Utilizing special effects and some fun characters, Human Target stars Mark Valley as Christopher Chance, a private contractor who is hired to guard private citizens in harm’s way. Joining with his partners Winston (Chi McBride) and Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley), Chance often finds himself in the middle of some extremely dangerous situations.
The Pilot Episode
In the pilot episode, Chance takes the place of a bank executive who is held hostage by a disgruntled former employee. He becomes the target, but stays cool throughout the entire process. This is his MO. He is always cool as a cucumber and manages some amusing statements in the middle of all the action, somewhat in the same way James Bond always manages an amusing statement while facing almost imminent demise.
Chance is no James Bond, but he is an entertaining character. Also in the pilot he must save a bullet train from San Francisco. While this episode is perhaps not the best of this mid-season series, it serves to set the stage for the characters.
The Second Episode of Human Target
The second episode titled “Rewind” is where the series really takes off. Literally. Chance is hired to protect a computer hacker who has discovered a skeleton key which can get through any firewall and into any computer in the world. The problem is, this person is not known to Chance or his team. The name Casper is all they have to go on.
However, they do know that Casper is the target of unscrupulous people who would stop at nothing to get that key. Imagine being able to get into any computer in the world. The world would be in chaos.
Chance and Winston take on aliases on board the flight that is taking “Casper” to a safe place where the skeleton key will be turned over and destroyed. They have two goals on this flight. One is to find out which passenger is Casper, and the other is to find the person who was sent to kidnap Casper and obtain the key.
While on the plane everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Soon Chance is flying the plane while a fire threatens to bring it down. In his usual calm demeanor, Chance takes everything in stride. Not one bead of sweat falls on this man’s face while he is flying the plane and figuring out what to do next.
This is a new kind of series. It is filled with special effects and a lot of dangerous situations. Mark Valley plays the cool-as-a-cucumber man who becomes a human target in order to protect his clients.
The pilot episode of Human Target premiers on FOX Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 8 PM ET/PT following an NFC Division Playoff Game. The series then moves to its regular day and timeslot on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 8 PM ET/PT with the episode titled “Rewind.”
Read about more Fox midseason shows.
