Nothing Important Happened Today written by Chris Carter
& Frank Spotnitz and directed by Kim Manners
What’s it about: Mulder has vanished, Scully is unusually
passive, Doggett is finding his investigation of Kersh harder to pull off than
he imagine and a new flame of Reyes' is in town...
Brains’n’Beauty: Gillian Anderson is far too passive in this
episode, behaving as if she is here on sufferance rather than still investing
in the programme that made her famous. This would alter as we wind our way
through the better episodes of the season but it is hardly a screaming defence
of the Mulderless show that the previous female lead seems neutered as a
result.
Closed Mind: I've said it before and I'll say it again but
whenever Robert Patrick is on screen this show comes alive. It might have been
naive of Doggett to think that he would get away with bringing down the Deputy
Director of the Bureau but he has always been portrayed as a seeker of the
truth. He's just saying what he saw but now evidence has been fabricated to
make him question that. After everything he did to protect her last season, it
is a real slap in the face for Scully to ask him walk out of her life and not
come back. I know she is only trying to protect the two men in her life (Mulder
and William) but Doggett is one of her few allies left. The look of hurt on his
face made me want to reach out and give him a hug.
Oddball: Making Monica and Brad ex-lovers is a nice
development and gives her a bit more of a cloudy back story to draw upon. Given
that he is clearly in the pocket of the government trying to cover up the super
soldier programme, I can foresee sparks flying between them before the season
is out. What is clear from this episode is that there is still and attraction
between them. Monica hands her loyalty to Doggett when everybody else has
backed out of his investigation of Kersh. The X-Files was her dream assignment
because it is where her interests lie and she is afraid that if the
investigation is dropped, so will the department.
Trust No-1: What was the point of the shot of Mulder in the
shower and his bags packed? By offering a tantalising glimpse of him at the
beginning of the season only serves to dish out disappointment to those who
wished he was back full time. I would have written him off at the end of season
eight and forged on ahead with a series that only occasionally (and not at the
offset of this era) mentioned him. We've already covered the 'Mulder is
missing' angle in every conceivable way in the eighth season and unfortunately
'Mulder has run away' doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
Sinister AD: Doggett meeting Kersh in the lift is a glorious
moment. An awkward crossing of paths on a Monday morning. Weirdly, although he
seems pissed with the fact that he is being investigated by one of his workers,
he also seems complicit.
The Good: I was relived to see the Lone Gunmen show up as
they always bring with them a sense of humour and that is something this
episode sorely needs. There is a cheeky dig at the fact that their own show has
been recently cancelled ('like we've got anything better to be doing these
days') and it hits you how lucky they are to be able to slip back into the
show that made their name as if they had never been away. There is a sudden
burst of energy at the climax as Doggett and Skinner are chased through the
water reclamation plant by Follmer and his stooges. I wish this had been the
pace of the piece throughout. The cliff-hanger is great, a really clever piece
of camerawork that reveals Doggett holding his breath beneath the water and
Shannon dragging him further into the depths. And there's more terrific Mark
Snow music too.
The Bad: I can understand the production team wanting to
make their mark on the revised version of the series by altering the titles but
the shift is not really in their favour. Whilst there is nothing intrinsically
wrong with the new title music, it isn't a patch on the original (it sounds
tinny and synthetic rather than wistful and moody) and the new effects are
brought bang up to date but I rather liked the original, somewhat dated feel of
the credits for the past eight years. It gave the show the feel of something
much creakier and old fashioned.
Pre Titles Sequence: Approaching the ninth season, easily
the most derided of the show, with a different frame of mind is essential with
a re-watch because if you were to go in with all those negative opinions
buzzing around in your head then you aren't going to get any enjoyment from
this at all. So let's play 'let's pretend this isn't The X-Files' and imagine
for a moment that this is a spanking new anthology series that is on the
market. On the strength of the pre-titles sequence alone this is clearly a
stylish and surprising production. It features a stunning stunt (the car being
forced into the water and shooting from the bridge), some excellent underwater
photography and a great shock moment where the guy manages to get his seatbelt
free but is held below the surface by the femme fatale that has staged all
this. In every way it is quality television. What are the naysayers talking
about? If this was a new show on the market, I would be mightily impressed and
eager to see what this is all about.
Moment to Watch Out For: My favourite scene of this
extremely quiet episode comes at a moment of extreme inactivity. Scully is
sleeping and William is in his cot beside her and his mobile is spinning
seemingly of its own volition. It is only when she gets up and makes it stop
that she realises that somehow her son is controlling the pacifier. A
wonderfully eerie moment, told without any dialogue and a lovely piece of music
from Mark Snow.
Fashion Statement: Robert Patrick naked in bed. Yes please.
Cary Elwes might be the ultimate smarm as Brad Follmer but at least he is
attractive smarm and very easy on the eye. Loving Scully's hairdo this season,
absolute class.
Orchestra: Snow's music during the teaser is superb, an
unearthly scream sounding as the victim desperately scrambles to release
himself from his underwater prison.
Mythology: 'This old military buddy of mine...he told me
your pregnancy was the result of a government cloning experiment to try and
create what he called a super soldier.'
Result: Too much focus on Mulder, a character that has
walked out on the series and not enough attempt is made to forge ahead with its
own new identity makes Nothing Important Happened Today something of an anomaly
at the beginning of the season. There is nothing terrible about this episode;
it has some great performances, reasonable set pieces and a continues the super
soldier plotline with some interest but in all respects it feels like a hanger
on from season eight rather than a bold new direction for season nine. I would
have jettisoned all mention of Mulder and kicked started the shows ninth year
with a bad ass monster of the week tale, something to chill the blood and show
the series is back with a vengeance. Instead you get scenes of incredibly
inactive characters talking quietly in official settings and a plot that ambles
along quite slowly because it has another 45 minutes to wrap itself up with.
Not so much a bang a as a whimper. It is the characters of Doggett and Reyes
that are holding this episode together and whenever Patrick and Gish are on
screen my interest levels raised, the two actors glad to be given the chance to
front such a popular show. In comparison Anderson looks as though she has had
enough and new character Brad Follmer is hardly given an introduction that is
worth talking about. I like the idea of Lucy Lawless' super soldier femme
fatale far more than its execution. Look at what they did with her in Battlestar
Galactica and you can see what a missed opportunity this was. Far too quiet
for its own good, let's hope the second episode gets its engine revving a
little more: 5/10
Nothing Important Happened Today Part II written by Chris
Carter & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Tony Wharmby
What’s it about: All roads lead to the Baltimore docks where
experiments are taking place on a boat...
Brains’n’Beauty: I've heard plenty of people say that they
would have preferred it had Scully vanished into the ether along with Mulder in
season nine and allowed the show to flourish with Doggett and Reyes at the
helm. I don't think that was ever really an option. There comes a point where
all of your regulars have been replaced when you have to wonder if it is still
the same show anymore. With Scully comes the Skinner and the Gunmen too and all
those years of relationships built up to draw on. I think for the most part
they get the mix just about right with Doggett and Reyes taking the lead and
falling back on Scully when people need reminding that this is still The
X-Files. Besides I think that Anderson, Patrick and Gish share excellent
chemistry and look terrific when they are all on screen together. The last half
of Nothing Important Happened Today gets a real shot in the arm when the three
of them start working together. Scully has had her fair share of outrageous
conspiracy theories. Shannon's isn't exactly a revelation to her. There's a
lovely moment of doubt between Scully and Doggett where they discuss Shannon
and the implications of her story. She hopes that Shannon's story turns out to
be true for Doggett's sake because it could be the key to everything that has
been happening with The X-Files in past year (Billy Miles, etc) but for her
sakes she wants her to be a fraud spreading lies (because it casts serious
doubt of the origins of William and what he will grow up to be).
Closed Mind: 'Paranoia must go with the job. You're
starting to sound just like Fox Mulder, Mr Doggett...' He's trying his best
to make sense of everything that is going on around him but that isn't an easy
job when he has the Bureau (headed by Follmer) breathing down his neck, Scully
pushing herself away from him and Monica forcing him to face the facts. Follmer
is a devious little bugger and arranges a job suspension to try and stop his
investigation into AD Kersh. He's been watching Doggett closely and jumps on
his first indiscretion to discredit him. When he thinks he has got nothing left
to lose he tells Kersh that he is filthy dirty and involved in all this right
up to his neck. You have to love this guy, especially how he never holds back.
Oddball: Just as she gave her loyalty to Doggett in the last
episode, Monica deliberately distances herself from Follmer in this one and his
political games. Even if she does lose her job because of this decision, she
will at least be thrown out on her ear with her dignity intact. 'You're
making a big mistake here' 'I seem to make one every time I walk through your
door.'
Assistant Director: Skinner has become a clone of Dr Evil
from the Austin Powers series, informing Agent Reyes to 'zip it'
wherever possible. Turns out it was Mulder and Scully that have asked Skinner
to leave his disappearance be because they were frightened for his safety and
that of the baby. Why weren't we privy to this conversation? It would certainly
make a lot more sense of his behaviour in the previous episode.
Ugh: A nice moment of decapitation when things are getting a
bit quiet.
The Good: The super soldiers all have a standard mutation
which is a growth at the back of their necks. That's quite a nice conceit so
the camera can discreetly inform from behind of who is a subject whilst concealing
it from our heroes. At least there is a reason that the first episode had
scenes set in a water reclamation plant, it is tied into the plot. I thought
they chose that location simply because it looked cool (I've heard of worse
reasons). Once again The Lone Gunmen show up and bring a touch of personality
with them and I love how the scene suddenly races ahead when the phone starts
ringing and they become more involved in the plot than they planned to. When
the pace finally picks up the action comes thick and fast and the sequence
featuring Doggett trying to bring down Knowle Rohrer and nearing having his
head caved in had me on the edge of my seat. Doggett, Scully and Reyes look
fabulous exploring the deck of the ship together - finally it feels like this
show has a decent ensemble behind it. The pyrotechnic boys go nuts during the
finale and the results are spectacular on screen. One thing you can always rely
on with The X-Files, they sure can blow up stuff real good. The climax comes
almost a full ten minutes before the end of the episode showing just how many
subplots there are to tie up before the credits. Fortunately it is a roll call
of one satisfying moment after another with Doggett and Kersh dropping their
differences and gaining a new understanding of each other, Doggett and Follmer
squaring off in a lift and making their dislike of each other very clear and
Scully pondering the future of her child. That last minute squeak is chilling.
The reason behind this episode's title is very nicely explained. Even King's
can miss important events if they are not looking in the right direction.
The Bad: I certainly don't object to Knowle Rohrer turning
up halfway through the episode (he is a hottie, after all) and making a
surprise appearance but unless you followed the show religiously last year it
really wont have much of an impact. The idea of effectively poisoning the
population and dosing them up to create a race of super soldiers is a strong
science fiction idea. The number one rule of drama is to show and not tell. I
know I am usually of the reverse opinion on The X-Files (because it can be
obscure to the point of leaving you completely in the dark) but in this case
the information is just sort of dumped in your lap without anything to back it
up. We've seen Shannon perform tricks underwater which is proof that she is a
super soldier but we haven't seen any evidence that this is taking place on a
larger scale. The one emotive connection to this is Scully's baby, who is
apparently caught up in the works of this master plan but since Scully walks
through the first half of this episode looking mildly disdainful at having to
listen to yet another mad conspiracy theory it hardly hits home in the way it
is supposed to. Perhaps this story would have been better told through a member
of the public, somebody who is pregnant and has been contaminated. At least it
would have the personal touch. I never felt personally involved in the story of
the Ship's Captain whose command is being superseded by the super soldier
programme. I understand why we keep cutting back to him to set up the location
for the climax but we have seen a hundred characters like this on the show
before who were similarly faceless. It isn't the actors fault, he just isn't
given any character quirks to define him. He is a cog in the plot, nothing
more.
Pre Titles Sequence: I had absolutely no idea what was
happening but it is directed so well that it didn't really matter. It would
seen that obscene government experiments have transferred from train box cars
to ships and the reveal of this is handled particularly well. Bravo for Mark
Snow's percussive score which this feel far more exciting than it actually is
(given we're told nothing of relevance).
Moment to Watch Out For: What a fantastic scene Kersh gets
at the end of this episode. We realise with some surprise that he is as much a
puppet as anybody else. He warned Mulder to leave because his life was in
danger. His life has been threatened should he fail to do as he is told. He is
discreetly trying to help The X-Files team to uncover this plot whilst publicly
appearing to work against them. I always thought there was more to this guy
than meets the eye. I hope they run with this.
Fashion Statement: I've heard of some interesting ways to oxygenate
somebody who is out of breath but snogging them underwater is a new one on me.
I suppose that is what you get when you hire a hot woman to play the part of a
super soldier. I wonder if this scene would have played out along the same
lines had it been some beefy bloke in the role tonguing Doggett? Annabeth Gish
is a gorgeous new talent for the show to exploit and she smoulders her way
through this episode. A shame that there isn't some fresh, sexy storytelling to
show her off with.
Mythology: Shannon and Knowle Rohrer are bio engineered
combat units. They have no weaknesses, they don't sleep and they can breathe
underwater. They were Adam and Eve, the programmes first successes. They are
alike in almost every way, the only difference being that Shannon hates what
she is. Chloramine is being added to the water supply - if you want to deliver
something to every citizen in America then what better way than to administer
it through the one thing that everybody needs to survive. They are priming a
population to breed a generation of super soldiers, by adding something to the
water that promotes the mutation of offspring and fertilisation. They have no
successfully given birth to a super soldier from a mutated egg - William
Scully.
Daemonicus written and directed by Frank Spotnitz
Closed Mind: Doggett refuses to believe that this case is an
X-Files and tells Monica to stop and think before she starts spouting off that
this is the work of the Devil. There is a much gentler chemistry between
Doggett and Reyes than there was between Doggett and Scully last year, there is
a mutual respect between them from the outset despite the fact that they are
having very similar discussions (Doggett the sceptic to Reyes/Scully's
theories). But then I think these two might have the hots for each other too
and that was never an option with Doggett and Scully. He gently mocks her
throughout but it is never malicious. Kobold likes playing mind games and he
tries to get inside Doggett's head by inquiring into his current assignment,
looking into paranormal crimes when it is a field of work that he doesn't really
believe in. He suggests that there must be some underlying reason for his
persistence. The tragedy of his sons death is brought up again and the
suggestion that he is chasing ghosts to answer the questions that damn him.
Robert Patrick gets the chance to really lose his cool when Kobold compares
Doggett to Mulder and he gets a suit covered in vomit for his troubles. Lovely.
Is Doggett afraid to face up to the paranormal as a reality? We'll see...
Brains'n'Beauty: I rather like the idea of seeing Scully in
a different role. She has always been something of an authoritative figure so
it isn't such a stretch to imagine her as a lecturer at the FBI Academy. It
would seem that news of the X-Files has reached even the freshmen, who titter
when she mentions her affiliation to the department. Scully empathises with
Monica who is taking her first steps in The X-Files and admits that she felt
things that she couldn't understand also and experienced things that she
couldn't comprehend. She learnt not to ignore those feelings and to trust her
instincts.
'So what are we talking about now - The Ghostbusters?'
Ugh: Creepy masks during the initial attack. The couple
staged before the scrabble board with blood running down their faces. Snakes
bursting from a mans chest and writhing free. The man hanging from a tree,
bleeding. Approaching a corpse from behind and not knowing what state it is
going to be in until you turn it around is the oldest trick in the book but I
honestly wasn't expecting Dr Sampson's face to be full of needles. It's pretty
grim. Lots and lots bloody vomit. Or possibly ectoplasm.
The Bad: The whole angle of Kobold being able to point the
FBI in the direction of the killer was handled much more engagingly in season
one's Beyond the Sea and season four's Paper Hearts. It is clear early on that
Kobold has masterminded this whole operation and that he is leading the FBI on
a wild goose chase. Mind you that is part of the fun, watching them being led
like lambs to the slaughter. It might not have been the best approach to have the
spanking new team of Doggett and Reyes proving themselves as worthy successors
of Mulder and Scully by inadvertently releasing a serial killer back into the
public on their first case. I wonder why there was no consequences to this
unfortunate conclusion to events.
Moment to Watch Out For: I enjoyed the final wrap up that
explained the Kobold's method. Remember in season one when every episode seemed
to end on an ambiguous note with you wondering what the hell that was all
about? It seems at least the show
has learnt from its mistakes in that respect.
Orchestra: Quite a standard Mark Snow score, the sort of
which I haven't complained about for some time now. I did like his persistent
stab at the piano during the creepier moments though. I would have thought that
Spotnitz would have asked for something as attention grabbing as his
direction.
Result: There are several things that I really like about
Daemonicus so let's get my issues out of the way first. Originality seems to be
in short supply this season since we are three episodes in and we haven't seen
anything that the show hasn't done before...and probably better too. I also
felt that the episode was so methodically plotted that Kobold was clearly the
mastermind behind the whole escapade all along. I still enjoyed Daemonicus a
great deal and it had all the freshness that comes with a standalone adventure
after the stuffy drama of the latest conspiracy tale. Frank Spotnitz has
written a clichéd script but has afforded himself the chance to put some
suitably scary images on screen and there are moments in here that genuinely
made my flesh creep. It's the first standalone with Doggett and Reyes in charge
and whatever Mulder/Scully lobby might say I still think that they are a highly
engaging team and exactly what the show needs if it is going to proceed into a
ninth season. Can you imagine another year of Mulder and Scully? Season seven
was proof that that relationship had been all but exhausted. I also like how
this is effectively a very simple story of a man who wants to break out of
prison but goes to extraordinary lengths to do so. It is pleasingly explained
as it goes along, not always a strength of this series and concludes with a
satisfying wrap up with our heroes summing up just how they have been duped.
James Remar gives a memorable performance as the antagonist, not an easy task
given the amount of serial killers this show has produced. Add to this some
really eye catching direction and some horrific imagery and you have a piece
which isn't going to win any awards for innovation but kept me entertained (and
spooked) throughout: 7/10
4-D written by Steven Maeda and directed by Tony Wharmby
4-D written by Steven Maeda and directed by Tony Wharmby
What’s it about: Cutting out women's tongues for pleasure...
