The Banana Spider

So what could a guy like Christopher Chance possibly be afraid of?  I think we were all surprised to find out he hates spiders, one in particular.

When you do a little research on Banana Spiders, some references say they're not so toxic, but others say they are deadly.  I've added a bit of info below if you're dying to know more.  The most interesting thing I found was that the females usually eat their mate. I wonder what Chance would have to say about that....?

Here are two clips about Chance and Banana Spiders, the first with Maria who knows him well and the second with Ilsa.  I think Chance scared Ilsa more than the spider scared her!

from Salvation and Reclamation, S1E7, and Communication Breakdown, S2E8

The Banana Spider seems to be one of the Brazilian Wandering Spiders found in South and Central America. P. fera is the most venomous species of spider. Its venom contains a potent neurotoxin, which at deadly concentrations causes loss of muscle control and breathing problems, resulting in paralysis and eventual asphyxiation - which fits pretty well with Chance's drama queen description!

I tried looking at pictures of spiders to see if Ilsa's spider looked anything like a Banana Spider, but I have to tell you, my heart really wasn't in it....

Who First?

In a comment in a previous blog post, Marie asked who I thought was attracted to the other first, Chance or Ilsa?  Ooo, that’s a hard one.  I think it’s pretty gradual. This isn’t cut and dried and this post became longer and longer the more I thought about it. (and this post has taken weeks to compose!)

Ilsa was enamored by the legend/mystique of Christopher Chance even before she met him. She spent 6 months learning about him and searching for him. She convinced herself she needed him.  So she was invested first, although she didn’t realize it.

And as I’ve said before, once she found him she couldn’t give him up, even when she learned up-close and personal about his past.  She is fascinated and puzzled by him (In The Wife’s Tale he didn’t stand up for himself to the wife whose husband he had killed years before, even though that husband was going to ditch his wife.  But that’s another topic… ).

I love this little coy look she gives after Chance has turned his back in The Return of Baptiste.  She often asks him point-blank if he’s worried about her.  And he always hedges.  Chance is a master at avoidance. Why is she toying with him? (sorry these Blogger uploads are such crappy quality)

from The Return of Baptiste, S2 E4

Marie mentioned the look on Ilsa’s face when Ilsa first sees Maria – and I hadn’t noticed (great catch Marie!), but oh, she has quite the expression.  For a change she doesn’t have Chance all to herself. Maybe she was expecting a 60 year old bald woman...  I think Ilsa is later mad at him because he continually backs Maria over and over even when Maria is so blatantly using him.  Is Ilsa jealous? or pragmatic?

 Of course the complication with Ilsa is her lasting loyalty to Marshall.  If they come back for another season, watch to see if her wedding rings come off.  They need to.  When she said goodbye to Winston and Ames at the end of Marshall Pucci, she seemed like a woman with a great weight lifted off her shoulders.

As for Chance, he is immediately intrigued by Ilsa – but maybe that has more to do with 6 months on an ashram without women.  The fact that he accepted her as a partner proves he is interested in more than a one episode stand.  All through Season 1 he seemed to be looking for a connection, for a soulmate.  He is our lonely hero.  Yet he has such a fight-or-flight response that it’s a miracle he doesn’t run away from Ilsa in the first episode of Season 2.

We know for sure by the time of The Trouble With Harry, he is invested.  Definitely off his A-game because Ilsa is in the thick of things.  But it’s this look after Harry accuses him of having feelings for Ilsa that is so amusing.  It’s just a subtle widening of his eyes but it’s saying volumes - of something.

from The Trouble With Harry, S2 E12

Is this a look of shock because

a)      He’s just realized, yes, he cares for Ilsa and that’s why he’s off his game?

b)      He knows he has feeling but is shocked he hasn’t covered them up well enough?

c)       He is shocked that even Harry has figured it out?

I’m leaning towards c)

Chance wouldn’t have let Ilsa kiss him if there wasn’t something there.   Of course, he is a *guy*, but he knows the difference between what’s right and wrong – after all he let Maria go and turned away from her kiss at the end of A Problem Like Maria.

Of course Winston and Guerrero have figured out there is something going on during Communication Breakdown…  Ames doesn’t get it till we see her sweet look of surprise and approval just before Chance climbs the outside of the building to go after Ilsa in Marshall Pucci.

Chance and Ilsa seem to sort out a lot in Communication Breakdown.  Ilsa knows Chance pretty well by the time they start fighting, so she knows exactly which buttons to push, but Chance learns a huge amount about Ilsa in this episode. Not that he doesn’t do his own button pushing…   He learns that she’ll tramp through the jungle in bare feet,  that she won’t accept help if she’s mad, that she’s not afraid of spiders, that she knows what it’s like to be shot, that she’s not a trophy wife and that she is perfectly capable of saving him if necessary.  She does not curl into a ball and need to be saved, even at the end of Communication Breakdown when she shoots Hector Lopez in self-defense.

I haven’t quite figured out why his anger at Ilsa over the Maria thing evaporated.  Ilsa was trying to control him – or rather she was trying to control the situation after he had failed.  But maybe she earned his respect (yet again) while they were out in the jungle.  She seems to have to do that every few episodes  – but that thought, too, is for another time.

