Halloween 2017

I'm a little out of practice, but here's what I watched for Halloween this year:

The Void (2016) - a Lovecraftian horror with shades of Silent Hill, Hellraiser, and creature effects that would do justice to John Carpenter's The Thing. You never know what you're going to get when going into a horror film - a stylistic tour de force or a cheap 'b' flick. While seeming like the latter, this fortunately leans more toward the former. A group of small town nobodies is besieged in a local hospital by hooded cult-like figures. But rather than a routine run-around hack-and-slash, themes of occult medical experimentation, dark gods, and dimensions to alternate realities are the rule of the day. Recommended.

The Babysitter (2017) - A geeky adolescent finds his courage as he struggles to survive when a night with the babysitter turns unexpectedly homicidal in this campy horror-comedy that was (to my disappointment) more suburban slasher than Satanic ritual. Nevertheless, it's got the style and the humor to be a throwback cult teen movie. Samara Weaving nails the hot-to-trot babysitter with a heart of gold (and also a dark secret), even if she doesn't make as convincing a baddie. For people who prefer fun over scary movies for their Halloween viewing.

Cabin Fever (2002) - Eli Roth (of Hostel fame)'s cult classic tongue-in-cheek horror about the outbreak of a flesh-eating virus in a backwoods setting, starring Rider Strong (Boy/Girl Meets World's own Shawn Hunter). Irreverently self-aware, this movie pokes fun at many horror tropes, while competently bringing the gross-out (no surprise there, given Eli Roth's reputation). I've never been prejudiced against "gorror" movies, but I do have to admit that I'm losing my stomach for them, and I have to say I was easily distracted while watching this one, and lost a lot of interest as lunch time loomed near.

American Fable (2016) - Good, in spite of its flaws. Tries to be a surreal, "modern day fairy tale" (think Pan's Labyrinth), but is too rooted in reality to get its feet off the ground (it wasn't really the movie I thought it was going to be from reading the description). The plot, however, is as compelling as it is a damning portrait of the lows to which its farmers stoop to save their lifestyle from urbanization (or something). The acting is a little wooden, and some of the characters are unrealistic caricatures (perhaps this was intentional), but young Peyton Kennedy is a vision of radiance and worth the price of admission alone.

Mindhunter (2017) - Not a movie, but a series, and a Netflix original, at that. Was introduced to it from a blurb in Time magazine of all places. It sounded interesting, so I gave the first episode a watch, and was instantly hooked. It's fantastically written, acted, and directed, based on the experiences of the guy who literally wrote the book on criminal behavioral science and (I'm guessing) invented the term "serial killer". The series depicts upstart FBI agent Holden Ford's crusade to redirect the bureau's efforts from trying to hunt inscrutable evil (and always staying one step behind), to learning to predict deviant behavior by studying the criminal mind first hand - by interviewing convicted killers, some of whom are disturbingly captivating. Also costars Anna Torv, formerly of Fringe. I cannot recommend this series highly enough.

The X-Files - S7:E15 "En Ami"

[ S7:E14 "Theef" <<< Season 7 >>> S7:E16 "Chimera" ]

Spoiler Warning: This is a mythology episode, so there may be some spoilers in the following review.

Going into this episode knowing that it was a mythology episode, I couldn't help wondering - with the Syndicate dismantled (Two Fathers/One Son), and Mulder having found his sister (Sein und Zeit/Closure), where else could the mythology possibly go? I don't even know what story the season finale (originally intended to be the series finale) could tell, other than to depict the alien apocalypse (and what with the continuation into an eight and ninth season, I doubt that's going to happen). Nevertheless, this turned out to be a pleasant little episode, that has just enough mythology content, but wisely spends most of its time telling a standalone story - albeit one involving the Smoking Man. The episode was notably written by William B. Davis himself. And while I was concerned that his bias towards the character might make him out to be too sympathetic (he's just not convincing as a nice guy, after all the mean shit we've seen him pull), I was pleasantly surprised by the conclusion to this episode (one notes the ironic similarity between "en ami", French for "as a friend", and the English word "enemy"), which is a Scully/Smoking Man shippers' dream (you know you're out there).

It begins with a family of religious nutjobs refusing medical treatment, and thereby dooming their little boy to death. But, lo and behold, in the middle of the night, he is "visited" by what he predictably believes to be angels, that miraculously cure his cancer. Of course, it's only men - shadowy government operatives, wielding a technology we've seen in action before (the religious subtext involving Scully's spontaneous remission in Redux II is resurrected here, but kept tastefully restrained). The question remains, however - why cure this little boy? And it turns out that it's a ploy by the Smoking Man to gain Scully's trust in order to redeem himself before he dies (via complications from the surgery he underwent in Amor Fati), by passing on to her the government's secret cure for cancer. From Scully's perspective, it's a tantalizing - albeit dangerous - proposition, and you can't fault her for cautiously going along with it (in what seems to be an analog of Mulder's ride with the Smoking Man in Amor Fati). Mulder doesn't have a lot to do in this episode, but his parts do feature a humorous meeting between Skinner and the Lone Gunmen. It's really an unexpected gem of an episode.

A business card for a man without a name.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: What the hell are you doing?
Smoking Man: God's work, what else?

Smoking Man: In the end, a man finally looks at the sum of his life, to see what he'll leave behind. Most of what I've worked to build is in ruins. And now that the darkness descends, I find I have no real legacy.

Smoking Man: No sacrifice is purely altruistic. We give, expecting to receive.

Skinner: She says she's fine.
Mulder: She's in trouble.

Smoking Man: How do you take your coffee?
Scully: Unadulterated, thank you.

Byers: "Shadow project" is right.
Langly: Where this dude works, even the shadows have shadows.

Smoking Man: What we are being given - it's not the cure for cancer. It's the holiest of grails, Dana. It's the cure for all human disease.
Scully: Wow.
Smoking Man: It's from that final frontier. It's largely extraterrestrial.

(I like that they're still working in bits of classic alien folklore this late in the series).

The X-Files - S7:E14 "Theef"

[ S7:E13 "First Person Shooter" <<< Season 7 >>> S7:E15 "En Ami" ]

Theef is something of a sleeper hit, on a parallel with last season's Tithonus. It's a world away from the last episode John Gillnitz (a portmanteau of John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, and Frank Spotnitz) wrote this season - The Amazing Maleeni. We're talking the most serious, straightforward monster-of-the-week they've done since Leonard Betts (and with possibly even less humor!). Which is to say that it's great! It's a dark, slow episode about an antiquated shaman (Billy Drago) - something of an occult medicine man - seeking revenge for some wrong committed against him by an award-winning doctor (James Morrison).

It doesn't take long for Mulder to link a related murder to "hexcraft" - and even when Scully finds evidence of a rare disease during her autopsy, Mulder demonstrates the resilience of his theory by modifying it to blame the occurrence of the disease on hexcraft! In any other universe, I would be rolling my eyes, but we all know Mulder is right more often than not. Scully does her own share of rolling her eyes in this episode, however, as she is in full "I'm not having any of this ridiculousness" mode, which is not my favorite version of her character. (And this is in spite of the fact that she ends up a maybe-believer by the end - although I could have done without the running "you keep me guessing" joke).

But thankfully the episode doesn't dwell too much on that. I feel like it lacks that extra push to put it on the level of some of the greatest episodes in this series, but it's definitely a highlight of the season so far. The only thing I could think to make it better is if instead of the inevitable ambiguity of a doctor making the decision to end a dying patient's suffering (because, really, I can't legitimately fault the doctor - it sounds like he made the right decision), they would have put more emphasis on the healer's guilt for not having been there to save her (rather than leave it largely as subtext). But oh well.

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: Folk magic - that's what I believe is being used against you.
Dr. Wieder: Folk magic? You mean, like, Baba Yaga? Gypsies?
Mulder: I was actually thinking less Eastern and more Celtic. Maybe...Scots-Irish, or Appalachian even.