Closed Mind: Doggett and Reyes are making eyes for each
other the second he walks into her apartment with his housewarming present.
They have the easy banter of old friends and when she wiped mustard from his
mouth I swear we were one second away from this turning into a very different
kind of episode. One where you have to send the kids out of the room. It's a
very welcome sexual chemistry that they dip in and out of this season and it
sets up their strength of feeling for each other very quickly for the episode
ahead. Somehow Doggett manages to keep his spirits up even when he is consigned
to a hospital bed, perhaps for the rest of his life, and unable to speak. Even
disabled he is able to make crackpot jokes about Monica watching too much Star
Trek when it comes to her (apparently) absurd theories.
Oddball: It's lovely to see Monica moving into her new place
in DC, its the sort of personal detail they can often forget on this show. I
love how Reyes never tries to bend the facts to fit a theory but to find a
theory that fits the facts, no matter how impossible they might be to
reconcile.
Brains’n’Beauty: There is a gentle moment between Scully and
Reyes were she tries to comfort her and offer an explanation to her confusion
about Doggett by recounting the visitation of her father in Beyond the Sea. It
was so long ago now you almost forget that it is part of the shows mythology.
Scully is quite protective of Reyes when it appears that there is a case to be
built against her. You might see this as a forced connection given that they
have only just started working together but this is the woman who helped deliver
and protect her baby. That has got to mean something.
Sparkling Dialogue: '1st time ever hope for a little prick'
'You kiss your mother with that mouth?'
'God, I enjoyed you. You bled just like a pig...' might be
one of the most repulsive lines delivered on The X-Files.
Ugh: Don't approach this episode if you are sitting down to
dinner. The moment you realise Lukesh is making tongue sandwiches for his
mother might turn you off your food.
The Good: At first I thought we were going to be dealing with
one of those episodes that shows the outcome of events and then go back to
explain how we got there. It was the only way I could reconcile both Doggett
and Reyes being terminally injured one minute and perfectly normal the next.
4-D is playing much more interesting games than that. The episode seems to
suggest that only one version of each character can exist in each reality.
Hence when the version of John Doggett that is shot enters, the other one (who
was happily chomping down on his Polish sausage) vanishes into the ether. The
news is that if he pulls through, Doggett will be paralysed for life.
Dramatically that is a great place to start given how essential he has become
to the series. The mystery of the disappearing Doggett in Reyes' apartment means
there is a fascinating mystery to solve too. It's good to see Follmer back (I
thought he would be relegated to the conspiracy episodes) and the awkward look
on his face when his ex-girlfriend takes another mans hand speaks volumes.
Follmer seems to say everything with a smirk on his face, even when he is
quietly warning Skinner about his insubordination. Our glimpses into Lukesh's
appalling life looking after his needy, paranoid mother allows us some insight
into why he feels the need to express himself the way he does. It does allow
for any degree of sympathy, he is hacking out women's tongues after all, but it
does explain why he might be frustrated enough to act out. He sleeps in the
same bed as his mother waits until she is asleep and then slips out to commit
his repulsive deed. But here's the clever part...Lukesh has found access to
another reality. One that closely resembles our own where he can unleash his
disgusting habits on the female population and return to ours where he has done
nothing wrong. He's such a disturbed man that as soon as he realises that
between them the FBI and his mother will be able to piece together evidence
that he is a serial killer he takes what in his twisted mind seems like the
only way out. To murder the woman that gave birth to him. We know precisely
what Lukesh is capable of so the climax where he holds a razor to Monica's
throat is nail biting, and superbly acted
Pre-Titles Sequence: Just brilliant. Conceptually,
dramatically and stylistically this is the best teaser the show has seen since
Empedocles last year. It introduces all the ideas that are in play without
explaining any of them. We don't realise for some time that the episode opens
in an alternative reality because the usual markers (outrageous versions of the
characters in particular) aren't there. It means that Reyes can suffer the
horrific act of having her tongue cut out and Doggett can be shot in the face.
The direction is top notch, cutting away from Reyes as she lets out an ear
piercing scream and disconcertingly realising Doggett's confusion as Lukesh
steps into our reality. You'll be left with a big question mark hanging over
your head the first time you see the teaser which makes subsequent re-watches
very rewarding.
Moment to Watch Out For: The really dramatic set piece in
4-D is exquisitely foreshadowed throughout the episode with the FBI quietly
accusing Monica of trying to kill Doggett. Ultimately that is what she has to
do set things back on the right track. You never know if Doggett genuinely believes
her theory of alternative universes or whether he is just exploiting that to
get her to commit euthanasia on his part. It adds an extra layer of tension to
the moment. Even Monica doesn't know if she is reaching or not and has to put a
great deal of faith in the fact that her Doggett will be returned if the
version from the other reality expires. She could just be killing him for good.
It is a great dilemma, making full use of the premise to force the characters
to make some tough choices. Monica turning off the life support machine and
holding Doggett's hand as he expires is played without any dialogue and is all
the more effective for it.
Result: Marrying a great premise with some excellent
character work and chucking in one of the most repulsive serial killers yet,
4-D races ahead of the other episodes of season nine to date and bewitches throughout.
Whereas Daemonicus was a standard X-File that was enlivened by their
involvement, this is the first sterling opportunity for Doggett and Reyes to
have an episode built around their relationship. And it works startlingly well,
giving both Patrick and Gish a chance to prove what they are capable of. Erwin
Lukesh walks away from the last three years of The X-Files as one of the most
nauseating bad guys, a sick little boy of a man who cuts out women's tongues
just so he can escape his lifeless existence looking after his mother. Steven
Maeda continues to be one of the shining talents of the series latter half, not
content with going over old ground but dealing with imaginative concepts such
as time running backwards and parallel universes. You might think that The
X-Files wouldn't stretch to such ideas as it likes to keep one foot planted
squarely in reality but quality episodes such as Redrum, 4-D and Audrey Pauley
prove otherwise. Ultimately this is the story of two relationships; Doggett and
Reyes and Lukesh and his mother and the premise of the week is just there to
allow us some insight into both. It is quite a quiet piece but don't mistake
that for a lack of drama, 4-D proves to be surprising, poignant and disturbing:
9/10
Lord of the Flies written by Thomas Schnauz and directed by Kim Manners
Lord of the Flies written by Thomas Schnauz and directed by Kim Manners
What’s it about: Love, and how your nature can prevent you
from finding it...
Closed Mind: Everybody is playing the episode a little
looser this week and it is nice to see the camaraderie between Scully, Doggett
and Reyes feature in a gentler episode. Apparently Doggett glances at the
adverts at the back of men's magazines for amusement, particularly the ones
that are selling products that can help men attract women. Whilst he is
criticising the kids extreme levels of brainlessness, Doggett can't help but
smile sneakily at their antics. Robert
Patrick plays this entire episode with one eyebrow arched, as though he is highly
amused but not entirely engaged with what is playing out around him.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'I think I just solved this case. This
kid had crap for brains, the flies couldn't resist.'
'This isn't just stupid, it's the glorification of stupid.
These kids take enormous pride in being sub mental.'
Ugh: I can handle pretty much any creepy crawlies. I think
spiders are rather cute. Moths dancing around flames are rather beautiful.
Centipedes are a marvel of nature. My one Achilles Heel when it comes to the
insect world is flies. They're dirty, their noisy and they spread germs around
your home as though that is their reason for existence. These things eat your
food, vomit it up, stamp it back into the food and then eat it again. They're
repulsive. I cannot be held responsible for my actions when a fly is buzzing
around me at a picnic. So the sight of an army of them pouring from somebody's
face is enough to make my stomach heave. Dylan's face and body being covered in
flies made me reached for the Gaviscon. What are they trying to do to me?
The Good: A stereotypical American family blaming all the
wrong people for the murder of their son. You can point the blame at the
Council for steep roads or the manufacturers of the trolley but at the end of
the day it is their dumbass son that decided to get inside a shopping cart an
take a trip down the hill. This is all played for comic effect but it does
demonstrate the lack of awareness of some parents who are unwilling to except
that children do the most retarded things. It's nice to Jane Lynch in something
pre-Glee although after watching her play the anarchist Sue Sylvester it
is hard to take her seriously as a school headmistress cum insect. Rocky
Bronzino is precisely the sort of OTT character that Darin Morgan used to write
into the show and whilst he is nowhere near as intelligently written as Dr
Bambi or the Incredible Yappi, his penchant for turning everything into an
insect innuendo did make me chuckle ('So many flowers, so little time...').
Pairing him off with Scully was a great idea because gives Gillian Anderson the
chance to play some comedy for the first time in over a season. Whilst I'm
pleased that season eight took a more serious route and gave the series its
dignity back, Anderson does delight when she gets the chance to let her hair
down.
The Bad: My biggest problem with Lord of the Flies is that
none of the child characters are especially likable. I didn't care what
happened to any of them. The X-Files has possibly the worst hit rate at
producing recognisable teenage characters, usually realising them as sullen,
socially awkward and insufferably self absorbed. Dylan embodies those
characteristics even more than most and I really couldn't find it in myself to
care for such a depressing nomad. Natalie is a little too whiny for her own
good and in reality somebody that pretty would never look twice at a guy like
Dylan. And as for Winky? This guy tries to sell the footage of his best friend
to all the networks to make a profit out of his death! His remorse extends to
how much money he can make out of his best friends demise. I'm not entirely
sure if it is how the characters are played or how they are written but I
didn't make a connection with any of them. I couldn't keep up with Natalie and
her ever changing loyalties. One second she is having a go at her boyfriend,
the next she is lamenting him. One scene she is mooning over Dylan, the next
she is calling him a freak. One scene she is accusing of Winky of being a
asshole, later she fears for his life. I know they say that teenage hormones
run rife and led to all kinds of inconsistencies but this is ridiculous. The
climax is a mess. Because we already know what Dylan is, there is no great
revelation to be discovered and the writer throws in some false jeopardy in the
form of Reyes and Rocky being spun into webs. It looks as bad as it sounds. The
twist that Anne murdered her husband would have made for a better climax but
that is tossed into Scully's poetic wrap up as though it isn't important. And
why is Natalie smiling at the message left for her by Dylan in fireflies?
Hasn't he just tried to kidnap her? This script needed one more rewrite before
being put before the cameras.
Pre Titles Sequence: I can't pretend to have seen any
episodes of Jackass in my life...my television schedule is already too
full of reality excrement to make room for any more but I have caught the odd
moment when channel hopping and was forced to endure ten minutes of one of the
movies by a friend whose intellectual ability I started to question after
forcing him to turn it off. Needless to say this kind of spectacular and
dangerous prat-antics was never going to appeal to me. Kim Manners pulls of a
nice little teaser here that authentically replicates the sort of idiotic
stunts that kids try and pull off in order to make their names a cautionary
tale for everybody else. The shaky, handheld camcorder footage is pleasingly
different from the norm and the make up job for the caved in skull is just
obscene. I wonder if this entire episode should have been shot in this way as
it really takes you out of the usual X-Files zone but it might stray a little
too close into X-Cops territory. I wouldn't want a whole episode of these kinds
of unspectacular acts but for a couple of minutes at the start of a comedy
episode it works well enough.
Moment to Watch Out For: The one scene that does work
between Natalie and Dylan is the one that takes place in his bedroom. He has
probably played that scene out in his head a hundred times and never thought it
would come to pass. He is in something of a fugue when she comes to recognise
that he is something of a misunderstood guy and reaches in to kiss him...only
to be let down by his nature, almost cutting her tongue to ribbons. It plays
out like a clichéd Dawson's Creek scene but it's the subversion at the end that
makes it work.
Orchestra: This episode has a score like no other. I swear
Mark Snow thought he was writing the soundtrack for a b-movie because he swings
from overdone melodrama to a fluting, comedy style and back at an alarming
rate. It's the most schizophrenic score the show has ever presented but it is
quite attention grabbing because of it.
Trust No 1 written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Tony Wharmby
What’s it about: Scully writes love letters to Mulder and
tries to keep him safe...
Closed Mind: Doggett is sick to death of Scully not trusting
him...or anybody and finally has the balls to tell her so. Even so he is still
her lapdog, doing pretty much everything he can to support her. I would have
given up on the ungrateful wench months ago.
Oddball: I couldn't help but feel sorry for Gish and
Patrick, having to pretend to be as obsessed with getting Mulder back when I am
sure they wish that their characters could just forget about him and run with
this show.
Brains’n’Beauty: This is the episode that convinced me that
perhaps Carter and Spotnitz had run out of interesting things to do with
Scully. Turning her into a lovesick puppy pining after Mulder isn't exactly the
sort development I was looking for after his return last year and Anderson
looks uncomfortable having to portray it. It is nice to see her spending more
time with William and behaving like a mother, she's been ducking in and out of
X-Files so much lately I was starting to wonder if the birth of William had
been a dream. One lonely night Scully invited Mulder into her bed. That's the
first I've heard of it. I thought William was conceived by IV?
Dreadful Dialogue: 'How do you know they aren't being used
by this Shadow Man to lure Mulder out?' - in what universe is that considered
acceptable dialogue?
'The forces against us are unrelenting. But so is my
resolve.'
The Good: Hurrah for Kathryn Joosten who turns up in a bit
part and turns out to be the best part of the whole damn episode.
The Bad: The absence of Mulder in season eight had a purpose
and was rife with dramatic possibilities. It had never been done before, the
creators found a fascinating replacement in John Doggett and it gave Scully
centre stage of a show that she had been a part of for seven years. It was a
thrilling experiment and the year long arc to find him was expertly plotted and
brought some surprisingly good character work to the surface. However repeating
the experiment a year later because Duchovny has abandoned the show for good
was a cardinal error. It makes the show feel doubly tired in its ninth year,
having just played out this scenario and exposed a creative team that was too
obsessed with the past to invest the right amount of energy in the future. It
is Gillian Anderson's final year on contract that is the problem. They are
trying to give her material that justifies her continued existence on the show
when what it really needs is to forget all about Mulder and Scully and focus entirely
on Doggett and Reyes. Episodes that are dealing with Mulder's absence in season
nine (Nothing Important Happened Today, Trust No 1, Provenance, William) are
pretty much running on empty because he will back in the series finale as if he
was never away having spent the year hiding out in the desert with Gibson
Praise. All of Scully's moaning and moping will have been for nothing. We keep
cutting back to the rendezvous at the train station as though it is going to be
the setting of something very important...and yet it turns out to be anything
but. It is typical of Carter and Spotnitz in season nine, promising something
spectacular and somehow failing to deliver. Trust No 1 seems to enjoy teasing
the audience with the possibility that Mulder might return...only to snatch
that promise away at every turn (check out the man in a black jacket rattling
on Scully's door handle who could be Mulder...but isn't). I don't see how
(especially or that portion of the audience that desperately seek his return)
this can be anything but disappointing. For those who us who don't give a damn
where Mulder is hiding or what he is up to the whole endeavour is a waste of
time. If Terry O'Quinn is a familiar face to fans of The X-Files it is because
he has appeared in the series once before (Aubrey) and the movie and has a
semi-regular role on Carter's other success story, Millennium. He's a strong
performer but only when he is given something of significance to do. For to
haul in an actor who has appeared in the series twice before should be for a
good reason, not to just stand in shadows and look menacing. It's a waste of
O'Quinn's talents.
Pre Titles Sequence: I haven't witnessed a teaser quite this
tedious for some time, packed with some of the most god awful Carter/Spotnitz purple
prose (dialogue pretending to have great significance but saying nothing at
all) and playing out like the title sequence of Angel, a depressing
montage of images. It's the sort of sequence that makes you want to run away
and hide from it, to venture no further into the episode. After their terrific
run of mythology episodes last year has Carter and Spotnitz's luck run out?
Moment to Watch Out For: The slow motion sequence on the
train station platform does generate some kind of reaction. Disbelief, mostly.
Tony Wharmby is directing the hell out of this scene, marketing it as something
truly meaningful when all it hands the audience is disappointment. No Mulder,
no point. Syrupy music, stunts and Anderson acting her heart out cannot
disguise that fact.
Orchestra: Mark Snow has been bewitched by the romance and
has composed a superb piano piece that suggests Scully's aching loneliness far
more effectively than Carter and Spotnitz's dialogue.
Result: A Mills and Boon melodrama featuring Scully pining
after Mulder. Is this all they could think to do with the character? Trust No 1
is so bad I skipped this episode and only forced myself to watch it at the end
of the run. This might be the ultimate example of a shaggy dog story in The
X-Files mould, a string of irrelevant incidents leading up to an anti-climax of
monumental proportions. Scully is led around on a wild goose chase by an
unknown assailant and the only way this episode could have possibly ended
satisfactorily would have been to see her reunited with Mulder. Since that was
never going to happen from the outset the whole journey is simply a waste of
time, an exercise of reminding the audience that he is no longer a part of the
show. The script is so devoid of meaning that it resorts to romantic sludge to
try and say something new about the characters but it served only to alienate
me because Mulder and Scully simply never behaved like this. I don't know what
else to say about Trust No 1, easily one of the most pointless hours of the
shows entire run and another example of season nine failing to move on: 3/10
John Doe written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Michelle MacClaren
What’s it about: Doggett wakes up in Mexico with no
knowledge of how he got there... and no memory whatsoever.
John Doe written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Michelle MacClaren
Closed Mind: This is the show making use of its new cast to
tell the kind of story they couldn't in the previous seven years. John Doe
wouldn't work with Mulder in the role of the amnesiac because as much as he
tried to dabble (Tunguska was one example when he was especially thuggish),
Mulder was simply too bookish and gentle to be taken seriously as a thug.
