Robert N EmersonThoughts on NBC's My Own Worst Enemy
October 15th 2008 08:30
Now I'll readily admit that I've been a Christian Slater mark for years, not only do I own a copy of Pump up the Volume, but I swear by Heathers on a fairly regular basis. So, imagine my surprise, when I hear that Christian Slater has his own series, in which he plays a spy with purposefully induced split personality disorder. More so, when you look at the whole concept and realize that it is a play off of Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde, it becomes even more enjoyable.
During the first episode we're introduced first to Edward, the suave spy who applies his talents in cold, quick fashion. After his mission we're introduced to whom he works for, although they're not identified with a known agency, and then comes Henry. It becomes obvious, quickly, that Henry has no idea about his other life, as well as given an insight into the methods of splitting our spy into another, domestic personality. So far, a pretty good concept with moderately nice execution.
But, we quickly come to the idiot moments that show a forced moment, or two, in the script. They're idiot moments because we're expected to believe that competent people, skilled folk who are capable of making the right choices, each and every time. It is just hard on the viewer, I think, to go from these being the folks who will save the world to the fact that they're idiots who don't think five seconds ahead.
When Henry is reading a book, Edward somehow wakes up, which he is suppose to be "asleep", and we're shown the organizations techie playing World of Warcraft, at work, on a high tech government computer. Umm, no, but that's not the idiot point. The first real idiot point is how they send Edward out on an operation, even though they've no idea as to why his programming is failing, and, low and behold, it fails on the operation and, thus, Henry is captured and interrogated before being rescued by a retrieval team.
So, okay, we've seen one idiot moment, it should be okay, but then they follow it up by putting Henry in Edward's apartment without supervision. I mean, seriously, you just let the broken Manchurian Candidate hangout in his real personality's house? Henry then leaves, in Edward's care, after reading about Edward's real-life.
However, once we're past this sticking point, we get to the good meat of the show and its concept, which is these two separate personalities sharing the same body, potentially even life. Although Edward is the original persona, Henry is a strong personality, too.
Anyhow, judge for yourself and give My Own Worst Enemy a shot, see where it goes, as I plan to.
During the first episode we're introduced first to Edward, the suave spy who applies his talents in cold, quick fashion. After his mission we're introduced to whom he works for, although they're not identified with a known agency, and then comes Henry. It becomes obvious, quickly, that Henry has no idea about his other life, as well as given an insight into the methods of splitting our spy into another, domestic personality. So far, a pretty good concept with moderately nice execution.
But, we quickly come to the idiot moments that show a forced moment, or two, in the script. They're idiot moments because we're expected to believe that competent people, skilled folk who are capable of making the right choices, each and every time. It is just hard on the viewer, I think, to go from these being the folks who will save the world to the fact that they're idiots who don't think five seconds ahead.
When Henry is reading a book, Edward somehow wakes up, which he is suppose to be "asleep", and we're shown the organizations techie playing World of Warcraft, at work, on a high tech government computer. Umm, no, but that's not the idiot point. The first real idiot point is how they send Edward out on an operation, even though they've no idea as to why his programming is failing, and, low and behold, it fails on the operation and, thus, Henry is captured and interrogated before being rescued by a retrieval team.
So, okay, we've seen one idiot moment, it should be okay, but then they follow it up by putting Henry in Edward's apartment without supervision. I mean, seriously, you just let the broken Manchurian Candidate hangout in his real personality's house? Henry then leaves, in Edward's care, after reading about Edward's real-life.
However, once we're past this sticking point, we get to the good meat of the show and its concept, which is these two separate personalities sharing the same body, potentially even life. Although Edward is the original persona, Henry is a strong personality, too.
Anyhow, judge for yourself and give My Own Worst Enemy a shot, see where it goes, as I plan to.
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