Hey everyone!
Oh has it been a long hiatus! Glad to be back and glad to have a brand new eppy to enjoy! This one was hard to review since it’s part one of a two parter...it’s hard to get the whole picture when you’ve only seen the top half. Regardless, I’ll give it a go. This contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for MFN, and all ideas are my own. Enjoy.
Overall:
It’s taken a year, but Darien has finally had enough. Depressed, and realizing that his two main goals in life are not going to happen by sitting around at the Agency, Darien takes matters into his own hands. Personally I’m not surprised he’d be willing to risk madness for a chance at freedom. You only need to look at this one episode and see how everyone treats him to realize that, as good as his life may be, Darien is still the trained dog there to perform tricks.
Sure he’s thrown a few bones (Claire telling him "You really were wonderful, Darien.") but otherwise...the Official orders him to stay separated and gets the wrong VIP treatment, little things like being denied a drink, or when he’s not quick enough to join Hobbes and Claire at the door even his own partner "calls" him (his impatient "Come on, lets go"), the Keeper whistling to him in the bathroom and then yanking him into the stall, and later actually telling him "Good boy." like a dog!...finally coming to the point where the Official demands that the money Darien stole be turned over. And why exactly does the Official think that he deserves that money? He owns Darien, and so that money is his.
So I’m behind Darien 100% on this one. Hobbes, take your partner and the money and RUN!
The Quotes: Had to move this to a new section, there were just too many! You can’t get money for nothing...but can you get your chicks for free? Also some Greek mythology, Kenny Logins, a bit of Aesop (the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg), Howard Hughes, another reference to The Devil You Know (see that review for my explanation on that quote) and a bit of Shakespear’s Hamlet:
Polonious: (after about a page and a half of some other advice)
Neither a borrow nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
The Good:
-When Darien wakes up from the nightmare, I love how suddenly quiet it is...no background music, no voice over, nothing but the freaked out look on Darien’s face and his frantic breathing.
-"The spring is gone from your step, twinkle’s gone from your eye, you’ve lost five pounds, your blood pressure is up, you’ve got dark circles under your eyes and... well...your hair..." So if the hair is down, Darien is feeling down? :-)
-Watch Eberts...as soon as he goes to stand next to Darien he does nothing but stare openly at his hair, enough that Darien tries his best to fix it only to make it worse.
-So why don’t Darien and Hobbes have to wear suits?
-Welcome to the ‘Ooooool IMan shuffle. But instead of Buffalo, our gang are off to Mexico.
-Excuse me for a minute as I drool all over myself watching Hobbes and Darien in TUXES!! YES!! Those of you that know me know I’ve been dreaming of this for months...I think I might need to marry David for making my dreams come true! THANK YOU!!!!
-Everyone looks so excited about "winning" the money...apparently even though they know Darien’s gonna cheat and win it’s still a lot of fun!
-Of course after dressing in that tux and ordering a drink, who couldn’t hear it coming: "The names Hobbes. Bobby Hobbes."
-So Claire (also looking quite beautiful) is surrounded by cute guys, Hobbes gets mobbed by sexy ladies, even the Official gets to cuddle with some women his own age...but since the Invisible Man spends his time invisible, the only one checking him out in the tux is the few moments he admires himself in the bathroom mirror.
-"I feel like an eunuch in a harem."
"There’s a reason they were made into eunuchs."
-I gotta wonder if Claire was able to resist Hobbes in that hot tub...I know *I* was ready to jump on in! That smile she gives at his "come join me" look makes me think she took a dip...
-So there’s lots of invisible effects this eppy, but by far the best was when Darien made the cart disappear, then the stacks of cash "vanishing" inside, and all that’s left is the indentation of the cart and some footprints on the carpet.
-Great Scene 1: Darien pulls out his best innocent facade as he argues ethics with the Official, and Hobbes bounces between backing his boss and bantering with Fawkes. I gotta wonder why the Official thought he had a right to that 5 million Darien stole...plus why he thought he needed it. I mean we still don’t know what happened to the 10 million from Beholder and Lesser Evil!
-"You do not want to be arguing the fine points of burglary with me."
-I’m so glad that Darien, at least until backed into a corner, didn’t trust Arnaud at all and refused to deal with him.
-Single Line That Made Me Think Too Much: Arnaud stating that "I don’t need the gland anymore." Now does that mean he’s figured out how to make more since Diseased (where he claimed that he had nothing to go on and that’s why he needed Darien’s gland), or has he just given up on that money making scheme?