Patrick on he other hand has a look that burns right through you and
convincingly roughed up he fits the bill perfectly as a desperate man making
money and trying to hang onto his principles. I wouldn't trust to give this
kind of episode to a lesser actor than Robert Patrick as it dumps pretty much
everything that you come to expect from the show and requires a man of
considerable charisma and screen presence to keep you fixated. Fortunately
Patrick is a complex actor and more than up to the challenge and we join
Doggett when he first wakes up in Mexico and go on an incredible journey of
discovery with him. The glimpses we get into Doggett's past with Luke jumping
on the bed and a loving wife by his side are very revealing. Suddenly that
haunted look on his face takes on a brand new meaning. The look of death that
Doggett throws when he is pushed around is enough to make me physically recoil.
It's painful to watch Doggett being convinced that the FBI are after him and
that he is a killer, Domingo twisting the police enquiries after him into a
hunt for a wanted fugitive. It is interesting that the most powerful memories
that break through his block are happy times with his family. Doggett standing
up to the man who took away his life is another strong scene, thanks to some
intense performances. I can't think of any other time in the shows history when
the characterisation and treatment of a character is so brutal (maybe Krychek
at some points is the closest we have come before this) but what Doggett goes
through in Joe Doe is physically and emotionally torturous and he departs the
episode an even more dignified character as a result of surviving it.
Oddball: A great episode for Reyes and another chance to see
how close she and Doggett have become in a relatively short space of time.
Monica was brought up in Mexico so this is her home turf and she knows exactly
how to treat people who are being evasive and hampering her investigation. I
like this steel in her and I hope we get see more of it in the remaining
episodes. She knows how to prey on peoples sympathies, pretending that Doggett
is her husband and he walked on her and her kids. The moment when she lifts up
the shroud fearing that it is Doggett's corpse underneath is a powerful one
because the last we saw of him he was being beaten to a pulp. It could
be him. Monica has to deliver the news that Doggett's son is dead but she also
has snap him out of despondence long enough for them to escape the lock up with
their lives.
Brains’n’Beauty: Nice to see Scully and Skinner disobeying
orders in order to help with the hunt for Doggett.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'Pillar of the community? Does
anybody actually use that phrase except mob lawyers?'
'Why would you want to remember? You can't tell me that you
are happier now that you remember your life. I saw it all. So much pain. Why
would you want to struggle so long and so hard to get that pain back?' 'Because
it's mine.'
Ugh: The car landing on Nestor's foot leaves an awful bloody
mess.
The Good: In production terms there has never been another
episode quite like this one and that is what makes it so unique. Mexico is
recreated with an astonishing eye for detail and the searing heat of the state
is brought home with some bleached out lighting for the exterior scenes and
extreme darkness for the interiors. Going from one to the other makes you wince
which was precisely the idea. The grainy, washed out colour of the exteriors is
striking and it feels like the series has cinematic aspirations again. It is
precisely the sort of trickery the big screen would use to suggest a searing
hot location. It is a good fifteen minutes before we cut back to the FBI and
find out where Reyes and Scully are and what they are doing about trying to
find Doggett. There are authentic, political reasons for the Bureau not to
stamp all over Mexico and demanding the return of their Agent and that gives
Monica the perfect chance to front the investigation discreetly across the
border. The skull, the Cartel, the memory vampire. The plot progresses from one
clue to the next so that by the time Doggett is handed his memory back we have
pieced together the story of how he came to lose his memory. Just as it looks
as though Doggett is going to have his life handed back to him by Reyes, he
attacks her and holds a gun on her. There's no doubt in my mind that if she
hadn't have recognised him that he might have killed her. My heart was racing
during the siege on the lock up. What an concentrated attack. I couldn't see a
way out for the two FBI Agents and then my brain clicked into a gear and I
realised their means of conveyance has been pointed at several times throughout
the episode. The bus taking a dive is shot from various angles to give it
maximum exposure once again you have to wonder if this is curtains for Doggett
and Reyes as the corrupt Mexican police force approach.
Pre Titles Sequence: The visual style that freshman (or she
that be freshwoman?) MacClaren adopts for John Doe makes our first steps into
the episode quite a shocking one. After two substandard episodes it feels like
the show is trying to jolt us awake again. The mystery of Doggett waking up in
Mexico without his memory is a great starting point.
Moment to Watch Out For: I wanted to say the set piece with
the bus, which is a stunning action scene to climax the episode on. But far
more impressive than that is Robert Patrick's performance as Doggett when he
goes through the heartbreak of remembering that his son has been killed all
over again. It's heartbreaking to watch him reclaim his old life and all the
wounds that come with it. For a couple of weeks his son was alive again in his
mind and now that has been snatched away. Patrick reduced me to tears.
Fashion Statement: How hot is Robert Patrick when you take
him out of the suit, dirty him up and put him in a pair of jeans? The glaring
sunshine gives him a gorgeous tan as well.
Orchestra: Improbable aside, this is the finest score of the
final season and one that takes full advantage of its exotic setting. Snow is a
dab hand at this by now (he has scored over 200 episodes at this point) and you
might think that he would be resting on his laurels but he is still finding new
ways of bringing these episodes alive with his impressive soundtracks.
Result: 'I'll take the bad as long as I can remember the
good.' John Doe is a huge return to form for the show after a shaky start
to season nine. Both visually and emotionally this is a powerful episode and as
a showcase for the amazing acting talent that Robert Patrick has at his
disposal it is second to none. It might be his finest performance of his tenure
because it is asking him to go on an incredible emotional journey in a short
space of time but Patrick makes it look effortless. The striking lighting
utilized to effect the blistering temperature of Mexico really helps to
distinguish this story, you can pretty much pause this episode at any point and
you will have a striking image on your screen. It is a thrilling puzzle to be
unravelled (how did Doggett lose his memory and wind up stranded and alone in
Mexico?) with a really emotional sting in the tale (when he regains his memory
and his life, the loss of his son will come flooding back like everything
else). I love the fact that this is an X-File that has practically no
supernatural elements in whatsoever, for the first half an hour this is simply
a piece of drama that relies on a good mystery and strong performances to keep
you interested. How the episode drops clues throughout to build a larger
picture of how Doggett came to be in this situation is very skilfully handled.
And the conclusion delivers a double whammy of both an emotional slap and a
terrific action set piece unlike anything seen in the show before. Like Redrum
last year, this is almost so different from your average X-File that it feels
like it is part of another, anthology series but that doesn't stop it from
being a stunning piece of drama and a palpable hit in the first half of season
nine: 9/10
Hellbound written by David Amann and directed by Kim Manners
What’s it about: Bodies are being discovered, people who
have been skinned alive and left to bleed to death...
Hellbound written by David Amann and directed by Kim Manners
Closed Mind: There's an interesting thread running through
Hellbound that asks the question of whether people genuinely think that
criminals deserve redemption and forgiveness. Doggett's reaction to an ex-con
being skinned alive is to shrug it off and suggest that the man must have made
some enemies that were capable of killing him in such a violent way. Given that
he used to be a police officer and have to mop up after criminals like this, it
is perhaps not surprising that he doesn't have a great deal of remorse. I don't
endorse that kind of thinking (and Reyes counteracts it by offering oodles of
compassion) but I do understand it. There is a pleasant difference between how
Doggett reacts to Monica's insane theories in season nine to how Scully used to
react to Mulder pulling the same trick way back in series one and two. Scully
could barely hide her contempt and would battle to her core to put a scientific
alternative across, despite the fact that she was proven wrong week after week.
Doggett in comparison has already learnt that things aren't what they seem when
dealing with X-File cases and has enough respect for Monica to listen to her
theories and consider them, even if making an imaginative leap isn't his first
instinct. I can only imagine what Scully would have said in the first couple of
years of the show if Mulder had suggested re-incarnation of souls causing a
repeated spread of murders.
Oddball: The focus is on Reyes this week and her connection
to a crime that cannot be explained at first. It feels like this is another of
those episodes where she is drawn to it for some unknown preternatural reason
but that is just a smokescreen for what turns out to be a very personal piece
for the character, one which uses the premise to delve into her past lives.
When there is resistance from local law enforcement into the death of a man who
committed terrible crimes, Doggett suggests that opinion would be shared by
many. That gives Monica a chance to be different without going to the lengths
of singing whale song and having unearthly senses. She stands out because she
cares. Reyes is genuinely repulsed by the murders, but whether that is because
of the obscene method or the pattern that is emerging that she is clearly a
part of remains unclear. I love the moment when she shocks Doggett into
believing her theory of reincarnation by revealing there is a sooty rag stuffed
in the victims mouth. She knows the details because she has lived this series
of murders before, in a previous life. Gish is superb at the climax, angry at
her failure to save the skinned victims despite being given another chance.
Brains’n’Beauty: The tired look between Scully and Doggett
at being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night at Reyes' behest made me
chuckle. It almost says 'whose idea was it to assign her to the X-Files?'
This isn't a season nine episode where Scully feels dropped in because of a
contractual obligation, she is fully involved with the investigation and brings
her own contributions to the solution.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'You can't stop it. You never do, You
always fail.'
Ugh: An episode full of sick, tasteless images. Just what
the Doctor ordered after a relatively gore-free first half of season nine.
Reading about how long it took to achieve the make up for the skinned bodies
shows the attention to detail on those show from all members of the production
team and the finished result is both horribly gruesome and startlingly
authentic (I say that, but I haven't seen any skinless corpses recently). As if
it isn't bad enough that Terry is strung up like a pig and flayed alive, he
actually wakes up just before it happens and screams bloody screams as the
slicing begins. I couldn't have been happier for the scene to fade to black,
such were the levels of my discomfort. The scene where he snaps awake, hanging
there like bloody meat, is a great shock. Imagine having to live your life like
this? The piece de resistance are the bloody skins that are left hanging
in the mineshaft for Reyes to discover. Don't watch this one on a full stomach.
The Good: As early as eight minutes in the hints are dropped
with Detective Van Allen recognising Reyes despite the fact that they have
never met before. There are a number of impressive red herrings leading you up
the garden path in regards to the killers identity too with several of the members
of the rehabilitation group working at a local pig flaying plant. They have
access to the tools to skin a man alive and the bottled up anger contained
inside of them waiting to burst free. I almost always enjoy stories of past
crimes returning to haunt the present and after Scully discovers a similar
spate of killings in the 1960s it looks like this might be a copycat case. But
Amann has something much more imaginative up his sleeve. The episode looks to
be pointing at Ed as the killer but it soon becomes clear that he is not
running away from his crime but rather running away because he thinks he will
be next. The leader of the counselling group is also a decent suspect, I
wondered if she could really be as altruistic as she claimed to be. It's nice
that with the reveal at the climax she turns out to be a genuinely nice person
trying to make a difference to troubled souls. Reyes furiously grapples with
Van Allen, determined to find out what he means when he says she always fails.
It means the cycle will begin again. The killer will be born into a different
soul and the killings will start again in 30 years time. The final shot that
creeps in on Van Allen's eyes as he dies and pulls out of a newborn baby that
is born is a very clever way of showing how the killers soul has been reborn.
It is the equivalent of those old X-Files endings that always used to suggest
that the danger is still out there (very popular in seasons one and two) but
this time the idea of horror continuing has been built into the script from the
word go. The idea that the fate of a newborn is written in blood is an
uncomfortable way to end this piece.
The Bad: You could complain that the serial killer angle has
been done to death on this show and that past lives have been covered too. Hellbound
manages to put a fresh spin on both by combining the two and by making the
murders as horrific as possible. There is an awful lot of plot squeezed into
this 42 minutes, so much so that it moves along a furious pace. Hellbound could
probably do with another 15 minutes to allow the story to breathe and to set up
the twist about Van Allen more effectively by giving him some more screen time.
Pre Titles Sequence: An interesting teaser with a very nasty
shock before the credits kick in, Hellbound isn't setting up a premise of the
week like most of the X-Files pre-titles sequences but instead wants to
introduce you to its characters and its theme of redemption. There are an awful
lot of people who would refuse to give convicted criminals a second chance and
so within this fictional setting it is pleasing to see a group of ex-cons that
have found each other and are trying to support their rehabilitation. More
dangerous than the world outside that refuses to believe that a leopard can
change its spots is somebody like Ed's friend, someone who is close to you who
is poisoning your mind and repeating a mantra of you are who you are and
seeking help to try and change that is pointless. So many of us fill our lives
with people who drag us down and this is a particularly underhanded example.
Moment to Watch Out For: A killer born again and again to
avenge the injustice of a murder that went unpunished. And Van Allen is the
killer. That's two great twists to fuel the climax. The killer is always the
law enforcement officer which is why the murders never get solved. After
killing the four men, the murderer takes his own life and starts the process
all over again.
Orchestra: I love the screaming sting every time a skinned
body is revealed. It pretty much summed up my reaction to such a gruesome
sight.
Result: Another winner, albeit not quite as strong as John
Doe because it takes it's inspiration from The X-Files for its ideas, if not
its structure. The norm with the X-Files is to kick start with a teaser that flaunts
the premise of the week (be it a genetic mutant, alien abductions, homicidal
weather or what have you) and proceeds to explore the notion for the next 40
minutes. Hellbound takes a refreshingly different approach, the first half an
hour or so playing out as an entirely unsupernatural (if grisly) murder mystery
case but seeding clues throughout so that by the time the twist is dropped it
all falls into place beautifully. It might be the only episode of the show
where the premise is only revealed in full in the final scene but it works
extremely well because of that, leaving the sting until the very last minute.
Before then you can enjoy (if that is the right term) some spectacularly nasty
set pieces the likes of which the show hasn't flaunted since Deadalive last
year, David Amann's hard hitting script which explores the idea of redemption
with some tough as nails dialogue, equal action spread amongst Scully, Doggett
and Reyes with all of them bringing something valuable to the investigation.
The latter is the focus though, and Annabeth Gish seizes the opportunity to
play a disturbed Monica Reyes in this dark and uncompromising horror. Hellbound
takes some risks with it's gory material but what I took from this was that the
show was reclaiming its ability to tell terrific standalone tales again. Season
eight poured a lot of its energy into making its arc material as strong as
possible and the standalones felt a little underwhelming in comparison. In
season nine the reverse is taking place. The conspiracy episodes are lacking
something that made them so good last year but the movie of the week tales
(Daemonicus, 4-D, John Doe, Hellbound) are compensating very nicely, and will
continue to do so: 8/10
Provenance written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Kim Manners
What’s it about: A man tries to cross the US border with a
number of rubbings taken from an alien spaceship...
Provenance written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Kim Manners
Closed Mind: The barely disguised tension between Doggett
and Follmer is a lot of fun to watch. I hope they get a chance to have a good
scrap before the season is out.
Oddball: Watch how Gish and Anderson choose to the play the
scene where Reyes questions Scully's previous interpretations of the rubbings.
The dialogue is a hint of a whisper and their chemistry is electric, it feels
as if this is a sensual moment between the two characters.
Brains’n’Beauty: 'If this is an X-File then why don't you
ask somebody whose working on the X-Files?' It seems we only get Gillian
Anderson's full attention these days when the episodes are entirely about her
character, which seems to be the lifeless conspiracy tales of season nine.
Fortunately this is one of the better examples this year and Anderson delivers
something rather different from the norm. She's clearly energised by the script
and is taking full opportunity of the dramatic instinct inherent within of a
mother trying to protect her baby. When Scully first discovered that there
might be a link between alien life and the beginnings of civilisation on Earth
she refused to believe it but now she thinks that there might be answers there,
answers to do with her son. There is a beautiful moment between Scully and her
mother where she attempts to dump her son on her in the middle of the night to
go off chasing answers about him. Margaret (one of the few characters in this
show that always talks reason) questions why she feels the need to question why
she was handed and miracle and that she should just get on with loving him.
Listen to your mother, Scully! Scully's answer of 'I need to know if it is God
that I have to thank' is fantastic because it exposes the huge question that
this episode is posing in a very personal way.
Trust No-1: The way the script tries to pull in Mulder's
name to generate some interest seems is pitiful. We covered this ground last
year and the most detestable moments of season nine have been trying to repeat
its success and failing. Who cares about Mulder anymore? Shouldn't the show be
forging ahead with Doggett and Reyes rather than trying to appease those people
who can't accept the change?
Assistant Director: Last year Skinner became part of the
ensemble just like Doggett and Reyes did. His loyalty was never in question and
to do so would make a mockery of how much it had been and how many times they
have covered that ground in the past. Season nine needs to be looking to the
future and carving a new niche out of the X-Files and playing out the 'can we
trust Walter Skinner?' card for the umpteenth time is the very essence of a
show that is starting to feel as though it is out of ideas. I preferred him on
the side of the good guys, actively and publicly aiding them. 'I know things
that you don't know' is his answer for being so evasive this time around. That
kind of indirectness simply wont cut it anymore. He was saying lines like that
in season two.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'It would mean that everything that
mankind believes in is in question.'
Dreadful Dialogue: 'Company guy. Straight as a ruler.'
The Good: I wondered if we would ever get any follow through
on the rubbings from the alien spacecraft from the opening episodes of season
seven. It seems that Carter & Spotnitz have chosen to pay off that debt
here, two and a half seasons later. There was a strong suggestion made that
aliens created the world, or at least were the catalyst for the major religions
and the inscriptions on their craft are powerful words that determine our
existence. The image of blood saturated in the carpet of a child's nursery
feels wrong in every way. There are massive questions to be answered when a
piece of the spaceship shoots through Scully's flat and winds up hovering above
William's head. It's impressively realised and makes a direct link between the
aliens and Scully's child. What a shame that the idea of the Lone Gunmen taking
care of William is dropped so quickly because we could have had a lot of fun
with the idea in the second episode. Three Men and a Baby, X-Files style? I'd
take that over the second episode that we actually get.
The Bad: Men meeting in dark smoky rooms in the depths of
the FBI building has almost become something of a joke recurrence on this show
now. When Scully walked into Skinner's office and everybody is standing there
looking so desperately serious I wanted her to crack up just to break the tension.
I think Alan Dale has shown up in just about every cult TV show known to
mankind. Maybe even every single TV show known to mankind. He's such a
charismatic performer so why would the producers decide to shove him in the
role of a silent observer chewing on a tooth pick?
