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.
Vampires came to take a bite out of The Middleman, but Wendy fought back in The Middleman's tenth episode, "The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation".
Vampires came to take a bite out of The Middleman, but Wendy fought back in The Middleman's tenth episode, "The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation". With it, fun bit me straight in the funny bone.
This episode was a callout to the entire vampire genre, including films, games, and Bram Stoker himself. The use of puppets was clever, albeit a take from the television series Angel episode where he turned into a puppet. Still, it was a refreshing use of the vampire story, having the Vlad the Impaler puppet, Vladdy, take over the soul of the auctioneer instead of just coming to life as in Angel. I think the name Lizzie for the vampire queen referred to Lizzie Borden and accentuated the bloodiness of story.
This was a great way for The Middleman and Lacey’s love for each other to come out, very romantic. The fact that they didn’t stay married added to the sexual tension much like in Moonlighting. I didn’t like that The Middleman mentioned loving another girl. That was the only flaw.
Noser being a ventriloquist was shocking. I’m glad he’s being used more. I thought the plot was staged in spots, like the convention and Lacey’s search leading to the convention, but the storyline moved smoothly. The detail on the puppets was very realistic. Lizzie’s face reminded me of the bride in Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride, another horror callout.
Entertainment has returned to The Middleman, but is it too late? With two episodes remaining for the first season, the show has to finish strong for any hope of renewal.