Bo Burnham: Inside (2021)

My latest Thanksgiving tradition is to watch Inside by Bo Burnham (available on Netflix) every year around the holiday. I have the soundtrack, too - which I like to listen to - but there's a lot you don't get unless you watch the feature. Not just the visuals, but shorter snippets and spoken sketches, too. You should definitely watch it first, in its entirety, to get the full effect. Then you can sample its tracks piecemeal, as your inspiration dictates, with knowledge of how it all fits into context.

My experience sharing it so far is that this comedy special is divisive (so it's okay if you hate it - you wouldn't be the first), but honestly I think it's brilliant. I don't know what that says about me - I might be biased, as somebody who has lived as a hikikomori (shut-in). But I think it's the best thing to have come from the pandemic.

I worry that it might be heavily dated, but having lived through that period, it's like a time capsule. And though it's a comedy, what it attempts to make light of are some very serious issues. In addition to evoking that sense of isolation and anxiety we all experienced throughout 2020, it addresses mental health awareness, and also life in the early 21st century, learning to operate as nodes in a digital society (itself spurred on by the physical distancing we experienced during COVID).

Subjects broached include social justice (especially navigating that minefield as a conscientious yet privileged white guy), climate change ("you say the whole world's ending - honey, it already did"), Instagram culture ("is this heaven, or is it just a white woman's Instagram?"), video chatting ("I'll waste my time, Facetiming with my mom"), sexting ("it isn't sex, it's the next best thing"), generational shifts... all with a self-deferential humor that nevertheless does not erase the significant weight of these issues (the impact of which is visible as Bo's mental state deteriorates throughout the piece).

There isn't really any part of it that I don't like. And I enjoy how the whole thing is tied together by the concept of being trapped inside ("tryna be funny and stuck in a room") - for a period of time that just keeps dragging on longer and longer ("it'll stop any day now") - and trying to maintain your sanity while using the not-very-promising gift of being a comedian to try to address the collapse of modern civilization ("should I be joking at a time like this?"). It's not really rock music, but I consider it a rock opera (a comedy opera?).

Anyway, I've boiled it down to my top three favorite songs, that work best out of context of the rest of the piece, just to give you a taste of what it's about. Here they are (in the order they occur in the special):

How The World Works
Welcome To The Internet
That Funny Feeling

And, for the holiday*, here's an extra video - my favorite song from the Inside Outtakes (also worth watching):

The Chicken

*I know, it's the wrong type of poultry, but oh well...

The X-Files - S10:E5 "Babylon"

[ S10:E4 "Home Again" <<< Season 10 >>>  S10:E6 "My Struggle II" ]

For better or worse (and I'm leaning toward better), this episode seems to split the difference between being one of Chris Carter's musical comedies, and a serious freak-of-the-week about a Muslim terrorist cell (how's that for some bread-and-butter FBI work?) that manages to intrigue even as it skirts dangerously close to the border of racial insensitivity (Scully's one-off remark about how not all Muslims are terrorists barely qualifies as lip service). You know, I never used to think of this show as being conservative, but lately...

And on that note, can I say that I liked Chris Carter's writing better before he found God, and his pretentious monologues were about things like environmentalism, the progress of man's evolution, and intelligent life in the universe? Because he uses this episode's subject of killing in the name of God to posit more religious questions (as opposed to those conspiracy questions), about man's capacity for love and hate. Please, when he settled on the concept of a mother's love as man's saving grace, I think I vomited in my mouth a little bit.

Speaking of which, shall we talk about Mulder's mushroom trip? Actually, it wasn't too bad, in the grand scheme of things. Certainly better than him dancing in front of the mirror in Dreamland. I was a little disappointed by The Lone Gunmen's cameo (you can barely call it that), however. I remember when I thought this revival was going to shake things up, and discard the junk in the original series' trunk, in order to revive the spirit and flavor of the earlier episodes. But no, no retconning here. Just a lot of wallowing in inescapable plot points that dragged the end of the original series down.

(This episode isn't actually about William, but half of this season's episodes have been, and I just want to point out the irony of the writers throwing William away in the ninth season because they didn't want to be burdened with him going forward, only to find themselves dealing with the aftermath of it now, after all. If William had stuck around, it wouldn't have been so bad - he could have been some cool alien hybrid or something. And if he never showed up in the first place, or if the writers chose to simply ignore the fact that he ever existed, I'd be fine with that, too. But I'm sick of all this wallowing. I hope it ends, one way or another).

So, in what I think is supposed to be the funny category for this episode, we are introduced to two young FBI agents who seek Mulder and Scully's help on the terrorism case, who could well be their doppelgangers. It's not the first time Chris Carter has played around with this idea (although the last time occurred in an episode not worth mentioning). I'm probably in the minority of longtime X-Files fans, but I think I would actually be more interested in seeing a reboot of the series with new actors in the iconic roles, than continuing to watch David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in The Middle-Age Files. Sacrilege, I know. DD and GA are The X-Files. But if anything, this new series has proved that you can never step in the same river twice. And now you might call me a conservative, but it wasn't a continuation of The X-Files that got me excited for this revival, it was the idea that they were going to revive what made it good in the first place.

Now I feel like a grumpy, old man who's just complaining about how much better things were in "the good, old days". Honestly, hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but I wonder if I wouldn't have enjoyed this revival more if I hadn't just spent seven months watching the original series start to finish, and went in instead only going off of nostalgia and fond, faded memories. Because, to me, it hasn't been...what, eight years since Mulder and Scully were together working a case? 14 years since the series went off the air? And a good 18 years or more since the series was in its heyday? I just watched all of that stuff inside of the last year. So maybe some of the distance of age and time that informs these episodes, and the actors' portrayal of the characters, is lost on me. Because when Scully apes Mulder's first line to her in the pilot when inviting the two young agents into the basement office in this episode, I think it's cute, but I'm not melting.

Anyway, next week is the finale. In my mind, this series could very well live or die by it. Although I'm not expecting anything radically different from what we've gotten in the past five episodes.

Memorable quotes:

Agent Miller: Hello, anybody down here?
Scully: Nobody but the FBI's most unwanted. (I've been waiting 23 years to say that).

Mulder: It's a legitimate question.
Agent Einstein: There's a legitimate answer - no.

Agent Miller: I believe so many answers lie beyond the pale of the normal world in realms of extreme possibility.
Scully: I believe that you believe.

Mulder: I saw things, though, Scully - powerful things. I saw deep and unconditional love.
Scully: I saw things, too. I witnessed unqualified hate, that appears to have no end.
Mulder: How to reconcile the two?

The X-Files - S10:E3 "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster"

[ S10:E2 "Founder's Mutation" <<< Season 10 >>>  S10:E4 "Home Again" ]

This episode marks Darin Morgan's triumphant return to The X-Files (I could just imagine the thunderous sound of applause echoing from people's homes the nation over when his name appeared on screen). And while I would rate it more on the level of a War of the Coprophages, with the goofy humor of Humbug, than a masterpiece like Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' or Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, I don't doubt that it will receive plenty of (mostly well-earned) accolades from critics and viewers (if the side-splitting laughter of the person I watched it with is any indication).

This is classic Darin Morgan, mixing self-referential humor and parody with depressive misanthropy (less deconstructing the series than life itself), taking clever advantage of a novel twist on the concept of the "were-monster" in order to make more than a few well-placed jabs at the inherent absurdity (and disappointing nature) of the human condition. Exploiting the opportunity to poke fun at the underlying premise of the show, Darin depicts a disillusioned Mulder almost bored of chasing phantoms that rarely hold up under scientific scrutiny (increasingly so as time and technology march forward), while Scully is finally warming up to the work and almost relishes the giddy promise of going monster-hunting.