Pre Titles Sequence: Wouldn't the reveal of the markings on
the alien spaceship only mean something to the audience if they had been
watching the show religiously over the past couple of years? Which, thanks to
dwindling audience figures, a fair amount have not. I suppose you shouldn't
have to make allowances for people who haven't given the show their full
attention. Regardless, this is quite a dynamic action sequence featuring a
motorcycle attempting to cross the US border from Canada. As you can imagine
the stunts are incredible and the explosion even more so. I expect these from
The X-Files now. It would have been nice to have delivered something
unexpected. Like they did in 4-D and John Doe.
Moment to Watch Out For: The attack on William comes as a
complete surprise. I never thought the creators of this show would go as far as
having somebody attempting to smother him. After twenty minutes of whispering
reverence about the rubbings Scully's hysterical dash into action is like a slap
around the face and much welcome. Suddenly we are seeing a very different side
to her character, one which has never been explored before. Scully has been
attacked and had to defend herself time and again but to be powerless to save
her son...that's a new kind of fury and Anderson unleashes it without apology.
What's really interesting is that Margaret, a devout Christian, drops all of
her principles and hands Scully her gun to deal with the assassin that is
attempt to murder William. Under pressure and protecting our loved ones, we
can't afford values.
Mythology: 'Are you saying this kid's an alien or
something?' 'The man who tried to kill Scully's baby believed it. So must this
cult that he got involved with.'
Result: The best conspiracy instalment of the final season
because it makes the storyline personal and asks big questions about humanity
that really got me thinking. By having members of this cult come after William
there is a very real sense of danger to events, especially when Scully only just
returns home in time to save him from being smothered. Anderson gives her
strongest performance of the year in a script that affords her some fresh
opportunities. When you think about that for a moment that is something of a
miracle after nine seasons of playing the same character but we have never seen
anything quite like the desperate, almost feral mother that is willing to let a
man bleed to death unless he gives her some answers about her son. The clever
trick that Carter and Spotnitz pull with Provenance is that is starts off as
quiet and as lifeless as Nothing Important Happened Today and it looks like we
are in for another hour of hushed conversations. Around the halfway mark the
episode jolts into life and from that point it continues to improve with some
impressive set pieces right up to the conclusion. The plotting is clean and
efficient too, with the mystery of the border crossing and the rubbings tying
together two plot threads that both lead to William and his eventual
kidnapping. I'm not suggesting that this is up there with the best of the
conspiracy episodes (Tempus Fugit/Max, Two Fathers/One Son, Within/Without,
Essence/Existence) because it is too drowned in X-Files clichés for its own
good. However it is pulling the mythology in an interesting direction and it is
worth following up just to discover the fate of William. This is the one
episode of season nine where Scully being a mother has serious dramatic
possibilities: 8/10
Providence written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Chris Carter
What’s it about: William is the son of God. Possibly a
prophet. Or a saviour. He's definitely somebody important. In the future. I
think.
Providence written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Chris Carter
Closed Mind: Spare me the thought of Doggett being contact
by God to warn Scully about Comer. I thought he was the one character that
would left out of the spiritual experience loop, standing in the background
with one eyebrow arched. Instead he's standing behind the altar like everybody
else at the climax. It doesn't sit right.
Oddball: 'Maybe when you're lost you knock on the door
with the porch light on?' When all hopes seems lost for Agent Doggett,
Monica is not above getting down on her knees and praying for his survival.
Follmer thinks it is a little to traditional for her. He seems to like playing
games with Monica, using Doggett's condition as an excuse to get close to her
again before busting her ass for taking part in Scully's rogue operation. Can
you say mixed signals?
Brains’n’Beauty: Scully is understandably more than a little
pissed about being dragged in to a case which has resulted in the kidnapping of
her flesh and blood. She has it out with Skinner for the umpteenth time,
suggesting that the FBI are trying to exonerate themselves from this tragic
outcome and systematically close the X-Files down. Skinner informs her bluntly
that if she goes after Follmer and Kersh then his name will be dragged through
the mud as well...and the look on her face suggests that his fate isn't even a
consideration. She starts her own covert operation, dragging in the Gunmen and
Reyes. I figure it is the only way she sees that she is going to get straight
answers. Provenance and Providence goes to show that for all those years that
she was a thorn in the FBI's side by joining Mulder on his rebellious search for
the truth she has actually been quite a by the book kind of gal. I rather like
this unpredictable, dangerous Scully, one who is willing to smother a man to
death unless he tells her the whereabouts of her son. It almost justifies her
existence in the final season alone, giving her character a whole new angle to
plough. The look on her face as she chokes Comer suggests that she would do
anything to get William back unharmed. Every mother assumes that their child is
the centre of the Earth which all others revolve around...Scully is in the
unfortunate position of that being true. It is about time Scully shed some
tears for Doggett after everything he went through to prove himself to her last
year.
Assistant Director: Everything I said about Skinner in the
last episode. That again.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'If you want to see your boy then you'll
bring me the head of Fox Mulder.'
The Good: The idea of cult members having access to an alien
spacecraft and all the technology within is terrifying and during the sequence
where it starts opening and I figured that was the path this episode was going
to take. Then it swallowed up several of the members never to be seen again in
a very tightly directed sequence. Once William is exposed to the ship it
decides to unlock its secrets, including the burnt remains of the consumed cult
members.
The Bad: What was the point of the cult if they were just
going to be killed off? What was the point of the ship if it was just going fly
off? We don't learn anything about either of them beyond Josepho's insane
prophecies which he could have made up for all we know. Why do Carter and
Spotnitz dangles these carrots in front of us and then snatch them away? What
was the point of kidnapping William if he was just going to be left unharmed at
the UFO take off site? All that tension for nothing. It's a bizarre anti-climax
where none of the elements of this plot are paid of satisfactorily. Scully and
Reyes being left standing in a gaping hole in the Earth is a good metaphor for
the missing climax of this story that ties everything up nicely. Or at all. Who
is Alan Dale's character? He is revealed at the climax to be a super soldier
but what were his motivations throughout this episode. Who is he working for?
Why did he kill Comer? Whose side is Kersh on? I'm starting to think it doesn't
matter anymore.
Pre Titles Sequence: I don't care how disillusioned you
might be with The X-Files at this point, there is no denying that by any
stretch of the imagination this teaser is a fantastic piece of television. A
staggeringly well staged trip to the war in Iraq with the action coming thick
and fast and hard. It brings home the ugliness of war in two minutes of
footage. It also provides Josepho with a good motivation for starting his cult
and why he might think that Scully's child, long suggested to be linked to the
super soldiers that saved his life during combat. Whereas I found the
archaeological dig showing glimpses of the alien spacecraft a little
unconvincing, the Ariel shot of Josepho standing on top of it now it has been
exposed is extraordinary. The X-Files commanded impressive visuals right up to
the bitter end.
Mythology: 'The FBI sent me undercover on a man named
Josepho. To get inside his cult whose followers believe an alien race will rule
the world. One day God told Josepho to lead us a thousand miles north to find a
ship buried in the ground. Josepho believes that the ship is a temple which
houses the physical manifestation of God. Josepho said God spoke to him of a
miracle child, a future saviour. Josepho believes your son is this child. He
wants to protect him. Josepho believes your son will follow in his fathers path
and try and stop the aliens from returning. Unless his father is to be killed.
That is the prophecy.' Umm, where has all this come from? I'm not on board
with any of this cod religious prophecy bollocks that seems to taint so many
cult TV shows. Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica, The X-Files -
they all seem to think by adding a spiritual forecast to the show that it
automatically adds a layer of depth and worthiness to the proceedings. When in
most cases it just leads to disappointment, with the holy fireworks that are
promised turning out to be anything but. William was a terrific innovation for
the show, a chance to shine a whole new light on Scully and to give her a
chance to appear on the show occasionally but have an excuse to not take centre
stage each week. The pregnancy plot line that ran through season eight was
delicate and generated some great character drama, climaxing in an
unforgettable finale documenting the birth. But to now suggest that William is
some kind of miracle saviour of the Earth who will protect us from another
alien attack is pushing things a little too far. What was wrong with him just
being an ordinary little boy? Can't we have characters with a normal life
outside of the X-Files madness? If Doggett's son's death turns out to be part
of a huge alien conspiracy tied into the origins of the universe I will be
spitting blood. Did Carter think he would ever have the chance to tie up this
William/saviour plotline?
Result: 'Are you saying that God asked you to kill me child?' Providence is a frustrating experience because it contains many fine scenes within but it hasn't been assembled with any energy or drive. I desperately wanted this to be as good as the first part so I could stick one in the eye to all those who say that the show was running on empty, mythology wise, in the last season but the truth is despite the sincerity of the writing and the performances, Providence is a bit of a chore to watch. Lots of people talking in hushed tones. Check. Cod religious symbolism. Check. One of the regulars laid up in a hospital bed with the others fearing they might die. Check. Lots of tears from Gillian Anderson which is pouring her heart and soul into a script that is recycling so many elements that the show has exhausted. Check. Was there a decree along the line that said that the mythology episodes cannot be any fun? Providence is spending so much time trying to remind how important and meaningful this series is that it forgets to dish out any entertainment. If they wanted to tie together the super soldier and alien deity plots there were a million more entertaining ways of doing it. Some of the chutzpah that is currently fuelling the standalone episodes would do these mythology episodes the world of good. It is a shame because buried in all this wallowing are some gorgeous moments such as Scully threatening to kill man who threatened her son, Reyes turning to God when she has no one else to look to or the astonishing sequence where the ship comes alive and flies off into the great unknown. This is what happens when you believe that your show is more than just an hours entertainment but a quasi religion of its own. You can feed your followers any old nonsense and expect them to lap it up. That might have been acceptable around the Redux (the pain...) mark but faith has been on the wane for some time: 4/10
Result: 'Are you saying that God asked you to kill me child?' Providence is a frustrating experience because it contains many fine scenes within but it hasn't been assembled with any energy or drive. I desperately wanted this to be as good as the first part so I could stick one in the eye to all those who say that the show was running on empty, mythology wise, in the last season but the truth is despite the sincerity of the writing and the performances, Providence is a bit of a chore to watch. Lots of people talking in hushed tones. Check. Cod religious symbolism. Check. One of the regulars laid up in a hospital bed with the others fearing they might die. Check. Lots of tears from Gillian Anderson which is pouring her heart and soul into a script that is recycling so many elements that the show has exhausted. Check. Was there a decree along the line that said that the mythology episodes cannot be any fun? Providence is spending so much time trying to remind how important and meaningful this series is that it forgets to dish out any entertainment. If they wanted to tie together the super soldier and alien deity plots there were a million more entertaining ways of doing it. Some of the chutzpah that is currently fuelling the standalone episodes would do these mythology episodes the world of good. It is a shame because buried in all this wallowing are some gorgeous moments such as Scully threatening to kill man who threatened her son, Reyes turning to God when she has no one else to look to or the astonishing sequence where the ship comes alive and flies off into the great unknown. This is what happens when you believe that your show is more than just an hours entertainment but a quasi religion of its own. You can feed your followers any old nonsense and expect them to lap it up. That might have been acceptable around the Redux (the pain...) mark but faith has been on the wane for some time: 4/10
Audrey Pauley written by Steven Maeda and directed by Kim Manners
Closed Mind: The first scene is loaded with sexual tension
between Doggett and Reyes in a very forthright way that the writers never dared
to suggest with Mulder and Scully. With the formative agents it was all long
glances, dead relatives, tears and end of the world horror before they could
even suggest that they might have a thing for each other. Doggett and Reyes
have barely been working together a few months and have quickly discovered that
they are an awkward pause away from ripping each others clothes off. Doggett is
thinking about getting a cat because they are low maintenance but Monica
insists that he is a dog person. She cites that they share similar traits,
being faithful, dependable, being without guile and very comfortable to be
around. In the screaming silence that follows Doggett misses and opportunity to
lean in and kiss her. Unfortunately Monica spoils the moment by suggesting that
he would never disappoint anyone, which clearly brings back memories of his
dead son. What this is leading to, of course, is another episode in a similar
vein to 4-D (also written by Maeda) where an opening scene that exposes how
close these two have become leads into an piece about how much they are willing
to fight for each other. What is wonderful about Audrey Pauley is that it shows
that if he is desperate and cares enough, he will believe in the paranormal to
try and get results. Despite the fact that this is precisely the sort of BS he
scoffs at, the scant evidence that Audrey gives him that she is communicating
with Monica is the only sliver of hope he can hold onto. And boy does he hold
on. In a very telling moment he plays out their flirting game in the car in his
head with a very different outcome, one where he reached in and kissed her.
We've never seen Doggett quite this vulnerable before, shedding tears because
he is afraid to lose his partner and the woman that he could very well see
himself building a future with.
Oddball: I love her gentle 'John, John, John...' as
she drives away from Doggett's house in the teaser. Clearly she was ready to
take their relationship to the next level but he is frustratingly holding back.
Annabeth Gish is really in her stride now, holding up her end if the episode
with ease. Mind you with off kilter imagery like that to back her up I am not
surprised. Monica has signed an organ donor card and it looks as if she is
going to be brain damaged for the rest of her life. By turning off her life
support and slicing her open the Doctors are only obeying her wishes which
makes Doggett's struggle to keep her alive even more difficult. Monica has to
make a massive leap of faith at the climax in what Annabeth Gish calls the
stunt of her career.
Brains’n’Beauty: Whilst concerned for both Doggett and
Reyes, she has to remain detached when she is reviewing this case as a Doctor.
She fights to find some kind of evidence to prove there is some activity in
Monica's brain but it is clear that she doesn't expect to find anything.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'Have you ever been dead before?' 'No'
'The how do you know you're not?'
The Good: This is an episode that rewards
repeated viewings because the various elements of Audrey's condition can be
spotted all around the hospital in hindsight. The twisted mirrors reflecting
back a broken person. The jumbled up letters expressing her dyslexia. The ghost
hospital is a fantastic setting and a great mystery to unravel. Kim Manners
ensures that at no point during the episode does the atmosphere feel right in
the hospital, there is a sense of empty spaces not being filled, of souls long
forgotten lingering the halls. The eerie, pale green lighting helps but Manners
also uses a number of imaginative camera angles to shoot these scenes that we
wouldn't normally experience in your average episode (the pan out of the main
doors right out into the void is an excellent example). It feels like The
X-Files has abandoned its supernatural roots for one week and has gone for
something pure Twilight Zone. The sinister Dr Prejiers is slipped into
the episode in the teaser and there is no hint that he is up to no good until
at least halfway through the episode, except the collection of souls trapped in
the ghost hospital who are waiting to be murdered by him. It is not until we
realise that they are all patients of his that the connection is made. When he
asks if Doggett is trying to build a malpractice case against the hospital,
that is the first real clue as to his involvement in his patients deaths. The
transitions between the ghost hospital and the real one are excellent, one very
often bleeding into the other. People vanishing through walls, patients melting
into nothing...what the hell is going on? Whitney's sudden murder proves that
we are dealing with a real Dr Death sort, a man who enjoys holding his patients
lives in his hands and then letting them go. That's chilling. Considering we
learn very little about him as a person, Steven's death in Monica's arms
manages to be a surprisingly poignant moment. I think it is the way he has a
smile of contentment on his face as he finally fade away. I love the moment
when we realise that this is Audrey's hospital, the world the way that she sees
it. It suddenly makes sense of all the weirdness and adds another layer of
tragedy to this character. What shame
that Audrey should have to die just when she has finally achieved her wish to
save lives. Doggett's anger towards Dr Death mirrors my own
Pre Titles Sequence: This is precisely what The X-Files
should be doing in season nine and at this level of excellence too. Focussing
on the interesting, well played characters of Doggett and Reyes, great stunts
and a truly haunting mystery to solve. I have discussed the flirtation of the
two agents elsewhere but needless to say I usually find scenes like this
cringeworthy in the extreme but their interplay is superbly written and acted.
Doggett will spend the next day wishing he had let her in after all. The car
crash comes out of nowhere and really made me jolt and the sequence ends on the
truly bizarre image of Monica standing at the entrance of a ghost hospital
floating through a green void. The show feels like it has shifted a massive
gear from Providence. Is Monica dead? Is this the afterlife?
Moment to Watch Out For: Any scene featuring Tracey Ellis
who gives a wonderful performance as Audrey. She manages to make Audrey's
plight both heartbreaking (her frustration at not being able to comprehend
things like other people) and uplifting (her delight at being able to tell
Doggett about her secret world of souls). It has been a while since we have had
a standout guest performance of such quality. The moment when Ellis and Patrick
come together in the climax brings me to tears every time. That's some
fantastic acting on display as Doggett begs Audrey to save Monica because he is
afraid to let her go. Watch as Audrey tries to reach out and comfort him but cannot
quite bring herself to do so.
Orchestra: Like the episode itself, Snow's score is
restrained and all the better for it. Listen out for the haunting lullaby he
plays as Audrey enters the model and we slip in through the window with
her.
Result: Along with Release, this is my favourite episode of
the final season because Audrey Pauley delivers everything that I want from The
X-Files post Mulder and Scully. A focus on Doggett and Reyes and their
ever-deepening relationship, a strong premise, startling imagery, great twists
and turns and moments that bring to point of tears thanks to the sincerity of
the writing and the performances. Apparently Robert Patrick was in quite a raw
place emotionally when he came to make this episode and it shows and the amount
of restraint he shows during Doggett's near breakdown is astonishing. People
might see him more as an action hero sort of actor but he has proven that if
you given strong character material to work with he can deliver extraordinary
work. Whilst the Dr Death and ghost hospital elements are both superbly handled
(especially with the execution of the latter), it is the finely balanced
emotion that runs through Audrey Pauley that impressed me the most. Whether it
is the causal flirting between Doggett and Monica, his refusal to let her life
support be cut off, her understated reaction to Steven's death, Audrey's
delight at sharing her secret world to Doggett and his heartbreaking plea to
her to convince Monica to stay alive or the tragic loss of Audrey at the
climax, this is an episode that hits every emotional beat at exactly the right
point. It's a delicate piece but it is quite, quite beautiful: 10/10
Underneath written and directed by John Shiban
What’s it about: A case from Doggett's past returns to haunt
him...
