From A to X: A Journey/Episode Guide

I Shall Return

2010-11-26T11:53:00.003-07:00

It's been a few months (probably more then a few) but I shall return. All new essays and reviews. I just took a few months off to maintain my other two websites. I can't wait to get back into the X-Files groove!

See ya then!

Revelations ('MOW'): This Episode Doesn't Exist

2010-07-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Every television series has that one episode that doesn't exist in your mind. The X-Files is my all-time favorite television show. I know all the episode titles, the episode facts, guest stars, completely useless trivia, and even where the episodes exist in the showing order. . .I have my own list of Mythology episodes that are suited to me and I cry when The Lone Gunmen die (oops! Spoiler!). I just couldn't remember 'Revelations' to save my life. It's packaged between two classic myth-arc episodes and a MOW classic and I still forgot about it. It's got R. Lee Ermey for God's sake. . .and I still didn't remember it.

This episode doesn't exist. And there was only one scene, towards the end, that I even remembered. Yeah, some fan I am. But I realized that this is the case with almost any series. In a show with 209 episodes and two movies, you're probably going to forget one here and there. 'Revelations' is it and it's a shame. . .because 'Revelations' is probably the most important Scully episode in the show's run up to this point.

I mentioned in an earlier review that the X-Files is primarily known to the layman as an alien show. Ghosts probably come up second. But religion is third in the rotation and justfully so. There are a large number of religious themed episodes and, fitting to the characters and their ideas of faith, etc, they usually are very important in the grand scheme of things for Mulder and Scully's character development. 'Miracle Man' was an unofficial myth-arc episode because it dealt with Mulder and his sister and while 'Revelations' is more 'MOW' it sure does quantify Scully's presence and her relationship with Mulder.

The third season has been a great season for Mulder and Scully's relationship. We've seen them grow closer, we've seen them be jealous of each other, we've seen them fight, and we've seen them doubt each other. . .all signs of a real relationship. In this episode, we tend to get the idea that perhaps Mulder can only be so supportive of Scully and vice versa since Scully seems to be frustrated with Mulder's lack of belief in what she's going through. And my initial reaction, much like Scully's, was 'dude, I put up with all your alien bullshit, throw me a frickin' bone' but then I realized Mulder was just playing the Scully role for her. . .keeping her grounded in reality to remain objective.

So, in the end, Mulder does just what Scully does but it is so alien to her (no pun intended) that she doesn't know how to handle it. But it's also a little ironic that in the two episodes where Scully has trouble accepting things beyond her world view (see 'Beyond the Sea') Mulder has been the skeptic, not the believer. But that is what character dramas are all about. And though initially put off by Mulder's attitude, I ended up loving him more because he was protective of Scully. Sadly, Scully didn't understand that because she decides to talk to an anonymous priest in confession in regards to her challenged faith (we realize she's been stagnant in her religion for six years) rather then Mulder.

The episode, especially the final scene, is probably one of the most important in the history of the show. Scully is truly three-dimensional at this point. The religious pieces of her existence were only hinted at. . .but now they are out in the open and we can now see where Scully is coming from on a multitude of issues from a new perspective. Very cool. Great episode. . .I wish I knew it existed.

731 ('Mythology'): The Train One (only way to describe it. . .)

2010-07-26T00:47:00.000-07:00

While I feel 'Nisei' is the more exciting plot-wise then '731', '731' is definitely the more action packed. But amongst all the action there is a lot of things we figure out about what exactly is going on in the worldwide conspiracy with aliens, humans, hybrids, and experimentation. And, I didn't even have time to mention it in the last episode, Scully meets some people who help her recover some of the memories from her abduction (in what feels like centuries ago in 'Duane Barry').

Directing ace Rob Bowman takes a less story-heavy episode and provides some of the best tension X-Files has to offer. I wish the X-Files would stop killing its uber-cool assassins (Crew Cut Man bought it after two episodes. . .and he whacked Deep Throat) because Stephen McHattie's Red-Haried Man just exudes tension. In a sequence that lasts almost the whole episode, the physically outmatched Mulder hols Red-Haired Man at gun point and you just know, at any frickin' minute, that McHattie is going to bust out and beat some Mulder ass. . .and he does.

But like Crew Cut Man, he gets bitched-killed before he could really do some serious damage in the mythology. Damn. Another one bites the dust! We also get a nice little cameo from CSM at the end which helps to tap us on the shoulder and go 'sure, Red-Haired Man is dead but. . .I'M STILL AROUND! MOOOHAHAHAHAHA'. So major props to the layers of villainy exposed in this action packed mythology episode.

I do have to say though that by introducing a rogue element to the alien-hybrid thing (the Japanese) it sure makes this whole mythology get more confusing then it needs to be. So let me try to get this straight: the US military is using alien technology to create more advanced HUMAN technology. The US is also using a leper colony to before genetic experiments and CREATE human-alien hybrids using alien DNA. Their is a world-wide syndicate who works WITH the US but their is also a rogue element of Japanese scientists, originally part of the Syndicate, that are dabbling in human-alien hybrids and the US is willing to send kill-squads out to destroy them. I love the X-Files but I'm not sure I got all this right. All I know is guys in black suits are killing Japanese dudes who created a hybrid *shakes head*.

And let's not forget, of course, Scully's misadventures with the US military. It is revealed here that Scully might not have been abducted by aliens at all but by the train-riding human/hybrid experimenters including the Japanese scientist Dr. Shiro Zama and that all the little creatures we've been seeing around for the last couple seasons aren't actually aliens but human hybrids. Hmmm. I'm really glad a train blew up in this one because as much as I like things explained to me. . .sometimes this myth arc gets a little too heavy. Classic episode regardless.

Nisei ('Mythology'): The Plot Thickens

2010-07-25T13:45:00.003-07:00

I love 'Nisei' and it's direct sequel '731'. I can simply refer to them as the 'train episodes' and most X-Files fans would know what I'm talking about. Funny though because 'Nisei' doesn't have too much to do with the 'train' itself and rather opens up the X-Files mythology to brand new levels of confusion. . .but in a good way. 'Nisei' is a rare X-Files mythology ep that manages to be both dramatic and a bit fun.

I love the myth-arc but while it is stimulating plot wise it sometimes lack the fun and atmosphere of the more popular 'MOW's. 'Nisei' and '731' are the kind of myth-arc episodes that MOW or general fans of X-Files can grab on to. And this is mainly because the plot revolves around a twisted form of our own reality and it is kind of freaky. And unlike other myth-arc episodes, 'Nisei' has elements to it that you can truly believe have or is happening, mainly because, well, it has, in some way or another.

I studied a lot of modern Japanese history a few years back and one of the most fascinating and intriguing aspects of Japanese history was the WWII period. If there ever was an excuse to deny technology it was in the Japanese case. They still had an outdated moral and government code that was backed up by current technologies that weren't meant for such an attitude. Imagine the Spanish Inquisition with high tech airplanes and sophisticated medical equipment. Haunting. But that was the technological trap the modern Japanese found themselves in: forced into a world they weren't necessarily ready for; old values confronting a new world.

And during that confusing time for the Japanese, they did much of what their Nazi counterparts did and experimented on humans just to see how it worked. And even more terrifying, the United States, the victor of WWII, gave German and Japanese scientists immunity to share their science. This is all TRUE. It has nothing to do with the X-Files. But the X-Files managed to put this into the plot of 'Nisei' and make the very imaginative parts of it seem just a bit real. And thus the myth arc contains something parts true and parts fantasy but all fun.

I really enjoy Nisei for other elements as well. The X-Files had always implied that not all UFOs were purely alien (see 'Deep Throat') and 'Nisei' focuses on the more human side of government/alien conspiracy and that, for a time, is interesting. In this two part arc, I enjoyed it mainly because the writers started something interesting and didn't write themselves into a hole like they would in seasons 6 and 7. But the true revelations come out in '731'. 'Nisei' simply sets up what is an amazing two parter that is, perhaps, the cream of the crop for the myth-arc.

Oubliette ('MOW'): Sometimes Mulder Just Has Heart

2010-07-20T23:44:00.002-07:00

I wanted to put this under the 'Unofficial Mythology' category but there is a key scene deep in this episode where Mulder pretty much refutes the fact that the current case is involved with anything from the mythology (the scene where Scully says Mulder is not being objective because of his sister and Mulder, quite convincingly, says his sister has nothing to do with it). During that particular scene, Mulder is pretty adamant that his objectives and beliefs are not strictly run by his emotions towards his sister and isolated events from the past.

And this episode is one of those bait and switch episodes where you think, maybe, Mulder is acting extra sensitive because this all has something to do with his sister but, in the end, Mulder just happens to have a heart and it is extra sensitive to child kidnappings. . .and it doesn't hurt that there is some mental voodoo going on too. I found a lot of similarities, oddly, with the first season episode 'Young at Heart' in which Mulder kind of went against his normal routine and fought hard for a case, emotional state be damned.

One of the most telling character moments between Mulder and Scully occurs in this episode and it is pretty powerful especially considering it is one of the rare times the two characters share a NEGATIVE moment. When Mulder tries to resuscitate Kaylee from Firefly and fails, Scully tries to get him to stop and Mulder, angry and emotional, pushes Scully away. Scully looks shocked for a moment and so does the audience. In that moment in a run of the mill 'MOW' we witnessed a new wrinkle in the Mulder-Scully relationship. Most of the time we see the two having 'moments' that makes them connect and grow close. . .in this case, Scully sees a line even she can't cross. It was nice to see this. . .even if it was off putting and sad.

In regards to the plot, I like that The X-Files can throw things like aliens, ghosts, chupacabras, etc at you but the scariest episodes can be the episodes involving the deepest, darkest holes of human nature. You can show me all the Tooms you want but seeing a grown man breath heavily over a little girls bed gives me the willies.

And the actress they cast to be the mental conduit between Kaylee from Firefly and herself was so wonderfully odd and unique looking that her appearance alone increases the success of the episode. It also doesn't hurt that David Duchovny is on top of his game here, being believable and heart breaking.

The episode doesn't exactly end well and it isn't quite as well known as other efforts in the season or the show's run, bu 'Oubliette' has enough scares, surprises, and character moments to make it a very important watch.

The Walk ('MOW'): The Phantom Li'l Engine That Could

2010-07-20T01:28:00.004-07:00

If aliens are the first thing that people think of when it comes to The X-Files then ghosts has to be second. And while I personally believe in ghosts (or variations of them) I generally am not a fan of ghost stories. But The X-Files has managed to make every ghost story thus far seem interesting and original.

And, I guess, 'The Walk' isn't really a ghost story once the mystery is solved (the phantom soul as opposed to the phantom limb) but all the pieces are there (spectral body, nobody believing the victims, etc) and it makes for some haunting television. The other factor that adds to the supernatural is the all too real aspects of the episode that the X-Files excels at. In this case, an Army hospital full of injured soldiers. Without trying, 'The Walk' has managed to become a bit timeless. The soldiers in the episode where injured in the Gulf War and soldiers today are injured in the same areas of war. . .just for a different purpose at a different time.

It's really the 'real' parts of the episode that stick out as the most haunting. One character is a quadruple amputee (no arms, no legs) and simply imagining what that guy is going through is pretty haunting in itself. But he ends up being a murderer to prove a point (that being he is in pain and it sucks). I can't say I've ever had my morality scale tested so heavily. A)I felt bad for the quadruple amputee killer and b)I wanted the episode's first victim to kill himself so he could be at peace. What? How often can you say that in an hour of television?

Got to hand it to ace director Rob Bowman, the main man in the rotation of regular directors that's starting to build over the last two and a half years. He makes this episode truly cinematic. And the acting ain't shabby either. And, I suppose, the extra bonus was that I remembered virtually nothing about 'The Walk' so watching it this time was still surprising, fun, and creepy because, for the most part, I didn't know what was coming.

I suppose the major complaint is that while the episode is extremely visceral and creepy, it doesn't carry an emotional impact which is shocking since an eight year old is murdered in this episode (doesn't child murder just make you feel all warm and fuzzy???). But 'The Walk', for all it's successes, is the little episode that could; a bottle show that exceeds it's budget and expectations especially after the blistering start to the third season. Well done X-Files.

2Shy ('MOW'): It's in the Music

2010-06-21T19:40:00.003-07:00

There is so much to say about '2Shy' that has already been said: great story (a villain who loves poetry AND the fat in people's bodies), great set design (I'd love to have an apartment like the fat-eaters. . .minus the dead bodies and stuff), great casting (from Timothy Carhart (ELLIS DEWALD!) as the villain to all the mousy fat women he goes after), and classic X-Files images (bodies being reduced to slime and bone, women being gagged by an odd slime substance, etc).

But my favorite parts of '2Shy' are the things you really shouldn't notice or, in one case, shouldn't be there in the first place. To me, '2Shy' has a fantastic musical score. Mark Snow has never mailed it in but sometimes his scores are very similar. But every now and then he puts out a truly unique electronic underscore that adds to the uniqueness of an X-File. The producers of the X-Files DVDs have put his best work on the DVD menus EXCEPT the score for '2Shy'!!!

To start, the score contains a theme. I can't necessarily recall any character in the X-Files having a theme. Even the iconic X-Files theme doesn't necessarily apply to Mulder and Scully (save one sequence in the first film and the final scene of the series). But the Fat-Vampire has his own synth theme: it's very simple but unique for the show. I've tried to find files of his theme but it isn't on the various X-Files soundtracks I own or on the limited fan sites I've searched. For me, '2Shy' is many things BUT I think it's most forgotten element is the beautiful score.

Now the second thing I remember '2Shy' for is the fantastically 80s-action-film ending in which the previous 40 minutes of intelligent writing goes completely down the tubes. This is, most definitely, a set back for an otherwise great episode but I can't help but love it despite the fact that in any other story it would bring the episode/film/book down to mediocre levels. '2Shy' is too good for a bad ending to ruin it completely and the ending is done so seriously that you can't help but love it's tenaciousness.

In a matter of minutes, Mulder jumps down a three story building, lands and then slowly brings his gun up next to his face. . .Norris style! Meanwhile, Scully suddenly learns advanced martial arts, a wormy, nervous, loser-chick nicknamed Timmy becomes a solid marksman, and, in an interrogation room, Scully gets all hard boiled. Keep in mind, this is an episode about a dude who eats peoples fat! God I love how off the tracks '2Shy' gets but it's first 40 minutes is so classic X-Files that you can forgive it.

The List ('MOW'): Carter's Technical Magnum Opus

2010-05-23T12:40:00.003-07:00

I believe it was in my review of 'Shadows' that I said the key to excellent episodic television is to make each world as real as possible. You want the lives of the people you meet only once to be well defined and nuanced so that even though you are only seeing this world for a brief 45 minutes (if that) you have the sense that it existed long before the episode and well after the episode ends. 'Shadows', a very early episode in The X-Files run, manages to do that quite well. 'The List' is probably the best example, thus far anyways (I can think of another very strong one waaaaay down the line), of this phenomenon.

Like most (or all) X-Files teasers, 'The List' introduces the scenery: a prison, death row specifically. It is from this introductory teaser (and a rather long one) that we meet our characters, specifically a man named Neech, who will be put to death but before being fried in the electric chair, says he will return. Director and show creator Chris Carter does such an excellent job of setting up characterization and setting that were you not intentionally turning on something called The X-Files, you may have thought this was a stand-alone horror film. Only the introduction of Mulder and Scully tips you off that this is just another 'MOW' of the show.

But it is so much more then that. I can say right now that while 'The List' doesn't have the iconic figures of classic 'MOW's like 'Squeeze' or 'D.P.O', etc., it has to be one of the most successful 'real life' X-Files eps (where, save the ending, the procedure is far more real then supernatural). The X-Files never threw supernatural at you for the hell of it. . .if it had a good story to tell within the realm of true life, and this case, a prison filled with murderers, it would. . .and would do so incredibly.

The enigma is director/series creator Chris Carter. I'm not sure if this is a huge fan argument but Chris Carter kind of represents the best and the worst of creative control. He directed the legendary 'Duane Barry' before 'The List' and would direct the very solid second X-Files film. But from 'The List' on, he seemed to go in bizarre directions with mixed results: it seemed that as exec producer he didn't really have anyone around him to say 'no, Chris. . .don't do that'. His remaining directorial efforts would be 'The Post Modern Prometheus' (I didn't like. . .but a fan fav), 'The Red and the Black' (good), 'Triangle' (yikes), 'How the Ghost Stole Christmas' (double yikes), 'First Person Shooter' (ARGH!), 'Patience' (excellent), 'Providence' (meh), and 'Improbable' (*slaps head with hand*). Certainly a mixed bag.

But while his history may be back and forth, 'The List' may be his forgotten magnum opus. 'Duane Barry' is no doubt incredible and changed the way the series worked forever BUT 'The List' both technically (from mood to set design to cinematography) and thematically (story choices, characterization, casting, etc) is probable the best work he has done. Did I mention the episode is a lot of fun too! It's got the late, great J.T. Walsh and Ken Foree for God's sake!

Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose ('MOW'): I See A Masterpiece!

2010-05-20T22:09:00.003-07:00

The streak continues! The X-Files, on top of some of the most powerful myth-arc episodes and a MOW classic (‘D.P.O.’) goes on to even bigger and better things. Something magical happens when a concept, no matter how far fetched, works. ‘Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose’ manages to sum up the X-Files perfectly in almost every category: it has mystery and the supernatural (a common staple), humor (a theme that started to grow as the show did), gore and creepiness, and character defining moments. This episode was recently featured on Chris Carter’s X-Files Revelations DVD as one of the eight most important episode. . .and along with ‘Humbug’, I’d tend to agree. Clyde Bruckman is basically perfect.

There are lots of things to talk about in this episode, the first being the masterful writing which, combined with the acting of the late Peter Boyle, combines to provide some amazing sleight of hand. Darin Morgan, the man in Fluke Man and frequent contributor to both The X-Files and Millennium, manages to turn the preconceptions of physics on its head. The episode brilliantly MOCKS the stereotypes by presenting us The Stupendous Yappi (what a great one or two time character) but then redefines them with Clyde Bruckman (who remains so memorable that he even gets a shout out 13 years later in the second X-Files movie). Just when you think Bruckman has done something truly psychic, it is simple mundane logic, and when he does do something physic, you’re not even thinking about it. Brilliant.

What I do like is the idea of fate in the episode. Bruckman’s main power is seeing the deaths of people. He does see Mulder and Scully’s death (or rather, Scully’s lack of death) and it is great to see these characters deal with the concept of whether they’ll live or die now or later and if they really want to know. Mulder, in particular, seems interested but can’t bring himself to know while Scully, while feigning a lack of interest, is really concerned with how she’ll make it in this world. When Bruckman tells her ‘you don’t’ when she asks how she dies, you can only imagine the possibilities of what that means. Luckily, Morgan doesn’t tell us.

Psychics are kind of a hit and miss theme to play with but the X-Files, for better or worse, seem to attempt at least one psychic ep (and one movie) based around it. But, and this could be good or bad, Morgan wrote an episode that made any other episodes impossible to follow. Morgan and the producers (actors, crew, etc) managed to re-invent the psychic and those that follow can only be held in comparison and can’t, in my opinion, best it. Bruckman goes beyond being just a well written and produced episode. . .like any good TV it managed to change the perceptions of storytelling we had long understood.

D.P.O. ('MOW'): All That is Old Is New Again

2010-05-03T00:01:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in the last essay, going from such an important 'mythology' episode ('Paper Clip') to a 'MOW' can be a bit jarring. . .but somehow Chris Carter and company find a way to make the transition seemless and to add a classic to the library to boot. 'D.P.O.' is one of those 'MOW' episodes that stands the test of time and doesn't seem to age (besides the whole arcade bit. . .god I miss those). Plus, like the greatest monsters (aka Tooms, and such), Darin Peter Oswald has a cool power (he controls lightning or, rather IS lightning, as Mulder suggests).

It also helps that 'D.P.O.' stars current movie stars back in their before-they-were-famous days. Jack Black, surprisingly, gives a subtle but effective performance as Darin's friend. And, of course, Darin himself is played by oddball actor Giovanni Ribisi (has the dude ever played a straight role?). Ribisi gives one of those performances where you can tell he's a cut above other standard television actors. Other guest stars have been great on The X-Files, but Ribisi made the role, which doesn't have a lot of depth, his own.

Besides Ribisi, the film succeeds for having a great sense of style. A lot of songs are used in the episode (as oppossed to score) and Darin has a unique sense of pseudo-punk, half-redneck style that makes him memorable when the 'Best Of' lists are made. Also, the filming style is excellent. If I didn't know Bowman directed the previous episode, I'd have thought it was him, since it is so 'cool' and cinematic. Then I discovered it was Directing-Ace #2: Kim Manners who is second only to Bowman. 'D.P.O.' is just a nifty episode to view. . .even if you aren't taken with the story.

