The Invisible Man 2.17 - Exposed

Plot: Well I thought the Keeper was going to find someone qualified with sufficient clearance to help Thomas Walker, aka Augustin Gaither, recover his memories, but I guess she decided she was the most qualified person. And Thomas is starting to remember things, things he doesn't entirely understand, and doesn't like. Claire finds Darien waiting outside, though his interests are mostly selfish, as in, has Thomas remembered anything about how he might extract the gland? Unbeknownst to them, Thomas is sick of the secrecy about his circumstances, and rigs a modem for his computer, which he uses to log into the S.W.R.B.'s database. Which is detected by that agency, and since Tommy used Gaither's codes, No Name knows he's still alive. He demands a meeting with the Official on neutral ground, an arcade, but the Fat Man plays it cool, and denies any knowledge of Gaither's whereabouts.

Back at the offices, the crew meets in the Official's office. Claire is adamant they not turn over Tommy, nor does she want to break his trust. The Official doesn't trust him (and considering Thomas is listening in with a device he planted in the ventilation, perhaps it is justified). Alex wants them to just turn Thomas over. It's largely moot, because that night the S.W.R.B. sends in an assault team. At least they're equipped with nonlethal weaponry. How sweet. They catch Alex trying to copy all Claire's files, but the others have escaped with Thomas. Well, Eberts is still on the loose in the building, and he makes the mistake of calling the Official to report. He doesn't get caught, but his call is traced to the Fat Man's location. It's bad, but Thomas confesses to Darien that he remembers everything, and he turns himself over to the S.W.R.B., leaving our heroes free to return to their offices. Where they find all of Claire's data was stolen, including all the stuff on the gland. The Official is willing to write off Gaither, isn't even concerned about Alex being in their clutches, but agrees Fawkes and Hobbes should go and recover the data.

They make their way in - though they didn't bother to discuss escape until they were already inside - but when they find Gaither, he says he knew they would come, and they're captured. Hobbes gets thrown in the same cell as Alex, but Darien, oh Darien is going to get his wish, the gland removed. Too bad Gaither doesn't expect him to survive the operation. But Fawkes does wake up again, as Gaither didn't remove the gland. Gradually being reintroduced to the memories of his life caused him to reflect on his actions, and he's not happy with the man he was. So he provides Darien with a key card, and tells him where to find Hobbes and Alex, though Darien releases some other guy by accident first, but he does free them eventually and the three escape. No Name barges in to find out what's going on, where's the gland, and finds that Gaither has locked them in the lab, and the whole place blows up.

Back at the office, Claire has been going through Tommy's computers, and she found his makeshift modem, not to mention hours of recording he made of their conversations, which greatly concerns Hobbes, who asks to go through them first. Claire accedes, and she and Darien discuss the aftermath of all this. Darien admits he's a little mad Gaither won't be removing the gland, because he had that moment where he thought it had been removed.

Quote of the Episode: Augustin Gaither - 'I saw myself before I lost my senses. It was just a flash, it didn't make sense. It was horrible.'

The "oh crap" count: 3 (34 overall).

Who's getting quoted this week? Edmund Burke, who said that when bad men combine, good men must associate.

Times Fawkes Goes Into Quicksilver Madness: 0 (6 overall).

Other: It was actually a little frustrating watching Darien trying to show concern for Gaither when they were hiding out. Just because it feels so phony from Darien. All through the episode, all he's been worried about is whether they can get the memories relevant to the gland, without unleashing the unscrupulous guy. It's regarding Thomas as a resource to be exploited for Darien's benefit, nothing more. That might not be what they intended, Darien was concerned about Thomas when they first met, and he didn't know the truth about him, but it's how it feels.

I really don't want to know what conversation Hobbes has been having he's worried were recorded by Gaither. Also, I don't understand what that bit was with the guy Darien accidentally released. Fawkes insisted he knew the guy, but I don't remember seeing him up to this point. So probably some in-joke.

The reveal that Gaither actually regretted his past actions, rather than simply settling back into old patterns surprised me a bit. I kind of suspected it when he turned himself over to the S.W.R.B. so willingly, because it seemed obviously a way to save everyone. But, you could argue he simply didn't want to risk getting shot if the Official tried to tough it out. I would have said he was trying to play the "selfless" Thomas to trick the Agency people, but he'd already told Darien he had recovered all his memories (though Claire and Hobbes both seemed to ignore Darien telling them that moments later), so that doesn't work.

I've mentioned in the past with the two Resurrection Man series Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning wrote that the parts where Mitch Shelly tries to recover his lost memories are my least favorite part. And that's because, while Mitch always learns he was an awful guy in the past, there's never any real suspense about if he'll go back to acting that way. Mitch is too disgusted by those actions. The same could be said for Thomas, but he has slightly different circumstances. He's been working with people who have known the truth about him all along, but have lied to him, kept him under lock and key while telling him it was for his own protection. There were enough trust issues there to potentially cause some bitterness, and Gaither reverting back to his old self, with the S.W.R.B.'s resources, was terrifying.

I found Darien's conversation with the Keep at the end intriguing. Not just the fact he was angry that the gland hadn't been removed, but his belief that there's no chance it will ever get removed. That's a little harsh, considering Claire is standing right there, but the fatalism, that he's stuck with the gland, and the idea that everyone that gets around the gland tends to die. Some of that is probably just in the moment, still dealing with Gaither helping him escape and stopping No Name, but it's a bit of a shift. Darien's never been happy with the gland, but it's always been about how it's restricting his life. Now it seems like he's recognizing that there's so much value placed on the gland, that it creates a bullseye. But because everyone wants the gland intact, Darien is relatively safe. The same can't be said of the people around him.

Edit: Crap, there were two other things I forgot to mention. One, when the Official and everyone else returns to the Agency after the raid, Eberts crawls out of a ventilation duct, and he's cosplaying as Bruce Willis in Die Hard. No shoes, down to just his sleeveless white shirt and slacks. That was funny.

The other thing was, Darien actually won a fight. While visible. When he, Hobbes, and Alex were escaping the S.W.R.B., they had to get past a checkpoint, and all 3 of them beat up a guard each. And Darien didn't even go invisible. Just straight beat the guy. It's a Christmas miracle!