[ S6:E15 "Arcadia" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E17 "Trevor" ]
From the pen of Jeffrey "The Rain King" Bell, we get this almost-classic X-File, which serves as sort of the dog version of season 3's Teso dos Bichos. A canine cryptid - supposed to be extinct - shipped from China gets loose in California, and goes on a rampage. We see it as a wolf with glowing, red eyes (say what you will, but given all the humanoid killers this show has featured, it's nice to have one that's an animal for a change). Andrew Robinson (who was the good guy, Larry, in the original Hellraiser) plays a temperamental cryptozoologist, and Melinda Culea plays an otherkin wolf spirit who is a bit of a shut-in, and draws Mulder to the case after meeting him on the internet. Apart from Scully's jealous vendetta, I'd say that her portrayal is fairly sensitive (I may be biased as a fellow antisocial loner, but misanthropy isn't automatically a negative trait in my mind), given the stigma that otherkin have in mainstream culture - despite being a social outcast (which is not necessarily uncharacteristic).
In a meeting of the minds between Mulder and his dog-loving friend, the latter says, "I'm just going by the facts," and it's more proof that the characters of The X-Files simply live in a world where this kind of stuff (a murderous dog with apparent human intelligence and possible shape-shifting abilities) is real. Scully could be less block-headed when it comes to her skepticism and scientific rationalism. I hate it when writers write her as being not just doubtful, but derisive of alternative explanations (and those who hold them). Instead of this attitude: "you believe this? Then you are a subhuman and I am so above entertaining your ridiculous theories," I have only to think of her enthusiasm in the pilot episode when she wasn't afraid to tell Mulder he was crazy, but was still intrigued enough by his crazy theories to go out and investigate them. Truly, the thrill is gone. Of course, in this case, it may be exacerbated by jealousy - but seeing Scully get jealous over Mulder giving any other woman attention isn't much more satisfying. These are some of the worst qualities of these characters. What do we need this kind of idiotic drama for anyway? Need the writers be reminded of the fact that this is not what this show is supposed to be about?
Mulder doesn't get off in this episode, either. I'm noticing a distinct change in his personality, in line with the series' recent change towards a more comedic tone. He's always fired off quips, but he used to be more serious, more critical of the squares who invariably scoff at his wild theories. Now, the humor is more self-conscious, with more of an emphasis on jokes and wacky behavior. Like a man with more confidence in his reputation than his character, he walks on screen like he's getting up on stage to do stand-up comedy. But it's a more low-brow sort of humor - not the kind that suited The X-Files' original reputation as a smart, serious genre enthusiast's television show. Throw the whole Mulder-Scully romance thing on top of that, and I guess that's the casualty of popularity for you - a dumbing down of principles in order to cater to the lowest common denominator...
All that having been said, it's perfectly decent, as far as run-of-the-mill monster-of-the-week episodes go - and it definitely feels more old-school than the majority of the episodes in this season. Plus, I must admit I'm touched by the fact that it features the restoration of Mulder's beloved I Want To Believe poster, that was destroyed at the end of The End.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: Cryptozoologist?
Officer Cahn: Yeah, they deal with animals thought to be extinct, animals --
Mulder: Animals that aren't supposed to exist, like Sasquatch, or the Ogopogo, the Abominable Snowman...
Scully: Don't mind him, he'll go on forever.
(It would have been funnier if he did actually go on much longer, and list a whole lot more cryptids: Bigfoot, el Chupacabra, the Loch Ness monster, the Jersey Devil, Mothman, the Fiji Mermaid, etc.)
Karin Berquist: Dog eats dog catcher. Story's all over the news this morning. It's sort of uplifting.
Scully: Don't underestimate a woman. They can be tricksters, too.
Showing posts with label cryptozoology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cryptozoology. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
The X-Files - S5:E4 "Detour"
[ S5:E3 "Unusual Suspects" <<< Season 5 >>> S5:E5 "The Post-Modern Prometheus" ]
Stopped by a road block while en route to a totally unnecessary team-building seminar (as if Mulder and Scully aren't already the best pair of investigators in the bureau), Mulder and Scully take the opportunity to ditch the annoyingly cheerful agents they are carpooling with (I have to say, as cool as it sounds, "Stonecypher" is a really weird name) in order to investigate the unexplained case of a strange predator (one of whose victims is a man I couldn't help noticing was played by the same actor who protrayed Scully's one-time hypnotic regression therapist in The Blessing Way) in the swampy woods of Florida (still filmed in miraculous Vancouver). How's that for a run-on sentence?
