Hercules and the Assassin
A Review by Juan F. Lara
THE POSITIVE
I really liked Tempest. :-) Guzelian did a great job establishing her skills as a warrior and the seriousness she took her duty. So I held her in admiration from her introduction on. Her characterization worked best when Jennifer Jason-Leigh voiced in a normal tone, during which Tempest sounded stern and serious but not haughty. OTOH, JJL sometimes had to raise her voice melodramatically. In those instances I thought JJL overacted Tempest's ranting. Jamie Thompson should've instead had JJL put more emphasis on her words without raising her voice that much. But I still found Tempest a very appealing character. I also liked the outfit and hairstyle they made for her.
BAD POINTS
But I had to complain about one-note characters again. Guzelian cast Pericles as a Will Rogers-style politician who came up with all the old sayings. I stopped laughing after his second plattitude...I also found Earl Hindman's voicing of him dull and flat. Similarly, I got irritated by Mike Connors wooden portrayal of Chippecles. Connors overdid all his lines, like in "I will not rest until this maggot is behind bars!!!". At least we had Gilbert Gottfried as Cleon. It was fun to hear Iago again, but Cleon was a guy who wanted to assassinate Pericles and that was all there was to him. But I laughed a lot at his down-to-earth wife, voiced by Tress MacNeille. The plot was messed up by bad edits and contrivances. When did Icarus and Cassandra become Phil's lawyers? Couldn't Herc have demonstrated to Chippecles that he had the strength to throw that spear? How come Icarus and Cassandra wound up on death row all of the sudden? And personally I would've done the climax differently: I'd have Herc ask for the best quality spear, and THEN give it to Tempest who'd know how to handle it, indicating that Herc now knew his limits and respected Tempest's expertise. ( OTOH: I liked the scene where Herc messed up on his spear throwing in Act 2, because I could imagine both Herc's disappointment in letting Tempest down and Tempest's disdain for Herc's meddling. ) DYN: Everyone in the baths had clothes on. And a female judge in Athens? :-)
MISCELLANEOUS
I misidentified the narrator in a preview review. Robert Stack plays him and plays him well, IMHO. Here they had the very funny idea of having him sing. Of course, if they have him sing again, it won't be funny anymore.... :-) Pericles and I think Cleon ( Creon? ) were historical figures, both mentioned in Thucydides's work. Also, the reporter was named Bartlett.
Tempest: You ruined my concentration. Hercules: Oh, sorry, Temptress. I mean, Tempest.
Tempest: Disappointing. I pulled it a bit. Hercules: You look O.K. to me. Uh, I mean it looked O.K. to me.
Chippecles: Rise and Shine, Mr. Phil.
Tempest: You spend far too much of your time on the ground.
Philoctetes: Not bad. Cassandra: Not yet...
And this ep gets some points for clever use of a rat. :-)
So while this was a weak episode, I hoped that Tempest will make more appearances in the series.
- Juan F. Lara http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jfl/intro.html
Tempest: Toy....Child...