sisabet | Invisible Man Pic Post 6: Sex and the Invisible Man: Part A

Part 1: The Most Important Thing to Know about "The Invisible Man".
Part 2: A Completely Shallow Look at Darien Fawkes.
Part 3: Here A Hobbes, There a Hobbes....
Part 4: Flowers for Hobbes.
Part 5: When Darien Met Bobby: OMG TEH CUTE!!11!!!.

So last night I decide to finally post "Sex and the Invisible Man" and I look at the pics uploaded and I needed more and as I was converting the caps over to jpeg I realized that... well there are over 100 caps and I need each and every one of them because each illustrates a point about the sexual nature of Darien Fawkes and you must know this.

But also - I have a tendency to be *extremely* longwinded, so I did make an attempt to condense and to also remove any obvious spoilers that might cause someone who has not yet viewed the series run to just not enjoy it as much. This was hard as there are some things where you want to say "THERE! RIGHT THERE!! Did you see that? That's what I'm talking 'bout!" but those scenes and caps contain not only spoilers about Darien as a character, they also contain big ass spoilers for the conclusion or events leading up to the conclusion of the series and you don't need that. Also - it allowed me to cut, like 40 screencaps. Man, I love this show. I might do a Hard Spoiler entry later, but I don't trust some of y'all not to jump ahead.

Remember. No watching "Flowers for Hobbes" until you have watched at least the first 14 episodes. The two eps before FfH are important, but I understand if you have to skip them. Also, they involve really dumb superpowers and are quite possibly the worst episodes out of all of season one so - erm. But then you get to FfH and it is so freaking good that there is no way I can ever pump you up too much for it that you would then watch FfH and be disappointed, because it is just that good. But you have to watch it in order, otherwise you are disrespecting the goodness. Don't Diss the FfH, people. I take that seriously.

So now without further ado, I give you Darien Fawkes and the basic shit you need to know before we talk about the good stuff:

Ahhh yes, the olll intro!

As you know from the previous completely shallow look at Darien Fawkes, he is a criminal. He keeps talking about how *good* he is at his job (being a thief) as well, but we never see any evidence of that. Well, we see that he is good at some of the basic mechanics of cat burglary, but he gets caught all of the time and half the time he gets caught for shit he doesn't even do. This is just so very pathetic. Just, so sad.

The premise of the show is that while Darien is a thief, the reason he is a bad thief is because of his over-developed conscience. Actually, his former partner-in-crime (and stand in mother figure and *that* deserves a post of its own), Liz, says this out loud.

I'd insert her dialogue here, but for this show it was fairly weak and there are so many superior exchanges, so instead - pretend I just did that (typed up her lines), and I will give you a cute Darien and Bobby exchange and if anyone asks, we spent this time talking about how Liz tells Darien he never developed a larceny-sense because he was too busy getting a conscience and this diversion will be our little secret:

Bobby: Blushing all over. I know you lie to me.

Darien: I am not blushing.

Bobby: Yes you are.

Darien: No, I'm not.

Bobby: A tomato. You can get suspended from this, my friend.

Darien: Oh, from the agency? I'm scared.

Bobby: You don’t fish off the company pier, son. (pause) So, was it good?

Darien: (laughs) Oh, God!

Bobby: Ha? Was it good? Was it good?(Darien laughing) You don’t think I’m going to rat you out because I’m your partner. Well I got news for you, Buckwheat. Incorrecto. (Darien looks at him through hands that form a telescope). I find out that you crossed over the line and I turn you and your fancypants little gland right in there, pal.

Darien: (looking through hand scope) Hey, you know you're very pretty when you get upset, there?

Bobby: Hmph. You don’t think I know this?

