Mild Mannered

This was worth watching just to see Jewel Staite and Sean Maher together on screen again after Firefly ended. Its not the best episode by far but it was fun. Myka in the leather outfit was interesting. This show is kinda up there with Sanctuary in a way.

This episode's main story sees Myka and Pete heading to Detroit where criminals appear to have been attacked by somebody with immense strength. It isn't long before they come face to face with the person responsible. He is wearing the costume of Pete's favourite comic book character; Iron Shadow. Myka has a theory about how his power works so contacts Claudia to help identify the artefact supplying that power. Meanwhile back at the warehouse Artie keeps seeing the late James MacPherson; he doesn't believe it to be a ghost or his imagination. Tension is still high between Claudia and Leena and the latter is suffering headaches.

This was a rather fun episode. It wasn't immediately obvious who was in the Iron Shadow costume but neither was it a surprise when the wearer was revealed. The idea of somebody using an artefact to become a superhero fits in with the feel of the show and makes a change from people using them in more selfish ways. The events back at the warehouse were entertaining enough but definitely secondary to the main story. The cast did a solid job; it was particularly fun seeing Jewel Staite and Sean Mahar, of 'Firefly' fame, working together again. The action was pretty good; especially the finale which included an amusing twist. Overall not the best episode but still plenty of fun.

This is one of my favorite episodes of the show.

I really like the comic book elements, even though I'm not a huge comic book reader anymore. I think it was an interesting choice to make the characters work in a diner. It really made it kind of cozy and and you pulled for them and their innocent but noble bond.

I think this episode is a perfect example of the show's fun and adventurous, more innocent and fun feel of the early seasons. Plus the focus is more Pete and Myka and less Claudia and her singing and her endless string of pop-up, superpowered relatives.

The main story is clearly better than the drama going on back at the warehouse. I wish the whole show kept this kind of feel and vibe to it, but that doesn't mean the rest of the show isn't awesome.

Why introduce the deactivator gel, give it a set of rules, and then abandon them? It's a sign of lazy writing and poorly constructed sci-fi. If you're going to write in a cooler gadget that stops the artifact, at least bring some backup gel or some kind of quick explanation for why the agents didn't. It's like Buffy showing up for a fight without Mr. Pointy.