The Secret World Of Alex Mack
By James Kaplan
Alex Mack is an average 14-year old girl who happens to have the power to move objects telekinetically and turn herself into a pool of liquid-the result of a chemical truck spill in her otherwise extremely safe neighborhood. This delicious series revolves around the quite wonderful Larisa Oleynik as Alex. Seldom before on TV has there been a young actress so self- possessed, magnetic and yet so seemingly unaffected. Oleynik, 14, no in her second season on the show, has charm far beyond her years, yet such is her skill that she never seems that dreadful thing, precocious. (How many child stars, after all, have survived precocity?)
With her winsome embarrassment about her amazing abilities, and her constant teenage vulnerability, Oleynik makes the show work but the supporting cast-especially Meredith Bishop as Alex's mean, brilliant older sister Annie-is quite able.
The writing is unfailingly cute, without tring to be too clever, and the special effects, as Alex morphs and changes colors and zips around, are neat. One of the guilty pleasues of this show is its sun shot, upper middle class California setting, where racial harmony is such a given, it is not even discussed and even the gutters in the streets look clean enough to eat from.
TV Guide March 16-22, 1996
From www.larisa.com
Get your own Free Home Page