Episode Guide 203

Surprise

In Brief:

Max throws a surprise birthday party for Isabel's 18th, in an attempt to have normal teenage lives amongst the pressure of alien destiny and enemy skins on their trail. Isabel is surprised, on her way to a date with the geologist Grant Sorenson, whom both Michael & Max agree is not a good idea. Alex gets busted by Mrs Evans, mid policeman strip routine and worse still, Isabel keeps on getting flashes of Tess being tortured and in pain. Liz, working as intern at Congresswoman Whittaker's office, finds out her phone conversations have been taped. Subsequent search of the office by Michael reveals a file on the Crashdown' new waitress Courtney. With Tess still missing, feared kidnapped by the skin that had murdered Nasedo, Isabel decides to act herself.

<<rewind<<

• Alex's strip routine
• Maria & Courtney's face-off in the kitchen with Alex's thong tirade in the background

Pop Culture:

• Dolly Parton; country & western singer from the US famous in the 70s & 80s for her petite figure and double D breasts, matched by her big blonde hair...and eye shadow
• Run, Lola Run; Independent film known mainly for the unusual point of view and editing. As Whitaker says, the soundtrack is available.
• Betty Crocker; cake mixes and other baked goods
• NYPD Blue; high-rating Cop Drama from the US, in reference to Alex's cop uniform
• Jensens
• Victoria's Secret; women's lingerie store, famous for their catalogues (that men are most likely to vicariously read)
• Jay Leno; Popular host of the American Tonight Show that specialises in commentary on current events, entertainment, interviews and variety acts.
• Uzi; compact semi-automatic machine gun
• Deputy Dawg; Cartoon character from the 60s who was a lazy lawman pooch more concerned with napping than catching the bad guys

Continuity:

• Grant Sorensen, the geologist from Skin & Bones is back, ready for a date with Isabel
• Liz first started working for Whitaker at the end of summer/ start of the school term; Sept 6th, which corresponds to a tape date. (Skin & Bones)
• "..can't let anyone new in. It's too dangerous." echoes the words in Crazy regarding newcomer Tess.
• Michael put Tabasco in the cake; alien prefer sweet & spicy (River Dog); the cake scene may also be a reference to the Roswell High books where Michael helps Maria make a cake
• "..make decisions without asking my opinion..." Michael is referring to the Pilot, Skin & Bones amongst others
• Isabel talks about the pairing up of herself with Michael (Destiny)
• An Uzi took out the back window of the Jetta last time Maria lent her car (Destiny)
• Isabel was the only one of the aliens that Tess was close to (Crazy, TLV)
• "She wanted to jump your bones, huh?" this phrase uttered by the sheriff echoes Tess' words from Crazy
• Tess' 4WD from Four Square makes another reappearance
• Michael talks about how he felt after using his powers on Pierce (Destiny)
• Isabel is 18 (Oct 25th), but she was a sophomore last season (285 South--"Elle MacPherson of the sophomore class" ) so either she is a pretty old junior, or they have stuffed the ages. Also that makes Max younger, because he was 17 in Max to the Max, his birthday occurring in March according to his blood sample in Blood Brothers.

Bloopers:

• The teaser scene and the scene later in the episode should be exactly the same, because they portray the same time period, but Isabel repeats some phrases in the second showing
• During Michael's confrontation with Courtney, you can see the different takes they used, because they are in a slightly different section of alleyway...only spotted because of the abnormality in the brickwork
• The photo in Michael's pocket of Courtney conveniently disappears when they arrive at the power station
• When Isabel bolts a door at the power station, there is a sign on the wall beyond that disappears and reappears during the scene.

Quotable quotes:

Maria: "One nipple does not constitute a striptease Alex."
Alex: "She saw my nipple? Oh, God."

Alex: "Chill out? Chill out? I spent $150 to rent this costume. And do you have any idea how it feels to walk around all day with a thong up your ass?
Maria/ Courtney (in unison): "Yes!"

Kyle: "If some chick's gonna be yelling at me about keeping the toilet seat down, she better at least be doing me."
(Mrs Evans walks by)
"....doing me....a favour"

It's an Alien thing:

• Isabel shows off new powers: the ability to repel a electricity attack and to melt a hole in a steel door
• Also her dreamwalking skills are enhanced to 'receive' images/ daydreams from Tess of the fact she was attacked, and where to find her. Without having the crutch of using a photo, or sleeping
• Courtney can fill empty glasses with beverages
• "I can feel it" Isabel may be referring to an alien connection, or sixth sense when Tess is near
• unbolt door
• Neither Tess or Isabel looks like what they did in their 'other' life
• Granilith; new alien artifact
• Skins don't have the DNA to survive, they need their skins, but these have a life of only 50 years
• There are at least 2 races on their home planet; and currently their race is not in power

Production Notes:

• Known as the "striptease episode" ; Alex's infamous dance was a improvised routine by Colin Hanks. His only specific instruction was he had to slap his ass.
• Originally the writers suggested a slow song for the striptease, but Colin requested that they use a faster song with a beat that he could dance to. The song cleared was "Come on ride the train", which was the one he preferred from 3 choices.
• The 'thong' was fictional; Colin did not have to wear one, he's a boxer guy by choice ;)
• 555-0188 Grant Sorensen's cell phone no. All fictional no.s in Hollywood movies/ shows are given numbers starting with 555- . Just in case somebody actually thinks they can ring a fictional character, the prefix makes sure that it doesn't accidentally  correspond with a real phone no. 
• According to this episode, Whitaker has known about Liz's involvement with the alien's from the beginning. As she has taped conversations dating from as far as Sept 6th. Also, in pretending to be drunk in the previous ep Ask Not, Whitaker has gotten the name Tess from Liz. Considering the players, wouldn't Isabel be a more obvious choice for Villandra? She is the sister of Max (another alien) and they were siblings in the previous life too. Assuming she knew Max was the King, but if she had enough information to be keeping tabs on Liz, she probably knew of Max's involvement in the shooting incident. 
• There were several outfits chosen for Isabel's party clothes. Even though she was only supposed to be going on a date with Sorensen, they went with the dress where she was "all dolled up" to provide more of a contrast to the end of the episode. Her dress is dirty and torn and her hair is in disarray. (TEEN.COM)