[ S4:E21 "Zero Sum" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E23 "Demons" ]
I tell you, season 4 just doesn't let up. What is by all accounts a typical monster-of-the-week episode nevertheless deals with the tension resulting from that heartbreaking revelation that was addressed in Memento Mori. It's dramatic, but also depressing. Not since the beginning of season 2 has there been such a consistent tone of carry-through from one episode to the next (with some exceptions - Small Potatoes, I'm looking at you). Scully gets another turn on the therapist's couch (like she did in that other monster-of-the-week episode, Irresistible). She also gets into an almost-fight with Mulder - recalling certain episodes from season 3 that shall go unnamed - but for once it feels organic, and justified (I was disappointed, myself, that Scully didn't confide in Mulder), as a result of the stress both of them are dealing with, and not just the writers wreaking havoc on the characters. But, as I said, it makes for some really depressing scenes.
In this episode, the agents investigate a mentally-handicapped individual (suffering from atypical autism and severe ego dystonic obsessive compulsive disorder - thanks, Scully) who is the prime suspect in a series of murders (season 1's Roland, anyone?). But complicating the case is the fact that certain people are seeing apparitions of the victims right around the time of their death, as if trying to communicate a message (in the form of the cryptic phrase, "she is me"). What dictates who sees these visions is a bit of a spoiler, leading to a cruel twist of ironic fate when Mulder unknowingly asks Scully to verify what would be confirmation of a devastating truth. I guess it's kind of hard to talk about this without embracing spoilers, but I really didn't want to have to put a spoiler warning on this review. On a lighter note, this episode gives David Duchovny yet another opportunity to show off his athletic prowess, by bowling a strike. He was last seen in Paper Hearts shooting nothing but net - on command.
Memorable quotes:
Mr. Pintero: Look, I'm not makin' this up.
Mulder: No one's suggesting that you are, Mr. Pintero.
Mr. Pintero (nods toward Scully): I saw the look on your face.
Mulder: It sounds more like a, uh...a death omen.
Scully: A death omen?
Mulder: Yeah. It's a spirit being that arrives as a harbinger of death.
Mulder: What is a death omen if not a vision of our own mortality? And who among us would most likely be able to see the dead?
Nurse Innes: I'm just looking forward to going home.
Scully: Will your family be a comfort?
Nurse Innes: I live alone.
Scully: No children?
Nurse Innes: Just the one my husband ran off with.
Mulder: You can believe what you wanna believe, Scully. But you can't hide the truth from me, because if you do, then you're working against me, and yourself. I know what you're afraid of. I'm afraid of the same thing.
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