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by A.J. Black
Mia is reunited with a face from her past when she attempts to find out who murdered a werewolf courier, and Jai’s continued thirst for revenge leads him to go off book from the DSR...
So back in action with the DSR crew then - and oh dear, within a few moments Jai is once again channelling the spirit of Sawyer, in disguise as a smooth Texan gambler at an upmarket casino. Typecasting with VS actors is never an easy thing to shake off, but DSR really isn't doing itself any favours here! Anyway - I hate starting with a negative, so let's press on with the Teaser. And it's one of those 'hero in a cliffhanger - flashback a few days' kind of scenarios. I love me some of those. We continue as we flash back 72 hours to a mission briefing, where a border incident involving a Lupan, or werewolf, has aroused the DSR's interest. The casual way the Lupans are mentioned sucks some of the impact out of it - and it would have made a much bigger surprise later when we (or rather Jai, who misses that part of the briefing) learn what 'Lupans' really are. Julian Leesen, the murdered Lupan contact, was part of a clan that included somebody called Rhindhart, a name that seems to have 'history' with Mia. A similarly off-handed mention of vampires again feels underplayed, but there's hints that we're going to learn some more about Mia in this episode, which is good. She was one of the characters who stood out in the pilot (along with Anton), so let's see what her story is!
Act I opens as Ethan confronts Jai about his apparent lack of commitment on the firing range, with Sawyer - sorry, Jai - telling Ethan to stick it in no uncertain terms. You have to agree with Ethan's point here - and also start to realise that we're not really liking this guy who's meant to be our hero all that much! He does seem to like Mia, though, offering to help her on her mission to the Lupans (and seeming remarkably au fait with the concept of werewolves), and that develops a nice sense of camaraderie as Mia gets ready to head out and confront her unfinished business. Mia moves into a DSR-owened morgue, the flickering lighting setting up that Underworld vibe once more, and there's a neat moment as Mia makes a point of calling Leesen by his name, obviously on edge by Dr. Kresak's 'just another body' attitude. Big missed trick with the visual of the werewolf's body, though - don't we get given any idea what it looks like? Same as when vampires storm the morgue - there's a sweet little fight as Mia battles them, but there's a big hole in the visuals here, courtesy of the mis-focused stage direction. And since when do vampires die from being shot in the back? Anyway. Back at PBH (Project Black Hole), Jai is off on another one of those 'I'm an intense guy, I need to go sort out my issues' trips, and the leeway Kendall is allowing him is obviously a sore point among the others. Kendall's almost paternal attitude towards Jai is a nice dynamic - it feels like Kendall also has a beef with this Glissman character and sees Jai as his best chance to get even, and that's bound to lead to some good old fashioned judgement clouding down the line! We end with the captive Mia seeing Rhindhart once again.
Act II gives Rhindhart the Exposition Hat - Lessen was working for him, sent to get a list of the personnel of Res Vadek, a powerful local vampire and somebody Rhindhart would obviously like to get his claws into. With the information decrypted, Rhindhart has a location for where Vadek is keeping his troops, and now it's clobberin' time! Seems that Rhindhart is pulling this stunt on his own initiative, though. There's a hint at a bigger political picture here that seems intriguing - the politics between the vampires and werewolves was a clever part of the story to the Underworld movies, and that's clearly been an influence here. Which, to me, is A Good Thing. Layers are good, people. Rhindhart ships out and leaves Mia behind, and you can't help but like this guy despite that. Everybody loves an antihero, after all! Back at PBH, Ethan learsn to his concern that Jai has rerouted a surveillance satellite to keep tabs on Glissman's forces, something Ethan stomps into Kendall's office to complain about but finds Carson instead. Ethan's meek exit in the face of Carson tells us a lot about her - but doesn't give much insight into how Carson feels about Jai's order one way or the other. Which is also good. Mia is struggling to get free (and do Americans know what Smarties are?), sending a distress signal back to Sara, still doing her Female Marshall thing. With Ethan and Carson now pulling the same 'Where the hell is Jai?' face, we catch up to the man himself, visiting a hospital in Reno - and finding Kendall waiting for him. Jai's visiting the still-comatose Connor, with a nice exchange about his leadership between him and Kendall before they're called back to PBH. One quick time delay rescue later, and the reuinted team catch up to Rhindhart - and it looks like he took out Vadek's forces without too much trouble!