It's funny, but when I started watching Darkness Falls in season 1, I thought it was this episode, and I was confused, because I thought it was supposed to come much later in the series. Well, as I now know, it was this episode I was thinking of. The opener is somewhat reminiscent of F. Emasculata, which also started out in a dangerous jungle environment, but this episode, pervaded by a subtle sense of humor, is closer in tone to Quagmire, although not quite as good. There is even a point at which Mulder and Scully become stranded out in the woods at night, in a scene that seems to want to be the infamous "conversation on the rock" from that episode.
The episode is written by Frank Spotnitz, who usually sticks to mythology episodes - but his last non-mythology solo writing credit was on Our Town from season 2, which was a pretty decent episode. There is some dialogue about the encroachment of civilization upon mother nature, but the social commentary is subtler than it's been in the past on this series. The monster in this episode is some kind of camouflage humanoid with glowing, red eyes, that Mulder compares to the West Virginia legend of the Mothman. But being stalked in the woods by an invisible, intelligent creature - especially when they use infrared to track it, and start talking about it regulating its body temperature to avoid detection - can't help but conjure up images of Predator in one's mind.
As a final note, I was worried when Mulder started questioning an attractive red-haired police detective that this was going to be another one of those uncomfortable situations where Scully gets jealous and petty, like she frequently did in season 3. Thankfully, it didn't go that route. Even though it may have been a result of the professional distance between them in their early days, I liked when the two of them wouldn't get all bent out of shape every time one of them showed fleeting interest in someone else. They should certainly have enough confidence by now in the bond between them, especially after recent events, to know that even if one of them were to momentarily stray, they would always come back. They may not be "together" in a traditional sense, but they could still adopt a poly sensibility.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: Pop quiz. What animal will attack the strongest, leaving the weak to escape?
Scully: ...
Mulder: The answer is none. Not one of the over four thousand species native to North America will attack the strongest when the weak is vulnerable.
Scully: And what does that have to do with anything?
Mulder: It makes me think that what we're dealing with here is no ordinary predator.
Mulder: Civilization is pushing very hard into these woods. Maybe something in these woods is pushing back.
Jeff: Nature is populated by creatures either trying to kill something they need to survive, or...trying to avoid being killed by something that needs them to survive. If we become blinded by the beauty of nature, we may fail to see its cruelty and violence.
Scully: Walt Whitman?
Jeff: No, When Animals Attack on the Fox Network.
(Lol, more self-advertisement. Not quite as effective as Nisei's take on Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, though).
Mulder: I think nature is supremely indifferent to whether we live or die. I mean, if you're lucky, you get 75 years. If you're really lucky, you get 80 years. And if you're extraordinarily lucky, you get to have 50 of those years with a decent head of hair.
Scully: I guess it's like Las Vegas - the house always wins.
Stopped by a road block while en route to a totally unnecessary team-building seminar (as if Mulder and Scully aren't already the best pair of investigators in the bureau), Mulder and Scully take the opportunity to ditch the annoyingly cheerful agents they are carpooling with (I have to say, as cool as it sounds, "Stonecypher" is a really weird name) in order to investigate the unexplained case of a strange predator (one of whose victims is a man I couldn't help noticing was played by the same actor who protrayed Scully's one-time hypnotic regression therapist in The Blessing Way) in the swampy woods of Florida (still filmed in miraculous Vancouver). How's that for a run-on sentence?
It's funny, but when I started watching Darkness Falls in season 1, I thought it was this episode, and I was confused, because I thought it was supposed to come much later in the series. Well, as I now know, it was this episode I was thinking of. The opener is somewhat reminiscent of F. Emasculata, which also started out in a dangerous jungle environment, but this episode, pervaded by a subtle sense of humor, is closer in tone to Quagmire, although not quite as good. There is even a point at which Mulder and Scully become stranded out in the woods at night, in a scene that seems to want to be the infamous "conversation on the rock" from that episode.
The episode is written by Frank Spotnitz, who usually sticks to mythology episodes - but his last non-mythology solo writing credit was on Our Town from season 2, which was a pretty decent episode. There is some dialogue about the encroachment of civilization upon mother nature, but the social commentary is subtler than it's been in the past on this series. The monster in this episode is some kind of camouflage humanoid with glowing, red eyes, that Mulder compares to the West Virginia legend of the Mothman. But being stalked in the woods by an invisible, intelligent creature - especially when they use infrared to track it, and start talking about it regulating its body temperature to avoid detection - can't help but conjure up images of Predator in one's mind.