(I love how serious Mulder takes all this stuff).

Dr. Wieder: So, modern medicine and all it encompasses - artificial hearts, laser surgery, gene therapy, to name a few - all of that arrayed against a pile of magic dirt, and you tell me I'll lose?

Mr. Peattie: Truth always hurts. Don't it, doc?

Mr. Peattie: Radiation...come from the heart o' the atom. I think it be...God's own glow.

Mr. Peattie: If I be dere, I save her!
Dr. Wieder: You weren't there!

(Yeah, more emphasis on this, instead of the next quote, would have made the episode even better, I think).

Mulder: It seems pretty clear cut.
Scully: Except maybe it's not.

The X-Files - S6:E9 "S.R. 819"

[ S6:E8 "The Rain King" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E10 "Tithonus" ]

It is with great relief that in S.R. 819 - that is, Senate Resolution 819 - the series gives us another Skinner-centric episode, the likes of which we haven't seen since season 4's Zero Sum (and season 3's Avatar before it). I actually like Kersh as an antagonist, but as the agents' new Assistant Director, he's been edging Skinner right out of the show lately, and Skinner is one of the pinnacles of this series. Having Skinner back front and center brings us back to the earlier days of the show - indeed, there is a point at which it's almost like this episode (written by John Shiban, who has improved a lot since the days of The Walk and Teso dos Bichos) is ticking off the boxes of a classic X-Files episode - somebody in the hospital in critical condition, Mulder pulling a gun on a suspicious hanger-on, and chasing him down the stairwell, into the parking garage. It's too bad X isn't still around, or we could have had a repeat of One Breath! We also get to see Senator Matheson again, and he has the chance to play more than just an advisory role for once.

And this is a gritty episode. Conspiratorial machinations are at a level that's hard to follow. People who have been allies in the past are put into positions of moral compromise. And best of all, while it doesn't feel like a full-on mythology episode, the events of the episode are tied in to the mythology in a way that makes them feel significant beyond what any standalone episode could boast. It starts with a heartbreaking opener, which, if I didn't know better, would make me think the show was getting ready to kill Skinner off (to be honest, I do know better - at least, I think I do - and I'm still kind of worried for him...). After seeing him in the boxing ring (which explains why he's such a badass), we find that he's been subjected to a rather gruesome disease, with only 24 hours to live. Skinner is characteristically reluctant to let Mulder and Scully help him - he's very self-dependant - but thankfully he's not as reluctant as he was in Avatar, when he was basically a brick wall, and the agents had to go behind his back just to keep him out of jail.

I'm really tempted to discuss some of the exciting twists in this episode, for the sake of keeping the mythology straight, but...I'd just as soon avoid the possibility of spoiling the opportunity for you to experience it yourself. Also, if I must be honest, I'm not sure I followed everything the first time through.

Memorable quotes:

Skinner: Every minute of every day, we choose. Who we are. Who we forgive. Who we defend, and protect. To choose a side, or to walk the line. To play the middle. To straddle the fence between what is and what should be. This was the course I chose. Trying to find the delicate balance of interests that can never exist. Choosing, but not choosing. Defending a center which...cannot hold. So, death chose for me.

Scully: Sir, if this man poisoned you, you should be off your feet and under doctor's care.
Skinner: If this man poisoned me, I'm gonna put a gun to his head, find out why, and ask him how he's gonna make me well.

(This is why Skinner is awesome).

Skinner: If I die now, I die in vain.

(Skinner's speech here about regretting not picking sides is touching, but he must have forgotten how he totally stood up to the Smoking Man at the end of Paper Clip, or the fact that the reason he made that deal with the devil in Memento Mori, and let himself be dragged through the mud in Zero Sum, was all for the sake of Scully's health. It's noble, but he's not giving himself enough credit).

The X-Files - S5:E7 "Emily"

[ S5:E6 "Christmas Carol" <<< Season 5 >>> S5:E8 "Kitsunegari" ]

Spoiler Warning: Another mythology episode. More huge spoilers. You've been warned again.

From the start, this episode proves to be a bit more interesting than the last one, opening with a metaphysical monologue that is fairly reminiscent of Mulder's in Colony (not an inappropriate reference, given the elements that turn up in this episode). On that note, Mulder appears - thankfully - to join in on the action in this episode. Things start up relatively quietly, with Mulder presenting evidence in Scully's petition to adopt Emily. He reveals that all of Scully's ova were extracted in the experiments performed on her during her abduction (which Scully is learning for the first time - the expressions on her face in this scene are excellent). Scully obviously wants to protect Emily, but Mulder sees her as a child that never should have been, created by government interests that aren't interested in letting somebody just come along and take their experiment away from them.

Another phantom call (sans Melissa's voice this time) leads them back to the children's center, where Emily is staying. She has a fever and a weird, green cyst on the back of her neck. When the doctors try to take a biopsy of it at the hospital, she begins to bleed toxic, green blood! Well, I guess now we know who (or at least what) her father was... Scully tries to get Emily's medical records from Dr. Calderon, but he won't release them, citing trade secrets (what with their experimental treatments and all). Mulder totally freaks out on him - and it's not that he doesn't deserve it, but wow, that's pretty unprofessional, Mulder. Shortly after, the doctor is killed (with one of those retractable ice picks) by not one, but two shapeshifting assassins. They never assume the form of the Alien Bounty Hunter, so it's not clear whether they're other bounty hunters, or just shape-shifting clones (like we saw in Talitha Cumi) on cleanup duty.

Meanwhile, Emily is dying, and it's not altogether clear whether the conspirators need her alive, or want her dead (although they seem to be leaning toward the latter outcome). Nothing Scully is able to do can heal her. It really puts a personal face on these hybridization experiments. I mean, back in The Erlenmeyer Flask, the renegade hybrid was the tight-lipped doctor's friend, but he was still a stranger to Mulder and Scully, and to the audience. It's one thing to talk about the government throwing innocent lives away for their mad science, but when one of those lives is Scully's own flesh and blood - a little girl she's quickly come to view as her daughter - the stakes are so much higher. In spite of the lukewarm subject of motherhood in the last episode, I think this was a good direction for the mythology to go in. And the introduction of the hybrid experiments (as well as Mulder's contributions) make this episode a lot more entertaining than the last one.

Speaking of the experiments, Mulder finds a few more small pieces to fit into the big puzzle we've been piecing together at least since Scully was abducted. He tracks down Emily's listed surrogate mother, which he had originally assumed to be a fake name, and finds a nursing home doubling as a secret maternity ward, where elderly women are given hormones, presumably so they can deliver these hybrid babies. Mulder examines one of the fetuses in a cooler, finds Scully's name on a list, and makes off with a vial of green goo (which, honestly, I don't know the significance of). All the other evidence gets cleaned up as usual by the end of the episode, and Emily succumbs to her inevitable fate. To her enduring credit, Scully ultimately decides to put the big picture ahead of her personal desires, and continue to fight the conspiracy instead of redirecting that attention toward raising a kid. But let me tell you, endings don't get any grimmer than Scully recovering her cross necklace from her own child's coffin...

Memorable quotes:

Scully: It begins where it ends - in nothingness. A nightmare born from deepest fears, coming to me unguarded, whispering images unlocked from time and distance. A soul unbound, touched by others but never held, on a course charted by some unseen hand. The journey ahead promising no more than my past reflected back upon me, until at last I reach the end. Facing a truth I can no longer deny. Alone, as ever.

Scully: I don't understand. Why create a false record?
Mulder: Because there are no true records.

Mulder: I'll be back.

Mulder: You know anything about pharmaceuticals?
Frohike: Medicinal or, uh...recreational?

Scully: Who are the men who would create a life whose only hope is to die?

