My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

'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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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!".

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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?

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

Where was she?

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

The wife.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

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.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

Watched the premiere last night and set my DVR for all new episodes. I liked it.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

What did everyone think of the second episode?

I thought it was great, Edward is proving to be one sleezy bastard, it must be remarkably frustrating for Henry to know that someone else is sleeping with his wife and he can't do a damn thing about it.

I've always loved Slater's wise-ass manor going way back to Heathers, Kuffs, Pump Up the Volume and to a lesser extent Gleaming the Cube and this role fits him like a glove.

Henry seriously needs to wake up and realize that what they're telling him is the truth and after this weeks ep with Edward killing the doctor I think he will realize that he's a creation placed inside the mind of a psychotic (I know Edward is supposed to be on our side but let's face it the guy's a dangerous prick) and begin accepting it.

I read that the second ep didn't do very well in the ratings, too bad, I hope this show lasts.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

During the episode, I had myself convinced that I was gonna bail on the show, but the last 10 minutes might have bought another week.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

I might be completely wrong here. But, what if Edward is the made up persona and Henry is real? I know he checked his background and nobody existed. But, we see how powerful this "agency" is. Everything in Edwards apartment and his memories may be fake. It would be an interesting twist.

On a side note. If they can implant memories into Henry about his business trips. Wouldn't it be wise to maybe implant some self-defense techniques. So if he becomes Henry in a bad spot. He has some knowledge to defend himself.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

I'm guessing that implanting memories and implanting skills might be very different things. Memories can be sort of hazy, and I've read that we actually re-create many of the details in the process of remembering, whereas skills need practice.

The second episode was okay, I thought, but sort of confirms that this premise really doesn't seem to have enough to it to make a good open-ended TV series. The missions are fairly generic so far, and as nifty as Slater's acting is in going between the two characters, there doesn't seem to be as much fertile ground in the gimmick as one might have thought.

I've got a little bit of hope that the producers have pulled James Cromwell in to do something interesting, rather than just demonstrate that they've got a large enough budget to put great actors into stock roles. But they really need to show me something soon.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

That's actually what I thought was the case from the beginning, and in fact HAS to be the case as it's the only reasonable explanation as to why they would even implant the chip.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

I had the same thought about Henry being with Edward being the spin off. Actually they could both be a split from an original character that was imperfect with the traits of Henry and Edward split to perform different functions. Henry was left in Edwards apartment and "discovered" his alter ego. Like that was an accident.

I don't understand the posts that suggest this theme has limited potential. My thoughts have been that the many conflicts leave infinite possibilities. Henry and Edward are their own worst enemies hence the limitless conflicts. Many subtle plot devices have been inserted that can be brought up in later episodes.

Politically correct plot devices have been thrown out the window with this series - that alone has be hooked. Hollywood has treaded lightly with themes that deal with fundamentalist Islamic terrorism; likely for fear that it would appear overly nationalistic and jingoistic. The second episode deals with the torture of a German national who is giving aid to an Ismamic terrorist organization. The show has Henry to give the counter argument to all the questionable issues that have been laid at the feet of the spy-o-crats.

The West Wing this show ain't - and for that reason I'll keep watching.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

It could just be that when Edward is on a mission he is their best agent, but they wanted to keep him under lock and key so to speak when they didn't need him.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

Color me surprised by the end of the episode. Twists upon twists here.

Meanwhile, any explanation about Henry/Edward needs to also explain the other guy. That makes it all that more complicated and maybe it will take some time to figure out just why they did this.

re: My Own Worst Enemy - season 1

I thought this was pretty good in the first few episode, but today's was a huge step forward and I hope it continues that way.