February 26, 2011

Automan, episode 6: "Flashes and Ashes"



Noel

"Walter, in a case such as this, where the investigators are investigated, who investigates the investigators?"

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but it's rather poetic, don't you think?"


Hey, for once our bad guys are mostly not white dudes in suits! Well, one of them is, but two of our main baddies are corrupt cops Springer (James Emery) and Coe (Michael Horsley). They've been conducting midnight raids on the police armory for weapons they sell to crime lord Rollie Dumont (Hari Rhodes), a black guy in a suit who runs an L.A. nightclub and decorates his wall with a jeweled turtle shell. It's no more of a global threat than our heroes have been up against before, but it is an interesting new dynamic, especially when the episode opens with Springer & Coe killing and then pinning the crime on an honest cop, Frank Cooney (Ron Harvey), who was an old academy buddy of Walter's. In a solid twist, the two are believed and kept on the force, whereas Walter gets suspended and labelled a suspect in his quest to find the truth.

February 19, 2011

Automan, episode 5: "Unreasonable Facsimile"



Tony


So, what dastardly villains do our heroes square off against this week? A clan of ninjas? A megalomaniacal hacker? A powerful cyborg from the future? Nope. More old white guys.

February 12, 2011

Automan, episode 4: "Ships in the Night"



Noel

"Auto! This is crazy!"

"No, it's fun, it's torrid, it's leeeeembo. It's ME!"

"Auto, you can't do this!"

"But Walter, this is the tropics. Pungent smells of the jungle. Steamy women with erotic desires. By the way, Walter, what is an erotic desire?"

"NEVER MIND!"


Let me see if I've got this right... In the Caribbean nation of San Cristobal, a white dude in a suit named Sawyer (Scott Marlowe) uses a beautiful banker named Liang Lu (France Nuyen) to lure in other white dudes in suits who are on their last dregs of blown fortunes - business deals gone wrong, scams that backfired, etc. - and promises to double what money they have left if they'll help him smuggle cocaine across the border. But, when he gets them in the air on his plane, he instead just pitches them out the side into shark infested waters. And helping him cover it all up is the corrupt police captain Romano (Cesare Danova), who likes to buy fancy cars for his mistresses.

February 5, 2011

Automan, episode 3: "The Great Pretender"



Tony


By this point, I think that we’ve established that plots aren’t exactly the strong suit of Automan, which is good, because this week’s episode is more confusing than that time my old Scout Master asked me if I wanted to practice tying knots... in his basement. It’s really hard to yell “Help!” with a neckerchief shoved in your mouth. Hardest Merit badge I ever earned.