Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Colonia (2015)
Colonia (a.k.a. The Colony) starts out like a Chilean The Dreamers - starring the ever-effervescent Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl as globetrotting political activists and young lovers named Lena and, er, Daniel - complete with a rock and roll soundtrack (making excellent use of both Janis Joplin and Santana). But when things turn bad, and the local fascists start clamping down on revolutionaries, the movie veers into Midnight Express territory, based (in this case) on the true story of Colonia Dignidad. Lena joins an ultra-conservative religious cult which harbors facilities for the torture of political criminals in the hopes of rescuing Daniel. But once you go in, it's not easy to get out. Michael Nyqvist creates a chilling portrayal of the cultleader Paul Schäfer (not to be confused with the bandleader of the CBS orchestra), a spiritual guru intoxicated by his own ego, poignantly demonstrating the irony of a "holy man" who is nevertheless a textbook demonstration of cruelty and corruption. (Begging the question - at least in my mind - of how long we have to continue pointing out the ties between misogyny and despotism before people begin to realize that fighting and shaming our basic sexual natures (but especially that of women) is not the path to divinity). Anyway, it's a tense and suspenseful movie; I recommend it - and not just because it stars Emma Watson, either. ;-p
Monday, January 25, 2016
The X-Files - S10:E1 "My Struggle"
[ I Want To Believe <<< Season 10 >>> S10:E2 "Founder's Mutation" ]
To cut straight to the point of this review, I'll say from the outset that my overall impression of the first episode of this new miniseries is...lukewarm. Maybe I got my hopes up a little too high expecting it to be insta-classic X-Files, just add water. But it's only the first episode, and there's still time to improve. Besides, a lot of this episode seems to be setting up, getting us back into the groove. Perhaps we'll have Mulder and Scully shouting each other's names and waving their flashlights around more in the monster-of-the-week episodes. Regardless, I'm eagerly anticipating the episodes by Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan, and James Wong.
Spoiler Warning: The rest of this review is going to contain spoilers, both for this episode, and for much of the mythology of the series, to which this episode begins a new chapter.
So, my first impression as the episode began was that it didn't look or feel like classic X-Files. It's all very modern (and not just because of the hashtag in the corner of the screen). I see heavy usage of digital effects, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am about that. One advantage it may provide (although I've never been prejudiced against men in rubber suits), is that perhaps this series will actually have some aliens in it for the first time in like forever. Despite what I said during my marathon back around the time I reviewed the first movie, the series never really switched over to alien-alien characters. Right up to the end we were still dealing with alien replicants and Super Soldiers that looked, to the viewer's eye, entirely human.
And now we have an alien pilot crawling from the wreckage of a crashed UFO (Roswell, 1947, if I'm not mistaken). But it doesn't look like the crashed UFOs we've seen before. It's less esoteric - less glowing lights and men in hazmat suits, and more a broken saucer sticking out of the ground. In the first of many throwbacks to the series' earlier mythology, we see a presumed government agent executing the alien pilot, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1013 (as alluded to by Deep Throat in E.B.E., and then addressed more explicitly in Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man).
I think the thing I like best that this episode has done, conceptually speaking, is restructure the entire conspiracy around which the show hinges. Even if that requires considerable retconning (one of the more eye-rolling examples of which is changing the date of the alleged alien apocalypse, as discovered in The Truth, to the date of the start of a countdown). The episode hearkens back to the fifth season's mythology quite a bit, even insofar as ostensibly placing Mulder in a position of doubt (initially). But while there has been alien contact, it is not the aliens that are the threat, but the government alone. Acting in a The Day The Earth Stood Still sort of capacity, the aliens have been drawn by mankind's achievement of nuclear warfare, and ever since 1947, the government has been stealing alien technology and hiding it from the public (creating ARVs - Alien Replica Vehicles, like the UFOs we saw in the episode Deep Throat), in a long-term plan to take over the world.
At least, that's what conservative talk show host Tad O'Malley (Joel McHale) is convinced of. And in true X-Files fashion, it's not altogether clear who one should trust. But Tad wants Mulder and Scully on the case, for obvious reasons, what with their background in fighting the conspiracy. It's not an easy sell, although, much like in I Want To Believe, Mulder seems more readily drawn to the action than Scully, who is again seen working as a doctor at Our Lady of Sorrows. Tad has been in contact with an abductee by the name of Sveta (a radiant Annet Mahendru), who appears to be exhibiting mind-reading abilities similar to those that Gibson Praise has demonstrated. Scully determines that she does indeed possess alien DNA, but then, as an abductee herself, she does, too.
Another thing that I think I like about this episode (in spite of myself) is how convincingly it seems to depict Mulder's obsession in an unhealthy way. I've always defended Mulder, and he'll probably turn out to be right yet again, but it really does start feeling like he's gone off the deep end. It doesn't help that he's getting older, and going gray, yet rambles (frequently only just barely coherently) more and more with the passing years. Tad - young and coiffed though he is - doesn't seem to be helping things, with his ultra-paranoid mentality (almost reaching levels witnessed in the episode Trust No 1; I daresay even The Lone Gunmen would call him crazy - and that's saying something).
As the episode opened, it was immediately clear that this series is sticking to its UFO-centered subject matter. But it really hammers on the paranoid conspiracy talk. A lot of it coming out of these characters' mouths sounds as obsessively paranoid as it would coming out of anyone's mouth. Similar to the fact that the best argument against conspiracies is that people are messy and prone to error, the fact that technology exists for perfect surveillance doesn't mean that we have the human resources (or inclination, necessarily) to use it that way. Just as the possibility of being seen when you pass a window doesn't mean that somebody will necessarily be looking at the instant you pass, the fact that there's a security camera on the street corner doesn't necessarily mean that you are or ever will be witnessed walking past by any human eyes. Similarly, Google may save all your emails, but somebody's still got to sit there and read through them all, and who has that kind of time?
Obviously, this isn't an argument against standing up for our privacy, because even if it's not ubiquitous, if the capability exists, there will be cases of people taking (selective) advantage of it. Power corrupts, and all that. Plus, if you throw into the mix the knowledge that computers are getting smarter, there may conceivably come a time when a machine could be up to the task of spending the necessary man hours (which would be considerably fewer computer hours), as well as an AI sophisticated enough to parse meaningful information. I guess, then, the important thing is a proactive defense of our privacy, laying the framework now, before it's too late (and the machines - or those that control them - take over)!
Which, I guess, is what's at the heart of the mythology in this episode. (And if it can engender this much discussion, maybe the themes are more on point than I realized). Questions still remain - as is ever the case when Chris Carter puts pen to paper. Who is in charge of this conspiracy? Besides the Cigarette Smoking Man, I mean - although his appearance raises even more questions. Like, how did he survive being incinerated to his very skeleton? He looks better now than he's looked since his surgery in Amor Fati, although he's never been as cool since he's had to smoke his cigarettes through a stoma. But if everything we thought we knew about the conspiracy - the Syndicate's plans, the aliens' agenda - is wrong, then there are a lot of contradictions that are going to need to be ironed out, unless we're being asked to ignore an awful lot of what this series has already laid out. Which I wouldn't be unwilling to do, but it would be helpful to know whether or not that's the case here. (And a brief reference to William would indicate that we're not completely jettisoning canon yet).
Anyway, I think the success of this episode will depend largely on how the rest of the miniseries plays out. And there's really not any other way that could be. The episode ends with the X-Files being re-opened (Skinner appears in a minor role that as yet may not do justice to the main credit he's nonetheless rightfully earned - otherwise, the opening credits sequence has been returned to the classic one, much to my relief), but in spite of the long passage of years, it doesn't feel as exciting (or as natural) as it did when it happened in Ascension, or at the end of Fight The Future. Anyway, it was a foregone conclusion, regardless, and as I mentioned above, I'm looking forward to seeing how this new series handles the monster-of-the-week episodes. (Me, looking forward to a Darin Morgan episode more than a mythology episode? My, how times have changed!).
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: We must ask ourselves: are they really a hoax? Are we truly alone, or are we being lied to?
(Great setup for the alien business, even if it doesn't feel as convincing as it did in the '90s - I'm not sure if it was the times, or just my youthful naiveté. Either way, the rest of this episode unfortunately undermines the pull of this opener by suggesting that the threat hanging over us is not in fact alien, but entirely human).
O'Malley: Do you miss it at all - the X-Files?
Scully: As a scientist, it was probably some of the most intense and challenging work I've ever done. I've never felt so alive.
Sveta: Who can I trust? They would call me a liar when they're the liars!
Mulder: Scully, listen to me. I've been misled - we've been misled. What if everything we've been led to believe in is a lie? What if there is no alien conspiracy?
(So, The X-Files was its own biggest conspiracy all along? I'd be more impressed if this ground hadn't already been tread in Gethsemane).
Mulder: You owe me some answers.
Skinner: Will you just...calm the hell down, Mulder - before we both get pissed off?
(Like old times).
Skinner: Since 9/11, this country's taken a big turn in a very strange direction.
Mulder: They police us, and spy on us, tell us that makes us safer. We've never been in more danger.
Informant: You weren't even close. Warring aliens lighting each other on fire, and other such nonsense.
Mulder: I was being cleverly manipulated.
(We were all being manipulated. Apparently. By Chris Carter).
Informant: Tell me something new.
Mulder: Alien technology being used against us. Not by aliens, not with aliens, but by a venal conspiracy of men against humanity.
Informant: The lies are so great, Mr. Mulder, the truth must be unassailable.
Informant: Roswell - that was a smokescreen.
Mulder: So I've been told.
(Between this and his reluctance to exterminate an alien pilot, I'd swear this guy is Deep Throat all over again. But without the magnetic presence of Jerry Hardin.)
Scully: I have seen this before. You're on fire, believing that you're on to some truth, that you can save the world.
Mulder: This will finally be their undoing.
Scully: It'll be your undoing, Mulder.
(If this wasn't The X-Files... Scully makes perhaps the most convincing argument yet, that Mulder's quest for truth is really just a symptom of madness. Tilting at windmills. As badly as we viewers want to believe in Mulder, all these years have passed and there is still no hard evidence. Even now, everything we thought we were sure of is evaporating into thin air. I'm almost convinced that the best true finale to this series would have Mulder realizing - or not, but the rest of us would - that there are no aliens, or conspiracies. That he's just insane. I know fans probably wouldn't like that, but I've always been fond of mindfuck endings).
Sveta: Why do such a thing and lie about it? Our own government?
Mulder: Your own government lies as a matter of course, as a matter of policy.
Scully: You can't say these things.
O'Malley: I'm gonna say them tomorrow.
Scully: It's fear-mongering, claptrap, isolationist, techno-paranoia so bogus, and dangerous, and stupid, that it borders on treason. Saying these things would be incredibly irresponsible.
Mulder: It's irresponsible not to say it.
Sveta: Especially if it's the truth.
(I'm not a fan of fear-mongering, but I'm a hard-line free-speecher, so my perspective is, crazy conspiracies like this should live or die by the evidence that supports them - or lack thereof. If Scully really wanted to dissuade them - even if she thought they were just paranoid delusions - she should have emphasized the danger over the "irresponsibility").
Mulder: Scully, are you ready for this?
Scully: I don't know there's a choice.
To cut straight to the point of this review, I'll say from the outset that my overall impression of the first episode of this new miniseries is...lukewarm. Maybe I got my hopes up a little too high expecting it to be insta-classic X-Files, just add water. But it's only the first episode, and there's still time to improve. Besides, a lot of this episode seems to be setting up, getting us back into the groove. Perhaps we'll have Mulder and Scully shouting each other's names and waving their flashlights around more in the monster-of-the-week episodes. Regardless, I'm eagerly anticipating the episodes by Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan, and James Wong.
Spoiler Warning: The rest of this review is going to contain spoilers, both for this episode, and for much of the mythology of the series, to which this episode begins a new chapter.
So, my first impression as the episode began was that it didn't look or feel like classic X-Files. It's all very modern (and not just because of the hashtag in the corner of the screen). I see heavy usage of digital effects, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am about that. One advantage it may provide (although I've never been prejudiced against men in rubber suits), is that perhaps this series will actually have some aliens in it for the first time in like forever. Despite what I said during my marathon back around the time I reviewed the first movie, the series never really switched over to alien-alien characters. Right up to the end we were still dealing with alien replicants and Super Soldiers that looked, to the viewer's eye, entirely human.
And now we have an alien pilot crawling from the wreckage of a crashed UFO (Roswell, 1947, if I'm not mistaken). But it doesn't look like the crashed UFOs we've seen before. It's less esoteric - less glowing lights and men in hazmat suits, and more a broken saucer sticking out of the ground. In the first of many throwbacks to the series' earlier mythology, we see a presumed government agent executing the alien pilot, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1013 (as alluded to by Deep Throat in E.B.E., and then addressed more explicitly in Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man).
I think the thing I like best that this episode has done, conceptually speaking, is restructure the entire conspiracy around which the show hinges. Even if that requires considerable retconning (one of the more eye-rolling examples of which is changing the date of the alleged alien apocalypse, as discovered in The Truth, to the date of the start of a countdown). The episode hearkens back to the fifth season's mythology quite a bit, even insofar as ostensibly placing Mulder in a position of doubt (initially). But while there has been alien contact, it is not the aliens that are the threat, but the government alone. Acting in a The Day The Earth Stood Still sort of capacity, the aliens have been drawn by mankind's achievement of nuclear warfare, and ever since 1947, the government has been stealing alien technology and hiding it from the public (creating ARVs - Alien Replica Vehicles, like the UFOs we saw in the episode Deep Throat), in a long-term plan to take over the world.
At least, that's what conservative talk show host Tad O'Malley (Joel McHale) is convinced of. And in true X-Files fashion, it's not altogether clear who one should trust. But Tad wants Mulder and Scully on the case, for obvious reasons, what with their background in fighting the conspiracy. It's not an easy sell, although, much like in I Want To Believe, Mulder seems more readily drawn to the action than Scully, who is again seen working as a doctor at Our Lady of Sorrows. Tad has been in contact with an abductee by the name of Sveta (a radiant Annet Mahendru), who appears to be exhibiting mind-reading abilities similar to those that Gibson Praise has demonstrated. Scully determines that she does indeed possess alien DNA, but then, as an abductee herself, she does, too.
Another thing that I think I like about this episode (in spite of myself) is how convincingly it seems to depict Mulder's obsession in an unhealthy way. I've always defended Mulder, and he'll probably turn out to be right yet again, but it really does start feeling like he's gone off the deep end. It doesn't help that he's getting older, and going gray, yet rambles (frequently only just barely coherently) more and more with the passing years. Tad - young and coiffed though he is - doesn't seem to be helping things, with his ultra-paranoid mentality (almost reaching levels witnessed in the episode Trust No 1; I daresay even The Lone Gunmen would call him crazy - and that's saying something).
No, don't kick it, Mulder!
As the episode opened, it was immediately clear that this series is sticking to its UFO-centered subject matter. But it really hammers on the paranoid conspiracy talk. A lot of it coming out of these characters' mouths sounds as obsessively paranoid as it would coming out of anyone's mouth. Similar to the fact that the best argument against conspiracies is that people are messy and prone to error, the fact that technology exists for perfect surveillance doesn't mean that we have the human resources (or inclination, necessarily) to use it that way. Just as the possibility of being seen when you pass a window doesn't mean that somebody will necessarily be looking at the instant you pass, the fact that there's a security camera on the street corner doesn't necessarily mean that you are or ever will be witnessed walking past by any human eyes. Similarly, Google may save all your emails, but somebody's still got to sit there and read through them all, and who has that kind of time?
Obviously, this isn't an argument against standing up for our privacy, because even if it's not ubiquitous, if the capability exists, there will be cases of people taking (selective) advantage of it. Power corrupts, and all that. Plus, if you throw into the mix the knowledge that computers are getting smarter, there may conceivably come a time when a machine could be up to the task of spending the necessary man hours (which would be considerably fewer computer hours), as well as an AI sophisticated enough to parse meaningful information. I guess, then, the important thing is a proactive defense of our privacy, laying the framework now, before it's too late (and the machines - or those that control them - take over)!
