Waiting for the U-Foes - Taken: Week One

Halfway into the ten-part Taken, Spielberg's mini-series has established a herky-jerky rhythm: ten minutes of rotely written soap opera followed by ten of good ol' Muldery paranoia followed by scenes of melodramatic villainy that would probably be called "comic book" by a viewer less appreciative of well-realized comics wickedness.

Moving from the mid-forties to the early eighties, the story structure remains on the three families we met in the premiere outing, though by Ep Five the focus shifted to second and third generation family members. Snaky Owen Crawford, for example, is superceded by his wannabe snake son Eric (Andy Powers); former pilot Russel Keys turns out to be just the first in a family line of abductees, leading giggly overactor scientist Matt Frewer to theorize that the alien perpetrators are engaging in some form of genetic research/manipulation; while the offspring of a liaison between lonely waitress Mary Clark & that mysterious stranger spends much of his screen time running/hiding from nasty govt. types.

In all, the results have been mixed: in part due to the divers directoral hands that've been overseeing the series, but also due to constant scripter Leslie Bohem's inconstant focus. In Ep Four, when a large chunk of screen time is devoted to Jesse Keys' drug addiction, you could practically hear the American TV audience rustling in its couches. When slimy Owen sets up his alcoholic wife and weaselly assistant Walter, so he can kill 'em both and make it look like a lovers' quarrel, there's a momentary kick in seeing the actor from Monk get icily dispatched 'til you realize that, hey, this doesn't really add anything to the story. (We already knew that Owen was an s.o.b.) When son Eric attempts a futile romance with half-alien Jacob's half-sister, the whole premise feels dubious and ho-hum - in part because the only real thing we know about Eric is the fact that he's living under his father's shadow.

Article Author: Bill Sherman

Bill Sherman is the Comics & Graphic Novels review editor for Blogcritics. With his lovely wife Rebecca Fox, he has recently co-authored a sudsy size acceptance novel entitled Measure By Measure.

Visit Bill Sherman's author page — Bill Sherman's Blog