Act III feeds us some more info on the vampire race, with the facility raided by Rhindhart proving to be built for genetic research. According to Sara's decoding, seems the vamps have created a drug that has allowed them to breed some of their most famous weaknesses out of their system over the generations, making them more human than monster by the sounds of it. Which begs the question - what makes them vampires any more, then? There's another mention of this mysterious Brotherhood, some kind of vampire hierarchy who have been producing the vamp supressant drug. Seems Vadek was playing with the properties of the drug - presumably to find a way to bring the more violent vampire habits back into their DNA - and with another of Carson's now frequent 'I don't like you, Jai Shaw' moments, we move back to Vadek's genetic facility. Rhindhart suggests playing on Vadek's love of the ladies to get inside, so Mia is forced to tart herself up to get access to his heavily guarded mansion. Over at PBH, Kendall again sticks up for Jai to Carson, while Jai's gamble with the surveillance pays off, as Vadek was recently seen meeting members of the Ahnenerbe! Jai gets a little glint in his eye at the prospect of opening up a big ol' can of some old school whup ass.
Act IV has Mia getting a location for the start of Vadek's move into US territory, when Rhindhart pulls a double cross - he wants to be the one who takes down Vadek, sending his boys in to raid the villa. It's nicely in character to pull a stunt like that, though, so marks for that. The team reconvene and we cut to the same Texan casino we opened on, with Jai currently AWOL. Jai's already at the casino, having followed his own lead to get there, and starts channelling Sawyer once again as he swans around, looking for Vadek. Vadek's got a lab full of supervamps downstairs, but doesn't get much chance to settle in before Jai bursts in to his private sanctum - but now we see that the gun against his head belongs to Mia. Good twist, well set up from the start. Jai and Vadek fight, and Jai stakes him - seeming again to be pretty open-minded to the concept of vampires, particularly how to kill them. Is this guy a closet Buffy fan or something? Rhindhart gets ready to nuke the genetic lab hidden beneath the casino, and despite getting the drop on him Mia lets him go. The hints at a deep backstory between these two is very juicy, and as Rhindhart skips out you're already looking forward to seeing the guy again. Back at PBH, Kendall debriefs Jai - or more accurately shouts at him for killing Vadek - and Jai's character shows signs of cracks as he admits he'll try being a better leader. Shouldn't he be turning on his heel and marching out of the office? His stated intent to try harder seems very out of character from what we've seen of him thus far. Jai's a loose cannon who has no problem breaking the rules to get his man, it should take more than Kendall's Disappointed Father act to get him to change his spots! As Ethan and Carson plot to oust Jai from active service, we leave on Mia, thinking back to whatever the hell went down in Basra with Rhindhart. I look forward to finding out - she's an interesting character who clearly has a lot of hidden depths to be mined.
So let's take a look back at 1x02. A neat little story is shot in the foot by it's underwhelming treatment of the whole vampires and werewolves mythos, sucking all the atmosphere out of the story and leaving you feeling distinctly unimpressed with the whole thing. Jai Shaw should be our Everyman, an outsider brought into this fantastical world, and his reactions to what he encounters should mirror our own, allowing the writers to introduce the new races and characters their own way and build up more of an air of intrigue about them. Instead, Jai deadpans his way through the revelations that vamps and wolves are running round our planet, and this leaves, you, the reader, feeling similarly apathetic about them. And that's a real shame - Rhindhart's an excellent character, and the clues towards Mia's backstory continues to make her stand out, as does the growing political machinations between Ethan and Carson. So while there are good points to this story, the execution kicks it in the nuts and throws it down the stairs and spoils the whole episode. The DSR has the potential to be a much better show than it actually is at the moment - the scope for development in both characters and setting is excellent, but it really needs to start tackling its own universe more effectively to start reaping the benefits of its rich backdrop.
ZPM RATING:
by Brian L. Lamkin & Alden C. Caele
Having been dragged off to Miami with Sam, Gabe tries to forget about all of his issues back in Crestview and have some fun, for once. Meanwhile, back home, Anna frets over her MIA son and begins plans to move James and Parker into their home. In Los Angeles, Mark catches up with Maddox, who's settling in at his brother's place.
Pathways has quickly amassed a big fanbase on MZP, sparking off a slew of new dramas and filling the void left behind by Between The Walls as the network's resident lead drama series. Focusing on the misadvantures of Californian teen Gabe Jones, a new arrival in the town of Crestview along with his mother Anna, Gabe's something of a misfit but the fact that he's gay certainly doesn't help matters! I drifted through the events of the first season just through my involvment with posting episodes over at MZP, so 2x01 will mark the first episode I've officially read. From what I've gathered, Gabe managed to get a sort of relationship going with fellow student Dominic, but after an incident with his estranged father he ran off to Miami with the irrepressible Sam, and that's where Season One ended.
