NIGHT STALKER: SEASON 1



1.1: Pilot - 1.2: The Five People You Meet in Hell - 1.3: Three - 1.4: Burning Man - 1.5: Malum




1.1: Pilot

Written by Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Daniel Sackheim

When this series was announced, I was a little worried. The original series was something rather unique in tone, and it also had a quirky sense of humor. This version is firmly entrenched in its dark tone, and there’s a remarkable level of non-apologetic violence. Add to that the fact that Staurt Townsend is not as viewer-friendly a face as Darrin McGavin, and there’s a lot going against it.

I was also concerned with the fact that this has such an ironic pedigree. Chris Carter created “X-Files” as something of an update to the original “Kolchak” with a darker edge. “X-Files” has become a cultural icon and a massive influence to current genre hits. This new “Night Stalker” is clearly evolved from “X-Files”, right down to the executive producers and director. A couple of times, I felt like Mulder and Scully would pop out of nowhere, as if they belonged there all along.

All that in mind, as much as I knew it would be disturbing and dark, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I was honestly worried about the characters at several points in the story, and Frank Spotnitz actually overcame my usual dislike of the “child in jeopardy” cliché. I’m not sure what I thought of the actual creatures involved, or how they intersect with Kolchak’s past history, but I’m certainly interested in seeing how those marks all interconnect.

One of the more interesting elements of the Joss Whedon Buffyverse concept was the idea of societal willful ignorance. In short, when things happen outside of what society considers to be normal, society will find ways to minimize or ignore those things as a psychological defense mechanism. Of course, the side effect is that individuals don’t have the information they need to defend themselves from things they don’t know about.

That concept is alive and well in this series, and I’m happy about that. I hope it gets more exploration over time. I also like the fact that Kolchak is not a law enforcement officer, and so he has few weapons to use if things get dangerous. Granted, he conveniently had climbing gear in his car for the pilot, but in future episodes, I hope we get to see him being more resourceful.

Gabrielle Union is one hot co-star; those legs are rather nicely toned, as her scantily-clad internet search habits revealed. I’m not so sure about the tag-along Jain, though I like that he’s more of an ally for Kolchak than another adversary. Agent Fain wasn’t the best rendered character in the world, but there’s time for his character to become more substantial with future appearances.

The real problem for this series will be the massive competition from “CSI” and “The Apprentice” (“Reunion” won’t be competition for much longer, if it doesn’t improve drastically). It also doesn’t help that “Alias” was tossed into even more powerful competition, so this series won’t get a strong lead-in. ABC can afford to be patient these days, however, so maybe there’s hope.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10


*****
1.2: The Five People You Meet in Hell

Written by Thomas Schnauz
Directed by Rob Bowman

Before I say anything else, I must give this episode its due for having one of the best titles in recent memory. This one made me laugh before I started watching it, simply based on the implicit sarcasm of the title and its reference. Certainly, that goes a long way towards telling the audience what to expect. I wasn’t expecting, however, for that to be the only laugh of the hour.

There are two shows on the air right now that cover the “scary” side of the paranormal. Sure, “Invasion” and “Threshold” have their moments, but the real focus is not on the horror aspect of each concept. “Supernatural” and “Night Stalker” jump into the horror genre with both feet and with no apologies. But they definitely take two very different approaches to the material, and I find myself seeing more balance in “Supernatural”, for all its WB mentality, than this series.

Kolchak is one hell of a brooding character, and he seems to exude a massive amount of angst without really trying. That’s all well and good if there’s a character to balance the angst with a little of something else. Perri and Jain seem to be designed specifically to provide foils for Kolchak and his intensity, but in this episode, it’s not really there.

Perri is too involved in the situation at hand to offer any real resistance to Kolchak, and while she initially scoffs at Kolchak’s worries, that disappears quickly. Jain is clearly meant to be comic relief, but he spends most of the episode wringing his hands and watching his co-workers slowly lose their perspective and self-control. All in all, not much room for light to creep in.

