Hi everyone and welcome to another long winded review! I’m your ranter, Lauren, and I’ll be going on for several pages about Mere Mortals. As always this review does contain HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for that eppy, and all ideas are my own. None stolen from others...I’m not that good a thief.
This review is dedicated in loving memory to Junior, my pet mouse of over a year and a half. He was a wonderful little pet and will be missed dearly. Considering he looked exactly like a small version of DarienTheRat, I thought it appropriate to dedicate a review to him.
*sniff*
Overall:
Darien is an agent for only one reason: he’s got the gland. Sure he has other skills that are an asset to the Agency, but when push comes to shove he’s The Invisible Man. Darien gets pulled in two different directions because of this...he wants to be normal, free from the problems and fears that go along with the gland, and prove to those around him that he’s worth more then his brother’s creation. But the gland is the only thing that really makes him work at the Agency. Even when called on to perform as a thief again, a job he used to do for years without any quicksilver, he ends up wishing for the gland.
Darien is forced to choose...be normal again, but unable to help his friends or do his job, or be The Invisible Man and deal with the consequences. In the end he chooses the gland and accepts that being The Invisible Man is now an essential part of who he is. But...as he says himself...he doesn’t have to like it.
The Good:
-Darien must have been in the "s" chapter of his Quote book this week, as we get Salvador Dali, Shakespeare, and George Bernard Shaw.
-Hobbes has come a long way...our little tiger, who used to be more concerned with keeping his partner in line and doing as he is told, now enjoys using some off-limits quicksilver to get into a movie and a waterpark illegally.
-Watch flames shoot from Claire’s eyes as she barks out "On the chair!" to a half visible Darien.
-Great Scene 1: Claire explains how she’ll shut off the Q-gland, Darien passed out the champaign and then takes off for freedom. I liked the camera circling around everyone gathered around the chair like we’re peaking in on a meeting. Notice the gang is drinking the champaign out of lab beakers! For extra fun watch the Official prowl around Darien, looking pissed that his secret weapon will be out of commission and unable to do a thing. I also enjoyed Hobbes reading Claire’s mind and having the tarantula ready, and then Darien taking off at the end like a kid being let out of school on summer vacation!
-Rachel, to Darien, "You know a hottie like you..." Wait a sec...how did another member of the VVSB get on the show?! ;-)
-As if spit shinning the Official’s shoes wasn’t enough, now Eberts is reduced to telling HIMSELF to shut up! "Shutting my mouth, sir. Yes, yes..."
-It’s nice to know Darien paused long enough to tell Rachel he doesn’t want to be a one-night stand kind of jerk. Of course the pure rapture on his face when he realizes that’s exactly what she wants is hysterical. Within seconds he’s stripped the bed, stripped himself...
-...and then Alex has quite a bit of fun barging in on the first normal woman he’s gone out with in years.
-And now the Thank God For Eberts moment of the eppy, as Claire grabs her
glove and KY..."What’s the glove for?"
"Do you really have to ask?"
I think I had announced outloud several times "I don’t want to see
this!" as Darien started to roll over, only to be saved by Eberts.
-Gotta love the hospital gown with a rear room with a view. Darien appeared rather easygoing about letting that thing flap in the breeze. Then again Claire’s seen it all, and Hobbes and Alex got the full monty back at Rachel’s place, so I guess there isn’t much left to hide. :-)
-Watch Claire get all excited about her little presentation, grinning and getting all flustered as she gets applause and encouragement from Hobbes.
-The Official may joke that Darien has no higher brain functions, but he knows a better plan (and a better thief) when he hears it! "What he said!"
-Enjoy the grin Alex gives when the Official says, "Alex, you’ll be the one to make the penetration...don’t you say anything."
-I enjoyed watching Darien be noble and smash the drug lab while Hobbes gave out advice from Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods ("Billy, Don’t Be a Hero" is one of their song titles)
-Listen for the "Ow!" when Alex and Hobbes first bump into the door.
-Watch Alex get a bit demented as she says, almost innocently, "I wanted to shoot them...I like shooting them!"
-I knew as soon as Hobbes glanced at that speaker he was gonna shoot out the elevator muzac, and trust me I was the first person the cheer when he did!
-Bookend Dialogue: In the first scene after the credits, when Claire says she’s know all along how to shut off the gland, Darien says "That’s funny, it sounded like she just said..." So it’s appropriate when Darien bursts in telling her to turn the gland back on that she laughs and says, "That’s funny, it sounded like you just said..."
-I loved the subtitles for gagged Hobbes!
-There’s something almost poetic about the sound Golda makes as she splutters and dies when Darien tries to start her up...and then the sound the gland makes as she splutters and dies when Darien tries to start her up. The only woman Darien was able to turn on when he wanted was Rachel, and he had to leave her! :-)
-It was great watching Darien save himself by running up to a bunch of cops...probably the first time he’s ever been happy to see them!
-I loved Darien’s mantra of "You’re the invisible man!" when he’s trying to get the gland working again.
-Why am I not surprised Alex would take a moment to check her gun and then her makeup before getting Hobbes?
-"I can’t believe you walked into a trap...I can’t believe they fell for that!"
-Makes sense that Darien would be smart enough to bring guns, but not enough to bring extra clips. Despite his quip, "If you guys would stop missing so much you wouldn’t need another clip!"
-I loved the quicksilver effect at the end as Darien and Claire check out the gland! The pose Darien strikes is as if Elvis could quicksilver!
The Bad:
-Why didn’t Claire protest Darien being able to go off on the mission to get the crystals? Especially with time running out on being able to "fix" him, and her being right in the middle of the exam!
-Alex takes a moment to stick a gun in her pants before getting Hobbes...yet several times announces they are unarmed later. Did she forget about that piece in her underwear?
The Crap Count:
-"Aw crap." Darien, when the fire alarm goes off.
-"Oh crap!" Darien, when Golda doesn’t start.
The Nitpicky:
-I’d like to take this moment to grin and wave to all the people who went to ComicCon this summer.
-The only movie name I was able to make out was "Terror Times Two". Did Darien get any GOOD horror movies, or just cheesy B-list stuff?
-Check out Darien’s watch when he oversleeps. It’s not just the middle of the afternoon...it’s 6:30!!!
-If Rachel was swinging her hips any more when walking away from Darien she’d be a pendulum!
-Did Claire know the enzyme wouldn’t degrade and could cause a possible life-threatening situation before "unleashing the puppy"? If so, shouldn’t she have warned Darien of this while giving him the shot?
-Did Darien stop off at Open Sesame (the K-Mart for thieves) for all those nifty tools, or did the Agency have all that in stock?
-It’s so cliché to have Warring be the head honcho for a drug company...and have two kids of his own.
-So why does the enzyme to shut off the gland go right into Darien’s head, but the counter go into his butt?
-I wonder how much OnStar paid for that product placement.
-A geyser of quicksilver erupts from the windmill when Darien finally gets his groove back. Did Darien just...puke up quicksilver all over the place!? No wonder Alex and Hobbes were clinging to each other looking horrified!
"Calm down!"
"It’s kinda hard to do that and freak out at the same time!"
-Hobbes and Darien
