Hi everyone!
Well it’s a bit late, but blame that on the audition. :-) Anyway here’s my review of It Hurts When You Do This. As always it contains those big honkin’ spoilers... and while I do swear that all ideas are my own, I did read some posts before reviewing this time. Very few, but still... :-)
First, I would like to say that just before I left I posted a little thing on the title and what I thought it came from (the joke from the Marx Bros)...after watching the episode I can now say I was WAY off!!
Overall:
While the plot to this episode was rather simple, the episode itself was full of stuff going on. We see Hobbes in his professional best going after the monkey thieves, sneaking into secured areas with nothing more then his wits, and holding his own in a fight against two healthy, larger guys. We also see his more caring side. Unlike Darien, Hobbes does quite a good job of hiding that soft heart of his under all that sarcasm and gruffness, only coming out in little ways like his "Hey, we’re not out here all day looking because we don’t care." He wasn’t just helping look for Sarah because she was a fun chick to hit on. And for a good part of this episode he can’t remember what happened five minutes ago! Rather impressive if you ask me!
Of course this episode isn’t a walk in the park for Darien either. When he’s not being forced over and over to tell Hobbes about the accident he feels responsible for (and feeling guilty every time...if that’s not Hell I don’t know what is...), he’s dealing with this pesky new fear of being experimented on. Of course, after his experience who can blame him for trying to save everyone from the monkey, to the homeless, to Hobbes?
The Good:
-Why am I not surprised the Agency gets shuffled around so much? :-)
-So to make up for last week, this week we have two quotes that include "The ends must justify the means" by an English Diplomat (Who is Matthew Prior? Thanks Alex, I’ll take quotes for 200) and a bit of Shakespeare "The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with the bones." Ah it’s nice to have the quotes back!
-"Why do the perps always run?...like they’re going to get away!"
-OK, can someone please stop Darien from looking so distraught when Hobbes is laying in a pool of blood and call 911? Ouch...talk about a look that can break your heart!
-So the one little scene Charlie gets is with Darien when he’s blaming himself for Hobbes’ accident. Charlie doesn’t look at all surprised Darien’s taking the blame...perhaps he had a talk with Claire about the power of guilt?
-I loved Nurse Kathy and her interaction with Hobbes! Those are the kind of nurses you WISH you had in a hospital, sweat and caring and funny but will take no crap! Thanks sweetie!
-Unfortunately for Sarah, Hobbes’ memory problems means she probably got hit on the SAME WAY over and over again!
-OK, how did a member of the VVSB get a roll on the show? "Ouch...bestill my heart who’s the friend?" -Sarah
-Gotta love both Darien and Hobbes asking about the "chick roommate" at the same time!
-Poor Claire starts out almost glowing when she introduces Dr. Carver. Obviously she has a great respect for the man, and watching her open admiration for him only makes her horror at what he’s doing even more painful!
-What is with Hobbes and this fear of a leftover sponge? :-)
-Gotta love Hobbes sneaking around in that gown with a rear room with a view (and shorts...although when he’s sneaking around in the hallway and they slowly pan down I did admit to squealing "They’re going to show his butt?! Oh...")...acting all serious as he crawls on the floor....
-...and the "sneaky" music during his little excursion only makes it even more funny!
-When Hobbes is crouched behind his bed with the black eye, the poor guy looks so freaked out and confused...up until that point I’d been laughing at all the jokes about his memory loss, but right there you see how truly disorienting it can be!
-So I watched this episode with my Dad, since I stopped there on my way to Memphis. And after all the head-drilling scenes and Claire did her little overly simplistic explanation I turned to him and asked if any of this was possible. He’s a psychologist, so he knows all about those parts of the brain (or at least more then me!). According to him, where they were drilling would have opened up a hole to the right areas of the brain if the probe was long enough, and what they were doing is at least theoretically possible and medically made sense. So good job to the writers!