This episode opens with Anna at home, clutching a phone and obviously still trying to reach Gabe, whose courtesy call quickly escalates into a classic 'I can't believe you left! Come home this instant, young man!' confrontation with her. Seems like it's going to take a while for this little escapade to be forgotten, but already there's a good feel to these characters. They have well defined, flowing voices and the series seems to be full of confidence in itself, so let's push on and see where this goes.
Act I reunites Anna with James, a local father to Parker (who I understand is Gabe's nemesis) and also her boyfriend, which sounds like an interesting character dynamic to set up! James is pitching in to help locate Gabe, who he obviously cares for, but as we switch over to Miami and find Gabe lounging by the pool with Sam, it's clear Gabe isn't anywhere near as troubled by his impromptu road trip as his mother is. This speaks volumes about the character already - and is, to be honest, pretty realistic. Nothing galls me more than character-driven dramas where people refuse to act like real people. Real people make mistakes. They make bad judgement calls and then try to push through it. Flawed characters make for much better reading! The two boys are both getting through their respective issues (Gabe's dad and Sam's recent breakup) in their own way, Gabe marking himself out as 'The Responsible One' despite Sam doing his best to bring out Gabe's more playful side with a bit of scoping of the local talent. We cut scenes to Julie, Sam's best friend and someone else he recently fought with, trying to call on him to apologise but finding Sam off in Miami. Next up is Mark, settling in as a waiter in a neatly comic scene where he single-handedly keeps the floor running as his manager waffles on obliviously to him, another little 'here's all the main characters from last season for the benefit of new audiences' moment. The last one comes as Gabe's sort-of boyfriend Dominic calls round, giving Anna a chance to play Neurotic Mom again and Dominic to put on his Little Boy Lost face. With everybody introduced, I'm impressed by how smoothly things have gone thus far - we've managed to re-introduce every lead character, give us a good example of how they think and act and lead us into Act II already feeling at home in amongst the various relationships and plotlines carrying into this series. Good writing. Me likey.
Act II has two seet little conversations between Parker and Julie (with Julie an impatient, bossy girl and Parker something of a homophobe) and Anna and James (who manage to not be the sickly Older Couple and even poke fun at themselves), demonstrating the snappy, fresh dialogue that is obviously a selling point of this series. From what I know of Brian's work on Slayer Academy, this is a definite talent of his, and it's doing an admittedly simple story great justice here, livening up what could otherwise be dull talking head sequences. Gabe's squeamishness at the vibrant gay club he's dragged to is another little moment that helps flesh him out, and we end with Mark being summoned to Los Angeles by Maddox, who I understand is a popular character at Brighton Academy. This is presumably a bigger deal than the script makes out, as we close on Mark's stunned silence.
In Act III, Anna's attempts to lose herself in her job lead to some new, random ideas about expanding her practice, as James and Parker have a little face off - Parker is clearly not happy about moving to the Jones household, and James' attempt to put his foot down doesn't get much response beyond a stereotypical 'Fine!' and a slammed door. Kids, eh? There's an interesting exchange between Maddox and Mark where I discover there was an 'incident' between them, the recollection of this soured by the news Maddox is back with his ex. Mark takes the news bravely, but you can pratically hear the violins playing as we leave the duo. Next up is Charlie, establishing that she and Julie have been fighting over Parker for a while - and that Sam is in love with Julie! Interesting... and the kind of typically tangled emotinal state of affairs that high school kids find themselves in every day. The Act closes with Gabe and Sam still enjoying the holiday, with an obvious strong bond between them that I'm still trying to get a handle on - it seems like Sam is the Yoda to Gabe's Luke here, showing him the wider world of what it means to be gay in the modern world as Gabe is one of those awkward, nonconfident kinds of gay guys. It's sweet, really.
Act IV brings in another face, a snotty girl called Kaia who appears to have some history with Parker and delights in flirting with and teasing him, but Parker's having none of it. At least, he acts like he's having none of it - there's a clear attraction to her whether he wants to admit it or not. Mark and Maddox say their sad goodbyes, which again helps to flesh out Mark as the loveable loser of the ensemble, and Julie cries to her mother about her troubles. Aww. There there. Gabe visits Dominic in hospital as he sits with somebody called Eddie (who I'll have to find out about), and the two have their first proper couple-y moment that should keep the shippers happy for a bit longer, before Gabe arrives back home at last. We fade out on a well-timed moment of silence between them both, which seems like a good way to end the full circle of Gabe's journey right now.
