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WITCHBLADE

WITCHBLADE
(The Pilot)


EPISODE NO. 00
Season 1, episode 00
Series 100
1st release: 08/27/00
2nd release: 06/05/01
3rd release: 07/08/01
4th release: 08/26/01
Production number: PILOT
Approximate shooting dates:
Last update: 09/10/01


REGULAR CAST, GUEST CAST & CREDITS
TV GUIDE PROMO
SYNOPSIS by Shaych
COMMENTARY by Beboman
LINKS


REGULAR CAST
Yancy Butler (Sara Pezzini)
David Chokachi (Jake McCartey)
Anthony Cistaro (Kenneth Irons)
Will Yun Lee (Danny Woo)
Eric 'Kaos' Etebari (Ian Nottingham)

GUEST CAST
George Jenesky (as Conrad Dunn) (Gallo)
Kenneth Welsh (Joe Siri)
Jody Racicot
Katherine Trowell
Hal Eisen
Jim Codrington
Tony Munch
Whitney Westwood
Phil Hay
Tyson McAuley
Noah Danby
Sven Van de Ven
Sean Baek
Tig Fong

CREDITS
Written by J.D. Zeik
Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Filmed on location in Toronto.




TV GUIDE PROMO

A detective in modern-day New York finds an ancient weapon that gives her the power to fight Earth's darkest forces. ClickTV

A new force of justice has arrived on the streets of New York. Tagline

Witchblade is the story of New York detective, Sara Pezzini, whose search for justice leads her to an arcane weapon that grants her the power to battle Earth's darkest evil forces. imdb.






SYNOPSIS:

This synopsis is by Shaych.

The sun rises on New York City, Nov 11, 2000. Detective Sara Pezzini wakes up, gets dressed in her leathers, loads her gun and heads off to work on her motorcycle. U2 plays in the background as the helmet-mounted camera shows us her route. She likes speed, racing through the streets at a breakneck pace. We are also treated to an architectural love fest of gargoyles, statues and other fine marble sculpture in NYC.

Mysterious Ways finishes off just as Pezzini removes her helmet, revealing her long, dark auburn hair and strong, sculpted face. She greets her partner, Danny. He's already on her case about a local mob boss suspected of killing her friend. He wants her to cool off on the guy; she wants to go for him with both barrels. One gets the sense that Sara Pezzini is a take no shit kinda gal.

Sara needs proof to nail the guy who killed her friend Maria. She gets into a car with Danny and asks him about his wife. Then she thinks about Maria and we are treated to a flashback of a young Sara sharing a birthday with her friend.

A museum. A man dressed totally in black, in a long trench coat and knit cap is standing in front of a glass case display of an unusual gauntlet. It is wicked looking, and so is he. His face is a study of concentration, as if he is almost willing the gauntlet to break free of its glass prison to come to him. Or perhaps, he is guarding it, waiting for the day that a long forgotten knight will come and take it up and carry it to battle once more.

Pezzini and Danny are staking out Gallo, the man suspected of killing Maria. They see him, and Pezz runs out to talk to him. They harass him a little, giving him a little shit. Danny recognizes the big lug with Gallo, and the enforcer type smacks him one with a briefcase, then takes off running. Pezz follows while Danny stays behind with Gallo.

The chase is on! We see Pezz race after the enforcer type, following him up and down streets, through alleys and tunnels until they finally arrive at the museum. Among the antiquities, Sara searches for the fugitive. She comes into the room with the display case containing the gauntlet. She is drawn to it, staring at it, enthralled by the look of it. An eye-like device on the glove opens, revealing a red gem that looks back at her. She sees the man in black behind her. He tells her that the glove is magnificent, isn't it? And she tells him that he shouldn't be there.

She spots the fugitive and there is a gun battle. Dozens of rounds are fired; many things are broken, including the glass case containing the gauntlet. Another round of fire sends the glove flying, just as Sara herself has made a leap to avoid being hit. With her right hand outstretched, the glove flying through the air, a slow motion view shows the glove serendipitously slip onto her arm.