Hey, remind me when we get to it(in part C of the sex posts), that Bobby always knows when Darien is either with someone or interested in someone, with one notable exception, and you know - I excuse this oversight because Bobby spent that entire episode fighting for Darien's honor and stuff and the actual hookup, such as it was, was really more of a thang of convenience. It was just kinda sad and reminded me of college. I need to elaborate later. About Darien and Bobby - not about me in college. Although I suppose if you really wanted to know...

Back to Darien's conscience - it is this very thing that starts the chain of events rolling in The Pilot. Darien is caught breaking into an old dude's apartment and yes he is guilty for that. However he is also convicted of molesting the elderly gentleman and this is just...

He is just so...I think the word I want here is hapless. Yes. Perhaps.

And then he ends up here

AGAIN

So we find out that Darien has been in and out of prison since he was a teenager and we also find out that he became involved with Liz back when he was still in junior high.

Of course this is before he gets busted and she takes off. Poor little Darien has abandonment issues (as all good superheroes do).

We get some unspecific references to stints in Juvie and we also know that he was in San Quentin, Soledad, and Folsom at some time or the other, with at least two of those stints being for felony convictions.

This is important and we will come back to this later. For now, pictures!

Darien in prison.

His cellmate. I really do not think they are involved, though.

So, as we learned in A Completely Shallow Look at Darien Fawkes Darien's Bonifide Genius brother Kevin enrolls Darien as a test subject in this Super Secret Invisible Man Project and he sticks an invisible making gland in Darien's brain.

Okay so bear with me. We will get through this, I promise and I also want you to know that... well, I love this gland.

See, this is it.

I love this gland like some people love rainy days and sunsets that they think will never end. I love this gland like pina coladas. This gland makes all things possible. It really really does. This gland is your gateway to The Pain. The Angst. The Trauma and the Pure Twu Wuv that balances it all out. I love this gland like I love Angel's Gypsy Curse and dude -- this gland is Darien's curse. To get the show, you have to understand that.

Now, Kevin Fawkes has designed a gland that will produce this stuff called Quicksilver. The quicksilver gland is stimulated by adrenaline, then it secretes Quicksilver which wraps around the subject like saran wrap. Oh, here, let me let Kevin explain it:

Now think, the only reason we can see an object is because light reflects off it. You see me but not the wall behind me because the light hits my body first, and then bounces back to your eyes. Now watch, watch what happens when an object is covered in quicksilver. Quicksilver doesn’t reflect light, it bends it.

At first the only way to get the gland to work is to *jumpstart* Darien's adrenaline through fear... or well, what else would really get the adrenaline going?(Hint: it is in the title of this post).

Later, through Biofeedback and just basic control, Darien is able to direct the flow of Quicksilver. The fact that he is able to do this is pretty astounding and while the show never specifically states this - there is plenty of canonical evidence that Darien is just really really good at controlling the gland. He is a very physical guy, very athletic if gawky (well he is loooooonnng), so it does make sense that he would be able tune into the raw physicality of the gland.

In fact, one could say that Darien has complete control over the gland. One would be terribly, terribly wrong on several counts if one said that and we would not have a show. Thankfully, Darien is cursed.

See, there was a mole on the project, a terrorist named Arnaud. He engineered (on the sly) a side-effect to the QS Gland. Basically, the gland continuously secretes quicksilver into the subjects bloodstream. In Kevin Fawkes's original design, this excess was supposed to be flushed out of the host's system, no problem. Arnaud did something where the subject's body could not flush out the QS so it remained in the bloodstream, where it becomes toxic. At least I think this is what is going on, but feel free to manufacture your own explanation for Quicksilver Madness. The important thing is not why it exists, anyway. The truly important thing is that it does exist.

::happy sigh::

Anyhoo - Quicksilver madness results from this toxic overload. Almost all of my love for the QS gland is because it causes Quicksilver Madness, and so for that my eternal gratitude and love is offered to Arnaud.

Thank you, Arnaud, for Quicksilver Madness. You are the best Archnemesis EVA!

So how does the QS madness work? What does it do?

