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My Own Worst Enemy
SERIES: NBC, Monday 10:00p (60 minutes)


8.7

based on 25 reviews
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based on 20 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring Christian Slater, Mike O'Malley, Saffron Burrows, Alfre Woodard, and Madchen Amick

Harry lives the stereotypical suburban life, but he also is Edward, a trained spy. The worlds start to merge as the carefully constructed wall between the two breaks down.

GENRE(S):	Action / Adventure, Drama
CREATED BY:	Jason Smilovic
FIRST AIR DATE:	October 13, 2008

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Newsday Verne Gay

Far, far, far and away NBC's best new pilot of the season and one of the best new shows of the season, on any network -- commercial or cable.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

My Own Worst Enemy is by far the best drama of the fall season, a bold and brainy spy thriller that practices a sort of armed existentialism.

New York Post Linda Stasi

The action is pretty non-stop, the stars terrific and, if you're willing to do the work to follow the complicated plot, the show can be lots of fun.

Chicago Sun-Times Andrew Herrmann

If you can buy into the fantasy, Slater delivers on his part of the deal, playing both characters with just enough unique quirks so viewers can tell them apart. Usually.

Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart

Surprise! It’s not nearly as bad as I thought.

Hollywood Reporter Ray Richmond

My Own Worst Enemy holds our interest despite its utter preposterousness because if there is anything Slater knows how to do, it's present a believable head case.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

My Own Worst Enemy sets up what could be an overly complicated premise and miraculously makes it all seem perfectly acceptable and clear by the end of the first hour.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

Worst Enemy has a convoluted premise that is cleverly wrought and holds up well, and Mr. Slater does a remarkable job of only subtly signaling each personality

Los Angeles Times Mary McNamara

[Christian] is in rare form here. Which is a good thing since the show's success or failure rests solely on his dramatic agility and general appeal.

Salon Heather Havrilesky

While you do have to wonder where the show will go from here, since it has the plot of a two-hour movie, not a 20-hour series, it has the benefit of being far more original and unpredictable than 90 percent of the new shows to hit the airwaves this fall.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

The show’s biotechnological twist on the double life of spies--or any superhero/alter ego construct--certainly satisfies the popcorn-thriller needs of My Own Worst Enemy, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as thematically resonant as it was.

New York Magazine John Leonard

Slater, whose career has gone pretty much downhill since "Heathers" (1989) and "Pump Up the Volume" (1990), is surprisingly perfect as both of them, adjusting not much more than the brow of an eye, the curl of a lip, and the hiss of a sibilant to indicate the seismic shift from James Bond to Willy Loman.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

The first episode of Enemy ended up being a relatively compelling hour of television. As competent as it is, though, it’s hard not to think that the premise contains some holes.

Variety Brian Lowry

The pilot gingerly lays out most of the elements My Own Worst Enemy will need to survive--leaving it to the show to either make its strange case or live down to its name.

PopMatters Marisa LaScala

My Own Worst Enemy looks like it’s been assembled from the leftovers of other pop-culture heavyweights.

Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker

Slater plays out spy-story clichés that were campy on "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." 40 years ago.

Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray

It's a subject that was explored more deeply, and even a touch more believably, in BBC America's "Jekyll," a nail-biter of an update in which James Nesbitt inhabited both personalities so completely they barely even looked alike. Slater, by contrast, just seems like a guy in need of a good night's sleep.

Slate Troy Patterson

The show's success may depend on whether the public's fascination with Slater trumps its collective attention-deficit disorders.

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

Bad, then decent, then confusing. That's not exactly the trajectory you're looking for in a pilot.

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

The two halves don't add up to an engrossing whole. The show's worst enemy? The perplexing, cynical writing.

TV Guide Matt Roush

Reminiscent at times of "The Bourne Identity" or "Face/Off," to name a few movie influences it does not improve upon, the beyond-high-concept Enemy asks us to believe Christian Slater as a cold-blooded assassin named Edward who doubles, when a switch in his brain is flipped, as a milquetoast family man named Henry.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

My Own Worst Enemy's worst enemy is all the murky mumbo-jumbo mechanics the writers have introduced to support their stupid split-personality thesis.

USA Today Robert Bianco

You might be able to forgive the sloppiness of the premise if something else in the episode worked, but it's all a contrived, derivative mess.

Washington Post Tom Shales

My Own Worst Enemy can be recommended only to people who can imagine themselves saying, "I'm in the mood for a mediocre version of a fairly good spy movie."

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

There isn't a series here; just the pitch meeting for a very expensive, very loud, very dopey action movie.

The average user rating for this tv show is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Barry P. gave it a10:
fantastic premise. It grows on you. You have to see the development of Slater's characters hate for himself. It is such a study in contrasts, and Slater does a terrific job of jumping from persona to persona.

Pratik S. gave it a10:
The series has serious potential,.. And the actor is world class in terms of performance. He really lives his Dual lives well !! I'm gonna take my chances for now. Also fo me the show is a full 10/10.

David H gave it a5:
I had high hopes and even set up the DVR to record all new episodes. However, after just one episode (think it was the second one), the wife and i were less than impressed. I do like Slater but found the plot and the characters to be a bit tired and cliche.

Mike N. gave it an8:
Pretty good pilot. Nice sinister turn by Mike O'Malley as a schizoid coworker of the hero. Slater is excellent, making both sides of his character believable, but it is hard to see how they can make much of a series out of this premise. If Slater starts sending himself messages every episode, this will get old in a hurry. But it is definitely worth checking back to see what ideas the writers can come up with.

Melissa W. gave it a9:
The show was fast paced and is geared toward the intellectual TV watcher. I loved it. My only concern is the 'why' factor. How is this dual personality a necessity or a benefit??

Mark W. gave it a10:
As of the first episode it shows great potential and I will defiantly be watching next week. It keeps you interested with a good helping of action and intriguing plot twist. 'My Own Worst Enemy' reminds me of the great movie 'Memento', in the fact that Edward Albright/Henry Spivey (Christian Slater) is leaving himself messages to help both parts of him stay alive and find answers. If the show keeps up with its current pace it will undoubtedly on of the best new show this year.

My Own Worst Enemy SERIES: NBC, Monday 10:00p (60 minutes)

My Own Worst Enemy
SERIES: NBC, Monday 10:00p (60 minutes)