Natasha tries to kill Edward, but he ends up taking her out instead. With no line on Uzi or the marbles, Edward goes back to the Janus Headquarters. His boss, Mavis Heller (Woodard), isn't happy that they've lost their only connection to Uzi.

Edward heads off to sleep, but sleep has a different meaning in his world. When Edward isn't a tough secret agent who can speak 13 languages, run a four-minute mile and kill a man with his teeth, he's Henry Spivey (Slater), an efficiency expert who drives a minivan and lives in the suburbs with his wife Angie (Amick) and their two kids. Edward knows about Henry, but Henry doesn't know about his alter ego or that he was only created by Janus out of Edward's mind as a cover.

Back at his job at AJ Sun Consulting (a front for the Janus Headquarters), Henry visits the company shrink and tells her about a dream he's had—that he was in Paris at a hotel with a beautiful woman. The problem is that his dream somehow produced an all-too-real matchbook with the name of the Paris hotel at which he stayed.

At home in bed reading a book, Henry suddenly becomes Edward. Something's very wrong. While the Janus technician in charge looks into the glitch, Edward is sent to Russia to assassinate Uzi and get the marbles. Edward watches Uzi arrive through the scope on his sniper's rifle, but the hit is called off. Unfortunately, Henry wakes up and freaks out. The gun goes off and all hell breaks loose.

As Mavis and the company techs try to figure out what's going on and how to fix it, Henry begins to learn far more than he wants to about the other side of his government-manufactured split personality, while Edward takes steps to insure his own survival.

Slater times two

Christian Slater finally makes it to television in a role that offers us not one but two sides of the versatile actor in NBC's spy series My Own Worst Enemy. The unique setup allows the producers to focus both on the spy portion of Edward and on the family part of Henry, to create two very different worlds and the characters who live in them. The question of duality pops up in how the cold Edward reacts to the family life and how the soft Henry reacts in the spy world. By the time the premiere, "Breakdown," ends, there are many questions left to be answered and plenty of possibilities for both Henry and Edward to explore.

The episode is fast-paced and the characters are well drawn and distinct. The family scenes are especially well done, although there aren't enough of them. And while we've seen Edward spy guy before in different incarnations, played by different actors, the Henry character is actually the interesting one, and he adds balance and complexity to the show. In the end, if Edward had to just fit in with Henry's world, he could do it. But watching Henry fit into Edward's spy world, that's the fun part.

Slater does a terrific job with both characters, and the Henry/Edward role suits him as an actor. Alfre Woodard comes off as tough and mysterious, and it's great to see this great actress on television again in a regular role. Everyone else does their job well, but this is Slater's show.

While "Breakdown" works overall, the introduction is difficult to follow as we try to figure out where we are, who Natasha and Uzi are and what the "marbles" case contains. It feels like stock spy stuff that doesn't have any real meaning for us or this world in general.

And the overall concept is difficult to grasp. Why would Janus give its spies remote-controlled split personalities? What's the purpose, and what's the point of letting them build complete lives? In theory, according to the producers, if the spies get captured, their spy personality can be switched off and they won't spill company secrets. It doesn't seem like a very practical (or cost-effective) way to control a spy. Beyond that, who signs up for that gig? The vague explanation Mavis gives about Edward makes no sense at all.

However, once you get past the standard spy stuff and the odd concept, you have two Christian Slaters in an action-packed family drama/spy adventure. And that makes My Own Worst Enemy one of the shows to watch this fall.