HUMAN TARGET 1.5 - "Run"

WRITER: Jonathan E. Steinberg
DIRECTOR: Kevin Hooks
GUEST CAST: Kristin Lehman, William B. Davis, Chris Mulkey, Andrew Hedge, Gardiner Millar, Luis Javier, Brandon Jay McLaren, Dylan Neal & Ted Whittall

[SPOILERS] I'm going to be brief this week. "Run" was the weakest episode so far -- which maybe had something to do with the fact it was also the most realistic adventure for Chance (Mark Valley)? I can see why Fox pushed it back in the schedule, as this was meant to air as the second or third episode. Here, Chance was hired by District Attorney Allyson (Kristin Lehman) to protect her from a San Francisco gang who are unhappy she has access to a confidential informant who could send their members to jail.


There was some fun to be had, usually from the reliably strong action sequences -- particularly when Chance had to hijack a moving car from the backseat by strangling one man with a seatbelt and pushing the other out the driver's window, all at high speed through heavy city traffic. Human Target's certainly doing a bang up job delivering fun, inventive action sequences, and there were times during this episode where Chance effectively became a one-man army against the city's entire police department. I have no doubt that if you're a teenage boy who loves adrenalized action, this show is already delivering an effective cocktail of 24-meets-Chuck thrills. I think it helps that so many Prison Break alumni are involved in writing/directing, as those guys clearly have a lot of experience with slick, action-heavy silliness.


I also liked this week's guest performance from Lehman, even if it's already becoming a cliché that Chance tends to hook up with sexy women who need his help. There were also some amusing touches, like the fact Chance continues to spend his freetime as a couch potatoe eating junk food (even when there's an important client meeting he should be attending), which actually made me wonder why he doesn't seem to leave the premises when off-duty. It's almost like he's under house-arrest by Winston (Chi McBride), or it's part of some agreement that he can't leave the building and live a normal life. In fact, could Chance essentially be a criminal earning his way to freedom? Is that his secret? Yes, the mystery of his back-story continued to rumble on, as this case again echoed something from Chance's own lifestory, as he confided in Allyson that he knows what it likes to do something terrible for the person you love...

Exciting action, eyebrow-raising lines of dialogue and fun scenes don't automatically equal a great episode, of coruse. Allyson's case just wasn't really that interesting (or surprising) and it was hard to care about her predicament at any point. This script also felt like a terrible waste of cadaverous guest-star William B. Davis (so iconic as the effortlessly spine-chilling Cigarette Smoking Man in The X Files), as he only appeared in two bookending scenes to give what were effectively quick, dull speeches. I'm still entertained by Human Target, but I can't help feeling the show needs to shake things up, because every episode takes you on a very similar emotional journey.

10 FEBRUARY 2010: FOX, 9/8c