Hi everyone!
Wow, been a while since a review, huh? This weeks offering is bittersweet...while I’m very happy for a return to new eppys, every Friday now brings us one episode closer to Darien "disappearing forever" as Scifi likes to rub in our faces. Still I intend to treat these final episodes the same way I have all the others...with excitement, enjoyment, and an anal, long winded review where I complain about Darien’s clothing. :-)
As always this review contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for "The Invisible Woman", and all ideas are my own. I didn’t have to get a fill up from anyone. :-)
Overall:
This week we find out what happens when you put two sexually frustrated, highly classified people in a motel room and play dirty sax music. :-)
What this episode does well is keep the audience wondering if Mei-Lyn Chong is just a scientist who wants to disappear or a terrorist with a deadly toy. Darien identifies with Chong; someone who has been permanently altered in such a way as to be alienated from most people. While he’s smart enough to realize this all might just be a con, her story still leads him to that aforementioned hotel room. And while I pegged Chen-Po Lee early on as the ex-fiancee, it was still a mystery until the end why he really was after Chong.
What this episode doesn’t do well is fit together. There are too many unanswered questions as well as continuity problems and plot holes. The biggest problem being how Darien and Chong are alike because they are both trying to escape from a psychical curse...his gland or her scarring. However everything that makes Darien so miserable is notably absent from this episode. Despite all the quicksilvering going on, not once is QSM even brought up. His Keeper and most visible link to his gland problems, Claire, doesn’t even get a cameo. And the Agency that usually comes down on him for stepping out of line sends Hobbes off to bring him back with a wink and an understanding that Fawkes may not be on the wrong side.
The Good:
-Jonathan Swift gives us our only quote, and only voice over, for this week.
-"It pleases you being strange. It makes you even stranger."
-The FX for most of this episode were very well done, but a special kudos goes out to the disappearing speeding car! Very cool!
-The Chinese version of the Official and Eberts are hysterical, and almost a mirror image of each other...right down to Ming saying "Silence, Wong!" instead of the American "Shut up, Eberts!" and the usual reply of "Yes sir."
-Of course after watching his Chinese counterpart get verbally smacked, it’s no wonder Eberts would be so defensive when called on. I loved his panicked "What did I do?!"
-Foreshadowing part 1: There are a few clues that Lee is Chong’s fiancee, the first being his reaction when Ming says Chong is "extremely seductive."
-Great Scene 1: Hobbes and Lee discuss their preference of martial art, while Darien uses the distraction to play Ditch Your Partners and does his own bit of invisible karate down the hall. Hobbes always relishes the chance to talk shop with another agent, especially one from the "other" side. For extra fun watch the amused glance Darien gives when Hobbes proudly announces he hasn’t had any pills, and the confused look Lee gives them both as he tries to keep up.
-You’d think if there was one person who could look at someone without pity, it would be Darien...considering he’s not that fond of it himself. However he’s also human and does have deep feelings, so he fails Chongs challenge at first to look at her without pity.
-Gotta love Hobbes as he rattles off the Peanuts characters to Lee! Schroder was always my favorite. Hrm, I wonder why...
-"You don’t do Martial Art, huh?"
"I watch a lot of ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’."
-And now for Truer Words Were Never Spoken: Darien, "Yea, that’s one thing I’m good at. I mean, you know it’s my gift. I get my ass kicked better then anyone I know."
-There’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned Geek-Off. I loved watching Eberts ogling over the color document Wang has, while his counterpart lets it slip that "Mr. Ming like pretty document.". Both being told to can it is just iceing on the cake!
-It’s always a ton of fun to watch the Official spar with another government agent, and it’s extra fun watching him basically spar with himself!
-You gotta give IM credit for the most interesting sex scenes on TV! Only on this show can we keep the camera on two naked people making love and still not see a thing.
-While I don’t necessarily agree with Darien and Chong having sex, it’s completely understandable. Here are two people who have not had close intimate contact with anyone for a very long time, suddenly thrust into a steamy situation without having to worry about keeping secrets.