Underneath written and directed by John Shiban
Closed Mind: Doggett's righteous anger in the face of
Fassl's release gives Robert Patrick another chance to show how good he is,
although Shiban occasionally pushes the dialogue too far (any actor would trip
up on 'I can still remember the sound of the blood squishing under my
shoes!'). Underneath doesn't so much deal with John Doggett the FBI Agent
but instead dips its toes into John Doggett the beat cop; a tough, unforgiving,
no-nonsense sort of guy. I rather like him. However if Fassl is innocent then
he has an awful lot of questions to answer about misinterpreting the evidence.
It's not as though Doggett isn't willing t admit that he makes mistakes but he
genuinely doesn't believe that this is one of them. He explains to Scully that
he isn't trying to cover his ass but get to the truth. That's something that I
can believe because that is precisely what the character has been about ever
since we first met him. He tries to resist Monica turning this case into an
X-File. Sometimes you shouldn't probe too deeply into your past because you
might find something disturbing that you didn't spot the first time around and
that you have been living your life in blissful ignorance of. Doggett
discovering that Duke planted evidence to point the finger at Fassl destroys
the respect that he has for his superior and seriously damages his case (again
the dialogue pushes too hard - 'I
don't know how I can forgive you for this! You break my heart!').
Oddball: Her appearance in Underneath is pretty awkward, not
showing up until somebody is needed to promote the paranormal theory of the
week. There must have been an easier way of achieving this than wheeling her
out just because she is the 'believer' on the series now.
Brains’n’Beauty: What is Scully's official role at the
moment? Is she still assigned to the X-Files? I'm guessing not given she stated
so unambiguously in Provenance. Is she still teaching at the Academy and being
constantly pulled into investigations on an ad hoc basis? Is she allowed to do
that? She seems to walk in and out of investigations as she pleases at the
moment, part time mother, part time expert without any kind of official
status.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'So what? We've moved from Casper the
Friendly Ghost to Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde?'
Ugh: Mrs Dowdy sure makes an awful bloody mess when she is
killed. I am pleased that the camera stayed in the next room whilst Fassl chops
her up with a meat cleaver. I don't think I could take that whilst eating my
breakfast.
The Good: Perhaps Shiban should have slipped behind the
camera sooner since he is clearly rather accomplished at putting a piece of
drama together. This is his one opportunity to both write and direct and so he
ensures that he utilizes as many tricks as possible to make Underneath shine.
Look at the chilling POV shot of Fassl spotting his alter ego across the street
with the crowds rushing by. Underneath is juggling the theme of redemption as
Hellbound did so effectively just a few episodes earlier and whilst it doesn't
quite have the same impact (because at least half of Fassl is guilty of
committing these crimes) the premise of splitting a man into two separate
identities (the religious victim and the murdering fiend) allows Shiban to
explore the idea of guilt in an creative way. How can you not feel sorry for a
man who is constantly having to clean up after murders that he technically
hasn't committed? I'm not sure if psychologically the idea of a man incapable
of admitting that he can commit a sin would result in the realisation of a
second, murderous personality but it is certainly an interesting idea all the
same. I'm not sure that Shiban employs it for its complete dramatic potential
but I appreciate the effort all the same. Given that Shiban was hoping to film
in the real Los Angeles sewer system (they were prevented due to the events of
September 11th) the mock up that is created in the studios is pretty
accomplished and more than does the job.
The Bad: I think it would have been much more effective to
have employed an actor who could play both aspects of Fassl's personality
rather than manifesting his darker alter ego being played by a different
performer. I'm not saying that you should talk down to the audience but this is
a deliberately confusing visual tactic that makes it looks as though there are
two killers at work, one complicit and the other mopping up his handiwork. It
would have really pushed the psychological angle to have a character who can
change into a different person at the drop of the hat and much more frightening
too. Underneath doesn't have enough time to deal with the dramatic implications
of Doggett discovering that his ex-partner is a fraud, wasting a dramatic
opportunity. There are some that might say that a defence attorney for a
convicted criminal being discovered decapitated in a sewer system is poetic
justice. A shame then that she is the only one to survive this bloody carnage.
Another missed opportunity comes at the conclusion which features Doggett and
Reyes wading about in the sewers in an attempt to bring Fassl down. This should
have been far more powerful, a psychological battle rather than a physical one.
Why flaunt these fascinating ideas if you aren't going to do anything with
them?
Pre Titles Sequence: It's a shame about the melodramatic punchline
because otherwise this is a rather creepy (and bloody) teaser that could have
skipped from the beginning of a decent horror film. It is not made explicit
whether Fassl was committing the murders himself or if it is the work of the
phantom criminal that seems to be stalking him. His shocked reaction to the
blood thrown over his work papers seems to suggest the latter. It's lovely to
see John Doggett in police uniform too, we've heard mention of his days as a
beat cop and it is nice to finally have a sneak peek into that period of his
life. All in all, promising.
Moment to Watch Out For: The mausoleum that Doggett and
Reyes discover in the sewers is suitably nasty, with bloody corpses and
decaying skeletons littered about. That's about the nicest thing you can say
about the climax.
Orchestra: One of the dullest scores Mark Snow ever
produced. There is nothing innovative or original about it.
Result: 'How does someone go about catching a killer than
hides inside an innocent man?' Given its deathly serious tone and the focus
on Doggett and Scully, Underneath could slip quite easily into season eight.
There were reportedly many problems with the making of this episode, so much so
that Fox almost pulled it from transmission but besides some creaky dialogue
none of those troubles made it to the screen, at least in production terms.
Underneath is not a standout effort but it is an proficient one, with an
interesting premise and plenty of grisly incident but there is no real pizazz
to pull it all together into something truly memorable. Beyond the pleasingly
distracting direction that keeps things ticking over you have Robert Patrick
holding the piece together, delivering another terrific performance that
reveals another side to Doggett's personality. The odd thing about Underneath
is how with a few more drafts it has the potential to be something much better
than it is. There doesn't seem to be any investigation involved - Reyes turns
up to supply the kooky theory of the week because that is what she does,
Doggett's ex-partner reveals his duplicity with very little prodding and the
climax only occurs because Doggett and Reyes spot Fassl's alter ego fleeing
from a crime scene. It doesn't feel as though the episode has been plotted but
constructed out of set pieces that Shiban thought would be rather cool. Given
the chilling psychological possibilities inherent with the split personality
premise, it feels like a terrible waste. With an extra fifteen minutes and the
hand of Vince Gilligan to bring the best out of the ideas and supplying some
superior dialogue this might have been great. And yet the episode doesn't fail
completely. It passes an hour easily enough but at a stage where the show
really needs to prove itself that really isn't enough: 5/10
Improbable written and directed by Chris Carter
What’s it about: You better watch out because God is among
us...
Improbable written and directed by Chris Carter
Closed Mind: Doggett is at a loss at what Monica is going on
about in Improbable but as far as he is concerned she is gifted with an
understanding that has helped solved several unexplained murders and that
deserves some credit. He only gains an insight into her method when a massive
number six is staring him right in the face from a map of locations of the
victims.
Oddball: Monica has already had a number of whacko theories
since being assigned to the X-Files that have been argued and dissected by
Doggett and Scully. This time she is going for broke, trying to tie a murder
case together by using numerology. Using Pythagoras as your influence for using
numerology might not be the strongest case to make especially since she is
essentially using a child's game to solve a murder. I bet the parties that
Reyes goes to are a real winner where she uses numerology as an ice breaker to
get to know and impress people. When Reyes is asked for her special insight
into the case I was almost begging her not to bang on about karmic numbers and
instead simply point out that she found the ring mark on each other victims
autopsy photographs. Alas that was not the case and the awkward silence after
she has finished her nonsensical explanation is priceless. The very definition
of a serial killer is tied up with numbers so in that respect at least she is
right on target.
Brains’n’Beauty: I love the way that Scully's eyebrow is
arched even higher than usual when discussing Monica's kooky suggestion that
she has linked three cases when she spots a connection between them herself.
Stick that one in your pipe and smoke it. Maybe it is because she is working
with Chris Carter so closely or maybe it is her natural reaction to a script
that is unlike anything she has participated in on this show before but Gillian
Anderson is genuinely invigorated during Improbable. Her chemistry with Reyes
is at an all time high and the scenes between Scully and God ('what are you
looking at?') had me howling. The final scene between the two female agents
where Scully asks Reyes about her numerology is a delight and proves how well
these characters have come together it this point. There is something gentle
and warm between Scully and Reyes (don't be dirty) that the show should have
tapped into far more often than it did. This female-centric X-Files is rather a
delightful show to watch.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'You can think. Cards can't. You've got to
make them work for you.'
'So in other words you haven't actually solved any of these
cases?' 'Maybe cracked would be a better word.'
'There's a secret to this game and I'm going to tell you
what that secret is. Choose better.'
'I give valuable insights to the living. The dead pretty
much already know their future.'
'Go to Hell' 'Are their reservations in your name?'
'Have you noticed that all babies look like Winston
Churchill?'
'Sir, does it look like we're here to play chequers?'
'Don't get me wrong, I love all music but I prefer the stuff
that lasts.'
'Are the numbers helping you catch him or are they helping
him not get caught.'
The Good: Considering this show has been running for nine
seasons it is amazing that Carter finds an imaginative ways to shoot this
episode that nobody else has tried before. I love the vertiginous angle he
chooses shooting from the ceiling tracking people along corridors, as though we
are literally watching through the eyes of God at the events of this episode
playing out. I'm much more of a words man than a numbers man (give me a
crossword over Sudoku any day) and so much of the discussion of numerology in
Improbable goes right over my head. Monica talks about it with such confidence
that I assume it all makes some kind of logical sense. After all, numbers don't
lie right? Or is it all down to the way we mere mortals interpret them where
the problem lies? Can something as complex as the entire universe be boiled
down to a number? The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy certainly thought so.
Our gorgeous view of the world through God's eyes is an unexpected delight, the
number three playing out like a pattern in the behaviour of lovers, birds,
babies, waitresses, bakers, window wipers, shoe shines, sweepers, cards and triplets.
Seeing the patterns of the universe for just a moment is a remarkable
experience and a peek into the mind of a man who can see order in apparent
chaos. Writing the part of God for Burt Reynolds was a smashing idea because he
brings a real sense of joi de vivre and world weariness to the role that
only an experienced and respected performer can bring to the party. Some might
see this as an actor past his prime playing a kooky part in show long past its prime but the idea of
bringing the two together re-invigorates both for the time of their union.
Carter adopts the split screen method to keep the episode looking fresh and
interesting. Fordyke is essentially a detective straight out of an episode of The
Simpsons but he is not so far removed from the tone of the episode to feel
out of place. God arranging dominoes in a rally got me thinking about the
domino effect and how one event directly affects another and so on and so
forth. How our lives are one long domino effect of events from birth until
death. Imagine being able to see that one pattern through a myriad of similar
patterns. 'The numbers led us to the killer, the killer led us to the garage
and now all we've done is recognise the killers real serial pattern' - a domino
effect of events given a little push by God. This is the episode of television
where God tells a serial killer that he loves him in spite of what terrible
acts he has committed. For that moment alone it is worth celebrating. You
cannot give a species free will and then condemn them for acting upon it. In
any other episode the idea of Scully stating that they have no idea where to
start looking for the killer and a second later the lift opens and he is inside
would seem like a hugely improbable co-incidence. Check out that title. In an
episode about fate and patterns that we are not privy to...why not? God knows
that if he can encourage Scully and Reyes to play chequers with him then one of
them will spot the real connection between the victims - the colour of their
hair - and that they are next because of it. Doggett pumps three bullets into
the killer. Figures. The shot of the detectives looking at the number 6 upside
down is pure farce and gives us a hilarious insight into Doggett's
'breakthrough' revelation.
The Bad: You're telling me that three sets of murders could
not be linked by a clearly visible ring scar on the victims faces until Scully
spotted them? Monica gets an awful lot of kudos for what is essentially a
standout connection between these victims. I do enjoy the final musical number
(always end on a song) but I have no idea what it brings to the episode and why
it goes on for so long. That exquisite last shot could have been reached far
more economically.
Pre Titles Sequence: Quirky, cheerful and disturbing, now
that's a tricky combination to pull off! I love the idea of God sitting at a
bar playing cards with himself whilst watching over one of his trouble souls,
willing him to make better choices in life without actually giving him any
options because he has to make that choice himself. The distress on God's face
when Mad Wayne heads into the toilets to kill Vicky despite every opportunity
he has had to walk away reveals a momentary disappointment in the species he
created. The fact that a man heads to the machine that Vicky was playing on and
scores a jackpot just as she is murdered goes to prove what a bitch fate can
be.
Moment to Watch Out For: 'What did Einstein say? God does
not play dice with the universe' 'Nor does he play chequers...' Just when
you think that this episode cannot get any more eccentric it takes a mad turn
and Scully and Reyes wind up trapped in an underground car park with God and
wind up playing chequers with him. I kid you not. The sudden cut to Scully
trying to shoot her way out of their cage might be the funniest moment in The
X-Files' entire run.
Orchestra: Possibly my favourite score for the entire series
and the one that is so far out of kilter with the rest of the series. I wonder
what that says about traditional music on this show? Snow's interpretation of
Karl Zero's perky, bubbly music made me seek out the musician and discover
more. It's the sort of synthy, sunny music that plants a smile on your face no
matter where you are or what you going through. What it has t do with the machinations
of God is beyond me but it does generate that feeling of a continental party
that Carter summons for Improbable and it gets my foot tapping every time.
Consider it a massive win and another reason why I adore the episode so much.
Result: 'There's something else that's bothering me'
'What's that?' 'Who was that man?' 'God knows...' 42 minutes of pure
sunshine. Depending on your disposition you are either going to love this or
hate this. Fortunately I am a slightly insane, cheerful sort of person so you
can definitely place me in the former category. I think this is the sort of
frothy yet uneasy tone that Carter was aiming for when he wrote and directed
Fight Club but he is on much firmer ground this time around and appears to have
learnt from every mistake he made in the season seven disaster. This might be
his most sparkling script, packed as it is with real gems of lines and pushing
the audience to think about the patterns in the universe in an imaginative way.
He also gets the balance of using Scully, Doggett and Reyes better than just
about any other episode in the shows final year and gives the ladies plenty of
time together which generates a very fresh dynamic. The fact that Carter dared
to place God at the heart of an episode is worthy of considerable praise but
what I especially love about Improbable is that he staunchly refuses to
allocate any kind of religious connotations. He is everybody's God and
he isn't walking among us to condemn or interfere but to help us see the
patterns that bind the universe together. If this sounds preachy then fear not
as Improbable is giddily filmed with an insanely catchy score and features a
quirky serial murder tale where we are afforded the luxury of seeing through
God's eyes, highlighting the killer and those who are trying to catch him. If
it pushes the humour a little too hard at times that is forgivable because it
is trying something extraordinarily uncharacteristic of this show and the fact
that it slapped a smile on my face throughout is a considerable success. Isn't it strange how the episodes that feel
less like The X-Files (John Doe, Audrey Pauley, Improbable, Release) are the
most satisfying in the final season? It's proof that the show did have legs
beyond series nine but it pretty much needed to jettison the old approach and
start afresh. The show clinging onto its old formula is what held back the
Doggett and Reyes years but these peeks into what the show could have been are
a delight. Kudos to Burt Reynolds: 9/10
Scary Monsters written by Thomas Schnauz and directed by Dwight H. Little
What’s it about: Monsters under the bed are coming alive and
killing...
Scary Monsters written by Thomas Schnauz and directed by Dwight H. Little
Closed Mind: Doggett really doesn't have anything to prove
anymore when it comes to filling Mulder's shoes and yet a sly dig from Leyla
Harrison seems to spur him on to investigate a case he never would have touched
otherwise. Doggett can sniff a rat at twenty paces and can quickly see that
there is something strange going on as soon as he meets Tommy and his guarded
father. Doggett gets on the Harrison bandwagon and start mentioning similar
cases that Mulder and Scully have come against and then abruptly shuts up,
embarrassed. Doggett s smart enough to recognise that the very thing that they
need to be aware of in this case is that nothing about it makes any sense.
Which leads to the one suspect that logic could apply to - Tommy. There is a
delightful thread running through Scary Monsters that seems to suggest that
Doggett and Reyes don't quite compare to their predecessors. It is something
that shippers might agree with but something I would contest strongly. They
bring something different to the show, that's all. And I'm pleased to say that
Schnauz agrees because this unfair contrast is leading to a conclusion that
proves as much where Doggett saves the day in a way that Mulder never could
have. Because he has absolutely no imagination whatsoever. It's both
intelligent and very funny. The very
nature of Doggett's character is built upon the fact that he doesn't believe in
the paranormal as a matter of course and he needs things to make sense in order
to buy into them. He is the only person who can combat Tommy's twisted
imagination because he is a natural born sceptic to this sort of weirdness. It
can't hurt him because he doesn't believe in it.
Brains’n’Beauty: We see Scully in the Academy teaching once
again for the first time since Daemonicus. I guess that answers my question
from Underneath, although not how she can pick and choose what cases she is
involved in. Scully learns the hard way that Leyla Harrison is quite literal
minded and when she states in jest that unless she can perform an autopsy on a
dead cat the investigation can proceed no further... When Gabe turns up on her
doorstep with the rotting feline I was laughing my head, Gillian Anderson's
reaction is a scream. Scully performing an autopsy on her kitchen table wearing
an apron that screams SOMETHING SMELLS GOOOOOOD! is laugh out loud funny,
especially when she tells Gabe off for talking so loudly and almost waking up
William. Yes, this is typical behaviour in the house of any mother I'm
sure.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'Agent's Mulder and Scully aren't in
this situation. Agent's Doggett and Reyes are. And I don't know about Agent
Reyes, but Agent Doggett is going to sit his tired ass down.'