She has no weapon. When the fugitive goes to fire upon her, she protects her face with the armor-covered arm. The bullet bounces off. We see what looked to be an armored statue move, watching the action. The fugitive fires again, hitting the red gem. Chaos explodes around Sara Pezzini.

The next thing we see is the flashing red lights of emergency services. Sara is sitting in the back of an ambulance, looking not much worse for wear. Of course, she's a bit tossed, but she's not dead. A much older man asks her what happened. She tells him about chasing the mob guy into the museum, exchanging a few rounds and then how the guy opened fire on her with some big bore pistols, and then there was a giant explosion.

Jake, another officer, mentions that no one can figure out how she wasn't pulped. The other cop, who is Sara's captain, tells her that the man who drew on Danny, who she chased, was Lorenzo Vespuci, a really bigwig assassin, and Gallo's boy. Danny mentions that they saw Vespuci, and someone else on the video cameras, but Sara doesn't remember the other man.

Gallo walks by in the custody of some uniforms and tells Pezzini that she got one of his men. The man in black calls another man and tells him "she's got it." and that "he won't be disappointed, she's everything."

Sara arrives home in the company of Jake. They say good day after Jake unsuccessfully tries to get her to invite him in. Sara listens to her messages. It's Danny. She looks down at her wrist, and a strange silver bangle bracelet adorns it. She takes it off, and then ends up in the shower. Water drips over her nude, curled up form as she contemplates her reckless life.

We get a tunnel vision connection thingy to the bracelet. She sees things as she's sleeping. Lots of fire and explosions and images of women from the past flash by. Cleopatra is one of the images we see, Joan of Arc is another. Most of the images revolve around Joan of Arc being burnt at the stake. I hypothesize, without knowing the storyline, that Joan of Arc was the last to wear the Witchblade. Sara wakes from her dreams.

Gallo is having a meeting with a handsome Asian man. He's looking to outsource hire a hit man to take out Sara Pezzini.

Sara arrives downtown at work and sees the man in full armor again, but he vanishes. Several cops in the squad room say hi, and one actually congratulates her for taking out Vespuci before the captain invites her into his office. The captain gives her a lecture about pissing off Gallo. Then he tells her that her father would be proud of her.

She exits out into the squad room and banters with Danny. He thanks her for saving his life. They banter about Gallo, a legendary hit man, one of the smartest hardest bad guys in the city. Then Danny goes on to bring up the fact that Maria was a coked up junkie who kept getting into dangerous situations because she liked it. Sara wants to know if Danny thinks that's a reason for her to be dead. He doesn't. She then goes on to talk about how she hadn't even seen Maria for a year when her old friend called.

Before she gets a chance to call her back, Maria's dead. Danny wants to know if she thinks she could have saved Maria, but Sara doesn't know. Danny asks her what she would have done differently, and she says, "Called her back." She tells him about the bracelet. As she touches the bracelet, she looks at the crime scene photos of her friend's murder and has a serious set of visions of drinking and drugging. He asks her if she's okay, and she responds that sometimes she feels like she's losing her mind. "Don't worry, you've already lost it." Danny assures her. She decides they need to return to the crime scene.

Commercial.

The man in black. He's kicking the bloody bejesus out of some mobsters working for Gallo. Gallo patiently waits for him to sit down and they talk about "the old Rialto". Seems Gallo is interested in the place and the man in black's boss owns it. He's willing to show it.

Danny and Pezz return to the hotel where Maria was shot. The manager is a little put out that they haven't finished with the room yet, and Danny asks him a few questions about Maria. Sara wanders about the room, seeming to breathe in whatever ambience of the crime there still is.

She comes to a mirror and looks in, lost in the vision of her own face, when it shifts and becomes the reality of the night of the crime. She watches as Maria checks her face in the mirror and then wanders over to dance sexily for an older man seated on the couch. They drink. They have sex. They do many drugs.