There is also a moment in 'D.P.O.' that was lacking in a lot of 'MOW' episodes in seasons 1 and 2. . .comfort. I finally feel like Duchovny has found Mulder (his quip about Women of the Ivy League is a blast). The character has had a lot of ups and downs in seasons 1 and 2. . .three is kind of the birth of the Mulder we'd know for the rest of the run. Whether this has anything to do with Duchovny's acting ability/confidence or better writing I'm not sure. Whatever it is. . .Mulder becomes a classic character from this point forward.

If 'Paper Clip' brought back the awe and wonder then 'D.P.O.' delivers the cool. I'd rewatch if you had your doubts. . .this is a true classic.

Paper Clip ('Mythology'): The Awe is Back

2010-05-02T00:01:00.001-07:00

Paper Clip is so clearly a Rob Bowman technical masterpiece. The true-ace director that Chris Carter and company carried in the line-up during most of The X-Files run, manages to do something few 'Mythology' episodes had done since the beginning of season 2 (if at all): awe and wonder. The myth-arc episodes in season 1 weren't bogged down by heavy back story and a defined universe. . .plus not much was explained. There were a few flying things (military? alien? militalien?????) and little understanding of how it all pieced together. This, for the most part, worked to perfection.

But then season 2 started to get a little heavy and the government got more involved. Then, in season 3, we got a bunch of hold dudes sitting around and smoking. One of them was Baron Munchaeusen (which is just frickin' cool) but it dulled the proceedings a bit. . .it put a face on the whole 'conspiracy'. The awe and wonder, seemingly, was now in plot points and revelations and not just simple atmosphere. 'Paper Clip' brings it alllllll back. . .whether it be the absolutely bitchin' sequence with Skinner baiting CSM to annihilate a whole race of Native Americans or Mulder staring at what could be his first flying saucer (of sorts. . .his memory was wiped in 'Deep Throat' and it was a human aircraft anyways).

That moment, when Mulder sees the spacecraft, contains that mood and atmosphere that oozed throughout most of the X-Files first, innocent seasons. It made the mythology feel important again. The underground bunker (which, I think, contains the first reference to a 'mythology' character who would only show up once in the first movie: Strughold*) sequence is phenomenal and though it explains a lot of what's going on (and thus I'm being hypocritical), it also adds further twists to Mulder's sister-sub plot and Scully's abduction. Basically, the characters find new roads to the answers they need but it still leads to nowhere (for now).

'Paper Clip' is a classic. . .a true classic and one of the best episodes in the series let alone the third season. These are the kind of mythology episodes where you can't see how feasible it'd be to go back and do Monster of the Weeks. Thankfully, they pulled it off but a lot happens in this episode and the next episode, though also a classic, feels like it doesn't belong right after something so revelatory. Oh well. . .I'm not going to complain. Classic X-Files is classic X-Files and 'Paper Clip' lives up to the tag.

*a lot of important mythology elements are brought into play in this episode and the previous ep: Well Manicured Man was introduced previously while the idea of the US government giving exile to Nazi/Japanese scientists comes into play big time later in the season.

The Blessing Way ('Mythology'): I'm in (Spacial) Heaven

2010-05-01T20:10:00.004-07:00

Okay everyone. . .all together now! KRYCEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KRYCEK!!!!!!!!! Okay, I got it out of my system. My X-Files viewing habits were so sporadic for the last few months that seeing my old buddy Krycek put me in the fits I missed having so much. *clears throat* KRYCEK!!!!!!!!! Okay. I'm done.

Anyways. . .'The Blessing Way'. Great episode. And while it is great it also kind of ends the true 'mystery' of The X-Files. I was just reading the trivia section on imdb.com and it says this is the first episode to feature the Consortium portion of The Syndicate. I don't mind the Syndicate, exactly, but when you see the group that's pulling all the strings behind the shadows, it kind of ruins the effect. Now we know all these stuffy Brits and such are running things in New York (to fast forward a bit, the first X-Files movie does a muuuuuch better job of making this group seem interesting, even if it is only for a few minutes). Once again: I like it. . .but I don't love it.

But the key to this episode is Mulder's journey on The Blessing Way, the Native American tradition that heals the very sick. It contains what can only be some of the most poignant moments in the show's run including the return of Deep Throat! (in spectre form) and a kind of last hurrah for Mulder's pops (played, once again, brilliantly by the actor Peter Donat). Scully got her moment with her dad in 'One Breath' and Mulder gets his in this episode. The family and friends are dropping like flies! Anyways, the sequence is very powerful and solemn and I loved the way they put Mulder in this spacial purgatory surrounded by beings of light. One of my favorite visuals from the entire series.

And while on the topic of death. . .let's all have a silent moment for Melissa Scully. Wah. She's dead (or on the way). God she was hot. Can you imagine growing up next to the Scully beauties living in your neighborhood???? Then again, you'd have that dick brother (we haven't met him yet. . .I'm getting ahead of myself). Anyways, Melissa gets capped and it's pretty sad plus it was done by that bastard Krycek! KRYCEK!!!!!!!!! *ahem*

I was impressed with Gillian Anderson's ability to carry this episode. She hasn't really had a chance to do that yet. Duchovny, mainly because of Anderson's pregnancy, has had the chance to carry a few eps and he did fine. . .Anderson does equally well. Mulder kind of sits back in this one and let's his supporting actors do the work. Anderson gets some deep/dark stuff to work with and she threw a touchdown. The hypnosis appointment being the best part of the episode in regards to Scully.

The episode, for a cliffhanger of sorts, is excellent but better things are yet to come. See you next time for 'Paper Clip'.

Season 2 Awards

2010-04-21T22:40:00.002-07:00

The second season is in the review bag! Twenty-Five episodes of heaven (and nothing close to resembling 'Space')!

Anyways, here is the award list for season two of The X-Files!

Best Mythology Episode: 'Ascension'. Really powerful stuff and makes you really miss a fictional character!

Best Monster of the Week Episode: 'Humbug'. One of the best episodes of the entire series, let alone the second season.

Best Mulder Episode: '3'. He showed he could command the show on his own. Plus, being vulnerable, he was Mulder but not Mulder, if you know what I mean.

Best Scully Episode: Bad season for Scully. I vote none.

Best Monster: The Evil Dark Matter Shadow in 'Soft Light'.

Best Score: 'Soft Light'. Many of the cues would be used again and again.

Best Cinematography: 'Excelsis Dei'. Probably for the only time in the series, the best cinematography didn't belong to the most shit episode though 'Dod Kalm' came pretty damn close to winning this.

Biggest Surprise: 'Fresh Bones'. Great episode. Totally forgot about it (and that was the thesis of my essay on it).

Biggest Let Down: 'The Host'. For a 'classic' episode, I found much to be desired.

Worst Episode: There are a bunch, for sure, but the champion this year has to go to 'Firewalker' which is just plain dumb.

See you all soon for Season 3!

Anasazi ('Mythology'): Cliff Hanger!

2010-04-21T22:22:00.003-07:00

Since I have probably watched the Mythology episodes the most in the last three or four years, watching episodes like 'Fallen Angel' and 'E.B.E.' and 'Anasazi' (or what have you) generally get tiring for me since I am so familiar with them. But since I am watching all the episodes in order for the first time, they seem to pack a much bigger punch. Plus, unlike my marathon days, I actually space the episodes out. I'm actually coming up to a one year anniversary of this website and I'll be at the beginning of season 3. So, I'm not on schedule with a normal broadcast year but I certainly spread it out over time.

'Anasazi' was a pleasant surprise. Some MAJOR things happen and some characters perhaps long forgotten return. Plus, there is a well crafted story that brings layers to the mystery. The whole soft water subplot made things really interesting and the return of Krycek goes so unexplained that it makes you lick your lips for more information. I also love the continued suspicion of Skinner. Can't the dude catch a break! And for the nerds out there: Chris Carter makes an appearance!

If I had to complain, and I always do, it's that we get a little too much Cancer Man in this episode. So far in the series he's been pretty unmovable. But he seems to have a wily sense to him and a lack of control that I wish was held back until later seasons (this would continue into the two parter that opens season 3). But I really can't complain too much since everything is top of the line, from the directing, to the smooth flowing script ('nothing disappears without a trace' is a great re-used theme in multiple contexts in the ep), and wonderful acting.

Duchovny has always appeared a bit raw in the first couple seasons of the X-Files. By season 2's end, he has been able to pull off the dry humor and the quick one liners but he still struggles with the larger emotional bits. Season 2 showed promise, especially when he had scenes with the actor playing his father (Peter Donat), and 'Anasazi' fortunately has moments with the two actors. Duchovny really shows a vulnerability here I liked especially when he is trying to figure out who killed his father (and he is still suffering from the effects of the soft water contaminant). I was very impressed here. He would drop the raw edge and start becoming a master at his job come season 3.

Gillian Anderson and Nicholas Lea are given much to work with here but that's because 'Anasazi', as fun as it is, is essentially set up for more important things in the two-parter that opens Season 3. I don't really mind this too much: the cliff hanger is impressive. Even though I know what happens, I am still nervous as to how the hell Mulder is going to get out of that train car with all the fire inside!

At season's end, I'd have to say that Season 2 is, 'MOW'-wise, an improvement of season 1, which was still trying to find it's groove. But when it comes to the mythology, season 2 started opening doors that, years later, I wished weren't open yet (or at all). But it also opened good doors too. But whenever you explain something too much, you ruin the mystery. It's a double edged sword. Thankfully, season 2, and it's cliff hanging conclusion, 'Anasazi', end on an exciting, mysterious note.

Our Town ('MOW'): Nitty Gritty

2010-04-19T22:14:00.002-07:00

Every now and then the X-Files likes to avoid the paranormal and just go into the weird or heinous. 'Our Town' is definitely the type of episode where there is less spooky and more odd. . .plus, and this is why I love the episode, 'Our Town' deals with some actual investigating. Not that Mulder and Scully didn't investigate things before but. . .this is the first episode to feel like a police procedural. . .with mask wearing axe wielders and cannibalism!

No, I love this episode because it gets down to the nitty gritty of trying to solve a disappearance and, of course, stumbling on something bigger. In the end, I was just glad the case ended up being ambiguous at the most but pretty normal at it's least (normal for the X-Files anyways). One thing I like about characters Mulder and Scully is that they are very smart and they work for the frickin' FBI! They need to be a step above the standard cop or what have you because they look into things the standard cop wouldn't. This episode did a great job of showing the scientific brains that Mulder and Scully possess. . .hypothesis, experiment, results, and conclusion. Unlike some X-Files, Mulder and Scully enter a case and solve it to it's conclusion (except for, of course, the body the chickens were eating at the end).

When I first watched this episode about six years ago I was impressed with the very end of the episode. Once the credits rolled saying 'Executive Producer: Chris Carter' etc. I remember looking down at the ground and then scrunching my face. 'Eeeeeewwwwww' was the word that came out of my mouth. I loved how the ending kind of hit you and the slow realization of what the episode was presenting to you wasn't out of ignorance but because it was presented as a 'here's an idea. . .now think about it. . .not react'! It had less of an impact this go around simply because I saw it coming (of all the X-Files I've revisited so far, 'Our Town' was almost completely new to me (I remembered nothing) EXCEPT the ending. . .which left a mark in my brain).

I also have to praise the amazing cinematography in this episode. It's no surprise that this was directed by X-Files ace Rob Bowman, one of the two ace directors Carter would employ throughout the show's run (the other being Kim Manners). Bowman is a master of light and mood. He can make even silly things seem a bit intense (and I'm talking about The X-Files of course. . .that whole Elektra movie he directed was pretty silly and no amount of lighting could save that piece of shit) and 'Our Town' while clever and weird, has loads of silliness in it. But that fun kind of silly. The episode does go from procedural to complete fucking looney toons by episode end but somehow Bowman keeps it together (another gripe: once again, Scully has to be 'rescued'. I can't wait for strong Scully to show up).

Things are about to hit the fan in the season finale so 'Our Town' is a nice offbeat episode of The X-Files to check out if you haven't seen it in awhile (or not at all).

Soft Light ('MOW'): Shadow of Death

2010-04-14T22:03:00.004-07:00

I love 'Soft Light'. It definitely has to rank as one of my favorite X-Files episode simply because it is so fantastical and unique (and, thankfully, so unexplained) that I'm always completely invested in the episode each time I watch it. Unlike a few episodes I haven't seen in years and years, 'Soft Light' is an easy visit a few times a year. It's just fun. . .

This is a classic episode in X-Files lore because it has an idea so simple and despite how goofy it appears on paper, your suspend disbelief so willingly because the actors make it believable AND so little is explained that you spend so much time wondering WHY? as opposed to deconstructing the How?. The ideas presented here, dark matter taking on a life of it's own, is so compelling that when the shadows would literally gobble up someone whole, I wondered what exactly happened to the people. . .and how would it be stopped.

For the second episode in a row, the producers seem to be hinting at the Syndicate playing a part in all this since X makes an appearance here for ambiguous reasons (oops, X hasn't been revealed as a Syndicate member yet. . .um. .. spoiler. . .oops). And just like in 'Ghost in the Machine', the Syndicate seems interested in very odd things that don't necessarily play a part in the whole colonization/conspiracy arc that will play out later.

An old theme, long since forgotten, comes back to the fore as well. Another Scully friend/acquaintance from her past gets pretty ruthlessly killed. It's starting to get funny now. The girl, Detective Ryan (I think), is given all this dramatic weight (it being her first case, being a woman in a man's world, etc. etc.) and then BAM, gets sucked down a shadow with no chance of fight. Poor thing.

The last fun bit is seeing Monk actor Tony Shaloub as a neurotic genius who hasn't slept and literally has an evil shadow following him. I really like Mulder's thinking in one scene when he figures out Monk's shadow would swallow Scully whole and shoots out some lights. Cool moment. I also like that X gets some solo screen time here. . .we are starting to see him fleshed out a bit. He seems a lot more stressed out and conflicted then Deep Throat and here you can see it in his eyes if not his lines. Great ep. Watch it.

F. Emasculata ('MOW'): Um. . .ew.

2010-04-13T21:54:00.002-07:00

So much stuff packed into this episode and it explodes out like a nasty, bulbous, blood-rich sore on an infected face! And that's exactly what this episode was about: gross skin conditions and exploding bulges. I hadn't updated this site in awhile mainly because I really didn't want to sit through this episode again. The plot details escaped me a bit since it's been so long but one thing was very vivid in my head. . .a dude with long hair who had a large bulging, pulsing, infected sore on his face about to explode all over a kid.

This episode is many, many things but it most excels at being just gross to look at. Sticky gross liquids constantly shoot out of infected people and there are lots and lots of dead things filled with bugs and decomposing scars and such. Ew. This episode makes me feel gross. . .I HAD to shower afterwards. But with this icky feel is a solid little episode. Nothing amazing but it had some things to say and it, I imagine, was setting up things for the season finale (only three eps away). (On a side note: it figures that Scully would look so blazing hot in the episode that makes you avert your eyes the most often. Something about Gillian Anderson in this episode. Wowser).

One of the many topics, besides DEATH BY GROSS THINGS, is the idea of the public's knowledge of major events in human history that stand to change the future of said humans. For a simple 'MOW' (that borders on the edge of 'Unofficial Mythology' but just misses out), this one is packed with X-Files-like intrigue such as the still ambiguous Skinner and Mr. Cancer Man himself. And this is an episode where, for the most part, the evil bad guy is kind of right. CSM's point that panic causes more death then a problem that is loose but unhindered by outside factors kind of makes sense. And Scully agrees with him. The more passionate and, perhaps, naive Mulder, so eager to reveal the truth on anything, is tempered from doing something rash by Scully and one of his nemesis.

Besides these moral/ethical/grey issues, the episode excels at just being kinda gross but pretty scientific. Scully gets to blabber on about sciency stuff while WORMY SCIENTIST VICTIM sweats a lot and earns our sympathy. Good ep but close your eyes often (probably the worse thing to say about a show made famous on a visual medium).

The Calusari ('MOW'): Message to New Parents: STAY AWAY!

2010-03-30T20:31:00.002-07:00

There I was, finally getting a moment to myself. No child screaming or demanding food. No work to kill my enthusiasm. Nothing at all to worry about except the next X-Files installment I was going to watch. And then 'The Calusari' starts, an episode I hadn't seen in probably five or six years. I remember it had something to do with a balloon and dead chickens. . .that was all I remembered. And as the episode played out. . .there was the balloon. It was all kind of silly really. A balloon leads a kid around while scary music plays.

But what I thought would be another mediocre episode with a goofy premise ended up being probably the most horrid thing I've seen in my young parenting life. The balloon, which we later learn was being pulled by an invisible evil twin of the baby whose following the balloon's older brother, leads the baby onto a train track and the train thus runs over the child. Yeah, that's cute.

Needless to say, I was stressed out for the rest of the episode. . .and for good reason. 'The Calusari' is a solid scarefest and when I say it is horrid I don't mean it was of poor quality. In fact, the horror is so authentic that I found myself mystified as to how on God's green earth this made it on the airwaves in primetime. If you know me then you know what scares me. But if you don't, here is what does: strange eyes and freaky children.

So not only does 'The Calusari' depict a young child (roughly one or one and a half, like my daughter) but it also features an evil, ambivalent older sibling who tries to stab his mother and grows strange teeth and growls a lot while walls bleed mucus or something. I don't like these things yet they exist in a program I consider to be my all-time favorite show ever. Why do the things I love have to torture me so!!!!!

'The Calusari' is mostly successful because it sets itself up as being pretty retarded at times and manages to take these retarded things and make them scary. Weird Amish-looking immigrants doing Romanian chants sounds stupid and it usually is in the wrong hands. . .but here it is a little eerie. And the final scene in which an exorcism is performed, in which a bed raises in the air and a child growls with crazy teeth, sounds like poor drama but is absolutely haunting. All hail the X-Files. . .for scaring me stupid!

Humbug ('MOW'): As Perfect as Perfect Gets or The Enigma (get it) of the X-Files Solved!

2010-03-11T23:06:00.003-07:00

Sometimes you are blessed to see things. Sure, I've been to some great places and experienced some great things in that crazy thing we call 'real' life (harumpf). But in a shallow sense, you are blessed, really, honestly, blessed, to see creative energies converge with technical proficiency for the perfect hour of television. I'm not going to say 'Humbug', the 44th episode in The X-Files eventual 201 episode run, is THE greatest episode of the show but it is certainly on the short list simply for the fact that it made something so bizarre and silly spectacularly intelligent and wondrous.

It was almost as if the X-Files universe led to this moment and, for a show so dark, ominous, and sometimes eerie, it's landmark episode seems to be in the comedic realm. The X-Files? Funny? Really? I can't explain it either. If I told you an FBI case involved a man who eats live fish, a man who has scales who is murdered, and a man impales himself with a nail with a hammer, would you think this was funny? Then again, if I told you an FBI case has The Dog Faced Boy in it and the killer turned out to be a separated mutant twin just looking for a new 'brother' you probably laugh AT me as opposed to with me.

Somehow, Darin Morgan, the writer of the episode (and also known as The Fluke Man in 'The Host') manages to convey shocking horror and seriousness next to complete insanity and goofiness. It's his macabre wit and fresh perspective that makes the episode not only work for the hour but to change the mythos of the X-Files MOW for years to come. Other episodes would try to replicate the success of this episode. The failure rate, surprisingly, was not too high. Often, Chris Carter, maybe out of jealousy, shot a little too high. . .but overall, 'Humbug' seemed to open the floodgates for The X-Files creativity and allowed lightning to strike two, three, or even four more times. Yes, 'Humbug' is that good.

I've been thinking about 'Humbug' all day and night for the last 24 hours. . .I can't get it out of my head. It just feels special and I've even seen it about four or five times. . .those this was the first time in about two years or so. It's the perfect episode to show newcomers of the show while simultaneously not being viewable to a public not familiar with that of Mulder and Scully. What? I know. . .I'm confused too.

It's funny because 'Humbug' kind of succeeds where the episode before it, 'Dod Kalm', fails. . .its gimmicky, well, at least it appears to be. I can only imagine the commercials: CIRCUS FREAKS JOIN MULDER AND SCULLY ON THEIR NEXT CASE. NEXT WEEK AT 10! But for every gag you see, and for every path you expect it to go on, you are surprised with how complex it gets or how divergent it's road goes. The gimmick is the Freaks. . .but the result is originality and surprise even after multiple viewings. 'Dod Kalm' tried to draw people in with the gimmick of seeing Mulder and Scully old. . .without saying anything about being old itself. 'Humbug', through embellished caricatures of circus freaks, has something to say about being different and, believe it or not, about being loved.

The other key to any series. . .especially a drama. . .is the ability to humanize the characters. Mulder and Scully, from the beginning, are not exactly characters people can relate to in many ways. Scully is a doctor and an FBI agent and Mulder is a seemingly freewheeling genius who happens to believe in things that go bump in the night. These uber-intellectuals with uncommon jobs can be alienating to audiences. What won people over was Scully's mix of vulnerability and strength and the subtle traces of femininity (not the overt, here-are-my-breasts-for-all-to-see uber-chick most shows have as the center-piece female) in a man's world. Mulder was too smart for his own good but the underdog AND funny. As time went on, the show revealed cracks of these character traits. . . but 'Humbug' lets us kind of laugh with and at the characters. The most important part of this, is, of course, to make them, both through general theme and with the characters themselves, appear not to be so depressed all the time. Even the ever-tortured Mulder and the ever-uptight Scully have to get down and boogy every now and then (well, not with each other anyways). . .

