Oh, look! More minority representation. Those who have read my other reviews know that the show hasn't been very successful at their two previous attempts: "Tattoo" and "The Voodoo Mambo". And "Shaman's" doesn't add anything new to the formula. For that matter, we've seen antiques that kill and cure before (in Season One's "Doctor Jack", and Season Two's "And Now the News".
"Shaman's" does add a few new things to the mix. For instance, it hints at the fact that there's magic outside of Lewis and the cursed antiques, a theme that was briefly touched upon before with "The Butcher". Granted, the magic doesn't make much sense. Spotted Owl dies, comes back as a spirit, and makes... White Cloud disappear in a cloud of fairy dust. That's nice.
Also, we get to see the indirect death of a friend caused by the trio recovering an antique before it can be used to kill them. No one seemed too concerned when Jack got healed by the cursed scalpel in "Doctor Jack". So it's nice to see the production staff return to that concept. And having it hit a friend of Micki is kind of convenient, but brings it home in a way that "And Now the News" didn't.
And there are a few picks at the stereotypes. Like Spotted Owl telling Jack that "A good white man is hard to find". Which sounds like a pick-up line, but presumably isn't. Spotted Owl dies in the end, but it's nice to see that the Iroquois (and Sasheena, presumably) can handle antiques without the trio. In fact, the trio don't really do much to secure the rattle. But that's pretty much par for the course on the show. Sasheena and Spotted Owl's spirit do all the heavy lifting.
However, we get the wise old minority member, and the clichés that he and Jack (the "wise old white man") exchange with each other. Gordon Tootoosis isn't bad as Spotted Owl, the tribal shaman. But he doesn't have much to work with, either. And Tootoosis is one of those actors who is good in pretty much anything. Remember him in 'X-Files' and 'Smallville"? I do.
And Paul Sanchez as John White Cloud makes a pretty good hero-turned-villain. The writers do more showing than telling, but they make it clear that at least initially, White Cloud is trying to help people. That's kind of undercut when White Cloud smiles evilly when the people he targets dies. The fact that he saves the worst offender, Dr. Lamar, for last, tends to undercut the message. Meredith was rightfully following orders, no matter how much personal pleasure she seemed to take.
Okay, Walker was enough of a jerk that he deserved to die. But the patient that Lamar saved and then the rattle killed didn't deserve to die horribly. So it all kind of undercuts the apparent message that "the white man" and a bigot like Lamar in particular drove White Cloud to go from healer to sadistic killer.
So "Shaman's" is an okay episode. It's an improvement over its predecessors, but the fact that the messages have already been done tend to weaken what otherwise could have been a stronger episode.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
"Shaman's" does add a few new things to the mix. For instance, it hints at the fact that there's magic outside of Lewis and the cursed antiques, a theme that was briefly touched upon before with "The Butcher". Granted, the magic doesn't make much sense. Spotted Owl dies, comes back as a spirit, and makes... White Cloud disappear in a cloud of fairy dust. That's nice.
Also, we get to see the indirect death of a friend caused by the trio recovering an antique before it can be used to kill them. No one seemed too concerned when Jack got healed by the cursed scalpel in "Doctor Jack". So it's nice to see the production staff return to that concept. And having it hit a friend of Micki is kind of convenient, but brings it home in a way that "And Now the News" didn't.
And there are a few picks at the stereotypes. Like Spotted Owl telling Jack that "A good white man is hard to find". Which sounds like a pick-up line, but presumably isn't. Spotted Owl dies in the end, but it's nice to see that the Iroquois (and Sasheena, presumably) can handle antiques without the trio. In fact, the trio don't really do much to secure the rattle. But that's pretty much par for the course on the show. Sasheena and Spotted Owl's spirit do all the heavy lifting.
However, we get the wise old minority member, and the clichés that he and Jack (the "wise old white man") exchange with each other. Gordon Tootoosis isn't bad as Spotted Owl, the tribal shaman. But he doesn't have much to work with, either. And Tootoosis is one of those actors who is good in pretty much anything. Remember him in 'X-Files' and 'Smallville"? I do.
And Paul Sanchez as John White Cloud makes a pretty good hero-turned-villain. The writers do more showing than telling, but they make it clear that at least initially, White Cloud is trying to help people. That's kind of undercut when White Cloud smiles evilly when the people he targets dies. The fact that he saves the worst offender, Dr. Lamar, for last, tends to undercut the message. Meredith was rightfully following orders, no matter how much personal pleasure she seemed to take.
Okay, Walker was enough of a jerk that he deserved to die. But the patient that Lamar saved and then the rattle killed didn't deserve to die horribly. So it all kind of undercuts the apparent message that "the white man" and a bigot like Lamar in particular drove White Cloud to go from healer to sadistic killer.
So "Shaman's" is an okay episode. It's an improvement over its predecessors, but the fact that the messages have already been done tend to weaken what otherwise could have been a stronger episode.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?