And to all the fans who have ever complained about Mulder not just whipping out a phone and taking photographic evidence of all the paranormal phenomena he encounters (although this issue was already somewhat addressed in Quagmire), this episode sees Mulder more than wizened up, chasing after the monster with a phone camera instead of a gun (or flashlight), to humorous - but otherwise ultimately unproductive, you'll note - effect.

In-jokes abound in this episode, from a tribute to one of the series' mainstay directors (the late Kim Manners, whose "colorful phraseology" infamously inspired the character of Detective Manners in Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'), to Mulder once again appearing in a red Speedo (more than twenty years later). The two unforgettable stoners from War of the Coprophages and Quagmire ("dude, you made me drop my toad") return for another appearance, clearly demonstrating that they've been doing little else besides whittling away their entire lives getting high. And, yes, there is even a mention of Queequeg!

In one scene, Mulder carries on an entire conversation without letting Scully get a word in edgewise - because he anticipates every one of her responses. But it actually feels funny, and reverential, unlike Chris Carter's self-conscious attempt to mix up the proceedings in season 7's Fight Club, which just felt tired and uninspired. Though I still haven't gotten used to seeing David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson looking (and at times sounding) so old, their chemistry in this episode is at a seasonal high-point (even if we're only three episodes in - yet this is the halfway point). It's a shame that had to be true for the comedy episode, but the actors always did seem to enjoy themselves and let loose more than usual in those.

I'm not really one of those fans that likes the funny episodes, generally. But I freely concede that Darin Morgan is a smart guy, and I appreciate his cynical perspective on life. So with any Darin Morgan episode, for me, it's all in the balance of the wit - between the humor and the wisdom. And this episode, though brilliant, leans a little too heavily toward the goofy. In contrast, it looks like next week's episode is going to be straight-up scary (finally!), so I'm looking forward to that. Leave it to Glen Morgan to truly take us "Home Again".

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: You see one serial killer, you've seen 'em all.

Psychiatrist: It's easier to believe in monsters out there in the world, than to accept that the real monsters dwell within us.

Guy Mann: I now possess the one Darwinian advantage that humans have over other animals - the ability to BS my way through anything. I mean, it's better than camouflage!

Guy Mann: Life's hopeless. A few fleeting moments of happiness, surrounded by crushing loss and grief. Why bother?

Guy Mann: I don't know how it works; I'm not a scientist.
Mulder: I'm just looking for some kind of internal logic.
Guy Mann: Why? There isn't an external logic to any of it.

Mulder: So, Hamlet is not just calling Horatio an ignorant idiot, he's calling us all ignorant idiots?
Guy Mann: It's a comforting thought, isn't it? Because if there's nothing more to life than what we already know, then there's nothing but...worries, self-doubt, regret, and loneliness. Fox, man, you've gotta put me out of my misery. I don't wanna wake up tomorrow and have to go to work!

Mulder: I got a little taste of my old monster-huntin' ways, and then I downed the whole bottle.
Scully: I take it you found your were-lizard.
Mulder: Yeah, it turns out it wasn't a man who turns into a lizard, it was a lizard who turns into a man.
Scully: I don't see the difference.

Guy Mann: Woah, I'm not a reptile - that's racist!

The X-Files - S9:E15 "Jump The Shark"

[ S9:E14 "Scary Monsters" <<< Season 9 >>> S9:E16 "William" ]

I must confess that I've never seen The Lone Gunmen spinoff series, which ran for 13 episodes between seasons 8 and 9 of The X-Files. I'd be willing to give it a watch, if I could find it somewhere, but I'm not exactly motivated to go too far out of my way. The brainchild of John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, and Frank Spotnitz (the trio that brought you the wacky Dreamland two-parter in the sixth season, from which the character of Morris Fletcher originated, who appears again in this episode), I imagine it epitomizes the "X-Files Lite" approach that I'm not especially fond of. And like the season 7 episode Millennium was a coda to that series, this episode is the coda - and a closing - to The Lone Gunmen's story. I would have liked to have seen the series before viewing this episode, but time marches on toward that deadline.

At any rate, the opener consists of a voiceover montage that briefly describes The Lone Gunmen's genesis on The X-Files (going back to Morgan & Wong's season 1 episode E.B.E.), and their hijinks on their own series, but - unlike Millennium - I don't know that it really works as a standalone. Even without having seen the series, it feels to me more like an episode of The Lone Gunmen than The X-Files, and - the Super Soldiers connection aside, which seems tacked on anyway - Doggett and Reyes (especially the chronically straight-faced Doggett) feel very much out of place. My opinion of the episode may improve if/when I ever get the chance to watch the spinoff series, but as of right now, there's little in this episode to make it worth viewing. (I think the lasting impression I'm going to take away from it is that Yves Adele Harlow - or rather, the actress Zuleikha Robinson - is very cute). I still maintain that Unusual Suspects is the best example of a Lone Gunmen-centric episode.

And I can understand the creators wanting to give the characters a final send off (especially knowing, as they probably did at this late date, that The X-Files itself was going off the air), but the conclusion is unsatisfyingly morbid. It's almost as if the episode is begging the viewer not to take it as canon. Besides, it's a little late for the series to be jumping the shark - I'd say it did that back in the seventh season, around the time of First Person Shooter, if not earlier. There's a wacky plot about some convoluted weapon involving shark cartilage, but - given that this episode is the coda to a whole series - there's a lot of baggage behind it, and, not having seen it, I have a hard time getting invested. It's sad, but when Morris Fletcher dangles the "truth" about 50 years' worth of conspiracy in front of Doggett and Reyes' faces (and the funniest joke in the whole episode is that they couldn't care less that he worked at Area 51, because that means nothing to them), it doesn't even get me excited, because this show has already laid its mythology out, poured gasoline over it, and lit it up back in the sixth and seventh seasons. "Don't cry for me, I'm already dead."

Memorable quotes:

Morris Fletcher: I was a man in black! The men in black. What, you've never heard of us?
Doggett: I saw the movie.

(This represents everything that was wrong with that whole Dreamland arc. Too much pop culture, not enough gritty conspiracy).

Morris Fletcher: Look, if we have to work together, let's work together.
Frohike: We don't have to work together.

Frohike: You gotta admit, Byers, it hasn't exactly been our year. And to top it all off, we screwed the pooch pretty good today. Maybe we should pack it in.
Byers: And do what instead? We never gave up. We never will. In the end, if that's the best they can say about us, it'll do.

(A moment this solemn doesn't really work in an otherwise wacky episode. It could just be the finality in this episode, but I wonder if this tone schizophrenia was part of what led to The Lone Gunmen spinoff series' early demise).

The X-Files - S9:E13 "Improbable"

[ S9:E12 "Underneath" <<< Season 9 >>> S9:E14 "Scary Monsters" ]

I said in my review of the last episode that this season would do well to stick to a serious tone, like it mostly did in season 8. Alas, with this episode, Chris Carter (who writes and directs) is back to his old tricks (the non-mythology ones, that is), trying to do a light episode, infused with questionable humor. Imagine that the writer of such cringe-worthy episodes as Syzygy and Fight Club were to try to construct a copycat of Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose. This is not just Chris Carter trying to fill the void left by Darin Morgan's humor, but actually applying his own extremely dubious sense of humor (also witnessed in The Post-Modern Prometheus) to the formula of what was undoubtedly a winning episode. I'm surprised that they're still chasing past glories this late in the series. And if this and prior episodes are any indication, then I don't think I like Chris Carter's sense of style or humor or music (Nick Cave and the Bad Seed's Red Right Hand notwithstanding). The closest thing to real humor in this episode (the serious, cynical, situational sort of humor this series used to rely on) is a professional numerologist not believing in numerology. And as a director, this episode's technical flourish is the use of split screens, except there's no real point (not like in David Duchovny's Hollywood A.D., where it was used effectively in one scene to serve a joke).