Which, I guess, is what's at the heart of the mythology in this episode. (And if it can engender this much discussion, maybe the themes are more on point than I realized). Questions still remain - as is ever the case when Chris Carter puts pen to paper. Who is in charge of this conspiracy? Besides the Cigarette Smoking Man, I mean - although his appearance raises even more questions. Like, how did he survive being incinerated to his very skeleton? He looks better now than he's looked since his surgery in Amor Fati, although he's never been as cool since he's had to smoke his cigarettes through a stoma. But if everything we thought we knew about the conspiracy - the Syndicate's plans, the aliens' agenda - is wrong, then there are a lot of contradictions that are going to need to be ironed out, unless we're being asked to ignore an awful lot of what this series has already laid out. Which I wouldn't be unwilling to do, but it would be helpful to know whether or not that's the case here. (And a brief reference to William would indicate that we're not completely jettisoning canon yet).
Anyway, I think the success of this episode will depend largely on how the rest of the miniseries plays out. And there's really not any other way that could be. The episode ends with the X-Files being re-opened (Skinner appears in a minor role that as yet may not do justice to the main credit he's nonetheless rightfully earned - otherwise, the opening credits sequence has been returned to the classic one, much to my relief), but in spite of the long passage of years, it doesn't feel as exciting (or as natural) as it did when it happened in Ascension, or at the end of Fight The Future. Anyway, it was a foregone conclusion, regardless, and as I mentioned above, I'm looking forward to seeing how this new series handles the monster-of-the-week episodes. (Me, looking forward to a Darin Morgan episode more than a mythology episode? My, how times have changed!).
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: We must ask ourselves: are they really a hoax? Are we truly alone, or are we being lied to?
(Great setup for the alien business, even if it doesn't feel as convincing as it did in the '90s - I'm not sure if it was the times, or just my youthful naiveté. Either way, the rest of this episode unfortunately undermines the pull of this opener by suggesting that the threat hanging over us is not in fact alien, but entirely human).
O'Malley: Do you miss it at all - the X-Files?
Scully: As a scientist, it was probably some of the most intense and challenging work I've ever done. I've never felt so alive.
Sveta: Who can I trust? They would call me a liar when they're the liars!
Mulder: Scully, listen to me. I've been misled - we've been misled. What if everything we've been led to believe in is a lie? What if there is no alien conspiracy?
(So, The X-Files was its own biggest conspiracy all along? I'd be more impressed if this ground hadn't already been tread in Gethsemane).
Mulder: You owe me some answers.
Skinner: Will you just...calm the hell down, Mulder - before we both get pissed off?
(Like old times).
Skinner: Since 9/11, this country's taken a big turn in a very strange direction.
Mulder: They police us, and spy on us, tell us that makes us safer. We've never been in more danger.
Informant: You weren't even close. Warring aliens lighting each other on fire, and other such nonsense.
Mulder: I was being cleverly manipulated.
(We were all being manipulated. Apparently. By Chris Carter).
Informant: Tell me something new.
Mulder: Alien technology being used against us. Not by aliens, not with aliens, but by a venal conspiracy of men against humanity.
Informant: The lies are so great, Mr. Mulder, the truth must be unassailable.
Informant: Roswell - that was a smokescreen.
Mulder: So I've been told.
(Between this and his reluctance to exterminate an alien pilot, I'd swear this guy is Deep Throat all over again. But without the magnetic presence of Jerry Hardin.)
Scully: I have seen this before. You're on fire, believing that you're on to some truth, that you can save the world.
Mulder: This will finally be their undoing.
Scully: It'll be your undoing, Mulder.
(If this wasn't The X-Files... Scully makes perhaps the most convincing argument yet, that Mulder's quest for truth is really just a symptom of madness. Tilting at windmills. As badly as we viewers want to believe in Mulder, all these years have passed and there is still no hard evidence. Even now, everything we thought we were sure of is evaporating into thin air. I'm almost convinced that the best true finale to this series would have Mulder realizing - or not, but the rest of us would - that there are no aliens, or conspiracies. That he's just insane. I know fans probably wouldn't like that, but I've always been fond of mindfuck endings).
Sveta: Why do such a thing and lie about it? Our own government?
Mulder: Your own government lies as a matter of course, as a matter of policy.
Scully: You can't say these things.
O'Malley: I'm gonna say them tomorrow.
Scully: It's fear-mongering, claptrap, isolationist, techno-paranoia so bogus, and dangerous, and stupid, that it borders on treason. Saying these things would be incredibly irresponsible.
Mulder: It's irresponsible not to say it.
Sveta: Especially if it's the truth.
(I'm not a fan of fear-mongering, but I'm a hard-line free-speecher, so my perspective is, crazy conspiracies like this should live or die by the evidence that supports them - or lack thereof. If Scully really wanted to dissuade them - even if she thought they were just paranoid delusions - she should have emphasized the danger over the "irresponsibility").
Mulder: Scully, are you ready for this?
Scully: I don't know there's a choice.
Friday, January 15, 2016
The X-Files - S9:E19/20 "The Truth"
[ S9:E18 "Sunshine Days" <<< Season 9 >>> I Want To Believe ]
Spoiler-free introduction: This is it - the series finale! The show has done its fair of share of two- (and even several three-) parters, but this is the first time it's aired a double episode all at once. It's billed as both episodes 19 and 20 of the season - which is consistent with counting episodes as 45 minute blocks of TV, but is responsible for some considerable confusion over whether the complete series contains 201 or 202 episodes. It really just depends on whether you consider the series finale to be one episode or two. It's like a double-stuffed Oreo - it's worth twice as much as one Oreo, but it's not actually two Oreos.
Anyway, to spare you the suspense, I'll tell you right now that I enjoyed the finale. It's got a few flaws, and as a two-part mythology episode, it's not as good as this series' best, but it has more of a classic feeling than anything in these last two (or three or four) seasons, and I think it works really well as a series finale, wrapping much of the show up, while still leaving room for further stories to be told, as in the planned movie franchise that never really got off the ground.
I'm a little bit surprised that this show basically copied Seinfeld's approach in putting the main characters on trial, in order to (sort of) do a clips show (especially given the lackluster response that Seinfeld's series finale received), but I actually think it works really well with this show (beyond the hokiness of the idea of putting "the truth" on trial) - and is a good framing device for tying together nine years of convoluted mythology about as well as any X-Phile could realistically hope for from Chris Carter.
Spoiler Warning: With that reader-friendly intro out of the way, the rest of this review will, as I'm sure you can imagine, contain massive spoilers. Proceed with caution.
Anyhow, Mulder is accosted by a Super Soldier we've seen before - Knowle Rohrer - and barely manages to shake him off, but is ultimately captured, and thrown into military prison. Being accused of murdering Knowle (despite that being impossible, what with him being indestructible), the military agrees to put Mulder on trial - albeit a military trial - with cooperation by the FBI. Allegedly, instead of just eliminating Mulder, they want to stamp out his crusade as well, by returning a guilty verdict. Knowing that the trial will be rigged, Mulder appoints Skinner - the only man he can trust - as his representative. Scully appeals to Kersh for help, but his hands are tied (by the Super Soldiers' involvement at the FBI), and so he once again has to play the part of the bad guy (I don't think I've warmed up to him really being a good guy yet).
Mulder sees this as a chance to finally prove what he's been investigating all these years, though it doesn't help that he still doesn't have any proof. He won't even reveal the secret he recently discovered, which would supposedly blow the case wide open (although I don't know how). Scully doesn't want Mulder to sacrifice his life for the truth, but he's already made up his mind, and you know how stubborn he can be. He's also seeing visions of dead people, apparently - making for the shocking appearance of Krycek. The Lone Gunmen also turn up, as does X. It's nice to see X again, after all these years, even if he only shows up to repeat his most disappointing legacy - leading Mulder to the useless Marita Covarrubias. I'm glad we get to see her again, though, if only to know what she's been up to. I was beginning to worry that they would just drop her character, and not even give her the honor of being killed off.
Even Gibson Praise shows up for a cameo appearance. Apparently, Mulder's been in New Mexico all (or most) of this time, protecting the mind-reading wunderkind. I could take or leave the character of Gibson Praise, but he's always been at his best reading the minds of this show's bureaucratic villains, and pointing out their hypocrisies. (Although, post-trial, if they're still trying to protect him, is it really smart bringing him into the FBI headquarters, when they know there's a replicant working on the inside?). Even Doggett and Reyes get their turn on the stand, and to my surprise, it's Reyes who gets the best moment of the whole trial. None if it is enough to exonerate Mulder, however, especially given that the verdict was a by-gone conclusion. But, though the X-Files division is shut down (for the third time) as collateral damage from Mulder's insubordination, his friends have a surprise in store for him - a daring prison breakout!
Mulder and Scully go on the run (together this time!), and, excitingly, Mulder's still got a trick up his sleeve. It's the Smoking Man - still alive! He's been hiding out in the old, Anasazi pueblos, and he's got a secret of his own to reveal. Something the Anasazi figured out years before - the aliens' kryptonite, which occurs naturally in the surrounding geological formations (it brought down the UFO in Roswell!). I can't tell you how relieved and excited I was to see the Smoking Man alive again at the end of the episode. It was perfect. Although, to be honest, his "earth-shattering" revelation fell a little flat. He doesn't survive the literally explosive climax, however - the episode makes a point of showing us his fiery skeleton so that we know for an absolute certainty that he really is truly dead this time. (Until the revival, that is).
All of this is just fantastic, but I'm kinda lukewarm about the episode's closing moments. It's the closest thing this episode has to that mushy "closure" I've been getting sick of (although, to its credit, it's only a small portion of the whole double-length episode). But the series ends with Mulder and Scully curled up in bed together, a clear demonstration of how much Chris Carter's original ideals have eroded over the years (for better or worse, depending on who you ask - I'm leaning toward worse). And their little discussion makes explicit what I've read was Chris Carter's interpretation of the central theme of the show about how the desire to believe in the paranormal is really just a variation on mankind's search for God. I think I would have preferred if that had remained no more than subtext, because I like Mulder better as an atheist.
And that's that! It should be very interesting to watch I Want To Believe again now, having watched the series through to the end for the first time. Stay tuned for a review of that coming next week!
Memorable quotes:
Military Guard: You're a guilty man. You entered a government facility illegally in search of nonexistent information. You failed in every respect!
General Suveg: This man Mulder has made a lot of enemies. He's a crusader, and a lot of people do not like the crusade.
Mulder: What's really on trial here is the truth.
Kersh: Is this all...leading anywhere?
Mulder: Yeah - the destruction of mankind.
Mulder: This is greater than you or me. This is about everything we've worked for for nine years, the truth that we both sacrificed so much to uncover and to expose.
Doggett: What's left for us on the X-Files?
Reyes: We came to this job to give it our best. It's the way we're gonna leave.
Mulder: It's not about how good you are. They control the game. They own it.
Doggett: Then let's shove it up their ass!
Reyes: What is the point of all of this? To destroy a man who seeks the truth, or to destroy the truth so no man can seek it? Either way, you lose.
(Surprisingly, it's Reyes who gets the standout moment of confrontation during the trial. And I love the look of admiration Mulder gives her after witnessing her little bout of righteous insubordination).
Mulder: A bullet between the eyes would have been preferable to this charade.
(Come on, Mulder, it wasn't that bad).
Mulder: The devil is just one man with a plan, but evil - true evil - is a collaboration of men.
Mulder: You may believe yourselves rid of your headache now. Maybe you are. But you've only done it by cutting off your own heads.
(There's a real tragedy in seeing mankind's best defender against the alien apocalypse defeated not by aliens, but by men).
Smoking Man: You damn me for my secrets, but you're afraid to speak the truth.
Scully: Mulder, you say that you've failed, but you only fail if you give up. And I know you - you can't give up.
Spoiler-free introduction: This is it - the series finale! The show has done its fair of share of two- (and even several three-) parters, but this is the first time it's aired a double episode all at once. It's billed as both episodes 19 and 20 of the season - which is consistent with counting episodes as 45 minute blocks of TV, but is responsible for some considerable confusion over whether the complete series contains 201 or 202 episodes. It really just depends on whether you consider the series finale to be one episode or two. It's like a double-stuffed Oreo - it's worth twice as much as one Oreo, but it's not actually two Oreos.
Anyway, to spare you the suspense, I'll tell you right now that I enjoyed the finale. It's got a few flaws, and as a two-part mythology episode, it's not as good as this series' best, but it has more of a classic feeling than anything in these last two (or three or four) seasons, and I think it works really well as a series finale, wrapping much of the show up, while still leaving room for further stories to be told, as in the planned movie franchise that never really got off the ground.
I'm a little bit surprised that this show basically copied Seinfeld's approach in putting the main characters on trial, in order to (sort of) do a clips show (especially given the lackluster response that Seinfeld's series finale received), but I actually think it works really well with this show (beyond the hokiness of the idea of putting "the truth" on trial) - and is a good framing device for tying together nine years of convoluted mythology about as well as any X-Phile could realistically hope for from Chris Carter.
Spoiler Warning: With that reader-friendly intro out of the way, the rest of this review will, as I'm sure you can imagine, contain massive spoilers. Proceed with caution.
The episode opens with a helicopter flying over some woods, and it instantaneously feels almost like a classic X-Files mythology episode (demonstrating what a different show this has become with Doggett and Reyes). No preface, just Mulder (and it's only been a year, but my, he looks like he aged a lot while on the run) in the midst of infiltrating a government facility, wherein he discovers this illustrious "date" for the alien takeover, that so much has been made of. And, believe it or not, it's the date of the Mayan Apocalypse!
Now, as kooky as the whole idea of the Mayan Apocalypse is (even more so now that it's behind us), I like the idea that the Mayans predicted the apocalypse not because they were prophets or whatever, but because they somehow figured out the aliens' plans (who have been around for a while, given that they were the original inhabitants of this planet) - a planned, deliberate apocalypse by an intelligent race. (Although it still begs the question of why they waited so long, and why they chose this particular date, not to mention all that talk about the progress of the Syndicate's experiments determining when colonization would begin. But we'll forget that).
Anyhow, Mulder is accosted by a Super Soldier we've seen before - Knowle Rohrer - and barely manages to shake him off, but is ultimately captured, and thrown into military prison. Being accused of murdering Knowle (despite that being impossible, what with him being indestructible), the military agrees to put Mulder on trial - albeit a military trial - with cooperation by the FBI. Allegedly, instead of just eliminating Mulder, they want to stamp out his crusade as well, by returning a guilty verdict. Knowing that the trial will be rigged, Mulder appoints Skinner - the only man he can trust - as his representative. Scully appeals to Kersh for help, but his hands are tied (by the Super Soldiers' involvement at the FBI), and so he once again has to play the part of the bad guy (I don't think I've warmed up to him really being a good guy yet).
Mulder sees this as a chance to finally prove what he's been investigating all these years, though it doesn't help that he still doesn't have any proof. He won't even reveal the secret he recently discovered, which would supposedly blow the case wide open (although I don't know how). Scully doesn't want Mulder to sacrifice his life for the truth, but he's already made up his mind, and you know how stubborn he can be. He's also seeing visions of dead people, apparently - making for the shocking appearance of Krycek. The Lone Gunmen also turn up, as does X. It's nice to see X again, after all these years, even if he only shows up to repeat his most disappointing legacy - leading Mulder to the useless Marita Covarrubias. I'm glad we get to see her again, though, if only to know what she's been up to. I was beginning to worry that they would just drop her character, and not even give her the honor of being killed off.
Even Gibson Praise shows up for a cameo appearance. Apparently, Mulder's been in New Mexico all (or most) of this time, protecting the mind-reading wunderkind. I could take or leave the character of Gibson Praise, but he's always been at his best reading the minds of this show's bureaucratic villains, and pointing out their hypocrisies. (Although, post-trial, if they're still trying to protect him, is it really smart bringing him into the FBI headquarters, when they know there's a replicant working on the inside?). Even Doggett and Reyes get their turn on the stand, and to my surprise, it's Reyes who gets the best moment of the whole trial. None if it is enough to exonerate Mulder, however, especially given that the verdict was a by-gone conclusion. But, though the X-Files division is shut down (for the third time) as collateral damage from Mulder's insubordination, his friends have a surprise in store for him - a daring prison breakout!