As a final note, I was worried when Mulder started questioning an attractive red-haired police detective that this was going to be another one of those uncomfortable situations where Scully gets jealous and petty, like she frequently did in season 3. Thankfully, it didn't go that route. Even though it may have been a result of the professional distance between them in their early days, I liked when the two of them wouldn't get all bent out of shape every time one of them showed fleeting interest in someone else. They should certainly have enough confidence by now in the bond between them, especially after recent events, to know that even if one of them were to momentarily stray, they would always come back. They may not be "together" in a traditional sense, but they could still adopt a poly sensibility.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: Pop quiz. What animal will attack the strongest, leaving the weak to escape?
Scully: ...
Mulder: The answer is none. Not one of the over four thousand species native to North America will attack the strongest when the weak is vulnerable.
Scully: And what does that have to do with anything?
Mulder: It makes me think that what we're dealing with here is no ordinary predator.
Mulder: Civilization is pushing very hard into these woods. Maybe something in these woods is pushing back.
Jeff: Nature is populated by creatures either trying to kill something they need to survive, or...trying to avoid being killed by something that needs them to survive. If we become blinded by the beauty of nature, we may fail to see its cruelty and violence.
Scully: Walt Whitman?
Jeff: No, When Animals Attack on the Fox Network.
(Lol, more self-advertisement. Not quite as effective as Nisei's take on Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, though).
Mulder: I think nature is supremely indifferent to whether we live or die. I mean, if you're lucky, you get 75 years. If you're really lucky, you get 80 years. And if you're extraordinarily lucky, you get to have 50 of those years with a decent head of hair.
Scully: I guess it's like Las Vegas - the house always wins.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
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.
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.
Monday, September 14, 2015
The X-Files - S3:E22 "Quagmire"
[ S3:E21 "Avatar" <<< Season 3 >>> S3:E23 "Wetwired" ]
It was only a matter of time before Mulder and Scully encountered the Loch Ness monster. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long - I would have expected this episode to appear in the first season, alongside The Jersey Devil perhaps. But, it has the benefit of appearing in the third season, when these kinds of episodes were of a higher quality. Even the nature conservationist angle is less preachy (not that I've ever counted that as a strike) than in episodes like Darkness Falls, or season 2's Fearful Symmetry, mostly because it seems to take itself less seriously. And the location - a misty lake (allegedly) in Georgia (if it looks more like Vancouver than Georgia - I've never been to either place, so I don't know - then that can be forgiven by the incredible atmosphere it lends the episode) - is beautifully eerie. For better or worse, this is the episode in which Scully's dog, Queequeg - which she picked up in Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, and was subsequently seen in that other Darin Morgan episode, War of the Coprophages - (highlight spoiler to read): meets its end.
The episode (written by Kim Newton) incorporates an admirably subtle dose of straight-faced humor that contributes to its fun, but doesn't threaten to overpower the science fiction, horror, or mystery of its script, as tends to be the case in Darin Morgan's episodes, which we've become accustomed to this season. There is also an excellent scene in which Mulder and Scully have to wait out the night stranded on a rock in the middle of the lake, and have a little heart-to-heart that runs the gamut of subjects from cannibalism, to Moby Dick, and the psychological advantages of being handicapped, all while notably developing our main characters (we learn why Scully called her dad Ahab, and he called her Starbuck, and she then describes Mulder's quest for the truth as a "white whale"). Quagmire rides in the wake of Jaws, and the slasher craze of the '80s, but despite featuring a premise that sounds like a cheap sci-fi channel movie, it manages to be a thoroughly enjoyable episode, and very much the epitome of the literal "monster"-of-the-week format.
Memorable quotes:
Dr. Farraday: A frog holocaust is currently being executed, Dr. Bailey, and man is the executioner.
Dr. Farraday: You can't turn your back on nature, or nature will turn her back on you!
Scully: So you think that there's a serial killer at large?
Mulder: The operative word being 'large'.
Dr. Farraday: You expect me to cry for one man when entire species are perched on the brink of extinction?
Mulder: Sounds like you know a little something about the subject.
Scully: I did as a kid, but...then I grew up, and became a scientist.
