Something About Harry

I like this Episode, because it combines the ideas in They Live, with the ideas in the Men in Black Franchise. No Spoilers, but suffice it to say that things go Topsy Turvy, big time in this Episode.

I haven't seen Men in Black in quite a while, but this series "borrows" all the time from earlier works, so I wouldn't be surprised if it borrowed from that. I certainly don't recall that movie being based on a teenager's perspective though.

Anyway, this is a pretty good episode. Gordon-Levitt isn't always convincing in this early dramatic role, but his take on the part is actually pretty funny and he does carry the hour. "YOU JUST SAID YOU'RE FROM ANOTHER PLANET!!"

Judd Nelson does a fine job with his much more limited role, but having such an extremely recognizable actor is kind of distracting because the role is so small.

Judd Nelson as Harry the kid is the protégé.

Gerry Chalk as Detective Frank Dayton is Tommy Lee Jones.

This was a decent episode of Outer Limits but not a great one for the following reason. A classic Outer Limits Episodes really gets me hooked into the fate of the characters. I did care about the characters but I dinged it because it was an obvious derivative of 'Men in Black'.

For better episodes of 'The Outer Limits' that are more original see ... 'The Light Brigade' (with Will Wheaton) for sci-fi setting. 'An Inconstant Moon' - a beautiful love story 'New Lease' - very underrated story about a scientist who gets a taste of his own medicine and an empathetic view of his beautiful and long suffering wife.

This is all in my most humble opinion of course.

We are led on a merry chase again. This is very similar to "Men in Black" as we say, "Alien, alien, who's got the alien. A teenager suspects that the guy his mother is renting to is a bad guy. We are made privy to his "evil" as we watch him scan a victim and reduce him to a puddle of green goo. So what we have now is a series of events where we are carried on the back of the kid as he investigates what is going on. His mom is a single mother who is trying to make ends meet. His father has been killed in a car accident so he acquiesces to his mother's wishes. Unfortunately, evidence keeps piling up. Of course, like any self-respecting teenagers wishes (going back to Steve McQueen in "The Blob) is seen as the product of an over-active imagination. Dramatic irony steps in. The problem comes when we are given few clues to the realities of the episode. Red herrings abound. Whom do you trust? The plot, as usual, would have worked well as a Goosebumps book. One should not go back and review the events because it would be a tenuous set of circumstances. About average for the series.