Hey everyone!
Sorry this took so long, but I’m in the middle of an Opera run, and it’s kind of hard to sit down and review when you spend just about every waking moment sitting in a dark Pit playing "Merry Wives of Windsor". And trust me to think of IM every time the Frenchman says "Merde!"
ANYWAY, since I had today off I finally got to give The Importance of Being Eberts the time it deserves for a review. As always this contains huge honkin' spoilers for that eppy, and all ideas are my own. Look it’s a three hour opera, I haven’t had time to steal ideas off the BBoard! ;-)
In case you missed my earlier post on the subject, the title is from the Oscar Wilde play called "The Importance of Being Ernest", although what with the subject matter perhaps "Mirror Mirror" would have been better.
Overall:
Now that Mike is a full fledged cast member it’s only right he finally get his own episode, and so this week we learn about Eberts, the man behind the Official. It gives Mike a chance to do more then be Mr. Exposition, and he does a wonderful job playing both Eberts and Arnaud as Eberts! And while Darien says they learned more about Eberts when it was Arnaud, I kinda wish it had been Eberts the entire time. Who knows what he might have revealed about himself besides his first name!
Also we’re reminded of Arnaud, who may have disappeared but isn’t missing. While the Agency may not know the specific reason why Arnaud needs the gland files, obviously his doctor can’t fix his permanent invisibility and now he’s trying to see how Kevin did it with Simon Cole. We may see (or not see) a lot of Arnaud in the future.
The Good:
-A bit of Billy Joel ("The Stranger", from the album with the same title) and Sir William S. Gilbert with HMS Pinafore ("Things are seldom what they seem"). Apparently Darien was on a musical kick this week.
-HobbesNet? OK I guess I need to go on-line and start searching for Hobbes.net :-) However it’s nice to see Hobbes making reference to his list of contacts. While Darien may joke about it, Hobbes knows what he’s doing and has the experience to prove it.
-I wonder if Darien really understands those military hand signals Hobbes was using, or if he just ignores them and does what he wants.
-"Drop that spork, ma’am!"
-Great Scene 1: The Official chews out Darien and Hobbes, Eberts proves he’s got the background to help and is teamed up with the Dynamic Duo. For extra fun watch Hobbes and Darien list off some of their most notable cases of bad judgment, the blank look Darien gives Eberts when he goes into the computer rant, the simultaneous "What?" all three give, Hobbes shaking his head at the Official as Eberts tries to worm his way out of the assignment...and of course that final "Shut up Eberts! Shut up Hobbes!" with that evil look at Darien just waiting to add his name to the Shut Up list!
-...that scene segue’s rather nicely into Great Scene 2 as Darien and Hobbes discuss having Eberts on the team. Watching Hobbes go off on the lackey is just a ton of fun, and already Darien’s patience limit is low when dealing with full snarky Hobbes.
-"There’s no backspace in combat, my friend."
-"You really should embroider some of these saying and put them on a pillow. What? You can sell them on HobbesNet!" Or a T-shirt would be nice... :-)
-"Well according to this data, our Hacker has some pretty clever ways
of disguising his identity."
"As opposed to stupid ones?"
-I love Eberts trying to look serious and official when he tells the Cafe owner the information is classified.
-Something tells me that while Darien and Hobbes might not report Darien’s illegal use of quicksilver, Eberts will.
-I love hearing Eberts try to describe what it’s like to be quicksilvered. Unlike Hobbes, who was squeamish about it at first, Eberts has an almost childlike glee at the sensation, and clearly can’t wait for Darien to "shoom" them again!
-Since the Official said Eberts passed his physical and is trained for fieldwork, it shouldn’t be surprising to see Eberts holding his own in a fistfight. However it was still a ton of fun to watch EBERTS do some Kung Fu!!
-With 20/20 hindsight, you can clearly tell it’s Arnaud that walks out of the Cafe with Darien and Hobbes. When watching the first time I just figured Eberts grew a backbone after getting some field experience, and all his actions still make sense as Eberts. Yet knowing it’s Arnaud you can see all the little ways he holds himself and the tone of his voice that suggest it’s not Eberts. Excellent job by Mike there!
-Great Scene 3: Hobbes and Darien discuss the new Non-Shut-Up Eberts. A lot of the fun scenes in this show were watching the two of them bantering back and forth, and this scene is no exception. Hobbes spells out his paranoia, Darien tries to find out why the two of them are like "a pair of bitchy teenagers", and it’s just a ton of fun to listen to!
-"Your talent it is up here, Eberts."
"Thanks, so is yours."
"What are you talking about? I kick ass!"
-Completely Irrational Thought of the Eppy: Eberts winks at Hobbes and my reaction? "Oh wow, Eberts might be gay!"
