Lone Gunmen Review – “Eine Kleine Frohike”

Another episode, another review. I apologize for being later than normal; a system crash caused an unexpected delay. I’d also like to mention that the core of the review has now been distributed over the subcategories, which should (hopefully) make it a bit easier to read. Don’t just sit there, Read More!

Cast
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
Dean Haglund as Richard “Ringo” Langley
Steven Snedden as Jimmy Bond
Zuleikha Robinson as Yves Adele Harlowe

Crew
Directed by David Jackson
Written by John Shiban

Original Airdate: Friday, March 16, 2001

Synopsis

The plot of this episode was pretty simplistic. A woman suspected of
being a Nazi poisoner has placed an ad in a paper, searching for her
long lost son. The son of a man she killed hired the Lone Gunmen to
have Frohike pose as her son, and expose her true identity. Frohike
went undercover, trying to find the only proof that this woman was the
one they were searching for. Unfortunately for him, the only proof is
a birthmark shaped like Germany found on one of her buttocks.

While Frohike was undercover, the suspect’s maid is poisoned to
death. Meanwhile, Langley and Byers are having problems keeping
surveillance subtle, since the suspect’s nosy neighbour keeps
interrupting them while they work.

Back at headquarters, Yves Adele Harlowe shows up to steal some files
from their computers. Jimmy Bond wasn’t going to let her leave with
them, but she distracted him by revealing to him that the man who
hired them could not be the son of one of the poisoner’s victims,
since that man died childless. She enlisted Jimmy’s help in
discovering the true identity of the man who hired them; he was the
long, lost son of the poisoner, and he was planning to kill the
witnesses after discovering if the ad in the paper was a trap, or the
real woman.

With Harlowe’s help, the three rescued Frohike, captured the man who
hired them, and proved that the nosy neighbour was the real poisoner.

The High Point

For me, the episode peaked with the Risky Business parody.
It’s been done before, but it’s still funny.

The Low Point

I felt the episode low was the bathroom pratfall. Pratfalls aren’t
funny.

The Review

Originality was not abundant in Eine Kleine Frohike.
The Risky Business spoof has been done before, although not
with Bad To The Bone. The fake identity plotlines have been
done before. I give it 3 out of 6.

Special effects were not abundant in this episode. In fact,
the only real effect was the make-up effects used in one shot to make
Jimmy Bond look liek someone else. Unfortunately, in that shot, it
was painfully obvious that it was a mask. 2 out of 6.

The story was well written, even if it wasn’t terribly
original. It allowed for some character development with Frohike and
Harlowe, and did have a few very entertaining moments between Frohike
and Haag. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting was well done, for the most part. The guest stars
were primarily one-dimensional (especially the maid). Anne Haag was
played well, showing both a strong and a soft side to the character.

The only real character development was done with Frohike and
Harlowe. Frohike showed a softer side not seen since One
Breath
. He sympathized with this poor woman, even if she was a
suspected nazi killer. Harlowe, on the other hand, still needs
direction. It seems like the Powers That Be have decided she is
someone to be lusted after, but that’s it. Neither Zuleikha Robinson
nor the writers have decided what else to do with this character.
This is a problem, and it’s not going to get any better if they keep
having her show up at the last minute, pour out exposition, save the
dat, and then run off again. We finally saw a side of her that may
not be entirely self-serving, but we’re going to have to see her
character well developed soon so she can join the regular team, rather
than watch her come and go every week. It’s going to get old. I give
the acting 4 out of 6.

The writing and acting did not provoke a strong emotional
response for me, either. This will probably continue to be a problem
with the show; it is hard to have an emotionally powerful comedy. To
succeed at comedy, it needs to be light-hearted from beginning to end,
regardless of how serious the situation is. I give it 3 out of 6.

The production was neither astounding nor annoying. David
Jackson is a capable director, but not terrific. I’m honestly not
sure which David Jackson this is; there are over a dozen possibilities
listed on the Internet Movie
Database
. I will try to find out for future reviews, so I can
link to the appropriate bio. I give the production 4 out of 6.

Overall, this was a quality episode. The toilet humour wasn’t as
prominent as it has been in the past, which is a Good Thing (TM). The
combination of elements was neither grating nor amazing. I give it 4
out of 6.

Episode Total: 25 out of 42

The next Lone Gunmen review will be Monday morning, after the
Sunday night broadcast of Like Water For Octane. On another
side note, I’d like to state that the official website could be great,
if only they’d make the navigation of the episodes easier to do. They
fixed the cast bios, but the episode list was impossible to navigate.
When looking up the director’s name, I found myself waving the pointer
around randomly, hoping it would stop on the episode I wanted.
Somebody, please fix this!

2 replies on “Lone Gunmen Review – “Eine Kleine Frohike””

  1. Damn fox!
    My local fox station decided it was going to air a local HS basketball game last night when the lone gunmen was suposed to be on! Worst thing is that they don’t seem to have any intenion of ever airing it!

    Kak

  2. TLG vs. Farscape
    For me there was no debating this. I was tuned in to the SciFi channel for the start of the new Farscape season. Based on what I have read of the TLG episode, I made the right decision.

    Has there been any explanation as to why TLG has been modeled on Scooby-doo instead of the X-Files? I continue to hope that they will turn things around and get serious. Of course, I liked “Dark Skies” so maybe I am doomed to disappointment.

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