'Human Target' - 'Tanarak' Recap

(S01E10) Sorry about the late review, folks. My systems were still acting a little wonky after that EMP blast on '24' the other week, but everything seems to be working A-OK now (yes, I am a robot, a TV lovin' robot). So let's take a few and talk about our favorite Death Retardant Specialist, Christopher Chance.

SuperChance flew to a remote Alaskan island to rescue a selfless doctor, played by the perfectly adequate Moon Bloodgood, from a team of corporate-financed baddies. But what started out as a simple find and flee job soon turned into a mission to unearth a deadly conspiracy. Follow me after the jump for spoilers.

It's always fun to see our boy dropped in the middle of nowhere with nothing but his wits and the clothes on his back. But Chance didn't need much help outwitting the pathetic goons in this episode. He was able to take out their toughest shotgun-holding tough guy in less than 10 seconds, a hilarious nod to Chance's flawless fighting skills.

As usual, the rest of the ep jumped back and forth between Chance's adventure in the field and Winston and Guerrero's fact-finding mission back in San Francisco. You'd think this formula would feel tired by now, but 'Human Target' manages to keep things fresh with clever little twists, quirky character interactions, and some nice quiet moments between Chance and the person he's trying to help.

While Chance was diving off cliffs, blowing up mines, and cozying up to a half-naked Moon Bloodgood, Guerrero was busy stealing the show with some very funny scenes. During his hunt for some dirt on Evil Inc., he stuffed a frightened corporate middleman in his trunk, creeped out some office workers, and casually threatened to murder a "scumbag" clean-up man without breaking a sweat.

The guy's got skills, and Jackie Earl Haley's performance is only getting better and more confident. I hope his movie career will allow him to continue appearing on this show after season one is over (if season two is in the cards, of course).

It was a little strange seeing Winston threaten the evil corporate bigwig at the end. Awesome, but strange. You'd think Guerrero would be better suited for such a task, but Winston held his own and secured Dr. Jessica's safety, plus some funds to help her save the world one sick person at a time. Like I typed last week, I'm looking forward to exploring Winston's back-story in the future.

And speaking of back-stories, we didn't get a lot references to Chance's bad guy past this week. He had a nice but short bonding moment with Jessica about their similar compromises, but we didn't really learn anything new about him during the hour.

As for the conspiracy angle, it was pretty average evil TV corporation-type stuff. This seemed a bit like a filler ep. Still, "Tanarak" was another fun, hilarious, and fast-paced hour of 'Human Target.'

Next week's ep looks like another stand-alone, but the "Old Man" (who I hear might be played by Armand Assante) comes gunning for Chance in two weeks. I can't wait.