'Anything?' 'Yeah, a salad spoon nobody's ever going to use
again.'
'This is where the magic happened' 'Still happens. I'm happy
it's in good hands.'
'Your lack of imagination saved our lives!' 'Gee thanks.'
Ugh: Kudos for the gruesome moment where the possum explodes
in Doggett's engine, spraying blood all over him and Reyes. My friend told me a
story of how she fell asleep before this episode even began and woke up briefly
at the point where Doggett was consumed by the twitching scorpion creatures and
they gave her nightmares for days. The scuttling noises are frightening enough
to give you the heebie jeebies but I especially love the way they reform into
two more of the creatures when Doggett shoots one in half. They're nasty. When I first saw this I wondered how they
would justify the disgusting moment when Doggett literally puts his fist
through a man and pulls it out covered in blood and guts. But somehow they
manage it. The creature trying to rip its way free of Reyes' stomach is properly
eye-watering. It would seem that every time Harrison appears on The X-Files she
has to lose her sight...and this time it is because there is blood weeping from
them. That kid needs to be sectioned, he has one sick imagination. I always
considered this to be one of the lighter episodes of the ninth season but this
is the longest this section has been for over a year (Hellbound excepted).
The Good: It is really lovely to welcome back Jolie Jenkins
as the perky and effervescent Leyla Harrison, one of the more successful
characters to be introduced in the shows final couple of seasons. Unlike other
reviewers I don't think it would have been a smart move to bring her in full
time because I would never want to get to the stage where her enthusiasm for
the X-Files gets wearying. Besides it means her occasional appearances are
something of a treat. She clearly has no idea about boundaries (placing a
picture of a bloody corpse on Scully's lunch) or how inappropriate it is to
mislead people into danger (tricking Doggett and Reyes into investigating an
X-File). She behaves in a wholly unsuitable way throughout, breaking all the
rules of a good investigator but sometimes you have to cut your way through all
the red tape to get to the truth. Ultimately I can see why Agent Harrison
belongs in Accounts rather than on the frontline but I cannot deny that she was
right about the nature of this case and that lives were in danger. Just not the
lives that she thought were in danger. Harrison constantly mentioning over
X-Files cases that this one reminds us of is a sly nod that sometimes this show
can be derivative (indeed the final scene of Scary Monsters is reminiscent of
DPO which is mentioned). Fortunately for Scary Monsters it is superior to any
of the episodes brought up by the X-Files groupie proving that things aren't so
bad in its twilight years. The location chosen this week (a house tucked away
in the snowy woods) is wonderfully atmospheric. Along with sun drenched heat of
Mexico in John Doe and the eerie hospital in Audrey Pauley it is my favourite
setting in the final year. Schnauz cleverly makes the audience think that
Jeffrey Conlon is trying to protect himself at his sons expense and that is the
case but the important information that is missing is that Tommy is knowingly
causing the manifestations in the first place. The way in which we discover
that is the case (using the shows post-credits phrase 'I made this...')
really made me smile. A round of applause to the effects team who make the
house inferno at the climax as visually impressive as possible. It might be
quite a glib response to the terrific premise of the week but the idea of
suppressing Tommy's imagination with a glut of television really made me laugh.
That's exactly what I would prescribe too.
The Bad: It's a shame it takes so long to reach the point
where Tommy's involvement in the murders is revealed because it is at that
point where Scary Monsters really takes off.
Pre Titles Sequence: A clever teaser in the classic X-Files
mould that gives us so much information and plays a double double bluff. A
little boy thinks that there is something scuttling around under the bed as he
tries to get to sleep in the dark. Given what is revealed later the simple line
'it's just your imagination' from his father is very cleverly used.
Since we can clearly see that his dad spots whatever it is that is scampering
about it looks as though he is deliberately trying to frighten his son, locking
him in with the nasty. That is far from the case as we would later discover.
Smart stuff and very creepy.
Moment to Watch Out For: With the of Tommy's overactive
imagination unveiled the show takes a delightfully spooky lurch into the
surreal with Doggett chasing the kid through the house and falling through a
door into an endless black void. Once he eventually lands creatures scuttle out
of the darkness towards him and smother his body completely. Who said the show
was running on empty in its final year? This is vintage X-Files. Doggett's
solution is fantastic too, dousing the house with water but making Tommy
believe it is petrol and letting his imagination do the rest.
Result: 'Scared yet?' Besides the shows most reliable
pair of hands (Vince Gilligan) and the odd gem from the shows ever
unpredictable creator, the best of the last season seems to have come from
relatively late newcomers to the show (Steven Maeda, David Amann). After a
shaky debut with Lord of the Flies (which was trying to do something new but
didn't quite reach its goal), Thomas Schnauz can join that list after producing
Scary Monsters. It's proof that what the show really needed was fresh blood and
plenty of it because untested writers/director had a new spin on the show that
was well worth watching. I would have loved to have seen a third season for
Doggett, Scully and Skinner free, full of episodes written entirely by new
talent. Given the best of season nine, it might have been wonderful. This is
another terrific standalone episode in what is turning out to be a good spread
in the shows final season with Schnauz judging the levels of comedy and horror
just about perfectly. Trapped out in the woods because of the snow fall at the
mercy of an unknown danger, Scary Monsters has a tense atmosphere unique in
season nine. The nature of the threat is revealed slowly and cleverly and when
the truth is out Doggett, Reyes and Harrison are in more danger than ever. And
yet this piece is leavened by some wonderful moments of comedy, mostly
involving Scully being dragged into this case by Leyla Harrison and her dopey boyfriend.
With the return of an engaging semi regular, emphasis on why the Doggett and
Reyes pairing is so effective and some eye wateringly nasty moments, Scary
Monsters is firing on all cylinders. Atmospheric, imaginative, frightening and
amusing, chalk up another winner for the most maligned season of The X-Files: 9/10
Jump the Shark written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Cliff Bole
What’s it about: Time for the Lone Gunmen to make a curtain
call...
Jump the Shark written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz and directed by Cliff Bole
The Three Stooges: The trouble with giving the Gunmen a
whole episode to wrap up their series with has the adverse effect of their
final appearance (a ridiculous cameo in the finale aside) having a whiff of
failure about it. It is also the first of two back to back episodes that sees
the producers attempting to wrap up elements of the series in a wholly negative
way, gifting the audience with a slap in the face. What should have been a
piece that celebrated these characters and saw them embarking on their next
adventure (a bit like School Reunion did in Doctor Who with Sarah Jane), Jump
the Shark decides that the world would be much better off without the Lone
Gunmen and brings in the remaining characters from their failed TV series to
watch them be executed. There is a fatalistic tone to the whole piece, like
putting a dog down that hasn't lived up to scratch which rubs uncomfortably
against the sunny locales and lowbrow comedy. I couldn't help but agree with
Fletcher when he told Langley to cut his hair and grow up, he always had had an
air of a sulky teen about him. He thinks he is some kind of romantic hero in
the Joey Ramone mould but I can't see it. Perhaps if the performance had been a
little more sympathetic it might have worked out that way. Even the notion that
the Gunmen have lost all their money and are too broke to publish lacks the
poignancy that it should. Rather than feeling sorry for these guys I just
thought they came across as rather pathetically clinging onto a life that they
could no longer afford. Putting them down feels like a kind act. Looking back
on their time of The X-Files I think there was a time when these characters did
provide something unique but as supporting characters and they should have
remained that way. Clinging on to once popular characters past their prime is
not a sin that only The X-Files is guilty of. It is another symptom of what
went wrong in the final season. Instead of wasting an hour of characters that
are no longer relevant they should have handed another story to those that are
(Doggett and Reyes).
Closed Mind: One thing that really shone through in Jump the
Shark is that both Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish are much more comfortable
waltzing through a less than serious episode that doesn't really concern them
than they were in Lord of the Flies. Given this was the first episode to be
filmed from scratch since the shows cancellation was leaked to them there is a
real feeling of having nothing to lose anymore. Although you have to ask what
the point of them being involved is when they are unceremoniously dropped from
the action halfway through to give the cast of The Lone Gunmen the lead in the
climax. Given their half hearted appearance it makes the episode an
uncomfortable hybrid of what the X-Files is trying to be and what it never was.
Brains’n’Beauty: It is only the scene at Arlington that has
any kind of resonance to it and that is because Scully has history with the
Gunmen. It is for that reason alone that Jump the Shark doesn't score lower.
Trust No-1: Mulder never bothered to attend the Gunmen's
funeral? I know his appearance here would have screwed up the surprise at the
heart of the next episode but somehow his absence just doesn't ring true after
all they have been through together.
The Good: I can't say I was overwhelmed by Fletcher's master
plan but I certainly didn't figure that his fall from grace was planned as
intricately as it was.
The Bad: I honestly do not know what to make of the first
scene featuring Morris Fletcher and his torched speedboat. On the way hand is a
very nicely executed and the location is stunning. However it feels as if the
show has given up taken itself seriously and has tipped over the edge into a
parody of itself. The performances are heightened, the dialogue is inane and
the tone is one of a show that has all but given up trying to convince you it
is a serious drama. This is what the foolish tone that infected much of season
seven and it is a shame to see it creep back in just as the series is about to
scarper. Let's hope it is a one episode aberration. I'm not sure why
highlighting the Lone Gunmen automatically leads to farce. Can't they be
treated as serious characters? When Fletcher states that he was a 'Man in
Black' it was impossible to take anything he said seriously. Jimmy's reunion
with the Gunmen should be a triumphant moment but instead falls lifeless at
their feet, as if commenting on the tone of the episode. Stephen Snedden is
quite easy on the eye but he is the most emotive of performers and looks quite
uncomfortable stepping back into the role for a send off. Just when you think
things can't get any worse...that loathsome piece of slime Kimmy turns up.
Given that their parting is supposed to have some significance and he has been
searching for her endlessly you might think there would be some chemistry
between Jimmy and Yves but I couldn't detect anything but mild disdain.
Seriously, why are we supposed to care for these guys? I couldn't sense a pulse
in any of them.
Pre Titles Sequence: The teaser might just be the best thing
about this episode. It is edited together so snappily that you might just be
convinced that the Lone Gunmen were a genius creation and that their TV series
was a smash hit. Yeah, it's that flashy. It helps to get the audience up
to speed with what the Lone Gunmen have been up to since they acquired their
own show and explains who Jimmy and Yves are before they turn up in a show they
had nothing to do with. Yeah, I enjoyed the pre-titles sequence a lot. I wish
the episode at large had this kind of energy to it. I might have gone the whole
hog and stuck the Lone Gunmen credits on this too, just to screw the nail in
that Carter had managed to sneak one final episode of the series past Ten
Thirteen.
Moment to Watch Out For: The anti-climax. The death of The
Lone Gunmen doesn't spring from performing a courageous act of self sacrifice
(which I think is what the writers were looking to achieve) but instead feels
like they are putting themselves out of their misery. There is no heroic
flourish, no witty riposte, just three desperately uncharismatic men deciding
to give up. No tension, no emotion, no interest. Unbelievable. I can think of
several ways they could have extracted themselves from this situation if they
were as smart as we were always led to believe..
Result: What is it about The X-Files having to pick up the
slack and provide a finish to the rest of Carter's failed TV experiments. Would
we have had an episode of Harsh Realm inserted somewhere had his success story
continued for another few years? To be fair the Gunmen began their career as a
part of this show and they have stuck around long enough to deserve some kind
of a send off. Reports suggest that the studio hated the characters after their
aborted TV series and it was a real fight to convince them to make this piece.
What Gilligan, Shiban and Spotnitz needed to do was convince them (and us) that
it was a mistake to cancel the show and wow us with the possibility of what
might have been. Instead it feels like we are witnessing the slow demise of
three men who have already been sentenced to death. The stench of failure
clings to Jump the Shark in that respect. Given the three writers credited to
this episode (the title is a not-so sly dig at the state of The X-Files too)
you might have thought that this would be a fitting conclusion to the Gunmen's
exploits but for once it results in an episode that can't decide if it is an
X-File, the final episode of The Lone Gunmen or just a piece of random fluff.
The result is something that is oddly unmemorable and dull. A bit like TLG if
I'm honest. The plot involving poisonous organs that are being used as terror
weapons is complete nonsense and never gets going, lost in the dreary reunion
between The Lone Gunmen regulars. Instead of going out in a blaze of glory, the
Gunmen barely seem to avoid stifling a yawn as they save the world and lose
their lives. Remember the season nine rule: if the show is focussing on Doggett
and Reyes it usually leads to something rather special but if it is trading on
elements of X-Files past, it flatlines. And this last hurrah for The Lone
Gunmen is terminal: 3/10
William written by Chris Carter and directed by David Duchovny
What’s it about: Who is this mysterious man worming his way
into Scully's life?
The Good: How can you ever forget Jared Poe's performance in
Release? My eyes were drawn to him instantly and whenever he is on screen no
other actor, not even the likes of Anderson and Patrick, had a chance. Mims is
such a compelling character from the off, a man who is far too involved in the
machination of killers to be healthy, seemingly lost in the details of the
crime. He is far and away the brightest of Scully's students but also the most
remote and socially awkward. It is as though he lives and breathes criminal
activity, which turns out to be the case when we visit him at home only to
confronted with his macabre wall of murder victims. Poe plays the character as
though he is mildly autistic, unaware that he overstepping boundaries or
behaving in a bizarre way. If the idea was to create a Sherlock Holmes style
character then Shiban, Amann and Poe have succeeded in creating a compelling
detector of minute detail in crimes but any similarity between the two
characters is superficial. Mims is uniquely awkward and bizarre, a powerful
character in his own right. The first shots of his wall of nasties really sells
the freakish obsession that Mims has with murder and those that commit it. Sal
Landi deserves a great deal of credit for refusing to sensationalise his
character of Regali in the way a great many actors who are asked to play
killers do (as compelling as he might have been, there is something deliriously
heightened about James Remar's performance in Daemonicus). He's a most
uncharismatic man, boring almost. And that's what makes him so credible and so
terrifying. You could imagine this man slipping into any crowd and sniffing out
his next victim.
William written by Chris Carter and directed by David Duchovny
Closed Mind: So that's how Doggett manages to stay in tip
top shape? He reads his reports whilst doing push ups, exaggerating his numbers
to make him feel better. Doesn't stop him having his head kicked in when
Spender comes knocking though. Doggett trust the DNA report, living up to his
reputation of believing in proof over speculation. The rage that Doggett
unleashes on Spender after he has injected William is quite terrifying. I would
not want to get on the wrong side of this man.
Oddball: There are some lovely moments between Scully, Reyes
and Doggett in her apartment as they try and unravel the mystery of the
disfigured man. It made me realise just how close these three have become in
such a short space of time. In another world they would have made a great
X-Files team without all this obsession over Mulder.
Brains’n’Beauty: Scully scoffs at the very idea that the
disfigured man could be her lover and the mother of her child. The one thing
she should have pointed out was that this man is several inches shorter than
Mulder. As she examines him she tries to get as close as she can, to really
look into his eyes and see if she can see the man that she loves behind them.
Whilst she is never entirely convinced that this is Mulder, ultimately Scully
is quite seduced by the mystery of who he is and why he has tried to gain
access to the X-Files office. It is when it is clear that her child is in
danger that she turns dangerous again, that primal rage that we saw earlier in
the season returning to protect her son. There's a terrific scene where Scully
is put in her place in the hospital, being told that as a medical Doctor she
should stand back and let them get on with their work. The line that Scully is
given when she confronts Spender after his attack on William might be overwritten
(from Carter, really?) but Anderson delivers it with real passion.
Trust No-1: I knew immediately that the disfigured man
wasn't Mulder because for all his animosity towards Doggett in the previous
season he would never treat him as violently as this.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'You know a person in so many ways. Ways
that a test can't even begin to know.'
'You are as false as your face.'
Ugh: The make up job on Chris Owens is exemplary, both
subtle and quite grotesque. It looks how it should, as though he has been the
victim of obscene experiments. The glimpses into the torture that he has been
put through goes some way to expressing the horror of all of the victims of
this alien conspiracy. It is a shame that the men who were compliant in this
torment are never brought to justice.
The Good: If the final series is going to obsess over Mulder
then at least William does something interesting with theme instead of leading
us up the garden path with false hope (Trust No 1) or building a story around
the fear for his life knowing full well that he is perfectly safe (Provenance).
William suggests that the man that walked into the X-Files office with brutal
disfigurement is Agent Mulder and the first half of the story delves
intimately into the heart of that mystery. Chris Owens gives a remarkable
performance as the scarred Agent Spender, never once claiming that he is Mulder
but carrying himself with a certain dignity that he could be. The moment where
my disbelief was suspended was when the disfigured man holds William and tear
falls down the babies face. Who else could get this emotional about the baby
except for Mulder? I started thinking for a moment that this might be the best
thing that the producers could do if they aren't willing to let the character go.
Maybe recasting him and disfiguring the character is the only way they can
effectively bring him back without Duchovny's involvement. It's not the
craziest notion this show has put on the table be a long chalk. The revelation
that Spender is Mulder's half brother makes perfect sense given what we have
been told so far (Two Fathers/One Son spelt it out pretty clearly) and means
that the evidence provided (Mulder's DNA) isn't a cheat. I never saw Spender's
corpse after his father shot him either, I just assumed that he was dead (given
the Smoking Man's miraculous resurrection in the finale I am starting to
believe that nobody on this show actually dies). It's great to catch up with
the character and for his identity to be successfully held back for so long.
This is one mystery with a satisfactory conclusion when all odds suggested that
it would play out otherwise.
The Bad: She just wouldn't. As well as Anderson plays
it, as sincere as the writing is, as beautiful as Duchovny's direction is...I
am simply unconvinced that Scully would give up William. It's not the ending I
wanted for the baby. Besides Spender admitted that they will never stop looking
for him. Surely he is better protected by his own mother, a trained FBI Agent
than a farm couple living out in the sticks? Come on...didn't you want the baby
mobile to spin at the conclusion jut for old times sakes?
