It didn’t take long for the show’s title to make sense. In the premiere of My Own Worst Enemy, regular guy Henry is just beginning to come to terms with the the existence of his alter ego Edward, or more specifically, that he himself is Edward’s alter ego. But the split personalities have to keep peace between themselves to survive. This precarious truce comes unraveled by the end of the second episode.
Henry is suddenly faced with the wrongness of his job as he’s forced to make Jack Bauer look like the head of Amnesty International. In the show’s reality, torture is just one of those ugly things the government needs to do to keep people safe. At least in this show, unlike 24, there’s someone to question the ends justifying the means. But there’s little he can do to stop it. And when he digs deeper into his past, things turn nastier.
It’s no longer cool Bond Christian Slater and white collar Joe Christian Slater. Edward is more Heathers-era sociopath, making Henry’s life spin out of control. It’s not about catching the terrorists, though they do. It’s not about waking up to find oneself in dangerous situations in Russia or London, though he does. My Own Worst Enemy is about one man, seeing his wife, his friends, his children all in the hands of a trained, remorseless killer—himself. The nightmare is not his life. It’s what he’s sleeping through.