A quick review of last night’s “Human Target” coming up just as soon as I use my feet to pick up a syringe…
Though Matt Miller is now in charge of the show, creator Jonathan Steinberg is still around, and the Steinberg co-written “Return of Baptiste” unsurprisingly felt like a throwback to the show he was making last spring. No Ames, Chance in the field without Winston or Guerrero, Chance developing a quick rapport with an attractive female client and, of course, the titular comeback of Lennie James as Baptiste.
And I have to say, while I didn’t find the show perfect last season, this one was definitely the most entertaining of the new season’s four episodes – and one where the part that didn’t really work involved Ilsa. (I’m sure her attempt to distract her military contact was supposed to be funny, but it just felt labored.) I haven’t been as violently opposed to Miller’s changes (other than the terrible new theme song) as many of you, but the difference was pretty stark. Some of the changes have had benefits – I thought the show made good use of Ilsa’s unlimited resources in some spots, notably Chance bribing the Russian prison warden with Ilsa’s exclusive credit card – but the core of the show is plopping Mark Valley into dangerous situations and letting him be a wry, charming badass. Everything else is window dressing.
Thanks to Valley and James’ chemistry, some good writing for Baptiste (I loved that he really only wanted the watch, and was willing to give up 20 million both to get it and to keep his word to Chance), and some good action (particularly Chance and Baptiste’s bar fight), this was a really fun one, and easily the best of this young season. I hope Miller and company saw that as it was being made, and in the process found a way to better marry last season’s greatest strengths with some of this year’s changes.
What did everybody else think?
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