History Series / TheInvisibleMan

** When Darien and Hobbes get wrongly sent to the Community (where all the retired spies are sent to), they bump into [[Series/TheAvengers a British man with an umbrella]]. When Darien comments on it, Hobbes said the show was based on him.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: "Quicksilver" - which renders objects invisible not by allowing light to pass through them, but by bending light around them. This is accomplished through its "complex semifluid polymer surface layer, which possesses a refractive metallic matrix composed of (classified) and (classified)." Because of "the unusually strong covalent bonds in the Quicksilver semifluid matrix," light that strikes it is bent and refracted over its surface until it refocuses and continues in its original direction. The result is invisibility from the visible spectrum. [[spoiler:And somehow, [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoot]] produces the stuff, which is why it's so hard to catch on cameras. HilarityEnsues when Darien runs into one, because for some reason the Gland makes it think he's a Bigfoot as well - a ''female'' Bigfoot]].

Not connected with the ''Series/TheInvisibleMan1975'' TV series of the same name, despite being inspired by the same source material and the ''Series/TheInvisibleMan1958'' earlier series also featuring an invisible secret agent. Not to be confused with the 1976 series ''Series/GeminiMan'' which is also inspired by the novel and features an invisible secret agent. Nor be confused with the ''WesternAnimation/TheInvisibleMan2011'' cartoon of the same name.

* {{Homage}}: One episode involved Fawkes and Hobbes being trapped in "The Community", an [[Series/ThePrisoner isolated quaint little village for secret agents]] who had their identity exposed, and their subsequent escape.

* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Unlike most fictional [[{{Invisibility}} invisible men]], there is a fairly believable in-story explanation as to how Darien sees while invisible: when the Quicksilver bonds with his eyes, it allows him to see light outside the visible spectrum, which isn't bent (the downside being that he can only see in monochrome). This also enables him to see things that other people can't see, like other invisible people and lasers. This also explains why he can be seen via thermal imaging. One episode even has him rendered able to see ''only'' when invisible.

* LamePunReaction: Darien was prone to making bad jokes, though perhaps his shining moment was in "Germ Theory"; when The Official was ranting about his head having become invisible, Claire advised him to calm down, which Darien followed up by quipping that he should "keep a clear head." Claire, Hobbes, and Eberts(and presumably The Official) just stared at him.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Official and The Keeper for most of the Series. Their real names are [[spoiler:Charles Borden]] and [[spoiler:Claire ''Keepley'']], respectively.
** That was probably not The Official's "real" name, however. In a later episode, Jarrod Stark says it's "a name from a hat," implying it's one of many aliases the Official has. And in a second-season episode, another high-ranking secret government guy lumps himself together with the Official as "those of us with no names."
** And we never actually learn the Keeper's last name, only her first. The first time the Keeper introduced herself with that surname, she hesitated and was clearly making it up on the spot. Later on in the season, after she'd used that surname repeatedly, Darien still asked what her real last name was, and she wouldn't answer, insisting that her job required some degree of anonymity.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Several times on the show, the MadScientist of the Week has produced something with miraculous real world applications, only for it to be discarded because the scientist used unethical methods to acquire it. For instance, in the episode "It Hurts When I Do This" the doctor has come up with a way to cure incurable brain damage, he just has to replace it using a living donor. He exploited homeless people for this purpose, but then Claire uses his method to cure someone else by taking it from the doctor after he has a bad fall. In "Flowers for Hobbes," the scientist came up with a mean of giving people super intelligence, just with dangerous personality changes and suicidal acts in later stages. At the end of that episode, the heroes find a cure for it. That would still be a tremendous achievement: temporary genius to solve problems and then be given the antidote when they start exhibiting the personality changes. In "Frozen in Time," Chrysalis has developed a fool-proof way to freeze people, just that after 24 hours it becomes permanent. That would revolutionize the cryonics industry, because many people with incurable diseases would want to be frozen until such time as a cure would be found for them. In all of these cases, the methods are simply forgotten about, even though they would revolutionize the world.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: An acupuncturist forces Darien to help her steal some magical Chinese acupuncture needles from a museum so that she can heal her OldMaster. The OldMaster claims that the needles are filled with "unenlightenment" because they were stolen. The acupuncturist thinks he means that the needles were stolen from China by a British businessman and that killing the businessman will make them effective again.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Several times on the show, the MadScientist of the Week has produced something with miraculous real world applications, only for it to be discarded because the scientist used unethical methods to acquire it. For instance, in the episode "It Hurts When I Do This" the doctor has come up with a way to cure incurable brain damage, he just has to replace it using a living donor. He exploited homeless people for this purpose, but then Claire uses his method to cure someone else by taking it from the doctor after he has a bad fall. In "Flowers for Hobbes," the scientist came up with a mean of giving people super intelligence, just with dangerous personality changes and suicidal acts in later stages. At the end of that episode, the heroes find a cure for it. That would still be a tremendous achievement: temporary genius to solve problems and then be given the antidote when they start exhibiting the personality changes. In "Frozen in Time," Chrysalis has developed a fool-proof way to freeze people