Mulder and Scully go on the run (together this time!), and, excitingly, Mulder's still got a trick up his sleeve. It's the Smoking Man - still alive! He's been hiding out in the old, Anasazi pueblos, and he's got a secret of his own to reveal. Something the Anasazi figured out years before - the aliens' kryptonite, which occurs naturally in the surrounding geological formations (it brought down the UFO in Roswell!). I can't tell you how relieved and excited I was to see the Smoking Man alive again at the end of the episode. It was perfect. Although, to be honest, his "earth-shattering" revelation fell a little flat. He doesn't survive the literally explosive climax, however - the episode makes a point of showing us his fiery skeleton so that we know for an absolute certainty that he really is truly dead this time. (Until the revival, that is).
All of this is just fantastic, but I'm kinda lukewarm about the episode's closing moments. It's the closest thing this episode has to that mushy "closure" I've been getting sick of (although, to its credit, it's only a small portion of the whole double-length episode). But the series ends with Mulder and Scully curled up in bed together, a clear demonstration of how much Chris Carter's original ideals have eroded over the years (for better or worse, depending on who you ask - I'm leaning toward worse). And their little discussion makes explicit what I've read was Chris Carter's interpretation of the central theme of the show about how the desire to believe in the paranormal is really just a variation on mankind's search for God. I think I would have preferred if that had remained no more than subtext, because I like Mulder better as an atheist.
And that's that! It should be very interesting to watch I Want To Believe again now, having watched the series through to the end for the first time. Stay tuned for a review of that coming next week!
Memorable quotes:
Military Guard: You're a guilty man. You entered a government facility illegally in search of nonexistent information. You failed in every respect!
General Suveg: This man Mulder has made a lot of enemies. He's a crusader, and a lot of people do not like the crusade.
Mulder: What's really on trial here is the truth.
Kersh: Is this all...leading anywhere?
Mulder: Yeah - the destruction of mankind.
Mulder: This is greater than you or me. This is about everything we've worked for for nine years, the truth that we both sacrificed so much to uncover and to expose.
Doggett: What's left for us on the X-Files?
Reyes: We came to this job to give it our best. It's the way we're gonna leave.
Mulder: It's not about how good you are. They control the game. They own it.
Doggett: Then let's shove it up their ass!
Reyes: What is the point of all of this? To destroy a man who seeks the truth, or to destroy the truth so no man can seek it? Either way, you lose.
(Surprisingly, it's Reyes who gets the standout moment of confrontation during the trial. And I love the look of admiration Mulder gives her after witnessing her little bout of righteous insubordination).
Mulder: A bullet between the eyes would have been preferable to this charade.
(Come on, Mulder, it wasn't that bad).
Mulder: The devil is just one man with a plan, but evil - true evil - is a collaboration of men.
Mulder: You may believe yourselves rid of your headache now. Maybe you are. But you've only done it by cutting off your own heads.
(There's a real tragedy in seeing mankind's best defender against the alien apocalypse defeated not by aliens, but by men).
Smoking Man: You damn me for my secrets, but you're afraid to speak the truth.
Scully: Mulder, you say that you've failed, but you only fail if you give up. And I know you - you can't give up.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
The X-Files - S9:E9 "Provenance"
[ S9:E8 "Hellbound" <<< Season 9 >>> S9:E10 "Providence" ]
Spoiler Warning: Start of a myth two-parter (the last one!). Expect spoilers.
So, this episode ties in to the events of The Sixth Extinction from the beginning of the seventh season, and I'm starting to feel like this stupid William story line is trying to stick its fingers in everyone's pie, spoiling them all. It also makes it harder to cherry pick episodes to watch, which kind of annoys me, because the William story line is not good enough to warrant sitting through the whole thing. And yet it's the core of the show's last two seasons of mythology, so you can't avoid it without cutting the mythology out completely - which would be perfectly okay, except that you'd miss some critical character sendoffs. And this is the highest point the mythology has reached all season (not that that's saying much), undoubtedly raised by the inclusion of plot points from the Sixth Extinction arc, instead of relying so heavily on this Super Soldier rigmarole. Except that one wonders how any of this stuff is relevant, since in Essence/Existence, the miracle baby plot detoured into "the aliens are afraid of God" territory, which is incompatible with "the aliens are God". This show's mythology has always been inscrutable, but never has it been so damnably inconsistent.
On the plus side, putting William in clear and present danger has a positive effect on Scully's character for once, since instead of just being weepy, she goes into total badass mode, like some of her best moments from the past. Pity it doesn't last too long, though. The baby is apparently now the target of a Canadian UFO cult (who, in a shameless bid to weasel him into the plot somehow, claims that Mulder is already dead - puh-leeze), who have uncovered another spacecraft like the one Scully found in Biogenesis. (Lookit, everything's going to hell now that the government isn't around to cover these things up anymore - the Smoking Man must be rolling in his grave). Reyes, meanwhile, struggles to come to terms with the conclusion Scully grappled with previously - that all of mankind's religions come from aliens. They get a hold of another of those fragments and - lo and behold - it responds to William in a profound way. Scully thinks she might find answers to William's nature in those runes.
But in the meantime, the baby's life is in danger, so Scully hands him off to The Lone Gunmen (there's an idea for a spinoff - just kidding), and I'm kind of relieved, thinking that maybe William will go AWOL like Mulder for a while. Except that in the cliffhanger, a pursuer gets to them before they can disappear into the woodwork. (But not before hitting Doggett with a car). Honestly, it's very reminiscent of the chase in Existence, except that now William has been born. But if they want him so bad, why didn't they take him before? Or is it even the same people? There's no solid evidence that these pursuers are Super Soldiers, so one wonders what their game is. Guess I'll have to wait until next week to find out (or not, depending on Chris Carter's whim). I'll say that the mythology has definitely improved a bit with this episode, but I'm still struggling to feel very invested in how it's all going to turn out. Except that I hope William goes bye-bye by the end of it.
To be continued...
Memorable quotes:
A.D. Brad: You once worked on the X-Files.
Scully: Well, if this is an X-File, then why don't you ask somebody who's working on the X-Files?
A.D. Brad: 'Cause we're asking you.
Doggett: We're talkin' about...pieces of paper with marks on it.
Scully: They're not just marks, Agent Doggett. It's writing. Words.
(Noticing a pattern here? Like, inane dialogue? Yeah, me too).
Doggett: Dead man up and disappearing - happens every day, right? At least it does on the X-Files.
(I think this episode may have the record for most times the phrase "The X-Files" is uttered).
Mrs. Scully: Dana, God has given you a miracle. A child that wasn't supposed to be. Maybe it's not to question - just to be taken as a matter of faith.
Scully: Mom, I can't take this on faith. I need to know. I need to know if it's really God I have to thank.
(I'm with you on this one, Scully. Glad to see you're still a skeptic at heart).
Scully: I'll kill you! I'll kill you if you touch my baby!
(And don't you doubt it for a second).
Doggett: This man have any kind of a weapon?
Scully: A pillow...
Spoiler Warning: Start of a myth two-parter (the last one!). Expect spoilers.
So, this episode ties in to the events of The Sixth Extinction from the beginning of the seventh season, and I'm starting to feel like this stupid William story line is trying to stick its fingers in everyone's pie, spoiling them all. It also makes it harder to cherry pick episodes to watch, which kind of annoys me, because the William story line is not good enough to warrant sitting through the whole thing. And yet it's the core of the show's last two seasons of mythology, so you can't avoid it without cutting the mythology out completely - which would be perfectly okay, except that you'd miss some critical character sendoffs. And this is the highest point the mythology has reached all season (not that that's saying much), undoubtedly raised by the inclusion of plot points from the Sixth Extinction arc, instead of relying so heavily on this Super Soldier rigmarole. Except that one wonders how any of this stuff is relevant, since in Essence/Existence, the miracle baby plot detoured into "the aliens are afraid of God" territory, which is incompatible with "the aliens are God". This show's mythology has always been inscrutable, but never has it been so damnably inconsistent.
On the plus side, putting William in clear and present danger has a positive effect on Scully's character for once, since instead of just being weepy, she goes into total badass mode, like some of her best moments from the past. Pity it doesn't last too long, though. The baby is apparently now the target of a Canadian UFO cult (who, in a shameless bid to weasel him into the plot somehow, claims that Mulder is already dead - puh-leeze), who have uncovered another spacecraft like the one Scully found in Biogenesis. (Lookit, everything's going to hell now that the government isn't around to cover these things up anymore - the Smoking Man must be rolling in his grave). Reyes, meanwhile, struggles to come to terms with the conclusion Scully grappled with previously - that all of mankind's religions come from aliens. They get a hold of another of those fragments and - lo and behold - it responds to William in a profound way. Scully thinks she might find answers to William's nature in those runes.
But in the meantime, the baby's life is in danger, so Scully hands him off to The Lone Gunmen (there's an idea for a spinoff - just kidding), and I'm kind of relieved, thinking that maybe William will go AWOL like Mulder for a while. Except that in the cliffhanger, a pursuer gets to them before they can disappear into the woodwork. (But not before hitting Doggett with a car). Honestly, it's very reminiscent of the chase in Existence, except that now William has been born. But if they want him so bad, why didn't they take him before? Or is it even the same people? There's no solid evidence that these pursuers are Super Soldiers, so one wonders what their game is. Guess I'll have to wait until next week to find out (or not, depending on Chris Carter's whim). I'll say that the mythology has definitely improved a bit with this episode, but I'm still struggling to feel very invested in how it's all going to turn out. Except that I hope William goes bye-bye by the end of it.
To be continued...
Memorable quotes:
A.D. Brad: You once worked on the X-Files.
Scully: Well, if this is an X-File, then why don't you ask somebody who's working on the X-Files?
A.D. Brad: 'Cause we're asking you.
Doggett: We're talkin' about...pieces of paper with marks on it.
Scully: They're not just marks, Agent Doggett. It's writing. Words.
(Noticing a pattern here? Like, inane dialogue? Yeah, me too).
Doggett: Dead man up and disappearing - happens every day, right? At least it does on the X-Files.
(I think this episode may have the record for most times the phrase "The X-Files" is uttered).
Mrs. Scully: Dana, God has given you a miracle. A child that wasn't supposed to be. Maybe it's not to question - just to be taken as a matter of faith.
Scully: Mom, I can't take this on faith. I need to know. I need to know if it's really God I have to thank.
(I'm with you on this one, Scully. Glad to see you're still a skeptic at heart).
Scully: I'll kill you! I'll kill you if you touch my baby!
(And don't you doubt it for a second).
Doggett: This man have any kind of a weapon?
Scully: A pillow...
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
The X-Files - S9:E2 "Nothing Important Happened Today II"
[ S9:E1 "Nothing Important Happened Today" <<< Season 9 >>> S9:E3 "Daemonicus" ]
Nothing important happened again today - including thinking of a unique title to use for the second half of this two-parter. Although we do finally learn the significance of said title - it's a neat story (unless it didn't really happen), but at this point, it's too little, too late (and a bit pretentious to boot). As far as I'm concerned, the quality of this episode is on par with the last one - it just continues on in the same vein, without getting better, and without introducing any new plot points that are actually exciting, or resolving in any kind of a satisfactory manner. As an opener to the ninth season, I honestly can't say that I'm very enthused about continuing forward (although I do maintain a thin hope that the freak-of-the-week episodes may be better by not being bogged down by the utterly uninteresting mythology).
Spoiler Warning: There, that's all you really need to know. But if you want to read a long list of gripes I have with this and the preceding episode - gripes that contain spoilers for the show's mythology - then read on.
Now, about that mythology. Apparently, the aliens are investigating new delivery mechanisms for their colonizing virus, and the idea they come upon in this two-parter is to poison the water supply. Which isn't very original (compared to the devilishly brilliant - who cares if it's convoluted? - bee system). I can't help thinking that the aliens are reaching for ideas here, and that they should be better than this. The slow burn, behind the scenes stuff ("a silent weapon for a quiet war") worked when the aliens had a deal with the Syndicate, but with them gone, I don't see why they don't just go all Independence Day already. At the very least, they could use some kind of advanced technology, instead of resorting to lame plans any half-assed criminal mastermind could come up with, and that can be foiled easily enough by two upstart agents at the FBI.
Also, the fact that instead of these alien-human hybrids - or just outright aliens - they're trying to turn the population into more of these Super Soldiers (albeit organic versions, I guess)...I don't know. The X-Files always felt different from other sci-fi shows. But lately it's been feeling more and more like a run-of-the-mill tech geek genre show. I guess maybe that's a symptom of losing much of what made The X-Files what it was - dropping Mulder, and turning Scully into a house mother - and bringing on an actor with a lot of baggage from a competing sci-fi/horror pop culture phenomenon (The Terminator). Regardless, it's lost a lot of its steam. Like, take all this talk of the FBI being involved in a conspiracy, and compare it to the web that Section Chief Blevins weaved in Gethsemane/Redux/Redux II. It was captivating (and believable) then. Now it just feels like unlikely actors playing out parts on a stage.
To be fair, I gotta say I like Cary Elwes. He was one of the great fairy tale heroes of my childhood. But - and not to type-cast him - he really doesn't seem right for a hard-headed Assistant Director at the FBI. That pretty face of his belongs on magazine covers, not sitting behind a desk trying to bury government conspiracies. And this episode has the nerve to try and make Kersh out to be a good guy? For that matter, when was the last time we saw Skinner sitting behind a desk? It's good that he's got more to do on the show now, but his character has changed, and he's lost a lot of what made him who he was. It all contributes to the feeling that this is not the same X-Files we used to watch. We were invested in Mulder and Scully's search for the truth. It meant something to put them in danger. Although I'd hate to see the X-Files project closed, it's hardly the same without Mulder or Scully working on it. And in spite of Robert Patrick's best efforts to endear himself to fans throughout the last season, we're just not invested in Doggett or especially Reyes enough to care whether they get fired or killed, or continue working cases for weeks to come.
Honestly, it's come to a point where I wouldn't feel much of a loss if the series was cancelled once and for all. I mean, even the mythology has lost steam. I'm completely uninterested in Scully's baby. I don't even see what the big deal about it being telekinetic is. We've seen tons of freaks on this show with incredible abilities, and not one of them was the messiah, or an indestructible alien drone, or whatever else we're supposed to be afraid that this baby might be. And while Mulder's abduction meant something last season, his re-disappearance here leaves me feeling apathetic at best, and annoyed at worst. I suppose he's gone into hiding(?), but it just reeks of the tail chasing the dog - dropping Mulder off the show and worrying about explaining it away later, leaving the audience frustrated with non-explanations in the meantime. There's a palpable feeling of the show's writers fumbling about trying to make sense out of David Duchovny's abandonment. And with all the key figures in the conspiracy gone (the Syndicate, Samantha, the Smoking Man, the Alien Bounty Hunter, the Black Oil, Krycek - I wonder if we'll ever see Marita Covarrubias again, not that she alone would be enough to regurgitate my interest), I just don't care anymore.
Memorable quotes:
Reyes: Can we cut the crap, Brad?
A.D. Brad (because calling him A.D. Brad instead of A.D. Follmer or A.D. Brad Follmer appropriately highlights the ridiculousness of his character): I don't know, can we? There's a lot of crap to cut through.
(Thank you. I didn't want to say it myself).
Nothing important happened again today - including thinking of a unique title to use for the second half of this two-parter. Although we do finally learn the significance of said title - it's a neat story (unless it didn't really happen), but at this point, it's too little, too late (and a bit pretentious to boot). As far as I'm concerned, the quality of this episode is on par with the last one - it just continues on in the same vein, without getting better, and without introducing any new plot points that are actually exciting, or resolving in any kind of a satisfactory manner. As an opener to the ninth season, I honestly can't say that I'm very enthused about continuing forward (although I do maintain a thin hope that the freak-of-the-week episodes may be better by not being bogged down by the utterly uninteresting mythology).
