One thing has become clear by the fourth episode of this show; this
is not really much of a Tarzan series despite what the title of the show
would suggest. For one he is referred to as John Clayton and not his
jungle name of Tarzan, and he doesn’t go on fantastical adventures to
lost cities or elephant graveyards, but this is not necessarily a bad
thing. A wild man brought to civilization where he must deal with the
complications of the modern world is an idea rife with drama and
possibilities, but then this show could have been called Mowgli and
dealt with a boy raised by wolves and now dealing with difficulties of
adjusting…actually that show already exists, it was called
Lucan and ran for one season between 1977-1978. So what makes this show a “Tarzan” show and not just wild boy in the big city?
Episode 4 "Rules of Engagement"
That one of the key components is of course Jane Porter (
Sarah Wayne Callies), the one and true love of Tarzan (
Travis Fimmel).
This is a complicated relationship as she is a New York City detective
and he’s an illiterate savage wanted in connection with the murder of
her fiancé. That Jane’s douchebag boyfriend’s death was accidental is
beside the point as it puts her in a very precarious position. She is
covering up a suspect in a murder investigation; she is even making her
partner Detective Sam Sullivan (
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.) keep quite thus jeopardizing his career as well.
“But Jane, I have only six days to retirement!”
The
Jane Porter from the books was from Boston high society so her falling
for a jungle man was certainly nothing she could ever have foreseen, but
one look at that forest god flying out of the trees to her rescue puts
her emotions in control and to hell with what people will say. That is
until she has some time away from Tarzan is able to think clearly and
realize just how nuts the whole thing is, and she ends up engaged to
Tarzan’s cousin. Eventually the class barriers will fall and true love
will win out, and we are actually getting some of that in this series.
At the beginning of this episode Jane is driving her sister Nikki (
Leighton Meester)
crazy as she re-arranges the apartment and starts making out chore
lists. She is trying to gain some control over the life that Tarzan has
seriously shook up.
"If only he wore shows I could handle this better."
Jane
is a mess here, she admits to her sister that she has feelings for
John/Tarzan, but what kind of person does that make her when her fiancé
is barely cold in the ground? This episode deals with Jane’s dilemma
beautifully; the logical police detective Jane gives Tarzan a set of
rules, number one being "
no touching" while emotional Jane has...um...well let’s just say her “lady parts” really light up any time she lays eyes on Tarzan.
“If I was a Southern Belle you would totally be giving me the vapors.”
So
most of Jane’s reaction seem physically based, and to be honest what
else besides physical attraction do these two have in common? I’m sure
the show will try and develop their relationships deeper but so far
we’ve seen Tarzan fall in love with at first site, while Jane’s was more
of a full in lust at first site. Though Jane does also have her
maternal protective side kicking in for Tarzan, she wants to save him
from his evil uncle Richard Greystoke (
Mitch Pileggi),
and from the big bad cruel world that is New York City, and this desire
to keep this innocent jungle man safe is rather sweet. I really like
how the dynamic between these two is growing, and both actors do great
work here, but this isn’t just a romance show it is also a police
procedural and this episode has a very good B-Plot.
Mad Sniper Strikes!
One night, after evading the loving but confusing questions of his Aunt Kathleen (
Lucy Lawless),
Tarzan takes to the rooftops and while there hears the screams of a
woman in distress. He drops down into an alley to give a mugger a sound
thrashing, but before he can even lay a hand on the guy a rooftop sniper
blows the perp away. Later we learn that this is the second sniper
attack and with some great police work Jane figures out that the most
likely suspect is an ex-SWAT sniper (
James Carroll)
who is now taking out the bad guys who escaped justice on a
technicality. When Jane and Sam get to the third target before the
sniper does, and foil his attempt, the sniper changes targets and
attempts to put a bullet into Jane.
Ah the magical movie land bulletproof vest that prevents death and only allows a little bruising.
Needless
to say Tarzan does not take this well, and once he realizes Jane isn’t
dead he races off after the sniper, but the villain escapes in a car
despite Tarzan’s mad parkour skills. Surprising everybody is the fact
that almost immediately after apparently trying to kill a cop the
ex-SWAT guy gives himself up. Things get even more interesting when
Tarzan shows up at the scene of the arrest, we can assume to beat the
living crap out of the guy, but upon seeing the suspect Tarzan informs
Jane that this is not the shooter, that the person who shot Jane was
much younger. Turns out the SWAT guy’s son (
John White)
failed out of the Police Academy, and is a tad unbalanced, and is now
"finishing the work" his father started. Now that Jane is getting too
close he plans to finisher her off as well.
Yeah, not going to happen.
While
Jane is pinned down by this crazed kid’s sniper fire Tarzan shows up
and just about tosses the guy off the roof. This is the law of the
jungle. These are the rules Tarzan has lived by. Jane is able to talk
Tarzan out of turning this kid into street pizza, but when he leaves to
avoid police entanglements Jane realizes her life is full of lies (to
others and herself) and that Tarzan has never lied to her. This epiphany
looks to shake up Jane’s life even more than it already is, and I’m
certainly curious to see how far it can go in just the few handfuls of
episodes left.
“O Tarzan, Tarzan, wherefore art thou Tarzan?"
Aside
from the cool sniper storyline, and Jane and Tarzan’s messy love life,
we get a bit of Richard Clayton’s nefarious action as he tracks down
Donald Ingram (
Tim Guinee),
a witness to the rooftop fight that ended the life of Jane’s fiancé.
With confirmation that his nephew is still alive bring all the forces of
Greystoke Industries to bear against Jane and Tarzan? Will Aunt
Katherine be able to stand against her older brother? Will the police
eventually start a manhunt for Tarzan? All these and more will probably
not be answered before this show is abruptly cancelled.
Tarzan even has some nice fashion moments this episode.
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