-As if poor Darien doesn’t have enough to angst over, then he has to go watch some poor guy getting his head drilled and have flashbacks to his own experiment...
-...and then sprints around the hospital trying to save Hobbes, finds him back in the bed, and then we get that touching scene where he’s comforting Hobbes after the second surgery. Anyone who wasn’t sure if the two of them had graduated from co-worker to friend just needs to watch that scene!
-"I feel great. Strong like bull!"
-So did Hobbes start hitting on Kathy just because Sarah was gone, or does he hit on any women who’s nice to him? :-)
-OK, I now put forth the thought that Darien has spent some time homeless. Yes he’s got this huge conscious, and would probably be caring about those people anyway, but there was something very personal about how much he worried about Sarah, and the little girl he met looking for her. And the way he defends them to Carver was incredibly heated...he even attacked him IN the operating room after one comment. I think for one reason or another he ran away as a teenager and spent some time on the streets before being picked up by Liz and becoming her apprentice/partner. It would also explain why her leaving would hurt so much if she was the one to save him from the streets. There’s some holes in this theory...like the fact that I’m fairly sure the guy has a high school diploma and this would indicate he didn’t finish (it’s kind of hard for runaways who are learning to be thieves to study for a chemistry final), but I do believe now he spent *some* time homeless.
-"Let me explain this in overly simplistic terms so you two can
understand."
"Was that an insult?"
-Not only is it kind of cool that Claire gets to participate in the sting on Carver, but to me it appeared she was enjoying herself! But that fun doesn’t last...watch the growing look of horror on her face as Carver completely explains his actions and justifications.
-Ouch...that’s two guys in one episode who’ve dove off a railing that Darien now feels responsible for.
-So in the end Darien is left to ponder how Sarah is going to try and use the evil from Carver’s work to do good, and reflects that it’s not science/knowledge itself that’s bad but what we do with it. Hmmm...ya think this applies to HIM at all?
The Bad:
-Why, if this experiment is so top secret that it’s locked away behind all these security measures, is there a viewing area behind dark glass to it that is not guarded or locked?
-When Darien pulled aside Claire in her lab, did he really think he was going to have a private conversation about Hobbes when the guy is right there?
-OK, I hate to admit it but I thought it was predictable as soon as Sarah told Darien to take her friend that not only would she get the shaft...but that somehow Carver was going to be the one to donate. Dad predicted this one as well as soon as Sarah said "Take Charlie first."
The Crap Count: Only one this week. Darien, after finding out they took Hobbes to surgery a second time: "Aw crap."
The Nitpicky:
-So here I am watching with my Dad, and the first time we get InvisibleDarienVision he asks "So he can only see in black and white when he’s invisible?" "Yea Dad, I guess so." "Why?" "Look, we’re still trying to figure out how he can see at all! Perhaps he just has crappy reception!"
-OK, has anyone seen the movie "Coma"? Anyone wana fill me in on why Hobbes was yelling about it?
-Do the life-sign monitoring devices in hospitals always beep that loudly? That would drive me NUTS if I had to sit there listening to my own beeping...imagine if someone accidentally unplugged the thing!
-And now it’s time for my continuing obsession with Darien’s wardrobe. This week, I like the outfit he goes after the monkey smugglers in. But then we get a repeat when he visits Hobbes in the hospital the first time...that’s the outfit he wore on the beach in "The Devil You Know.". Others have already talked about the red shirt that’s just a *bit* too small...but he does look quite cute in those hospital scrubs!
-In the I’m Just Ahead Of You Department, when Sarah mentioned she had her appendix out I said "She looks really good for just having her appendix out!"...and lo and behold a few lines later Darien says the same thing!
-Missing Dialogue-> Claire "Let me explain this in overly simplistic terms so that you two and the audience can understand."
"So there’s one thing that they don’t teach you to watch out for when you get an invisibility gland installed in your head...*THUNK*...that your invisible." -Darien