Danny interrupts her vision. They talk a little, and then leave the room, but not before Sara removes the bracelet.

Later, Sara is at a bar, playing pool. Her next partner is Jake. He gives her break, so she shoots as he talks. He's got information about Tommy Gallo opening up a new club at the old Rialto, and that he'll be casing the place tomorrow. As they talk, Sara easily clears the table, beating Jake without him ever chalking his stick. All he wants is for her to let him come along when she goes to stake out the Rialto. Jake seems to have a really big case of the hots for Sara.

Next day, Sara and Danny are staking out the Rialto, talking about why they are there. Seems Danny's opinion of Sara's source, Jake McCarty, isn't so high. Seems Sara's normally interested in tattooed, pierced bad boy drummer types. (How Very Xena of Her to like the Bad Boys) Sara shoots Danny a look and says, "You think he's hot, don't ya?" in a deadpan voice. Danny thinks that Ricky Martin and Tommy Lee are hot. But he doesn't trust Jake McCarty. We learn that Jake left San Diego to come to NYC.

Their banter continues as Sara looks away, spots the strangely armored knight who vanishes, and then pulls out the bracelet from the museum. She's just about to ask Danny to remind her to find out if the bracelet is from the display case in the museum when Gallo arrives. The two cops sneak into the Rialto and find places up in the seats to watch the meeting.

They watch as Gallo discusses the setup of the place with a young man. As they talk, Gallo turns and shoots one of his men. He makes it clear that the Rialto will become one of the hottest nightspots in NYC, and that if the police found out that he was involved, there would be trouble. The other man totally understands what the mobster is driving at.

Gallo surveys his domain. Sara has walked away from Danny to get closer to Gallo. She is stopped by the man in black. She's rather peeved at him, because he's been following her. Jake gets into the Rialto. Danny is caught, knocked out and dragged to the stage. Sara looks to the stranger for help, but he says, no, use the Witchblade. Gallo calls for Pezzini to come on out and play. The man in black vanishes.

Sara comes out with her hands up. Gallo's men search her and relieve her of her secondary piece. (Left ankle holster.) Gallo tells her that she just saved him a bunch of money and that the bullets he has cut through kevlar like butter. Then he shoots Danny. The man in black knocks out Jake as he goes to help. Sara goes to Danny's side, but he dies.

She looks up at Gallo and tells him to kill her. As he aims, Sara goes through flashbacks. Bullet cam. The Witchblade activates, covering Sara's arm and hand. Action, firing, gun battle, shooting, men falling, dying. Gallo runs away like a frady cat, leaving his men to die. An actual blade pops out of the gauntlet, which Sara uses to cause much havoc.

At the end, only Sara is left standing. She calls out for Gallo, but he's long gone.

Commercial.

A funeral. Roses fall upon a casket as snow blankets the city. A woman stares accusingly at Sara. Danny's wife? Officers in dress uniforms pass behind Pezzini, paying their respects to Danny's grave.

Sara stands, staring at the grave as the snow falls. Her captain comes up and talks to her about her report. It was full of holes. She starts to talk about this really weird thing that happened at the theater. But she can't bring herself to say it. He tells her to take a few days off because things are only going to get more intense as the department investigates the shooting.

Sara talks to herself, swearing that she'll avenge Danny's death. "That's what got you into trouble in the first place," Danny says. He's a ghost. And she can see him. He tries to tell her a bit about the Witchblade. He tries to get her to think about how she could survive. He tells her that she's from a long line of warriors.

She believes he's a hallucination. And not even the first one. She thinks she's losing it. She breaks down, crying. This has really, deeply affected her. Danny tells her that she is special, she was chosen. He tells her that she should keep wearing the Witchblade. He also tells her to talk to Joe Ceres (the captain) and ask him who she is.

A passerby brings her out of her conversation with the ghost of Danny. With new purpose, she leaves. As she does, the man in black watches her. Jake McCarty is working Captain Ceres over, trying to get him to assign him as Pezz's new partner.

