Hi everyone!
Damn I loved this episode!! *ahem* Of course how could you not love what’s essentially three episodes in one? :-)
Anyway I got a lot to cover, so let’s get right to it. As always this contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for ‘Going Postal’ and all ideas are my own. I didn’t need no psychopathic drug laced Christmas card for any of this.
Overall:
IM takes on the classic ‘Rashomon’ as we are treated to the same story from three different points of view. Each version not only drops hints about what actually happened that day in the Post Office, but gives us as viewers a glimpse into the psyche of Darien, Hobbes, and Monroe...not just how they view themselves but how they view each other. Plus it gives the cast and crew a chance to do some outlandishly wonderful cliché film and TV styles!
All three versions were excellently done! All five of the actors involved in multiple versions (Darien, Hobbes, Monroe, Amanda, and Walter) did an outstanding job of staying true to their character while still fitting into whatever style the narrator had chosen. The techniques used to bring each style to life was amazing, from the directing, lighting, background music, makeup...they really went all out and congrats for pulling it off!
While all three versions of the story should go under the "Good" section, they each deserve their own description:
Alex Monroe’s POV: A ‘COPS’ style, hand held camera rendition of the events where just the facts are shown with very little in the way of ‘extras’. There’s no background music except for the "Three Blind Mice" as Darien and Hobbes do their 3 Stooges act, no special effects or lightning, and even the editing is rough cut and jumpy. She portrays herself fairly accurately, if a bit too completely in charge of the case...while Darien and Hobbes are reduced to childish, undisciplined jokers. Darien especially is a grinning idiot most of the time, from him spinning on the table at the beginning to trying to get her to flip a coin to see who will talk to Hobbes. Amanda becomes a smart, quick witted, in control female who is grateful for Alex’s rescue.
Robert Hobbes’ POV: Classic film noir, shot in black and white with Hobbes playing every private investigator who ever busted a case on the big screen while seducing the exotic dame. He’s cool, suave, in control at all times, and commands the admiration and respect of Darien and Alex. He says "my friend" about a half a million times, and when talking with Amanda sounds like Humphrey Bogart. Alex is more sultry and submissive. Darien becomes his wisecracking sidekick who follows him around like a puppy. The background music fits perfectly with jazzy clarinets, trumpets, and the piano bar music. Check out the lighting effects, where important characters (mostly Hobbes, but Amanda as well) get highlighted with a strip of light across the eyes.
And then at the last minute it turns into ‘Matrix’ as Hobbes deftly swerves away from bullets and takes down two heavily armed people while not even bothering to take cover.
Darien Fawkes’ POV: The letterbox version of Darien’s story is an action/adventure movie not unlike ‘Lethal Weapon’ or ‘Die Hard’. Shot like a full length feature film in beautiful blue tones and dramatic orchestration, Darien is the cliché action hero. Amanda is the hot love interest he easily seduces with only his natural charm. Hobbes is the lovable comic relief sidekick, who banters easily with his partner but is a complete dork with women. Alex is the no-nonsense, over the top agent who’s answer to everything is lots of guns and force.
The Good: (besides those three stories)
-We get the US Postal Service Motto and a bit of William Blake...and it’s a good thing Darien repeated that Blake quote at the end, I was rather upset with Dr. Dey when she interrupted him! No one interrupts Darien’s voice over’s! :-)
-I love how, in all versions of the story, Darien is still completely freaked out and panicky when being shot at...especially by his own partner.
-Poor Hobbes looks so scared as he paces around the room in the psycho ward. So it figures he’d be extra defensive with Dr. Dey, refusing to tell her the story, making her call him "Agent Hobbes" instead of Bobby.
-Makes sense Darien would see the potential in the scam to steal from the Post Office.
-So the Official finally puts Monroe to work for him, instead of the other way around!
-Winner of the Fast Talking Award goes to Darien, Hobbes and Amanda in Alex’s POV...the scene in the breakroom flies so fast I felt sorry for whoever was typing up the CC!
-I love watching Darien and Hobbes be reduced to the Three Stooges when they "loose" Amanda in Alex’s POV. Wonder what stooge Hobbes was... :-)
-Gotta love how startled Dey is when Darien appears after Alex tells her story.
-Only in Hobbes’ POV does he actually smell the Card, saying he’s looking for contraband, drugs, the like...interesting that he’d find what he’s looking for but not the way he hoped!
-"This guy was asking for it, him and his yippee dog! Should’ve hit the dog."
-Something tells me Dr. Dey is NOT at ease with the fact that Hobbes has been under psychological evaluation before.
-Great Scene 1: In Hobbes’ POV, when he talks with Amanda. I honestly thought I was gonna wet my pants from laughing when Amanda started speaking French! That was so perfect and yet so unexpected it was hysterical! Plus Hobbes is playing Bogart so well I kept waiting for him to call Amanda, "Sweetheart"! Then Hobbes saunters away, and she asks Darien "Is your friend single?", and the completely blown away look on Darien’s face as he submissively replies "Oui." is wonderful! Amanda’s reply of "Cool" just round out a hysterical scene!
-As if Hobbes’ POV could get any more unbelievable, he throws in the fantasy of having Monroe apologize to him, and then Darien profusely thank him for being so wonderful...
-...and then turn himself into Neo as he dodges bullets in ‘Matrix’ style. All he needed to do was leap into the air and freeze there for a few seconds!
-"The next thing I know some SWAT goon has his boot on my head!"
