Hey everyone!
Wow, finally a new episode! It’s good to be back, damn have I missed this!!
This episode was hard to review for the sole reason that I’m a fan first, and a reviewer second. I review IM because I love watching it, I enjoy getting nitpicky with what's going on, and it gives me an excuse to watch the eppy a few times in a row. :-) Needless to say after 3 months of nothing, as a fan, this could have been 60 minutes of watching Darien and Hobbes read the newspaper and I would have been a happy camper.
Fortunately we get a lot more then that. :-)
Anyway, on to the review! As always this contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for Ghost of a Chance, all ideas are my own, and if we said the same thing...genius often moves down the same path.
Overall:
This episodes couldn’t have screamed TO BE CONTINUED any more even if it added those three words to the end! Yes, we get a whole plot in an hour...a rather cool one at that, and it was lots of fun to see Darien really showing off his quicksilvering ability. But what made this episode really neat for me was all the questions it brought up that I’m sure they’ll be addressing in the future. The most obvious one being: who’s the group of evil guys bent on taking over the world, and what exactly is Helen gonna do with Darien then next time they meet. And oh yea will there be a next time...
But the one that really got me was the fact that, despite all the work and concern that Darien and the Official have put into keeping the Invisible Man a secret from everyone, the CIA now knows all about him. And if you think this was a one time favor and the CIA isn’t gonna call on Darien again to save our fine nation then you need to have your paranoia quotient jacked up. It’ll be interesting to see if the CIA treats Darien with more or less respect...
The list of people who know about Darien is growing every day. Helen is gonna have to stand in line behind Arnaud, Lawson, the Chinese, and quite a few other people...and they’re all out to get him. (and if that didn’t sound paranoid enough I don’t know what will! :-) )
The Good:
-Apparently Darien spent the month he was blind catching up on his quotes. This week we get an English proverb, a bit of George Bernard Shaw, a Burmese proverb, and Oscar Wilde.
-"Eberts, get that Invisible Man in here!"
"But sir, I don’t know what he looks like!"
-Gotta love InvisibleDarien waving around pencils, phones and flags just to bug the Official...
-...and Ebert’s desperate flag hugging to stop him!
-Nice to see our friend at the CIA back again. Although apparently his info on Darien is good enough to know he can turn invisible, but not good enough to know what he looks like visible...considering if they knew, he wouldn’t have let Darien leave the office in the first place.
-Poor Eberts looks so depressed when his boss is forced to give in to the CIA.
-"Was that the President you were just talking to? Cause if you were...that would be cool."
-I really liked how the briefing scene in the beginning switched back and forth between the good guys at the dingy Agency and the bad guys at Hi-Tech Evil Co.
-Yes Darien, memorize. Like what you did with that quote book you keep throwing tidbits from. :-)
-I really loved the timing on the Latino music that started just after Hobbes declared Santa Ruego "Hell." Hell obviously has fun music...
-Despite all his best efforts, Hobbes does not grovel very well. He’s got the whole "I’m sorry and I’m cowering" posture going on...and he’s more then willing to apologize his butt off...but when asked he comes right out and calls the daughter of Ambassador Hollywell a liar.
-...however he does negotiate very well with the Prime Minister. Before poor Darien can even put together a coherent thought on what to say as a diplomat, Hobbes smoothly lays the whole deal on the table. Of course I’m sure diplomatic relations were involved in Hobbes’ training...Darien didn’t have to talk to the people he stole from most of the time.
-Kind of an interesting tidbit, but not surprising after all that time he spent down in Mexico...but apparently Hobbes at least understands Spanish.
-"Looks like it’s time for the Casper routine."
-So first we get Darien completely invisible, then just his eyes, now everything BUT his eyes...freaky...and a cool effect!
-...and let me tell you if I got yelled at by a pair of floating eyes I’d be unconscious on the floor before you could tell me how to vote!
-Great Scene #1: Darien returns to Claire and Hobbes to tell them how the first night of playing a ghost went. The more I watch him work, the more I am convinced that if Darien wasn’t FORCED to be at the Agency that he’d really love the job. It’s fairly obvious he enjoys the work when he can forget he’s supposed to be bitter about being there. And in this eppy he finally comes right out and says it. It makes sense though...he gets to legally use his thieving talents, and in the process can help people.
-...although you gotta love how Claire can’t help but roll her eyes and groan as Darien strokes his own ego a bit over a job well done.
-Great Scene #2: Hobbes, desperate for a good nights sleep and trying to avoid his snoring partner, invades Claire’s room and then treats us all (finally!) to his backstory on Santa Ruego. After baiting both of them all episode about this story Claire finally gives in, and Hobbes almost turns into a kid at a slumber party telling a ghost story! I also think this is the first time we’ve heard Hobbes call the Keeper "Claire". And you gotta wonder what’s going through Claire’s mind at the end of that scene before she goes to sleep.
-Gotta love the rumbles of thunder while the Ambassador tells the story of La Llorona.
