Hi everyone!
Welcome to my dorky little review of this weeks eppy Perchance to Dream. As always herein lies massive spoilers for this episode, and all thoughts are my own. I have been to no sleep clinics so nothing was implanted.
Overall:
"This thing inside me is going to destroy me."
"Yea, I know that feeling."
So Claire, how does it feel to be confined, restrained, scared out of your mind over something implanted in your head that could drive you nuts, and told you had to put your life in the hands of people you don’t trust?
Wait, does that scenario sound familiar?
OK perhaps I’m being a bit petty and vindictive on Darien’s behalf, but Hobbes already had a taste of the problems Darien faces...it was about time our all powerful Keeper knew what it was like to be Kept. Who knows if she’ll be more sympathetic to Darien in the future because of it.
Subtext aside, I had a problem with the pacing of this episode. The scenes dealing with Claire and her brainwashing were incredibly intense, emotional scenes...that were interspersed with these bits of "fluff", mostly witty banter between Darien and Hobbes. Now don’t get me wrong, I love watching these guys interact, but it threw off the way the story moved to suddenly have this random 5 minutes of Darien being talked through working a copier. I found myself ansy, wondering when we were going to get back to the plot.
The Good:
-I gotta start by saying the best scenes in this episode were the emotionally charged one’s with Claire going nuts with either Darien or Hobbes in attendance. Shannon does an incredible job playing a side of the Keeper we’ve never seen, an emotional wreck, while still playing true to Claire’s character.
-We’re treated to some Homer and Beatles this week from Darien’s World Of Quotes. Personally I get by with a little help from my friends...and some chocolate...
-Something tells me if Claire ever did come with Hobbes and Darien when they went to "hang" that she’d end up playing surrogate mother to those two.
-I wonder if there really is still some suspicion of Darien using the gland "off the clock" or if Claire was just cranky from not sleeping well.
-I’m impressed that Darien can keep up with Claire’s Jeep Grand Cherokee in that old Ford...
-"Someone would have to testify to that and I’m the only one who saw
her."
"And he ain’t gonna testify, right?"
"Right...well I was implying that in my answer."
-I love watching Hobbes failing miserably to mask how protective and concerned he is over Claire. It’s obvious this is more then the Agency looking after it’s own...and it’s kinda cute. :-)
-"Do we have a card?"
"We have a card, they’re being printed up."
...didn’t Hobbes have a card in Tiresias?
-While it was wonderful to see Jones again, and especially wonderful to watch both Darien and Hobbes play with the guy...their banter about Bozo, and needing yoga...once again Jones’ scene’s felt like filler.
-Oh for cryin’ out loud...only Hobbes and Darien would have to break into the FBI to get information about a case!
-"We used to have a file called BFM."
"Which stood for..."
"Big Frickin’ Mess."
-For some reason I am not surprised that in his arsenal of talents that include pinpointing a sniper with the crack-bang...Hobbes could work a Duplicator R3000 from memory.
-There’s a wonderfully painful moment when Claire says "My life is in your hands and I don’t trust you." Both Darien and Hobbes look so torn and upset by her statement. Hobbes next line about "You’re going to have to learn to, Claire." almost comes out pleading, while Darien just looks plain hurt.
-...of course she may have more problems giving her trust if she knew that Hobbes then wanted to spend the day bowling.
-I love how, even though he’s not a thief anymore, Darien still wants to "case the joint."
-"Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for you, my friend." So while I’m sure Darien was thinking John Donne there, Hobbes was correct. For Whom The Bell Tolls is a Metallica song off their "Ride the Lightning" album. Personally I love Enter Sandman better...what? Just because I’m a classical musician doesn’t mean I can’t love heavy metal!
-"Who does the authorizing? Peewee Herman?"
-I do like the fact that we don’t find out what’s going on with Claire until Darien and Hobbes figure it out. X-Files has been pissing me off that way, where the audience is shown what’s really going on and then left to wait for the characters to catch up.
-Watching Claire slowly break down as she tells that childhood story...plus watching Darien first look confused, not understanding why she’s suddenly telling this story and then his slowly dawning horror and empathy...that’s a riveting few minutes to watch. Damn I just wanted to jump in the TV and give Claire a huge hug after that!
-This week on Let’s Restrain a Cast Member: poor Darien and Hobbes are forced to strap down a hysterical Claire...they look justifiably horrified as Claire goes bonkers. Wow...*shudder*...that’s another riveting scene.
-"Can you both speak a little slower?"
"No you need to listen faster."
-Eberts never quite knows how to handle both Darien and Hobbes when they’re talking as one guy...odd considering how he does it with the Official all the time!
-Case in point:
Darien, "Well that’s impossible..."
Hobbes, "...seeing as we’re both..."
Both, "...federal agents."
-Of course Eberts doesn’t have any better luck dealing with just Hobbes. I loved watching him begin to explain what’s going on with Claire, only to stutter to a stop every time Hobbes turns to glare at him.
-"Don’t be giving me lectures on mental problems, Eberts. I practically got a Ph.D. in Nutso." You know, between Hobbes own need for Zoloft and increased paranoia...plus the fact that’s he’s partners with a guy who tends to go psycho every 6 days...Hobbes has a point.