-Great Scene 2: Darien sneaks in to talk with Hobbes after Dey leaves. Hobbes finally shows exactly how afraid he is of being stuck in the mental hospital, and Darien does his best to reassure his friend while still telling the truth about the situation. Hobbes final plea, "As of this moment you are the only person I can trust." is just gutwrenching! In an episode filled with wonderful mischaracterization, this is a truly real moment.
-"How’s Bobby?"
"Paranoid, stressed...the usual."
-Perhaps it’s his own battle with the gland for his sanity, but Darien has always been very adamant about not letting anyone around him slip into insanity. He flat out refuses to believe anyone when they tell him that Hobbes may have just snapped.
-Gotta love how Darien is so immediately wrapped up in telling his story that he inadvertently blurts out loud the quote!
-Only Hobbes would have a pet rock that ran away. :-)
-Darien’s POV of Walter is the most fun to watch. His anxiety over being "forgotten", the hysterical admission that he’s now afraid of Ed McMahan and Publishers Clearing House, the angry exclamation at the end for them to stop talking about him...it’s a lot of fun!
-"So what do you think?"
"I think I just saw my future, my friend."
-In Darien’s POV, even though he’s still freaked out by the gunfire, he manages to save Alex by pulling her away from the bullets...even after Alex practically orders a full out war on Hobbes!
-Listen to the background music when Darien and Dey are discussing the Card, all the way through while Darien calls Eberts and has him find the Card...you can hear a slow, demented version of "Jingle Bells" playing!
-Gotta love Eberts having what can only be described as a bad trip. We spent all first season setting Eberts’ character just so we can have all kinds of fun this season watching him act "out of character"!
-The Hot Potato Word of the Eppy: Weird. Listen as Darien passes it to the Official, Alex, Hobbes and back.
-Only a drugged Eberts would demand from the SWAT team, "I want chicken, and sausages, and someone to love me!!"
-I loved the different ways Alex and Claire talk through the megaphone to Eberts...not only is it a fun contradiction, but it just goes along well with the whole theme of people reacting to situations differently.
-Great Scene 2: Darien and Hobbes stroll along the pier as they fill us in on the drugged card. Darien encourages Hobbes to "let it go" of having his sanity questioned again, and Hobbes thanks Darien for being his friend and believing in him. Then they both go out for hot wings.
The Bad:
-As much as I loved this episode, I was royally pissed off at THIS: The LAST thing you do with a possible psychiatric patient you are evaluating is tell them that what they will say in your interview will determine if they are committed or not!! You are just INVITING them to lie, or at least hold back on anything they think could be viewed as "unstable"! Dey only announced that for dramatic purposes...there’s no way you can trust what a patient tells you after that! Grrr...
-I’ve complained about this before, and I’m gonna do it again. I want some consistency when it comes to the symptoms of QSM and the monitor. This week apparently Darien can suddenly be left with a segment and a half without any problems (one wonders why he didn’t get a shot earlier in the day...was he really so busy as to not take the time to save his sanity?)...when in the past we’ve seen Darien experience pain as early as 2-3 segments left! If he can really go that long then why give him the shot earlier anyway?! On top of that he quicksilvers for several minutes to take down Eberts with no problems...I half expected HIM to go Postal in there as well! Unfortunately this is still a case of QSM symptoms appearing when the writer needs them to. Please, can we have some consistency? This is a rather large plot point in Darien’s life!
The Crap Count:
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a first. As far as I could hear, there was not one ‘crap’ said in the entire episode. Surprising really, one would think Darien’s POV would be full of them! Of course Hobbes tries to make up for it by saying "my friend" ten million times. :-)
The Nitpicky:
-Did they record the opening credits again, because I could swear Darien used to say "There once was a story about a man who could turn invisible..." instead of "There once was a TALE about..."
-Oh boy, let’s talk Wardrobe. I won’t blame anyone for the Post Office uniforms...but apparently as a way of rebelling against having to wear those uniforms, Darien raided his closet for some of the ugliest clothing he could find. That last red shirt with the stitching on it needs to find a bonfire and jump on in.
-Dey sits down to talk with Hobbes at the beginning, then we come back from commercial with Dey sitting down with Monroe to get her version, then she goes BACK to talk to Hobbes. Huh?
-So how come in all three versions of the story Darien’s hair was much more...restrained? Did he run out of gel that day? :-)
-Check out Darien’s Post Office Badge...the picture is the same one used on his criminal record!
-Hobbes cracks his fingers so loudly when talking with Dey that I thought he broke something!
-Being a native of Buffalo, when Hobbes announced "Hot Wings" I immediately wished I was at the Anchor Bar eating the worlds best hot wings...*sigh*
-When Eberts is searching for the Card, you can see the flyer for the Hot Wings, the mag that Darien and Hobbes were looking at, even the Fed Ex package Darien threw away!
-Subliminal Moment of the Eppy: Claire crouches down besides a police car so that the word "Keep" appears over her shoulder.
-I could SWEAR that Eberts says "Fawkes, I’m gonna frelling kill you!" Frelling? So Eberts likes Farscape? Hey Eberts? You might wana try that show that’s on right BEFORE Farscape...it’s pretty good too! :-)
-The clarinet solo at the very end was so close to the famous one from "Rhapsody in Blue" that I had to go get my Gershwin CD and play it just to make me happy.
"Shut up, Hobbes!"
"That kind of attitude is just a roadblock on my journey to recovery,
Chief."
-The Official and Hobbes