** "Flowers for Hobbes" briefly features this. Darien's narration notes that HonorAmongThieves is a myth and that Fear Among Thieves is more accurate, as thieves promise reprisals if wronged. The current case sees Darien realize the thief was Manny Merrick, one of Darien's lifting buddies. It seemed like they were friends until Merrick planted Darien's fingertips at a job he pulled and got him sent to prison for 15 months. During interrogation for the case, Darien is all-too happy to give Manny a gut punch and disrupt his operations.

-->"Besides the fact that you kidnap babies because you can't have any of your own? You're a high-tech club with a PeterPan complex and a subscription to GQ. That's it. ... Well, I know that 'Chrysalis' means cocoon and you think you're gonna bloom into something better. But you know what comes out of cocoons? Insects. And insects get stepped on."

** When a person is invisible the temperature on the outside surface of the quicksilver coating is below freezing. This would mean not only that the body cannot radiate its own temperature out, but also that it absorbs surrounding ambient heat. All this would quickly lead to anyone suffering a heat stroke while invisible.

** Quicksilver is explained as bending light around a person to make them invisible. Bending light ''would'' make you invisible, but due to how the eye works, it would also make you blind. Darien, of course, can see perfectly while invisible.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: When a person is invisible the temperature on the outside surface of the quicksilver coating is below freezing. This would mean not only that the body cannot radiate its own temperature out, but also that it absorbs surrounding ambient heat. All this would quickly lead to anyone suffering a heat stroke while invisible.

** In "Beholder," the Chameleon (a professional assassin) kills a long retired general. The general's son, Alan McGoldrick, is a software tycoon and willing to pay top dollar to bring the killer to justice. Upon hearing that Alan will be flying in to deliver a eulogy, Darien realizes the Chameleon is "flushing the mark"--killing an unimportant target to get the high-value one out in an open area.

* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: In the last episode, Darien's narration notes this after [[spoiler:he robs a bank invisibly and finds it unsatisfying]].
-->"Cole Porter once said that, 'Work is more fun than fun.' Which I always thought was the stupidest thing I ever heard. I mean, come on, you don't work for it, it ain't fun? Please. Makes about as much sense as walkin' away from free money."

* LamePunReaction: Darien was prone to making bad jokes, though perhaps his shining moment was in "Germ Theory"; when The Official was ranting about his head having become invisible, Claire advised him to calm down, which Darien followed up by quipping that he should "keep a clear head."

** "Germ Theory" is a SickEpisode dedicated to this. Darien accidentally smashes a beaker of experimental Counteragent and cuts his hand on the glass. This somehow creates Quicksilver-producing bacteria, which slowly makes his body permanently invisible. Claire wants to study the bacteria - which she already knows can't be cultivated ''in vitro'' - and refuses to treat Darien's infection. She changes her mind when Darien enters Quicksilver Madness due to the tattoo showing his [[ExactTimeToFailure Quicksilver levels]] becoming invisible... but the Official orders her to continue and confiscates her supply of antibiotics despite being the one Darien attacked under the influence. Then ''he'' changes his mind because Darien infected him with the bacteria when he punched him in the jaw, turning his ''head'' invisible... which is when they discover that the bacteria is highly resistant to antibiotics. Then they have to dip into the Counteragent stocks when ''the Official'' starts getting Quicksilver Madness - which is when everyone discovers that the bacteria is ''lethal'' when it kills Claire's lab rats...

* AnIcePerson: When invisible, Darien's body temperature is -10 degrees Celsius, giving him minor freezing powers.

* SpidersAreScary: In the pilot, Darien mentions that he has an intense fear of spiders. Naturally, his brother Kevin uses that to trigger his first use of the gland by flooding it with adrenalin. It's not mentioned in other episodes, despite the fact that spiders are ''everywhere''.