Spoiler Warning: There, that's all you really need to know. But if you want to read a long list of gripes I have with this and the preceding episode - gripes that contain spoilers for the show's mythology - then read on.
Now, about that mythology. Apparently, the aliens are investigating new delivery mechanisms for their colonizing virus, and the idea they come upon in this two-parter is to poison the water supply. Which isn't very original (compared to the devilishly brilliant - who cares if it's convoluted? - bee system). I can't help thinking that the aliens are reaching for ideas here, and that they should be better than this. The slow burn, behind the scenes stuff ("a silent weapon for a quiet war") worked when the aliens had a deal with the Syndicate, but with them gone, I don't see why they don't just go all Independence Day already. At the very least, they could use some kind of advanced technology, instead of resorting to lame plans any half-assed criminal mastermind could come up with, and that can be foiled easily enough by two upstart agents at the FBI.
Also, the fact that instead of these alien-human hybrids - or just outright aliens - they're trying to turn the population into more of these Super Soldiers (albeit organic versions, I guess)...I don't know. The X-Files always felt different from other sci-fi shows. But lately it's been feeling more and more like a run-of-the-mill tech geek genre show. I guess maybe that's a symptom of losing much of what made The X-Files what it was - dropping Mulder, and turning Scully into a house mother - and bringing on an actor with a lot of baggage from a competing sci-fi/horror pop culture phenomenon (The Terminator). Regardless, it's lost a lot of its steam. Like, take all this talk of the FBI being involved in a conspiracy, and compare it to the web that Section Chief Blevins weaved in Gethsemane/Redux/Redux II. It was captivating (and believable) then. Now it just feels like unlikely actors playing out parts on a stage.
To be fair, I gotta say I like Cary Elwes. He was one of the great fairy tale heroes of my childhood. But - and not to type-cast him - he really doesn't seem right for a hard-headed Assistant Director at the FBI. That pretty face of his belongs on magazine covers, not sitting behind a desk trying to bury government conspiracies. And this episode has the nerve to try and make Kersh out to be a good guy? For that matter, when was the last time we saw Skinner sitting behind a desk? It's good that he's got more to do on the show now, but his character has changed, and he's lost a lot of what made him who he was. It all contributes to the feeling that this is not the same X-Files we used to watch. We were invested in Mulder and Scully's search for the truth. It meant something to put them in danger. Although I'd hate to see the X-Files project closed, it's hardly the same without Mulder or Scully working on it. And in spite of Robert Patrick's best efforts to endear himself to fans throughout the last season, we're just not invested in Doggett or especially Reyes enough to care whether they get fired or killed, or continue working cases for weeks to come.
Honestly, it's come to a point where I wouldn't feel much of a loss if the series was cancelled once and for all. I mean, even the mythology has lost steam. I'm completely uninterested in Scully's baby. I don't even see what the big deal about it being telekinetic is. We've seen tons of freaks on this show with incredible abilities, and not one of them was the messiah, or an indestructible alien drone, or whatever else we're supposed to be afraid that this baby might be. And while Mulder's abduction meant something last season, his re-disappearance here leaves me feeling apathetic at best, and annoyed at worst. I suppose he's gone into hiding(?), but it just reeks of the tail chasing the dog - dropping Mulder off the show and worrying about explaining it away later, leaving the audience frustrated with non-explanations in the meantime. There's a palpable feeling of the show's writers fumbling about trying to make sense out of David Duchovny's abandonment. And with all the key figures in the conspiracy gone (the Syndicate, Samantha, the Smoking Man, the Alien Bounty Hunter, the Black Oil, Krycek - I wonder if we'll ever see Marita Covarrubias again, not that she alone would be enough to regurgitate my interest), I just don't care anymore.
Memorable quotes:
Reyes: Can we cut the crap, Brad?
A.D. Brad (because calling him A.D. Brad instead of A.D. Follmer or A.D. Brad Follmer appropriately highlights the ridiculousness of his character): I don't know, can we? There's a lot of crap to cut through.
(Thank you. I didn't want to say it myself).
Monday, December 28, 2015
The X-Files - S9:E1 "Nothing Important Happened Today"
[ S8:E21 "Existence" <<< Season 9 >>> S9:E2 "Nothing Important Happened Today II" ]
Spoiler Warning: Watching this episode might spoil your fond memories of The X-Files. As it is a mythology episode, this review will also contain mythology-related spoilers.
I've read a lot of reports on the poor quality of season 9, but I never imagined it'd drop so far so fast. Even after the surprisingly good eighth season, I'm having trouble mustering the enthusiasm to plow forward. I guess in the back of my mind I was hoping that the status quo of the latter half of season eight would continue, with Mulder and Scully simply taking on increasingly smaller supporting roles, as advisors (while juggling their new home life) to their replacements on the X-Files, and new leads, Doggett and Reyes. I can't say that would have been a successful show - certainly not as successful as the original X-Files - but it couldn't have been any worse than it actually was.
So...the main technical problem for the show is David Duchovny's absence. I think they handled it well in the eighth season, writing in a mytharc about Mulder's abduction. But it's almost as if Chris Carter loved this idea of Mulder being an "absent center" for the show so much that, even after bringing Mulder back, and resolving that story arc, come the ninth season premiere, he figured, well, let's just make Mulder disappear again. Except, this time, there's just no good reason for it. I mean, maybe he's going into hiding or whatever, but it just feels so conspicuously like the creators' juggling to write around David Duchovny's absence, that it's not the least bit satisfying.
To start with, the episode's title doesn't inspire much confidence in the viewer that he's going to sit down to a quality hour of television. In an earlier era, it could have been a reference to a funny self-parody, like the Darin Morgan episode War of the Coprophages, humorously detailing in part the agents' off-duty lives. But at this late stage of the game, with all the significant structural changes being made to the show, it skirts dangerously close to being an on-the-nose reference to how bad this show might be becoming. I mean, like - nothing important happened today? Then why am I watching? This isn't Seinfeld.
The episode opens on a bar scene (making me realize how idiotic the "bar scene" is - who would ever go to be picked up by some drunkard at a bar? - and hoping that modern social media, not to mention "speed dating", is playing its part in making this antiquated social custom obsolete). A handsome yet creepy man prone to conspiracy theories (not unlike Mulder) flirts with a woman who gives me the immediate physical impression of a much younger, much sexier (not that that's saying much) Diana Fowley. And I'm thinking...Gender Bender! Although what really happens is the woman (who I guess will turn out to be some kind of Super Soldier?) has an apparent death wish (if not for her indestructibility), and forces the man to kill himself by driving off a bridge.
Then we come to the opening credits - a brand new opening credits sequence, which just drives home the point that this is a new show. Even worse than the Frankenstein credits sequence of last season - which balanced half new stuff with half old stuff - this one is all new. A lot of it imitates what was in the old sequence, but it has an awkward, then-modern look to it that's just not very appealing. There was a time during the classic years of the show when I could have lived with a new opening sequence, but at this stage, it's been a rock, a pivot around which the show revolves. To change it now just adds insult to injury. Mitch Pileggi finally makes it into the main credits, but while he deserves the spot, Annabeth Gish (Agent Monica Reyes), whose name precedes his, has yet to demonstrate that she deserves to be a lead player on this show, which Robert Patrick spent the last season proving.
And it just goes further down hill from there. From Scully's home life (featuring an obnoxious, crying baby that you just want to punch, and a non-cameo of Mulder in the shower - but obscured by the shower door, so that they could just use a body double and not have to bill David Duchovny for the episode), to a guest star roster that includes the unlikely names of Lucy Lawless (the aforementioned bar hopper/Super Soldier) and Cary Elwes (who makes a lot more sense as Agent Reyes' old flame than as another Assistant Director at the FBI). Gillian Anderson may be "starring" in this episode (though not to a capacity that deserves top billing, in spite of her celebrity status and tenure on the show), but this house mother is not the Dana Scully we've known for the past eight years.
Far from gaining a new lease on life after killing the man with the controls to the deadly nanobots in his body, Skinner is seen here bending over backward to plead with Doggett to drop his internal investigation of Kersh - for no good reason (like a lot of things in this episode) other than his fear for the wellbeing of Mulder and Scully and their baby. Doggett has become an unlikely audience surrogate, confused and frustrated, but asking all of the right questions, only to be rebuffed by Skinner and Scully, who are no doubt parroting writers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz' response: just let it alone. Do they not realize that they're sabotaging their own show?
And then Scully changes her mind about helping out because - what, William has powers of telekinesis? What does that even mean for his significance and the apparent danger that he's in? The aliens already came and went, leaving him alone. And this happens just in time for Scully to show up and perform an autopsy. The writing here is blatantly transparent! I'd swear the Lone Gunmen's appearance is a dig at Fox for yet another of Chris Carter's alternate series' being cancelled while The X-Files continues to chug along, except that I've never watched that show. The episode ends on a (lukewarm) cliffhanger, so I'll have to at least wait to form a conclusion about how this two-parter sets up the new season. But taken on its own, while this episode is not bad like Fight Club, for an episode of The X-Files - a season premiering mythology episode, no less - it just feels off in so many ways. Like it's missed its mark. Not even a "nude" Lucy Lawless can save it, and that's pretty sad.
To be continued...
Memorable quotes:
(Uh... Yeah).
Spoiler Warning: Watching this episode might spoil your fond memories of The X-Files. As it is a mythology episode, this review will also contain mythology-related spoilers.
I've read a lot of reports on the poor quality of season 9, but I never imagined it'd drop so far so fast. Even after the surprisingly good eighth season, I'm having trouble mustering the enthusiasm to plow forward. I guess in the back of my mind I was hoping that the status quo of the latter half of season eight would continue, with Mulder and Scully simply taking on increasingly smaller supporting roles, as advisors (while juggling their new home life) to their replacements on the X-Files, and new leads, Doggett and Reyes. I can't say that would have been a successful show - certainly not as successful as the original X-Files - but it couldn't have been any worse than it actually was.
So...the main technical problem for the show is David Duchovny's absence. I think they handled it well in the eighth season, writing in a mytharc about Mulder's abduction. But it's almost as if Chris Carter loved this idea of Mulder being an "absent center" for the show so much that, even after bringing Mulder back, and resolving that story arc, come the ninth season premiere, he figured, well, let's just make Mulder disappear again. Except, this time, there's just no good reason for it. I mean, maybe he's going into hiding or whatever, but it just feels so conspicuously like the creators' juggling to write around David Duchovny's absence, that it's not the least bit satisfying.
To start with, the episode's title doesn't inspire much confidence in the viewer that he's going to sit down to a quality hour of television. In an earlier era, it could have been a reference to a funny self-parody, like the Darin Morgan episode War of the Coprophages, humorously detailing in part the agents' off-duty lives. But at this late stage of the game, with all the significant structural changes being made to the show, it skirts dangerously close to being an on-the-nose reference to how bad this show might be becoming. I mean, like - nothing important happened today? Then why am I watching? This isn't Seinfeld.
The episode opens on a bar scene (making me realize how idiotic the "bar scene" is - who would ever go to be picked up by some drunkard at a bar? - and hoping that modern social media, not to mention "speed dating", is playing its part in making this antiquated social custom obsolete). A handsome yet creepy man prone to conspiracy theories (not unlike Mulder) flirts with a woman who gives me the immediate physical impression of a much younger, much sexier (not that that's saying much) Diana Fowley. And I'm thinking...Gender Bender! Although what really happens is the woman (who I guess will turn out to be some kind of Super Soldier?) has an apparent death wish (if not for her indestructibility), and forces the man to kill himself by driving off a bridge.
Then we come to the opening credits - a brand new opening credits sequence, which just drives home the point that this is a new show. Even worse than the Frankenstein credits sequence of last season - which balanced half new stuff with half old stuff - this one is all new. A lot of it imitates what was in the old sequence, but it has an awkward, then-modern look to it that's just not very appealing. There was a time during the classic years of the show when I could have lived with a new opening sequence, but at this stage, it's been a rock, a pivot around which the show revolves. To change it now just adds insult to injury. Mitch Pileggi finally makes it into the main credits, but while he deserves the spot, Annabeth Gish (Agent Monica Reyes), whose name precedes his, has yet to demonstrate that she deserves to be a lead player on this show, which Robert Patrick spent the last season proving.
And it just goes further down hill from there. From Scully's home life (featuring an obnoxious, crying baby that you just want to punch, and a non-cameo of Mulder in the shower - but obscured by the shower door, so that they could just use a body double and not have to bill David Duchovny for the episode), to a guest star roster that includes the unlikely names of Lucy Lawless (the aforementioned bar hopper/Super Soldier) and Cary Elwes (who makes a lot more sense as Agent Reyes' old flame than as another Assistant Director at the FBI). Gillian Anderson may be "starring" in this episode (though not to a capacity that deserves top billing, in spite of her celebrity status and tenure on the show), but this house mother is not the Dana Scully we've known for the past eight years.
Far from gaining a new lease on life after killing the man with the controls to the deadly nanobots in his body, Skinner is seen here bending over backward to plead with Doggett to drop his internal investigation of Kersh - for no good reason (like a lot of things in this episode) other than his fear for the wellbeing of Mulder and Scully and their baby. Doggett has become an unlikely audience surrogate, confused and frustrated, but asking all of the right questions, only to be rebuffed by Skinner and Scully, who are no doubt parroting writers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz' response: just let it alone. Do they not realize that they're sabotaging their own show?
And then Scully changes her mind about helping out because - what, William has powers of telekinesis? What does that even mean for his significance and the apparent danger that he's in? The aliens already came and went, leaving him alone. And this happens just in time for Scully to show up and perform an autopsy. The writing here is blatantly transparent! I'd swear the Lone Gunmen's appearance is a dig at Fox for yet another of Chris Carter's alternate series' being cancelled while The X-Files continues to chug along, except that I've never watched that show. The episode ends on a (lukewarm) cliffhanger, so I'll have to at least wait to form a conclusion about how this two-parter sets up the new season. But taken on its own, while this episode is not bad like Fight Club, for an episode of The X-Files - a season premiering mythology episode, no less - it just feels off in so many ways. Like it's missed its mark. Not even a "nude" Lucy Lawless can save it, and that's pretty sad.
To be continued...
I've watched better porn than this episode.
Memorable quotes:
(Uh... Yeah).
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
The X-Files - S8:E18 "Vienen"
[ S8:E17 "Empedocles" <<< Season 8 >>> S8:E19 "Alone" ]
Spoiler Warning: Continuing in this season's tradition of serial storytelling, this largely standalone episode does contain some developments in the series' mythology that I'd like to discuss, so expect the following review to contain spoilers.
Even more than Medusa recalled the "bottle episodes" of this season's past, this episode opens very much like a blue-collar version of the "scientists stranded in the middle of nowhere" plotline that goes all the way back to season 1's Ice. The majority of the episode takes place on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico (and, while probably not located in the right body of water, it demonstrates how much difference it makes to film on location). It just so happens that the monster of the week is none other than the Black Oil! And even more exciting is the fact that this appears to be the original Black Oil (complete with radiation flare capabilities) that Mulder encountered all the way back in Piper Maru. In fact, the events of that episode (and its followup, Apocrypha) are referenced directly by Agent Doggett, as he regales Mulder with his superficial knowledge of the X-Files. On the other hand, Mulder is upset because Doggett had overlooked this recent case Mulder links to the Black Oil. I guess his instincts could still use some honing. But, then, he'll never beat Mulder at his own job.
Well, his former job. Sticking his nose in this case involving an oil rig accident actually ends up causing big problems for the company, who want to keep it hush-hush so as not to jeopardize their rights to the property. So, a perturbed Deputy Director Kersh sends Doggett out to the oil rig to investigate, hoping for a speedy resolution. And Mulder - well, Mulder just invites himself. Unfortunately, the two of them end up stranded on the oil rig with an entire crew potentially infected by the Black Oil. Back in the autopsy room, Scully is tasked with finding a cure (an endeavor that took the Syndicate decades), before it's too late (although, if anyone could do it, it would be Scully). And it's really great to see Scully doing science again. I had taken it for granted, but it's an important element of her character, and to her contribution to the work.
