Hello all -

This is the second of the 'hat trick' edition of Eberts' Files that I'm plugging out. Normally, I start out by apologizing for being late with the file, but I'm about two months late, and I already apologized last file, so I won't! I will thank you for your patience during that interval while I recollected my motor neurons enough to tap this out on my Mac.

So, what can I say about "EomE?" I think this was one of the best episodes of this series. While not the very best, it had the drama, humor and action to put it into the upper echelon.

So let's look at some 'bits.'

This is the beginning of a loosely connected 2 parter. Craig explained that the rules he was given for these last two were that it should either function as a season or a series finale (boo!) and that the episodes were loose enough that they could be shown out of sequence in syndication if need to. I don't quite understand the rationale of the latter, but obviously TPTB thought they knew better (although, now we know better).

The Return of Eddie Jones: In the very beginning of I-Man, The Official had a few wonderful, revealing episodes. Catevari, TOI, and DYK all filled in backstory and really gave Eddie something sink his teeth into. After that, the writers seemed to take him for granted. New threats (Chrysalis, fish girl) and, later, new characters (myself and Brandy) left The Official to serve the functions of exposition and occasional veiled threats. I think the last scene between him and The Keeper re-established his character with force and definite menace. The energy between those two actors even during rehearsal was incredible and was a reminder how good they were.

Mike the Guard was seen in several episodes of "The Chronicle," each time as a different character. The producers made it a running gag that he's always show up in some small part. While he was dead, and we were shooting, a phone started beeping. It was his phone!

Craig is the uberkid. Everyone was a little nervous about Craig directing for one simple reason: he'd never directed! The buzz started about two episodes before, and everyone was a little on edge. Michael Grossman directed the two episodes around Craig because he was out most experienced director and could 'hold his hand' if needed. All of our fears were completely unfounded. Craig turned out to be a confident, competent director who knew exactly what he wanted. One of the worst things is having a director who is wishy-washy about what they want from everyone. It breeds contempt and makes the day go long. Craig knew so well what he wanted that is was a little unnerving. Often he would only do one take and then move on. In the business, you always like to get at least two takes of anything, usually more, for safety. Craig would get his shot, think about it, then announce we were moving on. I asked him why he was so confident, and he simply replied, "I've envisioned this shot for three weeks. I know when I got it."

The original shot in the Agency Garage started on a stuffed animal, literally hung from the ceiling. I didn't understand the reference, but I wasn't the writer.

Paul kept on insisting on trying to perfect his "self high-five" after making the van lights automatic. He kept asking Craig for 'just one more take.'

For those of you wondering what Craig's evil twin would look like, just look at the guy playing the spectacled scientist. I had to look at him for about two minutes before realizing that it really wasn't Craig trying his hand at acting.

Generation Gap. Paul will probably kill me for this, but there was a debate as to what the 'red stripe on the side' of the van line mean. Paul thought it referred to the Starsky and Hutch car, while Vinny correctly guessed is was 'A-Team.' Paul just didn't remember that Craig was a child of the 80's.

Funny moment Craig. During lunch, we were all sitting around talking stuff at the table. A fly was buzzing around Craig's mouth. A moment later we all hear, "I think I just ate a bug." Sure enough, we turn, and the fly was gone. WE all howled at this, but Craig seemed pretty calm.

Funny building moment. We filmed me chasing Arnaud in downtown San Diego at some government building. The first thing that was funny was that we changed the logos outside to read "The Agency." People returning from lunch would walk to the door they walked through, see the new logo, and stop in their tracks. It took them a moment to figure out that it really was their building. Inside, they found me with a huge gun, waiting for a cue. I tried to assure people that the gun wasn't loaded, and we were shooting a television show, but the weird thing was nobody seemed to care.

Funny/odd Joel moment. Joel marches to his own, oddly syncopated drumbeat, which is great, but sometimes a little off to the rest of the world. We were shooting the chase scene, and suddenly on one could find Joel. For about 10 minutes the whole crew searched for him. People were starting to get worried when he shows up with coffee from a shop about 2 blocks away. He didn't bother to tell anyone that he was leaving, or where. He just went.

The girl that Arnaud pushes away from the taxi is actually a stunt woman. She was paid quite handsomely for that fall.

Speaking of stunts, this episodes marked the last time my stuntman, Carol, got a free lunch. Out of all the times he was called to double me, only one episode did he actually do it (and he really did it in TIoBE). The rest of the time the director would say, "Well, we could use your stunt double, but the way I'm shooting it, it would look better if you did it." Of course, being a sucker, I gladly offered to do it each and every time. The result was a lot of bruises and a stuntman thanking me for a lucrative day. You're welcome, Carol!

You can't see it, but my lunch pail had an F&G logo on it.

Well, this was a big file, probably because I like this episode a lot. It makes me sad that this was the exception, rather than the rule, with season two. It makes me sadder that this is my penultimate file! Oh well, I'll be maudlin next time. So until then, see you next file!