One tool that writers will use to establish a “family” atmosphere within an ensemble very quickly is to design an episode around a situation which will force one member of the “family” to victimize another. This forces anyone in the group to demonstrate how they value (or devalue) the other members of the “family” and their opinions. In this case, Kolchak, Perri, and Jain are already strongly devoted to each other’s well-being, which doesn’t quite ring true. It seems too early for Kolchak to be so central in their lives.

On the other hand, the other goal of the writers had to be giving Kolchak some degree of credibility. Perri (and to a lesser extent, Jain) begins the episode with a lot of doubt; she ends the episode with a lot less. Even their boss buys into Kolchak’s theory. How that will translate into future episodes is hard to predict, since it depends greatly upon internal continuity.

But I find myself wondering if Kolchak is already compromised in terms of his character’s future. He already has trouble with the law, and now he’s basically come within seconds of butchering a co-worker after getting her to trust his unusual sense of reality. If the man influencing Kolchak hadn’t been stabbed himself, just at the right time, Kolchak wouldn’t have been able to stop himself. I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t see how that inspires confidence!

In terms of the plot, it was certainly disturbing, and once again the strong “X-Files” pedigree is practically dripping from every scene. A lot of scenes were incredibly dark and even grainy, and one can see how that would be distracting. In the end, this felt exactly how one would expect an early first season episode to feel: rough. This series is still searching for its unique identity. With so much potential, I only hope that ABC gives them the time to find it.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10


*****
1.3: Three

Written by Adam Sussman
Directed by Daniel Sackheim

As far as I’m concerned, this is the best episode of the series thus far, if only because the mystery at the heart of the episode got under my skin somewhat and the characters actually showed some signs of a sense of humor. Sure, the whole “secret society” thing didn’t work as well as I would have liked, but the haunting aspect was just plain unnerving.

Making Perri part of some unknown secret society does add an interesting level to her character, since it provides some assurance that she can keep things in confidence when they are important enough. That’s critical to her relationship to Kolchak. At the same time, Kolchak is never going to know if Perri is telling him everything he needs to know, because he’ll wonder if she’s playing to other loyalties. It’s a small character point, but one that could be fun to explore in the future.

The deaths in this episode were very well done, and they were definitely pushing towards the graphic side. I found it interesting that the victims died in ways that conventional forensics could never fully explain, yet there was no attempt to show anyone other than Kolchak and his allies looking for an answer. It continues to paint the picture that the writers made part of the premise: when these things happen, society at large finds a way to make them consistent with consensual reality.

I knew that something more than the secret society had to be at play, but I must admit, I didn’t see that violent flashback coming at all. That was the part I found very unnerving. Part of it is the fact that I have a young son who couldn’t have been much older than the boy who died from fear. As much as I hate it when writers use young children as an easy way to generate sympathy or emotional response, this time I fell for it. It didn’t matter that I knew it was happening!

As much as the incredibly dark and uncompromising tone of the series is a good thing, in terms of the storytelling, I think it’s making it very hard for the general audience to accept it. This series is up against “CSI”, so there’s a need to match the more shocking elements of that series (at least, a perceived need), but the graphic nature of the material could be more than most viewers can handle.

Right now, of course, the writers are trying to establish a certain hyper-reality with the series, right down to the fact that Kolchak is a “cool” character who can run against conventional wisdom with little or no trouble. In essence, Kolchak committed arson at the end of the episode, which is an odd thing for the writers to ask the viewers to accept. Once again, Kolchak does something that law enforcement would find questionable. Sooner or later, all of this should come back to haunt him, especially if the writers are hoping to establish any semblance of an overall plot arc. Then again, right now, I’m not sure that the series needs to go there just yet.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10


*****
1.4: Burning Man

Written by Noah Baylin
Directed by Tony Wharmby

I’m still not sure where I stand with this series. Every time I think I have a sense of where it’s going and how it’s going to progress, it comes along with an episode filled with predictability and precious little else. It also made me think about the central premise of the series and one of its more obvious flaws. That’s not something a struggling series should be doing.

Let me start with my thoughts on the premise. It occurred to me, during the final act, that Kolchak is an investigative crime reporter. That means that he’s good with the investigating, but in just about every other situation, he’s out of his element. This is not a particularly problematic character trait until he finds himself in the kind of situation that, say, law enforcement credentials (backup) and paraphernalia (a weapon or two) would facilitate.

