Wednesday, December 12, 2007

TV Review: Tin Man - Part Two

Well, we didn't find out a lot more about what was going on than we knew in Part One. And we didn't get to play "spot the reference" anymore - the only new Wizard of Oz reference in this part was the rather ham-handed introduction of Toto, and why it made sense to cast him as an elderly black guy who just happens to morph into a small dog is beyond me.

As for the current story, we didn't really find out anything more substantive about either Glitch, Cain or the Lion (I don't even remember his name here in "The O.Z."). Our "Tin Man" found out his son may or may not be alive, but we still don't know why the mini-series is called Tin Man when he doesn't seem to be the focus of the story.

D.G. doesn't turn out much better. She gradually reveals repressed memories and magical talents whenever it is convenient for the plot to have her do so, but we don't have any bigger picture of what exactly is going on with her. And Zooey Deschanel continues to be the weak link in the acting department (although Toto was no great shakes in this episode either). She did manage to show a little emotion at the end, as she found her way to her old childhood home, but it took almost four hours of screen time to see it.

In fact, we don't really find out much of interest until the very end. The big reveal taking place in the final five minutes of the episode was pretty well-done - finding out what the source of the noise was actually had some mystery for a change, we get some explanation for how the evil sister came to be, and we see that there is an opportunity for redemption in part three. But again - it doesn't seem like we needed four hours to get to that point. This seems to me like some sub-plots could have been jettisoned and the whole thing done in a two-parter.

Part three is sitting on the Tivo - time to find out if the whole thing was worth it, or if it will fumble the slim chance it has away in the final drive.

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