Dramatic, suspenseful and psychotic are just a few of the words I would use to describe Monday night's premiere of NBC's My Own Worst Enemy.
Staring Christian Slater as Henry Spivey and Edward Albright -- that's right, two characters -- the show's plot is different from many of the typical, mainstream action/dramas on primetime television.
As the show opens it appears as though Slater as Edward Alright, Henry's super spy alter-ego, is an insomniac and quite possibly a schizophrenic. "It's always a job," Edwards says after murdering what appears to be just another victim.
As Edward comes back to his office in California, he meets up with Tony (Omid Abtahi), who the audience later learns is in charge of Edward and Henry's mind via a huge, million dollar database computer. Tony has the ability to switch on and off the two personalities.
The suspense increases when the audience uncovers that Henry, a normal, middle class family man is more than just the other half of Edward Albright -- he's a computer generated personality.
Edward Albright is a well known sniper and war veteran who donated his life to a study 19 years ago, which was when Henry's personality was created.
That's when the show takes a turn and goes from being slightly confusing to a down right mind game.
Everything seems to be going well until Edward is called to Moscow to kill a famous Russian mobster. As Edward is about to get the job done, he uncontrollably switches back to a confused and terrified Henry, who is left alone in a run down building, clueless to his surroundings or what he is doing with a huge gun in his hands.
After getting shot and captured by the mob men, Henry somehow manages to escape via his "friend" Raymond.
Raymond gets Henry back to the United States safely, although he's not off the hook just yet.
Henry learns that Edward signed up for this project, and his life and future are out of his control. He discovers that he's just a "manifested alternative personality" as explained by Mavis Heller (Alfre Woodard), who is the senior official at The Janus Collective, the research company who created Henry's life.
At the height of the drama, Edward demands that The Janus Collective get rid of his alter ego Henry. He's tired of his sleepless nights and wants a normal life. He then proceeds to go back to Henry's house and sleep with his wife.
What a nice guy.
At this point it begins to get a little confusing on what the real issue is here. He goes to sleep as Edward, and awakens as Henry.
The poor guy has to wake up to find that his alter ego slept with his wife, as well has having the words "don't use my car" written on his hand, obviously from Edward.
The series premiere concluded with a bang, literally.
The Russians that Edward was after at the beginning of the episode come after him and break into his house, only to find Henry.
Little does the audience know, Henry is fully prepared for what is in store.
The Russians force Henry to take them to the place where his GPS was last used for, which ended up being the middle of the desert.
After what seems like hours of mindless digging, Henry cracks open the GPS and detonates the bomb-like GPS, only to blow up the Russians, as well as anything with 100 yards.
The show definitely ended memorably, although it was a little much to take in for a series premiere. Maybe it's just me, but shows like these don't always do the best job of leaving me wanting to come back for more.
Grade: B
