Dark Angel
"Prodigy"

Airdate: November 21, 2000

Wow. An attention-grabbing plot. A cool action sequence. Brand new flashbacks! Lydecker as the smartest and most interesting character. All in a single episode of Dark Angel? Shhyeah, right, you say! Well, believe it or not, the day has come. Monkeys are officially flying out of my butt.

"Prodigy" revolves around a seminar being held in Seattle for Dr. Tanaka -- a brilliant scientist who specializes in playing around with people's genetic code after they're born. Tanaka is to present his groundbreaking experiments on a crack baby named Jude who, now five years later, has been reformed into a little boy genius. Sounds intriguing, especially to a genetically engineered experiment like Max. Logan forges her some phony credentials that get her into Tanaka's lectures, but uh-oh! Turns out that Lydecker is at this very same conference. To complicate matters, machine gun toting, anti-technology terrorists unexpectedly invade the hotel and hold everyone hostage.

This is the strongest episode of Dark Angel to date, as long as you don't think about it too much afterwards. It succeeds on a whole because it throws all its punches at just the right moments to sustain your interest. Tanaka's mind-training with his child prodigy triggers one of Max's obligatory childhood flashbacks. But rather than repeating the same images we've been seeing week after week, she harks back to being chained to the bottom of a pool at Manticore, where Lydecker would train them to hold their breath. The old ones are still there too -- the seizures, slide-show brainwashing, etc., but in extremely short spurts. All of them juxtapose nicely against the main action. Along with this, Alba's voiceovers are spoken in a much darker tone, a switch from her usual blazé, "whatever" attitude.

The unabashed, gratuitous violence count is up, especially when the terrorists toss Tanaka off the top of a building. They also seem to have no problems throwing a cripple from his wheelchair 20 stories to his death, though I got a kick out of Max's Die Hard-style leap to catch Logan on the descent as they crash into a window of a lower floor. Max and Logan steal another lesson from the Bruce Willis filmography, when they proceed to squabble a la Moonlighting atop of a double bed covered with shards of broken glass (they are completely uninjured of course). It is so over-the-top, you can't help but laugh.

But the best thing about "Prodigy" is that at long last, Lydecker (John Savage) gets a decent storyline! We finally get to see him do things; act like a regular human being among other civilians. Turns out, the guy is actually pretty smart. It makes sense that Lydecker would have admiration for Dr. Tanaka's work, his ulterior motive being that he can use the acquired knowledge for his own little pet project. Unaware of what Max looks like -- he hasn't seen her since she escaped -- the dirty old man (somewhat pathetically) and unsuccessfully, flirts with her and tries to pick her up. Max sees this as a way to squeeze information out of him, and he unknowingly reveals snippets of his sinister views on life (survival of the fittest) and the muted pride he has in his "children", though they do have their "flaws".

"Prodigy" has its flaws too. How about these terrorists, known as The May 22nd Movement (the Unibomber's birthday)? Taking your name from a wacko who'd mail bombs to people is the first indication that these guys are a bunch of wackos themselves. As much as I like the sudden plot turn and the idea of left-wings trying to stir shit up, the May 22nd Movement, particularly the leader, John Darius (over-acting anyone?) are way too gung-ho to be more than just cartoonish stereotypes. Same goes for the terrorists' enemies. Forget the police or hostage experts. In come the diametrically opposite right-wing, trigger-happy military. They barge in, take the entire situation over and very unrealistically believe that hostages are expendable! Logan sticks his nose into things and somehow weasels his way into becoming not only the hostage negotiator, but also trade bait to release the women and children.

The military's strategy defies all forms of logic, thereby dimming the credibility of the situation and raising hundreds of questions: Why do the released hostages have absolutely no reaction to military police gunning down terrorists right in front of their eyes? In the media frenzy, how did no camera crew get footage of a woman jumping off the top of the building with a rope tied around her waist to save the situation's hostage negotiator? Why do the witnessing terrorists have no reaction to such a feat? And how come Logan is always wearing the same stoic, constipated face no matter what the situation?

There actually is one moment when I would have actually appreciated some questions left unanswered. To tie up the loose ends the staff actually noticed, "Prodigy" concludes with a soul searching speech by Max, re-iterating to Logan as to why she saved Lydecker's life -- and no, it's not because she's a good person, she's not that high-minded. It's just that he's the closest link to her oppressed past and her screwed up body. Lydecker still carries the answers to many of her questions. Max's motive is justified for sure, but it's also the most obvious one, which already demonstrated itself clearly through her childhood-slideshow flashbacks. Personally, I thought there might have been some sick, warped father-figure subtext going on between her and Lydecker. Obviously, I was trying to read too much into it.

Am I being too harsh? Shouldn't I just be happy that writer, Patrick Harbinson tried to put some dimension into the normally lifeless baddie? That Max tried less skanky undercover attire, dressing like Agent Scully instead of Ally McBeal? Bah. In the immortal words of a wise, little green puppet, "Try not! Do, or do not. There is no try!". It's a great relief (especially to this viewer) to see a spark of improvement on this series... but only after the sixth show? About bloody time! We all know that if Dark Angel was on NBC, it'd be long gone by now.

-- Julie Ng

Dark Angel airs at 9pm EST/8pm MNT, Tuesdays on FOX.

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