Last month, I published an enthusiastic review of Human Target's pilot, and promised I would offer more thoughts about FOX's new series. Here they are. While FOX seems to be promoting it quite a bit, they're also up to their old tricks re: genre television. It took 5 episodes before the show was on the air on the same day and time twice in a row. keep saying "on its regular night and time", FOX. Maybe one day I'll believe it. Now we're five episodes in, and it remains the one hour of television I can't miss each week (I've just quit 24). The problems inherent to the pilot are still present - the score is all over the place and there's little connection to the comic book character it's based on - but as long as there's a cool stunt and a cool fight in each episode, I think I'll be satisfied.
Human Target could have been very formulaic. Start each episode with the client, and so on, as per the pilot, but only this week's "Run" uses the formula. Rewind is a storytelling puzzle that starts in medias res and flashes back to how the mission started. Embassy Row doesn't have a client per se. Sanctuary has a voice-over from Winston. The show is playing around with formats, keeping things fresh from episode to episode as it tries to find its true voice. Each episode stands on its own, but there's an arc running through that may set things up for the finale. Who is Christopher Chance? What did he really do before Winston recruited him and what was he saved from? Who was the girl whose death he caused? Who is now after him? We get just enough to keep it interesting without turning the show into one of those "you missed one, you can't follow" thrillers. And I certainly don't mean to make Human Target sound like more than it is - a rollercoaster bubblegum tongue-in-cheek action show. Hightlights:
Rewind
Chance must protect a hacker with the keys to the internet, but he doesn't know what he/she looks like. He only knows he/she's on a specific plane, along with a couple of assassins. Can he save the hacker AND an assassin's soul at 35,000 feet? It's built like a disaster movie, with Murphy's Law firmly in place.
Cool fights: Human Target's fight choreographer seems to like close quarters fighting. From the air duct in the pilot we go to the back of a plane, and then the wheels hanger of said plane.
Crazy stunts: Chance turns a plane upside down to blow out a fire.
Crazy Guerrero: Already has all of Winston's passwords.
Embassy Row
Infected by a biological weapon, Chance must beat the clock at a Russian embassy function. He has the help of a sexy FBI agent with recurring character potential, and not so much help from the Russkies.
Cool fights: Chance's fight with Emma is the best tango moment I've seen since True Lies.
Crazy stunts: On purpose, Chance rams a motorcycle into a car, throwing himself and Emma, handcuffed together, off onto the soft grass... unharmed!
Crazy Guerrero: packs a defibrillator.
Sanctuary
This is just about where it all starts looking like British Columbia (it is) despite the fact we're meant to be in the Appalachians. Human Target goes Relic Hunter in a monastery in an attempt to save a reforming thief from his associates. It'll remain famous on the blogosphere for a scene in which said thief explains Crisis in Infinite Earths as a religious allegory to the monks.
Cool fights: In a cable-car.
Crazy stunts: Ziplining down to that cable car.
Crazy Guerrero: "Did you just flip a COIN?" (Disarming bombs the Guerrero way). Plus: Acting like he'll betray Chance to the mystery baddies before putting a cap in their ass.
Run
An army of crooked cops tries to take down an assistant D.A. before her mobster father can give her evidence against them. Mark Valley hasn't lost his touch for playing lawyers. Includes a cool Cigarette Smoking Man cameo!
Cool fights: More close quarters fighting as Chance and the crooked cops battle it out in a moving car. A pretty sweet sequence.
Crazy stunts: Same bit.
Crazy Guerrero: "You caught me at a good time. Just finished shampooing out the trunk of my car."
Next... Looks like Human target does Prison Break.
Human Target could have been very formulaic. Start each episode with the client, and so on, as per the pilot, but only this week's "Run" uses the formula. Rewind is a storytelling puzzle that starts in medias res and flashes back to how the mission started. Embassy Row doesn't have a client per se. Sanctuary has a voice-over from Winston. The show is playing around with formats, keeping things fresh from episode to episode as it tries to find its true voice. Each episode stands on its own, but there's an arc running through that may set things up for the finale. Who is Christopher Chance? What did he really do before Winston recruited him and what was he saved from? Who was the girl whose death he caused? Who is now after him? We get just enough to keep it interesting without turning the show into one of those "you missed one, you can't follow" thrillers. And I certainly don't mean to make Human Target sound like more than it is - a rollercoaster bubblegum tongue-in-cheek action show. Hightlights:
Rewind
Chance must protect a hacker with the keys to the internet, but he doesn't know what he/she looks like. He only knows he/she's on a specific plane, along with a couple of assassins. Can he save the hacker AND an assassin's soul at 35,000 feet? It's built like a disaster movie, with Murphy's Law firmly in place.Cool fights: Human Target's fight choreographer seems to like close quarters fighting. From the air duct in the pilot we go to the back of a plane, and then the wheels hanger of said plane.
Crazy stunts: Chance turns a plane upside down to blow out a fire.
Crazy Guerrero: Already has all of Winston's passwords.
Embassy Row
Infected by a biological weapon, Chance must beat the clock at a Russian embassy function. He has the help of a sexy FBI agent with recurring character potential, and not so much help from the Russkies.Cool fights: Chance's fight with Emma is the best tango moment I've seen since True Lies.
Crazy stunts: On purpose, Chance rams a motorcycle into a car, throwing himself and Emma, handcuffed together, off onto the soft grass... unharmed!
Crazy Guerrero: packs a defibrillator.
Sanctuary
This is just about where it all starts looking like British Columbia (it is) despite the fact we're meant to be in the Appalachians. Human Target goes Relic Hunter in a monastery in an attempt to save a reforming thief from his associates. It'll remain famous on the blogosphere for a scene in which said thief explains Crisis in Infinite Earths as a religious allegory to the monks.Cool fights: In a cable-car.
Crazy stunts: Ziplining down to that cable car.
Crazy Guerrero: "Did you just flip a COIN?" (Disarming bombs the Guerrero way). Plus: Acting like he'll betray Chance to the mystery baddies before putting a cap in their ass.
Run
An army of crooked cops tries to take down an assistant D.A. before her mobster father can give her evidence against them. Mark Valley hasn't lost his touch for playing lawyers. Includes a cool Cigarette Smoking Man cameo!Cool fights: More close quarters fighting as Chance and the crooked cops battle it out in a moving car. A pretty sweet sequence.
Crazy stunts: Same bit.
Crazy Guerrero: "You caught me at a good time. Just finished shampooing out the trunk of my car."
Next... Looks like Human target does Prison Break.
Comments
I just wish Fox would settle on a regular day/time. They've always been terrible at scheduling. I'm worried that, as a result, this show will go the way of Firefly and Wonderfalls. :-\
Great review, Siskoid.
There'll be more Human Target on this site... both in tv and comic form. STAY TUNED!