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hellyes-tommccamus · 6 years

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Mutant X [TV] (2001-2004)

S01E21 “Dancing on the Razor”

[spoilers]

Sci-fi/action

Tom McCamus plays a main role in season 1

The penultimate episode [of season one]. No prizes for guessing why I consider the end of season one the end of the show. The title may or may not be a quote of Iron Maiden lyrics. Or may be me drawing parallels where none exist. Which really is the backbone of English Literature. Oh how proud my English teacher would have been. Or perhaps not. He was not at all impressed when I read out a novelised X Files episode in class.

Brennan and Jesse wander round one of the many abandoned warehouses that are invariably chosen as meeting spots. I think I might be wary of being asked to go to such a location if I was a scared and vulnerable New Mutant. The GSA show up and fight the guys one or two at a time, Kung Fu style. The New Mutant they were supposed to meet doesn’t show, but someone has installed cameras in the warehouse and is watching them.

Proxy Blue reports that she has an informant who has video footage of the fight. Am I the only one who is disappointed the internet no longer looks all shiny and bevelled? My first website was. Back in the day when people had websites.

The guys of Mutant X decide that they won’t be able to trace the email from the person who set them up. Despite all of them allegedly being great computer hackers. Adam says they finally have something in common with Genomex. Other than him being an ex-employee? And their goals actually aligning pretty often? I guess we’re all guilty of saying things that sound good, but aren’t necessarily true.

Mason complains to his new number two about Proxy Blue broadcasting his business on her broadband spectrum. I do love it when they toss around “techno terms” in an effort to sound more sci fi. Recall when we didn’t all have broadband? Recall when we didn’t have internet? There’s a scary thought. Support Net Neutrality! And with that, I think I have reached my maximum allowable number of tangents in the first five minutes of this episode.

His new number two, Harvey Lanchester (Roman Podhora) suggests that the leak came from inside Genomex. Mason refuses to believe that, despite his employees being discovered working against the company actually quite frequently. (Cut to some poor intern shaking their head and taking down the 1 above the “days since employee defection” sign). Mason indicates that he has implemented some sort of method to detect thoughtcrime (1984 reference number three). Today, I believe that would be extremely easy. Let me scare you to death for a second: do you ever think anything you don’t google/message to someone/say on the phone? Here’s hoping my NSA file says something along the lines of: “Mostly harmless, mind too focused on frivolous things to revolt. Mad as a spoon.”

Harvey is an interesting second in command. He replies to Mason in the same sharp and unforgiving tone as his boss uses, and seems to get away with it.

The Mutant X girls have more luck in their computer hacking than the guys. Shalimar says they tracked a caller to Proxy Blue to a company called Macklin Exporters.

Harvey is way ahead of them, and his team is pulling apart the exporting office. He demonstrates his power, which is to shoot some form of heat beam from his forehead. The exporting company looks to be, if not a front, unsuccessful. Their warehouse is completely empty and doesn’t even have any racking to store things on. Macklin employee Jay (James Gallanders) is brought over to Harvey for questioning. He claims not to know anything. Shalimar and Brennan stroll in and fight off the GSA. They rescue Jay, not bothering about all his unconscious colleagues. Probably uncredited extras, and not important. Harvey sets fire to the warehouse, presumably killing all of those poor unimportant extras.

Brennan and Shalimar take Jay back to a safehouse. They start to question him but they end up telling him about what they are. And isn’t the whole point of this operation to stop just that? Jay says he knows nothing except he’s only alive because he was late for work. So did the GSA kill his colleagues before setting fire to the building? And for that matter, why did he not react much to seeing his colleagues at least knocked out?

Proxy Blue reports on the “explosion” at the warehouse. And she even mentions that it’s not connected to the unreleased video footage from earlier. Isn’t it a bit odd that she would indirectly expose her informant like that? Predictably, Mason isn’t happy with how Harvey dealt it. Emma and Jesse look up Harvey in the New Mutant database and find that he has a psionic combustion power. I’m not sure why this power is classed as psionic when it would be better classified as elemental or even molecular. But I know I can’t escape the obvious explanation - and I’m rolling my eyes as I write this - it’s because it comes from his head, isn’t it? Emma thinks Proxy Blue is taunting her informants to come forward with the disc, which would make sense.

Shalimar questions Jay again. He refers to his colleagues as friends, which is inconsistent with his apparent apathy towards them. Brennan gets a call from Adam, who pushes him to get information from Jay. He asks for his coworkers’ names but he does not know them, despite just calling them his friends. He tells them to look in his apartment, and that there is a list of the other employees on his refrigerator. I’m sorry, but is it normal to keep that sort of thing on your refrigerator?

