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Human Target – Christopher Chance or Indiana Jones?

When 'Human Target' borrows from other fun shows and movies, it's okay with me. Anything that gives Mark Valley an opportunity to smirk is great TV in my book.

Wouldn’t you know that the week I decide to start covering Human Target weekly (yeah, that’s right, start the celebratory dancing) … it’s not my favorite episode. I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t pack the punch of the few episodes in the middle there that hooked me. We got the signature Mark Valley dimples and the girl-of-the-week, but the twists and turns didn’t grab me as being as clever as some of the other episodes.

“Salvage and Reclamation” reminded me of a lot of shows and movies, though — all good — and we were left with another solid installment of pure entertainment.

Who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt? Pandora’s Box, Ark of the Covenant … I could have been watching Indiana Jones at some points during this episode, down to the strikingly similar Indy / Chance smirk. You know the one, that crooked grin that melts everyone who isn’t envious of it. The old flame / bad girl / redeemed by the smirk pattern was present as well. Chance’s fear of one particular kind of spider had to be a shout-out to Indy’s irrational aversion to snakes. All good fun.

I’m not a war movie person at all, but I just know that whole mine field thing was done before — Rambo? That one where Eric Stoltz bites it? I don’t know, but something….

One of my favorite scenes was Guerrero desperately trying to confess to Winston in the plane, as they think they’re going down for good. I’d say those two have an interesting dynamic, but that would be putting it lightly, and also be belittling the dynamic that is really the triad of main actors. I still don’t know quite what to make of Guerrero (I think neither do Winston and Chance), but I do know that I trust him. Still, I’m dying to know what he would have confessed. Drat.

Two more stand-out things from this episode: I loved that they called the Salvage and Reclamation guy a pirate, and the repeated “shut up Doug” was funny stuff.

How’s Human Target‘s first season progressing for you? I’m still having fun, so I’m in it, for now.

Photo Credit: Michael Courtney/FOX

Categories: | Episode Reviews | General | TV Shows |

3 Responses to “Human Target – Christopher Chance or Indiana Jones?”

March 13, 2010 at 8:10 AM

Like Emmanuelle Vaugier’s Agent Barnes, I hope Kim Coates’s Bertram returns in a later episode. I suppose we’ll be seeing a lot of the usual Vancouver suspects all season.

For me, the local cargo plane was the most Indiana Jones-like. I hope they paid the pilot for all his trouble after they flew off into the sunset.

March 15, 2010 at 3:33 PM

Loved the cargo net rescue (though not entirely sure how they went from unwrapping the net to finding it attached to the ropes, but…).

For me, this show is a reminiscent mash-up of all my favourite 80’s shows/movies. MacGyver, The A-Team, Mission Impossible, Indiana Jones, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Hardcastle and McCormick (even a little Michael Knight in Knight Rider!) and more. There is just such a fantasy element to this show that keeps me tuning in. It’s over the top, far fetched and a little schmaltzy, but all those things in just the right way.

I hope it finds a way to develop into another full season. Interested in seeing how all the characters develop.

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