HUMAN TARGET 1.12 - "Christopher Chance"

WRITERS: Jonathan E. Steinberg & Robbie Thompson
DIRECTOR: Steve Boyum
GUEST CAST: Amy Acker, Lennie James, Armand Assante, Timothy Omundson & Lee Majors

[SPOILERS] The finale of Human Target was its best episode (just edging "Baptiste" because of a better story), and it was certainly the most revelatory hour the show's given us. We've been teased about Chance's (John Valley) background throughout the season, clues dropped here and there, but this namesake finale gave us firm answers via extensive flashbacks...

In the present-day, a man known as the Interrogator (Timothy Omundson) breaks into Chance's office with an armed team, managing to overcome Winston (Chi McBride) and Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) and threaten their lives as a way to extract information from Chance about a mysterious "Book" he failed to deliver while in the employ of the "Old Man" (Armand Assante). Flashbacks filled us in on Chance's life six years before, when he was working as an assassin on a mission to kill a woman called Katherine Walters (Amy Acker) on behalf of the Old Man's latest client, the Interrogator, because she witnessed a murder at the docks.

Inevitably, Chance finds Katherine a sweet adn sympathetic person who doesn't deserve to die of the fatal poisoning he has planned, not least because her description of events doesn't match what he's been told, so he decides to go rogue and protect her from those who want her dead. Chance and Katherine piece together the reason there's a price on her head, which has something to do with a mysterious shipment container at the docks, all while Chance is pursued by the Old Man, the Interrogator, and his colleagues Baptiste (Lennie James) and Guerrero. At the same time, hangdog Detective Winston became involved after meeting Chance at a bar and later being assigned to the Katherine Walters "kidnapping" case.

"Christopher Chance" was in many ways a prequel to the entire show, and one that did a great job filling in some blanks, expanding on clues we'd already been given, and throwing in plenty of amusing references and moments for fans. We met Chance's dog Carmine as a puppy (who belonging to Katherine), learned Winston's first name (the effeminate "Laverne"), witnessed an exciting fist-fight between Guerrero and Chance, finally met the mysterious Old Man, and there was even time to pay homage to '80s action shows when Chance sought refuge with his ageing mentor, played by Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Fall Guy.)

Majors' grizzled bodyguard character was known as Christopher Chance, revealed to be a pseudonym passed down to honourable men who protect innocent people, which duly became a monicker Chance inherited when his eyes were opened to what he's become. The mysterious "Book" (a device hidden in one of the shipment containers), was apparently lost in the river during a struggle, prompting an angered Baptiste to detonate a bomb aboard Katherine's boat that killed her, and it turned out Winston had secretly retrieved the Book shortly thereafter. The finale ended on a big cliffhanger of separation, with Chance escaping from the Interrogator's men in the present-day, only to find Winston has been kidnapped by the Interrogator, seconds before the Old Man finally catches up with him and whisks Chance away to help him find the Book, too.

As finale's go, Human Target's was very good and inkeeping with its lightfooted, square-jawed tone. The pace was strong, the flashback device worked nicely, the explanations provided to explain Chance's history didn't hit too many snags, and there were some very entertaining action sequences. The romance between Chance and Katherine wasn't potent enough to have me believe she'd leave an indelible impression on him, but Amy Acker was one of the show's better love-interests just because she's a more compelling actress. The casting of Lee Majors was also perfect for a series that takes it cues from the kind of shows Major became famous for starring in. The only major disappointment was that the Old Man didn't really figure into the finale as much as I expected him to after so much buildup, and while Assante sounds like great casting on paper... I thought his performance here was very rough and occasionally quite laughable.

So ends the first season, and I can't deny I hope Fox pick it up for another year. There's nothing special or original about Human Target, but it's a rare episodic show you can just dip into and can catchup with. Similarly to Chuck at the same point in its history, it feels like a show that can build momentum and grab an audience if word spreads over the summer. Hopefully the writers will approach season 2 with a keener understanding of what worked and what didn't, if they get picked up. I personally think it needs to have a few smaller arcs to keep people's interest week-to-week (instead of just one stretching over the entire year), a female face in the regular cast (computer-geek Layla or FBI Agent Barnes?), perhaps a few two-part episodes, and storylines that don't feel so formulaic and predictable. There was a reason these kinds of shows died out in the '80s, so Human Target needs to modernize in a few areas other than the sophistication of its action sequences.

Asides

• If the original Christopher Chance was Chance's mentor, what the hell went wrong for Chance to hookup with a guy like the Old Man and travel the world executing people for faceless clients?
• I'm surprised this is just hitting me now, but isn't Human Target just a lighter and more entertaining version of ITV's The Fixer? A few weeks ago we had an episode revolving around MMA fighting, and the finale took place in a shipyard jumping around containers -- both reminding me of Fixer episodes.

14 APRIL 2010: FOX, 8/7c