-More from Hobbes and his feelings for Claire: look at the absolute sincerity on his face when he says "You’ll be safe, Claire, I swear you’ll be safe."
-I had too much fun watching Darien smack around the kid from Stand By Me. To bad there weren’t any leaches nearby...OK I know most people see Wil Wheaton as that guy from Star Trek, but to me he will always be that kid from Stand By Me. :-)
-Watch the look of horror on both Hobbes and Darien’s faces when they find out the program can’t come out.
-At first I got annoyed at the end sequence, where we apparently see Claire escape and shoot the jogger. It was so reminiscent of the first scene it wasn’t just deja vu, it was copy and paste! But it makes sense when you find out it was actually a "movie" Darien and Hobbes created...they would just re-create a scenario they know will work.
-OK so hands up to everyone who thinks Darien told Claire it was more Hobbes’ idea just so she’d "specially" thank him...especially knowing how big a crush Hobbes has on the Keeper.
-The ending was so sweet it gave me a toothache, but it was fun to see Hobbes reduced to a grinning teenager after that kiss.
The Bad:
-I’ve already talked about the problems I had with the pacing in this episode...it just felt choppy to me, going back and forth so suddenly between these intense emotional moments and then fluffy partner banter.
-They really had no other leads to go check out, or work to take care of, that Hobbes wanted to go bowling?!
-So Darien is checking out the first sleep clinic, possibly in danger considering what this place did to Claire, and Hobbes...the same Hobbes who doesn’t bail on his partner...FALLS ASLEEP?!
-Hobbes and Darien practically run out of the building after having to strap the Keeper down...uh, where were they running off to? To get coffee?!
-So Darien see’s the biker about to shoot them, pulls Hobbes down, turns invisible, and knocks the biker to the ground. Then...really does vanish? He couldn’t stick around an extra few seconds to kick the gun away? Or punch the guy an extra time? Or stop him from picking up the gun and trying to shoot Hobbes again...or himself?! Where did he go?!
-So Stand By Me Boy denies everything, even after they watch the scary tape. Until Hobbes wants the program removed, and suddenly he can’t help but gloat by spilling the beans over their creation?
The Crap Count:
-"Aw crap." Darien, when he see’s the biker with a gun.
-"My preference is the hard way, because then we get to beat the crap out of you." Darien, to the computer geeks.
-"Cut the crap, all right?" Hobbes, to the computer geeks.
-"Aw crap." Hobbes and Darien in stereo when they see the guards knocked unconscious.
The Nitpicky:
-Darien waltzes into the lab announcing "Fill ‘er up." Would you like unleaded? How ‘bout I check you’re oil?
-I would now like to rant a bit about that monitor in Darien’s wrist and the fact that we can’t seem to get a clear consensus on just what QSM symptoms appear at what point. We’ve seen Darien just fine until the whole thing turns red...and we’ve seen him in pain with 2-3 segments still green. This week he appears fine with just 2 segments left...then he chases Claire across town, brings her back to the lab and has a little meeting with everyone all apparently without any problems. Personally I was scared he was gonna start to go nuts in the car chasing Claire...talk about road rage. Can we get some clarification on this? I wouldn’t be so upset, but this show has been wonderful about explaining all these things clearly...giving us scientific explanations for all the strange and weird things we’ve seen. It just irks me this major part of the gland and what it does to Darien is so...fuzzy...I’ve joked in the past that the symptoms appear when the writer needs them to, but I’m beginning to want answers.
-Is this the first time we hear Claire (or anyone for that matter) call the lab "the Keep"?
-Eberts says he’ll post guards outside the lab...and we do see guards there most of the time. Except when Darien and Hobbes leave to go check out the first sleep clinic. Oops...
-I believe this is the third time someone has said these exact words: "You know what your problem is, Fawkes?" The first time it was that he was hanging around Hobbes too much and getting paranoid....last week it was that whole "limitations" speech...and now this week it’s the fact that he has no hobbies. I think I’ll go with Darien’s answer the first time, "Yea, I’ve got a gland in my brain that doesn’t belong there."
-This week on Things I Never Want To See Again: Mr. Pervert "stimulating" that sleeper so she turns into someone from the Playboy channel...eeewwww!
-So after months of watching this show and seeing almost nothing but blue skies every episode we finally find out when it rains in San Diego...at night.
-"The guy’s a gosh damn pervert." Uh, did Hobbes really say "gosh damn" ?!? :-)
-"Mr. Gallagher had been our typical patient." Except that he likes to smash watermelons in his spare time.
-How come the biker didn’t have on his helmet before he started chasing Darien and Hobbes?
-"The Keep go Section 8?" Wait, Claire is going to turn into Klinger?
-So MovieClaire escapes rather nicely from those restraints...and she did it without the help of a pen!
-MovieClaire grabs a gun off one of the guards to take with her, but the gun she actually uses on the jogger is different...it’s the same one RealClaire had at the beginning. Ooops...
"Will you stop it with the Three Stooges act?"
"We don’t do them."
"Not that we wouldn’t like to."
"But we’re only two guys."
-Jones, Darien and Hobbes.
