Human Targezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there. I must've dozed off.

Human Target shows exactly why Burn Notice is so awesome: the cast/character chemistry - especially IMHO the Michael/Fiona relationship, and the overriding mystery (that, let's be honest, we know is never going to resolve itself until the series finale... if it even does resolve itself then!) These are two aspects of Burn Notice that the viewer - even the casual viewer - can carry away at the end of the episode... and hopefully be brought back for more amusing spy action next week (not to mention all the do-it-yourself voiceover know-how).

Human Target doesn't have those things or anything like them. The regular characters (alpha male, sarcastic man servant, thug/tech guy) are cardboard cut outs. Which wouldn't be so bad... but there is just nothing else to hold onto in this series that, if at least one character truly stood out, I could see people coming back ("at least I'm entertained when X is on screen!"). We're supposed to feel that when either Winston (McBride) or Guerreo (Haley) are on screen, quirkily playing off of each other.

But... that hasn't happened. At least for me.

Let's move beyond mere character traits to plot.

Chance doesn't have a personal life that we've been let into (even if he has a traumatic one in his past... there's nothing in the present). And nothing, week to week, matters. Every week there is simply a protectee, a threat, and a convoluted way to neutralize said threat that throws just about every cliché in that week's genre (to point out a few from pilot / post-pilot... train episode: brake problems, train cars separated, train going to run off the rails; plane episode: pilot incapacitated, fire on the plane, flipping the plane).

Not that the male characters are three dimensional by any means, but there's a severe lack of fully fleshed out women on the show (as in, there are NONE). What would Burn Notice be without Fiona, (even putting aside the romantic subplot)? Think about it. Yeah. And in cases like this third episode, when the protectee is male? There. Are. No. Women (unless, shock! the villain is a woman, look how smart we are, didn't that MAJOR TWIST just turn your preconceptions on their heads?) And, no, that female spy from tonight's episode, even if she does come back, does not alter this trend.

Human Target may only aspire to be the pulpy throwback its credits indicate. Which, okay, fine, that's what it wants to be. But someone should've told Fox, Warner Bros, and all involved in shaping the show that TV has moved on from that.

In short: Michael Weston FTW.