'The Middleman' versus the Tuba of Death

This week, The Middleman team takes on their most dangerous adversary yet...okay. So maybe not. But spontaneously drowning doesn't sound like a cool way to go.

Spoilers

When a man is found drowned in salt water and covered in sand and shellfish. Cecil Rodgers, a charming, handsome and thorough CSI, was on the scene and verified the salinity of the water. Middleman was very impressed by Cecil, which Dubby repeatedly mocks him about. When another familiar looking CSI crew shows up after Cecil leaves, they realize that Cecil wasn't exactly who he said he was.

Following up with the man's partner in crime, he asks that they give him about 6 minutes because a hot girl is in his apartment and she wants him. Ew. Double M allows it but soon the uncomfortable thumping noises are accompanied by sounds of terror. Busting down the doors, they discover a succubus attempting to devour his life force. They capture them both and discover that the two men had stolen a tuba from a bank vault.

Taking the succubus into custody, they bring her to Roxy Wasserman at the Famouse Fashion House (yay Elaine Hendrix!). MM greets Roxy by punching her in the face, very unhappy that she broke her pact to not steal or send her brethren out to hunt. She tells him that she was seeking to recover the tuba in question as it is cursed and the only instrument to survive the sinking of the Titanic. Anyone who hears it play an E-flat will drown in sea water. He apologizes and they call a truce, though she does punch him to even things out.

They finally track down the tuba at a high school but Cecil grabs it and runs out, getting shot in the process by Partner Man who takes the tuba and drives off with it. Cecil miraculously heals and comes back to life. Back at MiddleHQ, it's discovered that his real name is Cecil Calloway Rogers, born in 1899, and he was a penniless musician on the Titanic. Wendy calls him "Highlander with a tuba." Because he took the place of a boy with polio and his mother on a lifeboat by pretending his instrument was a sleeping 3-year-old, as long as it's intact he'll live forever, cursed to ponder the lives he took.

Turns out Billionaire Oilman Arthur Mendelson is a Titanic buff and orchestrated the acquisition of the tuba to play on the maiden voyage of his private ocean liner (which is three feet long than the Queen Mary, and 86 feet longer than the Titanic). Dubby and MM infiltrate the party, which is attended by every Titanic buff around the world so Arthur can gloat. They find the tuba but get captured. When Cecil pops up (he'd previously refused to accompany them to help), Double M is hopeful that he's come to atone for his past misdeeds but no. Cecil is there to play the tuba and dispatch of every collector who knows about the tuba so he can continue to live in peace.

Lacey and Noser are there (Lacey's well-connected mother got them tickets) and help the MiddleTeam escape. They chase down Cecil and the tuba and Wendy must harpoon both off the side of the ship to prevent him from playing the note of doom.

Highlights & Tidbits:

• The Secret Identity Crisis this week involves Lacey and Middleman sort of starting to date because she follows him to a movie revival house (he's gone to see a Western called "Ride Lonesome" which he's seen the beginning 16 times but has never seen the end). When she's on the boat and in danger, he realizes that they can't date...though Lacey is determined that they'll be together eventually. It was sweet and sad without being melodramatic or nauseating.
• Dubby at one point refers to Cecil as "Capt Mancrush."
• Speaking of Cecil, he gets shot and comes back to life, is glib, and is incredibly charming. Hmm...*cough*Capt. Jack Harkness*cough*. The whole immortality-via-cursed-object thing is also tres "The Picture of Dorian Gray."
• Besides all the immortal references, it was also Western and Titanic heavy (Peckinpah Hotel, Edward J. Smith High School, etc).
• Cecil's other aliases include Charlie Rodgers (a CSI in Las Vegas), Clarence Rodgers (late 70's/early 80's race car driver that survived 3 fiery crashes), Cecil Mulligan (30's/40's stuntman), Cecil Jauregui (a boxer), Cecil Artiano (a pilot in an old timey plane), and Cecil Soliz. "All mysterious risk takers."
• It was great having Roxy Wasserman make another appearance. She's a great character. Now if they could only get her in the same room with Sensei Ping...

Quotes of the Night:
"Great Barrier Reef!" - MM's exclamation of surprise
"Tropic of Cancer!" - MM's other exclamation of surprise
"Sweet Molly Brown!" - MM's other, other exclamation of surprise
"Nice deduction, Watson." - MM to Wendy
<"That instrument is an abomination and whosoever hears the E-flat rumble of its serpentine valves will drown in the icy waters of the north Atlantic." - Roxy Wasserman describing the tuba's curse
"You're as ignorant as your jacket is tacky." - Roxy to Double M

Catch any other references? Did I miss your favorite quote or part? Any other thoughts?

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