My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

Patrick Sun · 10-13-2008, 09:15 AM

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 · 10-13-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

'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 · 10-13-2008, 03:21 PM

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 · 10-14-2008, 12:48 AM

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 · 10-14-2008, 01:59 AM

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

**HTF Ads**

NeilO · 10-14-2008, 08:24 AM

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 · 10-14-2008, 10:17 AM

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 · 10-14-2008, 11:40 AM

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 · 10-14-2008, 12:02 PM

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 · 10-14-2008, 12:03 PM

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 · 10-14-2008, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilO

The communication between his two selves was not unlike that in the recent Jekyll series.

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.