As Kolchak is facing down the man with the instantly deadly biological agent, it struck me that Kolchak should be a dead man. He’s facing down a maniac with no reason to hold back. Instead of drawing his conclusions and tipping off the authorities after walking out the door with a false grin, he stands there and forces Mr. Psychotic to admit his complicity. That’s just not a good idea.

Now, I could buy it if Kolchak had some kind of established death wish. But that’s not where the character has been doing, exactly. He’s more in the “Mulder” mode, with a crusade that keeps him going and prevents him from having a death wish. Uncovering the truth is his mission, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into standing in the same room as the serial killer with no means of personal protection and forcing a confession.

My point is that Kolchak is a reporter, not an FBI agent, and the writers sometimes slip into the comfortable realm of “X-Files” plotting. This episode is filled with it. Substitute the co-workers at the Beacon with Skinner and some pompous agent, and suddenly this is a first season “X-Files” episode. And a fairly mediocre one, too, which is part of the problem. Perri even makes a passable “Scully” figure (and she’s hot!).

I’m also not impressed with Kolchak’s ability to work out psychology, which he really needs to understand in his line of work. I pegged Mr. Psychotic as the real killer about five seconds after Kolchak and Perri dropped off the file. The writers really telegraphed that one, and the structure didn’t suggest that such was the intent. It made Kolchak look very stupid, because Mr. Psychotic was practically handing him the truth for most of the episode.

So the end result is that Kolchak once again proves to his allies that there is more to the story than the consensual reality of the latest press release. And Kolchak recognizes something of Mr. Psychotic in himself. This happens every episode, so I think the point has been made. Kolchak could have fallen into darkness, we get that. Now show us why he didn’t, and in the process, don’t put him in the kind of position that a crime reporter shouldn’t survive.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/2

Final Rating: 6/10


*****
1.5: Malum

Written by Kay Foster and Adam Armus
Directed by Deran Sarafian

As a rule, I find holiday-themed episodes to be hazardous. Too often, they rely on the mystique of the holiday to generate the emotional response to the events at hand. For instance, the typical Halloween episode takes the spookiness and “evil” and runs with it. It takes a good writer, like Joss Whedon, to make a Halloween episode mean something in the long run. Otherwise, it’s often silly. (And don’t even get me started about Christmas episodes!)

What I like about this episode is how the Halloween connection is entirely incidental. It really has nothing to do with the story. Instead, it’s a disturbing tale of demonic possession that takes a long time to unfold. Framing it as an investigation, with Kolchak at the heart of it as a possible suspect, makes it even more interesting. I’ve been saying for a long time that Kolchak’s methods should be getting him into a lot more legal trouble, and in this case, that’s exactly where the story goes.

I was also pleased that Justin’s murderous activities weren’t directly shown. Seeing a kid standing there, making things happen, would have taken away some of the tension. The key in this episode was that the horror was in the clear communication of intention. Someone intended to kill, again and again, and it really didn’t matter how it was being done. It was all about the whys and the wherefores.

I really like how Justin’s plan and its ultimate goal, as well as the end of his reign of terror, are revealed over time through the slow consideration of its consequences. The Detective was trying to understand intentions, because he needed to know why people made decisions to make his case. And as “X-Files” demonstrated rather well, psychological horror is usually a lot more affecting than some random monster.

This episode also avoided one of the nitpicks I’ve had in the past. Kolchak does a lot of investigation and sometimes pushes his role a bit over the line he shouldn’t cross. That’s why the Detective can point fingers at him. But he doesn’t get so close to the source of the danger that he himself becomes an easy target. He’s always on the periphery of events, which is preferable in cases where there’s little or no personal impact.

I’m really not sure what else I can say about this one. I think this was the best episode of the season thus far. By the end, I wasn’t sure how the story would finally end. I was actually beginning to wonder if the demon inside Justin had jumped into the Detective somehow, since it looked like he was trying to eliminate anyone who knew the truth about Justin. But that’s not a sign of a sloppy ending, but rather, an example of how such a disturbing concept can get one thinking.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10





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