So, what to think? Well, there's no doubting the writing of Brian and Alden here, operating inside a well-defined universe with a slew of varied characters, all of whom possessing strong, distinct characters and voices and making their way through the complicated amalgamut of emotions and traumas that is life at high school. The sparkling dialogue can't hide the fact that what we essentially have is a sequence of talking heads sequences, however hard you try to absorb yourself in what's going on. Credit must be given for introducing so many characters so effectively in a short space of time, as well as re-establishing so many plotlines so that you know pretty much all about what's going on in the space of one episode, but in a way that's what lets the story down a little. Very little actually happens, mainly because there's so darn much to set up again - though I recognise this is a common problem in season openers of ensemble cast drama series. There's a lot to get through and that leaves little room for actual story, so after the set up of this episode I'm expecting more focused storytelling from now on. This is an engaging show with a three-dimensional cast and some great writing in its favour, so I'm hoping to see things improve now the introductions are out of the way.
ZPM RATING:
by Jordan Hyman
Quint's journey begins in Hannibal, Missouri, when he helps protect a young woman from an old enemy.
There's been all manner of buzz about this strange new show building up on MZP, mainly to the point that it's a purposefully abstract show following a young man, Quint Burroughs, taking a road trip through Middle America in search of his missing family. Very Lynchian, peppered with double meanings, metaphors, cryptic dialogue and no doubt a few red herrings, let's see what this blend of the roadtrip madness of Fear & Loathing and the small town kookiness of Twin Peaks can come up with!
Oh, and be warned - this is a 100 page script so this review will be suitably mammoth as a result. Y'all have been warned, and stuff.
With a brief yet inventive Teaser showing Quint burning down his house and starting his journey in reverse (and yes, I know that makes no sense), Act I leads into Quint mooching around his abandoned house. With static-filled TV sets watching his every move, and voice-overed conversations seeming to be playing out his own memories and hinting where he should go looking next, Quint packs up his car and takes off. He runs into the local highway patrol on his way to the town of Hannibal, managing to get past the officer despite clearly being under the influence of something - and I'm guessing this is a mental issue rather than an actual narcotic! The fact that Quint's tape recorder both answers him and switches on by itself to play back his own thoughts suggests that a good percentage of what we're seeing isn't 100% 'real as such - we're viewing most of the episode's events through Quint, so his perception of reality is bound to be a little skewiff. And I'm not just saying that because I like the word 'skewiff.'
In Act II, Quint finds himself at the home of the Wendts, family friends recovering from the aftermath of a rape trial, with chatty teen Melissa and troubled older sister Addison both under the strict rule of their mother Cail. There's already a sense that each stop on Quint's path is going to nudge him a new direction on the search for both his brother and some answers (although brilliantly obtuse lines of dialogue from characters like the gas station clerk deepen things further), while providing an avenue for a separate story each week, in true road movie style. I imagine if Hunter S. Thompson and David Lynch piled into an old Nissan and went for a ride, we'd get something similar! The Act ends with Sentry, the man who assaulted Addison and has just gotten away with it, moving back into town. Can you say 'Set Up,' children?
Act III opens with a wonderfully freaky dream sequence, and gives me a chance to air my own views on dreams - my personal belief is that dreams are the brain's method for storing and collating the information it has absorbed over the last few days, with other random memories and impulses getting caught up in the mix sometimes. Because we view dreams through our subconcious mind, they can get a little lost in translation, so the afterglow we can remember after we wake is usually our conscious mind's best guess at interpreting what the rest of the brain was doing while you were asleep into a recognisable format. While that seems very off topic, it leads neatly into my observation about the scenes that open Act III, as Quint wanders round a hardware store, sees his mother and gets locked in a room full of sentient blood by a radio that tells him people are after him. *deep breath* Quint is obviously a man with a lot on his mind, most likely a lot of stuff he doesn't even realise he knows (hints at a multiple personality already, then), and this dream sequence seems like his unconscious mind's way of sending a message to his forebrain to try and tell him what's going on, but in doing so through a dream it gets lost in a mish-mash of old memories and confusing visual images and metaphors. So we've probably actually been told or given hints to a big chunk of backstory, we just won't be able to understand what the dream was trying to say for a while yet.
Or it could have just been a dream. Lynch peppers his work with random freak outs to satisfy his own artistic tendencies, so there's a good chance this dream was one of those. Although I doubt it. In fact, I hope that's not what it is, because that'd feel like a bit of a cop out!
