Hey everyone!
A small side story...I finally saw one of the Fun Bobby episodes last night. It was the second one, and I kinda wish it was the first, since the character of Fun Bobby was kind of THROWN at me with no backstory...and after getting used to VV playing Darien this was, well...quite a different character let me tell you! Oh but I’d love to get a lift from him! :-)
Man...IM is getting me to watch Geico commercials, Friends episodes, and movies about the Three Stooges!
ANYWAY...
I was half looking forward to this episode, and half dreading this...only because The Other Invisible Man was so outstanding that I was afraid anything less then spectacular this week would fall flat. Luckily there was a two week wait, giving me a chance to come down from my TOIM high...and this was a very good episode!
As always, my review contains huge honkin’ spoilers for Reunion. Don’t read it unless you want to be completely spoiled. All ideas are my own...I’m not stealing them from my younger sister. :-)
Overall:
Wow, talk about Angst O’Rama! I can tell you right now Arnaud wins the Screwing With Darien’s Head Award for this week...going so far as to dig up Kevin’s body (ewww) for some hair. We all suspected Arnaud was behind everything, and I have bet money that Kevin was really dead from teaser one...fortunately this episode is about more then the is he or isn’t he alive question. We get a lot more about Darien’s past, a lot more from Hobbes and the Keeper about their relationship with Darien, and some more fuel for the fire that the Official knows more then what’s really going on. I will state for the record that at this point I trust Claire and Hobbes, but the Official...
The Good:
-No piece of music will give you Instant Angst faster then the Adagio movement from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. That piece is guaranteed to make you cry, even without the heartwrenching scene of Darien looking at pictures of all the people he’s lost (Casey, Kevin, his aunt and uncle who he hadn’t seen for years at that point).
-This week on the quote board we have Charles Schultz and P.J. O’Rourke. Linus always was my favorite of the Peanuts gang.
-So some questions we’ve been asking about Darien’s past are answered: Kevin was the BIG brother, their parents died while they were very young (when they were in mid-teens I’d guess) and were raised by the aunt and uncle, and the Aunt does know all about Darien’s little crime problem yet only cares that he’s OK. Plus we see where Kevin probably got his fascination with science.
-This whole episode is filled with great music, and a lot of it is completely different then what we’ve been hearing!
-Great Scene #1: One of the things I’ve adored about Darien’s voice overs is that we get to hear what he’s really thinking. So I loved the scene where Darien goes to get personal leave from the Official, and we hear what he says out loud being totally contrary to what he thinks!
-"But if I told him I wanted to go look for my dead brother he’d stick me back in the padded room."
-"Medicine. Can’t live without it, can’t live with it."
-I love the running gag about how Darien and Hobbes get no respect because they work for the Fish and Game!
-Only Darien could get arrested in his home town...and be friends with the town sheriff and STILL get locked up!
-"Hey man, really cool hair!" *snicker* ...uh, if you like that hair you should see Fun Bobby! :-)
-Sometimes the simple plans for escape are the best. Just wait for someone to open the door and walk out.
-Great Scene #2: Hobbes catches Darien walking out of jail. I love how you see each of them as the other character see’s them....Darien looks like the Jolly Green Giant, and Hobbes is in quicksilver-vision with that dorky looking temperature goggle thing on! Plus just the whole conversation is funny!
-"Not a very kind thing to do to someone with ADD."
-Hobbes sums up Darien’s old room nicely. "Looks like a shrine to bad taste. This place is like a roadmap to your psyche." And I called the naked centerfold before Hobbes opened the door. :-)
-In the I’m Thinking What Your Thinking Category, I had the same reaction to that bologna and peanut butter sandwich as Hobbes did..."Bleh!"
-Knowing now that The Official knew the Uncle and their Doctor long ago just makes me more wary of what Charlie may know and not know about that gland.
-Great Scene #3: Darien confronts Hobbes and forces him to choose between himself and the Official. Gotta love the ending with "Bobby Hobbes doesn’t bail on his partner!" And he sticks by his words to the very end.
-Para-Pschycology? Oh LOL! It’s the Amazing Hobbes!
-Love the X-Files riff that plays when Hobbes and Darien are leaving after their little "demonstration."
-In the When You Can See The Gears Turning Category, you can actually see Darien working out what his Uncle and the Official were doing together as Charlie stands over by the files searching for the right one.
