2023/06/10

It is more a feeling but for some reason I would rate the 1^st season higher than the 2^nd season. Although when I check how I rated the season two episodes, I don’t think there is much difference between the first two seasons. It is perhaps the fact that I was hoping it would become a bit more SCI-FI, less procedural because let’s face it, although it is considered SCI-FI, it is mostly a drama / action oriented TV show with 5 minutes of SCI-FI per episode when Frank B. Parker travels back in time. In that regard, yes I think I prefer the 1^st  season to the 2^nd season for that particular reason. If you've read the first season blog you know that I am “complaining” about this also, but with the first season, I was excited to rewatch it again after so many years, season one had slightly more SCI-FI oriented stories with episodes like the one where Olga’s husband came back from the future and the alien episode at the end of the first season, two Frank Parkers, one evil, one we root for, the Russian Olga twin and probably a few more.

The 2^nd season we’ve seen less episodes you would consider science-fiction. Of course the time-travel bit, but when this is done, it becomes an action oriented TV show with crime and drama. There even are a number of episodes where the time-travel is used for personal gain or where the reason for the time-travel is solved within minutes of the episode so another story can be told. But that doesn’t mean that season two isn’t entertaining, there certainly are a number of exciting stories but there are also a few episodes which are boring as hell! The first episode “The Football” is such an episode. It’s about mobile ability to launch nukes is missing when the president gives a speech. It gets into the wrong hands so the world actually goes to war. This device is called the football. Few things that bug me about this episode: seems to me that the guy handling the briefcase “The Football”, would be the 2^nd best guarded man on such an occasion, perhaps even the first, and he certainly would not be left behind. Few more things that bug me, very easily Frank’s and Olga’s NSA id get pickpocketed and to top off the madness, a gorilla at a zoo is able to set the launch from 5 minutes and counting and Frank has to court the female gorilla to get to the briefcase back. Shame that this episode has been made and even more shame it is the season-opener! Two more very mediocre episode at the end of the season: “Pope Parker”, really annoying where Parker becomes the Pope because of an anomaly during the BackStep. The other one is “Witch Way to the Prom”, forgettable episodes.

As I said it is not all bad, certainly not. The 4^th episode “For the Children” is a good one where Frank is furious when a BackStep is not authorized for a bunch of kids when it is established that an important figure, which was believed to be with them, was not there. Fun moment when Frank punches the annoying Ramsey right on the nose! The fifth episode is one of the best of the season: “Two weddings and a Funeral”, where we meet Olga’s double again! The 6^th episode is also a good episode, it even involves the alien Adam. “Love and Other Disasters’, the 9^th episode is also a solid one but I did write the following after watching this one: Note – Some fun scenes where Frank makes Nathan angry and Talmadge exploits it a bit further to agonize Nathan a little more. This season, the BackStep does seem to lose its importance, the reason for backStep is resolved quickly instead of the rest of the episode.

Episode 14, “Déjà vu All over Again” is also a good episode, where Bradley takes his first vacation in a decade and in doing so, is kidnapped. During questioning he swallows a suicide pill, which ultimately leads to a BackStep. Trying to juggle two deaths, Frank experiences what he calls "time burps", where time just seems to go back by itself, and he uses these to repeat events again and again in order to get the desired outcome. “X-35 Needs Changing”, episode 17 is also worthy of a rewatch where Frank and Olga need to find and protect a baby which has been a scientific project involving a civilian woman. Olga doesn’t want to return the child to the facility, a life of testing and all, and Frank helps her get the child to original mum and Olga deletes data from the computer containing info on them. Note – Nice moments between Frank and Olga, these characters work well together, really the reason why this show works for me. Strange though how Frank always seems to mess up when it comes to Olga, he often messes up and tries to fix it after a BackStep but Olga is on to him most of the time.

Episode 22 is also a solid episode “Playmates and Presidents”, not so much SCI-FI but an interesting, though not original story: Frank saves the governor who is running for president. Out of gratitude he is temporary assigned to his protection detail. The governor has some dark secrets and his daughter knows about this and wants to stop her father from becoming the most important man of America. The season finale, "The Cure" is actually a very entertaining SCI-FI story! No doubt about that. Although the beginning of the episode was annoying where again Frank acts stupid concerning Olga, even after he has been warned by his friend Craig Donovan. But after that, the episode kicks in gear where we meet a woman who has figured out how to cure cancer and we meet a man from 168 years into the future, also working for project BackStep, trying to kill her! I have some question marks about the ending in the sense of repercussions for Frank and Olga, and after 168 years, still exactly the same sphere!? but other than that a solid episode.

Final Word:

23 episodes, as I said, most of them are more procedural than SCI-FI but still it is a good season not counting the 3 duds this season which I described above. I kept hoping for a bit more story-arc episodes instead of standalone episodes but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Frank Parker hasn’t evolved that much over two seasons, even toward Olga he pretty much stays the same in my view. What I also want to point out is that character Craig Donovan is really under-used, which is a shame, okay, he has one or two episodes focusing on him but most of the time he seems to be nothing more than a recurring character or worse! Don Franklin a fine actor and his talents are wasted like this. And since he is Frank’s back-up, why hasn’t there been a story where Donovan needs to take his place in the first 45 episodes? Also, before I started watching I remembered about the character Nate Ramsey (Nick Searcy) was a really annoying character, which still is the case, but in being annoying, he is so much fun, really seeing him differently this season!