Plot: We open on Claire in her lab as an emergency strikes. Darien was trying to Quicksilver himself and Hobbes, so they could sneak into the movies, and now Darien can't get his limbs to reappear. Then he goes into Quicksilver Madness, but Claire has the counteragent, and that takes cares of both problems. Also, good news, Claire knows how to turn the gland off. Actually, she's known for 9 months, but the Official has been set against it since Darien is so critical to the Agency's success. Apparently, there's always been a protocol for shutting down the gland, but Claire wasn't sure how the changes Arnaud made to the gland would affect things, so she's going to give Darien an adrenal inhibitor so she can run a series of tests on him for the week it's in effect. So no invisibility, voluntary or otherwise.
Darien takes advantage of this to do all sorts of things that would have been too scary to attempt with an active gland, and as a result, blows off the diagnostics. He even gets picked up by an attractive lady at a newsstand. Surprisingly, he shows some hesitation, because he knows once the gland is active again, he can't see her, and he doesn't want to be a love 'em and leave 'em guy. Fortunately for his conscience, Rachel just got out of a 5-year relationship, so she does want a love 'em and leave 'em guy. Unfortunately for both their sex drives, the Keeper sent Hobbes and Alex out to find Fawkes, and they wreck the whole thing by whisking him away while Rachel's getting changed.
In the meantime, the Fat Man has agreed to help NASA recover some seed crystals. These have proven help in producing new pharmaceuticals, and can only be grown in zero gravity. And some stole them, probably a noted businessman named Shane Waring, and he's producing designer drugs for them. But the Official forgot Darien has no invisibility, and so they have to improvise. What he also forgot is that Darien was a thief before the gland, and so our boy devises a way to break in and recover the crystals. And he does it perfectly, right up to the point he decides to trash the drug lab, which starts a fire, which alerts security, and he gets caught. Hobbes and Alex rescue him fairly easily, and grab the crystals, but then Hobbes gets nabbed. So there'll have to be a trade. By this point, Claire has given Darien the enzyme to break down the inhibitor, but it hasn't kicked in yet, so it appears Alex is on her own. She does recover Hobbes by faking out the goon squad with a fake bomb in a briefcase, but their escape attempt in Waring's limo is halted by Waring's ability to call On-Star and report the theft.
Fortunately Darien followed and brought guns. Unfortunately, he didn't bring extra clips, but as he noted, if they were better shots, they wouldn't need more bullets. By this point they're hiding inside the windmill at a min-golf course Waring built for the city, and it turns out mini golf windmills aren't bulletproof. But it's at that point the gland kicks back in, rather explosively, and the goons are dispatched, Waring is arrested, and the status is quo. All that's left is for Darien to apologize to Rachel and yeah, that doesn't go well for him.
Quote of the Episode: Claire - 'If I reactivate the gland prematurely, it could damage Darien's higher brain functions.' Official - 'He has those?!'
The "oh crap" count: 2 (38 overall).
Who's getting quoted this week? Salvador Dali noted the only difference between him and a madman was that he wasn't mad. George Bernard Shaw said as long as he has a want, he has a reason for living. And that Shakespeare line about the relative number of deaths for cowards and heroes.
Times Fawkes Goes Into Quicksilver Madness: 1 (7 overall).
Other: I like how excited Darien got at the prospect of working for NASA. I'm sure he was envisioning regular space jaunts.
I'm not sure what orifice all that Quicksilver came from at the end, and it's probably better that way.
I think my favorite scene might be when Hobbes and Alex are being chased and Darien leaps out from the bushes in front of them, and hands them their guns. Mostly because, when the goons come charging around the corner a moment later, Hobbes and Alex swivel and start firing. But Darien skedaddles out of the way. That's really the best word for it. It's this almost comical motion where his upper body leans back and then he kind of slingshots forward out of the way. You can almost hear, "Exit, stage left!" in his head.
Yes, they started in with the cheesy saxophone music when he and Rachel started making out. Oddly enough, they used it again at the end, when he tried to apologize and she slapped him and kneed his groin. I think they must have overpaid the guy playing and just want their money's worth.
I'm sort of convinced Hobbes was willing to interrupt Darien's lovefest as payback for that makeout session between Crazy Claire and Q.M. Darien from five weeks ago. I can understand Alex enjoying embarrassing Fawkes, but Hobbes is supposed to be his partner. Uncool, Bobby.
At one point, Claire approaches the Official and says that the inhibitor isn't stopping the flow of adrenaline, just blocking it from the gland, and if they don't find Darien within 12 hours, he'll die. Which is probably why Hobbes and Alex were so insistent, though surely they could have waited a few hours. But after they find and retrieve him, it's never mentioned again.
When Darien ruined the heist by wrecking the lab, I thought it was because he'd gone Quicksilver Mad. The gland couldn't release any Quicksilver, but it's narcotic properties were still affecting him somehow. Withdrawal possibly. Claire raised that as a risk of removing the gland. Even if she could do it without killing him, she wasn't sure what taking away the Quicksilver would do to him. I was especially sure that was what was happening when he stopped outside the lab to a little kung-fu victory kick, which is something he's done a few times when he went Q.M.
It is consistent with Darien's character, though. His failing as a thief has always been he cares a little too much. It what's got him busted originally, after all. He could have let the old geezer stroke out, but no, he saved him, and for this act, was permanently labeled as a molester of the elderly. His mentor Liz said the same thing. She ditched him because he was always too worried about other people, about not hurting anyone with their crimes. So it fits. Darien enjoys feeling clever and showing off, but he doesn't particularly want to hurt people, or allow others to profit from causing harm. I wonder how much his counteragent leash has to do with that.
Throughout the episode, while all the shooting and chasing is going on, they kept cutting to scenes of Waring and what he's up to, and it usually involves his family. They're watching cartoons together, or his daughter is practicing her electric keyboard. And that continues in the background while he calmly orders somebody killed. And the big shootout takes place in the middle of his public relations move, the mini-golf course meant to make him look like an upstanding member of the community, befriending the local politicians, and giving him an extra layer of security and credibility against any future charges. Kind of slick, even as it makes me a little nauseous.
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