-Great Scene #4: Darien, Eberts and Hobbes dig up Kevin’s casket. Of course the Official is only going to supervise...although later he looks so freaked when Kevin’s body isn’t there!
-"I don’t think manual labor is part of my job description."
"I didn’t know you were capable of sweating."
-Poor Darien sounds so hopeful when he’s calling Kevin’s name at the cabin.
-Arnaud looks very sad and sincere when he’s talking about how he tricked Darien into thinking Kevin was alive. I’m not exactly sure how to take it...but for some reason I do believe he regretted having to use that hope to get what he wanted. None of it sounds like gloating to me at all until after his line about smoke and mirrors.
-It’s Hobbes to the rescue, just in time to get wacked on the head and knocked out. Ouch! Poor guy...
-"You try walking through those damn woods! It’s like the last reel of the Blair Witch Project!"
-You can tell Darien went to see his Aunt to tell her Kevin was dead just by the way his shoulder’s slumped when he first see’s her across the lawn.
-Is this Claire’s first try at a social life with Darien? Nice try too...
-...so Darien’s "stuff" he has to take care of is re-burying his brother?! Ouch...
-It makes sense that Claire’s try at friendship with Darien is the verbal, let’s go out to lunch kind. Hobbes is a bit more direct when he just starts helping Darien bury his brother without a word. Bobby Hobbes doesn’t bail on his partner. Reminds me of a saying: Friends listen to you complain. Real friends help you bury the body.
The Bad:
-As much as the scene was well acted and necessary, it was still an awful cliché to have Arnaud show up and explain his entire scheme to Darien in the last 5 minutes. Why do bad guy’s insist on telling the good guys their plans before killing them? Not that I WANT Darien to get shot...but if Arnaud had just cut to the chase he could have grabbed the paper, shot Darien, perhaps even grabbed the body to get the gland, and been out of there before Hobbes ever arrived!
-The chase scene in the woods...I just felt it was a bit cheesy and unnecessary to have the camera look back and see branches swinging and puddles splashing to show Darien was following.
The Crap Count: Charlie tells Darien that his problem is he’s been around Hobbes for too long, and Hobbes says that paranoia is not contagious. Well obviously catch phrases are since Hobbes uses the C word as much as Darien in this episode!
-Hobbes, when he hears Kevin is alive, "Oh crap."
Darien, "My sentiment exactly." *snicker*
-Doctor, "I’m not selling anything."
Hobbes, "Except maybe a line of crap."
-Darien, when he see’s the cop car pull up, "Aw crap."
-Darien, in voice over about all the stuff that really matters, "Crap like that."
The Nitpicky:
-So Darien and Hobbes must have enjoyed getting a decent rent a car instead of those awful things they usually drive.
-"Get it?" "Got it." "Good." ...uh, s’alright? S’ok. S’alright. :-)
-Wow, those tires deflated really fast! Must be Firestone. *wince* OK...sorry...bad joke.
-For some reason I noticed this in this episode...when we’re in InvisibleDarienVision, the camera is at the right height. It actually looks down on the guys in the taxi office at just about the same height as Darien would.
-The Sheriff’s name is PIZZA?
-Why, in a house that’s being sold, is nothing packed up, only one room of the house has the furniture covered, pictures I figured the Aunt would want still laying out, and the phone is still connected?
-In one of Darien’s flashbacks we hear young Kevin say "Just this one more experiment!" and then young Darien say "You are an experiment!" ...uh, tables have turned on that little statement, eh buddy?
-Does anyone else think the cop that arrested Darien looks a lot like Val Kilmer?
-So look over Darien’s shoulder when he’s sitting on Kevin’s bed just as Arnaud calls...there’s a wire music stand in Kevin’s room. The music major in me wonders what instrument Kevin played. :-)
-So is the rental car so small that Darien needs to keep his left leg bent up on the side like that, or is that how he always drives?
-When Darien goes to see Claire in her lab, he sticks out his wrist so she can check the monitor...but he obviously doesn’t need a shot since he leaves without one. Wouldn’t he know that? Why show Claire the tattoo if he knew?
"I know what I’m doing, I have crime scene experience."
"So do I."
"I’m talking about *after* the fact!"
-Hobbes and Darien
...who’s not happy that she didn’t see any teasers for next week’s episode.