The X-Files - S5:E6 "Christmas Carol"

[ S5:E5 "The Post-Modern Prometheus" <<< Season 5 >>> S5:E7 "Emily" ]

Spoiler Warning: Mythology episode. Huge spoilers. You have been warned.

The episode opens with the Scully family gathering for Christmas in San Diego (at brother Bill's house) - and if that doesn't set you on edge, then it's been too long since you watched Beyond The Sea. Bill's wife is very pregnant, and she gives a vomit-inducing speech over dinner about how much better life is after motherhood. Unfortunately, Scully seems to be lapping it up (because, as everyone knows, a woman is nothing without the ability to become a mother). However, she reveals to her own mother that she recently learned that due to what was done to her during her abduction, she is incapable of conceiving a child. (This was indirectly hinted at in Memento Mori, the same way Scully's cancer was foreshadowed all the way back in season 3's Nisei). Now that Scully has survived cancer, she'll have to tackle motherhood - but, as this is The X-Files, it won't be in the traditional way.

I'm actually kind of surprised this development is occurring this early (I seem to have had that feeling with a lot of the mythology arcs during my rewatch). I would have thought this stuff didn't come up until at least the sixth season, after the first movie. Nevertheless, here it is. And, inviting further comparisons to later X-Files is the fact that Mulder is nowhere to be seen in this episode. I think this is about the point at which "Scully's journey", as I like to call it, begins to become less interesting to me than Mulder's quest for the truth (which is how I remembered it when I wrote my Analytical Observation back during the first season). To be fair, the whole cancer thing was dramatic and emotional to an unprecedented extent, but it was still never as much fun as Mulder chasing aliens (and government conspiracies). And I really hate to pull the sex card, but motherhood is just one thing about the female experience that I can't find myself relating to.

This episode was written by the team of Gilligan/Shiban/Spotnitz, but unfortunately it veers more towards the schmaltz of Memento Mori than the fun of Leonard Betts. While experiencing more family pressure (why can't families just let people be who they are?), Scully starts having dreams of her past, in one of which we are treated to one of the more nightmare-inducing images in television history - the rabbit in the lunch box. She also begins to receive phone calls from her dead sister Melissa, urging her to help a child named Emily (who is obviously an alien - because no 3 year olds are that well-behaved), whose adopted parents are embroiled in the midst of an apparent conspiracy that's in the process of taking their lives. Emily is a very sick child, suffering from some form of anemia, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Melissa when she was a child. Scully thinks Emily may be Melissa's illegitimate daughter and has a DNA test run, but in the cliffhanger (if you can call it that), she finds out (on Christmas morning, no less), that Emily is actually her own daughter!

To be continued...

Memorable quotes:

Detective: A lot of people check themselves out around Christmas time.

Scully: Several months ago, I learned that as a result of my abduction - of what they did to me - that I cannot conceive a child.

Mrs. Scully: We're still connected to them, Dana. Even after they're gone.

Susan Chambliss: The good news is, you have first-hand experience of grave illness. The bad news is, you'd have to relive it through the eyes of a child.

Melissa: There is no right or wrong. Life's...just a path. You follow your heart, and it'll take you where you're supposed to go.
Scully: God, you sound like a greeting card. I don't believe in fate. I think we have to choose our own path.
Melissa: Well, just don't mistake the path with what's really important in life.

The X-Files - S5:E2 "Redux II"

[ S5:E1 "Redux" <<< Season 5 >>> S5:E3 "Unusual Suspects" ]

Spoiler Warning: If the title wasn't enough of an indication, this is another mythology episode, continuing from where the last episode left off - so expect huge spoilers. Mark my words, blood will be spilled by episode's end!

This is the first (only?) time in the series two episodes have shared a name. I can't confirm this, but I wonder if Redux and Redux II were originally intended to be one episode. You know that when one episode ends up spilling into two, there's gonna be a lot of ground to cover. This is only the second official (third unofficial, if you count One Breath as part of Duane Barry/Ascension, which I like to do) three-parter in the series, further warranting comparisons to the merchandise trilogy. I think I've heard fans refer to this one as "the Redux trilogy", but I think I'd rather call it "the hoax trilogy". This is a dramatic episode, although while it finally resolves the story thread started in last season's finale, Gethsemane, it's the sort of episode that requires time to digest - maybe even a second (or third) watch. Like, you know, to try and figure out who's working with who and for whom, and to what end...

It's sweet that Mulder makes his grand entrance from the realm of the [not-so-]dead - not sneaking around, but making a scene at the hospital, looking for Scully after she collapses. With Scully in a hospital bed, on the brink of death, and Mulder throwing a fit - it definitely recalls One Breath. It's a heartbreaking intro. Skinner comes to Mulder and reveals that he's been withholding forensic evidence on the assassin Mulder shot - see, I knew Skinner was still on their side. Kritschgau is still around (I'm honestly surprised he survived these episodes, although it's too bad we don't ever see him again - at least that I remember), but his son is dead. He also reveals that he's been "remunerated" in part by what he describes as a Congressional lobbying firm (and is later described as a biotechnology corporation) called Roush, whom we'll find out was also paying off the mole in the FBI.

On the Scully front, her brother Bill demonstrates even further what an asshole he is, coming off even worse than the Smoking Man, who remarkably appears to want to help Mulder for once. He explains that the vial of de-ionized water also contained a microchip (which is what I suspected, recalling from my uncertain memory). Mulder deduces that Scully's cancer appeared only after she had her implant removed, and that by re-installing the microchip, she may yet live. Without immediate results, though, Scully unfortunately gets so desperate as to finally turn to religion, after all. Sad face. Meanwhile, the Smoking Man relates to the raspy-voiced Elder (I'm just gonna call him Elder now that I see that that's the name he's listed under in the show's official credits) - he's so grimly theatrical, I love it - that he wants to recruit Mulder to their side. Are things getting weird yet? But the Elder doesn't seem amused, and sends a sniper to keep a close watch on the Smoking Man.

And then things get even weirder. The Smoking Man arranges a meeting between Mulder and Samantha - and it feels just as unreal as that sentence sounds. Worse yet, Samantha refers to the Smoking Man as her father. At one point, you're thinking, it's as if Samantha is worth more as a shining beacon in the dark - a vague symbol keeping Mulder on his path - than as a real, live person, with a life of her own, and no mystery surrounding her whereabouts. At another point, it's like an explicit representation of some spiritual encounter - where Mulder is literally asking Samantha where he can find her, and she's literally telling him to let her go. In the end, I think it all just feels so...wrong, because it is wrong. It has to be a lie. It wouldn't be the first time Mulder's been presented with a fake Samantha. I think it's a ruse the Smoking Man set up to try to win over Mulder's trust, towards his own selfish ends. It only shows what a heartless man he truly is, that he thinks Mulder would gain any kind of peace at all from this fleeting encounter.

But it gets even weirder still. The Smoking Man offers Mulder a job on his team, if he'll quit the FBI. He even dangles the promise of learning the truth about the "project" and the conspiracy in front of him. Of course, Mulder refuses. But an important takeaway from this conversation is the Smoking Man's suggestion that Kritschgau was a liar. It's no surprise that this hoax business wouldn't hold up indefinitely - that's just not the show we're watching (although it's been mighty fun going along for the ride). But I'm a little disappointed that there's not a better resolution for this plot thread (unless the writers are holding out on that for a later episode). There's no explanation as to all the evidence we've seen in these episodes to support the hoax theory - not even something as simple as somebody saying, "oh yeah, we set this all up just to trick you".

Maybe that's the argument between the Smoking Man and the Elder - the rest of the Syndicate want Mulder to cease and desist, even if that means breaking his spirit (although the Elder has admitted that they want him alive). But the Smoking Man has been taking an increasingly personal interest in Mulder (whether there is any truth to these rumors of family ties that keep being hinted at or not), which may be viewed as the possible threat of him being told too much. But I can't be sure - the web of lies is even more difficult than usual to parse out in this episode. Barring that explanation, though, at the very least I would have accepted, "yeah, we create hoaxes to divert people's attention from the real extraterrestrial matters we're dealing with."

