TV Review: Painkiller Jane - "Trial By Fire"
Published June 20, 2007
Ah, we start off in a courtroom. A drama usually can't go wrong with a courtroom scene; there’s instant conflict and precise adversarial roles.
Before I get into the episode, let me step aside a moment to acknowledge at the beginning (in case people don’t get to the end here) that the impossible has been happening and people sticking with the show have been rewarded. Painkiller Jane is better than the stilted, ungifted acting and plodding plots it started with. I really wanted this show to work – and it really is. It’s been improving by leaps and bounds – just like a real superhero.
This was a stand-up episode about Strikeforce Vicodin aka Team Neuro member Connor King being accused of serial arson and murder.
Connor King is in the defendant’s seat after being arrested for a series of arsons including one house fire that killed Lucy Samuels. What’s been happening though is the team has been tracking a fire-starter neuro, and naturally Connor been seen at nearly every scene.
Combine that fact with his combustible personal history and we have a conflagration. Connor King's shit is about to hit his least supportive fan. His former police partner is about to testify against him and among his record as a criminal are arson charges.
“Ex-cop, ex-con — kind of cute in a borderline, sociopath kind of way,” series heroine Jane Vasco muses. “Here's the deal, I’m able to heal and Connor isn’t.”
It's a high-profile case and not only is the situation looking dire, Connor's government lawyers are working against him to keep the neuro program quiet. Connor cannot put Maureen, Jane, Andre, Riley, or Dr. Seth on the team (and certainly not former railway man and former team neuro member who’s lost in a subway tunnel somewhere, never to be seen again).
We get to meet some of the leaders behind the team, including Gerald Morgan, delicately referred to only as "supervisor of Andre's team." Morgan is willing to sacrifice King to save the secrecy of the team. “He was always a liability,” Morgan says, which ain’t exactly a vote of confidence.
Connor is feeling frisky in jail when Maureen comes to visit. She breaks the bad news that his background on the legit side of the law on Team Neuro won’t be part of his defense. He’s feeling despondent and hopes that his “going away present” is with a “sympathetic” Mo and “the Supergirl.”
- TV Review: Painkiller Jane - "Trial By Fire"
- Published: June 20, 2007
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: SF, Video: Action, Video: TV Recap, Video: Television
- Part of a feature: Painkiller Jane
- Writer: Temple Stark
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- Temple Stark's personal site
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Attention, this show is good now. For those who watched this show a couple of times and rightly felt sick and kinda disgusted after doing so, heads up.
This show is much better now. Give it a second chance and then tell me what you think.
I'm actually enjoying reviewing the show now - though a few more interested and commenting souls would help oh so much as well.
- Temple