Sara's at home now, looking over stuff from her past. She looks at pictures of her father and of Maria. She plays her messages. It's the old one from Danny. She stares out of a window for a long while. As she is staring, a man on another roof is taking aim through a scope on a high-powered rifle.

As he's about to take his shot, the man in black stops him, and takes the gun. He watches Pezz, but does not fire.

Time passes. Gallo is talking on the phone to someone who has bad news for him. His hired gun didn't fire. He says, "There is nothing short of a miracle that is going to save her," and hangs up the phone.

Commercial.

Sara arrives at work for the first time since Danny was killed. There's a note on her desk, but I can't read it. She looks at Danny's desk, then goes to see Captain Ceres. He gets on her case about the Rialto. Seems that Gallo is claiming that Sara and Danny are at fault for what happened.

He asks her if she's ready to tell him what's going on. She says no. He tells her that forensics says that three of Gallo's men were killed with a sword. He wants to know what's going on, or he wants her badge and her gun.

Sara counters by asking, "Who am I, Joe?" Ceres stumbles. He doesn't want to answer. She presses. He finally tells her.

She was adopted. Once the wall is down, he fills her in on the whole story. It's pretty typical... her mother wanted to believe Sara was really hers, when the mother died; the father kept up the lie. When he died, Joe kept up the lie.

Sara's a little angry. She demands a week to check into some things. A week to figure out what's going on. Joe doesn't want to give it to her, but he eventually does. With a condition. Jake is her new partner. Sara leaves, having to accept a new partner.

Then we are treated to a feast of eye candy as Sara works out and works out and works out.

The man in black is watching, and remembering. We find out that his name is Nottingham. He is a child, listening to the tale of his guardian, telling him of the Witchblade. That it cannot be born by a man, that he tried to control it but he could not. It marked him with linked circle scars on the back of his hand. Young Nottingham is terribly intense and terribly cute in cowboy gear.

At the gym, Sara sees the man in full armor, and then he's gone.

Jake's apartment. Jake is crashed on the couch, watching old Thundercats reruns. It's late, someone is buzzing his doorbell. It's Pezz. She comes in, wanders into his room and falls down on his bed, trashed out and asleep. She does manage to comment that his place is pretty huge for someone living on a cop's salary. Tenderly, Jake covers her up, letting her sleep.

While she sleeps, Sara dreams. She dreams of the bearers of the Witchblade. About being in full plate mail. About running a terrible gauntlet of torches and almost not making it. And then she comes to face the man in the strange armor we've been seeing, and it's the man in black, Nottingham. She wakes up, breathless.

In the kitchen, Jake is cooking breakfast. Sara comes out, sees a poster on the wall of a younger Jake with long hair and a surfboard. Turns out he's a surfing champ.

He gives her some coffee and asks her not to mention the fact that he's a surfing champ at work. She asks him if he took a bad spill in Hawaii at one of his last meets. He says he did.

They talk about some stuff he found out. The Rialto is owned by Vorschlaag Industries, which is ran by Kenneth Irons. Irons is responsible for donating the Joan of Arc stuff to the midtown museum... the place where Pezz got the Witchblade. Jake continues to talk about Irons, but Pezz is already gone.

Commercial.

Pezz heads to Vorschlaag Industries, where she is let in without trouble. Seems Mr. Irons is waiting for her. She takes in a picture of Nottingham and asks if Irons knows him. Irons identifies him as Ian Nottingham, an employee. But he says that Nottingham wasn't working for him with regards to the old Rialto incident.

She asks him about the bracelet. He tells her it's the Witchblade. She asks him if it belongs to him. He tells her that if it belongs to anyone, it belongs to her. He gives her a card and invites her back to his place to see his etchings. Oh, wait, his art. And he tells her that he'll have Ian Nottingham pay her a visit.

Later, Nottingham and Irons meet. Irons blathers on about fortune and bold women. They discuss Sara. They discuss why the Witchblade has chosen her.