Anyway. Quint and Melissa go for a walk, with Melissa throwing in a nice reference to the idea of the Rapture (striking parallels with Quint's situation) and Quint giving more hints to his mystery. Seems he just realised one day his house was empty, but there used to be people living there, and he felt he should go and find them. Now, I'm already assembling complicated theories as to what's going on here but I'll save them for later - mainly because I'm enjoying reading this too damn much, and I love having my assumptions reversed as the story progresses. The neat juxtaposition of the approaching coyotes turning into Melissa's friends throws back to my 'warped perception of reality' comment - perhaps Quinn's view of the world feeds off other people's reactions to it? Addison has a freaky dream of her own - it's clear she knows a little more about Curtis than she's told Quint, but the obvious fear that Sentry is going to come back for her is playing on her mind. I'm quickly finding that taking this show at face value would spin you out very quickly - you have to take a step back and judge what's 'real' and what isn't - even the stuff that isn't 100% real. If that makes sense. *coughs* Where was I?
Quint has a very interesting zone out, where he returns to his search through the attic at his house and finds an old home movie, telling him that his brother has gone to Iraq - before a dead body suddenly shows up, and an alternate version of himself addresses him through the TV. He's referred to as Quentin, but I'm going to call him Evil Quint. Just because. Now, we all know we can't trust our own memories, but there's bound to be a few strands of truth wrapped up in all this. I stroke my beard and 'hmm...' appropriately. Quint is asked to stick around by Addison, who knows that Sentry's going to be back for her (shades of Laura Palmer and BOB here, especially with Addison's dream earlier), and as Act III closes it looks like we're building towards some kind of confrontation. Can't wait!
Act IV fuels the split personality idea as Quint and Evil Quint (talking through the trusty tape recorder) have a quick argument before Quint begins his surveillance of Sentry. I like the idea that Quint is obviously torn between doing what's right (helping Addison) and what's best for him (finding Curtis), and that this internal conflict is spilling out into the conscious world. That's some good writing, right there. Quint loses Sentry but finds out something interesting - Curtis passed through Hannibal just a few weeks ago, and a confrontation with Melissa reveals that he as good as left instructions that he wasn't to be followed. There's a nicely creepy confrontation between Quint and Sentry, before Addison is freaked out by a dream where she sees Sentry kill her mother. It's clear that this girl will never sleep again until she knows Sentry is gone, and that Quint is being pushed towards the position of the only man who can take a stand to protect her.
Act V has Quint getting trashed with Melissa's hyena-like friends, but as the conversation darkens it seems that Quint isn't inf ull controls of his actions - more Twin Peaks vibes here as it appears Quint is struggling not to let the voices chattering in his mind take him over, as he spouts sinister warnings to the girls, their drunken obliviousness to the growing threat all the more unsettling because of their helplessness. Quint knows that something must be done about Sentry, and visualises the other players as they egg him on to escalating levels of violence as a solution. Addison confronts Cail, with mention of Melissa's 'plan' to make things better, but as Addison clocks Cail and leaves the home, telling her that she knows all about the evil within her mother's soul, there's a nagging feeling that this script's suddenly doing a Charlie Kaufman and starting to disintegrate under the weight of its own complexity. When you're putting together as layered and abstract a story as this, you need to keep a tight rein on what's going on, or you go from Memento to Eraserhead in a matter of moments, losing both the plot and the audience in the progress. As it is, a few re-reads of the closing scenes are needed to keep up with what the heck just happened. That said, this is the first moment in the script I've felt a bit lost about what was going on, which has to count for something!
The final Act throws in a loop that manages to rescue the story - Quint and Addison leave but Melissa tries to tag along with Quint, and against his better judgement he agrees. However, as Quentin provides the commentary, acting here as Quint's internal monologue, Melissa and Quint kiss and she sees something in him more terrifying than the rapist she tried to manipulate Quint into killing - the truth. What it is and how she sees it is left up to us for now, but Melissa heads for the hills and Quint must continue alone. An angry face off with Quentin back at his home leads to the moment we opened with - Quint burns down his home. It's a symbolic gesture, as Quint severs the last link to his old life, leaves 'Quentin' in the attic and sets off on his quest with renewed vigour.
Okay. Theory time. I got a strong Momento vibe throughout this, so here's my current, founded-on-only-one-episode-and-therefore-probably-totally-wrong theory. Quint's family have been killed, or taken prisoner, or otherwise met an indeterminate fate, and I have a feeling Curtis was involved somehow. Quint survived the attack but his mind has fractured as a result of it, and now he honestly can't remember what happened to the family - although his subconscious mind knows and is trying to steer him towards the truth, through his dreams and his abstract perception of the world around him. Curtis has taken to the road, leaving Quint behind in the home - only for Quint to forget that he's supposed to stay there and head out to find Curtis. Now, this theory has several variables - namely whether Curtis was the one responsible for his family's disappearance or not, and how involved Quint was - but it's the one that I'm sticking to for now. Even though it's probably way more complicated than it needs to be!
