A Man. And His Blog.

So, even HUMAN TARGET does the hostage situation episode, though I think I had a déjà vu while watching it. Not only does every action series need to have their hostage situation episode, but it was a nice surprise that this episode wasn’t as boring as I thought it would be. Especially after the last two episodes, which, retrospectively, are much weaker than I thought.

It was a fast-paced episode, which was nice. From Ilsa (Indira Varma) still having troubles, after killing Lopez in the last episode, she meets up with her sister-in-law Connie (Olga Sosnovska), and the writers remind everybody of Ilsa’s loss in the season premiere: I have totally forgotten all about her dead husband and the foundation she is actually working for, so it was good that the series brings back this part of character development, and not just because it gives Ilsa some screentime as a character, instead of Chance’s (Mark Valley) annoying boss, but the episode has more of Ilsa discussing something with other people. And I always love seeing Ilsa discussing about rather uninteresting topics, when lives are at stake.

“I just got a bad feeling”, Chance says, and annoys me. Just because of a ten-second breach in the opera’s firewall, which could have been fifteen seconds, he thinks that terrorists are about to hit the opera. Of course, Chance’s feelings are never wrong, but those “twists” always stink up the room, and I don’t like when characters think that something is going to happen, just because of a pretty much ordinary thing, which happened. And the follow-up of it was even more ridiculous: Chance fights off some of the terrorists, but then Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) just sits there with a machine gun, basically being one of the terrorists, and does nothing, while Chance is out to save a day? I don’t know, but I didn’t like that at all.

The rest of the action was good though. Guerrero is finally in some danger (though I wondered why he didn’t do anything but biting somebody’s nose), the action sequence with Chance at the end, where he is fighting off some of the terrorists, while everybody is watching, was funny, and I liked that Ilsa was about to live up to the action of Chance’s job. Unfortunately, the pipe was in her way of hitting the bad guy – but it was a nice scene anyway. It’s the second episode in a row, where she learns more and more about the danger of Chance’s job, and it could serve her well in the final stage of this season (maybe the series).

The episode wasn’t really bad, but it wasn’t really good either. It was laughable though, especially the CIA office besides the opera house, and how easy it was for the terrorists to rescue the prisoner. It reminded me of the second DIE HARD movie, but in the movie, it was much more logical and not so shitty. 5.5/10

Connie and Ilsa are discussing for their lives

Now Chance has a machine gun

Fortunately this episode was completely different from the last one. Though the cliffhanger and Hector Lopez (Jordi Caballero) connected the two episodes, I was happy that the writers haven’t decided to continue the storyline around Maria and her troubles in this episode, instead made it all about the working relationship between Chance (Mark Valley) and Ilsa (Indira Varma), as well as an unimportant side plot.

It was a good episode, as good as the first three of this season. Now I’m back to hoping that the second season might be back on track and doesn’t torture me with crappy episodes like the last one or another return of Baptiste. This episode showed some good things with Chance’s an Ilsa’s arguments, while their lives were in danger, while back home, Winston (Chi McBride) and Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) were arguing while their lives were in danger. And maybe the writers just have developed Ilsa’s character a lot with the events in this episode – her annoying behavior in front of the team was starting to get old, because I already knew from the season premiere that she wasn’t understanding Chance’s job properly. maybe she dos now, after she killed Lopez.

But I still have to get angry with the writers: How the hell am I supposed to buy that Chance and Ilsa got out of the deadly woods, back to San Francisco, and into life-threatening danger again in one single night? I was wondering how Chance and Ilsa even got out of the woods, which doesn’t seem to have an exit. Somehow the whole time management of a story in an episode is completely messed up. Not everything can happen during a half of a day, so why are the writers stacking it all together, completely illogical and unbelievable? Just so they can write a scene, where Chance is saving Winston’s and Guerrero’s life again, like the whole Bangkok story? Why, oh why? Since Chance and Winston/Guerrero were separated, and the latter had to fight alone (well, with Ames [Janet Montgomery] and Harry [Tony Hale]), this episode could have shown how Winston and Guerrero are doing their things alone, without Chance’s help at all. It could have been a win-situation for the two guys, but the writers messed it up with bringing in Chance as the hero. That was just terrible.

The last couple minutes were good though, when Lopez was in Ilsa’s apartment (though it doesn’t seem logical that he found out where she lives in the same night where he wanted to kill Chance – remember: In the same night, he wanted to kill Chance in the cabin!). Ilsa killed Lopez, the scene brought some emotions, and there is probably some more friendship developing between the two. I would say ‘finally’, when the writers acknowledging the events in this episode during future episodes, but I don’t really believe in that.

