we ran out of limes, you shot the waiter

I love Nathan Fillion, I do. But I just finished downloading the unaired pilot of Drive, and I must say this:

Squee! Ivan Sergei! I love you Ivan!



And what makes the unaired pilot even more squee-worthy? Why, the appearance of Nicholas Lea, of course. All we need now is Sandrine Holt to play Ivan Sergei's missing wife (she wasn't), and I'm in Once A Thief heaven.



I mean, I loved Once A Thief. It was funny, it was action-packed, it was wonderful. I hate that I didn't have a VCR back when it aired, because good lord it was... kinda awesome.

Sure, at the time Nicholas Lea was already Alex Krycek to me, and I heart Agent Krycek. Even if he did plot for the downfall of Mulder.

But, yeah, for a show that had its title included the words "John Woo's" it wasn't just action all the time. It was really... good.

Yes, it's a remake of the original John Woo movie (hello, Chow Yun-Fat), and I'm sure some things got lost in translation, but this wasn't a bad show (as far as I recall, it was pretty great). Maybe it's my penchant for whip-smart dialogue. But it was funny, and the martial arts were pretty credible.

Besides, it introduced me to Ivan Sergei and Sandrine Holt. I admit there's the extra shot of happy knowing back then that they were a couple off-screen (not anymore, though), and Jennifer Dale was wicked cool as The Director.

Yes, I don't know what made Sandrine Holt go from the awesomeness of Li Ann Tsei to the blandness of Catherine on The L Word, but we'll always have Once A Thief. But at least Ivan Sergei can be counted on to be the supportive husband/boyfriend or adorable boytoy in any of his movies. And he was in Jack & Jill with Justin Kirk before Justin Kirk was Uncle Andy.

I'm not sure if the series is available on DVD, but I know the movie is. If you can, you should watch it. As it is made of awesome (the scene where Mac and Vic try to steal the painting? Wicked cool).

Li Ann: The mistake was going to a party hosted by the people in Forensic Pathology.
Vic: I can see they have a very clear sense of just how much the human body can handle.
Mac: That would explain the punch.
Li Ann: I was pretty out of it. I didn't do anything, say anything that I should be ashamed of...?
Mac: We ran out of limes, you shot the waiter.
Vic: You declared it was justifiable homicide.
(Once A Thief)