Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Dark Angel

DARK ANGEL. Yesterday, I finally finished watching the second of two DVD sets that I have of the now-defunct TV show Dark Angel, which aired on Fox from 2000 to 2002. And thanks to Fox, I was disappointed with the Season 2 finale of Dark Angel. Do you know why? Because the series was immediately cancelled after that, and the story's not finished yet! The Season 2 finale ended in a cliffhanger, with Max (played by Jessica Alba. *drool*) and the other "transgenics" (AKA mutants created by a secret government agency called Manticorp) holed up inside an abandoned building (in Terminal City) and facing a standoff with a mob of ordinary humans and police officers (who surrounded the building) bent on attacking them. One of the last shots in this episode was of a group of mutants hoisting up a new flag (representing the transgenic race) atop the building (with the Seattle skyline in the background). While the show admittedly ends on a dramatic note because Max and her people face the fight of their lives right up to the last image in the season finale, there are other plot points that remain unanswered.

First of all, what happened to Donald Lydecker (the main villain from Manticorp. who chased Max around for much of Season 1)? He was last shown driving alone in his truck when another truck showed up to force him off the road at night (in an early episode of Season 2). A few days later, the police found his truck submerged in a harbor, but Lydecker's body was nowhere to be found. So is he dead or alive?? Second of all, what happens to the virus inside Max's body? This virus was implanted into her body by Manticorp as a secret weapon against "Eyes Only"...the mysterious cyberjournalist who is actually Logan Cale, Max's main love interest on the show (and Jessica Alba's former fiance, I think, in rea life. Logan's real name is Michael Weatherly). If Logan comes into any form of skin contact with Max, Logan will contract the virus and die. So does Max ever get rid of the virus? And does she and Logan finally do the deed? Third of all, what happened to the "Sandman"...the guy who Max's (part man/part dog) friend Joshua said created Manticorp? It was revealed in the Season 2 finale that Agent Ames White (the main villain in Season 2) apparently killed Sandman. But what else do we know about him? Last I recall, it was Sandman who would've known how to kill the virus that prevented Max from gettin' her freak on with Logan.

Fourth of all, what happend to Asha, or Osha (played by Ashely Scott), Logan's hot blonde friend in Season 2 who was part of a political activist group known as S1W? Or is it SW1? Wouldn't hurt to know what happened to her after she found out Logan's apartment was f*cked up by Agent White's men (who found the apartment by tracing the location of Logan's last Eyes Only broadcast). Fifth of all, what happens to Max's relationship with Normal, her boss, and Max's other co-workers, including Sketchie (or is it Sketcher) at Jam Pony Express? At the end of the Season 2 finale, Normal apparently had a change of heart about transgenic people after he helped deliver a transgenic's baby during the climax of this episode.

Sixth of all, who was that person Renfro (the blonde lady in charge of Manticorp, who oversaw Max's re-training after she was recaptured by the agency in the last episode of Season 1) was speaking to on the phone? Renfro was speaking French, I think, so did the French government have some sort of allegiance with Manticorp? Just being facetious with this sentence. Not really. Seventh of all, what about that secret "breeding cult" that Agent White was part of? This breeding cult raised kids who had the power of telekinesis (the ability to lift objects with one's mind). Wouldn't hurt to see more of 'em had Fox let James Cameron (who created Dark Angel) do Season 3.

And finally...eighth of all: What happens to Max? Not only was it revealed that she's the most perfect genetically-enhanced killing machine ever made by Manticorp (since she didn't have "junk DNA" in her body and whatnot), but she also had those mysterious Japanese letters-like symbols all over her body...after she was bitten by some special snake used by the cult in a previous episode. It was revealed in the last few Season 2 episodes that Max was some sort of Chosen One, who would save the world from a "biblical" disaster that was suppose to take place. But that disaster never took place, since Dark Angel didn't last long enough on TV for that to happened!

Darn, too bad Dark Angel got cancelled. It had a lot of potential to become a pretty cool sci-fi series. But oh well. At least I wouldn't have to spend how many more days watching its episodes on DVD if the show made it to at least three seasons. Imagine if I bought the DVD sets for all 9 (or is it 10? or 11?) seasons of The X-Files... Or the DVD sets for all 15 seasons of The Simpsons? Good grief...

UPDATE: (I like typing parenthesis.)


UPDATE #2: One bad thing about Dark Angel is that it will become dated a few years from now. There was this one episode in Season 1 where Max and Logan are having a conversation about a bad guy and his potential ties to the Taliban militia (which, in real life, was ousted from Afghanistan in 2002...a year after Season 1 ended). Unless the Taliban reclaims power in the years between 2009 and 2019--the time period in which the story of Dark Angel takes place--that particular episode will have lost a bit of realism to it. In another episode, Max is talking to Alec (a fellow transgenic) about stealing the film reels for Star Wars: Episode 7 from the Fox studios...so that Max could sell it and use the money to pay off a doctor who could cure the virus that Manticorp planted inside of her. Episode 7 was supposedly filmed in 2007...so once that year passes by and there's no word from Lucasfilm that a sequel trilogy to the 3 original Star Wars films will be made...that episode will also become dated. But oh well. I'm taking things too literally.

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