I was hoping to learn more about where the Black Oil stands in terms of the aliens' new plan involving body snatching pods (as explored in Deadalive), but all we really get in way of explanation is that the aliens were (maybe) poised to distribute the Black Oil to the world's population via its usage of regular black oil as a power supply. I guess. Anyway, the real villain here is bureaucracy. Kersh provides some well-needed antagonism in this series, even if he sometimes comes off like a cartoon villain. (His concern for the FBI's public image is understandable, but he seems to lack the instinct or empathy that seems critical for one working in law enforcement - he's definitely more of a politician than a policeman). It occurs to me that his character is something of a corporeal distillation of what had long been left vague on this show - the corruption of authority, and its meddling reach - only sometimes represented by the shadowy figure of the Smoking Man (who has been in hibernation this season, presumed dead - for the second time).
In the bittersweet conclusion (following an explosive action setpiece the likes of which we haven't seen for a while), Mulder reveals that his antics on the oil rig are essentially the straw that broke the camel's back - that his job at the FBI has been sacrificed. As Scully warned, Kersh isn't playing around like he was back in season 6. Although, Mulder seems strangely at peace with this turn of events (surely he saw it coming - maybe his heart's not in the work anymore, after all that's changed, or maybe he's just not interested in working for the FBI if he can't be on the X-Files, like Scully threatened in the movie). Whatever the case, he formally hands the reins over to Agent Doggett, finally coming to accept him as his replacement. I don't know if I like the implications of this development for the show, however.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: We're both in the same boat, Agent Doggett. We're just paddling in different directions.
Doggett: No, we're not going in different directions, here. We're going in one direction - my direction.
Doggett: I never would have believed it - these stories about you.
Mulder: Really, what stories are those?
Doggett: That you could find a conspiracy at a church picnic.
Mulder: (Thinks about it). What church?
(Good answer, Mulder. Good answer).
Kersh: If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a Mulder stunt.
Spoiler Warning: Continuing in this season's tradition of serial storytelling, this largely standalone episode does contain some developments in the series' mythology that I'd like to discuss, so expect the following review to contain spoilers.
Even more than Medusa recalled the "bottle episodes" of this season's past, this episode opens very much like a blue-collar version of the "scientists stranded in the middle of nowhere" plotline that goes all the way back to season 1's Ice. The majority of the episode takes place on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico (and, while probably not located in the right body of water, it demonstrates how much difference it makes to film on location). It just so happens that the monster of the week is none other than the Black Oil! And even more exciting is the fact that this appears to be the original Black Oil (complete with radiation flare capabilities) that Mulder encountered all the way back in Piper Maru. In fact, the events of that episode (and its followup, Apocrypha) are referenced directly by Agent Doggett, as he regales Mulder with his superficial knowledge of the X-Files. On the other hand, Mulder is upset because Doggett had overlooked this recent case Mulder links to the Black Oil. I guess his instincts could still use some honing. But, then, he'll never beat Mulder at his own job.
Well, his former job. Sticking his nose in this case involving an oil rig accident actually ends up causing big problems for the company, who want to keep it hush-hush so as not to jeopardize their rights to the property. So, a perturbed Deputy Director Kersh sends Doggett out to the oil rig to investigate, hoping for a speedy resolution. And Mulder - well, Mulder just invites himself. Unfortunately, the two of them end up stranded on the oil rig with an entire crew potentially infected by the Black Oil. Back in the autopsy room, Scully is tasked with finding a cure (an endeavor that took the Syndicate decades), before it's too late (although, if anyone could do it, it would be Scully). And it's really great to see Scully doing science again. I had taken it for granted, but it's an important element of her character, and to her contribution to the work.
I was hoping to learn more about where the Black Oil stands in terms of the aliens' new plan involving body snatching pods (as explored in Deadalive), but all we really get in way of explanation is that the aliens were (maybe) poised to distribute the Black Oil to the world's population via its usage of regular black oil as a power supply. I guess. Anyway, the real villain here is bureaucracy. Kersh provides some well-needed antagonism in this series, even if he sometimes comes off like a cartoon villain. (His concern for the FBI's public image is understandable, but he seems to lack the instinct or empathy that seems critical for one working in law enforcement - he's definitely more of a politician than a policeman). It occurs to me that his character is something of a corporeal distillation of what had long been left vague on this show - the corruption of authority, and its meddling reach - only sometimes represented by the shadowy figure of the Smoking Man (who has been in hibernation this season, presumed dead - for the second time).
In the bittersweet conclusion (following an explosive action setpiece the likes of which we haven't seen for a while), Mulder reveals that his antics on the oil rig are essentially the straw that broke the camel's back - that his job at the FBI has been sacrificed. As Scully warned, Kersh isn't playing around like he was back in season 6. Although, Mulder seems strangely at peace with this turn of events (surely he saw it coming - maybe his heart's not in the work anymore, after all that's changed, or maybe he's just not interested in working for the FBI if he can't be on the X-Files, like Scully threatened in the movie). Whatever the case, he formally hands the reins over to Agent Doggett, finally coming to accept him as his replacement. I don't know if I like the implications of this development for the show, however.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: We're both in the same boat, Agent Doggett. We're just paddling in different directions.
Doggett: No, we're not going in different directions, here. We're going in one direction - my direction.
Doggett: I never would have believed it - these stories about you.
Mulder: Really, what stories are those?
Doggett: That you could find a conspiracy at a church picnic.
Mulder: (Thinks about it). What church?
(Good answer, Mulder. Good answer).
Kersh: If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a Mulder stunt.
Monday, December 21, 2015
The X-Files - S8:E16 "Three Words"
[ S8:E15 "Deadalive" <<< Season 8 >>> S8:E17 "Empedocles" ]
Spoiler Warning: The string of mythology episodes continues! Beware of spoilers.
This episode continues from the last one like as if it had ended with a "to be continued" (and I'm pretty sure it didn't). When, honestly, I think this episode is more connected with the last one than the last one was to the one before it (which did have a "to be continued"). I guess you can just chalk it up to the increasingly serial nature of the story in this season (at least the second half). The A.V. Club has written in their reviews that this season feels the most modern, in the sense of being more serial and less episodic than it had always been, and I can definitely see that. I just wonder to what extent that is a result of the contract disputes with David Duchovny - only getting him for so many episodes, and kinda having to push the mythology to the back end of the season, so that they can make those stories count, instead of spreading the mythology out more like they used to.
In any case, this episode opens with a census worker jumping the White House fence and dying in the process of trying to warn the president about an alien invasion already in progress. I guess that's what this whole body snatchers pod thing is about. It's a nice opportunity for this show to resurrect its themes of government conspiracy, even in the absence of the Syndicate. The surprise star of this episode is the "informant", Knowle, that Doggett consulted in Per Manum (and who probably set him up then, too). He's obviously not to be trusted, and by the end of the episode it's clear that he's one of these alien things (it's funny, the man who plays the character - Adam Baldwin - even looks kinda like Brian Thompson, who played the Alien Bounty Hunter). But up to that point, you definitely get a bit of an 'X' feeling from him - that he relies on Doggett knowing he's being set up in order to make the most of the information given without compromising his position. Even if he doesn't strictly turn out to play the role of an informant, he's still got more of that intrigue that Marita Covarrubias always lacked as X's "replacement".
On the other front, Mulder is still recovering - having flashbacks to his torture at the hands of the aliens (yet they seem to lack the intensity of Duane Barry's). But he's otherwise in perfect health; apparently the disease that was plaguing him from before is gone, making you wonder if there was ever a point to that retconned plotline after all? His reaction to Scully's pregnancy is understated, although when Langly suggests the possibility of his involvement, he seems legitimately surprised. It's another one of those things that could be nothing, but could also hint at alternative explanations (alien baby!). Regardless, Mulder wastes very little time getting back to his usual manner of following hunches and breaking the rules. It reminds you how much has changed since he left the show, and it's legitimately nostalgic. You can't help thinking how many adventures we would have missed out on using Doggett's by-the-books approach. And that, only Mulder's almost gleefully anti-authoritarian stance holds any chance of fighting back against a true government conspiracy.
On that note, Kersh lays down another whammy - citing improved success rates since Doggett joined the X-Files - in order to deny Mulder reinstatement on the project (talk about kicking a man while he's down), threatening to close the X-Files altogether if Doggett refuses to usurp Mulder's position, now that he's back. This inevitably creates some friction between the two agents, manifesting as some light antagonism, leading up to a direct confrontation, and something of an ultimate reconciliation by the end of the episode. It's a testament to how far we've come in just fifteen episodes. When Scully threw the water in Doggett's face in Within, it felt right - even if Doggett didn't really deserve it. But now, Mulder's got him in a similar position, and all I can think is that he's being unreasonable. I've come to like Doggett - not as a replacement for Mulder, but as his own character - and I want Mulder to like him, too. I actually want to see them getting along!
Absalom turns up again in this episode, too. He manages to escape prison using a board with a nail in it (lol), but only gets himself killed for his efforts. For what it's worth, Mulder takes up his mantle, infiltrating the census bureau (old-school style with the Lone Gunmen, like in Memento Mori) in the hope of getting proof of the alien invasion - although ultimately to no avail. This is partly due to Doggett being set up by his alien contact. One wonders to what extent the aliens have infiltrated the government - this could be a different kind of conspiracy, altogether, where the conspirators are not sympathizers, but aliens themselves! All of this would seem to suggest - thinking ahead to the new episodes coming in January - that this show can be successful playing with its original themes and concepts even if some of the old characters (though preferably not Mulder or Scully) are replaced by newer stand-ins. Which is promising.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: Mulder, are you okay?
Mulder: Yeah. For a guy who was in a coffin not too long ago, I think I'm doing pretty damn good.
Kersh: You never see 'em coming. People are so rarely what they seem.
Doggett: You sent me to find Mulder. I found him. Don't charge me with drivin' a stake through his heart.
Absalom: Doubting Thomas is going to spread the word.
Doggett: What word?
Absalom: The invasion has begun.
Scully: Mulder, you make it sound like this was a conspiracy.
Mulder: Ooh. There's that word again.
Skinner: You know, I'm startin' to wonder about you too, John. Just whose side you are working on here.
Doggett: I'm startin' to wonder about that myself.
Spoiler Warning: The string of mythology episodes continues! Beware of spoilers.
This episode continues from the last one like as if it had ended with a "to be continued" (and I'm pretty sure it didn't). When, honestly, I think this episode is more connected with the last one than the last one was to the one before it (which did have a "to be continued"). I guess you can just chalk it up to the increasingly serial nature of the story in this season (at least the second half). The A.V. Club has written in their reviews that this season feels the most modern, in the sense of being more serial and less episodic than it had always been, and I can definitely see that. I just wonder to what extent that is a result of the contract disputes with David Duchovny - only getting him for so many episodes, and kinda having to push the mythology to the back end of the season, so that they can make those stories count, instead of spreading the mythology out more like they used to.
In any case, this episode opens with a census worker jumping the White House fence and dying in the process of trying to warn the president about an alien invasion already in progress. I guess that's what this whole body snatchers pod thing is about. It's a nice opportunity for this show to resurrect its themes of government conspiracy, even in the absence of the Syndicate. The surprise star of this episode is the "informant", Knowle, that Doggett consulted in Per Manum (and who probably set him up then, too). He's obviously not to be trusted, and by the end of the episode it's clear that he's one of these alien things (it's funny, the man who plays the character - Adam Baldwin - even looks kinda like Brian Thompson, who played the Alien Bounty Hunter). But up to that point, you definitely get a bit of an 'X' feeling from him - that he relies on Doggett knowing he's being set up in order to make the most of the information given without compromising his position. Even if he doesn't strictly turn out to play the role of an informant, he's still got more of that intrigue that Marita Covarrubias always lacked as X's "replacement".
On the other front, Mulder is still recovering - having flashbacks to his torture at the hands of the aliens (yet they seem to lack the intensity of Duane Barry's). But he's otherwise in perfect health; apparently the disease that was plaguing him from before is gone, making you wonder if there was ever a point to that retconned plotline after all? His reaction to Scully's pregnancy is understated, although when Langly suggests the possibility of his involvement, he seems legitimately surprised. It's another one of those things that could be nothing, but could also hint at alternative explanations (alien baby!). Regardless, Mulder wastes very little time getting back to his usual manner of following hunches and breaking the rules. It reminds you how much has changed since he left the show, and it's legitimately nostalgic. You can't help thinking how many adventures we would have missed out on using Doggett's by-the-books approach. And that, only Mulder's almost gleefully anti-authoritarian stance holds any chance of fighting back against a true government conspiracy.
On that note, Kersh lays down another whammy - citing improved success rates since Doggett joined the X-Files - in order to deny Mulder reinstatement on the project (talk about kicking a man while he's down), threatening to close the X-Files altogether if Doggett refuses to usurp Mulder's position, now that he's back. This inevitably creates some friction between the two agents, manifesting as some light antagonism, leading up to a direct confrontation, and something of an ultimate reconciliation by the end of the episode. It's a testament to how far we've come in just fifteen episodes. When Scully threw the water in Doggett's face in Within, it felt right - even if Doggett didn't really deserve it. But now, Mulder's got him in a similar position, and all I can think is that he's being unreasonable. I've come to like Doggett - not as a replacement for Mulder, but as his own character - and I want Mulder to like him, too. I actually want to see them getting along!
Absalom turns up again in this episode, too. He manages to escape prison using a board with a nail in it (lol), but only gets himself killed for his efforts. For what it's worth, Mulder takes up his mantle, infiltrating the census bureau (old-school style with the Lone Gunmen, like in Memento Mori) in the hope of getting proof of the alien invasion - although ultimately to no avail. This is partly due to Doggett being set up by his alien contact. One wonders to what extent the aliens have infiltrated the government - this could be a different kind of conspiracy, altogether, where the conspirators are not sympathizers, but aliens themselves! All of this would seem to suggest - thinking ahead to the new episodes coming in January - that this show can be successful playing with its original themes and concepts even if some of the old characters (though preferably not Mulder or Scully) are replaced by newer stand-ins. Which is promising.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: Mulder, are you okay?
Mulder: Yeah. For a guy who was in a coffin not too long ago, I think I'm doing pretty damn good.
Kersh: You never see 'em coming. People are so rarely what they seem.
Doggett: You sent me to find Mulder. I found him. Don't charge me with drivin' a stake through his heart.
Absalom: Doubting Thomas is going to spread the word.
Doggett: What word?
Absalom: The invasion has begun.
Scully: Mulder, you make it sound like this was a conspiracy.
Mulder: Ooh. There's that word again.
Skinner: You know, I'm startin' to wonder about you too, John. Just whose side you are working on here.
Doggett: I'm startin' to wonder about that myself.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
The X-Files - S8:E1 "Within"
[ S7:E22 "Requiem" <<< Season 8 >>> S8:E2 "Without" ]
Spoiler Warning: This is a mythology episode. Expect spoilers.
It begins. To my knowledge, this is the first time the title credits have been modified since the second episode of the series (the first episode they appeared in), Deep Throat. In seven years, no one - not William B. Davis, not even Mitch Pileggi (who features prominently in this episode, taking up much of the slack in Mulder's absence) - has usurped David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (oh, and um, Chris Carter)'s rule over the title credits. But now, Robert Patrick's name has been added, just like that, along with new badge pictures, and a few other new screens. (David Duchovny's name is still in there, by the way).
And in spite of the lack of a "to be continued" at the end of last season's finale (probably on account of the decision for whether there was even going to be an eighth season or not being made at the last minute), this episode picks up right where the last one left off, complete with a "previously on" segment. Scully tries to return to work - which is understandably hard, given that the rock she's leaned on for the past seven years is no longer there. She throws a fit at the people tearing through Mulder's office, even though they're on a task force created to hunt Mulder down. It's been put together by Kersh (now deputy director at the FBI), in a good opportunity to bring his character back into the fold, after not having been seen whatsoever after his role was finished in One Son, when Mulder and Scully got re-assigned to their precious X-Files.
