T.V. Show Review: Relic Hunter and Feminism Gone Awry A Little

I've been watching Relic Hunter. No surprise there because of my title. For those who don't know, which is probably most of you, Relic Hunter was a TV show running from 1999-2002. It starred Tia Carrera as a female Indiana Jones named Sydney Fox. She is even an archaeology professor at a college.

She rarely teaches anything, never sees students, and goes on wild adventures along with her trusty assistant Nigel, an English guy who speaks a dozen languages and has several degrees - not that we see much evidence of this. He's played by a handsome Christien Anholt. There are four things that happen in every episode... 1. They go off on an adventure in a foreign land, leaving behind all their classes and work at the university and also leaving behind the ditzy receptionist Claudia, who spends their away time, filing her nails, flirting with men, and planning her next party. She's kind of a teenage Mrs. Wiggins from The Carol Burnett Show. It's never explained why the university continues to pay Sydney for not teaching classes, seeing students, or marking papers. Or why she needs an assistant AND her own receptionist.

Carol Burnett as Mrs. Wiggins

2. There are always bad guys chasing them. For some reason, whatever relic they're looking for has bad guys attached, even though the relic has been lost for hundreds or thousands of years; suddenly, EVERYONE wants it.

3. For some reason, there's always a reason for Sydney to take off her clothes. She's changing clothes, or she's undercover, or she's at the beach, or there's a farce going on about showers and hotel rooms with Nigel (no, they're not together that way).

4. There's always at least one fight scene. Usually more. And this is what I want to talk about.

It's really great that Sydney can take care of herself. She's trained in the martial arts, and she's always able to handle several bad guys coming at her. Girl power! Right? I'm cool with that. They even sometimes break the Hollywood rule that only one bad guy at a time can attack while the others stand around and wait their turn. The problem isn't about writing Sydney this way. The problem is in writing Nigel to be completely useless. So yeah, the Nigel character - who, by the way, is a good-looking and fit young man - is far more brains than brawn (although we don't really get to see a lot of the brains either). Now, I get that when he first appears at Sydney's door, having been hired to be an assistant to a history professor, that he probably didn't figure he would need to be a superhero, do Chuck Norris moves, and be an escape artist. Especially if it wasn't in the job description. But you would think that after a couple of adventures where he is constantly rescued from death by the capable Sydney, he would decide to either quit the job, or up his game and get into some fighting sports - at least to hold his own. But he doesn't do that. No working out at the gym. No signing up for karate or jiu-jitsu or even tai chi. He just remains incompetent throughout the entire first season. I just started the second so I don't know how that goes. I did see him hit someone with a shovel, so that's promising. I get that the writers, directors, and producers were going for the laughs - the juxtaposition of a woman who can whip everyone's butt while the man cowers in the corner, and that they wanted to showcase a strong and competent woman. But here's the thing - a strong, competent woman isn't diminished by a strong, competent man. She doesn't become lesser if he's able to take care of himself. And I think that's where they made their mistake (aside from always undressing the gorgeous Tia). Making Nigel perpetually wimpy doesn't make her better. It just makes what could be a great character annoying. Yes, she's the star of the show. She's the Relic Hunter. But she's strong enough to be able to not be overshadowed by someone who matches her intellectual abilities and can hold his own physically, even if he's not as well trained as she is and is just learning.

Women don't need dumb downed men in order to shine.