My Own Worst Enemy - season 1 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Christian Slater stars in another spy drama on Monday nights on NBC, 10 p.m. EDT. The main catch is that Slater's character is living dual lives and he doesn't quite know it.

 

[NeilO]

'My Own Worst Enemy' - Los Angeles Times looks fairly positive while Tom Shales - 'My Own Worst Enemy': Double Agent, Redefined - washingtonpost.com doesn't.

On the other hand, to my memory most Tom Shales reviews of shows with any sf concept haven't been favorable.

I plan to try it out tonight.

 

[Jason Seaver]

The reviews on Aint It Cool's roundup looked pretty brutal, which (sadly) is sort of what I expected from a show that was picked up for 13 episodes based on "we've got a script and Christian Slater!".

 

[Joe_H]

You know, I actually thought this first episode at least was pretty good. I'm not entirely convinced I'll keep watching more than a few episodes, but so far, so good.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Ow, my head hurt trying to keep the 2 personas straight (probably because it's really late in the evening).

 

[NeilO]

I thought it was quite good and Christian Slater did a great job acting like two different people. The communication between his two selves was not unlike that in the recent Jekyll series. The twist on the Jekyll/Hyde theme is that the Hyde type of personality is the original one here.

I did not expect Henry to blow up Uzi. That was nicely done.

 

[todd s]

My wife and I enjoyed it. A couple of points...

-It was interesting that Edward and even his partner/friend were such douche's. Especially, when Henry gets rescued. Once in the car his friend is still cold and distant.

-I have to give Slater some credit. He really made the two identities seem so different...even physically. Facial expressions, walking styles were all different.

I will keep watching and see how it goes.

One question. I missed some of the show in the middle. I understand he volunteered for the project to split his personality. But, why did they keep it up? It seems like it would cause more problems (& money) to keep the charade going. My only thought is that Edward knew he could never have a family life. His personality wouldn't allow it. So he helped create Henry who would.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Yeah, it sort of struck me as "neat idea, but why would anyone actually do it?" My guess is that Edward is a sociopath, and while that's a pretty useful thing for a top assassin to be, it makes him a liability during the 90% of the time when he's not killing somebody.

Not a bad pilot, but I don't really know if there's much more than a movie's worth of potential here, compared to an ongoing series.

 

[Patrick Sun]

That was my take as well, decent film premise, but not so much as an ongoing TV series, perhaps a 6-8 episode mini-series.

 

[Nelson Au]

It was a pretty good pilot. The family part was confusing for me as I was fried from a long day, so keeping up with the story and identity changes was a challenge.

The wife seems like she's honestly real and is not created by the agency. It felt like a combination of the films; True Lies and Total Recall. Especially the parts where he talks to his other self via video. I like the bit where Henry was telling Edward it's one thing to drive his car, but his wife... and he cut that off.

Seemed like a nice commercial for Chevy and the new Camaro, like Knight Rider and the Shelby Mustang.

I thought this show's level of seriousness was the route they'd take for Knight Rider by the way.

 

[Elizabeth S]

Thanks -- I kept thinking about a scene with tape recorder notes to "himself" and was drawing a blank what show/movie it was from!

I liked the show a lot.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I guess i'm in rare form because i'm admittedly not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree half the time and I was able to follow the two identities pretty easily lol.

I really enjoyed this and yes it did remind me very much of Total Recall (I was half expecting Edward to say "get your ass to mars" to Henry lol) and True Lies.

My question is why even bother going this high-tech sci-fi route with the whole duel personalities? Why not just train Edward as an operative and then place him with a family and simply have him lead the two lives and keep it from his wife much like Arnold did in True Lies.

It just seems that complications like we saw in the pilot wouldn't happen if they simply did that.

But, if it doesn't do well and it get's canned let's all just enjoy the fun and the gorgeous (and underused) angel that is Madchen Amick while we have her.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

I thought it was pretty good and the communication/cooperation between Ed and Henry should make for some really interesting stories.

That said, I'll give it another couple of episodes but I won't keep watching if they don't give me a plausible reason for this absurd split personalities program. It doesn't make him a better spy, it doesn't protect anyone or anything, what the hell is the point?

 

[Greg_S_H]

Where was she?

 

[Joe_H]

The wife.

 

[Greg_S_H]

They didn't show her full-on enough. It was hard enough picking out Saffron as the psych. He tried to undo the matchbook reveal, but I'm guessing she's part of the spy outfit. No way they'd let Henry talk to a psych without controlling the situation.

 

[Joe_H]

I agree, but even within the spy group, only the 3 of them are supposed to know, so it didn't bother me too much how he tried to take it back. Though my other thought was that maybe she's a double agent trying to force him to remember.

 

[ScottH]

That's precisely my issue with the whole premise of this show. Unless it is explained better in a future episode, logistically, there is absolutely no point to the dual personalities. Seems like just a way to give the show a gimmicky type of hook.

That said, I don't think this show is my cup of tea, but I didn't not like it, so I'll probably give it a couple more episodes and bail if it doesn't get any better.

 

[todd s]

I mentioned this earlier. But, it might have gotten lost in my post. This is why I think he has the split personality...

 

[Ashley Seymour]

I don’t catch many TV series anymore, but the trailers for this were interesting so I recorded and have watched it twice through. Reverse and pause in HD is helpful to an understanding of the characters.

Gratuitous sex and violence in the opening credits – who could ask for more!
First; the camera shots, lighting, staging, etc. alone are enough for me to watch for this. HD is still new enough that when it is done well it is
captivating in its own right.

I think the series is a winner and can have legs. There are plenty of plot opportunities as Edward will continue being assigned missions by his bumbling bureaucrat spy-o-crat supervisors and Henry will be left to clean up the mess.
It will be interesting to see how some conflicts are resolved or used to keep the story going.

Henry had his memory of the encounter in Russia erased. Edward sensing that there would be retaliation and knowing Henry and his handlers would put him at risk send Henry a DVD explaining how to save them both; and Edwards instincts kick in to save them.

Will Henry figure out that it does no good to tell his wife, shrink, co-workers or the spy-o-crats about his Walter Mitty life?
Henry is Clark Kent, Harry Tasker, and Walter Mitty rolled into one – Spivy-Mitty is a nice touch. Henry also has the inherent skills of Edward so if he gets into trouble he can reach down to save his butt without knowing where his inner strength is coming from.

Will Henry always have to wonder when he sits down to breakfast and his wife slips her tongue in his ear whispering ‘thanks”while piling on the protein and carbs to replace the energy he or Edward expended the night before?
What can Henry do to keep Edward from tapping Angie?

I’ve never paid much attention to Christian Slater but he seems well suited to this roll. What does Hollywood have with the Mafia haircut look? The Iconoclast Edward may like it, but on the dorkier Henry it seems out of place. John Gotti – from wherever- could look at Henry and say “nice hair, cheap suit.”

When will Angie and the kids start to figure out that Henry is into more shit than his bean counting mundane life can account for? Will Angie start to push for Henry to put an end to those two day absences, or will she just wake up Monday a.m. and keep piling on the eggbeaters and waffles?

I think Edward is reaching out to a life like Henry has and will treat him as a partner and keep their arrangement secret from Mavis and the geek squad. By the way, the mind bending set and equipment is the best I’ve seen. True Lies and Terminator 2 look pretty tame now.

I have my HD DVR programmed for Monday evenings.