Russell Wong . Oh, my, my, oh, my.

Unless they meant him to be boring and then selfish and petulant -- in which case I think he did a bang up job.

Well, if Marc Blucas can act without being wooden in other parts, I think might be the only conclusion left to draw. If it's not a problem inherent to the actor, about the only thing left to assume is that he was directed in a particular manner.

I think might be the only conclusion left to draw.

Mmm. I don't see sufficient data here. Joss may very well look at the episodes and go "Damn, that's not how I meant it." It could be because he couldn't get into that character, or whatever. Or he got better.

We're certainly not down to just the one conclusion. There are a million out there.

I think Blucas has been pretty good in the comedic stuff he's done (Summer Catch, that hilarious turn that was the main redeeming feature of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back...) and wooden in all his more serious work. Why they abandoned his strengths to change his character into Clenchy McLockjaw, I'll never understand.

I think Blucas has been pretty good in the comedic stuff he's done (Summer Catch, that hilarious turn that was the main redeeming feature of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back...) and wooden in all his more serious work. Why they abandoned his strengths to change his character into Clenchy McLockjaw, I'll never understand.

This is going to bug me for a long time, unless someone is kind enough to remind me what MB did in J&SBSB. I remembers Dawson boy and the "Pie-f*cker", but I can't seem to place Riley in the scant version of the film that still plays in my head.

He was Fred during the Mystery Machine scene

Wolfram, he was Fred in the Scooby Doo scene.

X-posty. Though I white-fonted because everyone was being so vague. Guess I didn't need to.

Thanks guys. There he is. Apparently I have more Marc Blucas in my brain than I was previously aware of.

My sources told me he was supposed to be more laconic-but-amused-and-thinking-interesting-deep-thoughts (kinda like a more macho Oz) but that Blucas coudn't get there and by the time they figured it out it was too late to remake the character, so he went from deep and bemused to, well, serious and wooden. I don't think he's a bad actor--the speed of weekly TV production where the hours are long and there almost no rehearsal can be very tough on a lot of actors.

The thing is though, we saw him get there for several early episodes of Season 4. If he'd always been a cigar store Indian it would be understandable, but he was inhabiting an engaging character that suddenly got replaced by a cardboard cut-out.