A show can only take itself seriously for so long before the audience says, 'um, can you lighten up a bit?' (attention: this meant you BSG). 'Humbug' was not only the jolt of comedy The X-Files needed for it's mythos and it's characters but it came at the most perfect time: just before the end of the second season when shit was about to get real. It's almost like a refresh button; a chance for the characters not to be in real mortal danger and to take a light case for a change. As I revisit all the episodes (since I've seen them all), especially the comedy ones, I'd like to see if they can live up to my recent interpretation with 'Humbug'. . .but for now, and this is bizarre to say this for a drama but, 'Humbug' is The X-Files greatest success (so far).

Dod Kalm ('MOW'): Too Old For This Shit

2010-03-10T18:54:00.002-07:00

Dod Kalm isn't nearly as bad as I remember it though it still is pretty woeful. The X-Files, at least in the early years, ALWAYS have good ideas. . .but sometimes the execution was just poor. Dod Kalm, as I've mentioned in other reviews for X-Files episodes, is another episode where the cinematography and technical brilliance of the episode overshadows how piss-poor the story is. In this episode, people age aggressively. . .and that's about it.

There are some fancy-smancy quasi-science introduced to explain it all but the episode hopes that seeing Mulder and Scully as over makeuped old fogies will keep your attention for twenty to twenty-five minutes. It doesn't. Rob Bowman, certainly one of the A-Team directors in The X-Files (and the only one I know who went off to theatrical success), does a successful job of setting up chilly, eerie circumstances but can't save the gimmick from being just that: a gimmick.

The bummer lies in what the episode has to say: which is nothing. With the exception of one well placed joke (due to Mulder's increased age and therefore limited temperament), the episode actually says nothing about what it is like to age. There is a soliloquy from Mulder about how dying so young is undeserved but all tension is taken out of the proceedings when you know the characters are going to live. . .and because of this lack of tension, the show runners have just decided to get ratings by putting people in pounds of unconvincing makeup and offering no insight into the characters suffering from a pretty heinous ailment.

But, like I said, the episode isn't horrifyingly bad like I seemed to remember. I have always had a dislike for the empty ocean and director Bowman adds some truly haunting shots of things just popping up in the seemingly endless big blue that defies creepiness. But it just isn't enough. Character moments aside, the situation that Mulder and Scully find themselves in is just uncharacteristic in itself. Why the hell are two FBI agents going to Norway to try to find a missing military boat? Isn't that beyond their pay grade? Don't you think this would have been approached with a little more fanfare by the Navy or something? Having Mulder and Scully play spy in Europe is just kind of silly.

The whole episode is silly. . .and I'm done talking about it.

Fearful Symmetry (Unofficial 'Mythology'): Congo This Is Not (Which is a Good Thing)

2010-03-10T01:04:00.003-07:00

I was on the fence about including this episode in the unofficial mythology list but since it has a lot to do with alien abduction and has a lot to do with harvesting of eggs and influencing pregnancies, I felt it fit since, much further down the road, the understanding of fertilization plays such a key for the myth-arc and Scully in particular. Granted, nothing really important happens to Mulder or Scully in this episode (so kind of anti-myth arc) and besides a few of The Lone Gunmen (not all), there really isn't any semi-regular involvement, the episode still feels important. . .or at least nuanced.

The episode itself is kind of dumb. It has some great imagery (the opening sequence is very exciting) and a lot of the ideas are interesting (aliens keeping an 'ark' of sorts, or a catalog, of the animals humans are trying to wipe out, whether through evil or accident) but the execution is kind of dull. I've watched 'Fearful Symmetry' more often, perhaps, then some other entries of the franchise, but I usually would put it on in the background while writing or something. The episode functions mainly as a nice reminder of how layered the X-Files universe is with it's ideas of alien life. . .even if an alien is never shown and only a few flashing lights represent their presence.

This episode also has the misfortune of popping up right after 'End Game' which was very powerful and important. A story about talking gorillas and shiny lights kind of looks weak in comparison. Plus, Mulder is a little too wistful for my taste considering he just lost his 'sister' again. . .or whatever. But such is the fate of a serialized portion of a successful show: sometimes you have to bust out the formula.

Also, what was up with Scully in this episode? She's a little snippy in this episode. I guess everyone has bad days but even Mulder is like, 'um, can you chill woman!' Then again, if I had to act serious around a dude in a monkey suit (and I checked, it appears to be a dude in a suit), I might be ornery too. This episode had a high quotient of poor-man look-a-likes. The main conservationist dude looks like Frasier Crane's love child and when he keeps shouting 'Willa' it sounds just like 'Lilith!'. And Willa herself looks like a poor man's Helen Mirren. . .but no one can look like that old vixen!

Anyways. . .decent episode with better ideas. See you next time for an episode that definitely, if memory serves, exists as one of the worst things The X-Files ever did.

End Game ('Mythology'): Positivity on a Near-Death Bed

2010-03-09T10:45:00.004-07:00

I've come to realize that the mythology arc of the X-Files is better served when wedged in between multiple MOWs. I have never watched The X-Files from beginning to end before though I have seen the whole series multiple times. I have watched the mythology arc twice without the MOWs there and I always felt that I was missing a little something. 'End Game' made me realize, so early even, that the mythology arc is best viewed interspersed with all the other episodes.

The one drawback, I suppose, would be that the mythology arcs heightened sense of drama and danger makes preceding MOWs seem kind of goofy. . .but really, the show ends up being about character and not always said monster of the week and little character moments surrounding jersey devils and all that can strengthen the drama of later episodes. End Game, for the first time in the myth-arc so far, really added true suspense. The Scully-Abduction arc surely was intense but that was a Mulder-only affair since Scully spent most of the time gone. 'End Game' ups the stakes for both Mulder AND Scully not to mention Skinner and X. In a few previous myth-arc episodes, I felt the danger level was upped for no reason. . .character's lives were at danger and we didn't know why or how. That problem has been solved.

I can say that I might have felt a bit cheated if I were watching this on TV during it's weekly run due to the fact that Mulder's sister was a lie and only lead to more questions but at least it still leads towards hope and not sadness. The Alien Bounty Hunter simply says, 'she's alive'. Both hopeful and entirely absent of meanings since it only leads to more questions and all the ones we've received in the last two hours have been lies.

I really like Duchovny's performance in this and the previous episode 'Colony'. Samantha's unbelievable story is almost as unbelievable to him as it is to us. . .and though we WANT to believe, we just can't. . .and that little bit of doubt pays off as nothing ends up being true. But if there is partial non-belief, then there is also partial belief. . .and that little bit of 'yes, it is possible' really breaks Mulder down and is incredibly sad to watch.

But as The X-Files gets more and more depressing in the myth-arc for it's characters, this episode, at least, ends, uncharacteristically, positive. . .well, as positive as it can be when someone is in a hospital bed recovering from a retro-virus. But Mulder has found the faith to keep looking. . .and that is all we need to stay invested as viewers.

Colony ('Mythology'): Send in the Clones

2010-03-04T22:28:00.003-07:00

This is where things get. . .confusing. The X-Files had slowly introduced a select group of characters into the mix to spice things up but the proceedings are starting to get crowded at this point. Not only do we get Mulder’s father but his mother and sister (!) as well. Not to mention the Alien Bounty Hunter making his first of many appearances. This doesn’t sound like a lot but at this point. . .in only the second season. . .we’ve got The Lone Gunmen, Skinner, CSM, Deep Throat, X, Scully’s brood, and now Mulder’s brood.

The bittersweet thing about ‘Colony’ is that it’s awesome but is kind of confusing. I’ve read papers. . .papers!. . .regarding the whole mythology arc and I always see ‘Colony’ is the point where things get a little fishy. It is still entertaining (in fact, ‘Colony’ is a really thrilling episode) but after time away from previous mythology episodes (and imagine if you were waiting years for continuations, not just months like I have) some of the images and ambiguities can fry your brain. The most confusing aspect is, naturally, Mulder’s sister. If I’m going to pretend I don’t know what happens, the existence of Mulder’s sister in ‘Colony’ is both touching (Mulder and his family seem a bit shaken. . .but nothing day-time TV, sappy about it) but also oppressively convenient. ‘Oh, hi Fox. Let’s play Stratego. . .um. . .yeah, I don’t remember much but I’m on the run!!!!!’

The casting was picture perfect for this episode. I don’t totally trust Mulder’s sister and thankfully Duchovny’s performance says as much. He’s overwhelmed more than anything but, like the viewer, there is a look of skepticism in his eyes. . .something rare with the character. Even more untrustworthy is Mulder’s dad. . .who doesn’t seem quite shocked with the appearance of his sister but. . .perhaps. . .knowledgeable???? He knows something. I praise both Duchovny and actor Peter Donat (Mulder's pops) for conveying so many things with subtle looks and mannerisms, not words.

As for the whole clone issue, I was impressed with the camera work and visual effects but the story is meant to be complimented later (beyond just the ‘To Be Continued’ tag) and frankly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The episode’s major problem is the green goo. Some of the green goo (from the clones) can burn holes in stuff but loses its damaging abilities a few minutes after exposure. However, the Bounty Hunter’s green goo acts as a radioactive human irritant. Which green goo is which? Are they the same? The clones, I’d suspect, are alien as are, of course, the bounty hunters (alien is in the name). But the different qualities of green goo is confusing. In ‘Fallen Angel’, the light of the aliens gives off a radioactive burst as well. . .but Deep Throat made it clear human-alien hybrids are being manufactured by both humans and aliens.

What I think the whole point is, then, is to just calm down and play it out. What kind of mystery or conspiracy would it be if all the answers were spelled out in one episode? Granted, some questions would NEVER be answered and after multiple viewings of the mythology-arc, some of them need repeat viewings to even get the basics. Once again. . .it’s bittersweet but at least fun along the way.

Fresh Bones ('MOW'): The Hidden

2010-03-02T22:49:00.004-07:00

There is always a certain episode (or perhaps type of episode) that exists that shall be called The Hidden. It's an episode or, once again, a type of episode that is mostly forgotten because it is surrounded by more recognized episodes and/or is deeply set within a long season run for the series the episode finds itself in. In the case of Fresh Bones, we have an episode padded by very popular 'Irresistible' and 'Die Hand die verlezt' (before it) and mythology epics 'Colony' and 'End Game'. 'Fresh Bones' is also episode 39 of 201. . .easy to forget.

But 'Fresh Bones' is now one of my favorite episodes because I knew nothing about it (except for the bald dude) and found myself appreciating it on a whole new level since I am older and (hopefully) wiser. 'Fresh Bones' is not exactly the most approachable episode in terms of content: the idea of voodoo is touchy (since it carries possible racial overtones) and so is the depiction of Haitians who a)people don't know much about (even after the recent Earthquake) and b)comes attached with unfortunate stereotypes when portrayed in the media (especially when voodoo is involved).

But much like 'Roland's look at mentally retarded people, 'Fresh Bones' manages to come across as intelligent and non-racist. In fact, some of the character's hate of Haitians gives us someone to root against. 'Fresh Bones' is actually a brilliant technical achievement as well with characters bathed in darkness and a truly creepy set piece in a graveyard towards the end. Plus the 'ehhh' quotient is high as their features ham that bleeds, maggot filled cereal, and dead dog carcasses.

I'm glad 'Fresh Bones' is considered The Hidden because, without as much exposure as the four episodes surrounding it, the episodes packs a little bit of surprise since you are unlikely to re watch 'Fresh Bones' a multitude of times. I will actually save my memories of it for viewing later (much later if my slow viewing pace of the entire series continues as it has) and maybe see it in a different light.

My one gripe and it applies more to the season then anything else: Scully is too often the victim. In some cases, it was needed: Gillian Anderson being pregnant and all that, but too many times (and this episode in particular) she seems wounded and appears to need protection from Mulder who, unlike in season 1, doesn't seem to have too many issues personally so far (we saw Mulder's regret in 'Young at Heart' and fear of fire in 'Fire'). I just don't like to see a powerful female character kind of get slapped around. It would, of course, improve but Scully is not exactly a powerful female role model in season 2.

For now, 'Fresh Bones' remains The Hidden. . .but dig it out and change that (if you dare).

Die Hand die verletzt ('MOW'): And Now for Something Completely Different

2010-02-24T23:42:00.003-07:00

'Die Hand die verletzt' offers not only the most bizarre entry in the X-Files young episode run at this point (middle of season 2) but it also epitomizes the X-Files experience and what, in the end, it is best known for. More so then any other episode so far (and this probably has everything to do with brilliantly weird writers Glen Morgan and James Wong writing the script), 'Die Hand die verletzt' takes common, everyday, even mundane, goings-on and makes them creepy and as odd as hell.

The episode naturally opens with the PTA Meeting. . .FROM HELL! You know you are in for a treat when a discussion of a school play turns into a candlelit prayer to evil! and the episode has just begun. Add raining frogs, pig corpses coming to life, a snake consuming a whole person, and random streaks of fire chasing people: that's Morgan and Wong X-Files for you.

The episode helps all these crazy things make sense, in it's own way, due to impressive technical work behind the camera. 'Die Hand die verletzt' may be the darkest episode of the show and I don't mean thematically. I do think there were at least seven minutes of total running time set in complete, impenetrable darkness. And when you got loony things going on, darkness is needed. Something tells me I wouldn't buy the whole snake thing if it was lit all bright and peppy.

Throughout my 'journey' of revisiting the X-Files, I've tried to find a point where the show took off creatively. I have so far been surprised with how consistent the show is with it's tone and theme but if I had to pick a moment when The X-Files began to push itself past it's own, already long and far boundaries, 'Die Hand die verletzt' is probably that milestone. With any lesser actors, directors, producers, writers, or technical artists behind the scenes, this episode could have been the signal of death for this show. But once again The X-Files manages to deliver.

I've seen shit like what happens in 'Die Hand die verletzt' in other shows and it has literally signalled the beginning of the end for them (one episode of Seaquest DSV comes particularly to mind though I would never know exactly which one it would be since I tried to forget that show was ever made. . .it involved a chick with evil eyes). It's odd that it would signal the exact opposite for The X-Files which, at this point in it's run, hadn't necessarily found it's critical and/or popular legs. Like the episode or not (and I have known some who do not like it), it changed the face of 'MOW' episodes and we should be thankful.

Irresistible ('MOW'): I Need a Shower

2010-01-20T23:30:00.003-07:00

Yeesh. . .I feel dirty and I don't like it. The writing talents of The X-Files have managed to write something both explicitly and outright creepy while throwing in some ambiguous ideas (that work depending on the viewer, I suppose) and viewer participation through character discomfort. Irresistible is a fan favorite for good reason: it adds elements of the supernatural with the very real evils that surround us in the darkest corners of the planet.

Irresistible is pretty grim and twisted, something the X-Files has mostly avoided. The show is always atmospheric and creepy, but Irresistible dips into areas best left in the shadows (Chris Carter would get his rocks off doing this every week in the first season of Millennium, which is probably the only show that can match or top the sinister feel this episode and later episode 'Home' manage to pull off). The aspect of death fetishism is, understandably, ambiguous. A lot is spoken about it but the truly dark aspects of it are hinted at in cop jargon or off handed remarks and many of the grisly crime scenes are simply flashed on screen without much focus. For once. . .I'm thankful. When Donny Pfaster sniffs a piece of an underage girls hair at one point, that was enough to make my skin crawl: brief descriptions of his other 'acts' were enough to nearly induce vomit.

This is, in some odd way, a sign of a successful episode. You really want Mulder and Scully to stop this dickbag and, thankfully, they do though Scully goes through some emotional crap as a result. I remember a while back I didn't like this episode because I thought Scully was the anti-Scully. . .a victim needing to be rescued. What I forgot, and was reminded of this viewing, was that Scully has a problem with the idea of death fetishists. . .especially since, as she mentions, they are almost impossible to profile unlike other fetish criminals. In a show that persists in showing anti-human behavior, many scenes in this show that Scully is very, very human. . .and her weakness is no different then Mulder's fear of fire in 'Fire' or his not letting go of his mistakes in 'Young at Heart'. In the end, I respected her more from this episode then anything else.

Because this episode manages to be, amongst many things, about fear. Scully is justfully fearful of what Donny Pfaster represents. This is not only effective in her acting as the audience's eyes (Mulder is quite calm in this episode. . .he even watches football eagerly as grisly deaths are described) but it also helps us realize how close Mulder and Scully are. The writers really managed to sprinkle small character moments into each episode and this episode is yet another barrier broken between the two friends. When Scully cries in Mulder's arms at the end, the friendship goes to another level.

The only gripe I have with the ep is the whole 'manifestation' of evil deal. I understand that Pfaster briefly flashes what other characters perceive as a manifestation of evil (or a bat creature that looks similar to Remans in the film Star Trek Nemesis, years and years later) but when Pfaster morphs into numerous other faces, I didn't buy it. I think the brief glimpses of, what I believe to be, pure evil is enough. The morphing technique was pushing it. But it only lasts a few seconds. . .the rest of the episode is a success in that ironic way: completely uncomfortable and shower inspiring.

Aubrey ('MOW'): Unforgettably Forgettable

2010-01-13T19:26:00.003-07:00

I feel mid-season fatigue coming on because Aubrey, while ultimately interesting (and fairly sciency, new word by the way) is probably unforgettable for being forgettable. I can probably place Aubrey, as well as 1st season’s Born Again as successful but unmemorable. And that’s fine. Aubrey won’t boost your ratings but gives you something to do for 45 minutes on a boring night. The saddest part is that the ideas presented, like spirit/genetic/generational/behavior was done in a much more eerie and overall better way in a 9th season episode, believe it or not, called ‘Hellbound’. But we’ll get to that some day (month, or year!).

Aubrey is notable for the first appearance of Terry O’Quinn in what would be his first of three roles in the X-Files (he appeared here in kind of a throw away role, in the first movie and in a 9th season episode) and his first of four total roles in the X-Files universe (Millennium’s Peter Watts). Also notable for geeks is that Sarah Jane Redmond pops up for three seconds as an extra in a scene in a park. If you know who that is then you will know why that is notable. If you don’t, ignore it.

I wouldn’t recommend ignoring the episode however because it has a few genuine shocks, a perfect it is/it isn’t real scenario and has probably one of the most unlikable characters ever (that of former killer Harry Cokely). Cokely is actually another ingenious plot device where we get answers to questions like: what happens to young serial killers when they get old and what do they do if they’re released. This wrinkle said a lot about how we treat ex convicts (always a suspect, even if they are physically incapable of doing anything) and what is going through their brains AFTER spending time ‘reflecting’ on their crimes. I found that the most interesting (as well as the somewhat vague genetic thing) more than the actual killer or background killers.

I hate falling asleep when I watch things but when I saw Aubrey for the first time I fell asleep and had to start all over again the next day. Add that to my viewing last night and I’ve seen it enough times: three times is too many. Once is enough and though you’ll enjoy it, you’ll probably never go back to it again.

Excelsis Dei ('MOW'): Perfection in the Details

2010-01-12T19:26:00.003-07:00

When I wrote about 'Ghost in the Machine', I talked about how the atmosphere (and the weak, unoriginal plot) made the episode feel like something you’d watch on Sci-Fi Channel (oh, sorry, SyFy) at 3am. In that case it was a backhanded compliment: the episode was enjoyable but inane. 'Excelsis Dei' appears to have the same atmosphere attached to it but is original and odd. . .which is what the X-Files is all about.

I actually didn’t want to watch this episode when it’s turn came up because I was nervous. . .at one point a ‘forgotten’ episode, I had watched it a few years back in the perfect environment: it was a lonely Summer night, roughly 2am, and the episode just hit all the right notes: creepy and unforgettable. To this day the images from the episode stuck out in my brain and, like all things attached with hype and nostalgic memory, I feared the episode would end up sucking wind. Little did I know, the episode ended up being a complete joy AGAIN and, now viewed in sequence, it held better ‘cute’ moments.

Though I’ve watched about three episodes a month since the project started, I have vivid memories of each episode. When you research the episode, mull over it, and write about it you tend to take in details better. And this episode has one of those ‘slash’ moments fans go all crazy over and I have to commend Duchovny for pulling it off. When the old rape suspect, who shows his ‘plumbing’ so willingly, says he didn’t mean to step on Mulder’s toes when complimenting Scully on how pretty she was, Mulder finds himself momentarily distracted with his thoughts: in only seconds so much can be read. You get the feeling that Mulder hasn’t really thought about Scully that way before and, hell, he might like it. But not enough to distract him.
The praise needs to extend to the set design or, rather, the location scouts. The location of the old-folks-home seems born just for this episode. If I saw this place in real life I’d probably pee my pants. The show found the perfect setting to tell its story and without it, the story might have failed. The idea of a Japanese man giving powerful mind mushrooms to old folks and curing them of not only Alzheimer's but giving them the ability to see different planes of existence sounds pretty kooky, right? But it works. Add the ideas of entity rape and you get your creep factor.

