Episode: Human Target 2.07 – “A Problem Like Maria”
Original Air Date: January 5, 2011
Screencaps from midnight_road.
When one of Chance’s old flames is in town, the guns never get cold.
While Chance is at a bar, Maria (from Season 1’s “Salvage & Reclamation”) arrives and a shootout begins with some guys who are tailing her. Of course, her being in town is not just a coincidence and she needs Chance’s help to rescue a fellow freedom fighter named Diego Garcia. Meanwhile, back at the office, Ilsa is once again trying to make the organization a little more professional by holding a meeting and is noticeably upset by Chance’s presence.
When Chance does show up with Maria in tow, Ilsa is more than happy to help with the rescue mission as she knows Garcia. However, Winston and Guerrero are not thrilled with Maria’s presence. They still don’t trust her from the last time, and it doesn’t take long before their fears are confirmed.
While Chance believes the plan is to rescue Diego from the dictator’s country estate, once they get outside they learn that Maria’s real plan was to kidnap the dictator’s brother and trade for Diego. One hasty retreat later, and Guerrero and Ames decide to stay behind to negotiate with the dictator Escalante’s private security while Chance and Maria take the brother back to San Francisco.
This incites Ilsa, who is outraged that Chance would kidnap an innocent man. Explaining that Maria lied to him doesn’t get Chance very far with Ilsa. Guerrero and Ames don’t get very far either, as Escalante’s goons/security, the Lopez brothers, capture them at the meeting. Turns out Escalante’s brother isn’t worth very much to the dictator and he’d rather have Maria instead.
Ilsa, of course, is against any further rescue attempt by Chance and wants to allow the State Department to intervene. Chance, however, has no intention of listening and goes on his own (plus Winston and Maria) to the exchange. He takes Ilsa’s plane, and while Ilsa puts in a call to get the plane to turn around, Chance simply depressurizes the cabin and forces the plane to land.
While Chance attempts to negotiate, Winston has to figure out how to use a rocket launcher with the instructions in Hebrew. Once he does (nearly blowing up the plane), the action begins in earnest as one of the Lopez brothers attempts to get Maria onto the chopper with Chance in pursuit. The rest of the team makes quick work of the other thugs, while Chance fights one of the Lopezes on the chopper. Finally gaining the upper hand (though hanging from the chopper), Chance pulls the Lopez brother off to his death while the other brother watches.
After a nice Casablanca moment between Chance and Maria, Ilsa shows up for the “you’re in trouble” talk. While the rest of the gang decides to get their own flights back, Chance boards the plane with Ilsa to talk out their differences and realize that this partnership isn’t working. However, while they chat, there’s a Lopez on the ground with a surface-to-air missile locked on the plane….
And thus we get a “To be continued” message. I thought this was a good episode. Though a returning character so soon can mean a lack of originality, the pace on this one was fast and the character interactions worked well. Now we’re really beginning to see how Ilsa’s business model doesn’t really work for Chance’s team. Ilsa wants to play by the rules and doesn’t quite realize that the business she’s now in requires a blurring and occasional breaking of the rules to get results. As Chance himself says “the ends justify the means.”
I can’t wait to see part two of this episode and see if the missile attack manages to change Ilsa’s mind about the partnership.
Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
About the Author
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say about John Rabon:
John got started on the path to geekdom thanks to his brother's collection of comic books and Star Wars toys but was cemented into the geek class forever when LeVar Burton took Reading Rainbow viewers on a backstage tour of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A love of Monty Python soon followed, and it wasn't long before he was starting to collect his own comics. The rest, as they say, is history. But really, who are they to say something?
Since discovering the BBC some years ago, John has become an obsessive Anglophile. In fact, he even likes the food they serve over there! As such, some of his favourite programmes include: Doctor Who, Primeval, Coupling, QI, The Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd, and Shaun the Sheep.
Upon choosing a university, John enrolled in the University of South Carolina, which was nice enough to give him a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master's in Teaching. Feeling that he hadn't been put through enough academic torment with student teaching, John decided to enroll in law school at Campbell University.
Hobbies, when he can find time for them, include: writing, video games, reading, and wasting time in the pub.