-Foreshadowing part 2: Lee defends his fiancée's honor by fighting Hobbes. If the lie about her being a terrorist was true, he probably wouldn’t have been so quick to go to blows.
-Great Scene 2: The aforementioned fight scene, where Lee defends his fiancee and Hobbes defends his partner. It’s a wonderful fight scene, rather realistic in terms of actual attacks, and leads into a nice little bonding moment for the two agents. I especially liked Hobbes exasperation over what he had to do to get Lee to level with him!
-Gotta love Darien filling up Chong’s QS tank and shaking his finger like he’s getting the last drops out of a gas pump!
-There’s a wonderfully touching moment as Lee and Chong face off in the power plant, finally reconciling with each other while Darien and a teary-eyed Hobbes look on.
-Listen closely for the "whoosh" noises as the Official and Eberts whip off their sunglasses outside the power plant!
-We get very little Darien and Hobbes interaction in this eppy, but the few moments we’re granted are like gold. From Darien showing off his booboo to Hobbes at the beginning right to the end where Hobbes launches into a complicated plan to escape only to have Darien yank on the fire alarm and Hobbes simply accept it.
The Bad:
-Once again quicksilver madness is used or ignored depending on what’s convenient for the plot. Let’s assume that Darien got a shot of counteragent before meeting the Chinese (after quicksilvering the car). He still ended up quicksilvering himself AND Chong several times for several minutes (both in escaping from their Agencies, making whoopee, and getting into the power plant), fills her "tank", and then QS himself and Hobbes to escape from the plant. Come on guys, you’ve given Darien and the gland this huge honkin’ restriction that’s a major plot point for the whole show! If you’re not going to stick to the rules you might as well get rid of quicksilver madness all together!
-It’s probably a good thing Darien didn’t go QSM at all, considering Claire was apparently on vacation.
-Chong has "the last of the quicksilver we took from you (Darien)" Uh, didn’t Hobbes destroy those containers of QS in "Cat and Mouse"?
-If Chong is just going to keep having quicksilver pumped into her body, won’t SHE go quicksilver mad? Why hasn’t she at all?
-Why doesn’t Darien chase after Chong when she runs off after the car accident?
-And why doesn’t Hobbes follow Lee when he goes running off after Darien?
The Crap Count:
-"Aw crap!" Darien, noticing they’re being followed.
-"Aw crap!" Darien, seeing the Chinese outside his apartment.
The Nitpicky:
-In the bar, Darien is drinking beer that is "____ Falls". Is this a local beer? Made up beer? Very obscure product placement?
-So apparently that pool table in Darien’s apartment isn’t just for making paper airplanes and whoopee on, the guy actually does play pool!
-Is it really a good idea for Darien to be wandering around outside the bar with his eyes quicksilvered like that? Considering everyone he passed probably thought he had NO EYES!
-That one section of Haskell Park that Darien wanders through looks a lot like the outside walkway at the University in "Flowers for Hobbes"
-So why doesn’t Chong just get plastic surgery?
-MSS...is that the newest 24 hour news channel? :-)
-Gritty saxophone music...when you want a steamy scene and need background music, just ask for SAX! It no coincidence it’s only one vowel off from ‘sex’. :-)
-Looks like both Hobbes and Darien now have parking spots behind the Agency! The van is parked out back, and you can clearly see the "Reserved for D. Fawkes" sign while Lee and Hobbes spar.
-Did that guard at the power plant tell ANYONE inside that there were two agents on the way?
-With all the food and magazines laying around, as well as getting up to leave his post unattended for a long time, I thought the guy at the power plant must’ve been Homer Simpson!
-Look behind the Official and Eberts when they are standing outside the power plant. That’s Gov. Jessie "The Body" Ventura!
"Your Fat Guy told my Fat Guy, and then your Fat Guy’s Nerdy Assistant told my Fat Guy’s Nerdy Assistant." - Darien