I also have to place the guest actress, Teryl Rothery, in the X-Files guest star Hall of Hotties alongside chairman Perrey Reeves (‘3’) and Lisa Waltz (‘Shadows’). She is smokin’ hot despite the fact that she’s kind of a whiny bitch who no one believes because. . .well. . .she’s so bitchy. When I recommend episodes to the general public, I’m going to have to recommend this movie for it’s great attention to detail both in setting and character (and hotties) and it’s crazy but acceptable premise. 'Excelsis Dei' is an X-Files classic I’m sure many have forgotten.

Red Museum ('Mythology'): Unimportant Importance

2009-12-19T23:36:00.006-07:00

‘Red Museum’ likes to creep up on you and matter, in the mythology sense, when you least expect it. On the surface, ‘Red Museum’ looks like a kooky monster of the week, but what is revealed in this episode is monumental to the goings-on in the show and one, serious thread is locked up (and made more mysterious all at the same time) involving the death of a major character; ‘resolved’? (I say with frustration). Sort of.

For its ‘MOW’ aspects, ‘Red Museum’ works masterfully: it creates a unique community (in this case, a cow-town run on livestock) with disparate characters (the blue-collar farmer/meat workers vs. the odd, vegetarian cult) and a problem that pits the two against each other (kids are being taken, rattled, and returned in their skivvies with the words He (or She) Is One). Obviously, the most obvious suspects are not the kidnappers and only weird pervert people, completely coincidental to the whole thing, bust the government’s involvement wide open (wrong place, wrong time).

I love the slow burn of the episode. . .and the seemingly 12 different story-arcs going on. . .and how they all come together. If I were to get deeply philosophical here, I’d start writing about the ideas of ‘fate’ and ‘luck’. A plane happens to crash and reveal, to the agents who HAPPEN to be in this small town, the machinations of a government experiment with biological liquids and compounds that has, it just so HAPPENS, involved the same agents, who just HAPPEN to be around, before. It may be convenient but it certainly doesn't feel that way in the presentation. . .if anything, the abruptness of major plot points from season 1 (in this case 'Purity Control' (the mysterious compound a doctor died for in 'The Erlenmeyer Flask') and Deep Throat's assassination) makes the whole thing feel. . .intelligent; dare I say planned out?

Deep Throat's assassin is a pleasant surprise for the episode because, in true X-Files fashion, we get to both seek revenge for his death all the while finding out nothing at all. We are happy the scumbag dies but we never find out who he is, what he wanted with the Erlenmeyer Flask and WHY (oh why) he killed poor Deep Throat! Closure that leads to more questions: only the X-Files can do that and not be frustrating.

The Red Museum cult would be a piece of the 'mythology' that never really came back. In a way, they were a plot point to show the control group for different biological agents being introduced in the human system (probably, one would suspect, to test Purity Control and determine if it would work and prevent alien takeover. . .but we are getting way ahead of ourselves). There existence is merely important to the revelations of the government's plans (which, themselves, would not be revealed for many years) but really serve no purpose to the overarching plot. Much like the episode, the Church of the Red Museum, is a bizarre one-off character, meant to be impactful but simultaneously unimportant.

And that is the way the episode 'feels' for much of its time. The inclusion of it on the official mythology list may appear confusing but, in the end, 'Red Museum' ends up changing the course of the show's direction and has lasting impact all the way to the first movie and even aspects of the series finale. At the very least, you get to see people in cool red turbans and Mulder wipe barbecue sauce off of Scully's cheek. Aw. How cute.

Firewalker ('MOW'): Oh Well. . .

2009-12-05T00:05:00.002-07:00

Well. . .that was fast. It looks like season 2 has finally found it’s answer to Season 1’s ‘Space’ or ‘Darkness Falls’: ‘Firewalker’! Man, this episode is a clunker. An absolute crapfest from beginning to end with very, very little to salvage it. I’ll start with the positives: though a complete rip-off of 'Ice' (this time silicon based life forms replace terrestrial worms), the spores inhabiting the residents of that Volcanology group is pretty gross once exposed. I do have an issue with how Scully wasn’t infected since her handcuffed hand was still in the door when Chick-From-Saw’s throat exploded. Oh well.

Um. . .oh yeah, the West Wing’s Josh was kind of creepy all burned up and Kurtzed! He killed a lot of dudes and appeared evil until the ‘twist’ ending but it was still cool because it was fucking Josh man! But even these two positives have negatives attached. In the end, this episode is simply another ‘Mulder and Scully go camping’ episode where they are isolated in a nasty place and exposed to nasty stuff. What a crappy way for Scully to come back (though I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t seen her in awhile or not but Gillian Anderson is breathtaking in this episode) right after the powerful ‘One Breath’. Oh well.

It’s bad when one episode reminds you of a better episode before it. ‘Firewalker’ is purely ‘Ice’ with volcanoes. That’s about it. Group of scientists get stuck in an abandoned area. Check. Something mysterious is killing people left and right. Check. The people who are left are acting really strange and hostile. Check. Something somewhat scientific but highly improbable in existence is inhabiting the crazy residents. Check. Mulder and Scully have to talk each other out of hurting each other. Uncheck. Well. . .close enough to ‘Ice’. In the end, ‘Ice’ was a classic, ‘Firewalker’ was a stinker. Oh well.

One Breath ('Mythology'): Phew

2009-12-04T22:54:00.002-07:00

Just when I think that after multiple viewings over multiple years and, chronologically, after watching episode after episode those multiple times, the X-Files gets better and better, both after consecutive viewings and in the sense of watching in order. I really thought ‘Deep Throat’ was the ultimate X-Files episode. Then ‘Duane Barry’ came out. Then ‘Ascension’. Now, it’s ‘One Breath’. I’ve realized, for the first time, why this episode never truly appealed to me until now: I never watched it in the overall sequence of the series and I never left enough time for the previous episodes to sink in.

What appears to be me just not watching X-Files and updating this site was actually a concerted effort on my part to really take in the loss of Scully. Though she appeared throughout the first five or six episodes of the season and, technically, was only completely absent from the show’s mythical world for 1.5 episodes, if you let time (like, a few weeks in a standard run, or a month or so when accessible on DVD), ‘One Breath’ is perhaps the strongest X-Files episode from its run at that point. The episode ‘3’ establishes that heavy absence felt with a presence like Gillian Anderson gone. If you let time sit, then ‘One Breath’s’ low key finale is relieving to the heart and a breath of fresh air. With time, you remember why you love Scully so much and how much you miss her.

But ‘One Breath’ and its focus on Scully is only part of the deal that timing also helps with. When you watch only the mythology episodes you tend to miss certain character beats that make those people special. Skinner, for example, is the biggest character who loses something when you only watch the mythology episodes since, for the first season and a half or so, he slowly enters your consciousness. When he first appears he is mysterious and kind of a dick. When you see him next he is an obstacle for Mulder but a little brighter. By the time you get to ‘One Breath’ you get to see Skinner turn human and ‘One Breath’ features one of his finest personal moments as a character.

Add this theory to Cancer Man as well. Up to this point I can only remember the character having a few lines of dialogue and only an aesthetic importance to the show: he represented something, but what? ‘One Breath’ gives him a new life to live to as we discover he is all too human. His bombastic scene with Mulder is one of the highlights of the second season and one of the best in both the history of Cancer Man and Mulder.

From a shallower perspective, how would you have loved to grow up next door to the Scully sisters. Can you imagine those babes in college. Jesus. I’d try to invite myself over for dinner every night. Melissa and Dana Scully: heart breakers. I bring up Melissa Scully also because she represents a unique aspect to the show that makes Mulder more three dimensional. Just because Mulder believes in alien abduction and creatures of various sizes and shapes doesn’t mean he is all believing in all things. Melissa represents a more mystical aspect of the X-Files (as agent Reyes would be later) and it shows that Mulder’s beliefs can at least somewhat be quantified by vague or detailed physical evidence. Mulder has trouble with faith (as Chris Carter mentions in the X-Files: I Want to Believe commentary (or somewhere else) Mulder WANTS to Believe. . .he doesn’t just believe yet) and Melissa is the first to show that Mulder isn't a completely odd character believing in anything and everything.

‘One Breath’ was so amazing to watch and its power surprised me even though this had to be the 5th or 6th time I’ve seen the episode. If you have followed my site so far (my journey, if you will) or you’ve started watching again on your own, ‘One Breath’ should be the moment when the first great storyline in the mythology is closed and all you can do is go ‘phew, that was amazing'.

3: (Unofficial 'Mythology'): Perrey Reeves Please

2009-11-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

I'm going to stick my neck out here and put '3' as an unofficial mythology ep. I am. So deal with it. '3', despite major fan hatred, is one of my favorite X-Files episodes. The shallowest reason is because it stars the sexiest woman that has ever lived: Perrey Reeves. Perrey Reeves fills me with all kinds of perverse joy so I won't go into graphic detail but it is safe to say that if I ever met Perrey Reeves I'd probably begin melting into the ground I walked on.

The episode itself isn't exactly well written and the director, David Nutter, really fell in love with the 'red-like-the-inside-of-an-oven' lighting scheme but, on the whole, the episode carries a lot of dramatic weight and is, in my opinion, one of the rawest, most grim episodes of the X-Files that ever was. Sure. . .it ain't no 'Home' but '3' has an edginess to it that makes it feel a bit nasty and a bit scary. The X-Files always dealt with scary stuff but '3' is the first time I felt a sinister vibe from the villains.

Plus I also listed the subtitle for this article as 'Excuse Me, I Shit Myself' (stolen from the SNL skit Oops, I Crapped My Pants) because, in the chronological order of the show, '3' is the first episode in which something literally made me hop off my couch and check my pants. The real tricky part of the show is the fact that the 'vampires' are either really good at faking it or are actually vampires. There are a couple of 'tricked ya' moments (like the vampire 'burning' in the sunlight) but by episode's end one guy comes back from the dead and one, the oops, I shit my pants vampire, speaks demonically to Mulder after being attacked. Yeah. . .that one kept my night light on. And don't ask why I have a night light. Shut up.

Anyways, I consider the episode pseudo-mythology because, in the chronological scheme of things, Mulder is truly, truly alone. Scully is gone and who knows where the hell she is. I like this because Mulder carries it with him into the investigation and there are many references to Scully's disappearance throughout. I think this qualifies for myth-arc because we are seeing Mulder react to a Scully-less world. Even without Scully, this appearance of Mulder helps solidify Mulder and Scully's strong relationship.

So if you had any doubts about whether the episode was any good or not. . .and sure, it has it's problems. . .just give it a second whirl so you can, at the very least, shit your pants.

Ascension ('Mythology'): Would the Real Krycek Please Stand Up

2009-11-18T20:56:00.001-07:00

If 'Duane Barry' was the first step in a new direction, then 'Ascension' is the next logical move for the X-Files and unlike most two-part stories in television, this episode doesn't slack off in the 'building tension' department. If you pretend you don't know Gillian Anderson is pregnant (and you just assume she ate a lot between seasons 1 and 2) then the story elements of the episode really mess with your head: we've seen one semi-regular die in the show (Deep Throat). . .could Scully be next?

While Duchovny continues the great intensity he did in 'Duane Barry' in this episode I want to discuss Nicholas Lea, better known as Krycek. Though I feel it is the creators error to not build him as a 'good guy' for awhile and then pull the rug out from under us, Krycek reached his own point of no return in 'Ascension'. The actor, and the writer's for that matter, answer a question: 'where can this character go?' I think there are two directions: one-dimensional villain or confused grey troublemaker (because, once you sleep in the bed of Cancer Man, can you really be trusted?). Thankfully, Lea has some moments in the episode that make you wonder, 'is Krycek as committed to being evil as he is supposed to be (or as much as Cancer Man wants him to be)?

This is why Krycek is such a great character: in an episode about Mulder finding Scully, where so little can be discovered about a side character, Krycek stands out. I mean, Krycek does some horrible things in this episode. He kills an innocent tram operator and somehow (he's sneeky) kills Duane Barry. But in the scene where Cancer Man treats him like ass, you sit back in your seat and wonder if Krycek is just 'following orders' and maybe does have a heart somewhere in that scumbag bodies of his. Like Mulder in 'Duane Barry', Krycek says so much with so little and that's why, in the end, I love this episode.

Dunae Barry himself kind of gets the shaft in this episode. In the end, after a brilliant build up in the episode named after him, Barry becomes nothing other then a plot device: a way to expose Mulder's 'crusade' and to get Scully off the show for awhile and create tension. And you can't mention 'Ascension' without discussing the result of the Duane Barry plot device: what the sam hell happened to Scully?

The biggest hints are in the episode 'Duane Barry' says the military and aliens work together (as it may have also been seen in 'Deep Throat') so there really is no definite answer to the question of 'where did Scully go'? On an alien ship? In a military helicopter (as Mulder suspects)? That mystery would, of course, become one of the many that would vaguely be answered (if at all) years and years later.

Oh, and of course, you ALSO can't mention 'Ascension' without mentioning Skinner's slow turn to the good guys' side by re-opening the X-Files and giving it to a pissed off, sleepless, bearded Mulder. If this was 1994/95 then I'd be ready for next week's episode. Needless to say, whether it's characterization of Krycek, Skinner and Mulder, or epic plot lines, 'Ascension' is a seminal episode of the X-Files.

Duane Barry ('Mythology'): Would the Real Mulder Please Stand Up

2009-11-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

'Duane Barry' can either drive you completely nuts or can fill you with tense joy but one thing can't be denied when viewing this episode: David Duchvony has become Mulder and Mulder is real. Plain and simple; no doubt about it. Not that it was every any doubt that Duchovny was doing a good job in the previous episodes (he was a little raw in the beginning but mostly fantastic) but 'Duane Barry' is the arrival of Mulder as a seminal television character. . .one that goes from impressive to legendary.

The episode's shining moment is when Mulder, surrounded by skeptics and stressed out hostage negotiators goes into detail asking questions about Barry's abduction experiences. CCH Pounder (an actor who stars in any TV show that's good. . .so X-Files knew it was in the money since she was in it) gives him the usual somewhat offensive, rhetorical 'do you really believe this bullshit' malarkey. Without hesitation Mulder simply says 'is that a problem for you?' Like I said, Mulder is surrounded by skeptics, that bastard Krycek (though Mulder doesn't know he's a bastard yet) and Pounder, the head honcho. And he didn't hesitate. But Duchovny sold it. . .I saw it in Mulder/Duchovny's eyes. Mulder had become a real character.

It's a hard moment to describe in words since it is more a feeling then anything else. Duchovny wasn't emoting or really doing anything in that moment. He just spoke and. . .existed. It was beautiful. Of course it doesn't end there: Mulder struggles with the ideas of doing his duty as an FBI agent with lives at stake and finding any possible answer to what may have happened to his sister. It is an internal struggle that is a joy to watch from beginning to end.

Of course there is the cliffhanger and the 'to be continued' title card involving Scully's screams that we know will just fuck up Mulder's world a little more. The departure of Scully was, production wise, expected since Anderson's appearance in this episode is almost comical (she's so large from her pregnancy I thought she was going to explode) but at least she gets a nice moment (the supermarket/chip scanning) before departing to the great above. . .or so it looks (as I pretend I don't know how this story ends).

Despite the fact that we know Krycek is a lying scumbucket working for Cancer Man you can't deny that he and Mulder have an odd chemistry together that works. I wish there was more then just one episode involving the two in which the audience didn't know the jig was up and it was only a matter of time before Krycek betrayed Mulder to the fullest. He mostly stays in the background in this one. But it also adds to Mulder's pain as it seems, even despite the knowledge we know of, Krycek seems likable and Mulder is slowly trusting him (or at least putting up with him).

The Mulder aspects are what drive this episode though the episode itself, theme wise, is a true turning point for the mythology and the series as a whole. The stakes are raised, the events in the characters lives forever change them and circumstances arise that change the face of the X-Files universe and its world. 'Duane Barry' is the true intro of a great TV character and the beginning, really, of greater things to come.

Sleepless (Unofficial 'Mythology'): The Khronicles of Krycek

2009-10-25T09:15:00.001-07:00

Just like 'Conduit', the fact that Chris Carter leaves Sleepless off his official mythology list is mind boggling! Since one of the main story lines of the X-Files is Mulder's search for his sister, 'Conduit' not only dealt with alien abduction of children but it dealt specifically with why Mulder pursues these cases. . .and how each step with an unrelated case brings him closer to figuring out his sister's. 'Sleepless' works sort of the same way in regards to the myth-wide conspiracy of government involvement in things that go bump in the night.

In retrospect, 'Sleepless' has a lot to do with the Super Soldier program that was brought up in later seasons. The government clearly covered up a plot to have soldiers become unstoppable killing machines by eradicating the need for sleep. In season 2, I'm sure Carter and co had no idea the Super Soldier program was going to be a main storyline over a half-decade later BUT, in the grand scheme of things, this episode's feel echoes that of many other myth-arc eps.

If anything, though, the episode should be included in all essential myth-arc viewing because the episode introduces two of the most important characters in all of The X-Files lore and, hell, they even play a role in the case. First we have X who becomes Mulder's new Deep Throat. The writer's really did a great job here of making 'X' so entirely different from Deep Throat that, despite the comfort of having an inside source to the government shadows, you never quite feel comfortable. Mulder always lamented the fact that Deep Throat died for a cause not yet known. . .now he has a new guy giving him stuff who isn't as friendly and not willing to sacrifice as much for the same cause. This makes Mulder, and the audience, a little weary.

X appearance here is monumental to the series in terms of mood. Deep Throat was kind of the fatherly figure slowly aiding Mulder. Now Mulder has got to deep and the contacts are less helpful, less friendly and more dangerous. Deep Throat would never have hurt Mulder. . .X, at this point in his brief history, would kill Mulder if he had to and Mulder knows it.

But naturally the episode has to be myth-arc because of the beloved Krycek who, for this one episode (and one only) is a good guy. In fact he's a dorky, newb good guy and. . .well. .. Chris Carter. . .you sure did trick us. Due to Gillian Anderson's continued lack of screen time on the show the writers felt Mulder needed someone to play off of who wasn't a day player or big hammy QB guy (see 'Blood'). Enter Nicholas Lea as Krycek who is so green and goofy that Mulder just can't help but be pissed by his boyish rookie-ness (new word!).

But by episode's end, though Krycek is fooled by Augustus Cole into killing him, Mulder starts to warm to the guy. Hell, so does the audience. I could live with Krycek for a few weeks. I'm sure he'll die and Scully will be back as the new partner again but. . .yeah. I like Krycek. Oh wait. . .what's he doing. Oh, having a meeting with the Cigarette Smoking Man. Oh. He's. . .a. . .bad. . .guy. I take a deep breath and for the first time (in what will be many times) look up to the heavens and say KRYCEK!!!!!!!!!!

This is myth-arc for that reason alone. And to quote a Vorlon from a different show. . .'and so it begins'.

Blood ('MOW'): Another Level

2009-10-20T08:18:00.002-07:00

I have the worst case of writer's block ever (hence no posts in a month) so I've decided I'll focus on the production aspects of this episode. And that's a great area to fall back on when thematic analysis is lacking because 'Blood' is the episode where The X-Files took things to a whole new level.

Chris Carter's theory was that The X-Files should be a movie a week. I can't find any show on television that focuses on unique location shooting, cinematic shot selection and nuanced script writing like the X-Files did and 'Blood' is exhibit A in showing that The X-Files was more then just genre TV but a once in a lifetime kind of show. Other episodes, like 'Shadows' and 'Gender Bender' managed to display the production team's brilliance at shot selection but 'Blood' is the first mixture of innovation into the show in all areas. While 'Gender Bender' was just a godawful show story-wise, 'Blood' uses the cinematography to boost the storyline which, while high concept and difficult to believe, is layered in immense tension and paranoia.

Like smell, paranoia is a hard emotion to depict. Sure, you can show someone going kinda crazy but how often is the actual feeling of paranoia present on film. It is usually something you have to trust with the actor but almost always you are the observer looking from the outside. 'Blood' was so god damn tense that I was clutching the sides of my couch. . .and I've seen the episode a billion times!

My main example would be the scene in the mechanic's shop. I will go down on paper (or. . .internet superhighway. . .or whatever) and say that this is one of the most effective scenes in the X-Files run. At first you fall victim to the horror film scenario: what mechanic works in pure darkness and what woman would enter a purely dark factory setting with a stranger. But then you realize all is not what it seems. The mechanic is a normal dude and the world the woman inhabits is that of massive paranoia and LSD enhanced fear. Later, when the scene is being investigated, it is shocking to see that it is clearly just a mechanic's shop with no dark offerings for its visitors.

It is this physical depiction of fear that I really loved. And who hasn't experienced that at some time in their life? Everyone knows that even the most familiar household can become a creepy strange land when the lights are dimmed or the power is out. The X-Files captured that perfectly in 'Blood'.