Enter Special Agent John Doggett, the man in charge of the manhunt. Kersh is really only trying to cover the bureau's embarrassment, and could care less if Mulder turns up, so long as stories about alien abductions don't make it out to the press. Doggett comes off as a straight man - a no nonsense marine with experience in the police force, and a sturdy grasp of character (a useful skill in his line of work). He's in the position of an antagonist, but he seems genuinely interested in finding Mulder and getting to the truth about what happened to him, even if he's understandably skeptical about the whole alien business. He also seems too smart to let himself be Kersh's dupe, like Spender was. To be honest, I enjoyed the mind games in this episode between Scully, who's afraid to tell the truth because she doesn't want to lose her job, and Doggett, who can't be trusted, yet seems to have his heart in the right place.
As far as Mulder's whereabouts are concerned, the most we get to see are a few creepy scenes of him being tested on with alien equipment. In scenes like these, you really get the feeling that the aliens are not simply ignorant of human emotion, but are in fact enthusiastic sadists. Their medical equipment seems designed not for efficiency or minimal invasiveness, but maximum psychological torture (not to mention the physical pain). It's like, "anesthesia? That would defeat the whole point!" Anyway, there have been plenty of times on this show when Mulder has been missing and presumed dead, but you always knew he'd turn up somehow. But this time - the circumstances being what they are - it feels different. It's like there's a hole in the proceedings, caused by Mulder's conspicuous absence.
And, you know, Doggett goes on about how Scully and Skinner might not know Mulder as well as they think they do - and you don't want to believe him, because, like, who does this guy think he is, right? But then he turns out to be right! Apparently, Mulder knew he was dying, due to complications from brain surgery (presumably the same thing the Smoking Man suffered from, as a result of the events of Amor Fati, and the preceding episodes), and so maybe - maybe - with nothing left to lose, he gambled it all on a trip with Mr. Spaceman. Yet it all smells very strongly of retcon.
Regardless, Skinner contacts the Lone Gunmen directly, and works out a plan to track down the ship that Mulder's on, which he believes is still in the planetary vicinity, picking up more abductees from all over. It's a bit of a long shot - that, after being abducted, instead of traveling to god knows what corner of the galaxy - nay, the universe - Mulder would still be floating around the southwestern U.S. (conveniently where production happens to be located :p). And, like, how are you gonna get Mulder off the ship even if you do find it? On the other hand, I like the idea that the aliens are on cleanup duty, to keep their own existence a secret from the Earthlings (which is to say, they don't need a human government to cover up their existence; the conspiracy's goal was always just to cover their own asses, and hide their complicity with the alien agenda).
It all comes to a head when both parties (Scully-Skinner and Doggett's task force) determine that Gibson Praise (remember him? From The End?) is the key to finding Mulder. And here I thought for sure he'd been taken by the aliens when the one from the power plant in The Beginning eventually got his ride! I suppose he could have been abducted and then returned, but then, given how important he is to them now (seeing as how his mind-reading power could be used to spoil the aliens' secrets), I have a hard time believing they would have let him go if they'd have gotten a hold of him before. But if not, then wouldn't the Syndicate have known his whereabouts, and then how come they didn't do anything to him like they wanted to before? More inconsistencies...
Anyway, the boy is intercepted before anyone else can get to him, and when Doggett catches up to the kidnapper...(cue dramatic music)...it's Mulder! Or at least it looks like him. My money's on it being the Alien Bounty Hunter, because otherwise that would be too easy. But we'll have to wait till next week to find out. My first experience with a Robert Patrick episode (at least this time around, although I don't remember watching a lot of them before) is that this isn't the same show anymore. It's not the X-Files I fell in love with (although that was true starting from the sixth season as well). But, that having been said, this is a pretty solid start to a brand new season.
To be continued...
Memorable quotes:
Scully: They don't want the truth. You give them the truth and they'll hang you with it.
Skinner: They can hang me with a lie, too.
Scully: Nice to meet you, Agent Doggett.
(I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Agent Doggett. He seems a solid enough character. Not trying overly hard to be a friend, but a man who has some integrity. And yet, still, for the sake of the fans, Scully's interaction with him ends with her throwing water in his face. And yet he still takes it in stride, as if he knows and accepts that to replace Mulder, he's going to have to win fans over. He'll never be Mulder's equal, but maybe I'll be able to get to like him for the character he is).
Scully: I will go on record to say this: that I have seen things that I cannot explain. I have observed phenomena that I cannot deny. And that, as a scientist, and a serious person, it is a badge of honor not to dismiss these things because someone thinks they're BS.
(I guess, with Mulder gone, Scully's going to become the believer now?)
Spoiler Warning: This is a mythology episode. Expect spoilers.
It begins. To my knowledge, this is the first time the title credits have been modified since the second episode of the series (the first episode they appeared in), Deep Throat. In seven years, no one - not William B. Davis, not even Mitch Pileggi (who features prominently in this episode, taking up much of the slack in Mulder's absence) - has usurped David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (oh, and um, Chris Carter)'s rule over the title credits. But now, Robert Patrick's name has been added, just like that, along with new badge pictures, and a few other new screens. (David Duchovny's name is still in there, by the way).
And in spite of the lack of a "to be continued" at the end of last season's finale (probably on account of the decision for whether there was even going to be an eighth season or not being made at the last minute), this episode picks up right where the last one left off, complete with a "previously on" segment. Scully tries to return to work - which is understandably hard, given that the rock she's leaned on for the past seven years is no longer there. She throws a fit at the people tearing through Mulder's office, even though they're on a task force created to hunt Mulder down. It's been put together by Kersh (now deputy director at the FBI), in a good opportunity to bring his character back into the fold, after not having been seen whatsoever after his role was finished in One Son, when Mulder and Scully got re-assigned to their precious X-Files.
Enter Special Agent John Doggett, the man in charge of the manhunt. Kersh is really only trying to cover the bureau's embarrassment, and could care less if Mulder turns up, so long as stories about alien abductions don't make it out to the press. Doggett comes off as a straight man - a no nonsense marine with experience in the police force, and a sturdy grasp of character (a useful skill in his line of work). He's in the position of an antagonist, but he seems genuinely interested in finding Mulder and getting to the truth about what happened to him, even if he's understandably skeptical about the whole alien business. He also seems too smart to let himself be Kersh's dupe, like Spender was. To be honest, I enjoyed the mind games in this episode between Scully, who's afraid to tell the truth because she doesn't want to lose her job, and Doggett, who can't be trusted, yet seems to have his heart in the right place.
As far as Mulder's whereabouts are concerned, the most we get to see are a few creepy scenes of him being tested on with alien equipment. In scenes like these, you really get the feeling that the aliens are not simply ignorant of human emotion, but are in fact enthusiastic sadists. Their medical equipment seems designed not for efficiency or minimal invasiveness, but maximum psychological torture (not to mention the physical pain). It's like, "anesthesia? That would defeat the whole point!" Anyway, there have been plenty of times on this show when Mulder has been missing and presumed dead, but you always knew he'd turn up somehow. But this time - the circumstances being what they are - it feels different. It's like there's a hole in the proceedings, caused by Mulder's conspicuous absence.
And, you know, Doggett goes on about how Scully and Skinner might not know Mulder as well as they think they do - and you don't want to believe him, because, like, who does this guy think he is, right? But then he turns out to be right! Apparently, Mulder knew he was dying, due to complications from brain surgery (presumably the same thing the Smoking Man suffered from, as a result of the events of Amor Fati, and the preceding episodes), and so maybe - maybe - with nothing left to lose, he gambled it all on a trip with Mr. Spaceman. Yet it all smells very strongly of retcon.
Regardless, Skinner contacts the Lone Gunmen directly, and works out a plan to track down the ship that Mulder's on, which he believes is still in the planetary vicinity, picking up more abductees from all over. It's a bit of a long shot - that, after being abducted, instead of traveling to god knows what corner of the galaxy - nay, the universe - Mulder would still be floating around the southwestern U.S. (conveniently where production happens to be located :p). And, like, how are you gonna get Mulder off the ship even if you do find it? On the other hand, I like the idea that the aliens are on cleanup duty, to keep their own existence a secret from the Earthlings (which is to say, they don't need a human government to cover up their existence; the conspiracy's goal was always just to cover their own asses, and hide their complicity with the alien agenda).
It all comes to a head when both parties (Scully-Skinner and Doggett's task force) determine that Gibson Praise (remember him? From The End?) is the key to finding Mulder. And here I thought for sure he'd been taken by the aliens when the one from the power plant in The Beginning eventually got his ride! I suppose he could have been abducted and then returned, but then, given how important he is to them now (seeing as how his mind-reading power could be used to spoil the aliens' secrets), I have a hard time believing they would have let him go if they'd have gotten a hold of him before. But if not, then wouldn't the Syndicate have known his whereabouts, and then how come they didn't do anything to him like they wanted to before? More inconsistencies...
Anyway, the boy is intercepted before anyone else can get to him, and when Doggett catches up to the kidnapper...(cue dramatic music)...it's Mulder! Or at least it looks like him. My money's on it being the Alien Bounty Hunter, because otherwise that would be too easy. But we'll have to wait till next week to find out. My first experience with a Robert Patrick episode (at least this time around, although I don't remember watching a lot of them before) is that this isn't the same show anymore. It's not the X-Files I fell in love with (although that was true starting from the sixth season as well). But, that having been said, this is a pretty solid start to a brand new season.
To be continued...
Memorable quotes:
Scully: They don't want the truth. You give them the truth and they'll hang you with it.
Skinner: They can hang me with a lie, too.
Scully: Nice to meet you, Agent Doggett.
(I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Agent Doggett. He seems a solid enough character. Not trying overly hard to be a friend, but a man who has some integrity. And yet, still, for the sake of the fans, Scully's interaction with him ends with her throwing water in his face. And yet he still takes it in stride, as if he knows and accepts that to replace Mulder, he's going to have to win fans over. He'll never be Mulder's equal, but maybe I'll be able to get to like him for the character he is).
Scully: I will go on record to say this: that I have seen things that I cannot explain. I have observed phenomena that I cannot deny. And that, as a scientist, and a serious person, it is a badge of honor not to dismiss these things because someone thinks they're BS.
(I guess, with Mulder gone, Scully's going to become the believer now?)
Sunday, November 15, 2015
The X-Files - S6:E20 "Three of a Kind"
[ S6:E19 "The Unnatural" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E21 "Field Trip" ]
Following in the footsteps of last season's Unusual Suspects, Three of a Kind is another episode featuring The Lone Gunmen front and center. Although not a period episode this time around, it does construct a similar atmosphere, involving another technical convention - Def-Con '99 in Las Vegas - in which the three stooges go undercover in an attempt to learn political trade secrets involving a new stealth assassination technology. Unfortunately, though, instead of treading new ground - I would have liked, for example, to maybe learn a little bit more about what makes Frohike or Langly tick - the story (again written by Vince Gilligan, but this time along with John Shiban - the same combo responsible for this season's Monday) is centered around Byers and the flame he is still holding for Susanne Modeski. As such, although a continuation of the previous story, it feels like a bit of a rehash, and narrows rather than expands The Lone Gunmen's narrative universe (they couldn't have come up with a different, unrelated story to tell about these characters?). Aside from a clever trick involving voice emulation on the telephone, Mulder is all but absent from the episode, and Scully spends most of her scenes (in merely a supporting role) acting drunk (for better or worse). The writers then take full advantage of an admittedly golden opportunity to give Morris Fletcher (the guy from Dreamland) a brief cameo. It's fun if you like fun, but I think it's all a little too goofy. It's not a bad episode, but overall, I can't say that I found it as captivating as Unusual Suspects was.
Memorable quotes:
Frohike: What do you need Scully for, anyway?
Byers: We're up against agents of the government. We need our own government agent.
Langly: And that would be Mulder. Why do you want just Scully?
Frohike (laughing in the background): She's gonna kick our ass.
Byers: Mulder's too high-profile. He's virtually a household name to the black ops who kidnapped Susanne in Baltimore.
Timmy: Every good plan needs a patsy.
Scully: Who's "they"?
Langly: You know, them.
Following in the footsteps of last season's Unusual Suspects, Three of a Kind is another episode featuring The Lone Gunmen front and center. Although not a period episode this time around, it does construct a similar atmosphere, involving another technical convention - Def-Con '99 in Las Vegas - in which the three stooges go undercover in an attempt to learn political trade secrets involving a new stealth assassination technology. Unfortunately, though, instead of treading new ground - I would have liked, for example, to maybe learn a little bit more about what makes Frohike or Langly tick - the story (again written by Vince Gilligan, but this time along with John Shiban - the same combo responsible for this season's Monday) is centered around Byers and the flame he is still holding for Susanne Modeski. As such, although a continuation of the previous story, it feels like a bit of a rehash, and narrows rather than expands The Lone Gunmen's narrative universe (they couldn't have come up with a different, unrelated story to tell about these characters?). Aside from a clever trick involving voice emulation on the telephone, Mulder is all but absent from the episode, and Scully spends most of her scenes (in merely a supporting role) acting drunk (for better or worse). The writers then take full advantage of an admittedly golden opportunity to give Morris Fletcher (the guy from Dreamland) a brief cameo. It's fun if you like fun, but I think it's all a little too goofy. It's not a bad episode, but overall, I can't say that I found it as captivating as Unusual Suspects was.
Memorable quotes:
Frohike: What do you need Scully for, anyway?
Byers: We're up against agents of the government. We need our own government agent.
Langly: And that would be Mulder. Why do you want just Scully?
Frohike (laughing in the background): She's gonna kick our ass.
Byers: Mulder's too high-profile. He's virtually a household name to the black ops who kidnapped Susanne in Baltimore.
Timmy: Every good plan needs a patsy.
Scully: Who's "they"?
Langly: You know, them.
Monday, November 9, 2015
The X-Files - S6:E12 "One Son"
[ S6:E11 "Two Fathers" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E13 "Agua Mala" ]
Spoiler Warning: This episode pretty much spoils the show's entire mythology, so yeah...
For an episode that ostensibly answers just about every question at the heart of this show's mythology, I'm still left feeling oddly confused (just wait for the lingering questions posed in double and triple sequential parenthetical passages). And what should have been purely thrilling turned out to be rather frustrating, because there are some elements to the proceedings that don't flow as naturally as I would have liked. At times I get the impression that rather than retroactively clearing everything up, the mythology must be watched backwards in order to make sense (or maybe these episodes really weren't designed to be watched so closely together, so that you would forget enough of the contradictory details of previous episodes with each new mythology revelation you received). I was oblivious to whatever hype there was about these episodes when they first aired - I didn't pay much attention to the media and fan chatter, I just tuned in every week - but from what I'm reading now these episodes were meant to be a sort of turning point in the series - the end of an era for the mythology, presumably leaving the rest of the series (which I believe at this point was only planned to continue through to the end of the next season) to tackle other matters. Well, it succeeds at doing that, at the very least.
Picking up from last week's cliffhanger, Mulder does not shoot Cassandra, after all. I want to say "of course", but it honestly seemed like he was about to at the end of the last episode. Then again, I'm thinking now that if she is this perfect hybrid, then she probably can't be killed by a simple gunshot, can she? I don't know why I didn't think of that before. In any case, they get interrupted, and thrown into a bogus quarantine, at Fowley's command, which I'm taken to believe is Spender's plan to keep Cassandra safe, from his father who he now believes (probably erroneously) is going to kill her. Mulder happens to find Marita Covarrubias in that quarantine - looking rather worse for wear - who explains some of what the Syndicate is up to. I'm glad they brought Marita back, whom we haven't seen for a whole season. I was hoping we'd get some closure on her, since she was infected with the Black Oil and then ostensibly cured. Even if, as Mulder's "informant", she doesn't hold a candle to either Deep Throat or X, I'd still hope she'd get a proper send-off before leaving the show. Although it looks like her character arc may not be at an end just yet.
