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Brief summary:
Coinciding with the arrival of a strange new
family in the Black's neighborhood, Jordan's
gift alerts her to the presence of evil and
an adversary her father has encountered before.
Rogue's Review:
If "Borrowed Time" didn't clinch Brittany
Tiplady's receipt of another Young Actors Award
(the same one she won last year), then "Saturn
Dreaming of Mercury" will definitely bring
home the prize. The focus of the hour -- at
last -- is on Frank Black's gifted daughter
Jordan, growing up over the last three years
before our eyes into the sweet, tough, troubled
young lady who now truly grapples with her gift
for the first time, taking it upon herself to
save another child from a potentially dark fate...
While "Saturn" is by no means a perfect
episode, it succeeds by primarily keeping the
focus on Jordan and those closest to her. For
the first time, Jordan even gets to interact
with Emma, and she does so in particularly fine
kid-fashion ("Can I come in?" Emma
asks from her bedroom doorway; "You already
did," Jordan sulks). The child is moody,
mercurial, and disturbingly alone in her traumatic
understanding of the darkness within the Sanderson
family -- in other words, she's the quintessential
"weird" kid, stuck outside the group,
trying to make her lonely way through the world...
much like her father before her.
Too bad writers Jordan Hawley and Chip Johannessen
chose to clutter such a wonderful character
study with all the worst trappings of the horror
genre: remote-viewing glass eyeballs, antique
furnaces in gloomy cellars, shovels to the cranium
(oh yeah -- Frank just walked away from that!
Right!), and a jittery Welcome-Wagon lady who
has NO business in the business she's in!
Even Jordan's invisible friend Simon seemed
poorly conceived -- was he truly attempting
to aid Jordan in preventing another death, or
was he part of the treacherous Legion plot all
along? He leads Jordan to the Sanderson home
to save Lucas -- but puts her into mortal danger
by doing so; meanwhile, he's capable of using
the Internet to alert Hollis to Jordan's situation...
That whole subplot perturbed me, confusing an
already thick and weighty scenario.
Fortunately, the outcome discarded the Simon
story altogether in favor of one much nearer
and dearer to our hearts. I admit I was utterly
stunned to discover the truth about Will Sanderson
and his son Lucas -- I had expected (given Lucy's
appearance in the Previously-on-MILLENNIUM teaser)
to learn that Lucas was in fact another lost
CHILD of Lucy's, perhaps being raised by another
Legion minion (Sanderson). But the final outcome
was chilling - Lucas himself turns out to be
Frank's arch-nemesis. No more puttering around
trying to get him to stay outa the way -- Lucy's
out for blood. And no one... not Jordan nor
Frank himself... is safe from her wrath now.
The terrific thrills and chills of the hour
more than make up for its shortcomings, but
a couple additional criticisms beg to be made:
1. WHY does Frank continue to leave Jordan
unattended week after week? In the opening sequence,
he just walks inside, leaving her alone out
front. I know the child is growing up and needs
to learn responsibility, but wouldn't he be
insane with worry over the potential threats
to her, from Legion AND from the Group?
2. There's real, tangible affection evident
between Lance and Brittany, but Frank's affected
kiddie voice was somewhat creepy, especially
the "You liiiike?" line. Yeesh. Goofy
talk I can accept, but let's avoid the trenchcoated-pervert
voice from now on, Frank! (Brittany recently
told me Lance regularly torments her on-set
to make her giggle, so one might assume he was
messing with the kid here, that prankster...)
Those comments aside, a few stand-out moments
for me:
1. Anyone else catch Jordan's pouty face when
she's sitting with Frank in the doctor's office.
Watch the moment closely. SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE
CATHERINE. It's eerie! A nice moment, and a
heartwrenching one.
2. The opening segment was great -- what an
explosion! Well-developed kickoff to a startling
and creepy episode.
3. The crash of the "welcome wagon"
was horrific!! The death of the woman (who was
last seen as the aging stripper and broken-hearted
demon lover in "Somehow, Satan Got Behind
Me") is perhaps the single goriest moment
yet on the series. And while it was a bit over
the top, what the hell -- it made me shudder,
and ANY strong reaction from a current-season
1013 production is worth noting!
4. Frank's line (regarding Sanderson), "He
wouldn't be the first husband to murder his
wife and change his identity." Nice mini-homage
to the Terry O'Quinn movie THE STEPFATHER, in
which TO'Q murders his wife and changes his
identity!
5. "Which of us is stronger, Frank?"
Brrrrrrrrrrr!!! And as much as I've criticized
David Lynch lately, the quirky director immediately
came to mind during the head-thrashing, shapeshifting
finale -- Lucy/Lucas's convulsive metamorphosis
reminded me of the closing moments of Lynch's
disturbing 1996 film LOST HIGHWAY. Again...
brrrrrrrrrrr!!!
Overall, a winning episode, despite its flaws.
And kudos to Brittany T. for the performance
of her young life. Give me more like this one!
p.s. Regarding the title, "Saturn Dreaming
of Mercury," my fiance Heather and I pondered
whether it refers to the placement of the planets,
a metaphorical analogy to Jordan dreaming of
her future, of becoming closer to the sun, or
the truth of her nature. The question then becomes...
will she be able to withstand the fiery assault
of that nature? Or will it consume her, as it
did Lara? [RATING: 8/10] |