Barreling forward towards the episode's conclusion, Mulder is finally called in to testify at the FBI committee, now facing a possible charge of murder. Scully wants him to lay the blame on her, to give her death some meaning, but Mulder admirably refuses to tarnish her sterling reputation. Section Chief Blevins, meanwhile, calls him into his office to offer him a deal - if he'll finger Skinner as the FBI mole, this little problem of a murder charge will go away. Mulder makes the right decision, and fingers the obvious culprit (even if he said it was a lucky guess) - Blevins himself. Who else, right? I mean, he was the one responsible for assigning Scully to debunk Mulder's work, originally. Still, it's a terribly dramatic scene.

In the aftermath, Blevins is assassinated, but so, too, is the Smoking Man (while pawing that photo of Fox and Samantha as kids), the latter by the Elder's sniper. Of course, no body is recovered (I don't think anyone will be too surprised if/when he turns up again later), but it is, nevertheless, a shocking turn of events. Meanwhile, Scully's cancer finally goes into remission. Yay! I'm pretty sure it was the implant that did the trick - although, unsurprisingly, the episode leaves the door wide open for speculation that it may have been a miracle fostered by Scully's death bed re-dedication to her faith. (Yeah, it was the implant). In spite of the questions left unanswered (in typical fashion), and the convoluted web of loyalties and betrayals involved, this episode serves as an exciting end to a very exciting chapter in the X-Files mythology. And yet, I still can't wait to find out what happens next!

Memorable quotes:

Skinner: You're moving pretty good for a dead man.
Mulder: I'm only half dead.

Elder: We're too vulnerable. Our man in the FBI's exposed. What Mulder may have seen could expose our plans.
Smoking Man: What Mulder's seen only serves us, serves to ensure our plans. Mulder's in trouble. He needs help. We can give it to him.
Elder: In exchange for?
Smoking Man: His new loyalty - to us. As I've said all along, Mulder's much more valuable to us alive.

Smoking Man: I'm here tonight as a friend, Agent Mulder.

Mulder: Please don't go.
Samantha: I can't stay here right now.
Mulder: Alright, just tell me how I can find you.
Samantha: I need some time.
Mulder: Just...just tell me where to find you.
Samantha: Please don't, Fox!
Mulder: We will do this on your time, just...
Samantha: And please, please let me go.

(Nope, no subtext there. None at all. Nuh-uh).

Scully: Have you ever witnessed a miracle, Dr. Zuckerman?
Dr. Zuckerman: I don't know that I have. But I have seen people make recoveries - come back from so far gone I can't explain it.
Scully: Isn't that a miracle?
Dr. Zuckerman: Maybe they are miracles. But I don't dare call them that.

Smoking Man: You've seen but scant pieces of the whole.
Mulder: What more can you show me?
Smoking Man: This man you spoke to - Michael Kritschgau; he's deceived you with beautiful lies. He's told you that everything you've ever believed about the existence of extraterrestrial life is untrue.
Mulder: And what are you saying?
Smoking Man: As I said, I'm offering you a chance to know the truth.

Mulder: To live the lie you have to believe it - like these men who deceive us, who gave you this disease. We all have our faith, and mine is in the truth.
Scully: Then why did you come here if you'd already made up your mind?
Mulder: Because I knew you'd talk me out of it if I was making a mistake.

Mulder: Four years ago, while working on an assignment outside the FBI mainstream, I was paired with Special Agent Dana Scully, who I believe was sent to spy on me, to debunk my investigations into the paranormal. That Agent Scully did not follow these orders is a testament to her integrity as an investigator, a scientist, and a human being.

Mulder: I had evidence of a conspiracy - a conspiracy against the American people.
Senior Agent: We've already heard testimony to these allegations, Agent Mulder.
Mulder: And a conspiracy intended to destroy the lives of those who would reveal its true purpose: to conduct experiments on unwitting victims to further a secret agenda for someone within the government operating at levels without restraint or responsibility, without morals or conscience. Men who...pretend to honor as they deceive, the price of this betrayal the lives and reputations of those deceived.

The X-Files - S5:E1 "Redux"

[ S4:E24 "Gethsemane" <<< Season 5 >>> S5:E2 "Redux II" ]

Spoiler Warning: This season premiere continues right from where the last season finale left off, and is a huge mythology episode. So, expect lots and lots (and lots) of spoilers.

And, we're plowing right on ahead. If there's an advantage to this pace, it's that I don't have to wait all summer to find out the resolution to last season's cliffhanger. I don't even have to wait a week! Exasperatingly, we don't catch up to the FBI committee that opened the last episode until the end of this episode. There's a lot going on that we haven't covered yet, though, and we do get to go behind the scenes and find out what Mulder and Scully are up to, with the former faking his death (like you had any doubt), and the latter lying to the committee about it. Apart from the appearance of Section Chief Blevins, and Scully's family dinner party, the last episode had a pretty tight cast. This episode, expanding on the ramifications of what was learned in the last episode, draws in Skinner, the Smoking Man, and even the Lone Gunmen.

The episode opens on that scene of Mulder crying in his apartment, after learning about the hoax; and it looks as if he truly is on the verge of actually committing suicide. But then he gets a call from Kritschgau, warning him that he's being monitored, and he goes into self-defense mode. He finds a DoD agent surveilling him from the apartment upstairs, and it is none other than the man with the fancy shotgun who was on clean up duty in the last episode. Mulder kills him, and determines from the phone records he was trying to destroy that he had been in regular contact with someone in the FBI. (Somehow that revelation isn't as surprising as I think it's supposed to be). So he concocts a plan to rat out the traitor by faking his own death (using the assasssin's body), and asking Scully to lie to the FBI so he can buy some time to infiltrate the DoD with the assassin's credentials.

Lucky for Mulder, the assassin had "Level 4" clearance, as Kritschgau explains when he finds Mulder wandering the DoD research facility - which is more than Kritschgau himself has. That means Mulder has access to everything - even, perhaps, the cure for Scully's cancer, assuming the DoD has it. No pressure! But first, Kritschgau gives Mulder a long, thoroughly satisfying diatribe (lol, I bet they circled the research facility three times before heading to where they were going, just to give Kritschgau enough time to finish his explanation) on the intricate historical details of the hoax - what was merely hinted at in Gethsemane. Following that is an exciting government facility infiltration like we've seen in E.B.E., and The Erlenmeyer Flask, but even better! Mulder finds rows of alien bodies - apparent fakes (probably prepared for scattering throughout fake UFO crashes) - and a room with pregnant women being tested on very much like Scully was during her abduction. He also finds an underground tunnel connecting to the Pentagon, leading to the Smoking Man's evidence room from the first season!

Three whole years and not a glimpse, not even a mention, of this place, which we saw only briefly in two short but highly provocative scenes in the series' pilot episode, and again in the first season finale. Honestly, I thought the writers had forgotten about it, or at least dropped that idea by the wayside. But here it is. Fantastic! Judging from Kritschgau's explanation, it contains DNA samples from pretty much everybody in the country. Mulder does a little cross-referencing and procures a mysterious vial assigned to Scully (could it be the cure to her cancer?), and hightails it out of there. (Minor nitpick: I don't know in what universe swiping a top level DoD access pass that doesn't work the first time, three more times, will suddenly make it work. That's like typing in the wrong password on somebody's computer four times, and instead of getting locked out, the system is like, "oh, fuck it, this guy is annoying, I'll just let him through." Although, to be fair, I think we're supposed to understand that it was actually the Smoking Man who let him through. I'd speculate why he would do such a thing, but I suspect there's a good answer coming up).

