Aunt Kate Clayton: "Do me a favor. If you want to leave, just…um…open the window."

My apologies dear readers for taking a few extra days to get this review before you. After viewing this week's episode of "Tarzan," I was able to travel to see the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that was imprinted on St. Juan Diego's tilma when he went to the bishop of what was then the Mexico City area to request that a church honoring the Virgin be built in the area. The image is that of a praying Aztec woman in a family way. Then I was able to go visit my family and listen to the Smart family of Salt Lake City, Utah talk about the abduction of their daughter by a man trying to make her a new part of his family. All-in-all, it has been a week filled with family themes. This is true for this third episode of the WB's "Tarzan," also.

The producers, writers and directors did a nice job of matching themes and shots in this episode. The unfolding story of John Clayton, Jr. trying to re-integrate into New York City following his loss and later abduction by his uncle while introducing his TV career as a crime fighter in the Big Apple worked well in this episode. Those mentioned earlier accomplished with the theme of family love and loss woven through John's story and the story of an adducted child (who John finds). The child Jason's mother is broken up about Jason's abduction and so reluctantly allows Jane to use Jason's teddy bear to help John/Tarzan find Jason's scent. She makes Jane promise to bring the bear back to her as it is her best reminder of Jason. As Jason is being sought, John leaves his Aunt Kate's house three times only to return the third time to discover his childhood teddy bear that Kate could not part with since it, like Jason's teddy, carried John's spirit. Tarzan/John and young Jason are finally paired as similar persona in the final act when John gets Jason to tell him about the teddy bear. The teddy has a name from when it belonged to his mother, but Jason has given the bear a new name to which John comments "He has two name, like me." In the delivery of that one line as John smiled at the rescued kidnap victim, I started to see star Travis Fimmel as the hero Tarzan was written to be by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Later he becomes merely human when, regarding the loss of Jane's boyfriend Michael, he tells Jane: "But I couldn't save him."

This episode had a lot of story to tell which was successfully accomplished by matching shots during the same piece of music. One moment that illustrated the matched shots that I mean took place in the beginning when Jane watched Michael's coffin being carried from the church to the waiting hearse. To the viewer who has seen all the episodes of the series to date, this was obviously the funeral for Jane's boyfriend Michael. As Jane stood stoically surrounded by her younger sister and partner, Tarzan watched from afar off rooftop while mournful bagpipes played "Amazing grace." With his feral hearing, Tarzan was able to hear two Greystoke commandos planning to capture Jane in order to capture Tarzan. With the pipes playing in the background, he attacks the commandos knocking them to the ground. As John puts down the last commando telling him "Leave her alone" we see and hear the back door of the hearse slammed shut after the coffin has been tucked into it for the ride to the cemetery. Another example of matching shots occurred when while Jane explained to her partner Sam about Michael's death and that John Clayton is still alive, music plays, and we see John/Tarzan hunting for lost Jason throughout New York City. We never actually hear the explanation. If we have been watching the series we don't need to hear it. We need only remember that it is about a lost and hurting man willing to help others. In addition, listening to Jane re-tell the story would have taken too much screen time and we would have missed out on some good story. So I liked this matched shot.

As always, the sets, props, and costumes fit the scenes perfectly. The fight scenes were magnificent. The show creators have given their version of Tarzan a sort of primate Kung-fu style of fighting that cannot be easy to perform unless one is in very good condition. I was glad to see that they have started to give credit to the stunt performers in the show. I appreciated the way the characters grew in this episode. We learned more about them, they learned more about each other, and most importantly for any story, they learned about themselves.

As always, or so it seems, I enjoyed Lucy Lawless' work as Aunt Kate Clayton. (Half the time Ms. Lawless is listed as one of the stars of the series at this site while the other half of the time she isn't. I wonder why that is? If Johnny Messner, whose character died at the end of the second episode, can be listed as a series star, why is someone who has regular screen time and is listed in the opening credits removed from the list of series stars?) Her screen time was increased over last week, though compared to Mr. Fimmel and Ms. Callies her appearance was minimal. I like her subtle facial expressions and turn of a phrase. It makes a simple scene much more interesting. In terms of the story, I found it interesting that when Aunt Kate and John are in a room together she does most if not all of the talking. At the end of this episode Kate asked John if he would stay at her house. He is about to say something when the scene is cut. We will see IF there is a response, but the way things have been done so for make me wonder about all the stories he could tell her about while he was lost in the Congo. These tactics have hooked this viewer.

I thought the writers and story editors did well working the police story into the ongoing story of self discovery. One thing, one very minor point, I wondered about in the investigation was when the kidnapper emailed the family that he knew police were watching so the boy would be killed, why didn't they track the source of the email? If I, a lowly Internet TV reviewer, can do that, surely the police must have that skill!

I am starting to appreciate the presence of Jane's sister, Ncki, and her partner, Sam, on the police force. I see them as making the stories grow and giving the character of Jane a way to vent (so we get to know her better). Nicki also added to theme of "family" that was so prevalent in this episode. Though Jane and John are in the stages of getting to know each other meaning there is a natural awkwardness we should expect, I really thought Sarah Wayne Callie's skills as an actress improved when she shared scenes with Mitch Pileggi (Uncle Richard Clayton). The character got angry and we saw a lot of emotion in Ms. Callies. As I noted last week, she carries the bulk of the episodes even though she is new to television work. Ms. Callies is trained as a stage actress (per publicity). On the stage, one is taught to use grander gestures and not rely on facial expressions to let the audience know how your character is feeling. On television, and in the movies, one has to use smaller gestures and more facial expression to portray feeling, emotion, and meaning. Right now, since Ms. Callies has decreased facial expression, it seems that Jane does not have a great deal of emotion, or at least changes in her emotions. She always seems to be consternated. Even people under a great deal of stress change the way they look throughout the day just to keep their facial muscles from cramping up. I think Ms. Callies is a fine actress and that she will learn this skill, though. So I will happily continue to watch Tarzan and recommend that you do, too.

I give the episode "Wages of Sin" 9 out of a possible 10 skyscraper jungles for an excellent story created by matching themes and pairing acting newcomers with performance powerhouses.

Taram (TVtome.com)