And since the producers give me more scene with Ames in her underwear: Please give me more. Other than that, the episodes wouldn’t have many highlights. A solid episode, I have almost forgotten the last one. 7/10

The obvious screencap of the episode

From now on, Ilsa is a killer woman

I’m starting to have a very big problem with this show: The writing gets messier with every episode. More plot holes, bigger plot holes, inconsistent writing, and messy episodes, when it comes to the dangerous missions of Chance (Mark Valley) and his team. I have the feeling that the interactions between the characters are the only thing, which could keep the episodes entertaining on a low level. Because the rest is just shitty.

During the final conflict of the episode, I couldn’t overlook two big mistakes in the script. First: Winston (Chi McBride) firing the rocket launcher from the plane, whose rocket somehow finds its way out of the plane without hitting anything and destroying a target way off. That was a scene, where I really found myself laughing about the shittiness of coincidences in the series. The second thing: How the hell did Ilsa (Indira Varma) get to wherever the prisoner trade was happening? Probably not even an hour before Ilsa and Chance met up at the end to return to San Francisco, Ilsa called Chance to tell him that the plane is returning to SF. The hilarious thing about it: Ilsa calls from the office in San Francisco. So how did she manage to get from San Francisco to the place of events in under an hour? Did she beam herself over? Were aliens responsible for it? Is it THE EVENT NBC viewers are looking for? Dear HUMAN TARGET writers: Please read over your first drafts, before you send the scripts to the producers to be filmed, because I don’t have fun with a show, which follows one logical mistake after another. It kills the fun.

With those mistakes, I’m not even in the mood to talk about the super-average story. Chance’s girlfriend of some sorts returns, she wants to kidnap somebody, lies to everybody, and in the middle of the episode, everything is revealed in a big shocker. Or something like that. I wonder why nobody even questioned Maria’s (Leonor Varela) intentions or why nobody realized that she was lying. That she just wanted to save her husband was a story, which was actually alright, but that one hidden in some stupid twists and boring CGI action (all the flashes, when the people were shooting with their machine guns – I know those “effects” from SEVEN DAYS times, and I found them shitty back then, and it didn’t change now) couldn’t even perform a smile on my face.

The only things which could were the interactions between Ames (Janet Montgomery) and Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) (two annoying people found each other – that one is something for the love books), as well as the rowing between Chance and Ilsa, when it comes to their partnership. Or the question, if she is his boss, or just his partner. But the rest? Forget it, because it isn’t wort talking about. Well, except another bad thing: I knew before that Mark Valley isn’t the best actor of his TV generation, but I didn’t say anything about his stone face. But this time I have to say something. The scene where Chance learned what maria really was up to, when she told she was married: very, very bad acting from Valley. His anger wasn’t visible in his expressions, and it was just another laughing point of the episode.

Well, maybe the “to be continued” part. I was surprised that this episode was the first part of a two-parter. The next thing I was thinking, after the episode ended: It couldn’t save the episode, and I already know that the next episode will be as shitty as this one. That was really bad. 3/10

Winston wants to be the action hero of the hour

Guerrero still has trust issues

There is the question, if HUMAN TARGET actually needed a Christmas episode, and there is the question why I always had to think of HOME ALONE 3 during the second half and when I saw the blond villain, but bringing in some case-related humor was actually not such a bad idea. Maybe Chance (Mark Valley) should protect families more often, especially when they are like the Appelbaum’s.

The story was ridiculous of course, together with being predictable. I knew from the beginning that Joel (Taylor Boggan) was the target, when he even used his laptop in the car, so there wasn’t any thrill in the episode; the action felt kinda ridiculous too, since the villains were complete idiots and so not “in this episode”; and only the situation comedy within the family seemed to have rescued the episode. I loved the verbal fights between Richard (John Michael Higgins) and Rachel (Rebecca McFarland), or how Winston (Chi McBride) connected with Rachel (or her book club), or how even Joel’s friends reacted, when the team picked a fight with the bad guys in front of the party house. Only the little “love romance” between Joel and Jamie (Marie Avgeropoulos) felt out of place and fake, and I’ve had to laugh, when she called him an action hero – of course, because he never punched one of the guys, and the team had to do everything. Well, what love can do…

The episode didn’t really have the Christmas spirit. Again, the story didn’t need the Christmas theme, and it felt thrown into the story, just because the episode was scheduled to air around Christmas. I don’t know why Chance hated Christmas, and though his “I’m in hell”s were funny, the writers could have tried to use some character development here, explaining why he actually hates Christmas. Same with Ilsa (Indira Varma), though her way of forgetting Christmas this year were easily explained.

Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) was funny in this episode. Two times he was the janitor, and he doesn’t even want to torture himself. The writers should give him more oneliners, and more of a reason to be in the team – maybe he would be the secret success of the series later on. Furthermore, Ames (Janet Montgomery) kinda behaved way too girly in this episode. I don’t know, if it was because of hooking up Joel with Jamie, or because nobody had an idea how to bring Ames more reasonable into this episode, when the script was already about to kick out Ilsa for the most part…

Passable episode. It was funny, but nothing more. 6.5/10

Welcome to the suburbs, a.k.a. HELL

The kids are ashamed of adults fighting against each other

Well, I’m getting disappointed now. While the first three episodes of the season were interesting, it seems like the stories are getting back to the niveau of the first season: boring, riddled with plot holes, predictable. And the episode started so great and could have had an interesting story…

The story of protecting a John Doe (Roger Bart) was a good idea, and the team could have done some investigating for a change, instead of kicking too much ass or shooting their way out of a motel, but instead the whole episode was a money laundering thing, and J.D. even wanted to fake his own death (and he failed) – the twist at the end was absolutely no surprise, no shocker, and very much lame. Furthermore, why would the guys behind the guys who wanted to kill J.D. (the gang at the motel) actually take a hit on Chance (Mark Valley) and his guys, when it was still J.D. who was the target for all of his clients? Somehow the attack of the gang at the motel doesn’t fit with the money laundering business J.D. was up to at the end, or I just couldn’t connect all the dots. Or the writers didn’t want to reveal all the relevant story points (which seems ironic in a series, where the action is above the story) during the first half of the episode. No, the whole J.D. thing was confusing and inconsistent, which is why I didn’t like it.

Again, the Ilsa-part was more likable than anything else. Finally Ilsa (Indira Varma) has some screentime with Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley), but the script could have had some humor for the two during their scenes. At least Ames (Janet Montgomery) was back in this one and brought in some humor. I loved her “accident” in front of the bank, and I loved her efforts to bring out that J.D. is just faking his amnesia. And I loved the smile on her face, when she saw the money in the van.

That the episode was actually delivering some background for Winston (Chi McBride) was nice though. He has an ex-wife, he had an enemy back in the force, and he finally closed some chapters of his past. Well, it could have been more interesting, when the story was stacked in more than just money laundering, but it is always nice to learn some things from one of the characters.

Other than that not really a likable episode, similar to most episodes of the first season. Completely average. 5.5/10

Ames tries the psychological torture on J.D.

Winston is the new sheriff in town

Hm… Did the writers just treated Baptiste (Lennie James), as if he is Chance’s (Mark Valley) biggest enemy, and therefore has to be treated like such? I don’t know, but that came over way too over the top, and I never lost the feeling that Baptiste was a complete different character in this episode than he was in his appearance in season one.

The episode was alright. I wanted it to be more than just the Chance/Baptiste clash, but the writers never went out of it – sure, it brought some humor between the two hotheads, and it was interesting to watch them first, but during the middle of the episode it got just lame. And the final scene between the two, while flying back to Siberia was just lame and predictable. Though Chance’s counter offer sounded interesting at first; it doesn’t hurt when Chance has more people to work and interact with.

The whole situation in Paraguay was really lame though. The fight in the bar was childish, the fact that Susan (Wendy Glenn) was even in kickass-mode after a week of being a prisoner (and I didn’t see any reason why Esteban [Timothy Paul Perez] kept her alive), and Baptiste’s choice of helping Chance and get his watch back was lame as well as predictable. Somehow the whole middle part of the episode wasn’t working, and only the story back in San Francisco could help a bit, and not just because Ilsa was in the focus of everything.

The Norman Gene “twist” was almost genius, and I loved the comment that Guerrero’s (Jackie Earle Haley) last Norman Gene went bad, when his cousin ended up pregnant with twins. And it brought Ilsa (Indira Varma) to show her sexy (and comical) side, and Indira to show that she can handle her character. I just hope that the writers use the chance to have a bit of an ongoing storyline in here. After all, Ilsa just played a captain of the army in this episode. Either it has consequences, or she will use him a bit more often throughout the season – and not just so she has a date.

it was an average episode. Maybe Chance should have a different personal enemy. 6/10

Something just happened here...