Speaking of which, the Smoking Man almost got emotional when he paid a secret visit to Mulder's apartment after his alleged suicide. I think he caught on to the ruse, though. He admits as much when he pays a visit to the Elder, to try to find out who had put Mulder under surveillance (I'm honestly surprised it wasn't the Smoking Man). The Elder denies having any knowledge of it (not that that means anything), although he does seem to be convinced of Mulder's death. It's always fun to see members of the Syndicate. These episodes aren't quite on the level of the merchandise trilogy, but I'll be damned if they're not the next best thing. On the subject of the FBI rat, I think this episode is trying to suggest that it may be Skinner (Scully seems to think so). Suspicion of Skinner worked in The Blessing Way, but at this point, I just don't believe it. I mean, I know he made that deal with the devil - but that doesn't make him evil; and besides, if he were the one responsible, then the Smoking Man would know about it.

While all of this is going on, Scully performs some tests on the only remaining evidence (the alien corpus having been snatched in the last episode) - the ice core samples. She finds a life form growing in them (an unclassified chimera), which she confirms shares DNA with a sample from her own blood, into which her cancer has recently metastasized. She believes her cancer was caused by exposure to this life form during her abduction. This proof also definitively ties the men behind the hoax (since the samples came from the fake alien corpus) to her abduction! But on the verge of presenting this evidence to the FBI committee, she collapses following another nose bleed. It looks like time is running out for Scully! Does Mulder have the cure? Unfortunately, the Lone Gunmen analyze it and determine that the vial he procured from the Pentagon contains nothing but de-ionized water. Drats! I have a feeling that's not going to be the end of the story, but we'll have to wait until next episode to find out!

To be continued...

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: I have held a torch in the darkness to glance upon a truth unknown - an act of faith begun with an ineloquent certainty that my journey promised the chance not just of understanding, but of recovery. That the disappearance of my sister 23 years ago would come to be explained, and that the pursuit of these greater truths about the existence of extraterrestrial life might even reunite us. A belief which I now know to be false, and unformed in the extreme; my folly revealed by facts which illuminate both my arrogance and self-deception. If only the tragedy had been mine alone, might it be more easy tonight to bring this journey to its end.

Scully: Mulder, how long has this been going on?
Mulder: Maybe since the beginning, since you joined me on the X-Files.
Scully: That would mean that for four years, we've been nothing more than pawns in a game. That it was a lie from the beginning. Mulder, these men, you give 'em your faith, and you're supposed to trust them with your life.

Mulder: I will not allow this treason to prosper, not if they've done this to you.
Scully: Mulder, we can't go to the bureau making these accusations.
Mulder: No, but as they lie to us, we can lie to them. A lie to find the truth.

Mulder: Let the truth be known, though the heavens fall. The web of lies entangling us can now be connected back to the very institution which brought us together - the facts supported by a Byzantine plot, executed by someone inside the FBI, who, if named, could be tied to the hoax meant to destroy me, and to the terminal disease inflicted on Scully. In four years I have shared my partner's passionate search for the truth, and if my part has been a deception, I have never seen her integrity waver, or her honor compromised. But now, I ask her to lie, to the people lying to us. A dangerous lie to find the truth, to find the men who would be revealed as its enemy, as our enemy, as the enemy within.

Kritschgau: There are truths which can kill a nation, Agent Mulder. The military needed something to deflect attention away from its arms strategy - global domination through the capability of total enemy annihilation.

Kritschgau: The business of America isn't business, Agent Mulder - it's war. Since Antietam, nothing has driven the economy faster. We needed a reason to keep spending money. When there wasn't a war to justify it, we called it war anyway. The Cold War was essentially a fifty year public relations battle - a pitched game of chicken against an enemy we not much more than called names.

Mulder: How does any of this have to do with flying saucers?
Kritschgau: The U.S. military saw a good thing in '47 when the Roswell story broke. The more we deny it, the more people believed it was true - aliens had landed. A made-to-order cover story for generals looking to develop the national war chest.

Kritschgau: I can't tell you how fortuitous the timing of it all was. You know when the first supersonic flight was, Agent Mulder? 1947. Soon, every experimental aircraft being flown was a UFO sighting.

Mulder: And all these reports of abductions, you're saying they've all been lies?
Kritschgau: Well, not lies, exactly. But citizens taken unsuspecting, and tested. A classified military project above top secret and still ongoing. You've heard the recent denials about Roswell, by the military and the CIA? And what's been the effect - even wilder and more widespread belief. The American appetite for bogus revelation, Agent Mulder.
Mulder: But I've seen aliens. I've witnessed these things.
Kritschgau: You've seen what they wanted you to see.

Kritschgau: The line between science and science fiction doesn't exist anymore.

(This is only the tip of the iceberg that is Kritschgau's amazing expository monologue in this episode. If it weren't so damn long, I'd have a much harder time resisting copying the whole thing down from start to finish. But I guess that's what watching the episode is for).

Smoking Man: I've always kept Mulder in check. I put this whole thing together; I created Mulder.
Elder: Agent Mulder is dead. Our FBI source confirmed it this morning. Mulder killed himself. Mulder was an asset. Without his partner, we may have underestimated his fragility.
Smoking Man: I've never underestimated Mulder. I still don't.

Skinner: As you compound the lies, you compound the consequences for them.
Scully: All lies lead to the truth, isn't that right?
Skinner: And what about your lie, Agent Scully? What does it lead to?
Scully: The truth. About the men behind what happened to me. About my abduction and the tests. About being exposed to something against my will. About being put on a table and having something implanted in me. And then having my memory stolen, only to have it return along with a disease that I was given.

(Technically, Skinner is right that Scully is digging herself in deep here, but at this stage she practically has nothing to lose, so why not risk everything, for the chance to stick it to the men that gave her cancer? On a related note, Gillian Anderson is fantastic in this episode. I mean, she's always great. She's a fantastic actress. But in a lot of episodes, her role amounts to looking stern and disparaging Mulder for his ridiculous theories. But when she has the opportunity to really get emotional, as in this episode - and going at least as far back as Beyond The Sea - it's such a joy to watch).

Scully: The cruelest ironies are those consecrated by the passage of time. Chanced, and occasioned, by shocking discovery. I had joined Agent Mulder on the X-Files because of my background in the medical sciences. My assignment was to question his work, to debunk his investigations, and reign him back into the FBI mainstream. Now, as fate would have it, I am calling on these very same skills to prove that he has been the target of a scheme, orchestrated by someone close to us in the FBI - someone we have trusted above all others - involved in a highly organized plot to keep a dangerous secret from the light of day.

(There's so much good writing in this episode. A big ol' middle finger to every card-carrying critic who has ever bad-mouthed what they refer to as "purple prose". Who gives a crap if that's not how people really speak? We watch fiction because it's better than reality. If you wanna hear people talk like people talk in real life, then go meet your friends for lunch at Burger King. Meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy these episodes that treat language as an art form. So suck it).

Scully: It is not lost on me that the tool with which I've come to depend on absolutely cannot save or protect me, but only bring into focus the darkness that lies ahead.

The X-Files - S4:E14 "Memento Mori"

[ S4:E13 "Never Again" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E15 "Kaddish" ]

Spoiler Warning: This review contains major spoilers.

I daresay this episode represents a turning point in the series. Among other things, it establishes Scully's cancer as a significant hurdle for her to overcome, and a more specific and immediate concern than the vague question of what was done to her when she was abducted in Ascension. It also represents probably the first mythology episode in which Scully's half of the struggle outstrips Mulder's in dramatic weight (in this performance that famously won Gillian Anderson an Emmy). Sure, he's out pursuing answers to this whole conspiracy business, as usual, but Scully's not just holding off a Senate Subcommittee this time, she's fighting for her dear life.

