Hi everyone!
This review is a bit late since yours truly was out on audition #7. Made the sub-list this time! Yea! I got a job!
Anyway enough about me, on to my review of Cat and Mouse! Of course this contains HUGE HONKIN’ SPOILERS for that eppy, and as always all ideas are my own. I haven’t had time to check my e-mail or the BBoard yet, none the less steal thoughts, so if we said the same thing then get out of my head dude! :-)
"Man, if that gland was in my head, there’s *nothing* I wouldn’t do!" -Bobby Hobbes, The Devil You Know
Overall:
From day one Hobbes has wanted the gland for many reasons. The way it makes Darien special, the extra pay, the cool stuff he can do...to Hobbes it’s always been the quick and easy way to finally get the credit he deserves. After TOIM we know he’s at least a bit upset at not even being considered as a test subject, in TVOS he argues with Darien to accept the gland and enjoy the benefits, and his "unworthiness" is thrown in his face again at the end of CaM. But by then Hobbes has discovered what Darien has been warning him all along...there’s more to the gland then all the good that can come from it.
Of course Hobbes doesn’t get to experience the big fear in Darien’s life...going insane. But I think he’s learned enough that he may not be so quick in the future to knock Darien down when his partner is complaining about the gland. He’s followed around, hunted, has some mixed feelings about going invisible, and when captured not only gets a glimpse of some of the nasty instruments Darien will have to deal with a few minutes later, but the feeling of being treated like an object...a lab rat. The only time I hear fear or desperation in Hobbes’ voice is when he’s strapped to that medical table and no one even looks at him when he’s yelling questions. Hobbes just got a chance to walk an episode in Darien’s sneakers, and it’ll be interesting to see what changes that may cause.
The Good:
-On the super-intelligent quote front, we get a 20th century photographer Manre (sp?) and a little later at the funeral Will Rogers.
-I’m kind of glad we didn’t get subtitles for the Chinese at the beginning...until the one sentence we needed to hear. It was obvious what was going on without the words.
-"3 days out of the week we can’t flush our toilets. Where would I get the funds for an invisible agent?" You know, this is a good question!
-So the Official doesn’t have the manpower to watch both Hobbes and Darien separately. Won’t it take more manpower to create this safety net they keep talking about? Is that why we never see it? :-)
-Great scene #1: Darien and Hobbes "hanging out". First at Darien’s place where we get treated to another round of banter between the two partners...then at Hobbes’ hangout, where the ladies are all over our favorite bi-polar agent and Darien (sorry dude) learns that perhaps Hobbes is right and his life could use some work. Who’s strategy makes more sense in the situation? I gotta agree with Darien, why make yourself an obvious target with no chance for help? And it is kind of hard to have a social life when your a lab rat.
-Darien is reading Philosophy Now when lounging at his apartment. Ah...so THERE’S where all those quotes come from!!
-...and then he’s blown off by the ladies who are all over Hobbes. OK, if working in textiles is that popular then I’m dropping the oboe right now! :-)
-The fight scene outside of the bar was great! Watch Darien and Hobbes hold their own against a whole group of cliché Chinese Thugs With Martial Arts Skills. And of course, Darien Fawkes does NOT bail on his partner!
-Poor Eberts. "He’s already invisible." ...look at the depressed, sad, rejected look on Eberts face when Charlie said that!! If you didn’t say "Awwww" then you just have no heart!
-Great Scene #2: Darien and Hobbes talk after the Official dismisses them the second time. It’s small consolation Darien gives to Hobbes, but hey it made the guy feel better...kinda. And of course Darien is happy he could help. "I’m glad...I think."
-"Sooner or later this whole thing ends up back on me, and I’m spread out on someone’s lab table." Uh, Darien? Are you having those fortune-telling dreams again? Should we go call Scarbrough? :-)
-If there’s a possibility of having something truly awful happen to you, then most people have this perverse need to know exactly what the gory details are. I’ve seen friends who have some real bad virus want to know the worse case, people going in for surgery want to know how bad things can get, people dying from some disease who need to know exactly what is going to happen to them...and now Darien needs to know from Claire exactly what would happen to him if captured.
-Fun little shake out cars..."I get to be my own airbag!"
-So as much as Hobbes get the willies every time he’s quicksilvered, it’s also obvious he enjoys being invisible and having that kind of special power.
-...and it was also obvious Hobbes was having way to much fun during the car chase. What with him wooping and yelling and "Here kitty kitty kitty." ...btw, Hobbes? You might want to know YOUR the mouse in that chase!
-I KNEW IT!! Ever since the Pilot when Hobbes said "You stand out like a Cossack at a Bar mitzvah!" I suspected he’s Jewish. Now if we can only get him to say Oy every so often...
-...the upshot of this being we get to see everyone in a yarmulke. *giggle*
-Darien’s fashion sense strikes again. At the funeral he’s decked out rather nicely in that dark suit...and white sneakers.
-"I’d like to suggest we retire that nickname in honor of Bobby." Sorry Fat Man, ain’t gonna happen! :-)
-I don’t know why, but I found it hysterical that Darien couldn’t remember his Will Rogers quote to start his speech at the funeral!
-Can you really blame Hobbes for wanting to attend his own funeral...found it hysterical he was almost as emotional as Claire was! And his tearful "Thanks partner!" after Darien’s speech was great!