Ilsa tries to be sexy

A solid episode. And I’m still surprised what the series has become in its second season: better, more character centric, without the over the top action, and actually with some thrill, and thanks to the new girls, even some sex.

The story was actually good. Bringing Ames (Janet Montgomery) into the focus was a nice idea, and suddenly she works much better as a character now, and letting her problems be the team’s problems (and at the end Ilsa’s [Indira Varma] problems) was nice too – I like the team interactions now, and the moments when Ilsa doesn’t realize again what a job Chance (Mark Valley) and Winston (Chi McBride) are doing every week. There is some comical timing right here, mixed with honest scenes, and I’m interested to know how long the writers can keep that up. Furthermore, having Ames’ past hunting her in a passive way (after all, just her somewhat-boyfriend/somewhat-brother returned), was the non-complicated way to get her into the story – a stereotype, but good enough for HUMAN TARGET. I just hope she will be included into the team with the future episodes, and is not just Guerrero’s (Jackie Earle Haley) ”student”, as well as Chance’s and Ilsa’s worries that the girl might be bad after all.

The heist was cool. I’ve had to laugh, when Ames had to strip down and oil up, and I loved the scenes with her in underwear (of course I did, why do I even mention that?). I just can’t believe that it was so easy to get to the diamonds (as well as that only two or three security guards were working in the museum, when the team talked about “Ford Knox” before the hit), and that it was so easy for Chance to keep his cover. I don’t really want to call that lazy writing here, but they shouldn’t have called it “Ford Knox” before – somebody must have noticed that while shooting or while reading the script beforehand, and at lest this comment about the heist could have been cut out.

That Markus (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) was such a boring villain… well, not my fault, but I liked that the team let Chicago lose, just so that he can have his own revenge. On the side I have to say I loved the fight in the office. I remembered how Chance and Winston were wondering about the windows in the office, and now the windows are all destroyed – sadly there wasn’t any comment about that, it could have made the situation more hilarious.

Yes, it was a good episode. I like this season so far. 7.5/10

There's a half-naked women in the air vent

Something's not right in this picture...

It almost looks like the second season really will be better than the first season. The addition of the female cast was the right choice – it especially gives Winston (Chi McBride) and Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) more to do, and to talk and interact with somebody. And I loved the scenes with Winston/Ilsa and Guerrero/Ames, and I would very much appreciate it, when those little stories (Ilsa [Indira Varma] questioning the past and work of Chance’s [Mark Valley], and Ames [Janet Montgomery] being the student and fake girlfriend of Guerrero’s) become something ongoing throughout the season.

The story was alright, it just had a very large plot hole: Why in hell would Donnelly (M.C. Gainey) hire Chance to protect Rebecca (Molly Parker), when he hired an assassin at the same time to kill her? During the final standoff he said that Chance has a conscience, and even though he also said that he didn’t think Chance would pull it off, I still ask myself the question, why the writing was so shitty here. There was no logic behind, except the logic was for Donnelly to make the job of assassin and protector more difficult, because he could do it and it was fun. But still stupid. Waahh.

Despite this big problem, the episode could score on another level: It took itself more serious than I was expecting, and I liked the darker tone. The story of Rebecca gave Chance another opportunity to “shine” with a troubled past, as we learn more about him, and this situation brought out some really good scenes between Winston and Ilsa. Now that Ilsa is about to understand how messy Chance’s jobs are getting sometimes, it gives her more character development, as well as some screentime with Chance (I’m kinda expecting a little affair between the two). Furthermore, I loved that Ilsa actually had a bunch of screentime (after expecting that the two new females would get less, with the writers still focusing everything on the dream team Chance/Winston/Guerrero), and she was the most interesting character in this episode. Though the back and forth between the woman, who can’t get Chance’s work, and the woman who expects for Chance to be trusted by everybody. If the writers continue to show those characteristics with the rest of the characters, HUMAN TARGET definitely deserves a third season.

The Guerrero/Ames side plot seemed a bit off though. It was part of the main arc, but it didn’t feel like it. I loved the scene in the bar, when she came in, and I loved how she talked to the lawyer, while Guerrero was torturing him, but other than that, they were literally cut off from Chance and Winston. But their relationship seems to grow to an interesting way, now that he is her “teacher”, and she smiles like a teenager in love with her crush. I hope that Ames is able to get some information out of Guerrero.I still don’t get him.