Let's talk about some of these confusing plot threads. It really wasn't explained (at least not adequately) in the last episode - there was talk about keeping her alive on one hand, and killing her off on the other - what effect Cassandra's life or death was supposed to have. In this episode, I believe it's made very clear that Cassandra is the culmination of a 25 year long hybrid program engaged in in conjunction with the alien colonists (again, leaving unanswered the question of why the Alien Bounty Hunter was dispatched to eliminate the clones in Colony, unless the clones were a separate experiment from the hybrids - I wonder if I shouldn't just take the events of that episode to be a non-canonical introduction to the concepts of the ABH and the clones...), and that once the colonists find out a successful hybrid has been created, they will initiate colonization (but didn't the Smoking Man say the date was already set in Talitha Cumi?) (and besides, why do the aliens even need hybrids, if they have the virus?). Which is why everybody wants Cassandra dead. Except, the Smoking Man doesn't, really. None of the Syndicate really seem to. This is where it gets confusing, because the Syndicate ostensibly made a deal with the aliens so that they could stall for time and produce a vaccine (using the same alien tissue required for the hybrid program - the fetus in The Erlenmeyer Flask, which we get to see again in this episode) (which raises another question - is the vaccine finished or not? It certainly seems to work, but maybe it just doesn't work well enough yet to use it to maximum effect) (and anyway, don't the aliens know they have it, after the events of the movie - are we going to see any repercussions from that?).
But here's the thing - it doesn't seem as though the Syndicate's heart is really in producing this vaccine (apparently, it was Mulder's father's idea, and the rest of the Syndicate weren't too keen on it). They seem committed to letting the aliens do their thing, rather than side with the rebels. It still hasn't been explained, but it's hinted at in this episode that, by making an agreement with the aliens, and facilitating their work leading up to colonization, they may have been granted some kind of diplomatic VIP status, in which they can continue living without infection after colonization - a "throw mankind under the bus to save themselves" sort of a situation. I still don't understand the point of sacrificing their children though. It would make enough sense if it were done as a sort of hostage situation - the aliens demanded hostages to ensure the Syndicate's cooperation - while at the same time the Syndicate realize that handing their kids over means that they'll get to see them again - safe and sound - after colonization. That would marginally sync with the Well-Manicured Man's revelation about Samantha in the movie, except that that scenario has nothing to do with the hostages being involved in hybridization (except Cassandra was, probably, one of them...).
Argh. Maybe this is what people mean when they say that the mythology falls apart - even as it appears to be coming together. Can we talk about the rebels? I know I'm using this word a lot in this review, but it's appropriate - ostensibly, the rebels are against colonization. Or are they just against the Syndicate? And if they're against the Syndicate, are they against the Syndicate's official plans, or their secret plans? If they're against colonization, they should have killed Cassandra when they had the chance, not let her live. But, by this episode's end, the Syndicate is lured to the same hangar where we see them originally greet the alien invaders (in a haunting flashback that opens the episode) (on October 13, 1973, for you trivia nuts). However, it's not actually the aliens come to start colonization - it's the rebels, having set the Syndicate up in order to burn them like the abductees in Patient X/The Red and the Black. I suppose that, risky as letting Cassandra live must be (although for the alien rebels, I doubt the fate of the human race is that important - they may want to stop colonization, but not necessarily for the specific sake of mankind), it was a perfect setup to get the Syndicate together so they can be destroyed, having given up their chance to side with the rebels.
And it's a hell of a turn of events. The Smoking Man alone manages to escape, with Diana Fowley under his wing. At Scully's behest, the Lone Gunmen dig up some info on the latter that ties her to Tunisia - which we saw at the end of the movie - and find that she'd been keeping tabs on various MUFON chapters in Europe while she was allegedly on foreign terrorism detail. It's kind of irritating how implicitly Mulder trusts her. I mean, I know he worked with her, and trusts her, and has every reason to believe that Scully would be jealous, but as the audience, we've already seen her in cahoots with the Smoking Man, so having to watch Mulder defend her is frustrating.
As for Krycek, he was elsewhere when the rebels put the whammy on the Syndicate (and I'm glad he survives). I wonder that he's being treated practically like a full member of the Syndicate in these episodes, when he was just a hired gun for them before (and he betrayed them!). I guess maybe he earned it by turning over the Russian vaccine (and come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the one who got him out of that abandoned missile silo was the Smoking Man himself, or some other member of the Syndicate, in return for agreeing to pose as a Russian spy, only so that he could steal their vaccine and bring it back - the fact that he tried to trade it for some standing just goes to show that Krycek is always an independent agent looking out for his own best interests).
So, in the end, not only do the Syndicate get their comeuppance at the rebels' hands, and Cassandra is either taken or destroyed (it's not clear), but the rebels also steal the alien fetus (purity control). I don't know where the show's going to go from here. Presumably, the aliens will still want to colonize, even without the Syndicate. Presumably, they still have Samantha, and Mulder will perhaps have to find a way to get her back (there's an idea for an exciting episode!). Plus, the Smoking Man and Diana Fowley live to betray another day. Speaking of which, Spender finally gets his moment of redemption in this episode, but pays for it dearly. Now being aware of the truth of the alien conspiracy, and his father's sinister part in it, he demands Kersh put Mulder and Scully back on the X-Files, as they're the only ones with any chance of finding some way to stop the alien invasion. The Smoking Man doesn't take this betrayal lightly, though, and shoots his own son dead in cold blood!
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: Two men - young, idealistic, the fine product of a generation hardened by world war. Two fathers whose paths would converge in a new battle, an invisible war between a silent enemy and a sleeping giant on a scale to dwarf all historical conflicts. A 50 years war, its killing fields lying in wait for the inevitable global holocaust. Theirs was the dawn of Armageddon. And while the world was unaware, unwitting spectators to the hurly-burly of the decades-long struggle between heaven and earth. there were those who prepared for the end; who measured the size and power of the enemy, and faced the choices: stand and fight, or bow to the will of a fearsome enemy. Or to surrender - to yield and collaborate. To save themselves and stay their enemy's hand. Men who believed that victory was the absence of defeat and survival the ultimate ideology - no matter what the sacrifice.
Mulder: The hybrid program was in cooperation with the aliens, but the conspirators never intended to succeed, to finish the work.
Marita: They were buying time.
Mulder: To make a vaccine, and build a weapon.
Marita: But Cassandra Spender happened.
Mulder: She's the first, isn't she? She's the first successful alien-human hybrid.
Marita: If she is, and the aliens learn a hybrid exists, colonization of the planet will begin, with no stopping it.
Mulder: Interesting company you keep.
Smoking Man: No more interesting than your apparent lingerie fetish.
Mulder: I've had answers for years.
Kersh: Then why didn't we hear about 'em?
Mulder: Nobody ever listened.
Kersh: Who burned those people?
Mulder: They burned themselves, with a choice made long ago by a conspiracy of men who thought they could sleep with the enemy, only to awaken another enemy.
Kersh: What the hell does that mean?
Mulder: It means the future is here, and all bets are off.
(This definitely sounds like the beginning of a new phase in the mythology. Although I thought the earlier stuff was the highlight of the series, back before questions began to be answered, I'm still rather excited to find out where the show goes next).
Spoiler Warning: This episode pretty much spoils the show's entire mythology, so yeah...
For an episode that ostensibly answers just about every question at the heart of this show's mythology, I'm still left feeling oddly confused (just wait for the lingering questions posed in double and triple sequential parenthetical passages). And what should have been purely thrilling turned out to be rather frustrating, because there are some elements to the proceedings that don't flow as naturally as I would have liked. At times I get the impression that rather than retroactively clearing everything up, the mythology must be watched backwards in order to make sense (or maybe these episodes really weren't designed to be watched so closely together, so that you would forget enough of the contradictory details of previous episodes with each new mythology revelation you received). I was oblivious to whatever hype there was about these episodes when they first aired - I didn't pay much attention to the media and fan chatter, I just tuned in every week - but from what I'm reading now these episodes were meant to be a sort of turning point in the series - the end of an era for the mythology, presumably leaving the rest of the series (which I believe at this point was only planned to continue through to the end of the next season) to tackle other matters. Well, it succeeds at doing that, at the very least.
Picking up from last week's cliffhanger, Mulder does not shoot Cassandra, after all. I want to say "of course", but it honestly seemed like he was about to at the end of the last episode. Then again, I'm thinking now that if she is this perfect hybrid, then she probably can't be killed by a simple gunshot, can she? I don't know why I didn't think of that before. In any case, they get interrupted, and thrown into a bogus quarantine, at Fowley's command, which I'm taken to believe is Spender's plan to keep Cassandra safe, from his father who he now believes (probably erroneously) is going to kill her. Mulder happens to find Marita Covarrubias in that quarantine - looking rather worse for wear - who explains some of what the Syndicate is up to. I'm glad they brought Marita back, whom we haven't seen for a whole season. I was hoping we'd get some closure on her, since she was infected with the Black Oil and then ostensibly cured. Even if, as Mulder's "informant", she doesn't hold a candle to either Deep Throat or X, I'd still hope she'd get a proper send-off before leaving the show. Although it looks like her character arc may not be at an end just yet.
Let's talk about some of these confusing plot threads. It really wasn't explained (at least not adequately) in the last episode - there was talk about keeping her alive on one hand, and killing her off on the other - what effect Cassandra's life or death was supposed to have. In this episode, I believe it's made very clear that Cassandra is the culmination of a 25 year long hybrid program engaged in in conjunction with the alien colonists (again, leaving unanswered the question of why the Alien Bounty Hunter was dispatched to eliminate the clones in Colony, unless the clones were a separate experiment from the hybrids - I wonder if I shouldn't just take the events of that episode to be a non-canonical introduction to the concepts of the ABH and the clones...), and that once the colonists find out a successful hybrid has been created, they will initiate colonization (but didn't the Smoking Man say the date was already set in Talitha Cumi?) (and besides, why do the aliens even need hybrids, if they have the virus?). Which is why everybody wants Cassandra dead. Except, the Smoking Man doesn't, really. None of the Syndicate really seem to. This is where it gets confusing, because the Syndicate ostensibly made a deal with the aliens so that they could stall for time and produce a vaccine (using the same alien tissue required for the hybrid program - the fetus in The Erlenmeyer Flask, which we get to see again in this episode) (which raises another question - is the vaccine finished or not? It certainly seems to work, but maybe it just doesn't work well enough yet to use it to maximum effect) (and anyway, don't the aliens know they have it, after the events of the movie - are we going to see any repercussions from that?).
But here's the thing - it doesn't seem as though the Syndicate's heart is really in producing this vaccine (apparently, it was Mulder's father's idea, and the rest of the Syndicate weren't too keen on it). They seem committed to letting the aliens do their thing, rather than side with the rebels. It still hasn't been explained, but it's hinted at in this episode that, by making an agreement with the aliens, and facilitating their work leading up to colonization, they may have been granted some kind of diplomatic VIP status, in which they can continue living without infection after colonization - a "throw mankind under the bus to save themselves" sort of a situation. I still don't understand the point of sacrificing their children though. It would make enough sense if it were done as a sort of hostage situation - the aliens demanded hostages to ensure the Syndicate's cooperation - while at the same time the Syndicate realize that handing their kids over means that they'll get to see them again - safe and sound - after colonization. That would marginally sync with the Well-Manicured Man's revelation about Samantha in the movie, except that that scenario has nothing to do with the hostages being involved in hybridization (except Cassandra was, probably, one of them...).
Argh. Maybe this is what people mean when they say that the mythology falls apart - even as it appears to be coming together. Can we talk about the rebels? I know I'm using this word a lot in this review, but it's appropriate - ostensibly, the rebels are against colonization. Or are they just against the Syndicate? And if they're against the Syndicate, are they against the Syndicate's official plans, or their secret plans? If they're against colonization, they should have killed Cassandra when they had the chance, not let her live. But, by this episode's end, the Syndicate is lured to the same hangar where we see them originally greet the alien invaders (in a haunting flashback that opens the episode) (on October 13, 1973, for you trivia nuts). However, it's not actually the aliens come to start colonization - it's the rebels, having set the Syndicate up in order to burn them like the abductees in Patient X/The Red and the Black. I suppose that, risky as letting Cassandra live must be (although for the alien rebels, I doubt the fate of the human race is that important - they may want to stop colonization, but not necessarily for the specific sake of mankind), it was a perfect setup to get the Syndicate together so they can be destroyed, having given up their chance to side with the rebels.
And it's a hell of a turn of events. The Smoking Man alone manages to escape, with Diana Fowley under his wing. At Scully's behest, the Lone Gunmen dig up some info on the latter that ties her to Tunisia - which we saw at the end of the movie - and find that she'd been keeping tabs on various MUFON chapters in Europe while she was allegedly on foreign terrorism detail. It's kind of irritating how implicitly Mulder trusts her. I mean, I know he worked with her, and trusts her, and has every reason to believe that Scully would be jealous, but as the audience, we've already seen her in cahoots with the Smoking Man, so having to watch Mulder defend her is frustrating.
As for Krycek, he was elsewhere when the rebels put the whammy on the Syndicate (and I'm glad he survives). I wonder that he's being treated practically like a full member of the Syndicate in these episodes, when he was just a hired gun for them before (and he betrayed them!). I guess maybe he earned it by turning over the Russian vaccine (and come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the one who got him out of that abandoned missile silo was the Smoking Man himself, or some other member of the Syndicate, in return for agreeing to pose as a Russian spy, only so that he could steal their vaccine and bring it back - the fact that he tried to trade it for some standing just goes to show that Krycek is always an independent agent looking out for his own best interests).
So, in the end, not only do the Syndicate get their comeuppance at the rebels' hands, and Cassandra is either taken or destroyed (it's not clear), but the rebels also steal the alien fetus (purity control). I don't know where the show's going to go from here. Presumably, the aliens will still want to colonize, even without the Syndicate. Presumably, they still have Samantha, and Mulder will perhaps have to find a way to get her back (there's an idea for an exciting episode!). Plus, the Smoking Man and Diana Fowley live to betray another day. Speaking of which, Spender finally gets his moment of redemption in this episode, but pays for it dearly. Now being aware of the truth of the alien conspiracy, and his father's sinister part in it, he demands Kersh put Mulder and Scully back on the X-Files, as they're the only ones with any chance of finding some way to stop the alien invasion. The Smoking Man doesn't take this betrayal lightly, though, and shoots his own son dead in cold blood!
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: Two men - young, idealistic, the fine product of a generation hardened by world war. Two fathers whose paths would converge in a new battle, an invisible war between a silent enemy and a sleeping giant on a scale to dwarf all historical conflicts. A 50 years war, its killing fields lying in wait for the inevitable global holocaust. Theirs was the dawn of Armageddon. And while the world was unaware, unwitting spectators to the hurly-burly of the decades-long struggle between heaven and earth. there were those who prepared for the end; who measured the size and power of the enemy, and faced the choices: stand and fight, or bow to the will of a fearsome enemy. Or to surrender - to yield and collaborate. To save themselves and stay their enemy's hand. Men who believed that victory was the absence of defeat and survival the ultimate ideology - no matter what the sacrifice.
Mulder: The hybrid program was in cooperation with the aliens, but the conspirators never intended to succeed, to finish the work.
Marita: They were buying time.
Mulder: To make a vaccine, and build a weapon.
Marita: But Cassandra Spender happened.
Mulder: She's the first, isn't she? She's the first successful alien-human hybrid.
Marita: If she is, and the aliens learn a hybrid exists, colonization of the planet will begin, with no stopping it.
Mulder: Interesting company you keep.
Smoking Man: No more interesting than your apparent lingerie fetish.
Mulder: I've had answers for years.
Kersh: Then why didn't we hear about 'em?
Mulder: Nobody ever listened.
Kersh: Who burned those people?
Mulder: They burned themselves, with a choice made long ago by a conspiracy of men who thought they could sleep with the enemy, only to awaken another enemy.
Kersh: What the hell does that mean?
Mulder: It means the future is here, and all bets are off.
(This definitely sounds like the beginning of a new phase in the mythology. Although I thought the earlier stuff was the highlight of the series, back before questions began to be answered, I'm still rather excited to find out where the show goes next).
Sunday, November 8, 2015
The X-Files - S6:E11 "Two Fathers"
[ S6:E10 "Tithonus" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E12 "One Son" ]
Spoiler Warning: Back to another classic mythology two-parter, so expect spoilers!