Opening in a Vegas-style casino (that recalls another goofy episode, Three of a Kind), this episode guest stars Burt Reynolds as a card-counting magician (to get a sense of the mood, in one scene, he wiggles his butt in front of the camera while dancing the cha-cha). I've been using the phrase "leave it to Reyes" a lot, but once again, she's relying on a dubious new-agey theory - in this case, numerology - to tie together a series of murders committed by a killer who seems to be driven by the mystical power of numbers (considering the themes of Syzygy and Fight Club, perhaps I should be saying "leave it to Chris Carter" instead). The subject matter allows the characters (especially Scully, who is a scientist) to bring up some interesting scientific concepts (e.g., the Unified Field Theory), but they are stretched to the breaking point - it's like the difference between astronomy and astrology. The idea of counting cards, for example, is seductive, but statistics relies on probabilities. It doesn't allow, in this case, for the accurate prediction of complex actualities - as demonstrated in a ridiculous scene (I actually wrote the word "ridiculous" twice in my notes describing it) which posits an underlying pattern to all of existence, a la The Goldberg Variation. This episode has enough problems in its conception, but what kills it is its goofy tone.

Postscript: I swear, I didn't pick up on this at all, but apparently Burt Reynolds' character in this episode is supposed to be God. And I think that just makes me hate this episode even more. Lame-o.

Memorable quotes:

Burt: You know your problem, my friend? It's not the cards - it's playing the hand you were dealt. Plenty of guys get a bad deal; it's all in what you do with it.

Reyes: Do you believe the universe is knowable as a mathematical calculation of the whole, reducible to a single equation?
Scully: No.
Reyes: Why not?
Scully: Because I don't think that its complexity allows for it to be reduced so simply.

Burt: You know, there's a secret to this game, Wayne-o. And I'm gonna tell you what the secret is: choose better.

Doggett: Don't we at least have to accept that as a possibility?
Special Agent: No, we don't.
Reyes: Why?
Special Agent: Because it's highly improbable.
Doggett: But not impossible.

(Just a cheaper version of Mulder's great line from The Jersey Devil - "highly unlikely, but not outside the realm of extreme possibility?").

Wayne: Go to hell.
Burt: Are the reservations in your name?

Scully: Sir, does it look like we're here to play checkers?
Burt: ...No.

(And neither am I, Chris. Neither am I).

The X-Files - S7:E21 "Je Souhaite"

[ S7:E20 "Fight Club" <<< Season 7 >>> S7:E22 "Requiem" ]

In the penultimate episode of the season, Vince Gilligan gets his turn in the director's chair, in an episode of his own writing. French for "I wish", Je Souhaite chronicles an encounter between Mulder and Scully (and a couple of simpletons) and a female genie (or "jinniyah") who, traditionally, grants three wishes. It's a little clichéd, to be sure, but it's a fun idea. And it does an adequate job of demonstrating the inherent perils of getting what you wish for, as well as the inevitable anxiety in trying to decide what's worth spending a wish on. There are some cool tricks on display, like a man with no mouth, and an invisible corpse that Scully takes girlish delight in studying. It's nice to see her fascination and scientific curiosity directed towards a tangible entity in her possession for once, although I feel that Gillian Anderson acts the part a little too playfully - it's cute, in a sense, but it's so far out of her character that it's a bit jarring, like as if she's under a spell or something. Indeed, the episode leans just a little too much towards comedy for my tastes. It's fun - and Vince Gilligan's been one of the better comedy writers on this show - but when Mulder starts humming the theme from I Dream of Jeannie...yeah. As such, it doesn't quite reach the level of a great episode in my opinion, but it's definitely better than, say, The Goldberg Variation, or The Amazing Maleeni.

Afterthought: It's interesting to note that this episode couldn't credibly have come at any other point in the show, really - if the mythology hadn't been wrapped up already, surely Mulder could wish for "the truth" about Samantha's disappearance and/or the alien conspiracy. But that's all water under the bridge now.

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: How many centuries now has disco been dead?

Jenn: Your wish is breathtaking in its unoriginality.

(Yeah, but there's something to be said for the classics).

Scully: What was I thinking? An invisible man?
Mulder: You saw it. It was real.
Scully: I don't know what I saw, Mulder. I do know that...having that kind of proof in my hands, it was just too good to be true.

(Again, Scully, nothing but evidence. And again, no evidence at all).

Jenn: That's the conclusion you've drawn? That I'm evil?
Mulder: Well, possibly evil. Possibly cursed. A curse to others.
Jenn: The only thing you people are cursed with is stupidity.

Jenn: I should have been more specific.

(Aye, ain't that the rub?)

Mulder: I guess I should have seen this coming.

(I have to say, no matter the altruistic intentions, and in spite of what invariably happens when people's opinions clash - evident by the fact that to create peace on Earth, all mankind must be eliminated - no single person is smart enough, or has enough foresight, to develop a detailed plan for a perfect society, that will actually work. Mulder's lucky he wised up and took the more obvious choice for his third wish in the end, else he'd probably have found himself living in one of those dystopias we read about in sci-fi literature).

The X-Files - S7:E19 "Hollywood A.D."

[ S7:E18 "Brand X" <<< Season 7 >>> S7:E20 "Fight Club" ]

So this is that other episode that David Duchovny wrote and directed (the first one being The Unnatural). And I can sum it up with two words: sniper zombies. Cool is one thing - like sharks with laser beams. But this is just plain ridiculous. It is very much a light-hearted, comedic episode. It spends a few beats investigating a forgery caper involving religious documents (an alleged gospel of Mary Magdalene that paints Jesus in a more human light), involving an ancient artifact called the "Lazarus bowl", said to have recorded the incantation Jesus used to resurrect Lazarus like the grooves on a record. It's a neat idea, but feels more like the premise for an Indiana Jones movie than an episode of The X-Files. Which, I guess, is kind of appropriate, because the real meat of this episode is the idea that a scout from Hollywood (an old friend of Skinner's) is doing field research for a movie about the FBI, starring characters based on Mulder and Scully. The result is hilariously bad (see: sniper zombies), and I find it very interesting that the entire concept behind this episode is pretty much destroyed by the fact that there was an X-Files movie - it was called Fight The Future - and it was awesome.

Not so much this episode, although if you're into the less serious side of the series, you may disagree. If you think about it, this episode could have been a lot like Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space', in which an author does research for a book on alien abductions. But rather than intelligent deconstruction, this episode seems more invested in telling goofy jokes - some of which are funny, to be fair, but not as consistently as in a Darin Morgan script (and when the skeleton bones started to get up and dance, I was this close to quitting the episode - yes, it's true, I'm no fun). Taking an overview of the series, I really get the impression that The X-Files hit all its strongest beats in the second, third, and fourth seasons, and had been trying to recapture lightning in a bottle ever since then. There's also been way too much of an emphasis on humor since then, which I feel has twisted the overall tone of the show, and not for the better, in my opinion. Vince Gilligan is a talented writer, and he did a couple effectively funny episodes, but even he was no Darin Morgan. Neither is David Duchovny, who has Fox Mulder reciting lines from Plan 9 From Outer Space here.

