The Invisible Man (2000 TV series)

Did You Know?

• The first season was released on DVD for Region 2 as a two-part collection in March and April 2003.
• The Region 1 release of Season One includes the alternate version of Money for Nothing, Part II where Hobbes attempts to take Darien into custody, rather than the fan-chosen version where Hobbes joins forces with Darien.
• Both seasons were available for streaming on the NBC.com app in cropped 4:3 instead of the original widescreen aspect ratio, but NBC has since removed the series from their streaming app.

Plot

The Invisible Man blends action, comedy, and buddy-cop dynamics. Its central character, Darien Fawkes, is a convicted thief who escapes a life sentence when a perpetually underfunded spy agency recruits him. They grant him invisibility by surgically implanting a "Quicksilver gland" in his skull. This gland lets Fawkes produce a light-bending substance from his pores and hair follicles. The substance, also called Quicksilver, rapidly covers his skin, nails, clothes, and anything he holds, making him unseen. He can then shed the coating, which flakes away and dissolves. However, the gland was deliberately sabotaged by its co-creator, Arnaud DeFehrn. It releases a neurotoxin that builds up in Fawkes' blood, causing severe pain, then erratic behavior and psychosis. To stay sane and healthy, he needs regular injections of a "counteragent" controlled by the agency.

Episodes generally fell into two categories. Many involved cases assigned to Fawkes and his partner Hobbes, often concerning murders or failed government experiments. The rival organization Chrysalis, introduced in the first season, frequently drove these plots. Other episodes centered on Fawkes' personal battle to either remove the gland from his head or reduce his reliance on the counteragent. His desperate tactics included trying to revive his deceased brother using his intellect and occasionally consulting DeFehrn, though these talks usually ended with someone in agony. Because the agency viewed the gland as too valuable to remove, Fawkes' quest often put him in conflict with his superiors.

Each episode typically opened with Fawkes delivering a voice-over, starting with a famous quote and then sharing his current thoughts. This narration would return at the end, offering his take on the mission or raising lingering questions. By the series finale, Fawkes' body had grown resistant to the standard counteragent, so he received a new one that permanently cured the quicksilver madness. After briefly returning to his old life as a thief and then working for the FBI, he ultimately rejoined the Agency to keep fighting Chrysalis.

Characters

Darien Fawkes was a career thief and cat burglar with a string of minor offenses and two serious felony convictions by age thirty. Possessing a sharp, above-average mind and a talent for deception, he grew up on a farm with his brother Kevin, raised by an aunt and uncle after their mother died and their father disappeared. It later emerged that their father had been a government sniper who left the family to protect them when his cover was compromised.

While Kevin became a scientist, Darien turned to theft as a teenager. His criminal career ended when he stopped to perform CPR on a heart-attack victim and was caught, leading to a life sentence without parole under California’s three-strikes law. Kevin, who was working on a classified research project, struck a deal with his superiors: Darien’s freedom in exchange for becoming a test subject. Darien agreed and received the Quicksilver gland implant, but Kevin’s haste to get him out of prison meant the gland was inserted before a safe removal method was developed.

Another scientist on the project, Arnaud DeFehrn, was actually a terrorist who had infiltrated the facility. He led an attack that killed Kevin and destroyed most of the research. Darien escaped but was then pressed into service by The Agency, the project’s funders. To keep his sanity, he needed a regular counteragent, so he reluctantly accepted work as an agent.

Over time, he grew close to his colleagues and chose to stay with The Agency even after Claire developed a cure that ended his dependence on the counteragent.

The Agency

The Agency is a top-secret U.S. government espionage and special operations unit so covert it lacks an official name. Its director, Charlie Borden (known as "The Official"), describes the organization as handling missions that other agencies "can't, won't, or don't." The show hints that the Agency is a leftover from the Cold War. What makes it truly unusual is its habit of being absorbed into federal departments with no connection to intelligence work.

In the first season, the Agency operated under the semi-fictional Department of Fish and Game (based on the real Fish and Wildlife Service). The pilot explained this arrangement because the Department of Defense faced budget cuts while the DFG had extra funds. During the second season, the Agency bounced between departments, getting absorbed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, and even briefly the United States Postal Service, before finally landing under the semi-fictional Bureau of Weights and Measures.

This constant shuffling created a running joke: agents Hobbes and Fawkes are never taken seriously as federal agents because their identification badges always list their unassuming, unrelated department name.

Invisibility concept

The invisibility in the show comes from "Quicksilver," a silver synthetic hormone. It was likely developed by Kevin Fawkes and his scientists, implanted via an artificial gland as part of Project Quicksilver, also known as Project QS-9000. When released, Quicksilver starts as a liquid but hardens over surfaces like plastic wrap, as Kevin explains. Once solid, it bends light that would normally bounce off the covered area, then refocuses that light behind the object.

This makes the object invisible to the eye within seconds. The gland sits on Darien's brain. It activates when his heart rate speeds up and adrenaline flows, often from fear or tension. Over time, he learns to control the release through intense training, secreting it on purpose.

Quicksilver doesn't reflect or absorb light, which drops the covered surface's temperature below freezing. Yet it also insulates Darien from extreme cold or heat. If he gets distracted or loses focus while invisible, he can suffer "premature visibility." Strong adrenaline rushes can also disrupt his control.

For instance, he once had to avoid sex because his body would automatically secrete Quicksilver during the adrenaline spike. When he's in command, Darien can make only parts of himself vanish. He can coat his eyes to see in infrared, turn his head invisible to fake a gunshot and lure enemies closer, or hide his arms or legs to pose as a disabled person for undercover work.