Writer: Sarah Watson
Director: Michael Zinberg
Cast: Matt Keeslar (The Middleman), Natalie Morales (Wendy Watson), Mary Pat Gleason (Ida), Brit Morgan (Lacey Thornfield), Jake Smollett (Noser), Matt Funke (Trevor), Elaine Hendrix (Roxy Wasserman), James Hsu (Terracotta Warrior), Christopher May (Duncan's Father), Hymnson Chan (Busboy), Vincent Ward (Crime Scene Cop), Connor Price (Duncan), Tony Yalda (Underworld Clerk), Diane Sellers (Desk Officer) & Susan Ziegler (Jessica)
Director: Michael Zinberg
Cast: Matt Keeslar (The Middleman), Natalie Morales (Wendy Watson), Mary Pat Gleason (Ida), Brit Morgan (Lacey Thornfield), Jake Smollett (Noser), Matt Funke (Trevor), Elaine Hendrix (Roxy Wasserman), James Hsu (Terracotta Warrior), Christopher May (Duncan's Father), Hymnson Chan (Busboy), Vincent Ward (Crime Scene Cop), Connor Price (Duncan), Tony Yalda (Underworld Clerk), Diane Sellers (Desk Officer) & Susan Ziegler (Jessica)
Wendy and The Middleman must stop a revived Terracotta Warrior from unleashing a hail of fire upon the Earth...After a spirited start in the bonkers Pilot, things sadly nosedive with this dim follow-up. The premise sounds fun (sharing parallels with The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor), but the plot about stopping a Qin Dynasty Terracotta Warrior is incredibly laborious and dull. There's a Pushing Daisies vibe to the opening, as The Middleman (Matt Keeslar) and Wendy (Natalie Morales) investigate an unlikely death at a Chinese restaurant, where the owner was suffocated in a "mud slide", but everything soon becomes tedious...
The zany tone and playfulness that boosted episode 1 sits awkwardly here, as Sarah Watson's script is just sustained silliness that doesn't grab your attention, or make you care about the characters or situation. While the Pilot's low-budget FX were charming, the visuals for Terracotta Warrior (James Hsu) are just atrocious; resembling stop-motion play-do, as a distracting spoof of T2's liquid-metal nemesis.
The story also throws in guff about a reformed Succubus called Roxy Wasserman (Elaine Hendrix) who owns a fashion house, and can open a gateway to the Underworld -- which is where the Warrior takes a kidnapped boy (Connor Price) who's the Qin Dynasty's successor. There's also a weak sub-plot for Wendy's room-mate, political activist Lacey Thornfield (Brit Morgan), that sees her become the Succubus' new assistant, with little ramification on the main story.
I really didn't like this. It was everything the Pilot threatened to become, but avoided thanks to better writing and a more enticing storyline. It's early days, so this could just be growing pains for what must be a tricky show to get a handle on -- but, then again, it has a series of comic-books for guidance, so perhaps that's no excuse. On the positive side, things improve once Wendy and The Middleman arrive in the Underworld (a hotel lobby with a camp clerk), while the odd snippet of dialogue is snappy.
As before, it's Natalie Morales whose performance keeps the drivel mildly engaging, although she can't gloss over this baloney with simple enthusiasm. Matt Keeslar remains hollow in his portrayal of the straight-laced "superhero", with only a few hints of anything more exciting and amusing beneath his wooden veneer. I know the character is intended to be stiff and monosyllabic, but there needs to be something else lurking under the surface... but Morales is shouldering his weight.
For the very young, there might be some entertainment here -- but we're living in a TV world where The Middleman's peers are Pushing Daisies and Doctor Who, so it needs to pull its socks up. I enjoyed the Pilot (despite its flaws), but this episode's attempts at a madcap story is a real clunker. And, isn't it weird a US TV show aimed at families airs on a school night at 10/9 pm? Maybe the family-viewing culture is different across the pond, but aren't the target audience tucked up in bed by then?
23 June 2008
ABC Family 10/9c pm
