Hello and welcome to another dorky review of IM!
Uh...is it me, or did THIS week feel like the real season premier? What with all the new stuff, I’m tempted to stick Legends back in Season 1!
Anyway on with the review. As always this contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for The Camp, all ideas are my own, none stolen from others, and my only summer camp experience was at a music camp. Mine was much more fun then either this camp or Darien’s experience!
The New Stuff: Since this week was full of all kinds of new goodies, I figured it deserved it’s own little section.
-New Music: I’m gonna hold off on the new theme song, mostly because I loved the old one so much that I hate the new one right now just ‘cause it’s not the old one. (follow that? :-) ) So give me time to get over it and I’ll feel better. However the rest of the background music was excellent this eppy! I especially loved the Psycho String Quartet music...reminded me a bit of the violin music from ‘Brimstone’.
-New Opening Sequence: I like it! It’s much more fun to watch then the last one, very slick, and included loads of fun pictures! The slightly changed voice over at the beginning finally corrects what I’ve been griping about since Catevari ("My BROTHER and some scientists..."), and they added Mike to the lineup!! WO HO!
-New Agent: Alex Monroe, a well connected, hyper-wonderful agent with a permanent smirk on her face. She annoys me right now only because this whole case could have happened without her, but the jury is still out on if I do like her or not.
The Good:
-For quotes this week we get Princess Diana, Woody Allen, the old Army motto, and the poet Kahlil Gibran. I love how eclectic these always are!
-Darien and Hobbes are invariably having the most interesting conversations when they come walking in somewhere. This week apparently they’re discussing the chicks from Gilligans Island. Mrs. Howel?!
-I loved the look on Darien and Hobbes’ faces when they find out the Agency has been moved, "Again?"
-So was Eberts grinning because Alex invaded his personal space, or because all the taxes were taken care of? :-)
-Hobbes entrance into Alex’s new office was a blast! From his cut off sentence when he see’s the place all the way to his rational for how Alex has her power, "I just wana know one thing. Who do you have pictures of and what are they doing in said pictures?"
-"Someone’s gonna have to translate, I don’t speak Spy-ese."
-I love how every time the Official and Eberts bring up one of Alex’s talents Hobbes talks about his own experience with such work. Especially with seducing the Russian redhead just to have a little fun!
-"Have you ever heard ‘if it looks too good to be true it probably
is’?"
"Yea. Free-be!"
"Free-be."
"No money."
-Great Scene 1: The gang gathers around Alex’s high powered computer set up to discuss the case they’re going on. Claire talks about her financial woes and longs for the same setup, Alex doles out computers, Hobbes cracks the case in two seconds by asking the right question, and Darien jokes about sperm doctors getting frequent flyer miles. Everyone's off on their own tangents, and yet still manage to pull together to get a lead. A fun little scene to watch.
-Ah, so acting skills do come in handy when you want to cover up the fact that you’re very impressed by the invisible man!
-I must say the new camera angles are very cool, especially the moving shots of Darien going invisible are just really fun to watch!
-Great Scene 2: Darien discovers all kinds of wonderful things he never wanted to know about, as Hobbes and Alex completely fail to portray an infertile married couple. I do wonder why Hobbes and Alex didn’t confer beforehand on some of the important parts of this charade the Doc was gonna ask about.
-Great Scene 3: Darien and Hobbes discuss the sexual orientation of Bert and Ernie. Screw the Teletubies, THERE is the real original children’s gay character
-"Hobbes, they’re puppets."
"That’s what they said about Regan."
-I really liked the moving shot down the hospital hall, showing Darien, Hobbes and Monroe waiting as time passes. A neat way to show them hanging around.
-Darien, on the hat with the turtle, "Do you have another option, because this isn’t very cool." Darien, you’re not one to talk about cool clothes, OK? Although I will admit he did look very nice this entire eppy.
-Darien looks so upset when he first walks into that huge Baby Warehouse. Like he’s torn between running away, going after the bastards who did this, and grabbing as many kids as he can and making a break for it.