Now, I thought Leonard Betts had a cavalcade of writers, but they've all returned for this episode, and they've added Chris Carter himself to the group, to round out the crowd! The episode opens hauntingly with Scully staring at an X-ray of her inoperable tumor, contemplating her mortality, and narrating what sounds like a death letter to Mulder. It's heartbreaking when Scully describes her condition to Mulder - in particular, the extreme difficulty in treating it - and he absolutely refuses to believe it. Yet what hope can he (we) have? There is no magic pill to cure cancer. Is there? This is what we've been waiting for, ever since Scully was abducted in the second season. Obviously, the diagnosis of her cancer is devastating, but finally we begin to pursue some answers. And it starts with the circle of abductees we met ever so briefly last season in Nisei. Sadly, Betsy Hagopian has passed away, along with the entire rest of the circle, minus one - Penny Northern. Penny points Scully to a Dr. Scanlon, who claims to be making headway on treating their cancer.

Unfortunately, as we eventually find out, it's all a big dead end. Dr. Scanlon is working with the conspiracy - his treatment has actually been hastening the women's demise. So the hope we are given in this episode for a potential cure is dashed against the rocks, and we are left at the end little better than we started, except for a few matters of yet-undetermined consequence. For one thing, Scully's cancer is on the table now, and no big secret (or mere speculation); we can be sure we'll be exploring other avenues of treatment in episodes to come. Also, there is that unsettling scene in which Skinner meets the Smoking Man sitting in the dark at Mulder's desk, and makes a deal with the devil (after admonishing Mulder for being willing to do the same - what a self-sacrificing man he is). The understanding is that the Smoking Man has the means to cure Scully's cancer (and why not, he's probably responsible for it in the first place, and you know he has access to alien technologies), but what will be the cost? Is this the beginning of Skinner's end? Who knows.

Finally, we have the discoveries that Mulder made. Although, you get the feeling in this series that we're only ever touching the tip of the iceberg. Mulder discovers that all of the abductees were infertile, and with help from the Lone Gunmen, he infiltrates a medical facility Mission:Impossible-style. There he finds a bank of bodies in tanks, much like in The Erlenmeyer Flask, along with a series of cloned hybrids (identical to the man who claimed to be a MUFON member and friend of Betsy Hagopian, who was assassinated by a man with one of those retractable ice picks, and died in a bubbling blaze of green fury) willing to divulge information in order to subvert the project that created them. The abductees were the hybrids' birth mothers, made barren by the same high-amplification radiation procedure that caused their cancer, but not before samples of their ova were collected. Scully was not spared this treatment, and Mulder makes off with one of her ova samples. I don't think he tells Scully about any of this, though, as she has more than enough to deal with, as Penny takes a turn for the worse. She decides to shoulder on, however - burden and all. And so we will, of course, get another monster-of-the-week episode next week.

Afterthought: It just occurred to me that this Dr. Scanlon character must be a truly wicked person. Most of the assassins we've seen, when trying to clean up loose ends, simply kill their targets. But Dr. Scanlon actually meets with them, pretends to be all friendly, gives them hope for living, and then proceeds to subject them to the torture that is cancer treatment, until they weaken and die - which isn't an unfortunate outcome, but secretly the goal of the treatment. How does he sleep at night?

Memorable quotes:

Scully: For the first time, I feel time like a heartbeat, the seconds pumping in my breast like a reckoning, the numinous mysteries that once seemed so distant and unreal, threatening clarity, in the presence of a truth entertained not in youth, but only in its passage. I feel these words as if their meaning were weight being lifted from me, knowing that you will read them, and share my burden, as I have come to trust no other. That you should know my heart, look into it, finding there the memory and experience that belonged to you, that are you, is a comfort to me now, as I feel the tethers loose, and the prospects darkened for the continuance of a journey that began not so long ago, and which began again with a faith shaken and strengthened by your convictions, if not for which, I might never have been so strong now, as I cross to face you, and look at you in complete, hoping that you will forgive me, for not making the rest of the journey with you.

Scully: Mulder, whatever you found - or, whatever you might find - I think that we both know that, right now, the truth is in me, and that's where I need to pursue it, as soon as possible.

Scully: In med school, I learned that cancer arrives in the body unannounced - a dark stranger who takes up residence, turning its new home against itself. This is the evil of cancer - that it starts as an invader, but soon becomes one with the invaded, forcing you to destroy it, but only at the risk of destroying yourself. It is science's demon possession; my treatments, science's attempt at exorcism.

Skinner: You can't ask the truth of a man who trades in lies.

Smoking Man: It's funny. I always thought of you as Fox Mulder's patron. You'd think under your aegis that he wouldn't be consigned to a corner of the basement.
Skinner: At least he doesn't take an elevator up to get to work.

Skinner: There's always another way.
Smoking Man: Yes, I believe there is. If you're willing to pay the price.

The X-Files - S4:E12 "Leonard Betts"

[ S4:E11 "El Mundo Gira" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E13 "Never Again" ]

A preternaturally gifted paramedic in Pittsburgh, PA with a special talent for diagnosing cancer - the titular Leonard Betts (a likable and understated Paul McCrane) - loses his head one night and crashes an ambulance - no, wait, the ambulance crashes and he loses his head. But that doesn't stop him from getting up and walking out of the morgue later that night. Or is it a coverup for a body-snatching operation? You have to hand it to Agent Scully; some of her explanations are more plausible than others, but you have to admire the way she always - always - has an alternate, grounded explanation for everything weird she comes across. And she prattles them off without ever missing a beat! Mulder and Scully have worked on a lot of cases where they've struggled to prove the existence of paranormal phenomena, but if there's a headless corpse walking around, that would be a pretty slam dunk case. Unfortunately (or fortunately - it really depends on your perspective), Leonard Betts has the miraculous ability to regenerate himself.

This episode has a star cast of writers. I've gotten into the habit, lately, of watching for the "Written by" credit at the beginning of these episodes, and I was surprised to see three names pop up this time. You've got the great Vince Gilligan, who has really been proving himself since last season's Pusher; John Shiban, who, although his first two episodes weren't so great, really improved with last week's El Mundo Gira; and Frank Spotnitz, who has stepped up and mostly been helping Chris Carter with the mythology episodes. And I can really feel each of the writers' footprints in this episode. Vince Gilligan's got the human angle down, and Frank Spotnitz' mythology connection is apparent at the end. And judging from the lighter mood of El Mundo Gira, I would imagine that John Shiban was probably responsible for much of this episode's humor.

And the episode takes full advantage of the absurdity of its premise to wring a good bit of humor out of the episode. But it's a very different sort of humor than the kind Darin Morgan was fond of. It's more straight-faced, relying less on deconstruction and misdirection, and more on the characters' all-too-relatable reactions to the weirdness they encounter - which, in many episodes, they seem all-too-accustomed to. There's also a good bit of grossness in this episode - primarily the scene involving the medical waste container (shudder). I do believe this qualifies as another mutant episode, although for about the first half of the episode, it seems to take a novel approach - the mutant appears not to be a homicidal predator, but someone who actually wants to help people. It would be like if the freak in 2Shy became a cosmetic surgeon and began eating people's fat - not to kill them - but just to make them thinner.

Unfortunately, and I don't know if this is just because he got desperate after the accident, and had to resort to extreme measures to conceal his secret, but he does become more of a menace in the latter part of the episode, because what's an episode of The X-Files without mortal danger, right? I really have to say that this episode's approach to cancer as a regenerative ability is fascinating. I mean, a freak who can regenerate himself is weird enough a plot device to drive an X-Files episode, but the whole cancer angle adds so much more depth to it. But, I have to say - and this is a huge spoiler (highlight to read the rest of this paragraph) - that scene at the end, that's got to be the most twisted way imaginable to find out you have cancer. It's perfect, for a series like The X-Files. I'm glad it happened like that. But damn. Totally heartbreaking. This is a monster-of-the-week episode with a twist that has dire and long-lasting consequences for one of its main characters.