Still, as easy as it would be for me to just write off this episode, I guess it's fun enough to prevent me from giving it a complete pass (it's even a little meta, with Téa Leoni - DD's real life wife at the time - playing the movie version of Scully) - but just barely - goofy though it is. In fact, it has much of the feel of the ending to The Post-Modern Prometheus. And speaking of endings - not that this really spoils anything - this is the episode where the zombies get up and dance at the end. I was starting to think that I had hallucinated that scene, having come this far in the series and not yet having seen it again - or that I had somehow misremembered the ending to The Post-Modern Prometheus. But sure enough, here it is. I guess that just proves I was still watching The X-Files at this point. I don't know if I had started watching it only intermittently, every so often, instead of religiously every week like in the past, or if much of this season was just not that memorable to me (although I have a hard time believing I wouldn't have had some recollection of Sein und Zeit/Closure, for example, if I had seen it the first time around). Who knows. It'll be interesting to see if I remember anything from the season finale coming up in a couple more episodes.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: Mulder, we should have a warrant.
Wayne Federman: Hey, it's only the Constitution. No big deal.

Mulder: Alright, one more pun and I pull out my gun.

(It had to rhyme, didn't it?)

Wayne Federman: You want my advice? You're both crazy.
Mulder: Well, why do you say that?
Wayne Federman: Well, you're crazy for believing what you believe...and [looks at Scully] you're crazy for not believing what he believes.

Cardinal O'Fallon (reading): "And then Jesus took his beloved Mary Magdalene in an embrace - an embrace not of God and woman, but of man and woman. And Jesus said to Mary, 'love the body, for it is all of the soul that our senses can perceive.'"

Micah Hoffman: I am become Jesus Christ.
Mulder: I am become skeptical.

Micah Hoffman: He is a decent man, but with an overweening pride and sense of responsibility born of a fundamental lack of respect for the human animal. He believes in God, but not in man - in man's ability to choose, to live in freedom. He has Christ in his brain, but not in his heart.

Scully: Mulder, do you think it's at all possible that Hoffman is really Jesus Christ?
Mulder: Are you making fun of me?
Scully: No.
Mulder: Well, no, I don't. But...crazy people can be very persuasive.
Scully: Well, yes, I know that.

Scully: Maybe true faith is a form of insanity.

Screen-Mulder: I love you, Scully - no ifs, ands, or...

Screen-Scully: Bees.

The X-Files - S7:E8 "The Amazing Maleeni"

[ S7:E7 "Orison" <<< Season 7 >>> S7:E9 "Signs & Wonders" ]

Individually and in different combinations, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz were among The X-Files' most prominent writers, and were responsible for many of the series' great episodes. The three of them together first formed a team in season 4 on Leonard Betts (a perfectly solid freak-of-the-week episode that has the distinction of being the most-watched in the entire series during its initial run. according to viewer ratings), and later followed that up (with Chris Carter joining them) with Memento Mori (a particularly memorable mythology episode that won Gillian Anderson an Emmy). However, they were also responsible for the subpar season 5 mytharc Christmas Carol/Emily, and, after succumbing to the comedic tone of the sixth season, Dreamland as well. The team combine their forces once again for The Amazing Maleeni, and I can tell you it's not their best episode.

A jaded carnival magician loses his head after performing to a less-than-enthusiastic audience, which turns out to be the tip of the iceberg of a plot to rob a bank, involving sleight of hand on a grand scale, (ostensibly) in order to pay off a gambling debt. On paper, this sounds like it could have been a very clever episode, but the moment Mulder and Scully come on screen, you can tell the switch has been flicked and they're in comedy mode. There is potential in the premise for a cool story about a freak who takes advantage of his unnatural abilities to amaze and astound audiences, or even a story about necromancy. But that's not what this is. The end-of-episode wrap-up that explains how the trick was pulled off tells you that this episode was likely inspired by old-timey mystery shows. But for an episode that talks about misdirection, it's not nearly as funny or clever as Darin Morgan's best scripts. Between this, and The Goldberg Variation, I can't remember the last time I've felt so disengaged while watching an episode. Even the dregs of the first season kept me interested, but in this case I just feel bored. It's not enough to indict the whole season (which has had some good episodes so far) - yet - but if this turns out to be a trend, it doesn't bode well.

Memorable quotes:

LaBonge: What's in it for me? I mean, let's say I help you out. What do I get in return?
Scully: The feeling of pride that comes from performing your civic duty?

Maleeni: The great ones always know when to leave the stage.

(Yeah, I'm coming up dry. There's a lot of jokes in this episode, but nothing truly memorable).

The X-Files - S7:E6 "The Goldberg Variation"

[ S7:E5 "Rush" <<< Season 7 >>> S7:E7 "Orison" ]

The Goldberg Variation (the title most likely referring to a Rube Goldberg machine, the best pop culture example of which I can think of off the top of my head being the device that makes Pee-wee's breakfast in Pee-wee's Big Adventure) starts out with an intriguing concept - a man who inadvertently wields impossibly good luck - and an entertaining opener, in which what appears to be a total dweeb manages to swindle a bunch of gangsters out of a hundred grand in a game of poker, is then shoved off the roof of a skyscraper in Chicago, and not only manages to survive, but walks away from it without much more than a proverbial scratch. Unfortunately, the episode only goes downhill from there, and mostly squanders its interesting premise. This is another "light" episode of The X-Files (by the writer of last season's The Rain King, and the mediocre Alpha), that seems to want to be funny, but isn't very good at it. It throws in some dramatic schmaltz at the end, involving a sick little boy, but that isn't very effective, either. It seems like it wants to make some commentary on the ramifications of cause and effect, but for an episode that broaches the subject of determinism, Henry Weems is no Clyde Bruckman - not by a long shot. The best thing the episode accomplishes is playing with the idea of what constitutes good and bad luck - how hard it is to tell the difference, and how it sometimes really depends on your perspective. But by the time the episode decides to throw in that "everything happens for a reason" tripe, I've already checked out.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: C'mon, Mulder, this guy just got lucky. There's no X-File here.
Mulder: Maybe his luck is the X-File.

Scully: What the hell happened here, Mulder?
Mulder: Cause, and effect.

Mulder: How does it feel to be the luckiest man in the universe, Henry?
Henry Weems: It's a nightmare. You've no idea.

The X-Files - S6:E8 "The Rain King"

[ S6:E7 "Terms of Endearment" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E9 "S.R. 819" ]

This episode opens with a lot of promise. It's a traditional X-File about paranormal phenomena. It doesn't waste time trying to explain why Mulder and Scully are still investigating X-Files even though they've been forbidden to do so (at increasingly less-convincing risk to their jobs). And it has a cool premise - Mulder and Scully visit a town in Kansas with anomalous weather conditions, to investigate the possibility of the pathetic fallacy being more than just a fallacy. We haven't seen a person who could control the weather since season 3's D.P.O. - the human lightning rod. This proves once again (as I mentioned last season in my review of Schizogeny) that at this late stage of the series it takes the outside writers to capture the essence of what the X-Files used to be. Or at least that's how it appears at first. The episode starts out with a little tongue-in-cheek humor that's fun, but ends up placing way too much emphasis on being funny, and highlighting the romantic schmaltz of its premise (this is, in many ways, a Valentine's Day episode of The X-Files) for my liking. I feel a tangent brewing about the budding romance in this season, but I think I'll post that separately from this episode's review.

Memorable quotes:

Cindy: Don't you all need a warrant, or subpoena, or something like that?
Scully: We usually just say please.

