Karen L. Newman has been a published writer since 2004 in the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres. Over two hundred and fifty of her short stories and poems have been published both online and in print. Her books include EEKU (Sam’s Dot, 2005) and ChemICKals (Naked Snake Press, 2007) and her work has been nominated for a Dwarf Star Award. She won the 2005 Mary Jane Barnes Award and two of her poems received honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. She edits the online magazine Afterburn SF, which publishes speculative short stories, and is the editor for the print poetry magazine Illumen. She also write reviews for Dark Discoveries. Her reviews have also been featured in Noneuclidean Cafe, The Dream People, Night to Dawn, and Gothic Review.
ABC Family moves The Middleman to 10 pm this week. I think it’s best for the PG-14 rating of the show.
If you like wrestling and martial arts, The Middleman’s third episode, "The Sino-Mexican Revelation", is for you. As always, the following sentences contain spoilers.
When episode three opens, Wendy has car trouble. She’s also worried because the Middleman hasn’t paid her yet. On top of that, she’s to be trained by a martial arts expert, Sensei Ping, that day. However, there’s a diamond robbery. The Middleman can’t leave the case and Wendy has to meet her trainer at the airport in her crappy car. When Ping belittles Wendy once too often, she loses her temper and insults him the way the Middleman said she shouldn’t. Just then her car is surrounded by a gang of Lucha Libre wrestlers who kidnap Sensei Ping.
Crestfallen, Wendy returns to headquarters where the Middleman chides her. He and Ida track the wrestlers. The Middleman then goes by himself to rescue his mentor. By the time Wendy discovers it’s a trap, it’s too late.
Feeling guilty, Wendy decides to find her boss and Ping, which she does with Ida’s help. Wendy flies the Middleplane to the wrestlers’ hideout where Ping has selected the Middleman to be his champion versus a hundred wrestlers. Wendy frees Ping from his diamond prison before her boss is killed and Ping defeats all the wrestlers. As a reward, the Middleman buys Wendy a new car.
By now, unfortunately, the endings have become somewhat predictable, i.e. the hero always wins. Although refreshing in today’s jaded society, it’s dangerously close to being corny. All those wrestlers in masks reminds me of a twisted WWE match and Ping beating them all is unbelievable, as is his being trapped in a large diamond with no explanation. Also stretching my imagination limit is Wendy knowing how to fly at that time – something, I think is commonly referred as writer’s convenience. There is no buildup to that in previous episodes, just then when she has to be somewhere fast. Then there’s still the Noser problem. The Johnny Cash references are at least mentioned, but not relatable to a lot of people.
The Middleman
can stand to grow up a bit, without losing the fun. The PG-14 rating is really hampering it in this episode. I look forward to the next episode, and hope this one’s just an aberration.