Hi everyone!
Wow...been a while since a review, huh? I must admit after meeting the cast and crew, I was a bit nervous about reviewing again. I mean now I’ve actually MET these people, even if it was very briefly.
But old habits die hard...so welcome to my dorky little review of "Germ Theory", alternate title "Diseased Part 2". As always this contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for that eppy, and all ideas are my own. I haven’t read anyone else’s comments on this eppy yet...I just got back from a wedding and haven’t even unpacked from San Diego yet!
Overall:
Go on and try to classify this episode, I dare you! Is it a comedy? A drama? A medical mystery? This was the TV equivalent of a futon (the bed that’s a chair that’s a couch)...it managed to do several things fairly well, but wasn’t excellent at any one thing. It doesn’t focus on any one character either. Claire gets the most attention in this episode, being the only one able to figure out what’s going on and cure everybody, but isn’t really the "main" character. So what we got was a fun little smorgasbord, a great team episode and a good time had by all.
The only problem with that is a lot of things got glossed over I wished we could have spent more time on, the big one being that for the first time Darien isn’t the only one who knows what it’s like to go quicksilver mad. Both Claire and the Official get to wear the red contacts this eppy, and yet we really don’t get any reaction to this unpleasant experience besides Claire apologizing about hitting the Official. In "Brother’s Keeper" Darien accused them of making QSM appear commonplace, and this episode should have given both of them an idea of how bad it really is. Will they react more sympathetically in the future, or will this just get swept under the carpet now that it’s just Darien dealing with it again?
The Good:
-For quotes this week we get a lesson about the importance of silence in Japanese Music (and all music for that matter), and a bit of Sir Isaac Newton.
-Eberts has become quite immune to the Bobby Hobbes Look of Death...surprising considering if Hobbes glared at me the way he glared at Eberts over that stack of paper he had I’d be running for my life!
-I almost fell off my chair when Darien declared the neon green liquid "Koolaid". Considering how long we’ve been joking about the counteragent being of the blueberry variety...
-There’s a wonderful moment when Claire’s finally had enough of Darien’s pranks and breaking beakers...a switch goes off and she stops talking and suddenly we see The Keeper. You know her, the surly bit*h from the beginning of the show before she loosened up a bit! No wonder Darien was suddenly willing to fix his own hand and clean up his mess. Something tells me with looks like that Claire didn’t need a lot of time to get Pavlov trained.
-Welcome to Darien’s bathroom, a place only spoken about in rumors and fanfic. :-) I especially love the stack of hair care products on the counter, the "Caution, Radioactive Area" sign by the toilet, and the tiny little landscape hanging on the wall as if that would class up the bachelor pad.
-"What are you trying to do, Bobbit my whole finger?"
-Who else but Eberts could get all patriotic about filing? Gotta love his whole filling = freedom speech to Hobbes...only to end it with that great Apocalypse Now reference ("I love the smell of toner in the morning!").
-You know I think that’s the only time Hobbes has ever referred to Darien by his first name!
-We all know Darien hates being the lab rat...look at the instant panic on
his face when the Official tells him he’s at Claire’s disposal and she
almost jumps in joy!
"More scrapings?"
"Oh yes! LOTS!"
...and suddenly Darien looks like he’s marching to his own funeral!
-I thought Shannon did an excellent job showing a QSM Claire! She had that same mix of homicidal manic and sexual desire that Darien often gets, and her evil laugh just sent chills down my spine!
-"In fact, it’s kind of nostalgic."
"Nostalgic sir? Being slapped by young British women?"
-Great Scene 1: Claire shows Darien and the Official the Wonder Bacteria and explains how wonderful it actually could be with a wild joy on her fact that was pure scientific ecstasy. You can practically see the ideas and money float before the Official’s eyes as he ponders a quick and easy way to get more invisible agents. Meanwhile Darien gets sicker, and all his attempts to clue the two of them in on his pain fall unnoticed. It’s scary and yet totally believable that, under normal circumstances, Darien’s health would be their primary concern...but dangle scientific glory and unlimited power in front of their faces and suddenly they’re willing to let him suffer to further their goals.
-"Zero to zero after four hours...I fail to see the appeal."
-Gotta love Hobbes and Eberts trading "war stories" while taking a break from filing. I especially adore the patriotic trumpet music that plays as Eberts recounts the Battle of the EZ-1099 Form!
-You can see the instant Claire realizes how much trouble she and Darien really are in when Darien asks her what would happen if they both go QSM at the same time. That worry turns to stark fear in the next scene...
-Great Scene 2: Claire confronts the Official about ending the experiment, only to find herself placed in Darien’s position when the Official refuses, takes away her antibiotics and tells her to keep working. It’s interesting how the Official will go to any lengths for this new power until he himself is stricken, and then suddenly wants a cure. Claire suddenly becomes a powerless lab rat herself, forced to continue in an experiment she no longer wants to be a part of...from the shocked look on her face I want to think she’s had a large enough taste of what Darien goes though that she might be more sympathetic to him in the future.
