien season 2, episode 3 also doesn’t reveal how much he makes, but a conversation he has with Liv makes it clear he’s paid a hefty salary as Patience’s sheriff. Worse, when Liv finally timidly floats the idea of giving her a raise, Sheriff Mike completely ignores it.

Both Bowen and Reynolds have indicated that Deputy Liv and Sheriff Mike’s Resident Alien season 2 story will have a significant arc. Liv has to learn to be assertive and to finally stand up for herself and it seems she’s finally taking those first steps. When she lamely explains that she’s still driving an ancient and unreliable car because her husband wants to buy a new riding lawnmower, her friends point out how messed up that is, and at the end of the episode, she’s seen driving a new car. As for Sheriff Mike, Reynolds admits that while how he views Liv has changed, Resident Alien season 2 will find him doing some heavy soul-searching. “We get into his backstory and it gets pretty deep,” he explained (via Rotten Tomatoes). By the end of the season, Sheriff Mike and Deputy Liv should be in a better and more equitable place as colleagues.

Resident Alien airs new episodes Tuesdays on SyFy.

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