Conclusions? A brave, complex and excellently written script, surfing that fine line between surrealism and metaphor, managing not to lose the reader (just) as we find out enough tantalising hints as to how the hell Quint has ended up this way to keep us going for a while yet. Future episodes would do well to back off from the sheer depth of this one, but given the extended length I'm sure the rest of the season will be less hectic. With a great eye for imagery and symbolism, dialogue that flows well and avoids any cliches and a main character who you could peel layers off for years to come, I'm liking Homeostasis a whole hell of a lot so far.
ZPM RATING:
by Jon Nyqvist
Bored security guard Jonathan meets Aurora, an assassin hunted by her former employer. Both of them die in a shootout, but find themselves in the mysterious Afterlife, where Jonathan is drawn into a conflict between a small village and the bandits harassing them.
The highly-anticipated Afterlife set a real VS precedent when its two preview episodes both scored a mighty 10 out of 10 from one of MZP's most respected reviewers, fellow Walsallite Matt 'Xandmatt' Latham, and given that the show focuses on a mismatched pair of antiheroes (bored security giard with a vivid imagination Jonathan, and highly strung hitwoman Aurora) who are killed and awaken in a strange, almost medieval afterlife to fend for themsleves, it seems like I'm going to enjoy reading this little gem...
The Teaser kicks off with a daring, Jackie Chan style action set piece as Jonathan swings from the rafters of the shopping mall he patrols to chase a shoplifter out into the street, and even in the few pages we get here there's a definite sense of tongues planted firmly in cheeks. The 'voice' of the writer is something that VS scripts have the luxury of playing with a little more - Joss Whedon was always doing things like that in later Buffy scripts, poking fun at himself through the stage direction, and there's elements of that sparkle here.
Act I introduces us to Aurora, our other protagonist, held at gunpoint in an alley by two burly hitmen, and in just two lines we get pretty much everything we need to know about this girl - the stage direction of 'Her athletic body is enough to wet any man’s dreams' is a great little line, as is her first line of:
AURORA
So, do you two have names, or do I just call you Thug One and Two?
That's the kind of sparkle I'm talking about. This script is already proving to be fun to get through, and that's a rare thing indeed. Aurora's escape from the goones leaves her with a bullet wound, but the visceral description of just a few rapid moves of the fight for her life demonstrates how even a short fight scene can be brought to life by some inventive direction - the silouhetted shot of Aurora wasting Thug #2 shows a flair for cinematics that is already pushing this script to new heights. The show moves on as Jonathan is sent to anger management, and a badly wounded Aurora sneaks into the same hospital only to pass out from blood loss. Jonathan suffers through a brilliantly excruciating group therapy session before bumping into the escaping Aurora, where a confrontation with one of the (presumably several) men out to kill her ends with one of the most inventive death scenes I've seen for years, as Act I ends in a hail of sparks. Brilliant suff. Finland native Jon Nyqvist's writing has occasional hiccups where things get lost in translation, but his ear for witty one-liners and skilful dodging of cliches is making this script shine right from the start. Something tells me those high marks were right on the money...
Act II has Jonathan and Aurora on the run, and the dialogue between the two of them fizzes with chemistry. We've got two great little characters here who are clearly going to have all kinds of fun bouncing off each other as the show runs on - I'm a huge believer in male/female twin leads anyway, and when they're done as well as this it makes the scripts themselves come alive. A blistering fight (with requisite UST) progresses further as the duo come under attack from more of the (presumably many) hitmen out to take Aurora out, and while you could argue that Jonathan's mad style kung fu skillz are a little convenient, you remind yourself that he's both a security guard and one with a high sense of adventure, so it makes sense that he'd roll a pretty high score against his 'Kicking Arse' statistic. Given that Act II closes with our two protagonists very dead in a surprisingly touching moment, you'd be forgiven for feeling a little confused...
... and Act III keeps you in the dark a while longer. Difference is, you want to know what's happened to the two of them. In just two Acts, you find you really give a damn about these two excellently fleshed-out characters, and you want to keep rteading to find out how the heck they're going to get out of this one. Jonathan finds himself in a classic spooky forest, with a genuine sense of fear as he runs from unseen, flesh-hungry creatures, stumbling into a medieval village and finding himself on a Dungeons & Dragons set. We've clearly shifted into an entirely different gear here, and credit to Nyqvist for the transition. The Cliche Alarm does ring a little bit as Jonathan is introduced to the new world he's in, with its bandit law and oppressed locals, but I honestly don't think it's possible to write this kind of scenario without tripping on a few established themes. Having said that, the sudden return of a dreamscape version of his shrink Dr. Lester amps up the mystery gauge another notch - there's obviously some deeper reason for Jonathan being here, and while his acceptance of this comes a little too easily, the hint of deeper layers of meaning behind what's going on is a welcome one. Jonathan comes to the aid of local bar wench Kate as she's about to be dragged off to the lair of local villain Marcus The Cutter, but Joanthan's quick bout of chop socky to save the lady's honour ends with a plank to the back of his noggin, with Kate putting the survival of her village above her own life. Which is kind of noble, if demonstrating an alarming lack of self-preservation. Maybe it's because I'm both a pacifist and a coward. Anyway.