Stoner: Dude, what's wrong with you? You made me drop my toad.
Mulder: You know, living in the city, you forget that night is actually so, uh...dark.
Scully: Living in the city, you forget a lot of things. You know, there you're always thinking about being mugged, or hit by a car; it's not until you get back to nature until you realize that everything is out to get you. So my father always taught me to respect nature, 'cause it has no respect for you.
Mulder: Hey, Scully, do you think you could ever cannibalize someone? I mean, if you really had to?
Scully: Well, as much as the very idea is abhorrent to me, I suppose under certain conditions, a living entity is practically conditioned to perform whatever extreme measures are necessary to ensure its survival. I suppose I'm no different.
Scully: You're like Ahab. You're so consumed by your own personal vengeance against life, whether it be its inherent cruelties or its mysteries, that everything takes on a warped significance to fit your megalomaniacal cosmology.
Mulder: Scully, are you coming on to me?
Scully: It's just - the truth or a white whale, what difference does it make? I mean, both obsessions are impossible to capture, and trying to do so will only leave you dead, along with everyone else you bring with you. You know, Mulder, you are Ahab.
Mulder: If you have a peg-leg, or hooks for hands, you know, maybe it's enough to simply carry on living, bravely facing life with your disability - it's heroic just to survive. But without these things, you're actually expected to make something of your life, achieve something - earn a raise, wear a necktie. So, if anything, I'm actually the antithesis of Ahab, because if I did have a peg-leg, I'd quite possibly be more happy, and more content, and not feel the need to chase after these creatures of the unknown.
Mulder: I guess I just wanted Big Blue to be real. I guess I see hope in such a possibility.
Scully: Well, there's still hope. That's why these myths and stories have endured. People wanna believe.
(And that's why we watch The X-Files). -_^
It was only a matter of time before Mulder and Scully encountered the Loch Ness monster. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long - I would have expected this episode to appear in the first season, alongside The Jersey Devil perhaps. But, it has the benefit of appearing in the third season, when these kinds of episodes were of a higher quality. Even the nature conservationist angle is less preachy (not that I've ever counted that as a strike) than in episodes like Darkness Falls, or season 2's Fearful Symmetry, mostly because it seems to take itself less seriously. And the location - a misty lake (allegedly) in Georgia (if it looks more like Vancouver than Georgia - I've never been to either place, so I don't know - then that can be forgiven by the incredible atmosphere it lends the episode) - is beautifully eerie. For better or worse, this is the episode in which Scully's dog, Queequeg - which she picked up in Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, and was subsequently seen in that other Darin Morgan episode, War of the Coprophages - (highlight spoiler to read): meets its end.
The episode (written by Kim Newton) incorporates an admirably subtle dose of straight-faced humor that contributes to its fun, but doesn't threaten to overpower the science fiction, horror, or mystery of its script, as tends to be the case in Darin Morgan's episodes, which we've become accustomed to this season. There is also an excellent scene in which Mulder and Scully have to wait out the night stranded on a rock in the middle of the lake, and have a little heart-to-heart that runs the gamut of subjects from cannibalism, to Moby Dick, and the psychological advantages of being handicapped, all while notably developing our main characters (we learn why Scully called her dad Ahab, and he called her Starbuck, and she then describes Mulder's quest for the truth as a "white whale"). Quagmire rides in the wake of Jaws, and the slasher craze of the '80s, but despite featuring a premise that sounds like a cheap sci-fi channel movie, it manages to be a thoroughly enjoyable episode, and very much the epitome of the literal "monster"-of-the-week format.
Memorable quotes:
Dr. Farraday: A frog holocaust is currently being executed, Dr. Bailey, and man is the executioner.
Dr. Farraday: You can't turn your back on nature, or nature will turn her back on you!
Scully: So you think that there's a serial killer at large?
Mulder: The operative word being 'large'.
Dr. Farraday: You expect me to cry for one man when entire species are perched on the brink of extinction?
Mulder: Sounds like you know a little something about the subject.
Scully: I did as a kid, but...then I grew up, and became a scientist.
Stoner: Dude, what's wrong with you? You made me drop my toad.
Mulder: You know, living in the city, you forget that night is actually so, uh...dark.
Scully: Living in the city, you forget a lot of things. You know, there you're always thinking about being mugged, or hit by a car; it's not until you get back to nature until you realize that everything is out to get you. So my father always taught me to respect nature, 'cause it has no respect for you.