-Great Scene 4: Darien ribs a paranoid and jealous Hobbes who is insisting Eberts is not just a spy but hitting on the Keeper as well. Then Hobbes guilts Darien into following Eberts around, "Then 17 years of intuition and experience have failed me."
-Finally Darien is kept from sneaking through a door by following someone! Not everyone leaves the door open behind them long enough for an invisible man to walk in, and it’s nice to see that happen!
-I love Darien taking the time out of sneaking around Ebert’s house to check his hair.
-I spent the entire commercial break after Darien found that stuff in Eberts garbage going "What the Hell was that?! What was that?! Hello! Someone wana fill me in?!" Nice to know that was intentional :-)
-"Eberts? He irons his underwear."
-How come abandoned warehouses always have really generic names, like "Supply Co"?
-"I’ve got a bad feeling. I’ve seen this before."
"When you were in the CIA?"
"No."
"FBI?"
"No."
"NSA?"
"I was never with them. Chuck Bronson movie, Deathwish collection. I’ve
got them on DVD."
-I think it’s neat how Darien used the cardboard to siphon quicksilver through the space between the door and the frame so they could see "through" the door. Interesting to know he’s been practicing that. However I don’t think MacGyver ever did that trick.
-Farscape Moment: Darien and Hobbes turn into Crichton and D’Argo as they play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who jumps down the airshaft.
-Great Scene 5: Darien and Hobbes fill in a newly rescued Eberts on his evil twin while riding back to the Agency. Eberts gets confused, Hobbes makes a case about his good looks, and then Darien has to separate them as they start to argue. Although I was unhappy when the scene was cut short so we couldn’t see Darien and Eberts try and swap seats in the moving van! For extra fun, watch Darien rolls his eyes when Hobbes and Eberts go at it.
-"Darien, that’s it!"
"What’d I do?"
-Talk about your evil twin! All he needed was some Cliché Star Trek Evil Facial Hair and he’d be set!
-The poor guards at the Agency finally get used to having an invisible man on the roster, so that they can yell at him when they’re knocked down by an unseen force, only to be wrong this time.
-And now, bypassing the one in "Diseased" as the Strangest Chase Scene in History: invisible naked Arnaud rides a bike to get away from invisible Darien hanging 10 on a skateboard. All we see is the vehicles. Add a touch of Surfer/Hawaiian 5-O music, and voila!
-I believe Mr. Phelps was the guy on the original Mission Impossible squad, the master of disguise. Right?
-Albert Eberts, huh? (and how did Darien ever find out Ebert’s first name?) Boy his parents hated him! All we need now is a middle name for Darien, Eberts, and the Official plus a last name for Claire, and we’re all set!
The Bad:
-Once again Arnaud proves he’s the master at convoluted plans. Why didn’t he just hang out by the Lab till he could sneak in behind someone, watch Claire till he saw the password, then sneak upstairs and use it? Oh wait...then there wouldn’t be an eppy...
-Attack of the Bad ADR: Hobbes opens the window to send Eberts’ paper flying...and the voice sync really does not match up at all.
-Isn’t Claire smart enough to know she needs to come up with a password that CAN’T be easily figured out (like Keepsake). Something random like HJ2dr18ppl?
Crap Count:
-"Aw crap." Darien, when he see’s Eberts tied to the chair.
The Nitpicky:
-Check out the left shoulder on Darien’s tan jacket, that thing is beginning to show some wear and tear. Then again with how much Darien gets knocked around I’m not surprised.
-So is Arnaud unable to quicksilver other objects? Is he forced to walk around naked all the time?
-Wow, that was some awful elevator music playing at the "World Wide Well" Cafe.
-"Eberts, why do you think they picked an ex-con to be the next invisible man?" While Darien was implying it’s so that they could do some illegal things...uh...wasn’t it because his brother was the project leader and creator and didn’t want him going to prison...?
-Apparently Darien has decided the best way to make sure people don’t force him to use too much quicksilver, or get them to give him counteragent, is to be straightforward with the consequences. "He’s the computer guy and I’m the guy that goes insane if he uses to much quicksilver." ; "Oh sure, if you don’t mind being locked up with a raving lunatic." ; "I’m sorry for interrupting, but I kinda need a shot here before I go insane."
-Arnaud (as Eberts) attaches a small blinking and beeping box to Claire’s computer. Wouldn’t they hear the beeping?
-I’ve come up with a theory on Darien’s clothing. It’s psychological...being the Invisible Man has caused Darien’s psyche to think he’s invisible even when not quicksilvered, and in his attempt to be noticed by those around him he wears clothing that makes him stand out. Hence, the bright orange pants.
-Apparently after crashing into the car in "Beholder" and the large glass pane in TOIM, Darien now knows how to break through windows and not get hurt. He seamed fine after smashing into that car window!
"Holy Toledo, I’m invisible!" -Eberts