-I love how Hobbes handles Monroe when she wants to go storm the castle. No pity, just the hard facts on what she really needs to do and getting her to think with her head instead of her heart.
-Great Scene 4: Possibly the shortest scene ever, Darien runs in to get a booster and info from Claire who is trying to fix a broken light in the fridge. The camera pans through the fridge to follow them as Darien slides onto the chair for his shot, and then he’s gone so fast he leaves Claire almost in shock trying to catch up. It's compact, wonderfully arranged, directed and acted, and a ton of fun!
-So the Official looks all disgusted at Monroe’s new office...and yet does enjoy a nibble on her grass.
-"Sometimes, very rarely but on occasion, my partner is a genius."
-I loved the confrontation between Darien and Stark. These two have a fun mutual understanding/hatred of each other, and Stark has every right to be wary when they butt heads since so far Darien’s won just about every round. Darien shows he’s much more comfy with a gun, at least willing to bluff with it (even if he says he isn’t bluffing) and does some very fancy negotiating to get the kids out. Stark even shows a moment of his human side when he talks about how his own child is at the camp.
The Bad:
-Lets talk Monroe motivation here. She says she pulled strings to get the Agency ‘cause she needed them to investigate HER case involving the stolen babies, one being her own. Now was this supposed to be a temporary or permanent transfer? She moves in very quickly to a new office, and goes through a lot of work to get herself settled into the Agency, yet at the end of the show she says she’ll stick around if they’re still gonna work on Chrysalis. Plus we know that if Claire found her baby she’d probably be taking time off to raise the kid, or at least go back to her old job (whatever that was). So was this a temp job or was she planning on staying no matter what?
-I don’t like how Monroe "plays" with Darien and Hobbes and neither can really resist. Especially Hobbes, who should know better! They both know she’s skilled at both acting and this seduction thing...they should be more on guard about that kind of crap!
-I hate it when characters do stupid things simply for a plot point. Like how the Official, Hobbes and dozens of FBI agents let Monroe storm the camp even though she was putting the whole operation and Darien’s life on the line...and then even though she’s supposed to be this amazing agent she trips the alarm before reaching the camp. All of this happened ONLY so that Stark would be convinced Darien wasn’t bluffing and would give in to his demands. They could have been smart...everyone could listen in on Stark and Darien talking ‘cause Darien left the hat out. They should have heard the conversation and then gone in and purposefully tripped the alarm so Stark would think they were coming...so the outcome could be the same.
The Crap Count:
-"...what I’ve come to know as the crapiest Agency in the intelligence world." Darien, his opinion on the Agency.
The Nitpicky:
-What was the nurse at the beginning listening for with the parents? She didn’t need to check that closely that they were asleep...if anything getting that close would wake them up!
-Robert A Hobbes...I’m with Darien, what’s the A for?
-Hobbes tells Monroe not to expect an office, that all they get is a desk. Wait...Hobbes HAS an office, we’ve seen it before!
-"Hey Batman."
"Yea, Robin?"
...uh, Holy Sperm Bank Batman!
-So was Darien actually gonna fight back against the kidnappers, or was he just there as a punching bag so Alex could sneak up behind them?
-Did you ever notice how smoothly Darien walks when we’re in quicksilver vision? Almost like a Steady Cam... :-)
-So Darien jumps in the chair and Claire grabs the needle to give him the shot...and it goes in SIDEWAYS! Yes folks, Darien just got his counteragent in the muscle, not the vein! Eeewww...
-Darien leaves the lab quickly so he doesn’t have to explain anything to Claire, and he runs out so fast he leaves his coat on the side of the lab chair. But in the next scene he has it again. Whoops...
-Take a close look at all the counselors, Stark, and his men. They all have that tiny gold DNA pin representing Chrysalis.
-Why is it female agents never wear sensible shoes when out on a case? First Scully, now Monroe with those heels! I wouldn’t wear those heels to a party, none the less running through the woods!
"Bobby’s got some fish that can swim...upstream!"
-Hobbes
