Cult-TV Blogging: Brimstone: "Poem" (November 20, 1998)

The second episode of Brimstone (1998 – 1999) -- though fifth aired -- is titled “Poem.”  It involves a Chinese Hell convict who is out to capture and kill four virgins to continue a 1000 year old poem. 

Now if that plot sounds a little familiar, it’s because the first episode of Brimstone (“Pilot”) concerned a Hell convict capturing and threatening to kill four altar-boys to fulfill a sort of Scriptural prophecy about Judgment Day.

The fact that the overarching plot lines here are extraordinarily similar reminds us of an important fact about television programming.  It is important to establish formula -- sometimes to the point of hair-pulling madness -- before you can break formula.

We’ve seen this approach before. 

The first season of Tru Calling (2003 – 2005) pretty much regurgitated the same story over and over again, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, but then began suddenly playing with structure, outcome and characterization.  The result was nearly breathtaking: by shattering the familiar, rigorously-established formula and defying expectations, every new story suddenly felt wildly unpredictable.  All bets were off.

Recently, the first season of Grimm  (2011 - ) operated in much the same fashion.  The first fifteen or so episodes were, indeed, creatively “grim,” as the hero solved one dull homicide after another (all, naturally, involving fairy tale monsters as culprits). But then suddenly, the “equilibrium” established by the first dozen episodes shifted, and we were off into uncharted, far more interesting territory.

The risk of this approach is considerable.

Stick with the same formula too long, and viewers abandon the series because they’ve seen it all already. 

Break the formula too soon, and viewers feel untethered. 

In terms of both Tru Calling and Grimm it took sheer force of will to stick with them during the “establishing formula” stage, but when the formula “broke” late in the first seasons, the effect was rewarding.  

I’m glad I hung on, in both cases.  I count myself an admirer of both programs, at this point.

Brimstone’s sophomore episode feels a bit like the same thing.  The third episode in the canon, “Heat,” begins to get all the pieces right, including how Detective Stone comes to see the convicts as twisted reflections of himself.  But for here, there’s not much of interest to hold onto besides the lovely cinematography and a good guest appearance from Deep Space Nine’s Rosalind Chao. 

The delights of “Poem” are scant indeed.  There’s some nice humor from Stone(Peter Horton), particularly when he is asked for his badge number.  His reply: “666.” 

I also enjoyed the undercurrent of humor/social critique here as the ancient murderous poet encounters difficulty finding a virgin in the fin de siècle days of the 20^th century, and so must settle for a victim simply pure at heart. 

There are also some nice observations about love here, for instance the idea that “men often mistake love for possession.”

But the Chinatown milieu is a relatively exhausted one in terms of cult television (The X-Files: “Hell Money,” Friday the 13^th: The Series: “Tattoo,” Charmed: “Dead Man Dating,” Forever Knight: “Cherry Blossoms,” etc.), and this episode doesn’t take the crucial step of connecting the case of the week to Stone’s emotional discovery (or re-discovery) of self.

 “Poem” is well shot, well-acted and occasionally interesting, but it’s an episode -- like early episodes of Tru Calling and Grimm -- that only serve to establish formula, and don’t vary it.

Next week, Brimstone begins its amazing ascent to greatness with the wild “Heat,” a story that makes certain the focus is on Stone and his development, not a narrative formula. 

It's no wonder that "Heat" aired second, and "Poem" was held back a few weeks.  Back-to-back with the pilot, "Poem" doesn't advance the overall story much at all, though it is important to note that this is the episode that first finds Stone re-located in L.A.  There, in the City of Angels, he hopes to connect with his wife, Rosalyn.