I didn't know what to expect from this show. I'd been interested in it when I first saw the promos but never got around to catching an episode. By "interested," I don't necessarily mean I was in love with the concept or anything - almost more like a car wreck or something. I wondered if I would be witnessing, almost in real time, the final crash and burn of Christian Slater's ever unstable career.
I like Christian Slater. You might even consider me a fan. There was a summer in my young life when I watched "Gleaming the Cube" almost every single day (I'm still on the lookout for a DVD if anyone has a hookup!). But the man makes some strange career choices.
So, I was curious. Success or flop, I wanted to see what Slater had gotten himself into. Then, almost as soon as it started I heard it was canceled. The "Bourne Identity" and "Alias" parallels in the concept were more than a little obvious and I figured that was that. Slater had seen a quick paycheck in a project with enough familiarity for financial backing but too much cliché for longevity. The age old story of being mid-season replaced.
When I got the chance to review it, I figured “What the hell -its spies and sci-fi and Christian Slater. At its worst, it's something I've seen rehashed a million times.”
I plug in the DVD and hit Play on the first episode ... I can't say I was completely blown away, but it was a surprise how much I liked it. At first there were a handful of cliché lines in a scene of two veteran spies sleeping together - then they turn it around and you realize they're playing with you. They're using what you know of spy movies and tweaking it to give you something not as readily expected.
Then we get the Sci-Fi element - which Slater's character is a sleeper agent who leads a normal life of a dude, Henry, with a family and that he's completely unaware of his own double life.
When the agency needs him, they activate him by flipping a switch on a chip in his brain - at which point Henry goes away and Edward, the superspy, takes his place. The spin, as if you didn't see this coming from a mile away, is that Slater's "switch" is broken. So we get all those fun little moments where ultimate assassin guy has to help his daughter pick out a dress or the domesticated wiener wakes up in the middle of a firefight in Russia.
We've all seen this before, but they found some ways to make it a little more fresh. One thing is the production value. I mean, this sucker makes Alias look like the first season of "Mission: Impossible." This show looks like a summer movie all the way through. The sets are great and the lighting is top notch.
My theory is that this is actually why the show was canceled. It might have been in a meh timeslot and not been correctly marketed, but I think at the end of the day NBC looked at the production cost and the awesome cast and it was just far too expensive even in normal times, let alone our current economic slowdown.
That said, it's a far better show than most that make it on TV these days. There are fun twists all through the show - more often than not they are twists that feel organic and have real character-driven purpose instead of being there just to be there.
And speaking of characters - the characters are awesome. The cast gave me plenty of geek satisfaction. I think I'm in love with Alfre Woodard who played Slater's spy supervisor, crazy/oddly hot Saffron Burrows is Slater's shrink/lover, Taylor "Sharkboy" Lautner as Slater's son, and JAMES freakin CROMWELL as the head honcho of the agency!
And then special mention of newbie Omid Abtahi as the techie who controls the neuro-soft science stuff. But my absolute favorite character is Slater's spy partner Raymond played by Mike O'Malley. Yeah, THAT Mike O'Malley.
The comedian - the one from "Yes, Dear" – one of the absolute worst in the history of crappy TV shows! He is completely awesome in this show. When he's his civilian version he's a goof and just the fun guy at the office. But when they flip his switch he a cold, calculating, efficient killer - while managing to not be a robot. His character has all his own motives and relationships and weaknesses. It's always enjoyable when he shows up on screen.
In the middle of the series I did get a little tired of them changing Slater's character just to serve the premise - for several episodes it just got to where you know the civilian is gonna be awake during spy activities and vise versa.
That said, I found even the weakest of episodes enjoyable. They were all packed to overflowing with information. When a one-hour episode was finished you never felt cheated - never felt like it had been a "filler" episode. I don't know if I've ever seen a show that could do such a great job of balancing the "mythology" storyline with the "monster-of-the-week" conflict. And they do it in every single episode.
My one major negative for this DVD set is that there were no special features. Zero. I went through the first disc of episodes and couldn't wait to listen to a commentary or watch a Behind-The-Scenes doc but, sadly, no. Not even the promotional spots for the show. I was extremely disappointed by this.
I experienced that wonderfully awful feeling when I reach the end - a canceled show that was actually good. It is that feeling where the end credits roll and you want nothing more than to know what was going to happen to the characters.
I know they meant that last episode to be a cliffhanger, but I'm pretty sure they thought they would get to pay it off. That reflex emotion is the true test - it's what proves that you just watched a really good TV show. I completely understand not being able to afford it but it really is too bad.
My Own Worst Enemy: The Complete Series is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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