TV Review: Painkiller Jane - "Toy Soldiers" - Page 2

Painkiller Jane is still flipping out a little bit about discovering she's "a freak," which is a big part of this episode.

"Are you feeling okay?" Waterman asks.

"No, but rumor has it, I heal quickly."

Back in central HQ, there's video playing of the munitions depository incident. They see the "killed" guy get up. Riley "Nerd" Jensen says he's discovered there were a couple of other similar incidents of people trying to get military supplies, who were shot and thought killed. One of the break-ins was to the construction company that helped build a new World Commerce building. They talk about the imminent visit of the president and VIP to its opening.

Later alone, Tech Nerd is trying to gain access to the "Feds database" to track what they're doing. A big rattle of the keyboard and he's in and he sees there's a bust going down soon.

Vasco is walking back home. Viewers are introduced to her seedy-looking, underlit apartment complex and one of the cross-hall neighbors, Amanda in Apt. 402. She listens to a message from her father on the phone as she's winding down after a long day. Later in the third and final Amanda/Jane exchange in the show, Amanda tells Jane her dad visited her apartment while she was away. They're downstairs in the apartment building's parking garage at the time where Amanda has a new, not-running bike.

So, Vasco and dad haven't talked in a long time and Vasco doesn't seem too eager to talk to him. It's another question for the series so us people trying to follow along can get more out of this besides a Tomb Raider-type story line. We now know he's still alive and her mother's dead.

Painkiller Jane is taller than the average, and way taller by at least a foot over Amanda. Vasco has decided to take a moment to relax. She and Amanda are heading out to a club. As they walk, Amanda reveals she enjoys being different, a "freak." Amanda thinks Jane has it all together, while - yet again it's brought up that she's still struggling with the "I can get shot 20 times and still be alive every day of the week" thing. "Being different might not be as rewarding as you think it is," Jane says.

Like the first episode, the main plot turning points are a club over the audience's heads. It takes up too much of the story line, though I've got to believe this is just the getting-out-the-kinks of a new show.

Strikeforce Vicodin is called together to stop a theft of military equipment, which is the bust. They get involved though you'd think the Feds might have something to say about that. It's a US Army motor pool and a guy tries to steal a vehicle but is overwhelmingly surrounded. (Which begs the question why the Vicodin crew or the Feds?)

Article Author: Temple Stark

A graphic designing wordsmith, with a decade-plus career in community journalism behind me. Take a mean photo, have a new camera, and have been riding the wave of Twitter for more than a year.

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