EPISODE REVIEWS - TWITCH IS DOWN

Episode #14 - Twitch is Down
Original Airdate - May 24th, 1999

Officer Twitch Williams investigates that alley murders and confronts Spawn. After Twitch learns too much about the alley murders and Jason Wynn, Wynn sends the dirty Police Chief Banks out to kill Twitch.

Media and Review by Bird Boy

Credits
Written by John Leekley
Directed by Tom Nelson
Music by J. Peter Robinson
Animation by MOOK Co., LTD.

Voices
Keith David as Spawn
Richard Dysart as Cogliostro
Robert Forster as Major Forsberg
Ming-Na Wen as Lisa Wu
Michael Nicolosi as Clown
Dominique Jennings as Wanda Blake
James Keane as Sam Burke
Michael McShane as Twitch Williams / Gareb
John Rafter Lee as Jason Wynn
Kate McFarlane as Cyan
Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Jess Chapel
Xander Berkeley as Mike Stewart / Priest
Victor Brandt as Chief Banks

Screen Grabs






Pans

Review: Ah, one of my favorite episodes of both season three and of the entire series. “Twitch is Down” brings in more of Sam and Twitch, which is always a good thing. It also has the first confrontation between Twitch and Spawn, which is played out beautifully in animation, dialogue and staging.

One of the stand-out scenes in here is the Sam and Twitch interaction in the shooting range. Sam complains of a gun having its sight off and Sam uses the same gun to shoot a perfect cross in the head of the target. There’s a mouth-drop moment and the usual smart ass comments flow from Sam as Twitch counteracts with his dry wit. It’s a wonderful scene, which only compounds the emotion you feel at the end when Sam’s basically crying over his shot partner.

And while we’re on topic of the ending: wow, what a great ending! The way it ends with Twitch getting shot point blank in the head and falling to the ground, with Sam yelling over his partner. No music is present, just Twitch’s fading heartbeat. It’s a powerful end to an episode and it’s the reason why it’s one of my favorites. So much went on in this episode that made it a stellar show.

This episode also delved more into Lisa Wu’s character, previously seen in season two. Here we learn she’s not just a reporter, but a…person who likes to say scary things on the phone to George Maso-, I mean Xander Berkely and chant things while naked! Fear not confused viewer, it’ll all be revealed in a future episode.

Coupled with great animation, mood and characters, this is one of the stand out episodes of the entire series. While I can’t recommend you just this episode, as it’s full of history that you’d need have seen past seasons to understand, it is a great episode to watch over and over again.

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