As always, the premise is an interesting one - a man who with a little concentration can change his face at will seeks to play different parties by impersonating other people but gets himself into a tangle. I liked the opening narration establishing Arch Hammer as a man with a cheap nature; I think I was more interested in seeing him get his comeuppance than I was in the cleverness of his scheme. The episode relied three times on the same trick, having Hammer pursued by an angry party only to have the situation defused when he changes his face - cue a confused mook walking away, shaking his head.
This is entertaining enough not to outstay its welcome over twenty-five minutes - I particularly enjoyed the revolving door variation. Seeing exactly how Hammer is brought down feels a little contrived, unfortunately. It's difficult to see how else things could have been resolved given the time frame, but how likely is it that a newspaper seller on the street is the bitter father of a man on a boxing poster? Still, it wraps things up fairly neatly in the end. Spare a thought for Johnny Foster's poor girlfriend, waiting at the station for nothing.
Review by DeletedBlockedParentSpoilers2015-10-12T15:06:49Z
As always, the premise is an interesting one - a man who with a little concentration can change his face at will seeks to play different parties by impersonating other people but gets himself into a tangle. I liked the opening narration establishing Arch Hammer as a man with a cheap nature; I think I was more interested in seeing him get his comeuppance than I was in the cleverness of his scheme. The episode relied three times on the same trick, having Hammer pursued by an angry party only to have the situation defused when he changes his face - cue a confused mook walking away, shaking his head.
This is entertaining enough not to outstay its welcome over twenty-five minutes - I particularly enjoyed the revolving door variation. Seeing exactly how Hammer is brought down feels a little contrived, unfortunately. It's difficult to see how else things could have been resolved given the time frame, but how likely is it that a newspaper seller on the street is the bitter father of a man on a boxing poster? Still, it wraps things up fairly neatly in the end. Spare a thought for Johnny Foster's poor girlfriend, waiting at the station for nothing.