Considered to be one of the better, if not the best, entry in the series. However, that is faint praise given the consistent sloppiness, weak writing, and indifferent direction that plagued this show (a one-season flop) from start to finish. The vague, confusing plot defies all logic, the stock characters are sketchy at best, and any action or tension is deflated by campy, self-aware humor.
This episode, which could represent the series as a whole, is like a half-remembered fever dream. A blur of colorful, random events and half-baked ideas that occur for the sake of novelty, much like a cartoon. Between the intro and closing scene you can remove almost any part of this episode and it won't make any difference to the barely-there story. There is no narrative cohesion and nothing to care about.
The basic premise borrows from "The Mummy" (1932) but replaces the supernatural with pseudo-science. A Persian assassin cult (outsourced by THRUSH) that dons Ancient Egyptian ceremonial garb, seeks to transfer the "mad genius" of their long-dead leader (a dummy encased in a glass cylinder) into the brain of his great, great, great granddaughter (once they find her) using some newly-discovered reincarnation brain serum. Of course, no details on how this brain-transfer serum works. Also, after this girl becomes their queen they expect their tiny group to suddenly become powerful enough to defy THRUSH (because...?).
A cult member (Lisa Seagram) just happens to be working for the doctor who invented the mystery serum so, stealing it is easy. Finding the granddaughter is also a snap. They simply place help wanted ads for a 23-year-old receptionist who speaks Ancient Persian in every Berlin newspaper. (Makes perfect sense, right?) This is an excuse for a novelty scene -- an extended "comedic" set up of a Western being filmed in Germany with a cranky Otto Preminger-type director yelling at his actors. The girl in question, Greta Wolf (Sabrina Scharf), is German for some reason -- and an actress playing a saloon girl. (Her German accent comes and goes.) April, Mark, and three cult thugs arrive on the film set at the same time. The thugs chase Mark in another long, drawn out novelty segment (which includes horses and bicycles) and we get a tour of MGM's back lot. Clearly, this movie-within-a-show second act was shoe-horned in as a cost-cutting measure.
April, for no reason whatsoever, puts on a saloon gal costume and pretends to be Greta and is promptly fired. A scene that goes nowhere (I guess they just wanted to put Stefanie in a cute costume). Her only "fight" scene is also a joke. April, the most worthless secret agent ever, runs away from danger and cowers in fear until Mark rescues her.
The wonderful character actor Knigh Dheigh (aka "Wo-Fat") is wasted in a pointless cameo scene as a THRUSH director. He should have been the main villain -- not "Duke Cornwallis", an English fop who assumes that role. Exotic beauty Lisa Seagram could have been a memorable villainess, but her role was underwritten and ignored. She did a Batman episode, which is ironic as this show tried to ride its cape but failed. The kid intern, "Randy Kovacs", an annoying David Schwimmer look-alike, has several pointless scenes with Waverly. The only scenes with any charm are at April's favorite diner run by former Bowery Boy Billy Benedict.
A waste of talent and potential, this series is the television equivalent of being temporarily distracted by a shiny object.
This episode, which could represent the series as a whole, is like a half-remembered fever dream. A blur of colorful, random events and half-baked ideas that occur for the sake of novelty, much like a cartoon. Between the intro and closing scene you can remove almost any part of this episode and it won't make any difference to the barely-there story. There is no narrative cohesion and nothing to care about.
The basic premise borrows from "The Mummy" (1932) but replaces the supernatural with pseudo-science. A Persian assassin cult (outsourced by THRUSH) that dons Ancient Egyptian ceremonial garb, seeks to transfer the "mad genius" of their long-dead leader (a dummy encased in a glass cylinder) into the brain of his great, great, great granddaughter (once they find her) using some newly-discovered reincarnation brain serum. Of course, no details on how this brain-transfer serum works. Also, after this girl becomes their queen they expect their tiny group to suddenly become powerful enough to defy THRUSH (because...?).
A cult member (Lisa Seagram) just happens to be working for the doctor who invented the mystery serum so, stealing it is easy. Finding the granddaughter is also a snap. They simply place help wanted ads for a 23-year-old receptionist who speaks Ancient Persian in every Berlin newspaper. (Makes perfect sense, right?) This is an excuse for a novelty scene -- an extended "comedic" set up of a Western being filmed in Germany with a cranky Otto Preminger-type director yelling at his actors. The girl in question, Greta Wolf (Sabrina Scharf), is German for some reason -- and an actress playing a saloon girl. (Her German accent comes and goes.) April, Mark, and three cult thugs arrive on the film set at the same time. The thugs chase Mark in another long, drawn out novelty segment (which includes horses and bicycles) and we get a tour of MGM's back lot. Clearly, this movie-within-a-show second act was shoe-horned in as a cost-cutting measure.
April, for no reason whatsoever, puts on a saloon gal costume and pretends to be Greta and is promptly fired. A scene that goes nowhere (I guess they just wanted to put Stefanie in a cute costume). Her only "fight" scene is also a joke. April, the most worthless secret agent ever, runs away from danger and cowers in fear until Mark rescues her.
The wonderful character actor Knigh Dheigh (aka "Wo-Fat") is wasted in a pointless cameo scene as a THRUSH director. He should have been the main villain -- not "Duke Cornwallis", an English fop who assumes that role. Exotic beauty Lisa Seagram could have been a memorable villainess, but her role was underwritten and ignored. She did a Batman episode, which is ironic as this show tried to ride its cape but failed. The kid intern, "Randy Kovacs", an annoying David Schwimmer look-alike, has several pointless scenes with Waverly. The only scenes with any charm are at April's favorite diner run by former Bowery Boy Billy Benedict.
A waste of talent and potential, this series is the television equivalent of being temporarily distracted by a shiny object.