Sara calls Jake and leaves a message about shooting some pool. She then calls Irons and makes the time to go see his etch-er-artwork relating to the Witchblade.

At Irons' place, Irons is giving Sara a history lesson about the Witchblade, and how Joan was a bearer. There are many paintings on the walls with images of women wearing odd bracelets, or the actual glove. Seems that only women can wear the 'blade... that women are more elemental, closer to nature than men and that the Witchblade finds them more superior. He asks her if she believes in destiny. She says that she believes that things are a lot more connected than they appear. She asks what the Witchblade is.

"It's a mystery. Wrapped in a riddle and cloaked in a conundrum."

Sara is, needless to say, unimpressed by his verbal wrangling. He offers to help her. She offers to give back the Witchblade. He tells her that she can use the Witchblade to pierce the veil of the senses and see things that no other human can. She tells him that she doesn't want it and that he can have it back. He tells her that she was destined to wear it, that if she doesn't wear it and use it, then she'll lose it because the Witchblade doesn't find her worthy.

It all comes down to whether or not she wants justice...

She tries to remove the bracelet, but it won't come off. Irons tells her that he can help her, teach her to use it, to control it. He tells her she's been marked. She bears a linked circle scar on her breast, just like the one on his hand. She says the mark is a scar from some shrapnel from a swat team raid.

Commercial.

Young Nottingham and Irons talk about how to control the Witchblade... how they must control the woman who wields it. That she must be put through a series of gauntlets and tests.

Present day, elder Nottingham is outside of the stationhouse. Inside, Sara is looking over crime scene photos and seeing visions of what happened. She sees that it was Gallo who shot Maria.

Sara takes off to go shopping, Jake tries to go with, but she tells him no, to meet her outside of his contact's hangout.

That night, Sara shows up at the club, dressed to the nines, leather style. The bouncer lets her in, but not Jake.

Inside the club, she finds Drexler, Jake's contact and asks him about the Rialto. She uses a little judicious police brutality to find out that Ian Nottingham set up the meet with him and Gallo at the Rialto. Drexler gets away from Sara and runs off. Sara catches up to him in the men's room. The Witchblade is active and Sara is about to lose it, but at the last minute, after finding out where Gallo is, she leaves him behind.

Out in the alley, she runs into Ian Nottingham. He baits her. But he doesn't like being compared to Irons. He asks her why she's after Gallo. He asks her if she wonders if she's heading into a trap. He asks her where she's going, and she says she's going to kill Gallo.

He tells her, "Remember, before you grasp the Witchblade, you must first spill some of your own blood."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Forewarned is forearmed," he intones wisely. Then, "Had any dreams, lately, Sara?"

Dumbfounded, she watches as he melds away into the shadows. Jake finds her and she sends him off for coffee, saying she's cold. She then turns and heads for her car.

Commercial.

Sara is driving. Gallo sits up from the backseat.

They greet each other. Gallo blathers on, trying to frighten Sara. He takes her to a certain alleyway. It's the place where he killed her father.

Just as Gallo's about to do something, they see Nottingham in full armor, bearing a sword. The distraction allows Sara to take the offense, smacking Gallo and getting away.

A chase and fire ensues. Gun battle through the subway. Then an actual, physical fight as Sara tackles Gallo, they roll down some stairs and Sara runs off to hide behind a corner.

Gallo tells her to come on out, he'll make it quick... two to the back of the head, just like her father and with Maria. He says that she's probably wondering why he did Maria. Turns out that Maria had a date with a judge... and she OD'd. The judge freaked, so Gallo came in to take care of it. He says it doesn't matter, because Maria was just a piece of meat, like all the rest of us.

Fueled by anger, Sara steps out, the Witchblade active. He fires, the bullet ricochets and they fight. She's really kicking the snot out of him. And then, he shoots her, and bam! She's not bulletproof anymore. The Witchblade goes flying.

Flash to Irons. Somehow, he knows what is happening to Sara. Perhaps he's on speakerphone with Nottingham.

