Broken Frontier

Human Target might get credit for being one of the most straightforward action-adventure shows on the air right now with its simple narratives and self-aware flirtation with TV clichés. But the latest episode, “Baptiste,” sidesteps the series’ typical “shoot the bad guys and save the girl” type of story in favor of something that more closely resembles a character study.

When the episode opens, we meet Baptiste (played brilliantly by Lennie James), who successfully and effortlessly defends himself from a mugger in a Washington, DC, subway station. Our hero Christopher Chance sits next to him on the bench, and both of the men are battered and bloodied.

Behind them is an advertisement for an exhibit on John Milton’s Paradise Lost, not-so-subtly hinting that falls from grace, redemption and the dichotomy between good and evil are likely themes this week. After a brief exchange between Chance and Baptiste, the episode flashes back eight hours to show us how these characters got to this point.

We learn that Baptiste, a cold-blooded assassin with a penchant for stealing the wristwatches of his prey, was actually trained by Chance when his working for his mysterious former employer, who is presumably, well, evil. We also learn that Chance abandoned his life as an assassin when he fell in love with a woman named Katherine, one of his targets. Chance’s boss then ordered Baptiste to kill her. So yeah, these guys have a history.

But this episode isn’t just about personal conflicts. Chance must prevent Baptiste from blowing up a building full of Taiwanese and Chinese diplomats. Along with perennial sidekicks Winston and Guerrero, Chance is aided by adorable geeky computer hacker Layla (Autumn Reeser), whom we first met in “Lockdown,” and FBI agent Emma Barnes (Emmanuelle Vaugier), who was introduced in “Embassy Row.”

Not only is it great that these two lovely ladies have become recurring characters on a male-dominated series, but it’s also nice to see that Human Target—which prides itself on self-contained stories week-to-week—doesn’t shy away from continuity but doesn’t beat the viewer over the head with it either. Even if you haven’t seen “Lockdown” or “Embassy Row,” the show brings you up to speed on who these characters are fairly quickly.

But let’s talk about Chance and Emma for a moment. There is a great deal of electricity between these characters, especially when they’re pushing each other’s buttons. Particularly entertaining is when Chance interrupts Emma’s date at her apartment and she promptly wrestles him to the ground and tries to arrest him. Chance’s reaction to where Emma keeps her handcuffs (her bedroom) is classic. Let’s hope this relationship is going somewhere. After all, Chance does ask her out on a date this week.

As we dig deeper into Chance’s previous life as an assassin, we’re also learning more and more about his friends. Apparently, Guerrero has a kid, which can be troublesome in his line of work. We’ve seen how dangerous and intense Guerrero can be, but can you imagine what he would be capable of if someone threatened his child? Scary stuff.

At the end of the episode, Chance has the opportunity to kill Baptiste, but he can’t bring himself to kill someone in cold blood, even if they are his arch-nemesis. However, he’s clearly tempted. Instead, Emma takes Baptiste into custody which, judging by the final moments of the episode, won’t last all that long. Baptiste will continue to haunt Chance, as will his former boss.

“Baptiste” is a satisfying hour of television, proving that Human Target isn’t completely bound by winking, formulaic convention. The way the episode cuts back and forth between Chance and Baptiste’s subway platform conversation and the story that got them to that point underscores the key differences between these two characters and gives the revelations about Chance’s former life the weight they deserve.