Hi everyone,
Usually I look forward to doing these reviews. They started out as an excuse to watch the episode a few extra times, and have become my long-winded way of showing my love and appreciation for one of the few shows on TV worth watching. However this week brings a sad end to my IM reviews, as we are treated to the last episode. It’s a day I’ve been dreading.
I want to take a moment and thank the entire cast and crew for making quality television week after week. These reviews were done out of respect and admiration for two seasons of amazing episodes. While I may have complained at times, pointed out flaws and nit-picked, on the whole the good far outweighed the bad. You made a show that was worth taking time away from my oboe to sit down and scrutinize closely, a show that only got better the closer I looked at it, a show that had intelligence, wit, adventure, excitement, humor, drama, and more entertainment then just about anything else on TV today. For that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I also want to thank everyone who’s put up with my long winded reviews and replied with their own comments and feelings. The other joy of doing these reviews is the conversations I get from them, and IManiacs have proven to be just as intelligent, witty, and entertaining as the show they watch. Writing a review is pointless if there is nowhere to post it, and the fans have given me a place I’m honored to submit them to. I will miss our conversations dearly.
And with that, it’s time to being the last review. As always this contains HUGE HONKIN’ spoilers for The New Stuff, and all ideas are my own. Actually all ideas come from the cast and crew of the show, I just report what I see. If you liked this review, then thank the gang from The Invisible Man.
Overall:
The Rolling Stones once sang these words of wisdom, "You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you can get what you need." For two years Darien has wanted to return to the life he once lived. He’s wanted to be free again, the gland removed, without responsibility to anyone but himself, and to go back to the job he loved; being a thief.
But after two years of trying, Darien has finally gotten what he really needed. He wanted to get rid of the gland, but what he needed was to get rid of the quicksilver madness he hates and fears. He wanted to be a thief, but as a man who can turn invisible being a thief has no challenge, no adventure, no excitement...all things he really needs, and can get from being an agent. And he wanted to be on his own again, but what he needs is a brother, one with equal parts respect, love, and responsibility...like Hobbes.
So that’s what this eppy is for; to show Darien that what he needs is really what he wants. It’s been a long, painful road for our quirky, not always straight and narrow hero. But as we close this chapter on the life of Darien Fawkes, it’s nice to know the future is looking good.
As an ending to the show, it’s perfect. Life goes on, the adventures go on, the Agency goes on, but we’re still given a happy ending. As the ending to the second season with faint hopes of a third, it’s also perfect. The show has reinvented itself by changing the dynamics of Darien, the Agency, and the gland itself...how exciting would it have been to watch the underfunded five deal with that new stuff.
*sigh*
The Good:
-Quotes this week come from Albert Camus, Cole Porter, the king of science fiction Ray Bradbury...and a little bit of Vinnie Barbarino as Darien announces "Sorry I’m late Mr. Kotter."
-"We’ve been worried."
"Extremely concerned."
"A little fermished."
-Watch Claire sit and glare at the Official in the briefing scene. Her bad vibes to the boys and cold "excuse me" as she walks out are not only the silent protests she launches at the Official for his decision to keep the cure to QSM a secret, but the tip off he needs to keep a close eye on her later.
-"That is a very dark cloud over there, my friend. This man needs 40 milligrams of silver lining, stat."
-Great Scene 1: Hobbes carries Darien in for a shot of counteragent and Darien gets the last shot he’ll ever need. Charlie makes the wrong decision and prepares to take away Darien’s freedom and life, and Hobbes and Claire stand behind Darien as he takes off. Watch Darien look shell-shocked as he tries to keep up with what he’s being told, Claire’s sad look as she watches her former charge run for his life, and Hobbes steady determination to do whatever it take to help his partner...from ordering Claire to give him whatever he needs, to disarming himself so Darien can escape. All the while the Official coldly does his job. It’s amazing acting all around, and intense to watch two years of loyalty questions finally get answered.
-If it wasn’t for the fact that Darien is in agony, the shot of Hobbes carrying him would be hysterical!
-The FX of Darien’s red eye slowly clearing was excellent!
-It’s no surprise that the first thing Darien does when free is rob a bank. But it’s too easy. It’s not the taste of righteousness that’s the problem...without the effort, the danger, the excitement, and the risk, there’s no joy.