Holman: A huge, high pressure system is the primary culprit. There's no credible evidence that suggests that Daryl, or any man, can be held accountable for our predicament.
Scully: Thank you. (To Mulder:) Can we go now?

(I love Scully's smugness here. She's much better when she's being playful rather than vindictive about saying "I told you so").

Mulder: He wants advice - dating advice.
Scully: Dating advice? From whom?
Mulder: Yours truly. (Silence). Hello? Hey, Scully. Scully, are you there?

Scully: Well, it seems to me...that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day, you look at the person, and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.

The X-Files - S6:E5 "Dreamland II"

[ S6:E4 "Dreamland" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E6 "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas" ]

Spoiler Warning: As this episode picks up where the last one left off, there may be some minor spoilers ahead.

If there's any doubt about the humorous intention of these episodes (and at this point, there really shouldn't be), this one opens with a monologue - not by Mulder explaining the metaphysical source of his anguish, as in many classic episodes - but by the false Mulder - Morris Fletcher in Mulder's body (although to us he still looks and sounds like Morris Fletcher) - describing what a loser Mulder is over top of a quirky score, and his mischievous intentions now that he's acquired possession of his life. Meanwhile, Mulder avoids the imminent peril we found him in during last week's cliffhanger thanks to the presumed aid of the real leak (not Morris Fletcher). And Scully, now convinced that a body-swap has indeed occurred, is looking for a way to switch Mulder back. But not before some more hijinks occur. Although, honestly, when Morris (as Mulder) invites Scully to a home-cooked dinner (and seduction), you can't help thinking, "haven't we seen this all before?"

As with part one, I have a hard time getting very excited about this episode, but I do have a few notes. For one thing, that house that's claimed to be Fletcher's sure as hell ain't in Rachel, Nevada, like it's described. I've been to Rachel, Nevada (it's the tumbleweed town that's closest to Area 51), and it ain't a fraction as green as the place depicted in this episode. It's not some oasis in the desert, it is the desert. Just a couple of ramshackle trailers set up on a dry, flat plain. I don't doubt that the people who really do work in Area 51 live down in Las Vegas or even fly in from some other much fancier location (maybe in California, or any of the other nearby states), or if they do live in Rachel, it's not in nice, green, suburban houses like this one. I did, however, appreciate the rendezvous at the Little A'Le'Inn, even if it wasn't really the Little A'Le'Inn, and even if the crowd was a little too bustling for the truly small town that Rachel is, and even if the Little A'Le'Inn would be a ridiculous choice of a place for an Area 51 officer to go to find anonymity.

When Mulder (as Morris) ultimately confronts the informant he intended to meet at the beginning of this adventure, there's a bit of a surprising twist in store, where the high-ranking Area 51 officer knows less about the truth regarding aliens than he assumes Mulder does, based on his work with the X-Files. It's kind of a disappointing - if clever - development, but it fits in with the whole idea of Area 51 being more image than substance. The episode wraps up in far too trite a manner, however, when things just naturally - conveniently - end up fixing themselves, just like that. After Mulder and Scully go on in this one scene about how the process relies too much on coincidence, and can't be reversed. Are we really supposed to believe that Michael McKean is going to be taking over David Duchovny's job on this show? No. The scene is utterly devoid of pathos, in spite of how seriously the actors play it. The emotion therefore comes off feeling forced, because the audience isn't where the characters are, and they can't really get into it. And I guess, for me, that about sums up this lackluster two-parter.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: You did the right thing, Mulder.
Morris (as Mulder): I did?
Scully: I've been telling you for years you should play more by the book, haven't I?

Morris (as Mulder): This guy hasn't been laid in ten years.

Scully: I didn't even know you had a bedroom.

Morris (as Mulder): You're The Lone Gunmen, aren't you? You guys are my heroes. I mean, look at this crap you print.
Byers: We uncover the truth.
Morris (as Mulder): The truth? Well, see - that's what's so great about you monkeys. Not only do you believe this horse pucky that we create, you broadcast it as well.

Mulder: What is the truth?
General Wegman: You mean, you don't know?
Mulder: Don't know what?
General Wegman: The truth. What is going on here at Area 51? What are these black budget projects? We just fly these birds. They don't tell us what makes 'em go - they engineer 'em all up in Utah.
Mulder: Well, if you don't know, why'd you call me?
General Wegman: I've seen your file. You've chased flying saucers for years. Do aliens really exist, Agent Mulder?

Scully: I'd kiss you if you weren't so damn ugly.

(What, so now they're actually romantic partners, and the only thing stopping them from expressing it on the show is (in)convenient circumstances? I know they were pretty close to a kiss in the movie, but I thought that was just a tease).

Mulder: If I shoot him, is that murder or suicide?

The X-Files - S6:E4 "Dreamland"

[ S6:E3 "Triangle" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E5 "Dreamland II" ]

If ever there was an advantage to moving production to the southwestern U.S., it was having a chance to do a proper story about Area 51. Although I kind of liked the Smoking Man's dismissive reference to it back in Apocrypha. By the time the movie Independence Day had come out in 1996, Area 51 was part of the pop culture lexicon, and so, obviously not a good place to store the military's top secrets (especially ones involving extraterrestrial technology). And, unfortunately, this episode has less in common with the suspenseful infiltration of top secret government installations à la Deep Throat, E.B.E., The Erlenmeyer Flask, Memento Mori, Redux (etc.), than it has with the comedy-infused flavor of Small Potatoes, which also involved David Duchovny in a body-swapping role. That this is not just the angle they take for an Area 51 episode, but that they extend it into a two-parter without even synching it with the show's mythology in any substantial way, really says it all about the direction this show is heading in. Also, that the show is now examining viewer-friendly Area 51 in lieu of any number of unnamed military installations with more genuine secrets to hide, is further proof of its evolution toward a less serious tone, and its pandering embrace of mainstream popular culture.

I'm excited that the show has extended past five seasons, but in these latest episodes, I'm getting the feeling that the stars and the creator(s) both are getting tired with the format. The characters are growing exceedingly into caricatures, and Chris Carter seems more bent on mucking with the formula - giving the actors episodes like Syzygy, The Post-Modern Prometheus, and Triangle, in which they can let loose and have fun at the show's expense - than finishing the gritty alien conspiracy story that he originally set out to tell. It's like Darin Morgan has cast a twisted legacy on the show's remaining writers - the humor and deconstruction becoming the show's central pillar, instead of an occasional respite from its usual, darker tone. The fact that David Duchovny sounds like he's getting bored of playing Fox Mulder (according to interviews I've read from around this time), and the knowledge that he will eventually (though not just yet) leave the show before its end, just contributes to this feeling that the show has lost its focus. Maybe the show should have ended in its fifth season, and continued intermittently from there as a film franchise (as may have been discussed at some point in time).

Anyhow, the basic thrust of the episode is that Mulder drags Scully out to the ET Highway in Nevada (to the expected frustration of A.D. Kersh) to meet up with an informant that has contacted him who works at Area 51. They are stopped, however, by a convoy, prior to witnessing a military UFO (probably not unlike the ones the military had in the episode Deep Throat) that passes over them, inexplicably subjecting them to some kind of spacetime warping anomaly that causes Mulder to switch bodies with an Area 51 employee named Morris Fletcher (Michael McKean). But unlike Small Potatoes, in which David Duchovny got to act out a stranger inhabiting Mulder's body, the two actors follow their characters, so that we see who they really are, and not who the other characters see them as. (It's a little confusing, but makes enough sense in the context of the episode).