Pre Titles Sequence: I was hoping and praying that the whole
time the teaser played out that the baby that this loving family were so
eagerly waiting for wouldn't turn out to be William. I guess the title rather
spoilt that for me. When I first watched this I was hoping that there would be
some kind of dramatic turn around at the climax and that William would be back
in his mothers arms again Surely we didn't go through the pregnancy plotline in
season eight and the miracle child plotline in series nine just to jettison the
kid at the last minute? In it's favour this pre credits sequence is beautifully
filmed and scored.
Moment to Watch Out For: I don't think I have held my breath
longer than the moment where the scarred man brandishes a syringe and sticks it
into William. I really thought for a moment that the writers were going to go
through with killing the child. It is one of tensest moments of the final year.
Orchestra: If there is one good thing about the climax it is
the choice of music played as Scully gives William up for adoption. Don't get
me wrong this is undoubtedly a moving scene and beautifully realised. I just
don't like it.
Mythology: 'Having failed as a conspirator to control alien
colonisation my father wanted nothing more than to see the world fail too' 'So
what you've prevented it now? You've prevented alien colonisation by injecting
this metal into my son?' 'Your son is the one thing that the aliens need. I
took revenge on my father by taking William away from them' 'So he's alright
now? Just like that?'
Foreboding: I wish there was some way to get William back in
Scully and Mulder's arms in The Truth. I like to think that eventually they
would go looking for him.
Result: The ending of William is a crying shame because it
ruins what could have been a top notch mythology episode in season nine. Try
hard as I might (and the creators have gone to some lengths to put William in
danger) I cannot believe for one moment that Scully would give up her child for
whatever reason, not after the struggle that she went through to conceive him.
David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and John Shiban all hated the ending too.
Given their lack of success in so many other areas in season nine it is really
starting to feel as though Carter and Spotnitz have really gone off the boil
this year. Perhaps they should have handed over the reins to somebody else to
see how the show fared in different creative hands. If they were going for a
poignant close then they have succeeded but it is equally frustrating and
unnecessary. With the Gunmen dead and now William adopted off is nobody going
to get a happy ending on The X-Files? As I said it is a shame to kick off this
summary on such a negative note because there are some major pluses in William.
David Duchovny's direction is second to none and he captures every frame of
this mystery tale with real sensitivity and imagination. Chris Owens gives a
terrific performance, for a moment actually convincing me that he is Mulder and
turning out to be even more sympathetic when the truth comes out. The make up,
as ever on this show, is exceptional. There's plenty of gorgeous moments for
Doggett and Reyes too whilst Scully takes centre stage and Gillian Anderson
reminds us why it has been a joy to watch her emote her way through nine
seasons of this show. It's a slow story but the character work is terrific, a
superb antidote to Trust No 1 earlier in the season. Had Scully decided to hide
away with William somewhere and abandon her life I would have given this tale
much higher marks. I agree that he does need protecting but dumping him in
somebody's else's lap is not the way to go about it. There's nothing to say
that he wouldn't be discovered there just as easily. A fine character tale that
deals with Mulder's absence better than anywhere else in season nine, with a
detestable climax: 7/10 (I knocked two points off for the ending)
Release written by David Amann and directed by Kim Manners
What’s it about: Is Doggett about to learn the truth about
his sons murder?
Release written by David Amann and directed by Kim Manners
Closed Mind: 'In his mind he can never do enough, suffer
enough for what happened...' The sudden connection between this murder case
and that of Doggett's son is so unexpected it made me sit up and gasp. There
isn't a hint of a relationship between the two until we see both pinned to
Mims' wall. There is am astonishing
silent scene where Doggett pulls his sons ashes from his closet and sits
them down in front of him in the dead of night, reminding the audience that he
hasn't been able to put his murder to rest and move on with his life. I really
admire the amount of emotion that Patrick is willing to display at Doggett's
weaker points in this episode, he manages to make the man vulnerable without
ever losing that tough veneer that serves him so well. Watch as Doggett
recounts the murder of his son, tears welling in his eyes, to Mims but refusing
to look away. The show has never obsessed over the murder of Luke Doggett in
the same way that it did with the disappearance of Samantha Mulder and as such
it has been a skilful and emotive back story to return to. It was first
introduced in Invocation near the start of season nine and with the advent of
Monica Reyes' introduction in This Is Not Happening we learn that is how they
first met. We were then afforded brooding flashbacks to the discovery of the
body later in the season and a rare glimpse into how the loss still haunts
Doggett before dexterously re-introducing the storyline in John Doe in season
nine by having that character lose his memory and therefore go through the
shock of discovery all over again. It has been very adroitly handled, and you
can hardly say that about many of the running character storylines in The
X-Files (look at Scully's cancer which was inexplicably cured when the writers
got bored with it). With the show coming to a close it is time to give Doggett
and this delicately written storyline some closure. Doggett's affiliation with
The X-Files could even be seen as a last ditch effort to try and find some kind
of explanation for what happened to Luke, although he has already admitted that
if there is a paranormal rationalization he wouldn't be able to live with
himself because he didn't explore every avenue post mortem. For him to turn to
Mims isn't a leap of faith but another potential avenue to explore, to finally
find some answers however difficult they might be. Scenes between Doggett and
his ex-wife are very affecting because you can see that Barbara is trying to
move on with her life whilst Doggett is like a fly trapped in amber. Turning up
with new wild theories unexpectedly opens up the wounds that Barbara is trying
to heal. There's a palpable chemistry between these two characters and there should
be, Barbara is played by the real-life wife of Robert Patrick. Doggett has a
made to measure suspect in Mims and yet with his time with him something about
him being revealed as the killer of his son doesn't sit right and he still goes
after Regali. The finale scene is a very cathartic moment for the character,
releasing his sons ashes, walking away from his wife and embracing Monica.
Finally life can move on for John Doggett.
Oddball: Like John Doe and Hellbound, Reyes shows a
surprising amount of steel when she is forced to confront those who play loose
with the law. He quiet confrontation with Regali is loaded with tension and she
lets him know in no uncertain terms that she knows what he is capable of and
that she is going to stop him. And you believe her. Just as the show
used to do with Mulder and Scully every now and again to keep things
interesting, they reverse the roles of Doggett and Reyes in Release so that he
is the believer and she is the sceptic. Doggett desperately wants to believe that
there is a link between this case and Luke's but Reyes has bluntly point out
that the connections are tenuous at best. Even Doggett's wife admits that he
and Monica could have something together but he wont let her in because he is
scared to commit to any relationship that might hurt him. We saw a little of
that in Audrey Pauley where he is clearly in love with her but when it comes to
the moment to reach in and kiss her he still resists. It's fascinating to learn
why Monica broke off her relationship with Follmer in New York, because she saw
him being paid off by mobsters to keep his mouth shut. She cared about him and
didn't want to sabotage his career but she didn't want to be associated with a
man as unscrupulous as he had turned out to be.
Smarmy AD: Follmer has to be considered something of a
failed experiment despite some attempt to make him a different kind of
Assistant Director than we have seen previously. His previous relationship with
Reyes gives him an edge and Cary Elwes is a charismatic enough performer to
give the man a smarmy edge that makes you want to punch him every time he is on
screen. He has all the qualities to make him a genuinely compelling character
but he needs something to do for that to come to fruition and Carter and Spotnitz
(responsible for the mostly dreary mythology episodes this of which Follmer
barely features outside of) tie him to his office for the most part, and force
him into the same ambiguous model as all the others. Sometimes helping the
cause but mostly seeming to fight against it. A shame because it might have
been nice to have had a character who was actively working against the X-Files
for a change, someone who we could truly hiss at. Frankly he's been a little
too quiet and ineffective for his own good. So it is nice that in his final
appearance in the show that the writers (not Carter or Spotnitz tellingly) find
something genuinely interesting to say about the man and put a light up to his
less than dignified past. He made the unfortunate decision to accept a silence
money from Doggett's sons killer back in their New York days, a decision that
clearly has him breaking out into a cold sweat when Doggett starts asking
questions about the case again. The trouble with Follmer he is ultimately a
good man who want Doggett to learn the truth about Luke but he knows that in
doing so his part in the hush up will come to light. What a nightmarish
situation to be in. The moment when Reyes steps into his office to accuse him
of accepting hush money, Doggett is standing over his shoulder like a hunting
dog waiting to be let of the leash. Ultimately Follmer makes the right choice,
shooting Regali and saving Doggett the indignity of having to do so and flush
his career down the toilet to avenge his sons death.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'Kind of annoying, isn't he?'
'What do you do with them?' 'I sit with them. For a long
time. They tell me things.'
'Cadet, you should know there's a real good chance you're
nuts.'
'Would you have listened to me otherwise? A mental patient
with insight into your sons death?'
Ugh: Blood dripping from a wall, maggot ridden body parts,
crime photos as a piece of art.
Pre Titles Sequence: Immediately this episode feels like a
great deal of effort has gone into making it as much of an event as possible
without pushing too hard. The music and cinematography of the teaser are both
stylish and the conceit of Doggett scratching away at the plaster board only
for the wall to start bleeding is a memorable visual. There's no real
indication of what this is going to be about, only that it is going to be
rather special.
Moment to Watch Out For: The slow motion arrest of Mims and
Doggett's reaction to the blank wall where the crime photos once were is very
powerful. But even more so is very quiet, underplayed scene in the bar where to
the truth about Luke is spilled. As I approached the end of this episode I desperately
wanted Doggett to get the answers that he had been searching for. After being
through so much and still being such a dignified and thoroughly likable man he
deserved to know the truth so he can move on with his life. The truth isn't
glamorous and only satisfaction comes from finally knowing what happened. Bob
Harvey has a thing for little boys and spots Luke riding his bike around the
block. He takes a chance and smuggles the boy back home. There he spots another
criminal and in doing so signs his death warrant. The fact that his murder
might have spared him unspeakable cruelty at Harvey's hands, that is might be
the preferable option, is quite repulsive. The X-Files has always had one foot
firmly in reality and for one episode it plants the over squarely in it as
well. This is unpleasantly plausible and in no way sensationalised. It's
actually quite horrible in its simplicity compared to alien clones and walk-in
spirits. A little boy murdered for seeing something that he shouldn't. Patrick
is sublime in this scene, showing remarkable restraint where I thought Doggett
would be pummelling this man to death.
Orchestra: Mark Snow's emotive score for Release is one of
the aspects that really stands out. I think his work on season nine is
generally very good (especially in shows like John Doe, Audrey Pauley and
Improbable) but the haunting piano motifs that play throughout this episode are
something very special. It reminds you that at his best, Snow's music really
cannot be beaten.
Result: Kim Manners has brought to life countless X-Files
episodes up to this point and has become far and away the most prolific
director on the show. He's a reliable pair of hands, a man who understands how
to push the boundaries of television visually and can always be counted on to
bring something interesting to the screen. His work on Release might be his
finest direction on the show; each shot expertly crafted, the lighting
atmospherically judged, the camera moving in skilful and unexpected ways and
the actors always given his attention. It isn't just polished, this is a
exquisitely crafted piece of drama that is a pleasure to watch unfold. When you
start adding in other elements such as Mark Snow's delicate and emotional
music, Robert Patrick's standout performance on the show, a script that starts
of as a standard murder case but blossoms into something with tragic
consequences for Doggett and the unflinching dialogue and characterisation you
are looking at an episode which stands tall in the top ten listing of the shows
all time greats. What really pushes this to new heights is the creation of
Mims, Scully's savant student who obsesses of murder and can make outstanding
deductions based on his intimate understanding of the crimes. Jared Poe gives a
compelling turn and the script is constantly finding new ways to look at the
character from genius to failed FBI Agent to probable killer to obsessed
victim. He is as enthralling as he is sinister. Release is such a cut above the
episodes that surround it because it is one of the few instalments of the final
run that isn't obsessed with Mulder and doesn't make ill judged decisions with
regards to wrapping up its storyline (like both Jump the Shark and William
did). It gives Doggett the closure he needed from his sons death in a very
moving fashion and allows him to move on with his life, his work on the X-Files
and potentially a relationship with Reyes. It is a deeply satisfying drama in
that respect. It is astonishing how the season nine rule works, as soon as the
focus is on Doggett and Reyes again it is delivering powerhouse work. The
trinity of 4-D, John Doe, Audrey Pauley and Release are enough to justify the
seasons existence alone but I cannot help but wish that there could have been
even more in this vein and less of an obsession with a stagnant character that
isn't even around anymore. Those people that think the show never captured the
glory of the first four seasons in its final year need to watch Release, it is
one of the finest dramas that The X-Files ever put out: 10/10
Sunshine Days written and directed by Vince Gilligan
What’s it about: There's a man out there living in a
recreated version of The Brady Bunch house...
Sunshine Days written and directed by Vince Gilligan
Closed Mind: 'I've got to tell you I think I'm finally
getting the hang of this job...' There is a huge shift in Sunshine Days
that suddenly sees Agents Doggett and Reyes thoroughly enjoying their time
together investigating the X-Files. Whether it was Doggett's powerful epiphany
in the previous episode or simply something as mundane as the pair of them
adjusting to working together over time I don't know, but there is a palpable
sense of joy from both characters. I like to think that it is Patrick and Gish
seizing one last opportunity to have some fun with this show. Gilligan shows
you how things could have been all season and how things could have been and
had the writing been as effervescent and giddily joyful as this (instead of
those interminable Mulder-focussed mythology episodes that kept breaking up the
party) we might be looking at another Doggett and Reyes season commissioned.
Gilligan figures a great for Doggett to be able to make some awesome leaps that
show that his time on The X-Files has changed his method of investigation but
staying entirely in character - the A to B to C approach. Following a very
logical train of thought from a series of events to an apparently inexplicable
crime. Doggett is sensible enough to know that Anthony has a very weak grasp on
reality and that his powers could be dangerous if he was put under any stress.
Catching a tiger by the tail. Isn't it gorgeous that it is Doggett who figures
out why Oliver is so obsessed with The Brady Bunch? One of the last
deductive leaps that we see this tough as nails ex cop make is that a lonely
man is desperately seeking the same feelings of comfort that he used to have
when watching an old TV show with his Doctor. It's judged just right and I was
smiling inside.
Brains’n’Beauty: Even Gillian Anderson is allowed to have
fun this week, breaking Scully's mostly depressing streak of dour
interpretations throughout season nine. It is astonishing how engaging this
trio can be when the pretence of something earth shattering occurring to them
is dropped and they are simply allowed to embrace and enjoy their work.
Scully's embarrassed confession that she is a bit of a Brady Bunch
fanatic is a scream. Now we know how she whiles away those long, lonely nights.
Scully's final admission that she might not have proof of the paranormal but of
more important things would have been a marvellous way to leave her character.
It is a beautiful sentiment.
Assistant Director: Skinner's delight at having some
incontrovertible proof to hand to Kersh is palpable. Once he has his feet back
on the ground again.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'Who'd have thought this could happen at
The Brady Bunch house?'
'I want vindication. For Mulder...and for all of us.'
'I think you are getting the hang of this job.'
The Good: Vince Gilligan has hardly ever been the sort of
writer to conform to a particular style of tone and the two episodes he penned
in season nine prove that perfectly. Where John Doe was raw, brutal and deadly
serious, Sunshine Days opts for quirky, bright and sweet. The early scenes of
this instalment are key to the much more important latter half of the piece,
setting up the insane premise of a man who c can create anything with the power
of his mind. The Brady Bunch obsession is a smart way of revealing this,
a show that pretty anybody in the audience has heard of an one that is such a
world away from that of the X-Files it leaves you scratching your heads
wondering how the two can successfully come together. The stunts of characters
flying through the air and bursting through the roof are effortlessly handled
and the image of Mike squished into the turf always makes me giggle. Gilligan
seems to have access to a light and fluffy side of the X-Files without having
to push he show into extreme areas of comedy like Improbable. This is just
close enough to a 'serious' episode to pass muster and yet has an elegant
humour all of its own. You have a pair of wonderful performances from Michael
Emerson John Aylward as Oliver Martin and John Rietz, just gentle enough to
make your heart melt but never too cute to make you want to vomit. It's
especially nice to see a warmer side to Rietz who I had recently seen play the
epitome of an evil son of a bitch in Stargate SG-1. We can all buy into
the idea of a lonely little boy that wants to belong and the smile that crosses
Anthony's face when he gets to be a part of the warmest family of all is just
lovely. Scully is absolutely right when she states that they are due for some
incontrovertible proof of the paranormal after so many cases that have wielded
none. The episode shifts in tone suddenly and it becomes far more personal for
Scully, Doggett and Reyes. It is a chance to tell the world that the work they
have been doing is valid. It is Scully's amazed reaction to the living room
transforming into a sunny hillock overlooking the sea that gave me goosebumps.
It is nice to see that there are still things that can surprise her and it
genuinely feels as though she is going to get the proof she has sought for nine
long seasons. Skinner flying through the air being shown through the reactions
of everybody in his office is one of the best pieces of comedy on this show in
years. I really like at this stage when the show has been cancelled that
Gilligan is stating that with this kind of proof that the X-Files could go on
forever. It is a nice thought. The ending is both bittersweet (Scully will have
to keep searching for her evidence because exploiting Anthony will kill him)
and like enjoying a warm embrace (Anthony and Reitz heading off together, like
father and son). It should be so syrupy that you want to throw up but Gilligan
handles the material delicately and the concluding five minutes are some of the
loveliest in the shows run. Not bad for its last gasp of standaloneness.
Pre Titles Sequence: Really weird...but the good kind of
weird that makes you sit up and wonder how on Earth the writer is going to
explain all this. The recreation of The Brady Bunch house is extraordinary and
it is terrific how sinister it can be made to look when the lights come down
and it is shot like movie. In some peoples minds this is not what The X-Files
should be covering in its penultimate episode but that is what I have always
loved about this show...you never quite know what is coming next. I especially
love the parallel between Mike throwing his empty can onto the road and being
tossed out of the house in a similar fashion. Take this as a precautionary tale
not to drop litter, folks.
