Vanity's Mirror" isn't bad, and it presents a distaff view of "Cupid's". But that and the ending where the trio don't recover the compact, isn't enough to make this a "great" episode. It's okay at best, and Ingrid Veninger as Helen is a lot more sympathetic than Eddie in "Cupid". The problem is that she turns into a sadistic killer way too easily. Yes, she has reasons, which make her a better character than Eddie. But the gender 180 means the episode isn't that good. It's not bad, just not good. "Mediocre" sums it up .
It also doesn't help that the episode plods along. It takes forever for Micki and Jack to find Ryan. Who is put into danger, rather than falling under the compact's love spell. The time would have been better spent exploring the relationship between the sisters. Helen's jealousy of her much-better-looking sister is again, understandable. And Joanne's trying-to-help attitude toward her ugly-duckling younger sister: Joanne seems happy that Helen is going out on a date. But Helen wanting to see Joanne dead is a bit much. That level of animosity isn't built up enough.
That lack of build-up shows throughout. Like Jack saying at the end "Why did this one seem so hard?" There's no real reason shown or given. Yes, it has a vaguely sympathetic female villain instead of a diabolical bad guy, but that's it. The trio never interacted much with Helen, so they wouldn't know how sympathetic she was. Even if Helen was, which she wasn't really. She tried to kill her sister on her own, not because of the compact's spell. At that point, all the acting in the world from Veninger doesn't make Helen any more sympathetic.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
It also doesn't help that the episode plods along. It takes forever for Micki and Jack to find Ryan. Who is put into danger, rather than falling under the compact's love spell. The time would have been better spent exploring the relationship between the sisters. Helen's jealousy of her much-better-looking sister is again, understandable. And Joanne's trying-to-help attitude toward her ugly-duckling younger sister: Joanne seems happy that Helen is going out on a date. But Helen wanting to see Joanne dead is a bit much. That level of animosity isn't built up enough.
That lack of build-up shows throughout. Like Jack saying at the end "Why did this one seem so hard?" There's no real reason shown or given. Yes, it has a vaguely sympathetic female villain instead of a diabolical bad guy, but that's it. The trio never interacted much with Helen, so they wouldn't know how sympathetic she was. Even if Helen was, which she wasn't really. She tried to kill her sister on her own, not because of the compact's spell. At that point, all the acting in the world from Veninger doesn't make Helen any more sympathetic.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?