I thought this was the best of the series so far, as it gave the supporting characters some personality: I liked Magic's "It's magic" when he found Martinez's face, and Jenn is growing on me. Raymond Lee got to do a little more acting, as Ben remembered his mother and then tried to call her. Caitlin Bassett didn't have much to do this episode except look moved by all of Ben's revelations. I did like her and Jenn bonding at the end.
My main issue is that the "magic" just isn't there. It may be unfair to compare Lee to Bakula, but NBC and Bellisario brought on the comparisons by doing a remake. If they don't want to be compared to the original show, then come up with their own idea for time travel.
Also, it seems like story elements are being dropped. Janis Calvacci was a big part of the first couple of episodes, and then she disappeared. What was she going to do with all of Ziggy's predictive powers? Who knows? Who cares? The team certainly doesn't seem to care, or even remember.
We essentially wasted an episode on the congresswoman last episode, in a storyline that went nowhere. Now we get Martinez as an Evil Leaper of sorts. I like some of the timey-whimeyness involved, which Ian kinda gaslights by noting that they may have set in motion the whole series of events that leads Martinez to become the Evil Leaper. I suspect that'll get dropped, too, since the show doesn't seem interested in exploring some of the subplots it brings up. Ziggy's quantum predictiveness? What quantum preditiveness?
Ditto for Martinez potentially being from the Project's future. That's some hardcore timey-whimey, but it just seems tossed in as an afterthought, and the show hasn't demonstrated any gift for exploring those afterthoughts. But rather tosses them aside.
Part of it that the show is still moving too fast. Granted, Sam calling a parent happened in the pilot episode of the original, too. So Ben doing it in the sixth episode isn't that fast in comparison. But Bakula had a gift for making the heartfelt anguish feel... earned. In a way that Lee doesn't. I also liked Al more than I like Addison. Sorry, Addison fans.
We're six episodes in, and the team is about halfway to figuring out what the Evil Leaper is up to. They never figured that out in the original series.
As far as taking the episode by itself, I did like it. I particularly liked how the earthquake was an impetus, but it wasn't a main part of the episode. More of a backdrop to the whole Ben-John-Naomi-Jason thing Although maybe Ben should learn to just keep his mouth shut instead of demonstrating his ignorance of things the person whose body he's in would know. I also think the amnesia kinda hurts the show. We're six episodes in, and Ben might as well not have amnesia given how he manages to remember things like his childhood. And not just the traumatic event with his mother, but the fact he didn't know his father. The episode was more of a focus on a personal relationship, in a way that last week's episode wasn't. This week was about Ben trying to patch up the relationship between a mother and son. Last week it was... Ben saving a 19th century Old West town from outlaws.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
My main issue is that the "magic" just isn't there. It may be unfair to compare Lee to Bakula, but NBC and Bellisario brought on the comparisons by doing a remake. If they don't want to be compared to the original show, then come up with their own idea for time travel.
Also, it seems like story elements are being dropped. Janis Calvacci was a big part of the first couple of episodes, and then she disappeared. What was she going to do with all of Ziggy's predictive powers? Who knows? Who cares? The team certainly doesn't seem to care, or even remember.
We essentially wasted an episode on the congresswoman last episode, in a storyline that went nowhere. Now we get Martinez as an Evil Leaper of sorts. I like some of the timey-whimeyness involved, which Ian kinda gaslights by noting that they may have set in motion the whole series of events that leads Martinez to become the Evil Leaper. I suspect that'll get dropped, too, since the show doesn't seem interested in exploring some of the subplots it brings up. Ziggy's quantum predictiveness? What quantum preditiveness?
Ditto for Martinez potentially being from the Project's future. That's some hardcore timey-whimey, but it just seems tossed in as an afterthought, and the show hasn't demonstrated any gift for exploring those afterthoughts. But rather tosses them aside.
Part of it that the show is still moving too fast. Granted, Sam calling a parent happened in the pilot episode of the original, too. So Ben doing it in the sixth episode isn't that fast in comparison. But Bakula had a gift for making the heartfelt anguish feel... earned. In a way that Lee doesn't. I also liked Al more than I like Addison. Sorry, Addison fans.
We're six episodes in, and the team is about halfway to figuring out what the Evil Leaper is up to. They never figured that out in the original series.
As far as taking the episode by itself, I did like it. I particularly liked how the earthquake was an impetus, but it wasn't a main part of the episode. More of a backdrop to the whole Ben-John-Naomi-Jason thing Although maybe Ben should learn to just keep his mouth shut instead of demonstrating his ignorance of things the person whose body he's in would know. I also think the amnesia kinda hurts the show. We're six episodes in, and Ben might as well not have amnesia given how he manages to remember things like his childhood. And not just the traumatic event with his mother, but the fact he didn't know his father. The episode was more of a focus on a personal relationship, in a way that last week's episode wasn't. This week was about Ben trying to patch up the relationship between a mother and son. Last week it was... Ben saving a 19th century Old West town from outlaws.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
