Ahhh, That's Good Story...
I have recently come across a copy of the complete series (granted, only thirteen episodes) of Brimstone. Considering it aired in 1998, I thought it might be nice to give it a run-through for nostalgia's sake, and then continue in my neverending quest to find the unaired episode of Jeremy Piven's Cupid (also canceled in 1998. It was a VERY hard year for me, especially considering Charmed then went on for another eight seasons. These two shows were actually the first two victims of the "Lynnsey-Destroys-All-The-Shows-She-Watches-By-Inadvertantly-Getting-Them-Canceled-Whilst-Hated-Shows-Flourish." Aka "Oh you've GOT to be KIDDING me!?!")
But my search will have to wait, because I am very pleasantly surprised at how much enjoyment I am getting out of rewatching this series. Quick round up of the plot, by lieu of the opening voice-over.
Ezekiel Stone: I was a cop. When my wife was raped, I caught the guy who did it, and I killed him. Two months later, I died. I went to Hell. A hundred and thirteen of the most vile creatures... escaped.
The Devil: They think they'll beat the Devil. Nobody beats me!
Ezekiel Stone: So how am I supposed to send them back?
The Devil: The eyes: windows to the soul. Destroy the eyes, and the damned get a one-way ticket back home to Hell. But it's not Hell you should be scared of. It's losing your second chance at life on Earth!
Ezekiel Stone: Time to give the Devil his due!
Erm...yeah, there was a lot of puns like the last line. However, there was also some very interesting takes on "the damned." Sure, you got your occasional folks that liked to drain the blood of virgins to compose tributary poems (like I'm sure we've all done before). But most of the time the folks were people who (on the surface, although only rarely when you scratched deeply enough) were just people screwed because of a set of seemingly arbitrary biblical rules. And the show was not afraid to make the damned understandable in order to make the Hero seem righteous. He often argued about who should be sent back, and had to plead for understanding with at least one soul before they were dispatched.
Now I'm making it sound all deep, when really, I was watching for the funny writing ;) I mean, take a look at some of these lines!
The Devil: I have always advocated family values, all the way back to Cain and Abel.
[Stone brushes his teeth]
The Devil: Four out of five dentists surveyed agree, tooth decay is no longer a problem... once you're dead.
The Devil: You don't have any friends, Ezekial. You're not only really dead, you're really most sincerely dead.
Ezekiel Stone: Isn't that from "The Wizard of Oz"?
The Devil: I HATE that movie.
Ezekiel Stone: You loved her, didn't you?
The Devil: I never loved anyone but God. And that was a long time ago.
What I'm basically saying is that thirteen episodes is not enough, so if we could get back on the horse for restarting the series up, that would be great.
In fact, let's also get cracking on Cupid, Profit, Farscape, Firefly, Undergrads, Clone High, Dead Like Me, Maximum Bob, and possibly Gargoyles.
*!chop-chop!*
Seeya, Space Cowboys!