A good episode. Better than the season premiere and more promising. Keep it up! But not the reasons why Chance is on a job, because they remain illogical. 7/10

Annoyed of each other: Winston, Ilsa

Facing the villain: Rebecca, Chance

I didn’t like the first season very much, but following the (casting) news of the second season, the series built up some expectations, and maybe it really will be better than the pretty much boring and highlightless first season. Judging from this season premiere, HUMAN TARGET didn’t change much. It is just better. A bit.

Well, it was a likable episode, but the series still has the problems from the first season: I don’t care what actually happens, Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) is still Superman without any powers, and his colleagues are still just a marginal note. Winston (Chi McBride) is still the guy, who questions Chance’s actions (obviously he hasn’t learned from the first season that most of his decisions bring him to save lives?), Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) is nothing more than a character with some secrets, and it still doesn’t feel like he is with Chance’s team. The thing is: The introduction of Ilsa (Indira Varma) as Chance’s “new boss” was way more interesting than anything Winston and Guerrero were doing in the first season. And not just because Ilsa is a woman, Indira Varma pretty much hot, and her character actually interesting. I still don’t care about Guerrero (Winston at least brings some characteristic humor into the episode), but Ilsa managed me to care about her i the season premiere.

The story was alright. Ilsa is in danger, she needs the help of Chance, and everything is happily ever after at the end. Last season’s cliffhanger was resulted fast, which was good (but the writers wasted Timothy Omundson in this episode), but I was wondering why Ilsa was looking for Chance for six months, and always be in danger of her life. Or to be exact: I didn’t buy Ilsa being in danger – for that she was way too “cool” in her behavior, and never behaved like she was in danger. In addition, she never listened to Chance anyway, so why was she looking for him for six months?

Janet Montgomery got a nice introduction too. I like her character, and that she is actually more clever than Chance and his team, but behaving like a child on a sugar rush. Another thing is: I didn’t buy her fear of Guerrero. Suddenly she remembers him, and closes her life, thinking he will kill her in about a second. So, Guerrero is a bad man, but I don’t know anything about it? There is some characteristics missing, when it comes to Guerrero…

That Shelly (Rick Hoffman) would be the villain of the episode was predictable from his first second of screentime. Since his guest stint in the new Knight Rider, I always see him in villain roles, so there wasn’t much surprise there. A good thing was that the writers didn’t use the twist of Ilsa’s husband being the mastermind behind all of this. When Shelly mentioned that her husband would come to Switzerland too, I was already seeing a dead husband in front of my eyes, but at the end it was just the eye – HUMAN TARGET wasn’t predictable in this scene, and maybe it is a glimmer of hope that the writers are working on their predictability.

To cut it short: The season premiere was nice, but nothing I will remember for a long time. The two new characters got a good entrance, but the remainders are pretty much the same, and a reason why the first season bored me so much. 6/10

Chance's new girl in his life: Ilsa

Chance's other new girl in his life: Ames

The first season of FOX's action comic aired between January and April 2010.

Based on a comic book character from the DC series, the series follows the life of Christopher Chance (Mark Valley), a unique private contractor, bodyguard and security expert hired to protect his clients. Rather than taking on the target’s identity himself (as in the comic book version), he protects his clients by completely integrating himself into their lives, to become the human target. Chance is accompanied by his business partner Winston (Chi McBride) and hired gun Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley). He puts himself on the line to find the truth behind the mission. Even his own business partner Winston doesn’t know what drove him towards this ‘life’.

Episode 01: Pilot
I already reviewed the pilot episode during the (pretty much) boring midseason in January. Click here to read it. 5,5/10

Episode 02: Rewind
Surprisingly good episode, and I already was thinking the series would be quite the stereotype during the rest of the season. But Christopher’s mission of the episode was actually interesting, though it didn’t have anything to do with being a human vest for his client, instead of being the lifesaver of a few dozen people. But the action was nice, the episode had suspense and Christopher’s lady enemy Laura (Courtney Ford) was an interesting character and I wished that she would have listened to Christopher instead of looking directly into death’s face. By the way: The fight scene between the two was kinda ridiculous and the physics again not present in that scene. And I had to laugh about the plane being flipped, though it looked very nice.
That Winston was with Christopher on this field trip was nice, so the writers had to fill some minutes with character interaction. Only Guerrero is missing some screentime.
But for now I was surprised how good this episode was. 7,5/10

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