The Invisible Man 1.5 - Impetus

Plot: Fawkes is waiting for a shot of counteragent when the Keeper comes in, seriously distracted by a computer printout. When Fawkes asks her about it, she plays vague, but he's able to steal enough of a glance to note the words "painful" and "death". Darien is reasonably concerned, but the Keeper insists it has nothing to do with him or the gland. She further insists the Official is not holding anything over her to make her work here, even though Darien is right when notes someone as talented as her could make beaucoup bucks in the private sector. The Keeper deflects, telling Darien he's much too suspicious, and no one is forcing her to work here.

This is where the Keeper's utter failure to build that trust she said she would in "Catevari" comes home to roost. Darien is determined to get another look at that prinout, which leads to him stowing away in her car. Which is how he sees her visit a father and his two kids, all of whom seem happy to see her. But she doesn't live with them, she lives in a very nice apartment with her dog. And her name is Claire. Fawkes gets the printout - and an eyeful - and learns of Lab 2. Which means more stalking, which leads to an old woman named Gloria the Keeper is treating. And thus Darien hatches a bad plan.

Convinced this woman is a relative of the Keep being kept prisoner by the Official to ensure Claire's compliance, he engineers Gloria's escape, figuring if he helps the Keeper, perhaps she'll give him the formula for the counteragent in return. The problem is, Gloria isn't related to Claire. She's a 35 year old woman who volunteered to test a vaccine meant to protect soldiers against biological weapons.But Claire attached it to the wrong DNA sequence, and it gave Gloria Werner's Syndrome. meaning she almost instantly went from 35 to 70, and she's spent the last 10 years aging normally from there, Claire her only attachment to a family that thinks she's dead. The Official agreed to give Claire resources to look for a cure in exchange for being responsible for the counteragent. Oh, and Gloria can transmit the Werner's through contact with other people. By biting someone trying to bring her back in, for example. Like Darien, perhaps.

Good news, Claire has a cure ready to test. Bad news, the General that commissioned the original project, doesn't want any loose ends just as he makes his pitch for a new bio-weapons division, and Claire's lab assistant reports to that General. And this is where Darien's suspicious nature comes in handy, because the fact it worked on him when administered by Claire, but not on Gloria when the shot was given by Justin, doesn't pass the smell test with him. Of course, he's wrong to suspect the Official, but the suspicion in general was sound.

Quote of the episode: Gloria - 'You haven't been telling the truth to anybody, have you?'

The "Oh crap" count: 0 (11 overall).

Who's getting quoted this week? Sir Robert Walpole.

Times Fawkes Goes Into Quicksilver Madness: 0 (4 overall).

What Department is the Agency affiliated with? Still Fish & Game, but I noticed the lettering on the door of the office building they're in said 'HUD Document Disposal Control". Not at all sure what that means. Housing and Urban Development isn't under Fish & Game is it?

Other: I thought it was really funny how the Official is only mock-offended Fawkes would suspect him of keeping an old woman prisoner to make the Keeper stay. He completely cops to the fact he would try something like that. Doesn't make it less horrible that he would, but I was impressed he didn't try to deny it was up his alley. I also enjoyed the fact he took a lot of pleasure in busting General Grissom. We learn during this episode the Official once tried to open a file on Grissom's bio-research while in Internal Investigations, and Grissom used his pull to get the Official fired. It humanizes the old man a bit, that he wants payback, but also makes him look a little better. He does draw the line somewhere, vague as it may be, and he won't look the other way just because it's his own countrymen up to no good.

Also of interest, the continuing evolution of Fawkes and Hobbes' partnership. early in the episode, when Darien complains he knows nothing of the woman who holds his sanity in her hands, Hobbes goes into a spiel about not needing to know, and just do your job. It's very much in the vein as his comments about doing your duty not always being nice, and how he would even kill himself if he was told he was a threat. But later on, once Darien's been infected, Hobbes is no longer willing to accept "need to know", and demands the Keeper be upfront with them. Sure, he presents as not wanting to be blamed for Mr. Quicksilver Gland aging to dust, but there's genuine concern.

Also, the bit where he gets drawn into the tearful family reunion hug at the end was funny. He's flustered, but touched. Oh, and we learned a few things about him. One, he's had 7 shrinks and fallen in love with all of them (were they all women I wonder). Two, Hobbes has spent a lot of time noticing the Keeper's looks, and like me, he digs the accent. This will become relevant later in the season.

One thing I wonder about with Gloria. When she was infected, it aged her to 70, and then she aged normally to 80 over the next decade. So when the Keeper administered the cure, did she de-age to where she was before the Werner's, or to the age she was before the Werner's, plus 10 years?

Along with Darien, we learned some things about the Keeper. She likes to dance in front of the mirror to rock music. She likes Twizzlers. She has a dog she speaks in baby talk to, and she named it Pavlov. Eesh. I can't really figure out how Darien was able to stow away in her SUV for the entire ride home without her figuring it out. How did he get in? You'd think it you worked with a guy who could turn invisible, you'd be more alert to doors opening and closing for no apparent reason. Maybe the Keeper just badly underestimated him. That was Darien's assessment, certainly.

I do think Darien should have come clean about being in her apartment, though I understand why he didn't. Maybe don't want to tell the woman who regularly jams needles into your arm you saw her in the shower. Still, in the interests of trust, it would be better to tell her, and accept what will hopefully just be a punch in the jaw.

One other thing we learned about Claire: She has a strong sense of responsibility. Unlike Grissom, she was not willing to walk away from her mistake, and took a job that gave her a chance to try and fix it. That's something that's becoming apparent about the Agency. It's a place for people who screwed up or pissed off the wrong people elsewhere, but they come here and work together well. The Governmental Agency of Misfit Toys, basically.