Addendum: This has little personal significance to me, as I watched this season in reruns before I caught up with the new episodes the next year, but this season marks the series' switch from Friday nights to Sunday nights, and Leonard Betts has the distinction of being the episode that aired after the Superbowl that year, leading it, I've read, to have the highest ratings of any episode in the entire series. I don't know that I would go so far as to say that it's the best episode of the season (let alone the series) - which, obviously, isn't the same thing as saying the most accessible - but it is a good one, and a fun one, and it's an excellent pick for an episode to introduce a whole slew of new fans to the series.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: Mulder, what are we doing here?
Mulder: Did I mention that Mr. Betts had no head?
Scully: Yes. So? I mean, you're not suggesting that a headless body kicked its way out of a latched morgue freezer, are you? Are you?

Mulder: We know how he died. I wanna see how he lives.
Scully: Lived.
Mulder: Lived.

Scully: Evolution - it's a process of steps, not leaps.
Mulder: Recent evolutionary theory would disagree. What scientists call punctualism, or punctual equilibrium - it theorizes that evolutionary advances are cataclysmic, not gradual; that evolution occurs not along a straight, graphable line, but in huge fits and starts. And that the unimaginable happens in the gaps.

Mulder: Scully, there's a great possibility that Leonard Betts not only is cancer...
Scully: But that he needs it for survival?

Mulder: Wouldn't it make sense that evolution or natural selection would incorporate cancer - the greatest health threat to our species - as part of our genetic makeup?
Scully: Why do I think that Charles Darwin is rolling in his grave right now?

Elaine Tanner: God put him here for a purpose. God means for him to stay. Even if people don't understand.

Leonard Betts: I'm sorry, but you've got something I need.

The X-Files - S4:E6 "Sanguinarium"

[ S4:E5 "The Field Where I Died" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E7 "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" ]

Minus the supernatural elements, this episode would seem to pre-date Nip/Tuck. Mulder and Scully investigate a series of surgical catastrophes in a cosmetic surgery ward, potentially linked to demonic possession, or a witches' hex. As somebody who has a fear of doctors and hospitals, this is a pretty unsettling episode. It's gross, too. Even leeches factor in at one point, which is a disturbing juxtaposition against the atmosphere of a modern medical facility. Scully's definitely in her element here, but, of course, when evidence of the occult comes into play, Mulder's the one in the best position to connect the dots.

This episode definitely plays on audience's expectations from having seen Die Hand die Verletzt, in which the governing board of that town were practicing Satanists (although it's not quite as forgiving to real life Wiccans and Satanists), coupled with the misdirection we saw in The Calusari, and taking it one step further. But as much as I enjoy a good puzzle, I'm not sure I like not knowing who to sympathize with, and it tends to make the good guys look bad, to avoid being too obvious. Also, on the topic of confusion, you get a sense of humor in this episode, with not a few jokes being slipped into the script, but the mood and the subject matter is so grim, that you're not entirely sure if you're supposed to be laughing. There's a really neat scene involving a literal bloodbath, and another one that's very stylish, if epileptic - lit only by the flashing red and blue lights of a police car. But the episode ends very abruptly, with hardly any resolution at all. It's not one I'd be in a hurry to watch again.

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: Are you aware that Dr. Lloyd is claiming he was possessed during the incident?
Nurse Waite: I guess it's cheaper than malpractice insurance.

Scully: There's magic going on here, Mulder. Only it's being done with silicone, collagen, and a well-placed scalpel.

Mulder (pointing to a broom): Probable cause.
Scully: On the suspicion of being a witch?

Dr. Shannon: We fill a need. We didn't create it. Everyone wants to be beautiful.

Scully: This kind of transformation is medically impossible.
Mulder: It's not medicine, Scully. It's blood sacrifice.

Dr. Hartman: I like to say, whoever God didn't get around to creating in His own image, it's our job to recreate in ours.

The X-Files - S3:E10 "731"

[ S3:E9 "Nisei" <<< Season 3 >>> S3:E11 "Revelations" ]

Spoiler Warning: This episode concludes the two-parter started in the last episode, and is chock full of significant revelations related to the overarching mythology of this show. As such, it will contain massive spoilers.

731 opens provocatively with the military mass execution of the inmates of what appears to be an extraterrestrial concentration camp, but is labeled as a Hansen's Disease Research Facility (Scully's later discovery of the death pits is heartbreaking - whether or not they were human). Its connection to the train Mulder hopped in the cliffhanger at the end of the last episode will gradually become clear, as this episode answers an awful lot of questions. Among other reasons, this episode is remarkable also because it is one of the few - and only the fourth so far, if I recall correctly, after The Erlenmeyer Flask, Ascension, and Anasazi - that replaces the phrase "The Truth Is Out There" in the opening credits. This time, it's switched out for "Apology Is Policy", which I've mentioned before.

While Mulder is racing against the last episode's assassin to get into the suspicious train car, Scully learns that the Japanese scientist we've been introduced to, under the alias Dr. Shiro Zama (Robert Ito), is one of the Axis power scientists (like Victor Klemper in Paper Clip) that received asylum after WWII to continue his human testing under the protection of the U.S. government. He utilized a leper colony - the Hansen's Disease Research Facility - as a cover to continue these tests. But where the others failed to successfully create a super soldier (or an alien-human hybrid, depending on who you talk to) Dr. Zama finally succeeded. He was trying to smuggle that discovery back to Japan, which is why the U.S. government is on cleanup duty.

But that's not all. Dr. Zama is also responsible - as suggested in the last episode - for conducting alleged "alien abductions" in train cars very much like the one in the Alien Autopsy video, as well as the one Mulder gets inadvertently locked inside with the assassin (whom he learns is an NSA Agent), and an unidentified test subject (last episode's living E.B.E. - ostensibly). Scully confirms this herself, when a member of the Smoking Man's Syndicate - the raspy-voiced man who seems to be known among fans as the Elder or Elder #1 or First Elder (it's hard keeping track of all these characters that are never named on the show, sometimes not even in the credits) - decides, in an exciting move, to open up to her. She also discovers that the implant that she removed from the back of her neck is some kind of "neural net", potentially capable of some serious espionage. But the chip is destroyed during testing.

This is a thrilling episode, featuring that breathless combination of revelatory answers and high-risk endeavors - the train car Mulder is locked inside is rigged with a bomb (gasp)! I said the same thing in the last episode, but I love how X swoops in at the eleventh hour to save Mulder's life, looking all "I don't get paid enough for this shit." You can tell he has a hard decision to make when he realizes he doesn't have time to save both Mulder and the test subject. I liked Deep Throat, but X is such a fun character. After parting ways with Mulder on less-than-amiable terms in Soft Light, and not showing up at all throughout the entire merchandise trilogy (although I could believe that those events were too sensitive for X to risk ignoring his self-preservation instinct in order to help Mulder [likely try to get himself - or X - killed]), you could be forgiven for starting to wonder at this point if he was done with Mulder. Yet, when push comes to shove, there he is - for better (Mulder), and worse (himself).

It remains inconclusive whether the test subjects in this episode - who look an awful lot like the bodies Mulder found in a train car in Anasazi - are truly alien-human hybrids, or just poor, innocent humans who had been subjected to terrible diseases and radiation poisoning, all in the name of mad science. Mulder still believes, but Scully has been fed a plausible alternative explanation by the Elder - that it is a smokescreen used to disguise an uglier, yet less sensational, truth. (Clearly, I underestimated just how early in the series this whole "believe the lie" business got started - you can read my discussion of it here). Meanwhile, the full consequences of Scully's abduction will be explored further in later episodes. And, I can say that - after the events of the merchandise trilogy which brought him to the forefront - the Smoking Man is back to his usual, shadowy, silent, self-righteous puffing again.

Memorable quotes:

X: There are limits...to my knowledge.
Scully: I don't have time for your convenient ignorance.

(You can almost sense X's trepidation when he pauses in the middle of that sentence - something that Deep Throat said once, shortly before he was killed, all because he chose to get involved in Mulder's quest).