-"Ambassador, could you excuse us for a moment?"
"It’s my office!"
"Yea, and what a lovely office it is."
-Wait, what was that noise? That huge thump? Oh yea...it’s the entire VVSB going into fits of rapture over the several minutes of Darien shirtless. :-)
-The effects shots of Helen spraying the water on Darien, and him going invisible as he coughs it back up...those were really good! Although I just can’t help but snicker a bit when I see this beautiful woman gushing water like a broken fire hydrant.
-So let’s talk about Helen a bit. Intelligent, sexy, ruthless, and something of a freak for hire for Evil Co...apparently she’s in a bit of a better position then Darien, in that she appears to have independence. She also seams to be a bit more comfy with her "freakhood"...perhaps she was a willing volunteer for her experiment, and by willing I mean she knew what she was getting into.
-As for Helen and Darien hooking up behind the Agency’s back...while possible, and Darien does hint at giving into that temptation at the end, ultimately I don’t think it would work. Helen is a manipulator who has no problems killing anyone that stands in her way, innocent or not...qualities that are probably as big of a turn off to Darien as being called a freak. I see countless attempts by Darien to turn her to the "good" side and failing miserably every time. Still, that was quite a kiss....
-"The work is exquisite." Ah, apparently Helen is also a member of the VVSB. :-)
-"See? You’re both freaks, it’s a match made in Heaven." Don’t tempt him, Hobbes.
-I love how Darien apologizes "in advance" for knocking out the guards outside Arias’ door.
-More great effects in that last confrontation between "La Llorona" and the "Marine Gunnery Sergeant".
-Hobbes, always the gentleman, practically snatching the suitcase out of Claire’s hands at the end. :-)
-"I could have just killed you."
"Uh-huh."
-Twice Helen calls Darien "querido"...did a bit of searching, in Spanish that means beloved, cherished, or darling. Wow...from trying to kill him to calling him beloved in 5 minutes!
The Bad:
-One wonders how such a small Latin American nation obtained intercontential biological weapons.
-So Claire gave us the readers digest version of how Helen can do her little fountain trick...any explanation for how Helen did that disappearing act in the pool at Arias’ place?
The Crap Count:
-"Get out of this office you little bald pile of crap!" Ambassador Hollywell, to Hobbes.
-"Aw crap!" Darien, watching Arias get drowned.
-"Aw crap." Darien, when La Llorona disappeared.
-"Aw crap!" Hobbes, watching La Llorona disappear into the ocean.
The Nitpicky:
-Well it’s wonderful to see the Scifi Prime Chick is GONE! And I’m very happy that Paul got his fair share saying "This is Scifi"...however we appear to have lost Vince in the shuffle...and I’m still waiting for Mike...
-Santa Ruego is a wonderful little country...uh...too bad according to the US State Department it doesn’t exist. :-) Oh well..
-You know in college we were always told to put a hanger on the doorknob if we didn’t want to be disturbed.
-"You’re mission, Darien, should you choose to accept it...." You think one of these days Darien will actually have a choice?
-So did Claire go down to Santa Ruego with a whole bunch of shots, or did she pack the Counteragent Still and made as she needed? They had to know Darien was gonna need quite a bit of counteragent considering the way they were solving the assignment...and we saw him get 2 shots...he probably got a third after that third night playing ghost. Considering we’ve been told the counteragent doesn’t store well, did they just gamble they’d have enough and finish the job fast enough? Or was there a little counteragent factory in one corner of Claire’s room?
-"Phase 2 madness"? Huh? Did I miss a memo on QSM stages?
-It’s nice to know Evil Co is an equal opportunity employer! A nice little racially mixed group of evil people...
-My original thought when Hobbes was talking about Santa Ruego being Hell was that he made the mistake of drinking the water.
-"I’m not a big believer in ghosts...or anything supernatural. So I don’t claim to be an expert at this." You figure the CIA guy would have provided some X-Files episodes for Darien to watch or something! :-)
-Did Helen look a lot like that chick from Dark Angel to anyone else?
-OK as far as snoring goes, I’ve heard much worse then what was coming out of Darien’s nose. If I can ignore the yahoo in the apartment above me throwing a Keg party at 4am, then you’d think Hobbes could deal with a bit of rumbling from the bed.
-I was half expecting Hobbes to get all comfy and quiet in Claire’s room...and then Claire start to snore. :-)
-"Have you heard of La Llorona?"
"I heard a song that sounds like that..."
Hobbes...he wasn’t talking about "My Sharona"!
-I held it off till the very end...the wardrobe...I was very pleased with just about everything Darien wore this week, with the possible exception of that last plaid shirt...thing...that looked like he grabbed it out of a discount bin at the mall. No Gas Attendant Jacket though! :-) And I thought Darien, Hobbes and Claire all looked very cute in their various sleepware.
"I am La Lorona."
"And I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past."
-Helen and Darien
