Chance Would Be a Fine Thing

Elvis Costello once said he’d never hang around to witness his own artistic decline. Perhaps he wasn't looking, but I’m sure we all noticed when he did that piece of absolute tosh for some horrific Hugh Grant vehicle a decade or so ago. But it raises a point: is it better for something to end on a peak, or does the law of diminishing returns allow for the odd gem?

John Cleese thought it best not to chance it when he called time of Fawlty Towers after 12 episodes. Sometimes ratings ensure it, as has happened to Human Target, a favourite show of mine that was canned at the end of its second season. My own verdict is that this is a good thing: much as I loved it, it had come to some kind of natural conclusion and stopped before sliding too far into predictability.

Based loosely around a DC comic, Human Target sees top bodyguard Christopher Chance at work to help desperate people who are set for a meeting with the reaper. The term ‘loosely’ applies here as in the comic, Chance would use cunning disguises to become the target and face the assassin down. Indeed, I've wondered whether the show was pretty much put together first and the studio decided to use the license to lure in casual viewers with some interest in comics. Like me.

Naturally, Chance has a shady past in so much as that he used to be on the other end of the game, being one of the world’s top hired killers. But guilt is a powerful motivator (perhaps Chance is Catholic) and it’s only the bad guys who need fear his wrath now. Initially, the show circled around the three man band of Chance and his two friends (of sorts), ex-cop Winston and fellow former member of the Assassination Bureau Guerrero.

Though a secondary character, Guerrero is my favourite. Hiding behind long hair and specs, he’s a borderline sociopath with expert skills in martial arts, hacking and torture, his relationship with the more strait-laced Winston is often the highlight.

For reasons possibly related to getting higher ratings, the second season saw the introduction of two female characters: wealthy widow Ilsa and young thief Ames. They provided mixed blessings, as Ames seemed to exist purely for aesthetic values, once being told to “strip down, grease up” to get through an air duct in a pretty blatant piece of fan service. Guerrero's general attitude of annoyance towards her pretty much reflected my own.

The story curve stuck to Ilsa (trying to find out who killed her husband and why) which worked a bit better and her decision to finance the operation afforded us amusing moments when she realised the legal grey areas the chaps often inhabit. Somewhat predictably, a romance subplot was hatched between her and Chance, which I personally could have done without. After all, a show about an ex-killer turned expert bodyguard should focus on what it does best: guns, chases and witty banter. The first series had this in spades and worked well because of it, the second generally maintained it but lapsed at times in to soap-like drama.

Which means that it was perhaps for the best it was put to bed when it was, before it lost sight of what it was supposed to be about. As it stands, I reckon I’ll pick up the first season on DVD and muse that it’s always sad to see something you like go through a steady decline.