-So we finally see Hobbes real reason for suddenly warming up to Eberts; getting him to raise Hobbes’ pay! It was a good idea, and you can’t blame him for trying to get something out of an awful week of paperwork!
-There’s a great moment as Darien, who’s had too much experience recovering from going QSM, gently coaches Claire as she recovers from going nuts and getting the shot.
-"I need to..."
"...keep a clear head? I’m sorry, but that...that was right there. If
I don’t say these things they fester."
-Great Scene 3: Bobby walks in on Claire and gets "infected", Darien shows up in time to make some smart comments, then Eberts brings in the Official wrapped like Claude Rains from everyone’s favorite movie. With the gang all there, Claire drops the bomb about being unable to cure anyone, and the Official calls in Protocol 34. It’s just bad to worse to worse...and watching everyone flounder trying to keep up with the disaster is wonderful to watch!
-"Nobody knocks out Iron Jaw!"
-There was something especially surreal about looking at the Darien and the Official strapped down to those beds...and not seeing them, just the floating restraints...
-Claire gives us a wonderfully gutwrenching moment at the end, before Hobbes gives her the last of the counteragent, where she finally admits she was wrong and short sighted and admits to her guilt about killing her friends. There’s the moral of the story, kids...for all you budding mad scientists out there.
-Only Alex could storm a burger joint and grab the mayo at gunpoint with a completely straight face!!
-The award for Best Delivery goes to Claire for her thrilled growl about the Wonder Bacteria getting killed off by the Evil Mayo: "They become visible because THEY DIE!"
The Bad:
-I still wanted to hear what the Official and Claire thought about QSM now that they have experienced it. Or hear Darien say something along the lines of "So now you know what it’s like."
-The Official took a VERY long time to realize that Claire was going QSM...and even then he didn’t really seem that surprised. Was he expecting her to have QSM symptoms too? That’d be odd, considering Claire didn’t expect it. Even afterwards he didn’t look all that concerned, just told that wonderful boxing story and then took off!
-Claire tells us early on that the bacteria cannot grow outside a living host. That means it can only be spread by direct blood to blood contact...so why would the CDC need to kill everyone that came out, or burn down the whole building? If they proved it’s not airborne, with some simple safety precautions they can keep the infection contained. If worse came to worse Hobbes and Eberts should have been able to walk out of there no problem!
-So the invisible lab rat was really just a guy squeaking like a mouse while pulling something under the cage lining. Sorry gang, that was kinda cheesy. Plus just cause you show a rat doesn’t mean we have to hear it squeak every time! Mice and rats are actually very quiet animals.
The Crap Count:
-"Aw crap." Darien, getting cut.
-"Oh crap!" Darien, unable to un-quicksilver his finger.
-"Aw crap." Darien, seeing all the CDC people with guns.
The Nitpicky:
-OK everyone go take a look at the Agency seal behind the Official this week (and on the door of the Agency when the CDC people first show up) There are several clear shots of that seal and it is NOT the Health and Human Services seal! In fact I took a good look and I swear it says "Department of Weights and Measures". Uh...OK I know it’s been a few weeks since I reviewed an eppy, but I thought I’d seen them all. Did I miss another changeover?!
-This is the third week in a row Darien has gone QSM and gotten his shot in the neck. Considering Hobbes goes for Claire’s shoulder and then her arm, and Darien himself shys away from Claire’s neck for her arm (perhaps remembering his OWN experiences) WHY do they insist on going for the neck?
-How come, in the beginning after Hobbes leaves with all his paperwork, the Keep door doesn’t close?
-"Wow, that was a really long run on sentence." Alright Mr. Astle...just ‘cause you make a joke about a grammatical no-no doesn’t make it OK! :-)
-Why did the flask of lime Koolaid shatter so easily when Darien went to put it down on the cart? It didn’t look like he placed it down that hard!
-American-isms Part 1: Claire asking Darien to do the "strange American children’s thing...got your nose!" Anyway Paul already did that to Vince on Talk Soup.
-And now for Info You Never Want to Give Your Boss...and The Look and
Response You Never Want Back:
"One gin and tonic and I was WOO! Lets swim naked!"
"Really?"
-"Wadja’s"? Will someone pronounce that for me please?
-American-isms Part 2: I didn’t know we have a fascination with peanut butter!
-So Claire tells us towards the beginning that alcohol kills the Wonder Bacteria...anyone else think she was gonna send Alex out for a few six packs of Corona at the end and they were gonna kill the bacteria by getting drunk? :-)
-I’d rather not like to think that Darien has spent so much time restrained in that lab that he’s requested a television.
-Just what we need...roaches that are even HARDER to kill! Thanks guys...
"You know I’m a highly trained decorated field agent, Eberts? I could
kill a man 30 ways right now with my bare hands."
"Yes, but can you collate?"
-Hobbes and Eberts