Gallo then goes on to talk about how he killed her father. We see what happened in flashbacks. As Gallo approaches Sara, he tells her that killing her father and Maria wasn't personal, and it won't even be personal when he kills her.

Sara has a memory of what Irons told her about the Witchblade choosing its bearers. How it will leave the ones it doesn't find worthy. More flashes of Joan of Arc. Sara reaches for the gauntlet. She stands. She screams. It flies across the room to her fist. She walks toward Gallo, determined to take him down. Rapid-fire flashes of Sara in leather/Sara in armor. She reaches Gallo and backfists him with the Witchblade.

He asks her what the hell she is.

Justice.

She's just about to kill him, and is beset by visions and memories. She doesn't kill him, she reads him his rights.

Irons is disappointed.

Days later, at the precinct, Sara talks first to Nottingham on the phone. He clues her in to the fact that Tommy Gallo committed suicide. She hangs up on Nottingham.

We finish up with Aerosmith, "American Woman" playing as Sara tells us that this is the end of the beginning. How she got the Witchblade. But there's much more. The last thing we see is Kenneth Irons looking at a new piece of art in his collection. A large image of Sara Pezzini, TopCow style.



COMMENTARY

This commentary is by Beboman.

This show is based on a comic book, but since I don't read comic books, this show is totally new, interesting and worth watching. This show is a "don't miss" type of show that will keep you at the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

One thing is for sure: the selection of New York City (NYC) as the setting of the show is great. Many interesting things take place there, especially with Sara (the lead character) as part of NYPD.

One of the things that attracted me to the show was the combination of super great action, special effects along the same line as "The Matrix", a touch of mysticism and the supernatural, and a strong female lead character.

Sara is not the normal female detective we have seen portrayed on television. She is strong, independent and very headstrong. She is a loner with a strong sense of what is right and wrong. She is defiant, but her defiance comes from a strong sense of adventure. This is very clear just by the fact that she dares to ride a Buell motorcycle in NYC. That is a sign of daring right there. You have to either have a death wish or just be extremely confident to ride any type of motorcycle in that city.

Even though Sara comes from a family of cops, she finds herself pushing the envelope when it comes to finding the truth behind a crime. She does not just give up. She is determined and this determination gives her an edge over other cops.

There were some things I really enjoyed in this show. I would say that both the gunfights at the museum and at the theater were just great. They were very well performed by the stunt crew and the special effects department. Of course, we have to be aware that, in reality, after each fight there would have been multiple questions by the Internal Affairs Office of the NYPD. This is especially true when her partner gets killed and she eliminates half of the bad guys who had her outgunned.

Another good special effects section was when Sara gets the "Witchblade". Her reaction was just great and when "The Witchblade" saved her life, her reactions were just out of this world. However, her reactions were even better at the theater when "The Witchblade" took over.

Those two scenes were really amazing. I truly enjoyed them. I also enjoyed the sequence when Sara comes face to face with the man who killed her friend and also killed her father. That was a very good sequence. It lets Sara know that she needs to take control of the "Blade" and accept it as a part of who and what she is.

With the aid of the "Blade", Sara gradually gets bits and pieces of information regarding the murder of her friend, but the most important facet of the "Blade" is that is allows her to communicate with her dead partner.

Sara finds herself questioning this strange bracelet that has made its way into her life and all the strange things that are happening to her from the moment it arrived.

We, the audience, are able to see and feel Sara's frustrations at all the strange things happening around her and her inability to take control of her life.

There are many relationships we are presented regarding Sara and how those people play a very important role in Sara's future. One of the most interesting is her relationship with her dead partner. After his death, he comes back as some type of guide.

There is also the relationship Sara develops with both Ian and Irons. Irons provides Sara with some information on the background of "The Witchblade" and Ian becomes some type of bodyguard and protector, if we can call it that.

Another interesting point during this two-hour pilot episode was the paintings of all the women who had worn "The Witchblade". When Sara first saw them, their faces were hidden, but at the moment Sara accepts "The Witchblade", all their faces appeared and they all resembled Sara. We are led to believe that Sara is a reincarnation of all those women who have worn the bracelet. A very interesting idea.