Mulder: Hey, Scully, do you think you could ever cannibalize someone? I mean, if you really had to?
Scully: Well, as much as the very idea is abhorrent to me, I suppose under certain conditions, a living entity is practically conditioned to perform whatever extreme measures are necessary to ensure its survival. I suppose I'm no different.
Scully: You're like Ahab. You're so consumed by your own personal vengeance against life, whether it be its inherent cruelties or its mysteries, that everything takes on a warped significance to fit your megalomaniacal cosmology.
Mulder: Scully, are you coming on to me?
Scully: It's just - the truth or a white whale, what difference does it make? I mean, both obsessions are impossible to capture, and trying to do so will only leave you dead, along with everyone else you bring with you. You know, Mulder, you are Ahab.
Mulder: If you have a peg-leg, or hooks for hands, you know, maybe it's enough to simply carry on living, bravely facing life with your disability - it's heroic just to survive. But without these things, you're actually expected to make something of your life, achieve something - earn a raise, wear a necktie. So, if anything, I'm actually the antithesis of Ahab, because if I did have a peg-leg, I'd quite possibly be more happy, and more content, and not feel the need to chase after these creatures of the unknown.
Mulder: I guess I just wanted Big Blue to be real. I guess I see hope in such a possibility.
Scully: Well, there's still hope. That's why these myths and stories have endured. People wanna believe.
(And that's why we watch The X-Files). -_^
Thursday, July 2, 2015
The X-Files - S1:E5 "The Jersey Devil"
[ S1:E4 "Conduit" <<< Season 1 >>> S1:E6 "Shadows" ]
The X-Files tackles cryptozoology in this monster-of-the-week episode, in which Mulder goes on a hunt for the east coast version of Bigfoot. Meanwhile, thinking that Mulder is too absorbed in his work, Scully takes a stab at dating, but finds the social life boring compared to the thrill of solving cases. On the subject of a romance between the two leads, there was some minor romantic tension in as early as the pilot episode, so it's not something that was just tacked on later in the series, but it will take some time to develop into anything substantial. Mulder and Scully's growing relationship (and I use that word in a holistic sense - meaning not strictly romantic, but also as friends and work partners) is a mature one; they have lots of respect for each other, but it definitely lends evidence (in the long run) to the belief that men and women can't be "just friends". On the other hand, this is first and foremost a sci-fi/horror crime/thriller series, and not a romantic drama, so there's never too much time spent on any of that lovey-dovey stuff.
Memorable quotes:
Anthropologist: It's just...highly unlikely that what you're suggesting could have survived civilization or evolution out in the woods of New Jersey.
Mulder: Highly unlikely, but not outside the realm of extreme possibility?
Anthropologist: Well, it would be an amazing discovery.
Mulder: Eight million years out of Africa, I don't think we're all that different.
Scully: Mulder, we've put men into space. We've built computers that work faster than the human mind.
Mulder: While we overpopulate the world and create new technologies to kill each other with? Maybe we're just beasts with big brains.
The X-Files tackles cryptozoology in this monster-of-the-week episode, in which Mulder goes on a hunt for the east coast version of Bigfoot. Meanwhile, thinking that Mulder is too absorbed in his work, Scully takes a stab at dating, but finds the social life boring compared to the thrill of solving cases. On the subject of a romance between the two leads, there was some minor romantic tension in as early as the pilot episode, so it's not something that was just tacked on later in the series, but it will take some time to develop into anything substantial. Mulder and Scully's growing relationship (and I use that word in a holistic sense - meaning not strictly romantic, but also as friends and work partners) is a mature one; they have lots of respect for each other, but it definitely lends evidence (in the long run) to the belief that men and women can't be "just friends". On the other hand, this is first and foremost a sci-fi/horror crime/thriller series, and not a romantic drama, so there's never too much time spent on any of that lovey-dovey stuff.
Memorable quotes:
Anthropologist: It's just...highly unlikely that what you're suggesting could have survived civilization or evolution out in the woods of New Jersey.
Mulder: Highly unlikely, but not outside the realm of extreme possibility?
Anthropologist: Well, it would be an amazing discovery.
Mulder: Eight million years out of Africa, I don't think we're all that different.
Scully: Mulder, we've put men into space. We've built computers that work faster than the human mind.
Mulder: While we overpopulate the world and create new technologies to kill each other with? Maybe we're just beasts with big brains.
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