Mulder: There's something on this train, but it's not a bomb.

Mulder: Put your hands in the air.
NSA Agent: This bomb could be wired to anything in the car. The smallest concussion could set it off. If you use that weapon, you take your chances.
Mulder: I'll take my chances.

Scully: What is this place?
Elder: This was one of the most frightening places on the Earth. A place where society sent its monsters to live in shame and isolation. Now, their disease is all but conquered. Science has eliminated thousands of years of misery.
Scully: I've seen your methods of "elimination".

Elder: The ruler of the world is no longer the country with the bravest soldiers, but the greatest scientists.

Scully: What I am saying, Mulder, is that there is no such thing as alien abduction. It is just a smokescreen, happily created by our government to cover up the biggest lie of all.

Scully: Two weeks ago, the president made a public apology for secret radiation tests that have been conducted on innocent citizens up until 1974. Only guess what?
Mulder: Those tests never ended.

NSA Agent: You're gonna die, you know that?
Mulder: What do you care? You were trying to kill me, anyway.

Mulder: Scully, let me tell you, you haven't seen America 'til you've seen it from a train.
Scully: Dammit, Mulder, what happened?!

Mulder: We'll have to wait and see.
Scully: We're not waiting for anything, Mulder. We gotta get you out of there as fast as we can.
Mulder: I'm fielding all offers and suggestions.

Mulder: We're both gonna die in here. The difference is I'm gonna die quickly. As an employee of the National Security Agency, you should know that a gunshot wound to the stomach is probably the most painful and the slowest way to die. But I'm not a very good shot. And when I miss, I tend to miss low.

NSA Agent: Ask yourself, my friend: what could be more valuable than Star Wars? More valuable than the atomic bomb? Or the most advanced biological weapons?
Mulder: A standing army immune to the effects of those weapons!

Mulder: And that thing in there, that's no innocent civilian. It's not a leper, either. It's an alien-human hybrid, isn't it?
NSA Agent: Then again, if that were true, you'd have expected someone would have been here by now to save it, wouldn't you?

(Oh, The X-Files. always immediately following every answer with a critical reason for doubt. And yet, much of these do end up being answers, despite their difficulty to swallow. It's like you wanna say, "yeah, you're probably right, that's too ridiculous to be true." But in The X-Files, more often than not, it is true).

Mulder: What are you watching?
Scully: Your alien autopsy video.
Mulder: You mean I might get my $29.95's worth, after all?

Mulder: They're gettin' away with it, Scully.
Scully: They've gotten away with it, Mulder. The bodies at the leper colony have all been removed.
Mulder: I know what I saw in that train car - it wasn't a leper, and it wasn't human.
Scully: And I know what I saw at the research facility. It was barely recognizable as human. Don't you see, Mulder, you're doing their work for them. You're chasing aliens that aren't there, helping them to create a story to cover the shameful truth. And what they can't cover they apologize for! Apology has become policy.
Mulder: I don't need an apology for the lies. I don't care about the fictions they create to cover their crimes. I want them held accountable for what did happen. I want an apology for the truth.

The X-Files - S3:E7 "The Walk"

[ S3:E6 "2Shy" <<< Season 3 >>> S3:E8 "Oubliette" ]

Mulder and Scully investigate the case of a war vet who, after multiple attempts at suicide, is convinced that some kind of ghostly presence is preventing him from dying. Scully thinks it's a classic case of post-traumatic stress disorder - until the General calls their investigation off, piquing her curiosity. Scully suspects some kind of military coverup, but Mulder connects the paranormal dots and concludes that some kind of phantom killer is involved. The plot thickens further when we're introduced to a rather moody quadruple amputee (an unhinged Ian Tracey), who Mulder believes may be capable of astral projection. Nevertheless, it is Scully who really takes point in this episode, driving the case forward like she has a grudge to settle. There's a pool scene that reminded me of Poltergeist III, and a boiler room-like scene that had shades of A Nightmare on Elm Street, but the closing reflections on the psychological aftermath of war ultimately left me feeling a little cold.

Memorable quotes:

Therapist: We all know how you feel.
Leonard: No, you don't. How the hell could you possibly know how I feel? There's only one way you could ever know, and I can only pray to God that he'll come down, and take your legs and your arms away, and give you a little taste of what it feels like!

Mulder: You really think the General's got something to hide?
Scully: No. I think he's got everything to hide.

Scully: That's insane!
Mulder: Sometimes the only sane response to an insane world is insanity.

Leonard: Now if you're through questioning me, I'd like to get a little shut-eye.
Mulder: No sleepwalking.

The X-Files - S2:E17 "End Game"

[ S2:E16 "Colony" <<< Season 2 >>> S2:E18 "Fearful Symmetry" ]

Spoiler Warning: As in the last episode, from which this two-parter continues, this review will contain huge mythology-related spoilers.

The shape-shifting Alien Bounty Hunter from the last episode is still on the rampage, and now it's apparent that he's also got Mulder's sister on his kill list. Meanwhile, Samantha gives Mulder a wild story about alien colonization of the Earth. We knew the government was testing the viability of alien-human hybrids, but if Samantha is to be believed, so, too, are the aliens - and they're doing it right here on Earth! It's pretty unbelievable. And the Alien Bounty Hunter? Apparently he was dispatched by alien racists who believe that hybridization is a dilution of the species. Wild stuff.

But is Samantha trustworthy? She may yet be telling the truth, but in true X-Files style, we're given a huge bone - the return of Mulder's sister - only to have it taken right away from us. First, she is lost and apparently killed in a hostage exchange for Scully's life. Seeing Mulder lose her again is devastating, in an emotional scene in which he confronts his cold and distant father (Peter Donat). It's not much reassurance when we then learn that she was just one in another series of clones - meaning it was never really Mulder's sister to begin with.

The x-in-the-window trick makes its showcase here - and it's actually effective this time, unlike in One Breath. This leads to a tense showdown with X (in a clear step in the gradual progression of his being compromised - in spite of his best efforts - by involvement with Mulder), after he leads Mulder to an atmospheric rendezvous with a submarine embedded in the Arctic ice shelf, in the hopes of heading the Alien Bounty Hunter off before he returns to his ship and leaves the planet.

The climax doesn't quite live up to the exorbitant promise that was teased at the beginning of the last episode, but I'm not too disappointed, because it was a very thrilling journey. (And I must say, thank god Scully's a doctor). But it's a great way to milk some drama with consequence while not giving away too much this early in the series. As a pair of mythology episodes, I can't say that I like it as much as Ascension and One Breath, but this is still essential viewing, that lays the groundwork for further developments we'll see in later episodes.

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: Why - why does he want to kill you?
Samantha: Because I know how to kill him.
Mulder: How?
Samantha: By piercing the base of his skull.
Mulder: That'll kill anybody!
Samantha: Yes, but this is the only way to kill him. And it must be precise. I'm fairly sure it'll work.
Mulder: Fairly sure?
Samantha: He's got powers I've never seen before. If it doesn't work, there's a chance you could die.
Mulder: From what?
Samantha: Their blood is toxic; human exposure to it is fatal.

X: You'll only win the war if you pick the right battles, Agent Mulder. This is a battle you can't win.

Skinner: How hard do you wanna make this?
X: No harder than it has to be. I've killed men for far less.
Skinner: You pull that trigger, you'll be killing two men.

Mulder: Where is she?
Alien Bounty Hunter: Is the answer to your question worth dying for?

Scully: Several aspects of this case remain unexplained, suggesting the possibility of paranormal phenomena. But I am convinced, that to accept such conclusions is to abandon all hope of understanding the scientific events behind them. Many of the things I have seen have challenged my faith in my belief in an ordered universe. But this uncertainty has only strengthened my need to know, to understand, to apply reason to those things which seem to defy it.

Scully: Did you find what you were looking for?
Mulder: No, no, but I found something I thought I'd lost - faith to keep looking.