The Invisible Man 1.2 - Catevari

Plot: We lead off with Fawkes breaking into the Official's office. In story, it's him searching for the counteragent. It also serves as his chance to recap relevant parts of the pilot for us. The counteragent is being kept in a lab downstairs, but when Fawkes goes there, he's ambushed by a British sounding blonde lady who describes herself as he keeper. Then she tranqs him and throws him into a padded room, where she leaves him until he appears to have gone Quicksilver mad, then comes in and tries to get him to trust her by calling him "mate" far too many times. Fawkes, not eager to go mad, agrees reluctantly.

At the San Pablo Military Infirmary, two men sit playing chess. Well, Warren plays and talks, Fogerty sits and does nothing else. According to one of the doctors, he hasn't done anything else in 30 years, but that night, Fogerty rises from his bed, and removes his gloves, revealing some really nasty nails. He shows concern for Warren, who was a guinea pig at an H-bomb test, but Warren's still dead the next morning, along with most of the staff. The Official sets Fawkes and Hobbes with the task of finding the so-called "Catevari", but won't explain the importance. Hobbes doesn't care, and is distinctly hostile towards Fawkes' questions and doubts. As it turns out, Fogerty was an earlier experiment from the Agency, an top agent who agreed to be made into a walking poison. But something went wrong - surprise! - and Fogerty's brain seemed to be fried, leaving him in the comatose state we first observed. Except that based on a quote he used, Fawkes and Hobbes realize Forgerty was aware all those years, but also trapped in his own mind. So he's a bit pissed.

By the time the Official finally came clean, Fogerty's already killed the former head of the Agency (now a Senator in a really ill-fitting suit), and nearly killed the Official (Fawkes saved him, but wouldn't let Hobbes shoot Fogerty). The Official tasks them with killing Fogerty, and Fawkes tells them he'll likely go after the guy who made the drugs. In reality, Fawkes expects the victim to be Fogerty's keeper, and wants to try and talk him down. He's right about Fogerty's target, but the talking part doesn't go so well. He keeps Fogerty from blowing them all up, but Fogerty prefers to go out in a hail of gunfire from Hobbes, who had stuck a tracker on Fawkes' shoe. At the end, Fawkes is left still working for the Agency, taking injections from his Keeper.

Quote of the Episode: Fawkes - 'Your pal has been stuck in frozen, crazy hell for over 30 years.'

The "oh crap" Count: 0 (9 overall).

Who's getting quoted this week: Fawkes used Santayana and JFK, Fogerty opted for the Grateful Dead, and then Nietzche's abyss line.

Times Fawkes Goes Into Quicksilver Madness: 0 (2 overall). The Keeper indicated he hadn't done it yet at the beginning, but it sure seemed like it. I'll defer to her, though.

What department is the Agency affiliated with this week? Still Fish and Game.

Other: This episode really establishes Fawkes as being in hostile territory here. The Official was already questionable, considering his willingness to use Arnaud's own strategy of the counteragent to keep Fawkes around. Here, he claims Fogerty was his best friend, but does not allow any outward sign that ordering Fogerty's death troubles him. And if he'll do that to his best friend, it doesn't bode well for Fawkes if he steps out of line.

Hobbes is completely hostile now. He was already irate about a lack of perceived respect towards him from the Official, and now he's been paired with a complete ingenue when it comes to spycraft and serving one's country. One who makes twice as much as Hobbes, while constantly complaining about and questioning his orders. Hobbes doesn't question, maybe he can't afford to. He's wrapped up in his job and if he stopped to consider how awful the compensation for his job is, he might not be able to go on. Or he's just a true believer in the value of his work. As Fawkes tries to point out, he's not the only one with similarities to Fogerty. I did think Hobbes' reaction Fawkes saving a baby instead of the Senator was interesting. He said that wasn't doing one's duty, it was being a nice guy. Hobbes knows that in their line of work, there's a difference. The question is whether it bothers him.

And the Keeper did a pretty poor job of implementing her "make Fawkes trust me" plan. I suppose her attempt to tranq Fogerty at the end was an attempt, to show Fawkes she understood his desire to save the man, but I feel like the big conversation between the 4 of them in her lab prior to that undercut it. She takes a very clinical approach to describing things as the Official lays it all out, and when she basically confirms Fawkes as an experiment - by comparing him to Fogerty who she says is an experiment - she displays a general lack of concern for him as a human being. It reinforces the idea she's there to keep Fawkes in line, not to help him. She's the Keeper, a job, a title, not a person as far as Fawkes is concerned. Like the Official. Which does make for some interesting possibilities with Hobbes, since we know his name. And it's worth noting he backed up Darien when he pointed out Fogerty had been aware all these years, as Hobbes is the one who says where the line 'my rain shall fall like crazy fingers' comes from.