-"I just didn’t want to underestimate how lazy you are."
-"That was his choice."
"No, that was never his choice!"
-Watching Hobbes spar with Orion was fun...apparently the two have a lot of history and I’d like to see them go at it some more.
-"I know that every Agency has to have its jerk at the top, but does he need to be so bloody smug about it?"
-Hobbes and Claire, as loyal as they are to the Agency and as much as they will back the Official, turn quickly to Darien’s side when it looks like he’s gonna suffer because of it. Claire didn’t need Hobbes’ arm twisting, the knowledge that the man sent after Darien will probably kill him was enough.
-It was great seeing Husclious again. It seamed like he and Darien have settled any differences, and Darien is downright friendly. They have an understanding with each other that’s interesting to see. Makes me really wonder how both would have turned out if THEY were the brothers...
-Loved watching Arnaud just sitting, waiting for his brother to tell him about Darien...finally getting impatient and coming out and asking.
-I’ve said it before...Vince scares the crap out of me when he does QSM Darien. His whole attitude going into the hospital, the way he grabbed that nurse...it’s not him and yet it is, and it makes me want to run and hide under the covers.
-Gotta love how Orion’s team showed up with a portable fire extinguisher to find Darien with!
-Great Scene 2: Darien tries to convince Hobbes to drop the Agency and come with him, while Hobbes just gets freaked out as Darien dives further and further into madness. Watching Hobbes war with himself about what’s best for Darien, or how to go about doing it...it’s a tough choice but I know how I voted. :-)
The Bad:
-If the Official is gonna let Darien go nuts in order to get the location of the money, WHY did he let Darien just walk out of the office? He knew Darien would be close to going QSM at that point, wouldn’t it have been a smarter tactical move on his point to lock him up? He had to know if Darien did go QSM he’d take off and they’d be in deep trouble. It just felt like a big mistake on the Official’s part, just so the eppy could end like it did.
-What was with the strange glowing figure Darien see’s at the meth-lab? I almost thought Darien was seeing Simon again! That guy was literally glowing!
-So Darien skipped the bloodshot phase and went straight to all red and completely nuts?
-Are WE ever going to get an explanation on these phases of QSM? Apparently Claire has warned Darien and Hobbes about this dangerous, freaky, to be avoided at all costs Phase 5. When are WE gonna be told about that? WHAT was phase 1-4?! Hello? Did I miss an eppy?!
The Crap Count:
-"Aw crap." Darien, just before dream Arnaud shoots him.
-"Aw crap." Hobbes, when he hears Darien is at the hospital.
-"Aw crap." Hobbes, in his voice over at the end asking for help.
The Nitpicky:
-Darien used a gun correctly?! Yeah, in his dreams! Oh wait...
-...and speaking of that dream gun, was he dreaming of using Hobbes’ gun?
-Does Darien get a complete medical workup on a regular basis, or did Claire just do it ‘cause he’s been depressed?
-So once the crowd gathered around Hobbes and Claire’s tables to watch them win, how did Darien manage to keep from bumping into loads of people as he fixes the games? How did he get at the table at all!
-No wonder Darien was wincing like crazy...in the bathroom Claire was trying to give him his shot sideways!
-Did anyone notice, the second morning outside shot of the casino, how the doorman in red is giving the cutthroat sign to the strolling band? What was that about?
-Uh...any reason why Darien ran into the glass divider in the Keep? :-)
-Anyone else have a bad flashback feeling when Darien pulled a Catevari and broke into the Officials safe AGAIN? Darien, by now you should know that never ends well.
-Look! It’s Kowalsky from SG-1! I knew he was still alive somewhere! :-) Seriously I love Jay, I think he’s a wonderful actor and I’d love to see him and Hobbes spar a bit. Plus he fondly reminds me of my Uncle.
-How come Hobbes was having problems pronouncing words today: "cadre", "assumption"
-Apparently Arnaud visits his brother in prison on a fairly regular basis. I wonder if it’s just to keep tabs on him, or if it is out of some twisted loyalty.
-The police scanner says that Darien is dangerous and "may be on drugs"...no the problem is he’s OFF drugs!
-OK I now would like to offer Vince some saline and my deepest sympathy. God and I thought the contacts couldn’t get any worse....*shudder*
"I feel like I’m about to take off on the ride of my life and they ain’t never going to catch me." -Darien