So, Morris - ostensibly a government grunt bored with his life and in the midst of a mid-life crisis - gets to hang out with Scully and try on the bachelor life, while Mulder gets a taste of the [dysfunctional] married life (wasn't Scully the one pining for a normal life just prior to the swap?), and an opportunity to "infiltrate" Area 51, provided he doesn't blow his cover. The risk to his life is even greater when the other employees find out there's a leak, and begin to suspect Morris (whose body is currently inhabited by Mulder). Although, Mulder seems more intent on righting the situation, and providing Scully with scientific proof that he is who he says he is (that she doesn't initially take Mulder (as Morris) at his word is a wonder, after spending a day being exasperated by Morris (as Mulder)'s frustratingly (humorously, to the audience) out-of-character behavior), than discovering much of anything that is going on inside Area 51.

To be continued... (Because one episode of this ridiculousness apparently wasn't enough).

Memorable quotes (there are a number of lines in this episode that are funny mainly due to situational cues based on the body-swapping premise, that lose a lot of their impact taken out of context):

Morris Fletcher: I got a top secret for you: there's no such thing as flying saucers.

Morris (as Mulder): Are you out of your pretty little mind?
Scully: Am I out of my mind? Mulder, you are out of your mind!

Howard Grodin: Antigravity systems utilize bends in space and time for propulsion. A sudden shift in a craft's trajectory could create the kind of distortion we're witnessing right here - a lizard and a rock existing in the same time and space.

The X-Files - S5:E12 "Bad Blood"

[ S5:E11 "Kill Switch" <<< Season 5 >>> S5:E13 "Patient X" ]

I think maybe Vince Gilligan was tempted by the success of Darin Morgan's limited tenure on the show, because he's gone from penning emotionally weighty thrillers like Pusher, Unruhe, and Paper Hearts, to more comedic fare such as last season's Small Potatoes, this season's Unusual Suspects - and, now, Bad Blood. This episode is probably the best and purest deconstruction of The X-Files since Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' (which isn't to say that it's quite as good, but it is good). And, like how that episode explores the difficulty in reconstructing the truth from many differing perspectives, this one fully utilizes the Rashomon effect to explore the critical dichotomy at the heart of the series - Scully's skeptical view of reality versus Mulder's aching desire to believe in the paranormal. As such, it manages to be smart as well as funny - which is something I wholly appreciate in a more humorous episode.

The episode opens on Mulder chasing a screaming teen (Patrick Renna) through the woods under the light of a full moon. Convinced that the boy is a vampire, he catches up to him and drives a stake through his heart. But Scully thinks Mulder may have been mistaken, and that the boy was simply obsessed with wanting to be a vampire. This is a case where the agents' differing viewpoints - whether or not the boy really was a vampire - could mean the difference between ridding the world of a blood-sucking monster, and killing an innocent person (well, maybe not innocent, after all). Naturally, the authorities would be interested in getting to the bottom of things, in order to assess whether or not Mulder should be tried for murder. The rest of the episode deals with Mulder and Scully's differing testimonies as to what occurred leading up to the unfortunate slaying, and its aftermath.

Now, this setup could be taken deadly seriously, but Vince Gilligan takes advantage of the opportunity to exploit it for laughs - mostly effectively. It's an excellent excuse to let the characters play caricatures of themselves for comedic effect. Writers in the past (especially Darin Morgan) have delighted in exaggerating Mulder and Scully's personal foibles, but this time it feels more sincere, because the stories are being told from a specific point of view - and, moreover, are constructed to emphasize the speaker's biases. This is, in effect, the difference between saying, "look how ridiculous these characters are," and "look how ridiculous these characters can be interpreted to be, by others." You may argue that this is splitting hairs, but, as I said, it's more sincere, because the writer is not asking you to accept these caricatures at face value - they are cleverly presented in a context where they are transparently recognized as caricatures.

This also enables the episode to humorously point out some of the conventions of a typical episode of The X-Files. For example, during Scully's autopsies, we often switch to Mulder's perspective to follow the exciting adventures he's on, only switching back to Scully long enough to cover her most relevant and interesting findings. But in Scully's account, we don't, of course, cut away from the autopsy - rather, it is depicted in all its hilarious dullness. Maybe this reveals my bias - because both accounts involve exaggerations, to be sure - but I found Scully's exaggeration of Mulder to be less fair than Mulder's exaggeration of Scully. I love the way Mulder emphasizes his ability to regale people with his esoteric knowledge, and the delight he takes in singularly noticing the significance of the untied shoelaces. And I can totally relate to his frustrations having to deal with a small-town sheriff (Luke Wilson) who doesn't understand half the things he says.

For better or worse, the episode drops the differing perspectives in the final act, and opts for a more traditional ending (one that, for me, has shades of a more diplomatic variation on 30 Days of Night). If nothing else, it serves as a kind of reconciliation, where we get to return to reality after the episode's previous over-exaggerations. Funny as they were, I like Mulder and Scully best when they're both at their best, working together like a well-oiled machine, and not when their personality flaws are emphasized, and their partnership interpreted as dysfunctional. This is - Small Potatoes included - the most effective comedic episode of The X-Files since Darin Morgan left the staff. The funny bits in Chinga were good, too (and a decided improvement over Chris Carter's attempt at humor in season 3's Syzygy), but that episode wasn't as strong overall as this one is. I still don't enjoy these funny episodes as much as the straight-laced, serious ones (of which I wish there were a few more in this season), but they're fun to watch once in a while, as long as it's not every single week.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: Skinner wants our report in one hour. What are you going to tell him?
Mulder: What do you mean "what am I gonna tell him?" I'm gonna tell him exactly what I saw. What are you gonna tell him?
Scully: I'll...tell him exactly what I saw.
Mulder: Now, how is that different?

Mulder: Okay, look, Scully, I don't wanna jump to any hasty conclusions, but...on the strength of the evidence that we have here, I think that what we may be looking at is what appears to be a series of vampire - or, vampire-like! - attacks.
Scully: On what do you base that?!
Mulder: Uh, well, on the...corpses drained of blood, and the...fang marks on the neck. But, as always, I'm very eager to hear your opinion.
Scully: Well, it's obviously not a vampire.
Mulder: Well, why not?
Scully: Because they don't exist?

Mulder: I think maybe you were right, before, when you said that this is just a guy who's watched too many Dracula movies. He just happens to be a real vampire.

Mulder: That is...essentially exactly the way it happened.
Scully: Essentially.
Mulder: ...Except for the part about the buck teeth.

The X-Files - S5:E10 "Chinga"

[ S5:E9 "Schizogeny" <<< Season 5 >>> S5:E11 "Kill Switch" ]

I remember when I first watched this episode, I was excited when I saw the credit flash up on the screen indicating that it was co-written (with Chris Carter) by none other than Stephen King himself. I also remember feeling pretty lukewarm about the episode by the time it was finished, which is more understandable now that I've seen quite a few adaptations of Stephen King's stories, many of which - while having some pretty neat ideas - fail to reach a level of greatness. And then you have the fact that this is a story about a killer doll, and I've never really been able to get into horror stories about dolls. Yeah, they can be creepy sometimes, but it just doesn't do it for me. That having been said, with more tempered expectations, this is a pretty solid freak-of-the-week episode, and it effectively incorporates some Mulder x Scully-related humor, without going the full-on comedy route (which I'm not really a fan of).

This is a weekend episode like War of the Coprophages, except this time, Scully's the one who's out on vacation, in Maine (since this is a Stephen King story - and, once again, I must express my amazement at British Columbia's chameolonic locales), looking all stylish and driving a convertible, while Mulder's stuck at home, bored out of his mind (and you know this episode is trying to be funny when you see Mulder in his office, watching what sounds like porn, with an open VHS case titled "Alien Probe" sitting on his desk). Yet, as in Never Again, it's Scully who finds herself in the midst of the action, and instead of getting that vacation (aside from a nice bubble bath), she ends up walking right into the middle of an X-File.