-Great Scene 2: Hobbes comes to find out what his partner will do next and find out more then he really wanted to know. Watching Darien and Hobbes see their partnership melt away is heartbreaking. Darien tries to do the right thing in the wrong way by joining the Feds, and Hobbes stands up for himself and his honor, turning down GS-9 and working with Darien because he wants to make it back on his own merit. Bravo Hobbes! And a round of applause to Vince and Paul for a great scene!
-Look at the absolute despair on Hobbes’ face when he realizes Darien has joined the FBI...he’s almost ready to cry!
-It’s Agent Jones! His hair may be gone, but the bastard still has his attitude! It’s interesting to see him at work this eppy...Jones may be an asshole, but watching him check out the crime scene we do see that he is a competent agent.
-"Since I would like to avoid being teamed up with a joke, I would like
you to hire Bobby Hobbes as my partner."
"What?"
"At the full GS-9 salary rate."
"No way!"
"Oh, and could you transfer Jones to Alaska?"
-...for extra fun, if you can tear you ears away from Darien and Hobbes, listen to Jones try and get himself out of a trip to Alaska in the background!
-I really liked the hand-held, reality, NYPD Blue style camera we get in the FBI briefing room.
-"Look who’s here, FBI Ken and Barbie. Yo-yo sold separately."
-So while the back to back exposition scenes between Darien and Claire aren’t the most exciting in the world, they do put all the puzzle pieces together into one wonderful whole that makes sense. To paraphrase Claire, when I think how ingenious Craig is it gives me the chills!
-An Agency Agent, a member of the CDC, and a Fed...and it figures NO ONE has their ID to get into the farm! :-)
-The Quick Response Vehicles were hysterical! For extra fun watch the tumble Hobbes takes on his...ouch!
-For the deaf, Darien will now tell you there is a big swarm of locust on the way in sign language! LOL!!
-My award for the Best Reaction by a Minor Character: the dumbstruck look the guard at the farm gives watching the swarm of locust un-quicksilver.
-I loved watching Claire’s whoops of joy turn into disgust as dead locust start to rain down!
-Great Scene 3: The end. Where the Agency comes together again. Some nice homage to the beginning of the series, what with Darien once again back in that fine black leather jacket we haven’t seen since the first season and the Agency back under Fish and Game. I love Claire missing her dramatic entrance, the Official and Eberts indulging in some evil laughter, and the three amigos of Darien, Claire and Hobbes walking off into the sunset (or at least out the door together). Yeup, the Official is in big trouble!
The Bad:
-The FBI is laughing at the idea of a terrorist group who dabble in genetic engineering...being told to them by an INVISIBLE MAN. OK Jones is a prick, but you’d think the rest would give Darien some credit! Plus I find it hard to believe the FBI would know NOTHING about Chrysalis.
-I’ve complained about the sound before, but the scene between Darien and Claire in the car was especially bad! It was very obvious the whole thing was ADR...and not even good ADR.
The Crap Count:
-"Ah...crap."
"...crap. That’s right." Darien, then Hobbes, on seeing the corn.
-"Ah crap!" Darien, thinking he’s not getting any more counteragent.
-"Ah crap." Darien, realizing the attack was a Chrysalis cover-up.
-"See right there, that’s a bunch of crap." Darien, on Madre not admitting to the crime.
-"Oh crap." Darien, being followed by the Army.
The Nitpicky:
-This week Darien gets a mixed Weekly Wardrobe Wrap-up. Those fine leather jackets (both the black and the tan ones) are very nice, and his final outfit was simple, fit, and worked well. However I do not approve of these too-tight shirts where you spend too much time trying to read them. And come on, the ACLU? :-)
-Did anyone else think the tabloid Eberts was handing out would end up being The Chronicle?
-In the Eberts File from Beholder, Mike talked about how he and Vince ended up pronouncing "data" differently. So is this week’s "data, day-ta, tomato, tomata" a reference to that?
-The sunglasses that Darien gets from the FBI, the special Fed ones that Hobbes makes fun of....Darien was wearing those same sunglasses the first half of the show.
-Apparently Darien was able to put his trashed apartment back together to look exactly the way it did before Possessed!
-Rejected Dialogue: Chrysalis agent releasing the invisible locust, "Fly my pretties, FLY!!"
-So Darien is gonna come back to the Agency "my way" Is that my way or the highway?
-Who else thought the Official was gonna say "Aw crap!" right at the end?!
"Let’s get drunk." -Darien
Lauren (OboeCrazy)