From an episode perspective, we are still watching the Mulder show which is fine by me. Gillian Anderson is so far pregnant that I was surprised they even bothered showing her at all at this point. She was a friggin' balloon at this point and it goes against the suspension of disbelief when she shows up. That said, she appears infrequently and Mulder, for the third straight episode, gets to handle everything. I think this was key to the actor. Duchovny was raw in the first season. . .already in season 2 the weight of handling a prime time series matured the actor. Mulder is three dimensional and attractive in the second season and a large reason why the show became a main success: Mulder commands attention. Though I wouldn't dream of it, Mulder could have been the sole regular on this show based on the beginning of season 2.

The Long Gunmen finally make another appearance, which makes for some nice interaction for the lonely Mulder. Plus it grounds the show in some reality. The DDT footage is pretty effective and properly makes the enemy something we all know exists (and adds to the paranoia again). So far the second season has done a bang up job of grounding the mysteries in some sort of reality whether it be actual historical events (the transmission sent into space with music, literature, etc in 'Little Green Men') actual scientific creatures (in 'The Host') and documented footage (DDT spraying in 'Blood').

This is an absolute classic from beginning to end and sets viewers up for what would be years of innovation and creativity. Yes, there are better overall episodes out there but not by much and you'd be hard pressed to find ones produced to this high of a level. 'Blood' took the show to new heights and it would be a long time until it came down.

The Host ('MOW'): Dull Icon

2009-09-20T23:48:00.000-07:00

It's funny that an episode so iconic would be so surprisingly dull. It's not to say that the episode is not entertaining but it is noted for being an essential episode all the while being pretty mundane in spots and gimmicky. Like the creature found in 'The Host', the episode itself is kind of like a gem found swimming in a large vat of sewage. You'll dig deep to find it but come out smelling a bit.

It all might have to do with expectations though also. 'The Host' was featured on The X-Files: Revelation, a DVD guide to the second X-Files movie. The episodes/cases placed on this box set were meant as an introduction to what makes The X-Files the show it is. I have to admit that when I first saw the episode back in the day I was pretty exuberant about it. So maybe the years of expectation and hype caused a let down (much like it did with Season 1's 'Fire').

The monster of the week is, for the first time since Tooms, a real, monster though science can fully explain this phenomenon. The Host creature is pretty legendary in X-Files lore: it would appear in different forms later and basically gave license to the X-Files to be as strange and crazy as it wanted to be. The Host creature is pretty upsetting to look at and what happens to its victims, through time delay, is pretty gag inducing. These reasons are why the episode is iconic and important to the show's legacy.

But the build up to the creature is pretty slow moving. I'd like to see him revealed a bit quicker. Instead we kind of get a slow build for what can only be the inevitable: a creature with ill-intentions wreaking havoc on us common folk. Also, the case would perhaps been best handled by Mulder alone. Shoehorning Scully in made the show too sciency. I don't mind a little mind blowing science to go with my mind blowing monster but. . .let's preserve some mystery here!

I'm amazed that the second season was as successful as memory and history serves. Scully is virtually unavailable here throughout the first half of the season so the chemistry between her and Mulder is sorely missing in the slow moments of the show. 'Little Green Men' , a Mulder-centric ep, was a showcase for Mulder. . .but 'The Host' is a showcase for the monster and how the duo deals with it. Mulder is missing Scully pretty bad in this one. I'm sure Gillian Anderson was happy not jumping in what can only be some pretty nasty stunt water though. . .

My fondest memories of the X-Files are when I popped in the first two discs of season 2 and was blown away by the quick pace and excitement of the program. 'The Host' may have altered that opinion but I still appreciate what it did for the series and my excitement to revisit the beginning of season 2 is not even close to being diminished.

Little Green Men ('Mythology'): Mulder's World Torn Asunder

2009-09-17T00:22:00.001-07:00

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of the whole thing I want to put you in the mood for this episode. If you've seen it then you'll know exactly what I mean. Go to a recording device, put the voice setting to deep and super slow motion and simply say 'SAMANTHA. SAMANTHA. SAMANTHA' over and over again until you feel satisfied. Ahhh. Done it? Good. Now we can proceed.

'The Mulder Hour', as the first eight or nine episodes would be for this season, is kicking off in what has to be David Duchovny's acting showcase. A smart, quality show wants to show three dimensional evolution in a character BUT such endeavours have to be done slowly. At the end of the first season the X-Files were closed and Mulder is a sad sack. At the opening of 'Little Green Men', we get to hear a depressed Mulder explain his desire to believe. Then, for the next forty minutes, we get to go through the emotional Gauntlet with him. See, Mulder has to eventually get to be the confident, 'searching the stars' Mulder we saw in season 1 (you can't change him too much too quickly) but we also have to believe his pain and stress.

Mulder is not 'cured' of his depression in this episode. His lingering doubts and fears would stay true for awhile. And that is why the X-Files is a great show: the characters, when in episodic formats, don't get brainwashed by episode's end. They carry on with their feelings from week to week. Duchovny does a great job here of showing Mulder at his most paranoid (the first act where he is acting like a crazed Deep Throat), his most observant and dedicated and his most disappointed. At episode's end, Mulder loses so much but retains just enough to keep up the fight.

Since Gillian Anderson was pregnant, she is kind of forced behind the scenes here. Just when she was starting to become more then just an invested observer in the mythology (her role in 'The Erlenmeyer Flask' was far more involved then in previous 'mythology' episodes) she has to literally become, at first, an emotional set piece for Mulder to come cry to and later an off screen plot device. It's a shame but she's an actress of such high quality that her simple presence not only lifts the emotional aspects of this episode but further ingrains the Mulder/Scully duo in our systems.

Besides the obvious budget increases, the script for 'Little Green Men' shows a subtle but appropriate change in tone from season 1. Season 1 was kind of a 'let's hold on and see where this is going' kind of show. With a more dramatic tone and with some life threatening issues coming about, The X-Files goes from supernatural genre show to full fledged drama. 'Little Green Men' manages to show that the world the X-Files inhabits is constantly changing. Mulder didn't hit the reset button when Deep Throat was killed and the X-Files were closed: he ended up in both a job hell and a personal nightmare. His reason for being was torn from him and instead of being all witty to get ratings, Mulder is damn right depressed.

In a way, the characters never recovered from Deep Throat's death. His death opened up the problems for the FBI duo and set a precedent that all future adventures, if you will, carry a new element of danger to them. This isn't ice bugs and forest flies anymore. . .this is government sanctioned assassinations and cover-ups. The 'monsters of the week' will be luxuries, not the focus.

I like 'Little Green Men' a lot. I think it is the perfect follow-up to 'The Erlenmeyer Flask' in that the world, over the brief hiatus between the first and second season, has changed. Thankfully the show runners chose the right direction to run in. It was easy for the X-Files to get schlocky and expected. . .but instead they kick off their 'we've got ratings, money and viewers now!' season and don't disappoint. In fact, they not only avoid disappointment but manage to surprise the viewer as well. If this was 1994, I'd be setting my DVR (I'll bring it with me from the future) to record next week's episode.

Season 1 Awards

2009-09-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

The first season is in the review bag! Twenty-Four episodes of heaven (except, maybe, 'Space').

Anyways, here is the award list for season one of The X-Files!

Best Mythology Episode: 'Deep Throat': pretty self explanatory. Great second-pilot and great explanation of what's to come.

Best Monster of the Week Episode: 'Young at Heart': An odd choice, sure, but it was very enjoyable to watch and rediscover.

Best Mulder Episode: 'Young at Heart'.

Best Scully Episode: 'Beyond the Sea'

Best Monster: Tooms from 'Squeeze' and 'Tooms'.

Best Score: 'Deep Throat'.

Best Cinematography: 'Gender Bender': horrible episode, great camera work; a common X-Files schtick.

Biggest Surprise: 'Ice': a damn classic that, years ago, I bashed. I was young and stupid then.

Biggest Let Down: 'Fire': Not 'worst episode', by any means. But 'Fire' was iconic and I expected it to be much better. Memory didn't serve.

Worst Episode: TIE. 'The Jersey Devil' and 'Space': just watch them.

See you all soon for Season 2!

The Erlenmeyer Flask ('Mythology'): And So It Ends. . .

2009-09-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

. . .and so it, seemingly, begins. The first season of a television program has to accomplish two things. It has to be original and creative BUT it also has to be successful. When I look at the full slate of today's television programming, I don't see the words 'creative', 'daring' or 'awesome' pop up in my abstract brain. A first season usually has to pad it's ambition and play a bit mainstream: The X-Files managed to succeed at both criteria of a successful first season.

The show, by no means, was as creative and influential as it would later become, and, by playing it safe (and being a success), the experiment that was the X-Files dies in 'The Erlenmeyer Flask'. And quickly resurrected is the appearance of the true 'hey, we got picked up for another season' ambitious X-Files that would follow from this episode onward. Like other mythology episodes, 'The Erlenmeyer Flask' feels epic. The problems are not easily solvable, the questions come faster then answers and plot threads are left, in some cases, unfulfilled.

But unlike the other mythology episodes of season one, 'The Erlenmeyer Flask' packs an emotional punch. In a lot of shows (like Star Trek), character death is used as a 'sweeps' week gimmick or because real life politics (contract ran out, an actor lost interest) demands major script changes. In the X-Files, death is a common part of the plot. In no way does Deep Throat's tragic death spell a drought of ideas from the X-Files well.

Quite the contrary: Deep Throat is just an example of how dangerous and layered the X-Files mythology is. In six episodes previous, Deep Throat was established as a well connected man with knowledge Mulder couldn't even dream of. But in each appearance, and this is thanks to well crafted, paced writing, Deep Throat lost a little layer of composure. He would progress from 'people shouldn't' see me talking to you Mulder' to 'I risked my life coming here to see you!' It, at first, looked like paranoia, but as the weird and dangerous kept coming Mulder's way, you started to think 'maybe Deep Throat went too far'.

The greatest question is why? Why did Deep Throat a)like Mulder so much and b)want him to expose a grand, labyrinthine conspiracy that he's, forever, tried to keep hidden. Think you're going to get answers? Negative. Deep Throat succumbs to the dangers of the X-Files world and gets capped in the chest. His final words: 'Trust No One'.

Not only is his death sad because you like the man (and the chemistry with Mulder was excellent) but because, like our two FBI agents, our contact to the inside is gone. When the X-Files is closed by Skinner, who has only been seen with that Cigarette Smoking bastard, you feel closed in and helpless. Deep Throat was at least steering the boat in the right direction. Now Mulder and Scully are up shit creek without a paddle.

This is why, despite late season fatigue in the latest episodes of the season, the show is a major success creatively. Even in stand alone episode, the first season of the X-Files gave you the sense that something was being built: you don't know what exactly but you feel that in each episode the characters are getting closer to something, be it spiritual, philosophical or plain astronomical. But with Deep Throat gone. . .it's like starting from scratch. Plus, can you imagine a Mulder without his X-Files?

Regardless of what time of night it is, how many episode I've watched in a row, or how little sleep I've had, 'The Erlenmeyer Flask' is the type of episode that makes DVD a blessing. I don't walk. . .I RUN to get my season 2 DVD. This is good stuff, plain and simple.

And we didn't even focus on the grander aspects of the show that will have importance for years to come: Purity Control? Human-Alien hybrids? Assassins working against the exposure of government conspiracy and assassins working for it? It's almost too dense for one hour of television! If this were episode three would the X-Files still be on the air? Thankfully, it was and people enjoyed the mythology enough so that it could grow and become even more dense and (sometimes) convoluted (it seems the MOWs are the show's bread and butter).

The key to the future of the mythology though is getting Scully involved. Scully is the ultimate foil for Mulder BUT she gets lost in these episodes. In the end, it's the Mulder Hour. Thematically, Scully has firmly placed herself as the rock in Mulder's world. When the X-Files is closed, she's the one Mulder goes to cry too. But her role needs to be increased in the importance of the mythology structure itself (once again, I am pretending I don't know how this story ends). She can't completely be Mulder's crutch. . .she needs to figure into the plans.

Very few seasons of television have such large ideas and great, three dimensional characters. The point of an episodic program is to make it 'episodic' or 'not relying on older story lines or material'. But the acting is so good and the characters so well written that, by season's end, you have full flesh and body people vying for your attention. They expand even in episodic formats and grow in the serial parts of the program. I couldn't ask for anything more. The last four months of rediscovery has been a blast that hits all my creative needs.

Season 2 awaits!

Roland ('MOW'): Media Courage

2009-09-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

The X-Files has always been a daring show: even when its massive ideas simply failed, they failed big. That's why, when the roll of the dice worked in favor of the program, the show was a massive success. I'm not going to say 'Roland' is a massive success (it is a solid piece of supernatural entertainment) but it does manage to distinguish itself as a daring hour of television.

Playing the mentally ill is a tough road to go down: do you play it straight (to steal from Tropic Thunder (and I apologize to those I might offend) do you go 'full retard')? Do you round off the edges and make it palatable for a sometimes unsympathetic audience? How do you approach it? 'Roland' takes it straight on and doesn't flinch.

Once you accept that you will have a major role player as a mentally challenged person, you have to make sure the portrayal is both genuine and accomplished. In the event that the actor does a bad job, the mean spirited joking will undoubtedly make the program look bad and easy to mock. 'Roland' fails in this regard in a minor way. While the actor playing the character of Roland is quite exceptional (character actor and recent Emmy winner Zeljko Ivanek), his love interest (played by Suleka Mathew) is so poorly acted that, though not the intention of the actor or the producers, comes of as an embarrassing, somewhat insulting, pantomime.

But since her character is a minor aspect of the story, the entire enterprise that is the episode doesn't come crashing down on itself. And thank god: the episode, like I mentioned, is solid entertainment. The rest of the ensemble is well cast also: James Sloyan, who is probably most known for his ambiguous appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and the other, are-they, aren't they doctors are appropriately douchey and smart.

In terms of season fatigue, this is the fourth (and second in a row) episode to involve a spirit/soul inhabiting the body of someone and 'finishing a task left undone'. I like the idea which is why I can stomach its repetitive appearance but it does sap some of the energy out of the proceedings. The key, of course, is providing backgrounds and environments that distract from the oft-told storyline.

In 'Shadows' you had the inner workings of a secretary's life in the midst of corporate terrorism. In 'Lazarus', you had the claustrophobic situation of a bad guy becoming, in name and body only, a good guy. In 'Born Again' you had police force intrigue and in 'Roland', you are gifted with the world of fluid dynamics and propulsion.

It is these settings that make the story work and, in the end, you could probably tell the same story all season if the atmosphere and production creativity is as interesting and top class as it has been this season. Granted, a lot of the props used here would be used in the next episode (which, continuity wise, kind of irks me) but, like I've repeated on here before, that comes with the genre territory.

In the end, 'Roland' is a decent final stand alone episode before the epic and show changing (mythology) event that is known as the season finale: 'The Erlenmeyer Flask'.

Born Again ('MOW'): Deep Cuts

2009-08-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

Most popular bands have radio songs that everyone knows. General fans of popular bands might know of other songs on an album but not an extensive library. Uber-fans know all the deep cuts and forgotten tracks. And in the X-Files world (which I would consider myself an uber-fan of), 'Born Again' is a deep cut. A song (episode) that doesn't get any attention and is known by only the strongest of fan bases.

'Born Again' is a solid 'B Team' X-Files. Nothing memorable or meaningful. . .just kind of there. Something for the fan to appreciate or to own, if not for enjoyment, to complete a collection. 'Born Again' is only frustrating for the fact that it, like 'Darkness Falls' before it, completely apes its plot and story from a previous episode (in this case, 'Lazarus' and 'Shadows'): the soul living on to protect or avenge others through the embodiment of objects or people.

The idea will always be interesting and I'm sure after waiting weeks and/or months between 'Shadows'/'Lazarus' and 'Born Again' when the show was on in real time didn't dull the familiarity, DVD can't provide the same luxury. Even if you wait a few days, you are still watching a years worth of shows in a few weeks/months time: you see the cracks here and there.

But I'm not going to slag off 'Born Again' because I've been a bit dour with the last two or three reviews. What does the episode have going for it: scary children. Even if their intentions are good or they are ignorant to their abilities (see 'Conduit'), children are still the gatekeepers of ambiguous evil in genre shows like the X-Files! For the third time this season, children have made me look over my shoulder and make sure no one is standing in my kitchen staring at me.

'Born Again' also is successful in making you guess what the sam hell is going to happen. A lot of characters act weird throughout and some are clearly bad guys. . .but for what reason and why? 'Born Again' puts the mystery into the show and our suspension of disbelief is willing to accept the supernatural-ness of it all! Since it had been about seven years since I had seen the episode, 'Born Again' was like that nice deep cut of music: a small surprise appreciated by few.

Mulder and Scully have, by this point, already built up their amazing chemistry in the friend arena. They have been through a few life changing/threatening scenarios and have had their equal share of both supernatural cases and loss. Though the seemingly mean spirited eradication of both Mulder and Scully's past contacts seems a bit out there, major character moments (like Scully losing her father and Mulder dealing with his sister) has brought the characters close.

Like the episode itself, Mulder and Scully aren't exactly hopped up on enthusiasm for the case: it is an episodic, somewhat exciting stop for them on their journey. But that chemistry shared between them lifts this unappreciated (and mostly unknown) episode out from obscurity and into mild appreciation. In the end: if you don't dig the story you at least have the two agents.

Only one more left until the season finale!

Tooms ('MOW'): Now With 100% More Tooms!

2009-08-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

If you've read this blog from the beginning (all two of you) then you know that I love the X-Files more then almost everything. But it does seem like I'm getting all snippy at the show in these reviews. Maybe it's late season fatigue. Even though I'm not watching the show week to week, the show can still have symptoms of week to week programming in its presentation. I won't lie: the last few episodes have been 'meh' and inspired more criticisms then positives. But that is how TV works. It hasn't diminished my love of the show: it just puts a little dirt on the carpet I thought was so perfectly pristine.

'Tooms' is a problem for purely mood reasons. The episode is top notch in the performances, production and scare departments (though not quite as scary as its prequel, if you will, 'Squeeze'). But like all great unexplained villains (Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jigsaw Killer, etc.), the longer you see them (or learn about them) the less of an impact they make. And when the goal of your program is to scare you, a moderately frightening villain makes the task of scaring someone harder.

Like I said, 'Tooms' is fine on its own. If 'Squeeze' didn't exist and a few plot points were re-written to accommodate the lack of that episode, the episode would be a solid 'B Team' X-Files. The cinematography is dark and brooding and the violence is disturbing. But since 'Tooms' is a sequel to the first original monster of the week storyline in X-Files lore (and, to this day, one if its best still), not only does the monster have to be given more screen time, but the intentions and successes from the first episode have to go up in smoke.

In 'Squeeze', Mulder and Scully stop Tooms from performing his act of evil: killing 5 people, eating their livers and hibernating for thirty years. The fact that Mulder and Scully stop the bastard from getting that fifth guy (Tooms kills four in 'Squeeze') means we saw out characters succeed. In 'Tooms', though it is explained away by stupid tribunals making stupid decisions, Tooms goes free, kills his fifth person (thus making the victory in 'Squeeze' irrelevant) and narrowly escapes.

Yes, Mulder ends up killing Tooms in the end and ending his reign of terror BUT the character not only kind of wins (he ends up succeeding at his goal in the episode 'Squeeze' albeit much later then expected) but the mystery and terror the character caused in the viewer in 'Squeeze' is dulled to a certain degree. When I re watched 'Squeeze', I was looking behind curtains, mirrors and hallways to make sure Tooms wasn't there. In 'Tooms', I didn't even think twice.

This isn't The X-Files fault. They were clearly running out of money and ideas for season 1 and needed a little jolt. Tooms, the character, was a massive success both creatively and production wise (it showed the show didn't have to be about UFOs and alien abduction 24 eps a season). His return helped craft a script, provided built in suspense and probably was a ratings hit (I'm not sure exactly if that part is true). Creatively, things get less mysterious and frightening when you expose the mystery and bring the frightening to the surface more often. 'Tooms' is more a victim of an episode then a bad one. It's enjoyable. . .it's just sad when a past episode is all you can think of when sitting down watching a current one.

The X-Files didn't really learn its lesson though: popular characters Pusher and Donny Pfaster would return for their own sequels years after their original, popular episodes. If I had to pick one (and I haven't watched those sequels in years (but will, someday, for this website), 'Tooms' is definitely the best because, if memory serves, it actually is a good episode on its own.

**Oh, and for those keeping track for things to, uh. . .keep. . .track of, I guess. . .this episode has the first appearance of Skinner! Yeah! Man. . .he is in Dick-Skinner mode in this episode. I believe he stays like that for awhile. Cigarette Smoking Man also speaks in this episode. First the Lone Gunmen, now Skinner and a talking CSM! Season 1 is adding some closing delights!**

Darkness Falls ('MOW'): Variation on a Theme

2009-08-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Man. . .we've hit a little bad patch. I can't imagine what my commentary is going to be like come season 7! But Darkness Falls is the second schlock episode of The X-Files in a row! It's one of those episodes that is unintentionally funny though I admire the creators tenacity in saying 'you know what. . .we've got really fake specs of green that we are pretending are bugs. . .let's just take it all the way!'