A single mother, rumored to be descended from the witches of Salem, is experiencing death omens, and her pretty creepy daughter has a cursed doll who doesn't play well with others. Larry Musser is back again as the town sheriff, although these subtler roles can't do anything to dispel memories of the caricature he played in Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'. As I alluded to above, nothing in this episode really raises it to the level of greatness, but for a one-off freak-of-the-week episode, it's a perfectly solid hour of programming. For once, I appreciate the humor, which plays on Mulder and Scully's characterizations, without tainting it with the flavor of a dysfunctional relationship - which is to say that it stays fun, and never crosses the line into destructive navel-gazing (I'm looking at you, Never Again).

Memorable quotes:

Doll: Let's have fun.

Mulder: It sounds to me like that's, uh...witchcraft, or maybe some sorcery that you're lookin' for, there.
Scully: No, I don't think it's witchcraft, Mulder, or sorcery. I've had a look around, and I don't see any evidence of anything that warrants that kind of suspicion.
Mulder: Yeah, well, maybe you don't know what you're looking for.
Scully: Like evidence of conjury, or the black arts, or...shamanism, divination, Wicca, or any kind of pagan or neopagan practice - charms, cards, familiars, blood stones, or hex signs, or any of the ritual tableaux associated with the occult, Santeria, Voudon, Macumba, or any high or low magic?
Mulder: Scully?
Scully: Yes?
Mulder: Marry me.

Polly: I want more cherries, now!
Waitress: You're gonna have to go ask your mommy for some more money, hun. I can't just give them away.

(Must...resist...the urge...to make a joke...)

Scully: I've been thinking that maybe...maybe we need to explore other possibilities.
Jack Bonsaint: I'm not sure I understand.
Scully: Well, maybe we need to keep our minds open to...extreme possibilities.

(You can see the reluctance in Scully's face when she forces herself to say this).

Mulder: I thought you weren't answering your cell phone.
Scully: Then why'd you call?

(Obviously, because he's desperate for your attention, Scully, and because he's bored out of his mind with you out having an adventure without him).

Mulder: It's amazing what I can accomplish without incessant meddling or questioning into everything I do.

Mulder: There's...got to be an explanation.
Scully: Oh, I don't know, I think some things are better left unexplained.

(This is a pretty funny scene, but you have to see it to get the full effect).

The X-Files - S4:E20 "Small Potatoes"

[ S4:E19 "Synchrony" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E21 "Zero Sum" ]

Spoiler Warning: This is a humorous monster-of-the-week episode, but if you haven't seen it before, you might like to know that this review will contain some shipper-related spoilers. Proceed at your own discretion.

This is another fan-favorite episode. I can admit now that episodes like this one, and Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (which I enjoyed a little more), are well-crafted and fun to watch, but it always struck me as odd when people would say things like "my favorite episode of The X-Files is Small Potatoes!" Like, what about One Breath? Or Anasazi? Or the season 4 finale that's coming up in a few more episodes that I'm really excited about? Those are episodes! (I'm betraying my mythology bias here, aren't I)? I guess a lot of people just like to laugh. To be honest, Small Potatoes never really stood out in my mind, although I do recall it as that episode where the freak-of-the-week assumes Mulder's form and asks Scully out on a date. Never underestimate the power of the shippers to influence community opinion of this series!

In another case ripped from the tabloids (remember Conduit?), this episode opens with a woman giving birth to a baby with a tail (she claims the father is from another planet); but the weirdest part is that the doctor's seen it before. When she explains to Mulder and Scully that the father was Luke Skywalker, that pretty much rules out alien abduction. The agents bandy about different theories - Scully likes date rape (wait, that came out wrong, I mean Scully prefers date rape - er, no, I mean, Scully prefers date rape as an explanation for how all these "monkey babies" are being born to married women who don't remember sleeping around), and Mulder latches onto a theory involving the sinister intentions of an insemination therapist, à la Eve - but ultimately they realize that what they're dealing with is a shape-shifting mutant. (Kudos on the nod to continuity when Mulder reminds Scully that they've encountered such a thing before).

If all of the great facial expressions leave you with any doubt as to what tone this episode is supposed to have, know that Darin Morgan himself stars as the freak, Eddie Van Blundht (apart from his notable writing credits in season 3, he also played the Flukeman in season 2's The Host). The episode, however, is written by Vince Gilligan, who has had a solid track record for monster-of-the-week episodes this season, between Unruhe, Paper Hearts, and his contribution to Leonard Betts. However, this episode definitely aims more for the sort of humor that Darin Morgan was known for. In fact, Small Potatoes even seems to recall some of the themes of Humbug, except that I don't think Eddie Van Blundht was proud of his abnormality - I think he just wanted to fit in, to be normal, or at least not an outcast.

It's certainly humorous to see David Duchovny playing Eddie Van Blundht trying to be Fox Mulder (although one wonders how Scully fell for it, given how well she knows him). There's definitely some commentary about the privileges that attractive people have here. Although I've always found Mulder's closing line compelling, in its reference to the fact that despite Mulder's charisma and good looks, he really does live the life of a loser, and all Eddie Van Blundht had to do was change his appearance to get Scully to totally open up to him. Giving Darin Morgan an opportunity - as Eddie Van Blundht - to criticize Mulder to his face in this highly meta episode feels more satisfying to me than in the past, when he used his pen to write the characters into making fun of themselves.

Although, that's pretty much what happens when Eddie Van Blundht assumes Mulder's form, and takes a trial run of his life. It's a perfect opportunity - even more so than in Darin Morgan's self-conscious episodes - for the writers to take a swing at some of the things a normal person might criticize or find ridiculous about the series' main characters, like the fact that Scully spends her weekends working (and thus doesn't have a life), or that Mulder doesn't have a bed in his apartment(!). Above all, it brings to the forefront the question shippers have been asking since episode one: how come Mulder and Scully - two smart, attractive singles who spend a lot of time together - have never hooked up? (It shouldn't be as hilarious as it is that Scully's eyes get so big when Mulder leans in for a kiss).

At the risk of venturing into tangent country, let me explore that question. Although they've become more familiar with themselves over the years they've been working together, and, certainly, their brief separation in the beginning of the second season indicated just how emotionally invested they are in each other (before the pilot, Mulder was content to work alone, but after Ascension, he could barely work a case without Scully), four years have gone by with nothing concrete to indicate a development of any kind of romantic relationship (and you'd think something would have happened by now, if that were the object). Granted, there were some displays of unprecedented tenderness in the recent episode Memento Mori, but that was fully appropriate to the seriousness of the very unexpected and tragic situation they have found themselves in. But does that mean they'll ever "get together"?

Mulder and Scully respect each other highly - that's for sure - and there's really no point at which they do anything that would preclude a romantic relationship from developing (which I'm sure helps to keep the shippers strung along), but you get the impression (and Chris Carter has stated as much in early interviews I've read) that it's just not in the cards for this series. And I don't mind. I'm not exactly what X-Philes call "noromo" - a fan who objects to any romantic development between the leads. It doesn't bother me when Mulder and Scully are tender towards one another; in fact, I think it's sweet. But I'm satisfied with the relationship they do have, and I think it's actually stronger and more satisfying than a romantic relationship would be.

