My Own Worst Enemy

Network: NBC; Genre: Action/Adventure; Content Rating: TV-14 (violence and some sexual content); Perspective: contemporary (star range: 1 – 4);

Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season)

Henry (Christian Slater) is an efficiency expert with a wife and two kids. He's such a nice guy, his life is so normal and ordinary that you just know he has to be a secret agent. He just doesn't know it. When called onto assignments, a secret government agency activates hardware in his brain that temporary wipes out Henry and loads in the personality of secret black ops badass assassin Edward. When returning Henry to his normal life false memories are implanted to explain any cuts or bruises. But we've got a problem. Henry/Edward is now broken. He starts snapping back and forth between personalities at random moments bringing Edward into Henry's home life and Henry for the first time into the high stakes world of Edward's.

I love this show. What a great idea. What a crisp and fun execution. What a deliciously entertaining series. "My Own Worst Enemy" is an imaginative shot in the arm for the spy series, putting a new spin on the classic double life storyline by keeping the agent himself in the dark, putting him at odds with (as the title so aptly describes) himself. I'm not even divulging my favorite little twist in the show, suffice to say it surprises from the beginning when the origin of the digital personality split is revealed.

Due to its at-home-on-cable complex premise, the show never caught fire with an audience and NBC is too cheap to keep it around until it could. That's a shame because had it been seen by more eyes this could have been a Kiefer Sutherland-level comeback for Christian Slater. Slater is terrific in dual role, playing both Henry and Edward with slightly different mannerisms and voices, fully vested in both the bumbling family man and the ruthless womanizing killer. Edward takes pleasure in sleeping with Henry's wife when he takes over but can't stand the domestic duties like buying his daughter a dress for the school dance. Henry freaks out when he wakes up in the bed of the company psychiatrist (Saffron Burrows) who Edward is sleeping with or in the field on a mission. None of this is played as cheesy, from Slater or in the show's unblinking treatment of material that goes along way to make material work that so easily could have fallen into camp.

The show also works, both on the home front stories and as an action series ride with Henry/Edward's cell phone recorder serving as a bridge by which the two personalities communicate (and threaten) each other. This is more than can be said for the more procedural, less cinematic spy thriller "the Unit", which still juggles domestic and black ops story lines awkwardly.

Mike O'Malley really surprises as Edward's partner, Raymond, another agent in the program. The wife of his alias, Joe, has grown suspicious leading her further to the truth. O'Malley is unrecognizable as the ruthless Raymond. This guy would eviscerate his "Yes Dear" character without thinking twice. On the other side is Alfrie Woodward as the program's overseer, who after her jump the shark performance in season 2 of "Desperate Housewives" could not look more lost or uninterested with everything going on. Acting fireplug James Cromwell also appears as her gruff superior office –a role Cromwell could do in his sleep.

Like "The Unit", "Enemy" isn't a "24"-level thrill ride. We never feel things won't work out for our heroes. The fun is in seeing how. What resourceful way will Henry keep to his core human principals while trying to dispatch an international terrorist? But the missions are nothing compared to the battle between the two men. That's where the show's imaginative playground is. How far will Edward go to push or even get rid of Henry? The action hits all the right notes here. This isn't serious spy stuff. It's pulpy Jason Bourne over-the-top movie spy stuff. Extremely entertaining spy stuff at that.

* * * ½ / 4

Don't know why they ever canceled this series, it was at the same time serious, fun, strange, elaborate, different and good :) This really had something that you hadn't seen before and Christian Slather was really a great actor for this, the main characters was an ordinary man for most, but had a "kill switch" in his brain so the CIA or who ever it was could turn him into a mercenary. When switched off he was a regular Joe, a dad, a husband, just an ordinary family guy, he is smiling, happy and awkward. But when activated he was a tactical killing machine, he could fight, shoot and sweep the ladies of their feet, he is charming, sexy and deadly.

The problem begins when the switch is not staying in the right position at the right time and the family dad side have no clue about the mercenary side, but vise versa does. It is fun and exciting and really good.

I like Christian Slater and I think he does very, very well portraying both Edward and Henry. The whole premise is very interesting and the first few episodes peaked my interest as to where they would be taking this. Then they made a fatal error and allow Tom to be too visible and then the very fatal error of involving his wife. It was one thing to have Henry/Edward's wife involved, she at least is an essential character. But to involve Tom's wife well who cares! So now I don't know what to do about this show. Like Journeyman, of which I was a big fan, I wish the writers would do a better job and I wish the networks would give the shows a fighting chance by insisting on tight scripts. But I know it's all about the money and low rating means no money so good and potentially good shows are canceled. I fear the same thing will happen here if the writing and the ratings don't pick up.

The ads and trailers for My Own Worst Enemy were exciting and intriguing to say the least. One guy, Christian Slater, seemingly two different people who are clueless as to their lots in life. Henry, the family guy accountant, and Edward, the egocentric assassin. How were they going to pull that off so it was new, fresh? But pull it off they did.

But there were scripting and conflict issues with Henry v. Edward. I found myself yelling at Henry when in difficult situations because of his utter stupidity for self preservation. Laughing at Edward when he diddled with the wife and she was suddenly a very, very happy stay at home mom.

As the season went on, I wasn't sure how long I could put up with Henry's stupidity....then there was a plot turn, a scripting turn and it all came together. It then hit me -- Henry, though lovable family guy -- was *supposed* to be the clueless wonder. The company made sure of it. The military/intelligence orgs' programming of people is already good, but the premise of this show brought that to new heights. Kicking that kind of behavioral programming up to that notch, Henry was what they made him -- a pencil pusher, number cruncher who was afraid of his own shadow, and above and beyond the call of the perfect rube if it all went bad.....the uber ultimate in plausible deniability. He couldn't have behaved any other way.

Henry also is a good person, good to the bone, the best of the best ethics, and in recent episodes, we finally find out how that trait (among others) benefits the big picture.

So now, when all the questionable scripting and plot points come together in a fluid manner -- as I imagine it was intended -- NBC realizes that they stuck the show in the middle of two ratings nut busters that have been duking it out since they went head to head (CSI: Miami and Boston Public)......so seems to me that NBC is the ultimate idiot. And the public looses out....again.

If NBC really thinks their mid-season replacement is going to get them the ratings push they want or need, they are even dumber than I said previously. Another hooray for us on the receiving end.

For those of you who haven't watched all or any of the show, time to download it, watch it realtime on the various places on the web, and/or get it all On Demand and watch it from beginning up to now. I promise, you will be just as disgusted and infuriated as I am right now.

Once everyone is caught up, let me know and we can all storm NBC together and demand they bring it back, put it in an honest time slot and then make them step away.

I know that it has been a long time since it came on TV, but i just watched the whole season on my computer and i thought it was a really great show. I really think they should bring it back on to TV. i don't think they really finished it they just kinda left you hanging and they could make a really interesting second season if they tried. I think people would watch it if they knew about, but i didn't hear about it so i didn't watch it on TV it wasn't really ever a big show because y'all ended it to soon, but i would really love it if they would bring it back on to TV again. I know i am probably coming of as a little immature but i really would love it if they brought it back and i bet a lot of other people will too.