-So after unsuccessfully hitting on the girl from the bar at the funeral, at least Darien gets a bit of action when he gets to console Claire who is just broken up. Watch him slip and arm around her shoulders as Hobbes gets dragged away by the bad guys.
-While I think Darien really thinks it’s awful Claire didn’t know Hobbes’ death was faked, I bet he’s gotta be secretly happy to get to keep a secret from HER for once!
-Claire Keeply and Roger Moore? So does Charlie wish he was James Bond or The Saint? :-)
-So when asked about the Fish and Game name, Charlie says "I’ll ask the President the next time I talk to him." At the time I assumed he was being sarcastic...until that last scene! Hmm...I think he may really have asked!
-Poor Darien looks so freaked when he’s caught by the Chinese...guess that little talk with Claire about what was going to happen to him was right there at the front of his mind...
-...and yet ya gotta admire both Darien and Hobbes. While both should be worried more about what’s going to happen to themselves, they are both really worried about each other! Darien come right out and asks "What are you gonna do with him?!", while Hobbes shows his concern in less then constructive advice "Don’t let them break you Fawkes!"
-I’m not surprised that, while being held, Hobbes would keep repeating almost a POW name, rank, serial number mantra to the guard outside his door.
-"You are such a wimp."
-When Charlie and Claire are arguing over the merits of the plan, it felt like two parents arguing over what to do about the children.
-Great Scene #3: Hobbes hangs around after Darien and Charlie leave to thank Claire for all the wonderful things she said and did at the funeral. While Claire tries to brush it off and almost lies about her acting, Hobbes is remarkably sincere and straightforward about the whole thing. He was really touched that someone that smart and beautiful would say those things about him. (Oy...I see dozens of Claire/Hobbes fic’s coming out of that scene!)
-As fun as it is to watch Darien and Hobbes react to each other...it’s just as much fun to watch Eberts and Charlie act as one person when they got to blow off Mr. CIA. And the clincher, the wink Charlie gives Eberts just as Mr. CIA finds out who is on that phone!
The Bad:
-If it was planned from the beginning that Hobbes would fake his death, then why do we get the "Oh sh**" panicked look from Hobbes at the end of the car chase? Considering Darien doesn’t look nearly upset enough when standing over the burning wreckage, the whole idea of Hobbes getting killed off was not believable, and that we find out the truth seconds into the next scene...why did they try to make us think he was dead?
-OK, I know it was probably more to help the Chinese find him rather then actually restrain him...but they used a NET to catch Darien in the embassy? Oh give me a break... :-)
-Should everyone be standing around looking at the van disappear at the end like that? Shouldn’t they be uh...running away so they don’t try to grab Darien again?
The Crap Count:
-"I don’t want my final moments in this piece of crap." Darien, about the van
-"Come on you piece of crap!" Hobbes, about the compact car.
-"Aw crap." Darien, when caught by the Chinese.
-"Aw crap." Darien, just before being sucked dry. Although if I was in the same situation (having part of my brain sucked out while still awake enough to know about it), I think crap might be the softest word coming out of my mouth! :-)
The Nitpicky:
-Once again we see how a scientists lab just doesn’t look like a lab unless it has a bank of black computers with blinking red lights on them.
-Anyone know what the Chinese were saying at the beginning? I’m curious...
-Added Dialogue: Hobbes "Good, go brush your teeth."
Darien "Thanks Mom."
-Hobbes FINALLY gets a parking space! The squeaky wheel DOES get the grease!
-So even though both were obviously pissed about the missing safety net, and Darien had to be running low on counteragent, both Hobbes and Darien took the time after running from the bar to go home and change cloths before coming to work.
-...and speaking of wardrobe, Darien was wearing that Pepsi shirt we first saw in TDYK when infiltrating the Chinese Embassy. *Lauren rolls her eyes and sighs*
-So in TOIM, Darien talks about being able to see Simon because of the refraction of non-visible light off his QS. Of course Simon was a figment of the gland’s RNA, but I was hoping we’d get InvisibleDarienVision at least once when both he and Hobbes were invisible to see if that theory held up!
-So it only takes a minute to suck all the QS out of the gland, and yet a few minutes later Darien can not only go invisible himself...but then cover Hobbes? I have a theory about this, but that’s for another post.
-And wait a second, the poor guy just had a hole drilled in his head and part of his brain sucked out (since the gland is in his brain, it’s only fair to say that) without the benefit of anesthetic, and yet a few minutes later he’s just a bit lightheaded...and after appearing besides Claire and Charlie is OK?
-And speaking of that scene...when the drill was closing in on Darien, I couldn’t help it and started yelling "Knock him out! Knock him out!" ...then I got squeamish watching Darien get "drilled" and started yelling "Knock ME out knock ME out!!!" :-)
-I do not want to even THINK about what would have happened if Darien had been injected with the exploding yellow stuff.
-OK, when the van is covered in QS (guess we know that Darien can make enough to cover a large vehicle now!) shouldn’t we see AROUND it, not THROUGH to the people and engine inside? Light would bend around the exterior of the van, making everyone and everything inside invisible!
-Did anyone else jump at the rather loud GONG at the end of the episode? :-)
"You only had one round in your guns because of the funeral salute? That has got to go down as one of the stupidest things I have ever heard." -Charlie
....who is completly flabergasted over the claim that next week’s eppy is the "Season Finale"