The green bugs are a visual effects blunder that leads to hilarity. Poor guest star actors have to writhe in agony over poorly situation green lights and look like they are being eaten. TV visual effects weren't exactly at the top of their game in 1993/94 but the bugs look so detached from interaction with the real, human actors that you can't help but be taken out of the action by its poor quality.

But the visual effects do not a story make. And while the cocoon aspects are pretty neat and the cinematography is top notch (some amazing landscape shots in this episode), the story, something the X-Files is normally so good at, is a dud here too. Bad visuals effects that are supposed to DRIVE the poorly written story obviously makes for a difficult viewing experience.

'Darkness Falls' is basically 'Ice' in the woods. In 'Ice', a group of people go to an isolated area in a snowed in place looking for a group of missing people. Thanks to some 'buried under ice' worm creatures, the rescue/investigative team starts going crazy! In 'Darkness Falls', a group of people go to an isolated area in a rainy forest looking for a group of missing people. Thanks to some 'buried in a tree' bug creatures, the rescue/investigative teams starts going crazy!

'Ice' was based on paranoia while 'Darkness Falls' is more about frustration under rough circumstances (Mulder and Scully have their first notable tiff in this episode) but what's presented here is basically a variation on a theme. I can't say I didn't enjoy the episode ('Ice' is MUCH better) but I was disappointed in the recycled story. I can live with bad visual effects: it comes with the genre territory.

The ending also has the distinction of being much more enjoyable then the previous 40 minutes, however, and gives you, much like a twist Twilight Zone ending, a definite 'the hell?" X-Files feeling. And, though it is a slight rip-off, I do appreciate that The X-Files universe has woodland creatures from the past wreaking havoc on our present-day population. Add green tree bugs next to ice worms and you have some solid sci-fi schlock!

Shapes ('MOW'): I Got Nothing

2009-08-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

The greatest part about revisiting this first season is that episodes I thought we mediocre or cliche weren't. Every episode so far in the season had it's own special something to make it enjoyable and special despite having lots of things stacked against (some of) them. But in the case of 'Shapes'. . .well. . .I got nothing.

As I was watching the episode I was trying to figure out something to write about. Whether I write here or on my main website, Secure Immaturity, I usually have a theme or idea running through my head instantly upon viewing something and then I let the proceedings map out what I'm going to write. You can call it intuition I guess: I kind of know what the future viewing is going to contain. I make slight adjustments but I can usually figure out, attitude wise, where I'm going to go right away (for example: will I be sarcastic, nostalgic or analytical).

Like I mentioned above, many episodes in the first season made me re-evaluate my initial attitudes and provided, if I can be so vane, well constructed reviews. But 'Shapes' left me blank. . .completely. I didn't have a single thought going in to the episode and I had absolutely nothing to say after. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that we have encountered our first X-Files schlock: something so uninteresting and uninspired that it deserves little or no commentary. Episodes like 'Space' (which was so bad it was worth watching) or 'Ghost in the Machine' (which was so late night bad-good it was worth watching) had something going for it. 'Shapes' does not.

I remember a conversation about 'Shapes' about five or six years ago on imdb.com. I was watching the X-Files extensively at that time and had watched 'Shapes'. I did an overview of the first season and pointed out that 'Shapes' was a waste of time and very boring (my critiques were a little less exciting back then). I remember some person getting nuts about it (as some imdb.com members tend to do) and saying 'Shapes' was, quite simply, the 'best episode of the series'.

Well. . .'Shapes' has its fans I guess. I watched this very late last night (or this morning) but I was wide awake with no issues. The dialogue was oppressively boring. I found myself thinking about shopping lists, work on Tuesday, etc. I rewound a few times to get some details I realized I glazed over but. . .I'll just keep repeating myself. . .I got nothing.

If I can praise something about the show it's that it didn't go completely overboard in presenting Native Americans as stereotypical. Native Americans are the toughest ethnicity to depict without dipping into politically incorrect overtones or pure stereotype. Living in Arizona myself, close (but not necessarily near) Native American soil, it clearly isn't 'wah wah wah' and headdresses nor is it drunks in pick up trucks. Their culture, due to US interference, is clique-centric though and Chris Carter, who wrote 'Shapes', focuses more on that then other stereotypical aspects many TV shows (like Star Trek: The Next Generation's episode 'Journey's End. . .yeesh) capitalize on.

This would, of course, kick off Chris Carter's fascination with the Native American people that would play both massive (season 2 finale, season 3 opening) and background-important (see the series finale) roles in the series. Well. . .now that I read this. . .maybe I had something. But that was a stretch. I got mostly nothing.

Miracle Man (Unofficial 'Mythology'): Samantha on My Mind

2009-08-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

'Miracle Man' is one of those episodes I hadn't seen in a good six or seven years and because of that (I'll admit, my initial memories were not favorable) I ended up missing out on a very key non-myth arc myth arc episode (or Unofficial 'Mythology' in my own words). Episodes like 'Conduit' and 'Miracle Man' use a standard monster of the week story line to propel a myth-arc story line further.

'Miracle Man' is less successful, obviously, then 'Conduit' because fans, in general, agree that 'Conduit' should be on Chris Carter's official list of myth-arc episodes. But, bizarrely, I feel 'Miracle Man' is the first real episode to tap into Mulder's obsession with Samantha in The X-Files run (a similar wrinkle would happen in the 8th season during the 'Doggett Mythology', as I'll dub it, when the IDEA of his missing son is brought up in one episode but it isn't really touched on until a later one).

I'm saying this possibly blasphemous sentence because Samantha is supposed to be Mulder's drive in this episode. He believes in what he believes in (or wants to believe anyways) because of what happened to his sister. Yes, 'Conduit' had a great moment towards the end where you understood his pain but the investigation in that episode only highlighted similarities in Samantha's case. 'Miracle Man' has possible direct connections.

The episode is more monster of the week in premise then 'Conduit'. A young boy/man, who can heal terminal wounds and save the dying, is now seemingly murdering people with one touch. This boy who, only known to the viewer and a few guest star characters, DOES have this power and may be able to tap into some sort of after-life (the episode reveals to the characters inside the 4th wall that the mystery was straight up murder and nothing supernatural occurred in the actual case).

Because of this possible relationship with God (or fill-in-the-blank higher power), the young man seems to know about Mulder's pain. Being a healer. . .of the physical and, possibly, the psychological. . .the young man, in ambiguous ways, is trying to let Mulder heal (by seeing kind of creepy images of his late or missing sister). In this episode we SEE how distracting it is for Mulder to concentrate when clues to his sister's disappearance are right in front of him. In 'Conduit' we saw the need to seek solace in similar circumstances but in 'Miracle Man', Mulder thinks he may find the answer.

This is great drama! We finally get to see Mulder's wheels turn: we see his breaking point and where, in the end, his loyalty or devotion will lie. Being the first season, Mulder could probably even abandon Scully in pursuit of his sister (at this point). It takes the seemingly normal monster case and makes it deeply important for the character of Mulder. 'Young at Heart' opened up some professional wounds for Mulder. . .'Miracle Man', up to this point, opens up the roots of Mulder's personal problems and, in a way, the existence of The X-Files itself.

So a mid-season, mild monster show ends up meaning so much more in the end. Though 'Conduit' brought it to light, 'Miracle Man' gets things started on a path that will not pay off until Season 7. If anything, that should get your nerves touched and your anticipation for a long (and often convoluted) path to the end. Though usually a feeling out process for a first season, The X-Files, thanks to episodes like this and 'Beyond the Sea', is on a path of making these two young characters (Mulder and Scully) become fully fleshed out, dramatic icons.

EBE ('Mythology'): Things Are Getting Serious

2009-08-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

I want to start with some complaints. I hardly ever, EVER, complain about the technical aspects of The X-Files. Yes, sometimes a budget is low and visuals can look a little weak. That, for the genre veteran, is inevitable and expected. So I am not complaining about the goofy Iraqi pilot teaser which had some of the worst visuals of the series (I would, if not concerned with something else, complain about the poor use of blue screen in this episode as well. Example: Mulder and Scully in a car towards the end of the episode).

I am complaining about the 'I have been asleep' editing of the beginning of this episode. The X-Files prides itself on being a 'movie a week' kind of program and, except for this episode, that is true. The first five minutes of this episode is so poorly patched together that it ALMOST takes you out of the narrative. A man will be driving at midnight and it is pitch black outside. But then a cop car drives past him and its noon. Then it's dusk in the background when the driver gets out of his truck. The driver puts his gun down looking at something but in the next, split-second shot, he's holding it with both hands and blasting something away.

This is just lazy and thankfully The X-Files did not make a habit of this. This is the only complaint, in years of watching this show, that I can remember from a technical aspect. But let's move on! Let's talk about the meat and bones of the show.

Mythology episodes are always a mixed bag. For one, you get an intriguing storyline that sometimes takes years to resolve. But, because of the density, you lose a little personality. Mulder and Scully are usually on the run or constantly in motion and there isn't much time to reflect on what's going on in their lives. Wisely, the show runners decided that a conspiracy can not be held up on two or three characters alone (at this point, Mulder, Scully and Deep Throat). The wide character range starts to open here thanks to the very welcome intro of the Lone Gunmen. Nothing gives me more glee then these three maroons!

I feel, overall, the episode overshot a bit dramatically. Not a lot is explained to warrant a near death experience for our characters so the sudden shift from broad mystery to life or death situation is a bit much. But the end results end up becoming some of the best of the early myth-arc eps (which replaces revelatory excitement with unexpected sadness and near-tragedy).

For one, Deep Throat becomes an actual character in this episode. He is given some background, some emotional depth and, for the first time, some risk. As Mulder gets deeper we feel Deep Throat is too. . .and both are headed for a dramatic and possibly sad end (I'm pretending I don't know how this story ends *wink*).

I've always loved Deep Throat BUT his appearances have always seemed plot driven, not character driven. . .until 'EBE'. I think, in many ways, he and the Gunmen save this episode from being a dense mess. The story itself is compelling if not completely logical. You kind of have to suspend your disbelief a lot harder in this episode to follow along. Mulder seems far too knowledgeable about things in this episode then he should be. . .and Scully is both annoyingly scientific in the beginning but then about to break her beliefs in a heartbeat towards the end. This was. . .frustrating.

I think. . .and I could be very wrong. . .that we see Mulder's apartment for the first time in this episode. And the office, which was finally put together the way it would stay until season 9, was built a few episodes back. The show. . .both in tone, character and set design, is starting to settle down and make a home on your TV set.

As a myth-arc ep, it isn't exactly top of the line but 'EBE' introduced some great characters, expanded some others and started laying a foundation for better episodes to follow.

Young at Heart ('MOW'): Same Old/New Story

2009-08-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

The immortal line you here in a police procedural (or horror films) is the line '_____ just wasn't the same after that' in reference to some mistake made in the line of duty that most likely caused the demise of someone close to the police force or the person who made the mistake in the first place.

This person (most likely a guest star) usually is passed the point of reason and is headed for a tragic fall and usually the police procedural hero (or heroes) have to deal with the drama that person causes. It is a staple of the genre. . .except in 'Young at Heart', the character passed the point of reason is the regular, not the guest star, and his name is Mulder.

I really like this episode. Like 'Lazarus' before it, this is more FBI stuff with supernatural elements. And it logically shows Mulder disturbed by his past and explains why, in the last half season, it hasn't bothered him that much. In this case, the person that caused him such heartache and killed two innocents because of Mulder's hesitation, supposedly died, full documentation provided, years before. Mulder had moved on.

Duchovny manages to pull off some dark stuff here. As soon as his tormentor is proven alive, Mulder starts going off the deep end. The scene where he screams 'I'll get you, you son of a bitch' is so guest-star-he's-just-wasn't-the-same-anymore police procedural and unexpected of the normally placid character that you can't help but get charged up.

The paranormal stuff in this episode is a little silly and, justifiably, gets placed in the background. Our villain is a demented guy. . .it just so happens he now has a salamander hand. Yeah. I know. The set up is decent (a scientist attempting organ/limb replacement) but it feels tacked on to set up a Mulder story and add requisite 'horror' elements that are, frankly, not needed. I know the show is called The X-Files but the characters are real people. . .sometimes a real story, sans genre elements, is not needed.

That said, this was one of the episodes I watched when it premiered back in 1993/94. I remember being scared stupid when the baddie shows up behind Mulder's FBI friend in his bedroom. It lacks the same impact today but I was a lot younger back then.

And that brings up another first season issue: if you were friends with Mulder and Scully before the first season starts, you are a target. No wonder Chris Carter starts killing family members off in season 2: there weren't any friends and colleagues left. 'Young at Heart' is yet another episode where a former associate of Mulder's meets a bad end (another FBI friend, who 'just wasn't the same' in 'Ghost in the Machine' gets killed by an evil elevator). Scully's friend and ex boyfriend had a hell of a time with soul possession and crazy time just one week earlier then 'Young at Heart' in 'Lazarus'.

The X-Files is starting to hit it's stride character wise. 'Beyond the Sea', 'Lazarus' and 'Young at Heart' really opened some doors for the Mulder and Scully characters and provided the X-Files with some quality episodes. 'Young at Heart' is still a B-Team X-Files ep but B-Team is still damn good.

Lazarus ('MOW'): Alpha Female

2009-08-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

I like this episode. . .a lot. It has the trappings of a bottle show and rises above its own material to be something more then it should. 'Lazarus' is a suspenseful, well produced hour of television that, while not exactly an episode to go into the Hall of X-Files Fame, will have you wondering, consistently, 'what's next'?

While, as usual, supporting the Mulder viewpoints of the world (supernatural, spiritual, et al), the whole idea of body/soul shifting is given some (if not immensely credible) scientific weight. Much like other grandiose storylines in early season 1 eps, 'Lazarus' gives Scully some legs to stand on despite the overwhelming evidence to against her scientific idealogy. I can live with Scully's lack of belief despite what's right in front of her face mainly because there IS, as established in the script, the POSSIBILITY of an answer from THIS world.

The extra bonus of the episode is that actual FBI work is being done here. Mulder and Scully are, together or seperate, accomplished agents who, outside of the paranormal world they investigate, able and competent at the job they worked for before their current assignment. Mulder doesn't use conjecture or wild theories here. . .he actually compiles evidence and uses investigative techniques. Scully, on her own, can organize bank heist busts.

This episode manages to give the characters believability. Mulder is no longer just a goof ball who sits in the basement dreaming up UFO stories. . .he got where he was because of his previous skills. But while the episode manages to give Mulder and Scully some much needed realism to their roles (after ice bugs, gender changing amish dudes, and shape changing liver eaters, the show needed a return to the roots it planted in the first few episodes: real world situations involving out of this world concepts), the writing flaws in Scully's background start to take effect.

While The X-Files was often innovative and original, it sometimes didn't know what to do with it's main heroine. Often she became alpha which bugs the living shit out of me. But she also came the type of female character who fit into 'background' cliches. This is the first of many times Scully would mention dating powerful men of authority (teachers, bosses, etc). While I can buy a beauty like Scully pulling ANY man, the youth-dating-wise-older-men thing is more a detriment to a strong character than a benefit.

In a way, Scully becomes so alpha that normal relationships aren't possible (not counting that douche bucket in the 'Pilot' deleted scenes) and she has to date the 'teacher', 'instructor' or 'boss'. This, of course, comes not to bulk up her character but to support the minor, episodic drama of the episode. By having Scully be an ex to the FBI agent-turned-criminal facing possible soul possession, the story is advanced by having Scully be invested in the one-off character but it has lasting consequences to her overall character: the alpha mentality which hurts a strong female character and leans towards the cliche.

I don't know if I am getting my point across about Scully and the dating issue. . .it just seems cliche and against her character's behavior. . .and all for the sake of plot and pacing. I could also be over-reacting. Who knows? The episode is still a classic B-Team X-Files. Look out for Callum Keith Rennie as a victim (he would, of course, later play a massive role in the second X-Files movie and in Duchovny's other TV success Californication) and some slick police work being had. Not to mention a topic seen again but in small doses: out of body experiences.

Gender Bender ('MOW'): The hell. . .?

2009-07-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ambitious is probably the best word to describe this truly goofy episode of The X-Files. This episode sticks out for a number of reasons. When I first saw this episode about five or six years ago, it was the first episode I showed my mom who didn't really 'get' it but loved the cinematography.

I'll admit that I don't necessarily 'get' it either but unlike the deep layers of the mythology arc that WERE well written but just very complex and hard to get as well, 'Gender Bender' is just dumb. I can't totally mock it though because visuals are a large part of the game and Gender Bender is classic X-Files. Some of the camera work in this episode is simply astounding and feature-caliber. This always seemed to happen on the crappiest episodes ('Killswitch' anyone? Perhaps the best shot episode in the series).

But the writers just got a little too ambitious for their own good. There are four cool ideas here: a mysterious Amish-esque cult-thing, crop circles (of sorts), a human with animal 'instincts', if you will, and transfiguration. It's too bad they all are together as one thing instead of four separate episodes. In the end you have shape-shifting, aliens who are Amish and emit pheromones. Yeah, I think it sounds dumb too. Needless to say it is not a great 'first episode' to show someone.

Without the visual style of the episode (plus a little 'before he was Krycek' appearance by Nicholas Lea) this episode, especially so early in the proceedings, might have been a cancellation worthy episode. I suppose the best way to approach it is to just enjoy what could of been and let the uber-cool images sink in.

Much like 'Space' which was equally as silly but suffered from no visual flair, 'Gender Bender' showcases Mulder and Scully's excellent chemistry. This episode also shows Mulder's first signs of jealousy when Scully seems so easily taken with the Amish/alien/shapeshifter dude. He's a bit more muted about it (sharing a harumpf here or an awkward glance there) but the presence of it is nice since it doesn't make Scully look like a complete jackass in 'Fire' where she kind of whined her way through the episode when Mulder cosied up to an old British flame.

The more I write about it, the more I like it though. Comic books have the same problems all the time: horrendous writing but magnificent art work. Gender Bender is one of the showcase episodes for The X-Files 'we make a movie every week' mentality. But sadly it will kind of dip into the abyss of X-Files scripts that sometimes were just plain WRONG to do.

Beyond the Sea ('MOW'): Who Are You, Agent Scully?

2009-07-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

It's funny that for all the posts where I get on the X-Files team for showing too much to Scully, they come out with an episode that shows how everything is relative. While terrestrial worms, bright lights in the sky, alien artifacts found in abductees and Mars ghost attacks CAN, in some ways better then others, be explained away with science or coincidence. . .'Beyond the Sea' TRULY shows Scully go through a paranormal experience that CAN'T be explained by ANYTHING. And 'Beyond the Sea' is Chris Carter's way of showing why Scully truly hasn't been tested before by the supernatural.

'Beyond the Sea' is not just a brilliantly presented piece of drama and smart sci-fi/fantasy, it puts the entire X-Files show up to this point in perspective. Scully has existed on the X-Files as the skeptic or the woman of science. And while, as described above, cases so far have seemed IMPROBABLE, they are, admittedly, POSSIBLE. In Scully's world talking to the dead is NOT possible and it isn't even probable. Beyond the Sea is Scully's test.

Scully should never be damned for her beliefs. The X-Files isn't an 'us vs. them' world where everyone is on the same page. If anything, while the show revolves around him primarily, Mulder is probably the farthest opinion-wise from the general audience then anyone. Scully is not the annoying realist. . .she's us and she's trying to understand, in her way, how these crazy things happen. So when she comes across a truly unexplainable situation (actually two: the apparition of her father and the 'contact' with that ghost with a seemingly desperate serial killer on death row) she is understandably confused, angry and sad.

'Beyond the Sea' finally fleshes out the Scully character beyond her educational background and her 'promise' in the FBI. She is now flesh and blood. She's lonely, worried about her father's acceptance but not exactly a family person: she is ALONE and only Spooky, nutty Mulder can help her out (and he is, justifiably, on a different wavelength then Scully at this point in the series). Life is confusing and rough and the death of a loved one who you love instinctively but are having a rough time with personally can only rock the boat more.

Enter an even MORE polar opposite: Luther Lee Boggs (whose character is so popular that his name is mentioned in the second movie. . .16 years later). Boggs, a sadistic serial killer who now knows about the kidnapping of some young kids through psychic connection, is the only soul who a)understand her pain and b)can help her get closure on her father's death by communicating with his ghost.

Unlike other X-Files, the serial killer aspects are ambigious (it never really is determined whether Boggs was associated with the killer and if his psyhic powers, seemingly disproven by Mulder and his New York Knick shirt trick, are limited to Scully and Scully only) while the supernatural part is fact. Boggs knows about Scully's dad and he knows her pain. . .and no one could possibly have known it before.

What I really like here is the X-Files continued departure from the comfortable and the obvious. Boggs, in what seems like a deed of good will, decides to let Scully talk to her dead father at the moment of his execution (after 'fighting off' the ghost when he was going to talk to her earlier). Instead of going for the tear jerkin' finale where Scully watches her dad say his final goodbyes, Scully decides to skip out entirely and talk to Mulder who is, even this early into the series, becoming her best (and only) friend.It was very touching and kind of propelled the Mulder/Scully chemistry to a different level.

