Birds of Prey Review – “Split”

Holy two days late, Batman! They finally made a good one.

Cast

Dina Meyer as
Oracle/Barbara Gordon.
Ashley Scott
as Huntress/Helena Kyle.
Rachel
Skarsten
as Dinah Lance
Shemar Moore as
Detective Reese
Ian
Abercrombie
as Alfred Pennyworth
Mia Sara as Harley
Quinn

Written by Edward Kitsis and
Adam Horowitz,
based on a story by Adam Armus and Kay Foster.

Directed by James
Marshall

Original Airdate


Split

originally aired on Wednesday,
November 20, 2002.

Synopsis

Huntress’ male counter part comes to town to track the man who killed
his fiancee.

High Point

Brian Thompson’s performance. He cam do more than the
Schwarzennalien role he had on The X-Files.

Low Point

The “he always kills her right when I get there” line. Repeating it
that often that quickly made the “surprise” a little too obvious.

The Review

This was not original. In fact, it’s remarkably similar to
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. I give it 3 out of 6.

The effects were a bit weak. I can almost buy a metahuman
ability to change his appearance, but the morph didn’t look
biological, and there was no reason for the clothes to change, too.
The only other effects I remember were recycled. I give it 3 out of
6.

The story was actually quite good. If that one conversation
hadn’t made things too obvious, my doubts about my prediction would
have really kept me going. That problem isn’t going to hurt them
much, as later scenes made it clear that the audience was intended to
sort things out before the characters. It’s also nice to see
Detective Reese pulling his weight with the investigations. I give it
4 out of 6.

The acting from the guest cast, Shemar Moore, and Mia Sara
was excellent. Brian Thompson in particular did a remarkable job.
Dina Meyer and Rachel Scott did a good job with what they were given.
(Dina Meyer had little to do apart from exposition this week.) Rachel
Skarsten is obviously inexperienced, but she’s in a small enough role
this week that it’s not a big deal. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response this produced was very good. The
episode held my interest throughout, and the ending would have
guaranteed I’d watch through the rest of the season. (Now that we
know the only other episode this season will be next week, that’s not
as impressive.) I give it 5 out of 6.

The production was very good this week. The editing of the
episode, and Dinah’s vision in particular, was very well done. I give
it 5 out of 6.

Overall, this was a great episode, and likely a promise of
what would have been to come. I didn’t feel too upset about the plug
being pulled earlier this week, but now I think they might have pulled
about the kind of improvement that Smallville saw by the end
of its first season. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Split receives 30 out of 42.

One reply

  1. Reasons why this show sucks and got cancelled
    [ in no order ]

    1. They continually re-use footage of huntress hopping across rooftops. Not only is it painfully obvious that it’s the same footage everytime, but it just looks terrible. The animation is bad and it’s just lame. They can’t even be bothered to reverse it every once in a while (I think even Battlestar galactica did that!)

    2. The dialogue is so terrible. The writers can’t decide if this show is a comedy or serious or what, and the characters just sound ridiculous talking about being “super heroes”. Plus, there is so much fake sounding talk about feelings that is just painful to listen to.

    3. The plots are predictable and generic and just not very engaging. Everything gets resolved by the end of the episode, when it shouldn’t, and the overall bad guy (Harly Quin) is just god awful to watch.

    4. The acting is generally bad all around. Dina Meyer is OK, but the rest of them just ham it up too much. This is expected given what they have to work with, though.

    5. Why the F**k don’t they wear masks? Again and again, it makes Reese look like a complete idiot. Additionally, when he see Dinah helping out one week, and then the next is surprised that Huntress “isn’t working alone”, he just looks stupid.

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