So, I really don’t have an answer to Who First?  Chance is too enigmatic to pin down.   I may have missed something and will continue to watch for clues.

And none of this is addressing whether each of them realizes the other cares.  Of course Chance had an unfair advantage thanks to this exchange with Winston and Guerrero.

from Communication Breakdown, S2 E8

In general, the writing for these two was really good.  There wasn't a lot of on again/off again stuff the really annoys me in other shows.  So once again, thumbs up to Matt Miller for monitoring this so carefully.

So, what do you think?

Location: Alex Fraser Bridge

This screen cap is from Christopher Chance, Season 2 Episode 12, set 6 years in the past, just after Baptiste has killed Katherine Walters and Christopher Chance (played here by Lee Majors). Junior stands up and becomes the new Christopher Chance.

In the background is the Alex Fraser Bridge which spans the south arm of the Fraser River. It's the easiest bridge in the Lower Mainland to drive in my opinion although you do get used to all of them the more you drive them (except maybe the Pattullo).
 
So I figure this must have been filmed on the south shore in the late afternoon. Lol! Unless it was filmed on the north shore in the early morning! My best guess (from someone who hasn't driven along there in a few years) it was at the Fraser Surrey Docks along River Road heading out of Surrey into Delta.

If you're into bridges, you can read more about the Alex Fraser here on Wikipedia.

WonderCon 2011 Panel

Since Human Target's origins are in the graphic novel realm, some of the stars and show runner Matt Miller were part of a panel at WonderCon 2011.

They talked about their characters, about the past two seasons and plans for the next season if they are renewed.

They even refer to the snowing scene on the rooftop in Marshall Pucci.  Ahem, it hadn't even occurred to me that it's suppose to take place in San Francisco.... I'm always so charmed that it's Vancouver. That scene has got to be one of my favourite scenes to watch EVER! The snow is simply magical.

You can read the whole article by Karl Keily on comicbookresources.com  here.

Oh, my!

This was completely unexpected! Especially since I entered at almost the last possible moment and they're not familiar with the Human Target Fandom. What can I say, but

Gee, Thanks!! I really appreciate it!

You know, really I did win the best prize (just like everyone else who entered).  We got to create our videos using amazing music by this talented Singer/Writer.
More about the contest is here.
Nick Gardener's YouTube Channel is here.
To watch my vid: Human Target - Where I Go

P.S. I love this little prize poster - artypartypants even added a little jpg of Chance from the vid!  How sweet!  Thanks again!

Sign the Petition for Another Season of Human Target!

Human Target - Where I Go (Video)

If you are receiving this as an email update, please click on the title to view the video on the blog or on YouTube.



This is a Christopher Chance and Ilsa Pucci fanvid for the Nick Gardner contest.  http://artypartypants.livejournal.com/7526.html to vote

My interpretation of this song, in the context of Human Target, reflects Chance’s conviction that no one can go where he’s been and he would never want anyone to.  Where does he “go”?  He is tortured by self-recrimination for deeds past and is endlessly searching  for redemption.  He frequently runs away from the people he cares most about fearing they will be hurt or worse.  Until Ilsa.  In the end, he keeps her from following in his footsteps….

This amazing song immediately stole my heart and I was over the moon that it was available for use with permission!
Please check out Nick Gardner’s other beautiful music on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/nrhgardner
 Many thanks to him for allowing the use of Where I Go. It was this vidder’s dream of a song.  My apologies Nick, if I didn’t quite hit your mark with some of the video transitions!

This vid is dedicated to my friend Magra, a vidder extraordinaire, who helped and encouraged me when I first started.  Happy birthday! (This was finished on your birthday but technical issues delay it!)

"Where I Go" (C) 2009
Lyrics, Melody, Music written by Nick Gardner

The hand on the clock chimes, reads me my life line
Then you go and drop that bomb on me
You take a step back, then we can't get back
We're poor and they're expecting a fee.
We're fighting for air, it's not fair...
The Gods are immune to our plea
And I could go further, and commit murder
But tell me then where would I be?
[CHORUS]
Where I Go
Where I Go
There'll be fire that goes blazing on the snow
Where I Go
Where I Go
There'll be fire that goes blazing on the snow
And I know, where I go, isn't somewhere that you can easily see
And I know, where I go, isn't somewhere that you'll ever be
You'll ever be, you'll ever be...
[VERSE 2]
Tell me that story, of your life before me
Go back to it and set yourself free
Erase all the trouble, and then the struggle
Like the struggle to split sand from the sea
There's not enough time, to fix this crime
On the souls hurt so effortlessly
I wish I could be there, or at least not care
Then you wouldn't have to care about me
[CHORUS]
[BRIDGE]
When the sky starts turning and it goes back
The sun turns back and the ground cracks
At vanishing point on the broken glass floor
Through the mirror in your mind and the lock on the door
Goes nowhere, you can't go there, or know there, nothing grows there
'Cept your shadow grows smaller and in the blink of an eye
I can't see you anymore
[CHORUS]
You'll ever be, you'll ever be, you'll ever be..
You'll be, you'll be