Hi everyone!
Welcome back! Damn that was a long hiatus...but the good news is that we’ve got weeks of new shows ahead! So lets get right to the review, shall we? As always this contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for ‘Johnny Apocalypse’, so if you haven’t seen the eppy yet you may want to put this review on ice for a while.
Overall:
Darien Fawkes: friend to freaks, experiments, and small children.
This week Alex Monroe learns something the Official did a while ago...it doesn’t pay to pull the ‘need to know’ crap on Darien and Hobbes. Partially because they’ll just find out what’s going on anyway, and mostly because they often end up devising a better plan when they do know. Case in point, Monroe is willing to just let Adam die to save the world because she doesn’t think there’s an alternative. Trust Darien and Hobbes to come up with an alternate solution.
On top of that we get Darien connecting with yet another kid...and some great scenes come out of it. I’m beginning to think that the IM casting director has a reservoir of wonderful child actors hidden away somewhere. First Jessica, now Adam...
The Good:
-This week for quotes we get Wittegenstein (a philosopher who’s name is harder to spell then necessary :-) ) and a bit of the Bible.
-I don’t think anyone is surprised that Monroe wouldn’t be all too broken up if Darien and Hobbes were to die in the line of duty. It’s become clear to me she’s very used to working alone, and that to her the ends justify the means. Hence, loosing the two of them is worth it to save the world. At least she wants to do the right thing, even if she doesn’t do it in the right way.
-There’s something appropriate about how the camera keeps moving when Darien and Hobbes banter at the beginning...you gotta keep up with those two or you’re just gonna get left behind.
-Gotta love how our boys slump into Monroe’s couch and cross their legs at the same time. Actually there’s a lot of them reacting in unison in this eppy.
-Case in point:
"You’ll be filled in on a need to know basis."
"The OOOOool’ need to know!"
-"We have inquiring minds." And inquiring minds wana know.
-Darien took this episode as a chance to even the nickname count, coming up with quite a few for Hobbes. First calling out "Kirk to Enterprise, yo Bones what’s up?" on the walkie talkies, and later as they flee the compound Hobbes is Wyatt, and then Starsky (to Darien’s Hutch).
-The house definitely looked like a 13 year old had been living in it alone for a few days; empty pizza boxes, random messes everywhere...
-Great Scene 1: Adam interrogates Hobbes, Darien and Monroe as he tries to figure out if he should trust them. Darien and Hobbes take an instant liking to the kid as he asks Monroe, "Besides the fact that you’re a really hot chick, why the Hell should I believe you?" and generally is a smart ass. For extra fun watch the two of them count off to synchronize showing off their ID’s to Adam, and Hobbes snickering as Adam proclaims ‘Darien’ a dumb name.
-So Darien is 3rd generation French-Canadian...eh? :-)
-"We need to know what food tastes like."
-Darien does something really smart and takes Adam over to play some basketball. Not only does it help get the kid to loosen up and trust him, but he starts to get some info from Adam he might not have gotten from Monroe.
-There’s a great reaction shot of Adam and Darien as the helicopter lands...just watch the look on their faces. Darien starts off confused, then turns to ‘aw crap’. Adam goes through a few: "Hey cool, a helicopter! What’s that doing here?" and then off of Darien’s worried look Adam gets the hint and turns scared.
-Hobbes needs to spend some time with Darien and teach him some self defense. I mean this week Darien couldn’t even defend himself when he was invisible! For cryin’ out loud, can’t the guy even get through one eppy without getting hurt?!
-Of course with Hobbes and Alex around it might not be necessary...they can kick some major butt!
-Great Scene 2: Darien and Adam discuss the joys of being experimented on, then sit down and chat a bit about girls and death while playing FakeDoom. You can really see Darien feeling for this kid, who’s freaked out and scared and angry and is just mirroring what he went through with the gland. And the chat over FakeDoom was a nice way to just chill and set up the stay with Eberts. Just some great performances!
-"Oh my God, this is like running a day care center."
-Gotta love Hobbes and Darien’s over the top banter as they try to calm Adam down...
-...and then they continue to read each other’s minds as both come to the same conclusion: something is rotten with the scientists and needs some checking out.
-The moving shot of Darien de-quicksilvering and quicksilvering when he went to bust out Adam was just amazing to watch! For extra fun watch the grin on Adam’s face later in the elevator as he asks Darien to make him invisible again.