Act IV throws in another spectacularly-choreographed fight as Jonathan takes down Marcus, frees Kate and drives the bandits away, before another quick dream sequence (and more hints as to the real identity of whatever's masquerading as 'Dr. Lester') sends Jonathan on his way to Silver City, this world's version of Mos Eisley, where he's to begin his path towards taking down the Ravens, the network of outlaws who seem to have a stranglehold on the filth-loving simple townsfolk. It all wraps up pretty quickly, throwing in a 'walk into the sunset' shot to close and giving us a real Kung Fu vibe as Jonathan begins what will no doubt turn into a very long journey.
Well, that's the episode out of the way. How was it? Overall, pretty darn good. The first half of the script was electrifying, with the chemistry bouncing between Jonathan and Aurora jumping off the page, and the balletic fight scenes rattling your teeth with every bone-jarring detail. Nyqvist's sparkling dialogue makes this a joy to read throughout, with enough self-referential humour to make you really like these characters, even though our 'heroes' are a misfit, loose cannon security guard who's a danger to everyone around him, and a sexy yet morally clouded assassin with a list of enemies a mile long. The trasnferral into what we presume is the afterlife of the show's title for the second half of the script loses some of this pace, unfortunately, and that's solely down to Jonathan being on his own again. The one-liners and brutal action scenes are still present, but the medieval setting takes a while to settle down, with some slightly shaky dialogue from the various villagers breaking the illusion somewhat (their Old World English accents fall prey to the odd Americanisation). However, the premise itself remains intriguing, and the prospect of seeing Jonathan and Aurora reunited alone is enough to keep you following this. A great pilot, witty and exciting throughout, let down a little by having to try to settle into such a massive change of pace at the mid-point, just as we were getting used to the central double act.
ZPM RATING:
by A.J. Black
Mercenary Jai Shaw is recruited into the DSR when they offer him the chance to find the man he’s spent eleven months looking for, the man who killed his wife and brother…
So here we are, the first official ZPM review and starting with one of MZP's brand new shows, Alias spin-off The DSR. For those not faimilar with the Aliasverse, DSR stands for Department of Special Research, an offshoot of the CIA set up in the 1940s to study the world of the occult, with particular focus on any threats to global security given the Nazis love of finding new and interesting ways to harness the power of the old world for victory. Well, something like that, anyway. Point is, the DSR works like an official version of the X-Files, sneaking around in the dark and fighting the kinds of bad guys more at home in an episode of Buffy.
And if you think all that sounds too cool for school, you'd be absolutely right. I've loved this premise since it was first pitched to me, so let's take a look at The DSR's opening episode, 'Welcome To The Black Hole.'
The Teaser certainly gives you everything you could want - three high-tech thieves find their perfect robbery going pretty off-kilter when a Nazi-jacketed bad guy shows up, hacking his way through security, shooting down both one thief and their rescue, forcing our rugged hero Jai Shaw to flee with his mortally-wounded wife as the whole shebang explodes into some doubtlessly slow-mo flames. The Alias style is pretty evident throughout this - throw in some pounding techno for the soundtrack and you're already in familiar territory!
When we rejoin our hero, he's suffering a little from 'One Year Later...' syndrome, which is to be expected - gives us a huge time frame for flashbacks and old war stories right from the start - but the casting of Josh Holloway as Jai already means that no matter how hard you try, you're going to keep thinking of Sawyer whenever this guy turns up. The fact that the two characters seem pretty similar doesn't help, even down to Jai's use of derogatory nicknames! Moving through a fight scene in a club (another Alias standby and again accompanied by a burst of breakbeat), we leave Jai in the custody of DSR Director Kendall, where he's told about the DSR and tempted with the bait that if he agrees to join them, he'll get a chance to track down the chap who killed his brother and missus, an allegedly sixty-year old Nazi by the name of Glissman. There's a feeling that things are moving a little too quickly at this point - we've shot through three distinctly different scenes in the space of a few pages, and it feels like we're trying to get a lot of exposition out of the way all in the first Act, but by the close of play we're set up in the DSR offices, we've established a rivalry (to Ethan) and a potential love interest (with Sara), so things are settling down again now.