You know, now that I come to think of it, Mulder and Scully could, potentially, be the ideal model of an asexual/aromantic relationship. Although how that differs from a platonic relationship, I'm not sure I can say. It seems as though they are "promised" to each other, they just don't have any need to show it in a romantic or sexual way. Personally, I relate more to Mulder and Scully as passionate, career-minded investigators, than the social butterflies they resemble in the infamous "date scene" in this episode. I'm surprised fans like it so much, considering that I imagine this series attracts a lot of on-the-fringe geeks. Then again, maybe it's because they've spent a lot of time (as even I have) wishing - like Eddie Van Blundht - they were the social butterflies they get to see their impossibly attractive on-screen surrogates behave like in this episode.

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: But, the baby's father is an alien?
Amanda Nelligan: No, no, I didn't say he was an alien, I said he was from another planet.
Mulder: (confused)
Amanda Nelligan: His name is Luke Skywalker. He's what's known as a Jedi knight.
(uncomfortable silence)
Scully: Did he have a lightsaber?

Scully: I think you're right, Mulder.

(Wow, that's rare!)

Eddie Van Blundht: The 'h' is silent.

Scully: Looking like someone else, Mulder, and being someone else are completely different things.
Mulder: Well, maybe it's not, I mean, everybody else around you would treat you like you were somebody else. I mean, ultimately, maybe it's other people's reactions to us that make us who we are.

(Interesting thought, Mulder, but looking like Jimi Hendrix wouldn't give me the ability to play like Jimi Hendrix, and I don't think people would react the same way to Jimi Hendrix if he couldn't play the way he could. He would still be Jimi Hendrix, perhaps, but "Jimi Hendrix" wouldn't be the same person to everyone else anymore).

Edward Van Blundht, Sr.: I told him it was a mistake. I said, "son, Ya ain't much to look at. Ya h'ain't no athlete. And ya sure the hell ain't no Einstein. But at least ya got that tail. Otherwise, you're just small potatahs."

Eddie Van Blundht (to Mulder): You're a damn good-lookin' man.

Skinner: Which one of you wrote this?
Mulder: I did, sir.
Skinner: You spelled "Federal Bureau of Investigation" wrong.
Mulder: It was a typo.
Skinner: Twice.

Eddie Van Blundht (to Mulder): I was born a loser, but...you're one by choice.

Scully: I don't imagine you need to be told this, Mulder, but...you're not a loser.
Mulder: Yeah, but I'm no Eddie Van Blundht, either. Am I?

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)

I had written this movie off as a horror comedy - which is precisely what it is - since I'm just not usually that interested in comedies, but I read the synopsis recently and it dawned on me that the premise had potential to be an intelligent deconstruction of the slasher formula (perhaps in a similar vein as The Cabin in the Woods). It doesn't quite reach that level, as it's more committed to being fun than smart, but it's still pretty good, at least as far as horror comedies go.

Given how many slashers we've seen over the years, it's surprising how rarely anyone comes up with an inversion of the usual formula. Even the basic idea of telling a slasher from the point of view of the "killer hillbillies" instead of the college kids is pretty novel. That alone would give it more of a morally-ambiguous exploitation-like approach, but Tucker and Dale vs. Evil takes it a step further and posits the hillbillies as innocents merely caught up in an elaborate misunderstanding following a series of tragic, accidental deaths. It's a great device that gives the genre an opportunity to apologize for a lot of the stereotypes it's encouraged (not that that's necessarily a goal of this movie), by indicting the college kids who jump to the conclusion that any creepy hillbilly you meet out in the woods is bound to be some kind of sadistic, cannibal killer (the stereotype of the college kids being idiots you can't wait to see get killed in gruesome ways remains intact, however).

If you like comedies, or especially horror comedies, you might enjoy this movie more than I did, but even so, it had some good moments, even a few funny ones. I really got to like the character Dale (played by Tyler Labine, who - random trivia time - played a stoner on two separate episodes of The X-Files back in 1996 - War of the Coprophages, and Quagmire). The scene where Tucker uses the chainsaw on a bee hive was frankly quite clever. Clearly, it's a parody of Leatherface's maniacal manner of wielding a chainsaw. Now, that last scene in the Texas Chain Saw Massacre - I think it's brilliant, and haunting, and one of the greatest scenes ever in a horror movie. But you do have to admit, once you step back and look at it critically, that it's kind of ridiculous to see somebody waving a chainsaw around like that. This movie recognizes that, and creates a humorous situation in which something like that could actually occur - albeit accidentally.

This is less of a humorous note, but I also really appreciated the scene where Dale and the college kid sit down to a cup of tea to work out their problems. It's a perfect example of bigotry in action. Some maniac does something horrible to a person, and the person latches onto some incidental detail of the maniac's identity in anger, usually one that's rife with stereotypes - in this case, the fact that the maniacs were hillbillies - and then generalizes that to all people who possess that detail - e.g., concluding that all hillbillies are maniacs, as if the hillbilly part is what made those hillbillies maniacs, instead of those particular hillbillies just happening to be maniacs. It happens all the time - with race, gender, sexual orientation - any bigotry you can imagine. And there I go, finding something serious to discuss in a lighthearted movie. I should open a column titled "The Darker Side of..."

The X-Files - S4:E11 "El Mundo Gira"

[ S4:E10 "Paper Hearts" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E12 "Leonard Betts" ]

This is it! This is the episode that tackles the cryptid known as "el chupacabra" - the Mexican goatsucker! You know, I always thought of the chupacabra as some kind of wild beast, like a freakish Tazmanian devil or something, but I think it was The X-Files' that first introduced me to the idea that it could actually be an alien. Which makes perfect sense, when you think about the cattle mutilation connection.

A young woman turns up dead via strange circumstances in a migrant workers' camp in California, and the superstitious locals blame it on "el chupacabra". Naturally, Mulder shows up to investigate. Both of the agents' explanations in this episode are top notch - Scully's rational approach to what appears to be a highly lethal fungal pathogen, and Mulder's attempt to connect it to extraterrestrials via an unexplained astronomical event. (The combination of which kinda reminds me of a segment from Creepshow - The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill).

This is a pretty gross episode, with the weird, green, fungal stuff going on (shudders). But there's a bit of fun at the end, when we're treated to a couple of variations on the final showdown, depending on different witness' perspectives - a mechanism that recalls (in small part) the difficulty of parsing the truth in Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space', and that we'll see again in a memorable episode to come. (By the way, the actress credited as Simi, who plays Gabrielle, is one hell of a storyteller).

This is definitely one of the series' better "ethnic" episodes, perhaps because it focuses on the human story at its center (two brothers, one woman - trouble), instead of placing too much emphasis on the particulars of whichever superstitions this particular culture subscribes to. It's definitely an improvement over writer John Shiban's previous two episodes, from season 3 - The Walk, and Teso dos Bichos.

Memorable quotes:

Flakita: It was a terrible thing. You are not going to believe me, even when I tell you. Some say it is a story - a fairy tale. But I saw it. I saw it with my own eyes.

Scully: Mulder, you brought me out here under the pretense of investigating an unexplained death. Can you tell me why we're standing out here in the middle of a field looking at a dead goat?

Scully: Admit it, you fell for it. Your Fortean event turned out to be nothing more than the oldest story in the world: two men, one woman - trouble.

Scully: Mulder, I know you don't wanna hear this, but I think the aliens in this story are not the villains, they're the victims.

(Ooh, nice one, Scully. You can see the recognition dawning on Mulder's face as he works out the joke).

INS Agent Lozano: A man cannot live with vengeance in his heart.

Mulder: Scully, I've been thinking - I know that's dangerous, but just bear with me.