-Love the mutual moment Hobbes and Adam have as they discuss what it feels like to be quicksilvered.
-So not only do Darien and Hobbes read each other’s minds, but they work well together too. When Darien is just winging it, Hobbes is the one who can come up with the plan.
-"Oh you’re still a bitch!" LOL!!!
-Claire doesn’t get much time in this episode, but she does make the most of what she has. Her line, "What kind of monster would put something like this in a baby?" is full of such controlled anger, fear, and concern...
-Great Scene 3: As Hobbes, Darien, Monroe and the Official make plans for how to pull off the meeting with Stark, a few quick cuts show just how much fun Eberts is having beating the crap out of Adam at FakeDoom! From the Official almost hugging his two top agents, to Alex getting her way by threatening to go over his head, to Darien and Hobbes slyly hinting that Eberts isn’t answering the phone because he’s with a woman...it’s just a great scene all around! And the Official gets the best punchline: "Eberts, you’re not entitled to a sex life."
-Trust Eberts to be exuberant in the geekiest way. "Who has released the dogs!" (uh, that’s ‘Who let the dogs out’), and then in truly white bread fashion he exclaims "Who’s getting jiggy with it?! Who is getting jiggy with it?! Who is the man, sir! I believe that is me."
-...then Eberts looks so depressed when Darien takes Adam away. It’s not just concern over the kid’s welfare, or being upset at not being able to come, or his reminder of the problems on the last mission he went on...but the poor guy just lost his playmate.
-"Looks like a coffin."
"Just think of it as a life raft."
-I love the showdown between the Official and Eberts at the end as Eberts skirts the truth. For extra fun watch the Official grab Hobbes by the shirt without looking to get him to shut up.
-The ending is wonderful, but so sad. Darien fulfills his promise to come visit Adam after a few days, and sits by his side chatting about new video games and playing basketball. The music at the end is just a perfect match to the shot...and no I’m not just saying that because it was an oboe playing! No really! :-)
The Bad:
-So no one in the car can hear this large helicopter following them down the highway for a significant length of time? From the shots it looked like the chopper was gonna land on top of the car!
-They expect to keep Adam comfortable and not freaked out...and yet ‘his room’ is the concrete version of the Agency’s holding cell?!
-Wouldn’t the elevator stop when the alarm went off in the compound to prevent people in it from escaping?
-How does Darien contact Stark? I can’t imagine Stark is listed in the phone book.
-And why doesn’t Stark try to grab Darien when he’s got him alone in the middle of nowhere? Yea he wants the kid, but you think he’d try anyway!
-So Stark and all of his men arrive in the truck with the cryo-tanks. They’re ambushed and Darien drives off with the truck. Was Stark captured? Killed? If they escaped, HOW?! What happened?
The Crap Count:
-"Aw crap" Darien, when found by Monroe.
The Nitpicky:
-I’ll be the first to praise the varied and imaginative camera shots in this eppy. But there were so many from the floor looking up at characters that I had the un-PC thought that one of the new cameramen must be a midget!
-So Alex gets a syringe of counteragent from Claire...does she ever actually give it to Darien?
-Just a random bit of info: Darien’s car has no gas cap cover.
-Rejected Dialogue-> Adam, about what he uses in his hair, "Gel I guess...", Darien, "Gel? Wow, I used to use that stuff. In fact I used so much my hair is permanently stuck up like this."
-More Rejected Dialogue-> Adam makes a basket at the park. Darien, sounding like a Spanish soccer announcer, "GOOOOOOOOOAL!"
-The background music to that FakeDoom game sounded very familiar... :-) So THAT'S where the old IM theme song went to!
-Monroe shows a picture of the scientist who developed the virus on her computer. That’s one awful picture! The poor guy looks like a deer caught in headlights!
-Eberts has not one...but TWO pictures of the Official in his living room. One is behind the couch looking "over his shoulder", the other is on the side of the couch.
-Stark and Darien meet alone in the middle of the desert...and are lit by what? Where is that light coming from, a UFO flying overhead?!
-Why are all the Agency agents dressed in dark suits? Wouldn’t this make more sense to be in camouflage? Or at least something comfy they can attack in!
"Sometimes stuff is out of our control. And when it is sometimes the
best thing you can do it just sit tight, do nothing. Wait for it to come back
into control again."
-Darien
