Compared to the zany opening episodes of previous seasons, the sixth and final season of the fantasy sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun boasts a rather innocuous opener, with alien-in-human-form Dick Solomon (John Lithgow) helping his human-in-human form fiancée Mary Albright (Jane Curtin) teach a lesson to Mary's imperious sister Renata (Megan Mullaly). In a subsequent episode, extraterrestrial scientist Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), trapped in the body of a gawky 18-year-old boy, tries to choose a college appropriate to his advanced intelligence--thus compelling Harry and his second-in-command Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnson) to interview a host of potential alien replacements for Tommy. Later still, the Solomons toy with the idea of becoming American citizens (after all, you can't get more "alien" than they already are!); a psychic threatens to reveal Dick's true identity; and the strained relationship between Mary and her overbearing mother (Elaine Stritch) becomes even more so when Dick becomes fond of the old lady. The series ends with a brace of two-part stories. In "Mary Loves Scootchie", John Cleese returns as Dick's otherworldly romantic rival Dr. Liam Neesam--only to be transformed into a monkey by the disgruntled Dick, whereupon Mary at long last figures out that her fiancée is from WAY out of town! And in the two-part series finale "The Thing That Wouldn't Die", Mary seriously considers accompanying Dick as he and the other Solomons return to their home planet, while Elvis Costello performs at the family's farewell party (Money, of course, is no object--how can Costello send a bill to a PO Box that's millions of light years away?)
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
