The Invisible Man
"Ralph"

Airdate: June 23, 2000

Darien

After both a foreign official and an endangered bird are killed by the same sniper, Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca) and Bob Hobbes (Paul Ben-Victor) are assigned, in their capacity as representatives of The Department of Fish and Game, to investigate. (Did I forget to mention that The Agency was funded by The Department of Fish and Game? Sorry. It was one of those budgetary things. Theirs. Not ours. 'cause we don't have a budget. No money, no budget. Anyway...) When arrogant FBI Agent Jones (Joseph Kell), a former colleague of Hobbes, tries to prevent them from doing their job, Darien pulls his disappearing act and finds out that eight year old Jessica Semplar (Landry Allbright) actually saw the killer. While Hobbes does background checks on all the usual suspects, Fawkes is told to pretend to be Jessica's imaginary friend Ralph so that he can both protect and interrogate her.

Darien's invisible friend routine is quickly put in jeopardy when his conscience balks at him deceiving and spying on an innocent child, thereby interfering with his control over the gland that produces the Quicksilver. Eventually, however, he returns out of a sense of responsibility for Jessica. His confidence shaken, he nonetheless manages to mend fences with the girl and ends up taking a bullet for her.

While it may seem that everything is coming up roses, Darien's extended invisible time and emotional involvement have left him vulnerable to the quicksilver madness. That is extra bad news since the sniper turns out to be FBI Agent Anders (Tucker Smallwood) who has assigned himself to the case and little Jessica is going to need all of the help she can get.

Hobbes

"Ralph" is a bit of a departure for The Invisible Man as for the first time, Darien's enemy has very little in common with him. Okay, so they can both disappear... kinda.... sorta... Anyway, the real meat of the story dealt with Darien's increasing isolation. He has a partner, but not one he can really relate to. He has a keeper, but she's definitely off limits. Ever since the death of his brother, Fawkes has been alone, which makes the friendship he develops with Jessica all that much more poignant. To everyone else, Darien is a freak, useful, but still a freak. To Jessica however, he is simply magical. When it comes time to part, the loss of that connection causes a dark cloud to form over our hero's head.

So far Darien has been convicted of a crime he didn't commit (and another that he did), been fitted with a gland that is both gift and curse, held his dying brother in his arms, gotten a glimpse of his possible, nightmarish future and now he's lost the first, real friend he's made since his life went screwy. Could someone possibly give this nicely-muscled man a break?

And another thing, in the previous episode Fawkes admits that he was a "not so good" thief. I beg to differ. It wasn't that he couldn't get the job done, it was just that he had very bad luck. Bad luck and, as "Ralph" made all too clear, a penchant for listening to his still active conscience. He might be cynical and expect the worst, but in a pinch, Darien Fawkes always does what's right. Which is usually what gets him into trouble. And also makes things interesting.

You know, I am really liking this idea of a reluctant hero more and more.

-- Linda M. Najera

The Invisible Man airs at 8pm EST, Fridays on The Sci Fi Channel.

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