Written by George Geiger
Directed by Michael Robison
GUEST STARS
Alan Stenson – Carson Briggs
Michele Duquet – Ku’don
Martin Roach – Fisk
Jonathan Whitaker – Samuel Priest
WHAT HAPPENED
Carson Briggs types on a laptop in an empty conference room at the New World Commonwealth Bank in New York City.
A blue light streaks through the room. It glances off a signet ring on Briggs' hand.
He runs into the hall and soaks his burned hand in a vase, then removes his ring and throws it down the hall. (more
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ANALYSIS
As ghost stories go, "Apparition" wasn't especially scary.
Earth: Final Conflict episodes that orbit around Zo'or or Sandoval's latest plot are incredibly Maguffin-intensive. If these episodes don't turn on a stray survivor, then they rely on a critical piece of evidence falling through the gaps in Sandoval's net of "efficiency."
In this case, the plot device just happened to be a ghost, but the net result is the same: Our Heroes get involved not because of their innate skill or wariness, but simply because the bad guys are incompetent.
Could they be less sneaky?
It has been mentioned before, but it bears repeating: Renee Palmer makes a horrible covert operative.
Renee is a high-profile corporate player, frequently in the papers and on TV. She is simply too public a figure to be successful in an undercover capacity.
Believing she could go unrecognized is like assuming Bill Gates, Phil Knight or Michael Eisner -- people who act as public faces for their companies -- could pass themselves off as a mechanic, a FedEx delivery man or a Starbucks barista. Their exposure level is simply too high.
Admittedly, Renee has feminine wiles in her corner. However, while it may be true that most men have a hard time looking up from Jayne Heitmeyer's tight blouse, it still demands willful -- or at least script-dictated -- stupidity to overlook the glaringly obvious.
Liam isn't a much better choice for undercover work. The only reason his cover wasn't blown in this episode was that everyone who might have recognized him died.
The fact that people involved in a Taelon plot didn't recognize the Protector assigned to as prominent a Taelon as Da'an is another example of the scriptwriter sucking gray matter from supporting characters through the straw of narrative convenience.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
Jonathan Doors attempts to reconcile with his estranged son, Joshua. Unfortunately, things are not always what they seem "On Taelon Avenue".
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