Well these are all very good questions. The most important thing it does is make Darien dead sexy.

Quicksilver apparently acts as a cerebral disinhibitor. Basically, the first symptoms are incredible pain radiating from the back of the neck into Darien's skull, red eyes and loss of inhibitions. Loss of inhibitions sounds really really mild for what actually happens here. This is not you on Spring Break in Cancun after funneling a beer. This is very very different, so let me put it another way -- Darien becomes Angelus.

For all intents and purposes, whatever it is that the QS suppresses is apparently the larger governing part of Darien's conscience (or what Joss Whedon has taught me is called the soul), so you have a person in incredible pain who has no inhibitions whatsoever about taking this pain out on another. Or in doing anything at all to someone else. More on that later.

Also, QS madness seems to make Darien really horny. More on that (much more) later.

It also leads to much red-eyed writhing on the ground which can only be relieved by a penetrating object.
Not that I am reading anything into that...

It is only with the use of a counteragent that Arnaud designed (which appears to be extremely difficult and expensive to manufacture)that the excess QS can be flushed. The counteragent has to be administered in an intravenous injection.

And then we get ...release. ::Exhale:: Awwww, he looks like an angel!

If you can't handle looking at needles - I-man is just not going to be your show. I'm sorry. I have a spider thing, but I prevailed over it and can now watch the Pilot without closing my eyes (But I will never ever never watch that scene in Return of the King again! My GOD what possessed them to ever make that!)

Now, instead of prison, Darien is now trapped by this gland in his head. He can't get the gland out because removal will kill him and whoever has the counteragent can essentially control him since he becomes a raving maniac without regular shots. See, even without Darien actively using the gland to go invisible, the QS will still build up in his bloodstream to toxic levels in about six days. The more he uses the gland - the quicker the QS builds up. This means the longest he can stay fully invisible is pretty much less than thirty minutes.

Remember this. It is important later.

Darien's Keeper develops a method for measuring the amount of QS in his bloodstream by making a copy of Scully's tattoo on his wrist. Claire has a very... unusual sense of humor and now that I think about it, she really deserves her own post.

The segments on the snake change from green to red the closer Darien gets to Quicksilver Madness

Now that we have all that out of the way, I think we are ready to actually talk about Darien and sex. Whew. In the next post.

Until then your homework is thus:

Watch this video. Send Feedback to the vidders. Seriously - these are some very cool ladies and they welcome any thoughts/reactions you have watching this video. So be cool and all.

Voodoo by The Clucking Belles

Dude. So there is a lot going on in this show that I can talk about all the time and show you screencaps but for somethings you just have to *see* it. Voodoo captures the crazy-insane hotness of QS madness and also the sick twisted and delightful obsession of Arnaud de Ferhn (The Phone) and it shouldn't be hot and yet...And throughout the vid Rache and Sandy capitalize upon the absolute feeling of claustrophobia that is overtaking Darien, that his life post-gland is more of a prison than any lockup could ever be. He is a man no longer in charge of his own destiny and it is terrifying and Arnaud is both the creator of his prison, his greatest tormentor and also, his only real hope of ever being free. I love this vid so.

The online version of the vid features 30 seconds of black at the beginning so just give your media player a chance to warm up and get ready for some good stuff.

Certain snippets of dialogue used are from transcripts at http://www.geocities.com/invisible_man_show/Scripts, a cool ass resource, fer sure.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

luminosity

This... this... *primer* on I-Man should be required reading. I'm just saying.

Sigh. Swoon. We've talked this to death and concluded that we have a type. Angel/us is that type. Darien is that type.

I think I'm going to watch all of my disks again. Just because. Just because of Sex and the Invisible Man and BOBBYHOBBES!! (who is also my type, for that weird, inexplicable reason that you mentioned earlier.... )

My friend, my friend.

From:

Invisible Man Pic Post 6: Sex and the Invisible Man: Part A - Getting the Basics Out of the Way

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