The Invisible Man
"Separation Anxiety"

Airdate: August 11, 2000

This week the ever paranoid Bobby Hobbes (Paul Ben-Victor) is caught stalking his ex-wife. He doesn't mean her any harm though. He's just certain that Brock, the new man, in her life is up to something. And he's right. Well, sort of.

Despite having worked with Hobbes before, Darien still checks things out and finds that his partner may be crazy, but his instincts are right on the mark. It seems that Sailor Brock and his two buddies are out to steal a cache of new smart-rifles. The only problem is that Brock is working undercover to try to catch a big time gunrunner who goes by the name of Mr. White. His mission is almost scrubbed when The Agency steps in, but to make amends, Fawkes and Hobbes step in to take the place of the other stooges. That Mr. White turns out to be a Ms. is the least of their problems as, true to The Invisible Man fashion, things go terribly wrong.

Continuing its attempts to flesh out the characters who inhabit Fawkes' universe, The Invisible Man this week focused on Darien's A-Few-Fries-Short-Of-A-Happy-Meal partner, Bobby Hobbes. Present since the pilot, Hobbes has been a source of both humor and -- strangely enough -- direction for Fawkes. Proof that -- in the intelligence community, at least -- talent doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with sanity, Bobby has often steered his partner down the straight and narrow. Okay, so not entirely straight, but pretty narrow.

In spite of his paranoid tendencies, Hobbes is a good agent and The Agency, being what it is, has turned out to be the perfect home for him. Due to its standing in the aforementioned intelligence community and its odd funding problems, it requires a lot of thinking out of the box. That trait is something that both Bobby and Darien have in common. The tendency to go overboard is another. Although this week it was Fawkes who had to play guard dog to an overeager Hobbes. And I don't think he much cared for the role.

As a character study, "Seperation Anxiety" was good. The mission itself was a disappointment, but Paul Ben-Victor's Hobbes was given some much welcomed dimension while still retaining those particular traits that make his character appealingly quirky. There is just something about a man who, despite his own handicaps, still feels a sense of duty to his country. Even so, I doubt that Hobbes will change much, medication or no medication, but at least he has enough backstory to make him human.

-- Linda M. Najera

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

We welcome your comments on The 11th Hour and this review. Please send letters to: letters@the11thhour.com

Next Review >