By Stu Robinson,

Six episodes in to Season 2 of FOX’s Human Target, it’s time to check in on how the big estrogen experiment is going.

The show centers on bodyguard Christopher Chance (Mark Valley from Keen Eddie and Boston Legal) and his support team comprising ex-cop Laverne Winston (Chi McBride) and quietly creepy freelancer Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley).

In its first season, Human Target demonstrated potential but looked to be in need of some time and tweaking tofind its stride. The biggest tweak for Season 2 was the addition of two female regulars: wealthy, widowed philanthropist Ilsa Pucci (Indira Varma), who takes over the business side of the operation; and nubile grifter Ames (Janet Montgomery), a trainee operative.

Ames is a hit. Not just easy on the eyes, she adds some comic relief that lightens the show. Her foils are Winston and Guerrero, two men very set in their ways. Ames chips away at their facades and drags them out of their comfort zones, forcing each to reveal a bit more than he’d like.

That said, the writers need to be careful here, particularly in regard to Guerrero. The key to Guerrero is his quiet malevolence – that fact that nobody really knows what he’s capable of, causing everyone to assume the worst. He needs to maintain the almost cartoon quality of being perfectly comfortable with whatever dirty deed must be done. It’s okay to give him some range, but be wary of humanizing him so much that he loses his edge.

Mrs. Pucci’s patronage enables the team to go wherever it must, armed with the latest technology. But she’s not really a team player. She may hold the purse strings, but she is vexed by her inability to control the rest of the cast. Whenever a scenario spreads outside her comfort zone – which is pretty much every week – she takes on a haughty, petulant tone that really grates.

When I first read about the Ilsa Pucci character, I imagined an absentee owner who wouldn’t be so absent – hence the dramatic tension. But I didn’t expect her to take up residence as the world’s classiest office manger. The fish out of water theme goes only so far. After six episodes, Mrs. Pucci is not fitting in.

The six Season 2 episodes that have aired so far have been a varied lot. While four have seen characters confronting aspects of their pasts, they have gone in different directions. Settings have ranged from the grittier parts of San Francisco, where the team is based, to a South American drug-trafficking zone to corporate suburbia.

The plots are engaging, and usually give the viewer an opportunity to determine the threat on his or her own. The guest stars, mostly journeymen actors who look vaguely familiar, have been solid.

As Human Target enters the second half of its second season, I’m still aboard. We’ll just have to see where this crazy train takes us.

###

Stu Robinson, a college friend of the TV Tyrant, is a writer, editor, media-relations practitioner and social-media guy based in Phoenix.