Moment to Watch Out For: 'He wanted me out of his house
and the way I went it was as involuntary as a sneeze!' The joy of watching
poor John Doggett defying gravity and being sent through the roof. He is always
saying that he wants proof of the paranormal rather than wild theories and
waking up on the ceiling and walking upside down along the beams fits the bill
beautifully. Strong effects help to sell this magical moment (the vertiginous
shot looking down at the room as Doggett tries to uneasily walk across it is excellent)
but it is Doggett having his eyes opened that makes it count.
Result: Would you look at that - the barest mention of
Mulder, an investigation that gives Doggett and Reyes some really fun stuff to
do, no mythology in sight...and it works a charm. I'm not saying that as a
template the show should be honouring old American sitcoms week in/week out but
Gilligan has tapped into something warm and engaging here, the sort of
effortlessly enjoyable piece that would should have seen far more of in the
final season. Some of you might think that the show was crazy to waste one of
its precious few hours left to something as throwaway as this but I would counter
that with an argument that Sunshine Days exhibits more of what made The X-Files
special than Jump the Shark, William and The Truth. It's creative and
thoughtful, well characterised and full of memorable set pieces. It has
something important to say about the show as well in Scully's search for
vindication of her work. Impressively it manages to give Doggett and Reyes far
more closure than the next episode does with Mulder and Scully, the former
starting to lighten up and enjoy his work on The X-Files and the latter taking
his hand at the climax and suggesting a close future together. They never
really had a chance to blossom as they should have but all the strongest
moments of the season are theirs and without them it would have been a much
sorrier place. At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum I would have loved to
have seen a Doggett and Reyes led tenth season made entirely of standalone
episodes written by new writers. I bet it would have rocked. Patrick and Gish
are having a ball here, their last chance to own an X-File. In all honesty I
would have happily have left the show on this positive note (both in terms of
the episode and the charming final scene) but alas it was not meant to be. Like
Anthony himself, Sunshine Days is misunderstood, sweet and rather special: 8/10
The Truth written by Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners
What’s it about: The shadow government are finally trying to
bring Mulder down for good...
The Truth written by Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners
Trust No-1: I wont lie there was a temporary moment of joy
when I first spotted Mulder because he has been away from the series for long
enough now for it to be considered a treat to see him again. It's not long
before Carter is torturing David Duchovny again for abandoning the show that
made him famous, locking him in a barren cell and having him beaten at regular
intervals. When Mulder talks about his son it genuinely took me aback. He's in
for a shock if Scully hasn't already informed him of the adoption. Mulder is a crusader and a lot of people do
not like the crusade and he's playing a game with those who want to incriminate
him. Duchovny seems quite uncomfortable with the mushy material, awkwardly
saying the lines that Carter has given him but not putting any real meaning
into them (compared to Anderson who is acting her heart out). It turns out
Mulder has been hanging out with Gibson Praise in the desert for the past year.
I bet that was thrill a minute. Fox could have leapt on that for their next
sitcom: A Prodigy and a Rebel in Mexico. Having Mulder sit in a motel
room and declare that he has failed in pretty much every respect is a really
downbeat way to end the series. Given his crusade has cost him so much it would
have been nice to have seen him exit with something to show for all of his
efforts. Instead he is a wanted fugitive, a man with a suspended death sentence
and he has lost everything (including his son) because of his pursuit of the
truth. The ultimate question is was it worth it? The definitive answer is no.
God I'm depressed.
Brains’n’Beauty: The reunion between Mulder and Scully is
oddly muted, thanks to the fact that he has been beaten into admitting his a
criminal and he keeps calling her 'Dana.' That just feels wrong. All of
this kissing that goes on between them now also doesn't ring true (especially
with Skinner watching in the background). Gillian Anderson is doing her best to
sell the doting lover material but I miss that cold steel that she was wielding
last season. She's so drippy whenever the subject of Mulder comes up and that's
all she is concerned with in The Truth. She was afraid that he would never
forgive her for giving up their son but he understands that it was for his own
safety. I hate to say it but Scully does sound like she has completely fallen
under Mulder's spell in he courtroom. She is publicly stating exactly the same
sort of science fiction nonsense that she used to criticize Mulder for
expressing. When the prosecution consul points out that Mulder and Scully have
fallen in love and had a baby I couldn't help but agree that it appears that
she has been bewitched by him and his lifestyle. And that is coming from
somebody who has been on this journey with them and knows it to be the truth.
Not giving up is what Scully saw in him when they first met. It's what made her
follow him and why she would do it all over again.
Closed Mind & Oddball: It is a tough one to judge who
should get the lions share of the finale considering this is not just the end
of season nine but the end of the entire show. Doggett and Reyes have been
instrumental in ensuring the longevity of the show beyond Mulder's absence but
at the same time an X-Files finale was always going to favour Mulder and Carter
would seize the opportunity if he could. It means that the Doggett and Reyes
finale is really Sunshine Days (a much superior episode ironically) and they
are shunted into The Truth awkwardly and shunted out of it at the climax just
as uncomfortably. It feels like with Mulder and Scully back at the reins, their
substitutes are no longer necessary. It's symptomatic of why the show was never
going to succeed with Doggett and Reyes at the helm when the creator is still
obsessing over his tired and departed former lead. As characters they worked a
charm, and Patrick and Gish make a winning pair, but the series needed to get over
Mulder and Scully in order to forge a new path and that was never going to
happen with Carter in charge. He's too obsessed with maintaining the status
quo, hoping to re-capture glories path rather than forging new glories ahead.
They are treated to two scenes in the first half of The Truth, about 4 minutes
of screen time. Whenever the story cuts back to them my interest perked up
immediately, anything fresh with Doggett and Reyes is more exciting the raking
up plot details from the past with Mulder and Scully. The way Doggett looks at
it calling something paranormal is a way of avoiding a real explanation. It is
that same scepticism that the prosecution consul uses to debunk the theory of
an alien invasion that Mulder's defence rests on, knowing that Doggett would
never believe in such a wild story. Because their departure from the series is
so throwaway I like to make up my own ending. That Doggett and Reyes are still
working on The X-Files unencumbered by Mulder and Scully and their hideously
complicated back story. At least that would have been my dream scenario had the
show secured a tenth season.
Assistant Director: The entire basis of Skinner's defence
seems to be to prove the existence of a government conspiracy to prove that
Mulder's actions were excusable. What will he pull out of his hat for his next
case? The existence of the Loch Ness Monster to explain why oil prices need to
rocket in Scotland? Walter Skinner, Attorney: Paranormal Defence. I have
to give Mitch Pileggi his due, he jumps into the role of defence lawyer with
some gusto. He's the only performer in this whole sorry affair that is really
giving his all.
Sinister AD: I don't think Carter has ever really had much
of a handle on Kersh. This was a chance for him to step out of the shadows and
pledge his allegiance to Mulder and the X-Files but instead he remains very
much on the fence, as usual. Had Carter not made up his mind what side that
Kersh is on? Publicly he seems to be ready to tear the department down but
quiet moments in certain episodes have proven that he is also a friend to the
X-Files, working in the shadows to protect them. He spends the entirety of the
courtroom farrago condemning Mulder but when it comes to executing the man he
aids in his escape. Like most of Carter's authority figures, it isn't a case of
bring morally ambiguous but doing whatever the plot requires of you.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'A bullet between the eyes would have
been preferable to this charade!' - you have to be damn sure you are producing
something decent before daring to have a character utter a line this damning.
Dreadful Dialogue: 'What is the point of all of this? To
destroy a man who seeks the truth or to destroy the truth so that no man can
seek it?' - Poor Annabeth Gish, given scant screen time and forced to chow down
on tongue twisters like this. A shame as she's wonderfully passionate when
delivering this line.
The Good: A spark of interest ignited when we returned to
Washington with Doggett and Reyes and the X-Files office had been packed up. I
was far more concerned with what was going to happen to them than following
Mulder and Scully on the run. I cannot fault the direction or effects work of
the helicopters decimating the Anasazi ruins with missiles. If there is one
thin you can always count on with this show it is the blockbuster action
sequences. I did appreciate the scene in he motel room lashed with rain. It is
a nostalgic reminder of the pilot episode. I wish the rest of the episode had
been this subtle.
The Bad:
* Hold up...we wait
an entire 90 minutes to discover something that Mulder reads off a screen in
the pre-credits sequence?
* Carter really
wants to have his cake and eat it, doesn't he? In dramatic terms killing off
your characters (like Krychek and The Lone Gunmen) and having them return for
an unearthly appearance in the finale is like giving your audience a slap
around the face with a wet herring. It makes no logical sense, only serves to
prove early on how indulgent this whole thing is going to be. How does Krychek
open doors? How does Mr X hand Mulder an address? Aren't they supposed to be
dead? Is the suggestion that they have faked their own deaths and smuggled into
this facility to help him out? Or is it divine intervention? The scene of the
Lone Gunmen watching Mulder having a piss defies description.
* You can't just
dump something like Mount Weather on an audience and expect the audience not to
ask questions. It is apparently the underground facility where the shadow
government is hatching its plans from. Since when? In nine years we have never
heard of such a complex - the real reason it exists is because Carter wanted
his impressive pre-titles sequence. It is indicative of how he seems to be
making this up as he goes along, right until the end.
* A good trial is a
staple of modern drama and can be a genuinely gripping experience...but the
case needs to be discussing riveting issues in the hands of some wily and
fascinating attorneys. Why Carter chose the court case approach for his finale
baffles me because it is essentially lots of people standing around discussing
the overwhelming amount of plot that the show has regurgitated in the past nine
years. It's possibly the least dynamic approach to a finale I have ever
witnessed. It feels like a stab in the gut to the audience, as though Carter is
suggesting that they haven't been paying attention and need to have the whole
arc explained to them in great detail. Instead it is Carter who has been at
fault, failing to express his unwieldy arc plot in an articulate fashion, going
up several dramatic dead ends (the Samantha clone, Emily), chopping it off in
its prime (Two Fathers/One Son), closing off some individual stories on an anti
climax (Closure) and attempting to kick start a whole new arc plot in the shows
final years. Reminding the audience that they have been sold a turkey and what
should have been a relatively simple alien invasion plot being over complicated
to the nth degree is not my idea of celebrating this show effectively. I know
Carter was waiting to stage the invasion in a blockbuster but I would have gone
ahead and tried to achieve it on a TV budget to ensure that the climax of the
show was important. That it had all been leading somewhere spectacular. As it
stands nine seasons of The X-Files has been building up to the extraordinary
revelation of...the date of the invasion. In ten years time. Are you fucking
kidding me?
* If you want an
example of why Carter should be kept away from the typewriter when thinking of
writing a rousing speech check out Mulder's tirade after he has been declared
guilty. It is an affront to the English language, appallingly structured and
almost impossible for Duchovny to say without stumbling.
* This show has done
everything that can be done with the Smoking Man. From villain to victim, we
witnessed his fall from grace and eventual murder at the hands of Alex Krychek.
So why did Carter feel the need to wheel him out once again for another final
showdown? He's come back from the dead twice now - he really is Lazarus. His
final appearance; weathered by the elements, sporting ridiculously snowy locks
and smoking from his throat is the ultimate indignity. Despite the fact that he
is seen to be enveloped in the flames of a missile in The Truth I am sure he
would have continued to turn up like a bad smell had the show continued.
Apparently the Smoking Man protected Mulder all of these years so he could see
the look on his face when he discovered the date of the invasion or some such
bollocks. I refuse to believe that Spender protected Mulder for all those years
just so he could destroy his spirit himself. Carter has decided that he is
going to be the ultimate villain on this show whether Davis wants it or not. He
just comes across as a crazy old has been who is still trying to feel
important.
Pre Titles Sequence: Whilst the location that Carter has
chosen is rather impressive (it feels as though he has genuinely stumbled
across the secret lair of a Bond villain), the action that takes place in the
first five minutes isn't particularly dynamic or imaginative. Mulder going
through high tech doors. Mulder running along gantries. Mulder being thrown
through glass. We've done this sort of thing time and again, the only
refreshing thing about it being the participant who hasn't been seen for 18
episodes. Mark Snow tries to compensate by suggesting something much more epic
is occurring. Throwing Knowle Rohrer from a gantry in slow motion onto electric
cables feels like it has leaked from a cartoon. Little did we know that this
was the only action that we were going to experience until the climax of the
story.
Moment to Watch Out For: Mulder and Scully having a cuddle
at the end. It's kind of cute.
Mythology: Prepare yourselves...
* 'I came to believe in the existence of extra terrestrial
life and a conspiracy inside the government to keep their existence a secret. I
believe, as do many respected scientists, that life came to Earth millions of
years ago from a meteor or a rock from Mars' ' So a meteor crashed to Earth but
along with the biological building blocks on it there was something else. An
alien virus' 'I believe there was a virus that thrived her pre-historically. I
believe that virus infected early man and transformed his physiology. Into an
alien life form himself' 'What happened to these aliens?' 'They died in the
last Ice Age 35,000 years ago' 'And the aliens?' 'They laid dormant,
underground. The government learnt of this virus in 1947 when a UFO crashed in
Roswell, New Mexico. The virus thrived underground in petroleum deposits. In
black oil. It has sentience. It can think. It has the ability to communicate
and it communicated with the UFOS.'
'In Roswell they captured aliens from the spacecraft
wreckage. They salvaged various alien technology from them and from their databanks
they learnt of the alien plan to re-colonise the Earth.
'By the military working with the government
conspirators. To develop a breed of human/alien hybrids that the aliens would
use as a slave race.'
'Mulder's father lived his life in shame. Not for the
conspiracy but for a terrible decision he made' 'Involving Agent Mulder's
sister?' 'The aliens distrusted their human collaborators. Members o the
conspiracy were made to surrender family members as human collateral. Mulder
witnessed his sister being abducted by aliens. It haunted him no end. That's
why he pursued the X-Files ' 'What became of her? Samantha?' 'She was returned.
She was sent to California where we were raised together. She was taken many
more times and suffered horrible tests. Samantha was part of the cloning
experiment done by the conspiracy. She herself died in 1987.'
'To further the interests of a group of men who called
themselves the Syndicate. Developing an alien virus vaccine before the Russians
developed one' 'How did they go about that?' 'By testing innocent civilians
from across the world. Test subjects were tracked through DNA identifiers via
smallpox vaccination scars.'
'They were pretending to work with the aliens. To infect
the entire population with an alien virus. But the conspirators were trying to
save themselves by secretly and selfishly developing a vaccine. The
conspirators believed that all life in the universe had been infected with the
virus including a race of shape-shifting alien bounty hunters who policed the
conspiracy for the aliens. But they were wrong, and it led to the destruction
of the conspiracy' 'And who destroyed it?' 'A group of renegade aliens who had
avoided infection of the virus through self disfigurement'
'Shot. Drowned. Even ground up in a garbage truck. And
they just come right back to life. The best I can figure they're some kind of
secret military project, ordinary men made invincible. The way I understand it
the only way to kill a super soldier is some form of rare metal.'
'We came to understand that her son was some kind of
miracle child. Its birth was all important to these people. These so called
super soldiers, who I believe are humans replaced by aliens. We came to learn
that Scully was one of a number of random women who had miraculous child births
and these women had all been abducted in a government programme to manipulate
their biology. Operating off shore on a Navy ship. Using these women as
surrogates for alien babies' 'To create a slave race?' 'Yes'
Foreboding: 'My story has scared every President since
Truman. Ten centuries ago the Mayans were so afraid that their calendars
stopped on the exact date that my story begins. December 22nd. The year 2012.
The date of the final alien invasion. Where our own secret government will be
hiding when it all comes down.'
Result: Such is the disappointment that The Truth invites I
skipped ahead and watched it just after Jump the Shark so I had a couple of
corkers to end my marathon review run of this show with. However you can only
do that with the benefit of hindsight. Those poor innocent fools who were
expecting a rousing finale walked into this two part disaster unknowing and
unprepared. Let's be honest this is less an episode of television drama and
more a document recounting the previous nine years worth of plot. What is
fascinating about having the plot of the X-Files elucidated in such a fashion
is that it does hold together rather well, some questionable decisions aside.
So why does it take an episode of this dreary magnitude to spell it all out for
us? Why wasn't it this clear all along? Why didn't Carter and Spotnitz chose to
explain themselves adequately as they guided us through the past nine years?
Shouldn't we know all this already? Trust me I understand the motive behind
keeping some plot details a mystery to keep the viewer interested. Indeed, I
sometimes boggle at some shows that constantly repeat plot details to keep the
casual viewer up to speed. This show continually complicated a plot arc without
explaining any of the elements already in play and did so year after year until
they were holding up a plot juggernaut that was jumbled and fused with
unfathomable elements...to a point where they now have to spend the final
episode explaining what it has all been about. That's just insane.
Clarifying the journey rather than expressing a conclusion. It is an appalling
creative choice, and the courtroom scenes are monotonous in their endless
exposition. There's a roll call of old faces - Mr X, Krychek, The Lone Gunmen,
Jeffrey Spender, Gibson Praise, Maria Covarrrubias, the Smoking Man - that I
think are supposed to thrill the long term fan but only served to test my
patience. Most of these characters have already been bumped off so their
appearance is the ultimate indulgence. Duchovny is there in body but not in
spirit, playing the episode as though contractually obliged rather than
genuinely wanting to see this experience through. Doggett and Reyes, the best
thing to have come from the shows final two years, are all but ignored. None of
the things that made this show such a joy to watch seem to be present, it is
just a roll call of tired clichés that lead to an empty conclusion. The
invasion is coming in a decade...well that's useful to know. The real truth of
the matter is that the show has already had two much better endings in Requiem
and Existence. The Truth is nothing but a way for the series to pause before it
continues on in a series of movies. Carter should have seen that interest was
waning in this series and given it the ending it deserved here. Instead The
X-Files goes out on an almighty stumble in what I consider to be the worst episode of its final year: 2/10
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