I've just gotten out of the hospital after an operation and I just wasn't ready for this episode. I watched "Easy Slider" right after watching the latest episode of Farscape, "A Human Reaction" (which I consider to be the best one they've done). Talk about the yin and the yang! Jesus!
"Easy Slider"
Reviewed by Donner
Out of five stars:
Revised year-end rating:
Oh... my... God... PECKerhead's grubby little fingerprints were all over this one but, despite that, it wasn't as bad as "The Unstuck Man". THE GOOD - Great dialogue and oodles of character chemistry. You could smell the stench of Peckinpah, yet Maggie, Rembrandt, and Diana had some great lines. MALLORY on the other hand... (I'll save it for THE BAD)
- SOMEONE BESIDES REMBRANDT SCORED!!! Good for them!
- "What's a Humvee?" Am I the only one who caught the irony in that remark?
THE BAD - Good GOD!!! What the hell WAS this season 3 reject doing in the scant 18 episodes of the fifth season?
- David Peckinpah directed this episode and so, we see our first on-screen threesome in the history of this show.
- I'm beginning to think that Robert Floyd's quality of acting is in direct proportion to the quality of the script. For example, in "The Return of Maggie Beckett" Rob was great. In "Easy Slider" he was so damn smarmy and smug that I just wanted to kick him in the head. Christ, he was acting like the 4th season Quinn who was always letting "Mr. Happy" tell him what to do. I guess "Easy Slider" was a reference to Mallory.
- And speaking of bad acting, what about the leader of the Smokers, huh? Can you say "drama school dropout?"
- And "Smokers"? Jeez, was that Peck's half-assed attempt to rip off "Waterworld"?
- Did this episode... feel familar? It SHOULD! This episode used the tried and true 3rd season formula.
- Sliders land on oppressive earth/meet an oppressive group.
- Slider(s) get involved with member of resistance movement.
- Slider(s) must choose between sliding or staying. (optional)
- Slider(s) decide to "do the right thing".
- Slider(s) must face off against (resistance member/oppressive world figure) in a climactic battle.
For more examples of this formula, check out "Rules of the Game", "Electric Twister Acid Test", "The Dream Masters", "Desert Storm", "Dragonslide", "The Fire Within", "State of the Art", "Slide Like an Egyptian", "Exodus", and "Stoker". Formulas are usually used by lazy writers or by writers trying to meet a deadline. Take your pick here. - Good lord, how many sexual innuendos can you cram into an hour? What is PECKerhead trying to turn Sliders into? Baywatch?
THE VERDICT A decent episode despite itself. To tell you the truth, IMHO we've only had one "horrible" episode this season (The Unstuck Man) so this one ranks (albeit unfairly) as the second worst episode of the 5th season. David Peckinpah likes sex. He uses sex as plot points. He likes dialogue driven by sexual innuendo. He likes to get women half-naked. He also seems to like motorcycles, violence, and big rigs... ...David Peckinpah must have a very, very tiny penis.
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