TV Review: Painkiller Jane - "Piece of Mind"
Published May 03, 2007
Back at HQ, Techboy looks zoned out and the others are fumbling around the comm system trying to get it to do something. The Team powwows and out pops the brain storm that the Neuro is sick and in search of the knowledge to make him better. They're trying to figure out how the train fits into all this. Designated woman-hater, Connor King snipes at PJ again, saying she's to blame for Riley "losing his mind."
Unlike the others, Riley has had a complete memory meltdown, which I thought was a clever computer tie-in by the writers. He sits in front of a bank of ten monitors to try and bring the RAM memories flooding back. Though for a second it looks like he knows what he's doing, instead he completely bollocks up the works. "System failure. Warning, systems failure." He's next seen fists pumping in front of a screen, after making a double albatross putt.
The Neuro, by the name of Simon Connolly, comes in to HQ to reveal all. He's leaning on a cane and looks fragile. Turns out he's dying soon, though we don't know why. With Riley's brain dump he's able to get in, copper bracelet and all. He has also realized what he is. What he is is a balding guy who looks like a 55-year-old Jon Cryer. Not chatty by nature, Connolly lays it on the line — help me or I fry Riley's brain for good. He's right, it would be for good, Riley's a half-shaven weasel of a character and if PJ didn't feel guilty about not heading out with him, she'd probably not worry too much about team loyalty, seeing as how she's only been there long enough for one menstrual cycle. (Hey, does her body heal those before ... anyhoo ...)
Riley's "piece of mind," of course is restored before the end of this Happy Hour.
Connolly says he can steal, transfer, and restore knowledge. He says he's given back Dr. Rafferty's mind as proof of his good intentions. McBride justifies the great train robbery as serving a higher cause. Connolly, having touched them all as a homeless guy and in an earlier HQ visit during the night, has given them all the extra-sensory train-spotting knowledge.,
Freight line 122 (#6425 by the way) has cargo he needs. He says he's more than willing to be "chipped" after it's all over. Since he knows of Vasco's ability, she is given the most "physically challenging" task of the operation. I've thought since episode one that Painkiller Jane is a Neuro herself and she certainly feels an affinity for Connolly. So when he asks her whether she knows for sure she's on the "right side," and that her being different is a lot like him being different, it's either a complete red herring or a wildly unsubtle clue. The way this show is written, I'll go with the latter.
- TV Review: Painkiller Jane - "Piece of Mind"
- Published: May 03, 2007
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Drama, Video: Action, Video: SF, Video: TV Recap, Video: Television
- Part of a feature: Painkiller Jane
- Writer: Temple Stark
- Temple Stark's BC Writer page
- Temple Stark's personal site
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