One question must be begged as the team are briefed and sent out to track down rogue biologist Lothar Glaub - just why does Kendall trust Jai so implicitly? Ethan raises some good points when he confronts Kendall about it, but unless the cuddly director knows something we don't, this feels a tiny bit contrived at the moment. However, I am prepared to be proven wrong on this point, so let's push on. The team sneak into the compound where Glaub is working in some old school Bristow-style action, and another niggle starts to present itself - so far, this whole thing feels far too much like an episode of Alias. Admittedly, Alias wasn't so big on apparently immortal trenchcoat wearing Nazi cyborgs as bad guys, but Ethan hacking into the security system so Jai and Mia can bust in and snatch Glaub plays out very much like a Syd and Vaughn kind of mission, and this leaves DSR still a little unsure of its own identity as we close Act Two - style wise it's identical, even down to the 'push through the letters' opening shot as we arrive in each new location. One of the biggest issues any spin-off can face is distancing itself from the parent show. Angel managed it, and I'd like to think that Faith did too - but with Faith we did have a large chunk of the first season go by before things took a stylistic turn for the better, so maybe I'm being too harsh too soon. Either way, Glissman shows up, his cadre of disposable Blonde Guys lose a few more members and Jai gets the chance to yell 'Glissman!' at the top of his lungs in true 'I will walk the road of vengeance!' style.
And in Act III, I am proven wrong - Kendall does have a deeper reason for bringing Jai on board. Good. I feel much better about that now! However, I do need to flag Sara's dialogue - for somebody who's obviously meant to be very British, she keeps Americanising her dialogue to the extent where she feels like a female version of Marshall, minus the 'hilarious' comedy non sequiturs. We get a little blast of backstory for Mia and Jai, which is good and all, but Jai's Tibetan monastery schtick is a very overused device for spiritual healing and a convenient mastery of combat techniques these days. I know, because I've used it myself on Somewhere InBetween (and I really wish I hadn't!), but it's not helping Jai stand on his own two feet at the moment. Considering Jai's spent so long learning how to fight Glissman and also (presumably) living among the monks up there, his Angry Young Man routine feels like some slightly skewiff character development. The rest of the Act passes without incident, setting up a showdown between Jai and his nemesis in Act IV.
Act IV whizzes past in a blur of magical shenanigans as Glissman kills and then resurrects Glaub, Jai takes his enemy on and gets his man ass handed back to him in a matter of moments (so maybe those Tibetan monks need to refresh their 'lone, angry hero' training techniques), Glissman gets away and we have a surprise return for Connor, Jai's brother presumed dead since the very start of the episode. Obviously there's some sinister conspiracy afoot here (Sara pops up as Exposition Girl to hint at the deeper levels of what may be going on), and Jai's burning desire for revenge will keep him clenching with righteous fury for a good while yet.
So what do we make of DSR on the basis of episode one? We have a show that is obviously very proud and respectful of its roots in Alias - and therein lies its biggest flaw. The stylistic touches, 'debrief and action' mission style, judicious use of dance music to punctuate the fight scenes - it all feels like an episode of Alias with a higher supernatural twist than normal instead of its own show. On a technical level, the episode isn't bad, but there are a lot of places where the heavily cliched dialogue lets down what could have been a more powerful scene. Jai's Tibetan flashback in particular feels like it should be accompanied by stirring Rocky IV style training music, which takes away from the noble element of his quest a little. And I know we've only had one episode with them, but the cast do feel a little stereotypical at the moment, with the exceptions of Anton and Mia, who have something a little different about them. Hopefully, future episodes will go some way to fleshing the others out.
So it's a touch unoriginal, too fast paced for its own good, a little cliched and firmly in the shadow of it's parent show at the moment - but is it any good? Is it fun to read? The answer, luckily, is yes. DSR has to start finding its own identity pretty sharpish if its to stand out, but it's fast moving, enjoyable and seems to have bags of potential, so I'm expecting to see a marked improvement over the next few episodes as the show finds its feet.
ZPM RATING:
Morning, all.With the Summer Season now in full swing over at MZP-TV, it's as good a time as any to lay out the episodes of the new virtual shows we have airing that I intend to review.Homeostasis: 1x01 'Still,' 1x02 'Fake ID,' 1x03 'Shepherd.'Pathways: 2x01 'The Boys Of Summer Are Gone,' 2x02 'Throw Me A Bone,' 2x03 'Exit, Stage Right.'The DSR: 1x01 'Welcome To The Black Hole,' 1x02 'Adjustments & Maneuvers.'Afterlife: 1x01 'Purpose.'I'll try and get a few done today so I can stay on top of all of these.
