My Own Worst Enemy: Meet Edward, Meet Henry

I hope these recaps are less frenetic to write than my “endless characters and storylines” “Heroes” recaps. (Go check ‘em out!) As “My Own Worst Enemy” has fewer main characters yet many more split personalities, the replays may still be labored. I’ll try my best to make things as clear as possible. And let me say that Christian Slater still looks scrumptious. Does that man age?! Let’s begin.

We are introduced to Edward Albright through a video. He warns the viewer that to save his or her life, s/he must listen to him.

In Paris, France, Edward is on a mission to seduce a woman named Natasha and bring her in. His handler Mavis, played by Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives, Miss Evers’ Boys), needs information on where to find a Russian man named Uzi. As I’m sure we’ll learn, in the world of spies, nothing is real and everything is deception. After a romp, Natasha tries to kill Edward, but instead, he shoots her dead.

Back in Los Angeles, Edward arrives at headquarters and meets with Mavis. She’s a definite tough cookie. A techno-geek asks Edward continuity questions, and then, using a super computer, puts Edward to sleep and activates his alter ego Henry. As Henry exits the elevator, we see that headquarters is also where his “real world” job is located.

Later, Henry meets with a psychologist. He, surprisingly, remembers a dream where he remembers Edward and Paris. His shrink gives many reasons for feeling his dream was real, but can she explain the French matchbook in his pocket?

Malfunction major! Edward and Henry begin switching consciences at all the wrong times. Edward pops up while Henry’s in bed at home. Henry appears while Edward is on a Russian mission. Luckily, Raymond, who is actually his 10-year friend Tom from the office, comes in to rescue him and retrieve a case. Henry is, obviously, confused and wants to know what’s going on. In reality, Henry didn’t exist before Edward volunteered himself for this dual-personality experiment. Henry’s life is completely fabricated.

Henry is sent back for reprogramming and returns home. After opening some mail, he goes upstairs to change and the doorbell rings. It’s the Russians at his front door. They want the case back and to kill Edward, of course. Henry has no clue what they’re talking about, AGAIN. The Russians know something is awry. He must be two persons in one, never destined to meet. Excuses aside, unless he helps the Russians, he and his family will die. Henry admits he notices some things off like the gas tank being empty when he’d filled it up and a shovel and GPS in his trunk that aren’t his.

They use the coordinates, end up in the desert and Henry begins digging. They find the case, but before Uzi kills him, Henry says, though he and Edwards can’t meet, they can communicate, and he blows them to hell. We flashback to earlier when Henry opened his mail. There’s a CD, which included the video we were treated to earlier. Edward has a plan, and all he has to do is listen to him and follow his instruction when the men arrive.

Although Mavis is upset at the discovery of what’s happened, she says she will go to any distance to protect the program. Henry tells his psychologist that he’s not crazy, and he believes the dream was just a dream. He then leaves a similar video message for Edward thanking him for saving both their lives.

Thoughts:

I can’t say I’m fully on board with this show. I love the spy element, but can it really top Alias or The Bourne series or even my underdog, Dark Angel? I know we’re supposed to just believe they can create this split personality, so I’ll follow their lead. But what is even the point of that? Edward is a fully competent agent. Why have all these split personalities working as businessmen above their headquarters? Why have all these people in the real world with the same faces and voices, guarding all this classified information in their brains? I will say, the acting was top notch, though I was more convinced by Slater as Edward than Henry. I hope they use Mavis more, as well as, the psychologist, played by Saffron Burrows (“Boston Legal,” “The Bank Job”), and the wife, played by Madchen Amick (“Joey,” “Twin Peaks”), who are all fantastic actresses. And Tom/Raymond, played by Mike O’Malley (“Yes, Dear”), was right on with his comic relief. The show set itself up to be taken seriously, and I hope, like “The Mentalist,” that it will lighten up a bit. Because really, the show is the least believable thing we’ve come across on the tube in a long time.

Quotables:

“Why don’t you give me an hour to watch baseball highlights, and I won’t tell Mavis that you’re playing World Warcraft on her billion-dollar mainframe.” – Edward

“My 3-year old calls every guy she sees daddy? You think that’s going to turn out good? – Tom

“I’m sorry Edward. That shouldn’t have happened. In my day, we tortured for information, not pleasure. I blame videogames.” – Uzi

“We manifested a divergent identity dormant in a sealed off portion of the medial temporal lobe, creating a split personality.” – Mavis

My Own Worst Enemy, Episode 1.1 “Breakdown” (originally aired 10/13/2008)

Mondays, 10/9c NBC
Photographs courtesy of nbc.com