(Although it's sad to call anything dealing with the Spender family "classic"). After four years of stalling, the fifth season's Patient X/The Red and the Black began to tie the various threads of the mythology together, in anticipation of the movie, Fight The Future, which revealed more about the Syndicate's plans than the entire series to date. Now, if this episode is any indication, the series ain't pussy-footin' around no more. I know we're not quite at the end yet, but I'm starting to wonder about all this "the mythology falls apart" talk, because it seems to me that the mythology's actually finally coming together. Not only do we return to the issue of the faceless rebels, but in this episode we also finally get to learn the Cigarette Smoking Man's "real" name. Of course, Scully says it's just one of hundreds of aliases, but it's the closest thing to an identity the Smoking Man will ever be pegged with. Especially because it comes with a built-in family.
So much for the Smoking Man's plea to Mulder in One Breath that he's got no wife, and no kids. You know, I was a little concerned that humanizing the Smoking Man would destroy his credibility (and charisma) as a villain. There's been some concern about that going back to season 4's Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (which, quite contrary to Morgan & Wong's desire to give him back some of his teeth, contributed as much to viewers' ability to empathize with him - and no, I don't think having him kill Frohike like the writers originally intended would have been a better turn of events, even so), and to Talitha Cumi/Herrenvolk before it. And I was concerned that these two episodes, that deal with his paternal relationship to Agent Spender, would suffer from all this late-game familial drama, but I was wrong - this episode is pretty good, and the Smoking Man can still intimidate (if not quite like he did prior to the merchandise trilogy).
So, in this episode, Cassandra Spender returns from her "abduction" (we see her on a train like the ones in Nisei/731 that Scully identified from her abduction - also, Roush is involved), and she's got answers. The doctors who were working on her were killed by some more of those faceless alien rebels with the cool torch wands. She was kept alive because she's the project's first "successful" human-alien hybrid (complete with green blood and miraculous powers of healing!), and the rebels want her existence known in order to expose the conspirators' plans. Things get a little murky here, though.
First, that Cassandra is the first "successful" hybrid begs the question of what the "success" discussed in 731 was, or the "success" Deep Throat mentioned in The Erlenmeyer Flask. Were these all just different stages of success (and if so, are we to believe that this stage is the final one?). And what about the clones we've seen? If they're not successes, then I'd like to know how they're flawed. Unless it's that they had to be created in a lab (some of those details were hinted at in Memento Mori, and perhaps also in Emily), versus Cassandra being hybridized from a full human base.
Moreover, I'm still a little confused about the role of the hybrids. In one breath, the Smoking Man explains that they are part of the colonists' plan - to create a slave race (although he may be lying, given who he's talking to). But then Mulder restates what we learned in the movie - that the hybrids are designed to survive the "viral apocalypse". Yet, is this not part of the aliens' plan? Was I mistaken in thinking so? If they are truly an altogether unsanctioned experiment, then that would explain the Alien Bounty Hunter's actions in Colony/End Game (but not in Talitha Cumi/Herrenvolk).
I thought things were starting to make sense, but now I'm getting confused. Are the conspirators working to save mankind, or destroy it? When other characters talk about fucking up their plans, are they referring to their official plans, or their secret plans - which are at cross-purposes from one another? What are the individual conspirators' loyalties? I'm intrigued by the idea that as horrible as the things the men of the conspiracy have done, they've done it all for justifiable reasons - reasons that would be insane by normal standards of logic, but justified by the existence of an even more powerful, even more sinister alien race.
In any case, the Smoking Man is faced with having to kill the mother of his own son, but will his newfound sentimentality do him in? He suspects the rebels have infiltrated the Syndicate (proving that they can still shape-shift - although judging from their face masks, it might be a more involved process than we've seen before), and he enlists Spender to kill the impostor (complete with retractable ice pick!). I don't know if he's being blinded by his ill-placed fatherly affections, but he must be a poor judge of character if he thinks Spender is going to be willing to resort to murder all of a sudden. Krycek ends up having to step in and finish the job, and all that Spender gets out of the experience is seeing the alien's blood chemistry with his own eyes (by the way, this lends evidence to the fact that decaying alien bodies are not toxic in the same way that being exposed to their blood while living is), which finally turns him against his lying bastard of a father.
While all this is going on, Mulder and Scully are put on administrative leave for snooping around, after learning much from Cassandra, including the name of Spender's father - the Smoking Man. They also learn about the aliens' plans to take over the universe, and that Samantha - who was abducted the same night as Cassandra's first time (Nov. 27, 1973, for all you trivia nuts) - is with them. Apart from the brief info we got in the movie (which I am led to believe was only in the extended edition - which is the one I watched), we haven't heard much about Samantha since Mulder's dubious meeting (which Cassandra verifies was a ruse) in Redux II. It all builds up to one of the more thrilling cliffhangers we've seen on this show in years, in which Diana Fowley is revealed to be working for the Smoking Man (although I can't say I'm that surprised), and Cassandra is just on the verge of convincing Mulder (of all people) to be the one to shoot her dead!
To be continued...
Memorable quotes:
Smoking Man: This is the end. I never thought I'd hear myself say those words, after all these years. You put your life into something - build it, protect it. The end is as unimaginable as your own death, or the death of your children. I could never have scripted the events that led us to this. None of us could. All the brilliant men. The secret that we kept so well. It happened simply, like this: we had a perfect conspiracy, with an alien race - aliens who were coming to reclaim this planet and to destroy all human life. Our job was to secretly prepare the way for their invasion, to create for them a slave race of human-alien hybrids.
(You know we're getting somewhere when the Smoking Man gets to have a monologue. The secrets are being laid out on the table now, boy).
Mulder: You looking for work, Agent Spender? 'Cause if you are, I got a whole pile in that middle drawer that I'd love to shove down someone's throat.
Spender: I just want the truth.
Mulder: The truth is out there, Agent Spender. Maybe you should find it for yourself.
Dr. Openshaw: A man should never live long enough to see his children - or his work - destroyed.
Cassandra: I told you that the aliens were here to do good, and that I was being used as an oracle to spread the word. Only now I know what the aliens are here for, and it isn't good.
Mulder: What are they here for?
Cassandra: To wipe us off the planet. They're taking over the universe. They're infecting all other lifeforms with a black substance called "purity". It's their life force - it's what they're made of.
(So much for that optimism she had before. Also, finally some more concrete context for the phrase "purity control"!)
Mulder: Smokey's got a name.
Spender: Keeping Fox Mulder down is not a job, it's your dirty work!
Smoking Man (with derision): You pale to Fox Mulder.
Smoking Man: The truth was out there, fatally exposed.
Krycek: You've never seen one before, have you? It's shocking at first. The acceptance of the idea, it's...it's something you thought only children and fools believed in. It undermines your beliefs. In yourself. In the world. But then you come to understand.
Spender: Understand what?
Krycek: Well, the responsibility that this knowledge demands by the men who have it. The great sacrifice, by great men - like your father.
(After everything that's happened, I hate to think that Krycek considers the Smoking Man "a great man". Though he's a villain, and he's worked under the Smoking Man before, Krycek has always looked out for himself first and foremost, and one of his most redeeming traits was his betrayal of the Smoking Man after the merchandise trilogy. In hindsight, I think this whole exchange was set up to turn Spender against his father. It's interesting to see Krycek and Spender interact, since I compared them before. But they're from two different eras of the show. To be honest, I didn't realize Krycek stuck around until this late in the series. As a rival to Mulder, Spender pales in comparison to him. And I know that Mulder and Krycek will never be friends, but I can't help thinking how awesome it would be if they joined forces to stand against the aliens in the final chapter. I suppose I'll have to resort to reading fanfic for that alliance. Maybe I just really wanna see someone tear the Smoking Man apart, and Krycek is in the best position for a true betrayal. The Smoking Man apparently has a lot of emotional investment in both Mulder and Agent Spender, but how great would it be to see him felled by the slimiest creature in this series? Wait, scratch that. In light of this episode's cliffhanger, Agent Fowley is the slimiest creature in this series - the aliens from the movie included).
Spoiler Warning: Back to another classic mythology two-parter, so expect spoilers!
(Although it's sad to call anything dealing with the Spender family "classic"). After four years of stalling, the fifth season's Patient X/The Red and the Black began to tie the various threads of the mythology together, in anticipation of the movie, Fight The Future, which revealed more about the Syndicate's plans than the entire series to date. Now, if this episode is any indication, the series ain't pussy-footin' around no more. I know we're not quite at the end yet, but I'm starting to wonder about all this "the mythology falls apart" talk, because it seems to me that the mythology's actually finally coming together. Not only do we return to the issue of the faceless rebels, but in this episode we also finally get to learn the Cigarette Smoking Man's "real" name. Of course, Scully says it's just one of hundreds of aliases, but it's the closest thing to an identity the Smoking Man will ever be pegged with. Especially because it comes with a built-in family.
So much for the Smoking Man's plea to Mulder in One Breath that he's got no wife, and no kids. You know, I was a little concerned that humanizing the Smoking Man would destroy his credibility (and charisma) as a villain. There's been some concern about that going back to season 4's Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (which, quite contrary to Morgan & Wong's desire to give him back some of his teeth, contributed as much to viewers' ability to empathize with him - and no, I don't think having him kill Frohike like the writers originally intended would have been a better turn of events, even so), and to Talitha Cumi/Herrenvolk before it. And I was concerned that these two episodes, that deal with his paternal relationship to Agent Spender, would suffer from all this late-game familial drama, but I was wrong - this episode is pretty good, and the Smoking Man can still intimidate (if not quite like he did prior to the merchandise trilogy).
So, in this episode, Cassandra Spender returns from her "abduction" (we see her on a train like the ones in Nisei/731 that Scully identified from her abduction - also, Roush is involved), and she's got answers. The doctors who were working on her were killed by some more of those faceless alien rebels with the cool torch wands. She was kept alive because she's the project's first "successful" human-alien hybrid (complete with green blood and miraculous powers of healing!), and the rebels want her existence known in order to expose the conspirators' plans. Things get a little murky here, though.
First, that Cassandra is the first "successful" hybrid begs the question of what the "success" discussed in 731 was, or the "success" Deep Throat mentioned in The Erlenmeyer Flask. Were these all just different stages of success (and if so, are we to believe that this stage is the final one?). And what about the clones we've seen? If they're not successes, then I'd like to know how they're flawed. Unless it's that they had to be created in a lab (some of those details were hinted at in Memento Mori, and perhaps also in Emily), versus Cassandra being hybridized from a full human base.
Moreover, I'm still a little confused about the role of the hybrids. In one breath, the Smoking Man explains that they are part of the colonists' plan - to create a slave race (although he may be lying, given who he's talking to). But then Mulder restates what we learned in the movie - that the hybrids are designed to survive the "viral apocalypse". Yet, is this not part of the aliens' plan? Was I mistaken in thinking so? If they are truly an altogether unsanctioned experiment, then that would explain the Alien Bounty Hunter's actions in Colony/End Game (but not in Talitha Cumi/Herrenvolk).
I thought things were starting to make sense, but now I'm getting confused. Are the conspirators working to save mankind, or destroy it? When other characters talk about fucking up their plans, are they referring to their official plans, or their secret plans - which are at cross-purposes from one another? What are the individual conspirators' loyalties? I'm intrigued by the idea that as horrible as the things the men of the conspiracy have done, they've done it all for justifiable reasons - reasons that would be insane by normal standards of logic, but justified by the existence of an even more powerful, even more sinister alien race.
In any case, the Smoking Man is faced with having to kill the mother of his own son, but will his newfound sentimentality do him in? He suspects the rebels have infiltrated the Syndicate (proving that they can still shape-shift - although judging from their face masks, it might be a more involved process than we've seen before), and he enlists Spender to kill the impostor (complete with retractable ice pick!). I don't know if he's being blinded by his ill-placed fatherly affections, but he must be a poor judge of character if he thinks Spender is going to be willing to resort to murder all of a sudden. Krycek ends up having to step in and finish the job, and all that Spender gets out of the experience is seeing the alien's blood chemistry with his own eyes (by the way, this lends evidence to the fact that decaying alien bodies are not toxic in the same way that being exposed to their blood while living is), which finally turns him against his lying bastard of a father.
While all this is going on, Mulder and Scully are put on administrative leave for snooping around, after learning much from Cassandra, including the name of Spender's father - the Smoking Man. They also learn about the aliens' plans to take over the universe, and that Samantha - who was abducted the same night as Cassandra's first time (Nov. 27, 1973, for all you trivia nuts) - is with them. Apart from the brief info we got in the movie (which I am led to believe was only in the extended edition - which is the one I watched), we haven't heard much about Samantha since Mulder's dubious meeting (which Cassandra verifies was a ruse) in Redux II. It all builds up to one of the more thrilling cliffhangers we've seen on this show in years, in which Diana Fowley is revealed to be working for the Smoking Man (although I can't say I'm that surprised), and Cassandra is just on the verge of convincing Mulder (of all people) to be the one to shoot her dead!
To be continued...
Memorable quotes:
Smoking Man: This is the end. I never thought I'd hear myself say those words, after all these years. You put your life into something - build it, protect it. The end is as unimaginable as your own death, or the death of your children. I could never have scripted the events that led us to this. None of us could. All the brilliant men. The secret that we kept so well. It happened simply, like this: we had a perfect conspiracy, with an alien race - aliens who were coming to reclaim this planet and to destroy all human life. Our job was to secretly prepare the way for their invasion, to create for them a slave race of human-alien hybrids.
(You know we're getting somewhere when the Smoking Man gets to have a monologue. The secrets are being laid out on the table now, boy).
Mulder: You looking for work, Agent Spender? 'Cause if you are, I got a whole pile in that middle drawer that I'd love to shove down someone's throat.
Spender: I just want the truth.
Mulder: The truth is out there, Agent Spender. Maybe you should find it for yourself.
Dr. Openshaw: A man should never live long enough to see his children - or his work - destroyed.
Cassandra: I told you that the aliens were here to do good, and that I was being used as an oracle to spread the word. Only now I know what the aliens are here for, and it isn't good.
Mulder: What are they here for?
Cassandra: To wipe us off the planet. They're taking over the universe. They're infecting all other lifeforms with a black substance called "purity". It's their life force - it's what they're made of.
(So much for that optimism she had before. Also, finally some more concrete context for the phrase "purity control"!)
Mulder: Smokey's got a name.
Spender: Keeping Fox Mulder down is not a job, it's your dirty work!
Smoking Man (with derision): You pale to Fox Mulder.
Smoking Man: The truth was out there, fatally exposed.
Krycek: You've never seen one before, have you? It's shocking at first. The acceptance of the idea, it's...it's something you thought only children and fools believed in. It undermines your beliefs. In yourself. In the world. But then you come to understand.
Spender: Understand what?
Krycek: Well, the responsibility that this knowledge demands by the men who have it. The great sacrifice, by great men - like your father.
(After everything that's happened, I hate to think that Krycek considers the Smoking Man "a great man". Though he's a villain, and he's worked under the Smoking Man before, Krycek has always looked out for himself first and foremost, and one of his most redeeming traits was his betrayal of the Smoking Man after the merchandise trilogy. In hindsight, I think this whole exchange was set up to turn Spender against his father. It's interesting to see Krycek and Spender interact, since I compared them before. But they're from two different eras of the show. To be honest, I didn't realize Krycek stuck around until this late in the series. As a rival to Mulder, Spender pales in comparison to him. And I know that Mulder and Krycek will never be friends, but I can't help thinking how awesome it would be if they joined forces to stand against the aliens in the final chapter. I suppose I'll have to resort to reading fanfic for that alliance. Maybe I just really wanna see someone tear the Smoking Man apart, and Krycek is in the best position for a true betrayal. The Smoking Man apparently has a lot of emotional investment in both Mulder and Agent Spender, but how great would it be to see him felled by the slimiest creature in this series? Wait, scratch that. In light of this episode's cliffhanger, Agent Fowley is the slimiest creature in this series - the aliens from the movie included).
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