Brennan goes to Jay’s apartment, but once again the GSA is there before them. However the whole scene is stolen by Man Carrying Dog in an Elevator.

Meanwhile Shalimar seems to be having fun mothering the man they think is involved in (badly) attempting to expose them. She tells him about how this exposé will affect their lives, while making a good show of drinking from a cup, which is clearly shown as empty from the angle they chose to film.

Brennan and Harvey face off. Their fight is interrupted before it starts by the unsung hero of this episode. Oh yes it’s Man Carrying Dog in an Elevator! There’s another man involved this time, and they pass the dog between them. At times I am a Supporting Artiste (the most pretentious and best job title) and honestly I think they think it’s hilarious to make us do the most stupid and bizarre things. Where is the logic behind the dog being carried twice? Part of me loves the abject falseness of film and TV but the other part of me thinks the people who make it need a bit of real life experience to realise how silly they’re being. Politicians should also be forced to go on my Grim Reality course. Insider info: the dog was probably owned and brought along by one of the men.

Shalimar and Jay get very flirty and plan to go on a date. But he tries to kiss her and she pulls away. Probably for the best, seeing how her last two relationships ended.

Jesse discovers that the company looks legit so the spying must have come from a single person. And as the rest of the workers are dead, the only way for the story to go anywhere is if Jay was the culprit. Wow, Shalimar sure does know how to pick em!

Brennan drops by to the safehouse and tells them the GSA got to Jay’s apartment before him. Jay tries to call the police but they stop him. Suddenly he mentions his sister. Now if he isn’t the culprit, he at least has something wrong with him that gives him a lack of empathy and a poor memory. Shalimar goes with him to find his sister.

Proxy Blue has nothing to report, and is now saying it may have been a false alarm. Harvey thinks he has done enough to diffuse the situation, but Mason insists he finds Jay. I noticed something about one of the panels in Mason’s office, the one that is X shaped. It looks like a Western Blot, which will mean nothing to the non-scientists in the room. Neither will this: I miss the smell of agar in the morning.

Emma looks for Jay’s sister but can’t find her in the database. There is no mention of her being a New Mutant, so this suggests something very sinister: does Adam have a database on everyone in the country?

Predictably, Jay tricks Shalimar and locks her in his apartment. She escapes, but not before he disappears. Harvey finds her and uses her power to try to torture her into telling him where Jay is. Emma sneaks in and uses her extra power of illusion to trick Harvey and the other GS Agents into thinking she is Mason and does a remarkable job of persuading them to leave Shalimar alone without giving away what she is doing.

Jesse finds some info on Jay. Which means Adam’s database must include regular humans as well as New Mutants. So he must have stolen this from another government agency. Which is a rather odd thing for someone supposedly supporting freedom and liberty to do. Jay is apparently a journalist. Surprise surprise. Jesse makes an offhand comment about him packing computer chips. Is this actually one of the US’s exports? But anyway he was fired from a job as a journalist.

Proxy Blue reports that the “explosion” was an accident. Mason video calls Harvey to congratulate him, and he is confused because he just saw him. Mason’s reaction to this is quite hilarious. And they are both still none the wiser.

Adam tells Shalimar that Jay lied about having a sister and is also the one who set them up. The girls want to go after him, but Adam isn’t keen. They go after him anyway. And I have to say I love the yellow and lime green lighting in the warehouse. It’s not realistic in the slightest but cool anyway. Jay plans to give the disc to Proxy Blue but the girls ambush him. Shalimar grabs the disc and hits him. But he grabs Emma and holds a gun to her. Emma has clearly learnt to use her powers even in stressful situations, and she makes him think the gun is too hot to hold.

Shalimar gives him a beating and they are about to leave victorious but the GSA arrive and ruin it. Interesting thing about Harvey’s powers: why is it that when he hits things it sets them on fire, but on people he just makes them painfully hot? Emma redirects one of his heat blasts and hits him with it. So she’s also a telekinetic now? And why does it appear to be deadly/severely disabling on him when other people seem to be merely in pain from it?

Adam grabs the disc and they are about to leave when Mason shows up with the most GS Agents we’ve seen all together. They have the most tropey standoff. Then decide to destroy the disc and set fire to the warehouse.

Later, Brennan sort of admits he has feelings for Shalimar. Emma and Shalimar complain about their bad luck with men. I mean, sure, they are young people, but in the circumstances dating is probably not a great idea. They are looking through a rail of Emma’s clothes and Shalimar makes fun of them. And nobody really thought this through because Emma is always seen to be ultra fashionable (for the time).

#mutant x #tom mccamus #Victoria Pratt #roman podhora #victor webster #john shea #lauren lee smith #forbes march #james gallanders #00s tv #00s sci fi

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