Gillian Anderson, besides being a natural beauty (she simply glows), is unstoppable here. Her future Emmy awards for the role of Scully owe a lot to this performance: Anderson shows Scully as severely conflicted in all things and someone who is deep. Her character gets more range in this episode then some characters get in an entire series. The one detriment: it still shows how raw the young Duchovny is. Sometimes he sticks out as a little too wooden in some scenes compared to Anderson.

Soon. . .as we all know. . .that would change. But the beginning of a beautiful friendship and a life long love affair started here.

Fire ('MOW'): From Ice to Fire

2009-07-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

There isn't a question that the X-Files first season thus far, trying to find its legs and purpose, went through a little bit of goofy time. But the good outweighs the bad (find me a flawless first season of a show. . .especially a genre show). But so far 'Fire' and 'Ice' remain the gold standards of true X-Files monsters of the week.

'Fire' is the first real VILLAIN of the X-Files. Tooms was pretty evil but he didn't have a personality and we haven't met such wretches as Alex Krycheck or CGB Spender yet. Mark Sheppard's portrayal of fire wielder Cecil L'ively (another score for Chris Carter's name bus) is charismatic and, while not menacing, creepy. He stares at women and children longingly for reasons unknown (sexual gratification? the joy of the hunt?) and moves from place to place using his control of fire for evil.

It's his ability to blend into groups, however, that dips into the X-Files niche of urban legend: that which you can't see will strike hardest. Cecil isn't socially outlandish. He could walk by you in the street and you'd never notice. He could easily walk by you and make you spontaneously combust too.

There is something really frightening about the person you can trust implicitly taking advantage of you. Cecil's personality is so genuine that a wealthy family from England can easily let their driver of ten years sleep while the new, nice groundskeeper can take them from place to place.

Like many urban legends, myths or even serial killers, explanations are not at the ready and sometimes the frustration of not knowing the simple question WHY can be as, if not more, damaging then the HOW. So far the X-Files has done a great job of not trying to answer too many questions (which would eventually be a problem in the myth-arc).

Where did the worms come from in 'Ice'? Answer: who knows. What's up with that Mars face thing? Answer: who knows. Why does Tooms need thirty years to hibernate and what exactly is his race? Answer: who knows. And why does such a gifted and charismatic fellow like Cecil L'ively become an evil villain?

We'll never know. . .and that's the kind of mind pain I want in my entertainment.

Eve (Unofficial 'Mythology'): Attack of the Clones!

2009-07-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

I consider this a mythology episode because, for the first time in a Chris Carter production but DEFINITELY not the last, clones play a part in the story. The difference between this story and the overall myth arc is that 'Eve' is very isolated. There are a few incidents that occur and Mulder and Scully only tackle one tiny portion of a much larger conspiracy. The fact that Deep Throat flies all the way out to San Fran just to talk to Mulder about it links this to the grander scheme of things. Mulder's sister, the Syndicate's worker farms and even the Super Soldiers are tied into the Litchfield Adam and Eve Experiments whether Chris Carter officially admits it or not. And if you really want to stretch and truly include Millennium in the X-Files universe then some of Millennium's plot lines owe something to this story as well.

But that's getting waaaaaaay ahead of ourselves. Like previously said, 'Eve' is a small portion of a larger story. For the second time in the season the show brought us ambiguously evil children. Unlike in 'Conduit' where the kid was just a bit out there, Eve 9 and Eve 10 are wicked little things willing to kill and say big words all at the same time.

I can't fault the show for its creepiness. The actresses chosen to be Eves 9 and 10 are quite frightening and can easily toe the line between cute and evil which, even when you KNOW they're evil, can still be mind boggling. What I can fault the show for is playing games with me and the audience. The episode opens with an exsanguination of Eve 9's dad. For the next twenty minutes the audience is led to believe this is an abduction case or, in Scully's view, a multiple serial killer case.

A lot of hubba baloo is made about aliens, cows having their blood sucked, etc. But what it all is an excuse to open up the clone story. It is revealed later that Eve 9 and 10 killed their father's but it doesn't explain why they did it the way they did. I understand they used digitalis to kill/paralyze their victims but why the exsanguination? It doesn't make much sense. A lethal dose of digitalis seems to do the trick. And the constant visual referencing of bright lights flashing when a character is kidnapped or what not only adds to the tease and lie of alien abduction. This is fine if the show is actually about alien abduction but the end result and plot is so drastically different from alien abduction that you can't help feeling its a cheat.

But that's how this episode plays out. Thankfully it works. The episode is compelling enough to ignore that annoying issue. If I was looking at it from a newcomer perspective with no knowledge of the future plot lines, I would be impressed with another episode showing a deep layer of menace in the world. The Litchfield Experiments, mentioned as a Cold War counter to Russian experimentation, further separates our heroes from their own employers and the world they understand.

The opening can be as cheap as it wants but 'Eve' continued to open up the shadowy world of the X-Files and provides enough scares, out-there ideas and bizarre visuals to maintain my attention for 46 minutes and be considered, if only for little moments, a mythology episode.

Fallen Angel ('Mythology'): Here's the Confusing Part. . .

2009-07-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

I am a little worried about this whole mythology thing. I have watched the mythology arc in its entirety, with my little additions, twice. And while I watched those without a MOW in the way, it still took a few months and caused my hand to reach my head a number of times and scratch until blood was pouring out.

Now I am forced with trying to remember this long, apparently unending arc with a lot of MOWs in the way and LOTS of time going between episodes. So, in other words, I am watching The X-Files almost like the viewer who watched it live on TV. At least it won't take nine whole years. . .or so I think.

Anyways, 'Fallen Angel' is the first mythology arc episode where the show has legs. 'Pilot' and 'Deep Throat' set up the action and 'Conduit', while unofficial mythology, established the third mini-arc within the overall arc: Mulder's sister. Now 'Fallen Angel' can have at it and begin to weave a complex tale that will last well into the following seasons.

Like most myth-arc episodes, 'Fallen Angel' is very dense and sometimes a chore to watch. You can't fault the production for this: the cinematography is top notch as are the locations chosen and the supporting cast inhabiting it. What makes it difficult is that it asks you to take in a lot. For one, the Fallen Angel itself: the alien pilot.

A ship crash lands and, under the cover of a contagion, is being contained and investigated on what we can only assume is 'the government'. In other words: dudes with guns and shadowy figures. The alien is invisible and flashes bright lights at people that, apparently, burns them. This alone is confusing. You don't know what it is, what it's trying to accomplish or where its escaping TO.

Also, the show is setting up a deep labyrinthine community of people that are behind it all. At the end of the episode Mulder is about to be ousted by the FBI and sent packing but is saved, at the last minute, by Deep Throat (unknown to Mulder himself). The members of this 'community' (later knows as the Syndicate) are confused why Mulder was saved. Deep Throat, with a smile, says he has his reasons. So now we have Deep Throat possibly playing both sides, an FBI group bent on ousting Mulder whose 'too close', a military unit that is quite large who is, with no doubts, aware of alien technology not to mention a air force base full of scientists aware of alien/military hybrid technology ('Deep Throat') and a Cigarette Smoking Man walking around the building ('Pilot'). Hmmmm. . .have any idea where this is going yet?

This is a lot to ask in one, two or three episodes. It's not unenjoyable but it does leave you with a sense of 'okay, now what'. Fallen Angel leaves a lot to the imagination and, in many ways, the questions asked here would NEVER be answered, directly or indirectly. But after a few fluffy, 'look there's a Mars face, oh how scary' episodes, 'Fallen Angel' puts us back into the darkness that is the X-Files universe.

The anchor of this episode is 'Lone Gunmen beta' Max Fenig, a UFO nut whose just a little unbalanced. His enthusiasm matches Mulder's (the two are both caught at the crash site trying to catch a peak) but Max, to Scully's skeptical benefit, is a little off his rocker. He takes a lot of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics and is a bit over-eager. Scully uses this to her advantage at every turn.

His possible connection to the alien pilot and alien abduction in general (tying into myth arc episodes 'Pilot' and 'Conduit') is what adds the word 'tragic' to Max's profile. While enthusiastic, Max is clearly tortured and led by more then just interest. He may or may not be aware that he is personally invested in a, at this point, national conspiracy to cover-up alien life.

As if all the different layers of participating parties wasn't enough, Max appears to be from a select group of abductees but ones entirely isolated from the Oregon kids from 'Pilot'. So now the aliens aren't simply selective but have complex ideas of their own: of course we won't have any ideas what those ideas are for sometime.

I got to hand it to David Duchovny for this episode: the myth-arc episodes are largely Mulder fodder and Scully always falls into the background a bit. DD really took over in this episode and made some things credible. In my opinion, if this episode failed, the myth-arc would have failed and the X-Files would have a different complexion completely. Ratings-wise, 'Fallen Angel' was an immense failure but it serves as the crutch for what was to come.

It may be drowned in its own weight but 'Fallen Angel' is a solid piece of complex, compelling entertainment.

Space ('MOW'): sigh

2009-06-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Is ‘Space’ the only episode to actually go into space? For a show about aliens, space really isn’t seen or heard too much in The X-Files. Now, I’m waiting for someone (anyone really) to comment and say ‘well, in episode 407, blah blah blah, because I feel like I’m missing an episode with actual space in it. Though only stock footage, some astronaut dude married to the Borg Queen is the only character in the X-Files to be in space (on camera).

Not that it really matters. The alien aspects of The X-Files always related to Earth and its people so space isn’t really a big deal. And so, neither, is ‘Space’, the episode. Wow. What a crapfest. There is a bit of nice B-movie tone to it (and also has Carter’s penchant for names continuing with someone named Colonel Belt) that is cuddly to see at 2am but, in no way, is this a good episode.

Trivia from imdb says that this was the ultimate bottle show (stock footage, low budget sets, not too many characters and almost no location shoots (very rare for The X-Files) but ended up being the most expensive anyways. The production issues don’t really bug me. Name me any television show that didn’t have one bad episode or one low budget hour. Not many escape that inevitability.

What bugs me is the central villain of the piece. Really? The Mars face? But even if I push that aside. . .really? It haunts Colonel Belt, attacks a scientist (for no reason whatsoever) and then attacks a shuttle while in space but then is just brushed aside? I talked about Scully seeing some pretty unbelievable stuff in ‘Ice’ but being attacked, very clearly, by a ghostly apparition is straining the lines of the character’s deniability. Did Scully go the bathroom at that point and miss something? Did half the NASA crew?

That’s probably why ‘Space’ should just be tucked away in a DVD box set and never really mentioned. Unlike ‘Ghost in the Machine’, ‘Space’ has nothing to really save it and I can say it is definitely one of the worst episodes of The X-Files; very low re-watchability. The best part, sadly, is watching it with Japanese subtitles. Very entertaining.

Man. . .I wish I had something else to say about this episode.

Ice ('MOW'): The Mirror Universe

2009-06-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

Two things can be guaranteed with a science-fiction series. 1)the characters, at some point, will play the 'mirror' opposites of themselves allowing the actors to switch it up for an episode and 2)their lives will be threatened even though you know, unless outside, 'real life' factors are involved, they couldn't possibly die because they are needed the next week to entertain us. The X-Files, like any good sci-fi show, let this happen.

The surprising thing: they did it in episode 8. 'Ice' looks and feels like another bottle show (did the producers just run out of money completely by mid point of the season?) but it plays like a classic, stuck-in-the-cabin kind of horror film. 'Ice' is one of the most successful episodes of the first season for many factors but the claustrophobia that it represents is the main reasons it is a success.

Like 'Ghost in the Machine', 'Ice' has a very Outer Limits feel to it. The sets are sparse but interesting, the episode is contained in one or two rooms for most of the episode and an admittedly cheesy plot device is used to create tension. But here the 'monster of the week' is not as interesting as what it does to the characters.

Future desperate housewife Felicity Huffman, wife-stealer Xander Berkeley (it's a Heat joke. . .sorry), what appears to be one of the Geico Cavemen and Banya from Seinfeld round out a great cast that, along with Duchovny and Anderson, are full of self doubt, paranoia and violence. With a higher budget this would be a pretty good film even if it isn't entirely original or unpredictable.

Like I said, the fact that the X-Files threw in a 'Mulder might kill Scully' moment so early in the show kind of kills the impact of the final result and dims the rising tension but The X-Files isn't your typical show. The other 'what the?' moment is having what appears to be terrestrial aliens living in the snow taking over people's bodies and Scully is witness to it.

I credit the X-Files writers with making Scully a credible skeptic because at this point in the show she has seen a wild computer try to kill her, a man who can morph his body into any shape try to kill her and people's throats being crushed by what could only be a ghost. By confirming the existence of mind altering worms never before seen. . .Scully has to believe just a little bit, right?

Plus Scully goes against her scientific nature here. She just wants the worms destroyed and she's pretty damn adamant about it. Mulder wants to study them (probably because they are, in the end, interesting). A tiny bit of a role reversal there. But the writers manage to wipe Scully's memory every week and she's just as skeptical, or more, the next episode. I don't really mind this because the writing and acting pull it off but it might throw you off here because, unlike previous episodes where there was SOME explanation to the contrary, it's pretty clear these are mind altering worms and Scully knows they exist.

But why nitpick? 'Ice' is a great X-Files episode using common genre themes and making it there own. And it is a nice change of pace to see the characters going kinda nuts so early. Mirror universe Mulder, if you will, is credibly insane because he knows he is going mad but he also knows he is right. It is a little creepy to see someone of such high intellect go slowly mad but Duchovny pulls it off incredibly: so much so that the inevitable 'I'm going to shoot Scully' scene has SOME tension to it though the outcome is blatantly obvious.

When I watched 'Ice' about five years ago I thought it was a The Thing rip off and too predictable to be enjoyable. I must not have been paying attention. 'Ice' will go down as a top 5 of the season for me and I can't do anything but recommend it. Or maybe that's what the worms are making me say. If anything, Chris Carter's amazing ability at naming people continues here with a pilot named Bear.

Ghost in the Machine ('MOW'): Entering the Outer Limits

2009-06-20T02:16:00.000-07:00

One thing that has always surprised me about the X-Files is how it managed to be on television at a prime time hour. I wish I had paid more attention back then to the show because. . .it just seems like a bizarre aberration. Some of the themes and topics on the show seemed too crazy for prime time. . .even by 2009 standards. Yet, the X-Files was a mega-hit. And while I can live with the idea of 'Humbug', 'Arcadia', 'Blood' or even 'Killswitch' being on prime time television, shows like 'Ghost in the Machine' just plain blow my mind.

I won't go out and say this is a horrible episode. Yes, it is immensely cheesy and horrifyingly stupid. The second appearance of Deep Throat, for example, is wasted as we have to believe that his 'group' (later known as the Syndicate) is interested in a Hal-esque computer that controls elevators, turns on faucets and forces doors to be closed at really unfortunate times. The idea of the killer computer has been done to death in science-fiction and the X-Files, like in 'The Jersey Devil' wasn't really knocking it out of the park in the idea department that production week.

But what I LOVE about the episode is how dated it looks. The X-Files is, for me, a nighttime show. I watch it very late at night with all the lights off: it helps set up the atmosphere of the show. 'Ghost in the Machine' has that great Sci-Fi made-for-TV movie feel that works ONLY if viewed at 2 am. I happened to watch 'Ghost in the Machine' this go around at 2 am and while I groaned at the stupefying depths the episode went to. . .I couldn't help but be charmed by it. I felt that for 46 minutes I was watching a star studded episode of the Showtime version of The Outer Limits: a guilty pleasure kind of deal.

So I can only PRAISE 'Ghost in the Machine' for being so Roger Corman-esque. At the time, at 8pm at night or what not, in 1993/1994, this perhaps appeared normal. But if you tried to play 'Ghost in the Machine' at 8pm on Fox today what response would you get? I suppose with high concept ideas and a strong suspension of disbelief required, a show like the X-Files is going to run out of gas at some point during a season. At this point the show runners ended up creating a B-Movie masterpiece as opposed to a mid-season bottle show.

The X-Files has a kooky habit of defying the odds. 'Ghost in the Machine', hated by many, should be a forgotten blip on the massive index of X-Files cases but, from this point onward, will be looked at as a high point of the show. The X-Files dipped into many genres but, intentional or not, it also dipped into different styles. Ghost in the Machine has a midnight movie feel to it that really can't be beaten. To watch it during the day would be a waste of atmosphere.

As for the actual episode, it is shockingly clear how great Duchovny and Anderson are together. Though the characters are still feeling each other out the chemistry is there. A sign of a good show is if the shoes the characters walk in are used. By episode 7 it feels like these characters exist and you also can't take that away from what is, in general, a sub par episode. The characters seem to shed friends like dog hair in the first season. Mulder's buddy seems to get the 'he was great back in the day' treatment and he is dispatched quite gruesomely.

Besides the charisma of the actors carrying the weight of the cheesiness, 'Ghost in the Machine', as stated, has an atmosphere that you can't beat. So wait until 2 am, pop in your X-Files Season 1 DVD (disc 2 I believe) and enjoy what will be perhaps the guiltiest pleasure in the X-Files catalog.

Shadows ('MOW'): The Presence

2009-06-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

I remember in 7th grade, my good friend and mentor Mr. Miller (who introduced me to the X-Files in 1993) stood behind me while I was intently copying my homework down on a piece of paper. I remember looking up and 'feeling' something. I turned around and he was there, smiling (I assure you this isn't a creepy story). He said 'isn't it funny how you can 'feel' the presence of someone even when they aren't touching you'. I smiled back and thought about it: how did we know when someone is behind/near us? Is it an aura? An effect on gravity as two bodies or objects comes towards each other? Or are we, sensory wise, hyper sensitive to the noises, look or feel of someone nearby?

It works much the same way touch does. Sometimes the touch of someone you love, someone you are comforted by or someone you hate can be different even though all three might touch you in the same way. Either way, humans, when alive, have a presence and we learn to recognize it in certain situations in all sorts of scenarios. That moment with Mr. Miller, which was. . .god. . .12 years or so ago, always stuck with me. I never studied it but always appreciated it as one of life's, if not mysteries, eccentricities.

This is one of the reasons why I love 'Shadows'. Unlike in 'The Jersey Devil' where the basic cliched ideas of 'Bigfoot' were brought to life and attempted to make complex, which in the end made the show look like it was trying too hard, 'Shadows' doesn't mess with the formula of telling a simple ghost story and letting the visuals and acting propel it into a different stratosphere. There are some simple ideas here: a ghost close to the main heroine is protecting her from the evil forces that surround her. There are some ghostly apparitions showing up on video here and there and the bad guy getting his comeuppance in the end.

In many ways we've seen it all before. But The X-Files did a lot of great things here. In episodic TV sometimes you have to meet a person (or group of people) who are not part of the regular show, like them, invest in them and then leave them. Sometimes one-episode only characters are one dimensional or don't effect us. But the situation and characters in 'Shadows' are interesting. I liked the main heroine, Lauren Kyte (played by Lisa Waltz) not just because she was hot but because she was complex and interesting. I also liked the sown-in-mythos of her life. Her office place, family/work history and current circumstances seemed real. I feel like I was plopped into real life like a fly on the wall and not just a situation-of-the-week with cookie-cutter actors and sets.

'Shadows' also benefits from some of the best images in all of The X-Files first season. You've got a bathtub with blood, a man hovering in the air being choked by an invisible ghost, a room torn asunder with paper flung everywhere, a vehicle with its lights turned on by the power of ectoplasm (or something like that): the list could go on. 'Shadows' is visually stimulating.

But on top of all that, it comes down to the ideas. The X-Files was most relevant (and scary) when its spooky ideas related to your everyday life. And this brings me back to 'The Presence'. Do you ever feel that something or someone perhaps NOT alive is behind, on top or watching you? If someone alive can give off that aura, can't a ghost? I don't believe in a lot of things Mulder does but I do believe, if not in out and out ghosts, spirits, of sorts. We as humans have enhanced senses and sometimes, whether it be the hum of white noise, the feeling of pressure on your body, or just the idea of something occupying space near you, 'something' exists. I believe that emotions can fill the space and so can intentions. But I also believe that if someone truly loved a person or lived in a space long enough that essence exists within that space.

'Shadows' is an example of that. Though explained a little more scientifically then I would have liked, Lauren Kyte expresses that feeling of something, anything, occupying the space around her. And for that, even once it was revealed a little too easily that it was her former boss and father figure, 'Shadows' has a sense of realism to it. The existence of Kyte's 'protector', as it were, opens up the idea that ghosts exist in the X-Files universe thus opening up the possibilities for further study. In the moments before the 'protectors' revelation, 'Shadows' managed to tap into the ideas that were brought to my mind 12 (or so) years ago. And as I watched 'Shadows' I think about what fills in the spaces I currently occupy.

