Last week I wrote about how much I enjoyed the season two premiere of Human Target. While I acknowledged that there was room for screwing it up, I thought the dynamic between the trio and the new female characters in that episode worked. This week, I’m feeling a little bit worried, because I just don’t see why we needed the new dynamic, at least in the direction it took in “The Wife’s Tale” tonight.
There was so much focus on the interplay between Winston/Ilsa and Guerrero/Ames that the chemistry perfection of the male trio was gone. Chance didn’t really have a chance to interplay with anyone, and his chemistry with the female guest star didn’t sparkle. I wasn’t sure it was possible for Mark Valley to lack chemistry with anyone until tonight.
Guerrero is still the pillar of awesomeness that he always was, and Winston has stayed pretty true to character as well. But what happened to the Chance that shot through water from the bottom of a pool to hold an entire room hostage? I think this episode has castrated him. I need some superhuman Jack Bauer / MacGyver moves from Chance pronto. And no, turning a fire extinguisher into a flame thrower doesn’t really count. The season one Chance was the perfect role for Mark Valley — even better than Keen Eddie. Aw, FOX, don’t waste what you created.
And what of the bromance between Chance and Winston? It was so downplayed tonight. I feel like Julia, longing for more Arthur / Merlin scenes.
One more complaint — this storyline seemed so typical compared to the clever turns the plots took last season. This plot line could have been on any action/adventure show. Even if the plots were typical last season, Chance and the trio would make them feel like they weren’t. This felt typical.
Back, for a moment, to Guerrero’s awesomeness:
And other things:
Is it just me? I don’t want to worship at the altar of just Guerrero — I want my trio back.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Nov 24, 2010 @ 21:00 EST5EDT
Your right, Ilsa’s presence is annoying. Everytime she was on screen, it took me out of the show. She needs to die and fast, even the missus thought she took away from the show. Now why was she added. I do worship at the altar of Guerrero, he is just soo awesome, even the new girl, Ames could not make him look bad. I did miss the torture parts we had last week between the two. She seems to be the perfect person for Guerrero to terrorize. So Far she seems an ok addition but we will see. At least she does not make me want to kill myself like Ilsa does. As for Winston, he is stuck with Ilsa and he suffers from it. Please let him have the pleasure of putting a bullet in her head. he deserves that much… Also The female guest star this week was really bad, I wanted her to get killed so badly. All in all I enjoyed most the ep instead of all of it like last season.
I completely agree with your review.
I love that Guerrero is still a pillar of awesome, although I’m beginning to wish he’d use his tackle box on Ames instead of opening a tab for her, but I want the trio back too.
I was optimistic about Ilsa and on the fence about Ames during the premiere, which I enjoyed, but this week I felt like I was just waiting for the Guerrero scenes and even those were marred by the little brat. Perhaps I’ve been watching too much Leverage, but I can’t help thinking that if they gave us a better look at Ames’ magic thief powers beyond the smalltime lifting of a wallet she’s been doing, I’d be more inclined to understand the motivation behind taking her on. At the moment the writers are telling instead of showing and it just makes her a poorly written character and I struggle to understand why a trio of guys who are very good at their jobs would keep someone like her around. At least with Ilsa we know it’s about the money!
I don’t know about better than Keen Eddie but certainly better than Boston Legal.
*POST AUTHOR*
You’re right — Keen Eddie will always be my favorite Mark Valley role, but I do think Christopher Chance allows him to showcase his strengths even better than Eddie did. The piece of nearly superhuman powers that Chance has (or had last season) so perfectly fits Valley and I love it.
Debbie thanks for clacking all of these forums. It’s obvious that you are a real fan. Unfortunately, the death knell has sounded for Human Target based upon the offseason changes to the show. It was a great first season, wasn’t it? The really great series like Criminal Minds, Law and Order and NCIS are very careful about adding characters and replacing characters. They allow us to totally identify with them before they make any drastic changes. And they never replace a brilliant music theme.
This is a tragedy in the making.