Another interesting relationship in this episode is that of Ian and Irons. This is a relationship that, according to flashbacks, goes back to when Ian was a child and he was under the tutelage of Irons, who it appears has not aged a bit since then.

From the moment Sara gets the bracelet, she is in a constant state of emotional overload. But the writers are not happy with all the emotional baggage they have thrown on her, they see fit to throw one more bag on: In a very interesting twist, we find out Sara is adopted.

By the time we get all the information regarding Sara, we find Sara to be both physically and emotional drained. "The Witchblade", however, continues to bombard her with feelings and images she cannot control.

Throughout all this, Sara finds herself with a new partner and still is in the process of solving a crime. Her life is in turmoil and she doesn't have any idea where to go or where to turn. So she turns to Jake, her new partner. It appears Jake is supposed to be her grounding force, but I feel that this doesn't work out all that well. Sara is too strong of a character and Jake seems to be too weak to be a grounding force. We will see this relationship works out.

By the end of this episode, we are provided with some very important information regarding both "The Witchblade" and Sara. We know that only a woman can use "The Witchblade". We know that Irons tried to wear it, that he was unsuccessful, and for his efforts, he got marked by the blade. It seems that "The Witchblade" picks who it wants to be a part of, but the person who it picks has to shed some of her own blood to be worthy of the "Blade". But the "Blade" can also abandon its user at the most inopportune moment.

"The Witchblade" provides an insight into the past, present and future for whoever is wearing it at the time. At the same time, however, the "Blade" has an ability to intertwine all those elements with the reality of the present. All this makes for some very interesting viewing and leaves the door open for some truly interesting, exciting future episodes.

All the scenes between Gallo and Sara were very interesting. The game of cat and mouse was very well performed, especially the last scene in the subway. It was a very unusual place: a clean and completely deserted New York subway station.

The acting in that final scene between Gallo and Sara was absolutely top notch. Sara's effort to stay alive and make the "Blade" work for her was fantastic and the astonishment and despair when she got hit by one of Gallo's bullets was simply superior. The most interesting part was when she takes control of the "Blade" and switches back and forth from a knight to her normal self. It was exceptionally well crafted.

Now that I have expressed some of the things I really enjoyed about this show, I will touch on a few questions or problems I had with it. Going back to the first gunfight at the museum, I found it very well performed and execute with all the special effects, but I do have a major problem with it. After the amount of bullets used in that fight, part of the building blowing up and the death of a person, there would have been more questions for Sara than the ones her captain had for her. She would have probably ended up behind a desk for some time before the shooting was determined to be proper.

Now, the second gunfight. I have some real problems with this whole scene. (I would like to say that these are just reality checks and has nothing to do with the performance of the actors.) Sara and Danny witness Gallo "The Mob Boss" kill one of his men in cold blood. Sara, without saying a thing to Danny, leaves him alone. Neither of them makes any attempt to call for back up or get any other help at all after this event. While heading to a better vantage point, Sara encounters Ian, still leaving her partner completely unprotected, placing both their lives at serious risk. Then after the gunfight, Sara's partner and at least five of Gallo's men are dead and Sara just walked away. There were very few questions asked, very little was done by the NYPD, and Sara was allowed to continue working.

Another scene I had some problems with was at the bar restroom, when Sara approaches the guy who was with Gallo at the theater. Although it was a very powerful scene and very well executed, the whole idea that Sara would go after this guy without her partner and leave her partner to go after Gallo only accentuated the idea that Sara is a loner. It also raised the question of whether or not she is very emotionally disturbed.

In general, I found this to be a really engaging, well acted, directed and produced episode. It will be very interesting to see how this character progresses and develops in future episodes. It will be especially interesting to see how and when Sara gets control of the "Blade".



LINKS:

Transcript by SciFi_Angel

bzine entertainment review & pictures

filmcritic.com breaks the Witchblade

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