The Jersey Devil ('MOW'): The Honeymoon is Over

2009-06-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ouch. Did this episode hurt. A lot of genre shows are known for having poor first seasons (MST3K, Star Trek: TNG and DS9 just to name a few) and usually there are good excuses for it. Sometimes the budget was blown on the pilot and sweeps or the writing staff is still finding its groove but I can't really accept any excuses for 'The Jersey Devil'. The fact that something so awful was produced so EARLY in the process seems a bit bizarre to me. It's only the 'fifth' episode and the X-Files, which had presented four wildly original, suspenseful hours of TV, pulls out something not only cliche and tired but boring.

The first 'MOW', 'Squeeze', did a great job of putting the X-Files into two worlds: aliens and urban legend. Tooms was a creature no one had seen before and it showed the X-Files could step out of bounds and away from aliens when it needed to. But 'The Jersey Devil' is basically a female Sasquatch. Yes, the legend is 'real' in the sense that many people believe in the Jersey Devil (much like the El Chupacabra, which the X-Files would exploit MUCH better in the future) but the X-Files was tackling big 'spooky' topics and trying to engage the audience in the same type of monster lore as it did with the alien abductions.

In the end, the X-Files just wasn't ready for a Bigfoot show yet. The Jersey Devil might have worked as a tongue and cheek case or a satirical work some seasons down the line but the serious nature of the episode makes the proceedings all seem a bit silly. Alien abductions, physics-bending monsters and telepathic connections might be a bit weird but the X-Files made the suspension of disbelief easier by relating it to everyday society. Plus, it was presented with a realism other genre shows fail to deliver on. But 'The Jersey Devil' is just a little too ambitious an idea for the viewers to accept at this point.

Now these are all creative ideas. It doesn't help that the episode feels patched together and cheap. The showrunners made a bad choice by setting the teaser in the 1940s. The costumes seem okay but it just feels. . .fake. Add into seventeen minutes of Mulder and Scully slowly pacing through a factory trying to find this Jersey Devil with a kooky college professor and a rouge Forest ranger and you just get unintentional hilarity.

The episode, character wise, isn't without merit. We get some solid Mulder/Scully moments that would, in the end, be a continuous theme: Scully drops what she's doing and helps out Mulder. Scully gets a date in this episode and wears what amounts to be a table cloth and left over rags from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. It is HORRID. Absolutely mind boggling. But you can tell a woman is beautiful if they can remain beautiful even as fashion has left her behind. It works with Mia Sara in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and it works in this episode.

The chemistry between Mulder and Scully is strong and saved this episode to the point where it is watchable and in the end I like the idea that there is a female bigfoot, of sorts. But 'The Jersey Devil' is not only the first blip of the first season but kind of remains a blip for the show's entire run. It doesn't help this episodes viewability BUT the X-Files seemed to have gone on a little goofball trip from this point onward up until 'Space' ('Shadows' not included) so maybe it was just a bit of first season malaise. Either way, the honeymoon is over.

Conduit (Unofficial 'Mythology'): To Be Mythology or Not To Be Mythology

2009-06-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

There is no denying that little kids are one of two things: cute and cuddly or horrifyingly frightening demon spawn! I'm not sure why but all supernatural shows feel like populating an episode with a child that wants to eat you, stare at you for a long time, murmur to you strange sounds or point in directions that ultimately lead to your death.

Luckily 'Conduit' doesn't jump to those ideas from a horror-film perspective. The X-Files continued its hot streak of good, opening episodes by showing a child stuck in some kind of mental purgatory: a 'conduit' from one group of people ('aliens?) to another (abducted or lost souls). Much like the Monster of the Week idea introduced in 'Squeeze', the X-Files universe expanded its idea of alien abduction. 'Pilot' was a bit traditional but 'Deep Throat' added the whole 'government in league' idea while 'Conduit' introduced the psychological/telepathic aspects of abduction to the fore.

'Conduit' starts out as a standard 'oh, my daughter was taken by a bright light' story but ends up being less about an actual abduction (an actual murder occurs) and more about the mental capabilities of a boy who has been touched by something greater then himself. This would be the first of many X-Files to introduce the connection of aliens and the human brain and the possibilities they have together. The name Gibson Praise comes to mind. And that young man, who we'll talk about probably seventeen months from now, wouldn't be around if it wasn't for Kevin Morris, the young boy acting as a conduit in this episode.

The mystery aspects are more shocking then intelligent, however. The young boy can read hidden code through the television signal and he helps, whether he knows it or not, find his missing sister. His existence is more an emotional foil for Mulder whose sister is brought up in much more detail here then in 'Pilot'. For Mulder, ANY connection to his sister, no matter how insignificant or irrelevant to Samantha's situation, is one step closer to UNDERSTANDING what happened (not necessarily finding her).

That's why it is so surprising this isn't on the 'official' mythology list. Here we get more insight into Mulder's sister then we did in the 'Pilot' and in future episodes. The episode also features the line 'I Want to Believe' for the first time and it is spoken in regards to Mulder's quest for his sister. The main mythology arc has two main wrinkles: the Syndicate and Mulder's sister. 'Conduit' should be included in any and all versions of a mythology (I'm sure nerds like me have made them as I have).

It is a shame young little Kevin Morris becomes an unsolved mystery (as many X-Files cases are) but the fact that we never actually find out WHY Kevin has the abilities he does makes the quest for Mulder more personal and more frustrating. Because of this frustration, and the viewers need to figure out what's going on, 'Conduit' should be considered Mythology. But let's say you pop this in as a stand-alone, which in many ways it can be, then there are plenty of creepy children, weird images and compelling cinematography to keep you interested.

Squeeze ('MOW'): Behind the Curtain

2009-05-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

The X-Files is an often hilarious experience. So effective is the show's atmosphere that, for someone as obsessed with the show as I, it can seep into my normal life. 'Squeeze' is the first Monster of the Week episode of the X-Files. It involves a character named Eugene Victor Tooms who can manipulate his body (a la Mr. Fantastic) to fit, or squeeze if you will, into any area. His hands can stretch, his body can mold into any shape and he can hibernate to preserve his life.

Mulder is in 'Spooky' mode in this episode as he does his best to piss off Donal Logue who is trying to get a promotion in the Violent Crimes Unit. He's also an Academy friend of Scully's (one of her final connections to outside life in the show) and he's. . .well. . .uptight that Scully is working the X-Files. So its Spooky vs. The Man! Naturally, Logue thinks its a normal serial killer who wets his bed and such. But Mulder is spot on when he digs through some X-Files and discovers good ol' Tooms is a hibernating liver eater who feasts on five livers every thirty years and then goes into his little home made nest to sleep.

The X-Files does a great job here of not explaining anything. We see how Tooms effects his environment and the people within it but, thankfully, we don't get a long explanation of HOW or WHY. And this adds to its creepiness. So creepy, in fact, that I embarrassed myself shortly after watching the episode.

When I. . .well. . .how do I put this. . .sit on 'the throne' for. . .ya know. . .there is a bath/shower installation right in front of it. If I sit down my face is about 6 inches from the shower curtain. As I was sitting there, doing my business, I had this 'feeling'. Tooms was in my mind, bending down a chimney or creeping through a small crevice into an otherwise secure room. I grabbed the shower curtain and whipped it open to make sure nothing was in the tub waiting to grab me while I was in the most uncomfortable of positions. I laughed. I couldn't believe the IMPOSSIBLE idea of a human gumby actually infiltrated my real life. It's silly. . .but that's what the X-Files does to you.

I transport myself back to 1993. What in the world would I be thinking if I just saw this episode? 'Pilot' and 'Deep Throat' were more thrillers. A few creepy images or a bizarre occurrence but, for the most part, a non-horrific showing. 'Squeeze' abandons UFOs and goes right for the creepy monster that lurks in the sewers. Just to make sure viewers weren't confused, Scully, at one point, with full doubt in her face, says 'Mulder, you really think this murder was committed by an alien?' He replies, ever so confidently, that he suspects no alien activity at all. And thus the X-Files of urban legend and suburban lore was born. Aliens were not the only things we needed to worry about. Now instead of looking up into the sky for things that go bump in the night, I've got to look down. . .or at least behind the shower curtain.

Deep Throat ('Mythology'): The Point of No Return

2009-05-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

The point of no return. Thus far in the X-Files story we have seen Mulder and Scully tackle a possible UFO abduction case in the slumbering town of Bellefleur, Oregon. It established the relationship between Mulder and Scully and set up what the X-Files is all about. It's a mythology episode with Monster of the Week qualities. But 'Deep Throat', the second case in the X-Files mythos, is when the characters changed. Because, thanks to having a great story, it featured moments where the characters are changed forever.

This is, in some ways, the last time we'd see Scully happy and smiling because her life is uncomplicated. This is the last time we'd see Mulder go innocently into the night trying to sniff out UFOs. At specific points in 'Deep Throat', the two characters, who we've barely known, are set on a path towards something. Naturally, being episode 2 and all, we don't know what that path is. For Scully, her moment comes when two cars filled with 'Men in Black' forcibly remove her from her car and assault Mulder. At that moment, Scully realizes her life with Mulder will involve danger and possibly death. She goes from slightly bemused 'mole' to invested observer of Mulder's actions.

For Mulder, his point of no return is his now-erased memory of seeing a UFO. In what is the highlight moment of the show (I still remember seeing the image in 6th grade as if it were yesterday. . .16 years ago) Mulder walks towards a classified air force base and is confronted by a triangular ship. It hovers above Mulder and observes him. Mulder, who theorizes earlier that the UFOs seen in the area are actually military aircraft with UFO technology, can only stand and stare. Mulder, in his back story and in 'Pilot' and half of 'Deep Throat' seems to go head first into situations with a headstrong belief. But you get the sense that maybe he can be dissuaded from the whole idea if he was proven wrong.

But this cements his faith in his beliefs. Too bad he gets captured by men in jeeps and has his memory selectively erased. But the fact that he knows something is stolen, though he doesn't know what, helps him march on. It also helps that a mysterious man keeps dropping shadowy notes to him about the existence of Extra Terrestrials.

I also found it curious that the episode was called 'Deep Throat'. Yes, Deep Throat, the character, makes an appearance and qualifies many of Mulder's theories, but his appearance is kind of a plot device. He shows up in the beginning to warn Mulder off and then shows up at the end to say that 'THEY have been here for a very long time'. His impact is curious but not necessarily impactful. The aforementioned 'point of no return' is why this episode exists. In a way, 'Deep Throat' is a much better pilot then 'Pilot' is.

But I think this is intentional. Mulder is quite eager in 'Pilot' and Scully, with the deleted scenes in tact, is a shy girlfriend stepping into the Outer Limits. The first case doesn't necessarily change them but sets their characters up. 'Deep Throat' changes them and gives the two-episode deep mythos of The X-Files a deep history. This is in part because of the writing but mainly because of the actors.

Gillian Anderson goes from point A to point B in this episode. It's not often you'll see a smile on her face after this episode and her tone becomes almost playful but doubtful to concerned and dedicated. She can't deny she's seen something (her and Mulder witness two UFOs flying in the air over an Air Force base) but she can't prove it scientifically. To her there are too many explanations. But for the first time there is a possibility beyond her educational understanding.

David Duchovny still has some choppy one-liners but really goes through hell in this episode. From excited to confused to tortured to beaten-down man. Mulder really goes through the Gauntlet. The episode is a microcosm for his future quest and his ultimate demise.

That brings me to the writing: how much is too much? 'Deep Throat' manages to show you a lot without really showing anything. Are the UFOs military aircraft with alien technology? Are they just highly advanced, severely studied technology not yet known to the public? Is Mulder confronted with an actual alien aircraft or the military kind? 'Deep Throat' and much of the X-Files strengths is by revealing a lot without revealing anything. Too many questions to be answered. If this were 1993, I'd be pretty anxious to see the next episode.

Pilot ('Mythology', Deleted Scenes): I Want to Believe Because I Sometimes Don't

2009-05-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

I was trying to think of the first time I saw something I couldn't explain. The first thing that comes to mind is when I was about 10 or 11 in Brandon, Florida. It was a really overcast day and the clouds were immense in a mixture of grey, black and white. Every few minutes a hole would appear in the mass of clouds and you could see a clear blue sky fighting to get out. I was standing with a boy and his father (most likely friends of mine at the time) and all three of us collectively looked up and saw an object fly from one end of the tiny opening to the other.

It was a box-shaped thing. . .definitely not a helicopter or plane of any design I was aware of. I don't think it was an alien ship. I really don't. One)I had a young, impressionable mind because I remember thinking it looked like a Klingon cruiser without the extended wingspan. Two)It was easy to daydream and play it up. In all likelihood, it was a normal aircraft shielded by cloud cover or something. The little Fox Mulder in me dies when I say that but in general, I don't entirely believe as much as I'd like to; I shame the I Want to Believe poster in my office.

However, that innocent enthusiasm is entirely welcome when popping in the X-Files very first episode, 'Pilot'. On the surface, 'Pilot' suffers from all the trappings of a pilot film: poor ADR, drastically different direction from what a series would look like, plot devices that are eventually erased and characters betraying their future selves. Granted, looking back, 'Pilot' feels like an anomaly, especially with the deleted scenes restored.

'Pilot' does what any good pilot should do though: create enough intrigue, set up a plot device (in this case: a character, a non-believer, scientist enters the possibly nutty, conspiracy theorist believer's world and tries to debunk it with unexpected results) that will 'drive' the series, while servicing all the checklisted items to get the project greenlit. 'Pilot' is not the best X-Files episode in existence because of these situations: it exists to propel the story forward. It would come as no surprise that most of the set-up in this episode is ignored for what is truly the first episode of the show, 'Deep Throat'.

But on its own, 'Pilot' does what is necessary to keep me intrigued. How? It reminds me of that flying object in the sky. The X-Files in general and 'Pilot' in particular, do an excellent job of asking questions without giving answers. Even when it appears answers are in front of you, you are either tricked (the sheriff headlight scene is a nice example) or given too many possibilities to consider one final answer.

In 'Pilot's' case, we have possible abductions and/or murders. And due to mutations, implants, suspicious burnings and lights in the sky that seem to bring vegetative bodies to life, it is assumed and highly possible it is the existence of extra terrestrials that is (partially) responsible. But 'Pilot' is good at twisting your feelings. Scully isn't a shrew trying to bring down the idealist Mulder: you are intrigued by Mulder's (at this point over exaggerated) eagerness. You WANT to believe there are aliens out there because he is so positive that it's possible and that by finding them it might answer some questions about his abducted sister. However, Scully is interesting as well. She is matter-of-fact and justifiably skeptical. She backs up her doubts and doesn't provide the 'huff, that Crazy Mulder again' attitude that other characters would have throughout the show's run.

Instead, though cast as the 'enemy' to Mulder, she is more a semi-willing participant in an assignment led by people with the aforementioned 'huff' attitude. She's a means to an end for someone and that makes you root for her seeing the other side: it is that apparent in episode 1 what with the Cigarette Smoking Man whispering in people's ears, staring hauntingly in intimidation and filing artifacts deep into the Pentagon's bowels. Scully keeps Mulder honest and roots him to the ground. Not only does it make Mulder more realistic but it makes her opinions valid. So you have two different opinions that both make sense: who do you choose?

And this is one reason why 'Pilot' is successful. And the pilot limitations that usually damage the enjoyability of many hit shows disappear after the first half hour. David Duchovny, for one, tones down the boyish enthusiasm and shifts to a more down-played character. And after some loud chuckles and myriad smiles, Scully suddenly becomes the dour, hard-pressed individual we would come to know later.

Technically, 'Pilot' is a wonderful piece of film to watch. It feels early-90s (like an episode of 90210) but is shot with thought and patience. The actors become one with the scenery and it adds to the moody atmosphere that future episodes would capitalize on. The X-Files thrives on its cinematography: when a story point lags in 'Pilot' (and it does happen), the mood and feel of the episode take over. And the music helps too. A few spots are a bit 'wow, that's a keyboard. . .a CASIO keyboard' but in general the music becomes another character. The greatest effect of 'Pilot' is it makes you sit and think. It is so easy to soak up the atmosphere that once the final credits roll and the TV is pitch black it takes a minute to snap out of the reverie the episode puts you in.

In 1993, the world, and most specifically the United States, was embarking on a new era that would last until 2001. The world seemed relatively safe. Wars had become more acts of attrition then full out engagements and the home soil of the United States seemed sheltered from the horrors and possibilities of the outside world. The media wars began: in a world where the President's sexual habits were the main subject of discussion, the housing market began its upward rise that would last over a decade, jobs weren't a problem, spending was rampant and we had a surplus, larger then life issues seemed a far off problem. Thus the smaller fears that existed in suburbia and urban legends came to the fore and the X-Files capitalized on that.

'Pilot', for instance, doesn't take place in Los Angeles or Chicago. It takes place in the fictional Bellefleur, Oregon which is not representative of any particular big city but of a sleepy, foggy town in the middle of nowhere. It's the kind of place a young, innocent soul can be afraid of the dark and perhaps for good reason. It is no coincidence that when we face a trauma or see something that disturbs us, small, intimate and dark settings can become uncomfortable. After watching a scary movie, sometimes sleeping in complete darkness seems uncharacteristically frightening. 'Pilot' manages to play with that fear and carry it into the series.

As a mythology episode, 'Pilot' is shoe-horned in YEARS later. But it helps establish the current goings-on in the X-Files universe. The Man wants to play down how unimportant Fox 'Spooky' Mulder is all the while secretly closing him out from areas which might be too sensitive for someone with his knowledge and enthusiasm to see. Why bother if he is so unimportant? And while the mystery of the week is 'solved' for this episode, that question remains: why is Mulder so important?

I guess we'll have to find out. For now I am going to go to bed, look out the window and think about that flying object. But instead of letting a 11 year old mind have delusions of grandeur, I'm going to think of it from both sides, the way Mulder and Scully do. Oh and I'll keep the night light on. . .

Introduction: From A to X

2009-04-28T23:26:00.007-07:00

As a rabid fan of the X-Files, I seek out as much material as possible on the show though it has long ceased to exist. When the show was active on television I was a casual viewer. . .an episode here or there; I saw the first movie in the theater. It wasn't until two years after it went off the air that I watched the X-Files immensely. First it was the six straight episodes on FX late at night. Then it was the DVDs. Soon I was the biggest X-Files fan I knew. Sure, I wasn't there from the beginning but the show had an impact.

Why? I still haven't had a chance to answer that question fully. Why is the X-Files my all time favorite television show? I sit down to try to figure out why and can never really come up with an answer. All the pieces for great television are there: great acting, amazing visuals, inventive plots, fabulous writing, terrific music etc. Besides the technical aspects, the show is thought provoking and begs questions of its audience. But it also doesn't always take itself too seriously. . .humor is a large aspect of the show as well.

But for all the good aspects, there are the frustrating ones. The labyrinthine mythology, the ambiguous and open-ended conclusions, the endless characters and the bizarre experimentations. In a way, the X-Files should be a frustrating, mind grating experience. And while I've admitted that on many occasions, I still think it is the greatest show ever. No show has ever made me think, shake, cry and laugh in such magnitudes. But when asked to sum up my feelings, I still come up flat.

My viewing life with the X-Files is sporadic and bizarre. When it was on TV, like I mentioned, I was off and on and didn't follow too many of the current goings-on. In 2004 I watched the X-Files from season 1 to season 9 in random order on DVD (I watched 1-3, skipped over to 8, then 4 and 5, then 9, then 6 and finally 7. . .I know, I know. . .). In 2006 and 2008, I watched the Mythology arc only (in my own order and my own selection which will be marked accordingly on the blog on the episode reviews) and doing that twice was mind-numbing. And from 2004 to 2009, I've watched the stand alone, Monster of the Week episodes when time allows. And I slipped the movies in there as well when the plot line or screening was available.

All in all, I've never really watched the X-Files from episode 1 to episode 209 with the movie fitting in appropriately. And like JRR Tolkien before me, I want to write stuff I'm willing to read. So I started this project. I wanted to come up with the ultimate episode guide to the show. A separate essay for each episode/movie of the show from episode one to 209 and two movies. It sounds and feels like a project I'll tackle for a few weeks and then abandon BUT time has no meaning in this project. I could go on a 14 episode tear, write about it, and then never come back for months. The goal is to watch them all on my own time, write about them, and then have a complete library of episode summary/feelings that can be read for an exhaustive amount of time.

Like my reviews at Secure Immaturity (my 'cousin' site that I run), I will not be doing episode summaries. I'll be simply examining my feelings and thoughts on the episode at hand. And since everything is written at different times with no thesis in mind the result should be 211 distinct essays about the show and the episodes in its library. This intrigues me to no end. But it seems daunting and near impossible especially with a full time job, kid and other websites to run. But I am willing to try.

So if you stick around with me, you may enjoy the experience. It could take a minimum of 214 hours (yikes!) or it could take years. Either way, I think you'll enjoy this guide. And where do we start? The beginning of the show, of course. I don't plan on having any extra posts through here. From beginning to end this should be a episode 1 through ??? type of blog with no interruptions. So. . .now I gotta get watchin'. (*holds breath*)

Next up: Pilot