[ S6:E16 "Alpha" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E18 "Milagro" ]
It feels like I'm watching The X-Files again! Add one more credit to the growing database of evidence for my theory that, at this late stage of the game, it takes outside writers to capture the atmosphere that The X-Files was once known for. It's almost like these guys were fans of the series who came late to the game, and decided to try to write a classic episode of The X-Files despite the fact (or perhaps not realizing) that the show had grown and evolved beyond what it used to be. That said, evolution is not necessarily advancement, and I'm at a stage where I'm enjoying the traditional episodes more than the experimental ones. (I feel another tangent coming on).
This episode tracks a convict escaped from a Mississippi prison farm during an unusually severe twister, which imbues him with some unique, supernatural abilities. It's definitely more in the vein of a freak than monster-of-the-week episode, which has always been this show's forté. He is apparently able to phase through matter, due to some complicated electrostatic anomaly. The episode bends over backward in shooting around the implied nudity, which is kind of ridiculous, but I'm not gonna fault them too much for that, because it's entirely to be expected, and they could have easily just written around it (how many times have you seen sci-fi shows where people travel through space or time with their clothing intact? The Terminator was a welcome exception to that rule), but they didn't, and so I have to give them props for that.
Scully freely volunteering spontaneous human combustion as an early explanation was a bit of a let-down, however. If it were the case that she were becoming more open-minded after all the things she's seen, that would be a welcome advancement in her character. But we're talking about a total about-face since season 2's Soft Light, in which she adequately debunked the theory of SHC. Now she's admitting that "there are a few documented cases." Really, Scully? This is what we're supposed to take as the scientific alternative to explain this episode's paranormal phenomena?
Also look for guest star Tuesday Knight, who starred in one (or two) of the A Nightmare on Elm Street films.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: State police have put out an APB on Rawls.
Mulder: You might warn them not to shoot to kill - he seems to find that annoying.
Scully: But where's the science in all of this, Mulder? You're talking alchemy.
Mulder: I'm not saying that it can't be explained scientifically - maybe it's the tornado. You suggested it yourself. Unusual climatic conditions, high electrical potential...
Scully: I'm sorry I even brought it up.
(Isn't that your job, Scully? To find the science to explain the phenomena Mulder encounters?)
Rawls: You know what that means? That means God wanted me to know. He fixed it so I'd hear. And then he fixed it so's I'd have passage. Now I'm here. God's will.
(Forgive the rant, but this is a perfect example of how people will give divine meaning to random chance, and use it as justification - sometimes to do evil things. The problem isn't being able to differentiate between right and wrong, because inevitably, those who can't will use this reasoning to justify doing wrong. The point is that giving this reasoning moral weight - saying it's okay to let some unaccountable outside influence dictate the validity of one's actions, without question - is what's wrong. Since God's not out there to tell people when they're mistaken, there's no falsifiability. You can try to tell the criminal he's wrong, but if he believes God is on his side, your word is just a candle in the wind, and there's nothing you can do to persuade him otherwise. Because the stakes are higher than reason, higher than ethics, higher than even life itself. Give a man as powerful a justification as that, with no way to convincingly discredit it, and he can use it to justify anything and everything, including the most horrible atrocities imaginable. It's not that bad men twist good reasoning to their ends, it's that the reasoning itself is flawed - such that it's susceptible to bad men taking advantage of it).
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
The X-Files - S6:E13 "Agua Mala"
[ S6:E12 "One Son" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E14 "Monday" ]
Apart from learning the Smoking Man's "real" name, it's interesting to note that I remember the events of this episode (and the next two, as a matter of fact) better than the previous two (despite being big ticket mythology episodes). I don't wanna jump to conclusions, but I've certainly come to see the merit in the perspective I've discussed previously by which some fans consider the standalone, monster-of-the-week episodes to be the more enduring takeaways of this series, at least in the later seasons (although I suspect they are referring to such experimental episodes as the likes of The Post-Modern Prometheus, and Triangle, rather than the traditional freak-of-the-weeks, when they say that). I still wouldn't necessarily say that I prefer them to the mythology episodes (even as far as freak-of-the-week episodes are concerned, my favorites are probably in around seasons 2-4). But I can definitely see the merit in considering those episodes - which are alternately fun, funny, imaginative, and scary - more enduring examples of what the series accomplished at a point where the mythology was something considerably less accessible to casual fans (Fight The Future notwithstanding), and not infrequently under-satisfying even to the dedicates.
In any case, for what it's worth, this one starts out looking like a classic, spooky episode of the X-Files. One of the ones that isn't going to win any awards, but that in previous years - when episodes of its kind were more plentiful, and not the rare exception - proved to set the overall tone and atmosphere of the show. (Leave it to newcomer David Amann, who also penned this season's Terms of Endearment, to capture that "classic" X-Files spirit). Things are back to the status quo, it appears (this episode jumps right in to the thick of it with no real preliminary setup), with Mulder and Scully investigating X-Files (and not having to go behind anyone's back to do so). This is another episode about a sea monster, like season 3's Quagmire, but it's a very different sort of monster - more of a cross between 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and the alien parasite from Ice than the Loch Ness monster.
Arthur Dales - the man who discovered the X-Files, now retired and living in Florida - returns from the episode Travelers, to alert Mulder to an unsolved case right in his backyard. An impending hurricane has apparently washed something deadly ashore - something with creepy-looking, clear tentacles. Though shot mostly in interiors, this episode manages to effectively construct an atmosphere of sheltering from a hurricane. It's almost enough to bring the viewer back to the Vancouver days, with all the rain, and the darkly lit sets. There is, however, also a good deal of humor threaded throughout the story. It's not altogether unwelcome, but - while not being completely self-conscious - it tends more toward "jokey" comedy than the subtle character-driven humor that I prefer from earlier seasons. Most of the characters we meet stranded in the condominium where the majority of the episode takes place are caricatures and one-note stereotypes, clearly designed for fun, and not depth. There are definitely some welcome creepy elements to this story, but, like The Rain King, it ultimately steers too much toward humor in the end to be a truly good, dark episode of The X-Files.
Memorable quotes:
Arthur Dales: Don't sneer at the mysteries of the deep, young lady. The bottom of the ocean is as deep and dark as the imagination.
Mulder: Don't dismiss him so easily - he discovered the X-Files forty years ago. He's seen things that I've only read about.
Scully: Because sea monsters can only be read about, Mulder. Because they don't exist.
Mulder: If the sea is where life began - where our ancestors first walked ashore - then who's to say what new life may be developing in its uncharted depths?
(I know there's stigma surrounding the term "sea monster", but as a scientist, Scully should be aware that some really strange things do live down under the sea. On the other hand, I guess the Shark Week episode "Alien Sharks" is still over a good decade away at the time this episode was filmed).
Mulder: The good thing about zero visibility, Scully - it can't get any worse.
Mulder: You know, Scully, some day we're gonna look back on this and we're gonna laugh. And we'll just think of it as man pitted against the forces of nature. Think of it as a test of our mettle.
Scully: I don't need my mettle tested.
Mulder (picks a watch out of the toilet): I've heard of "passing the time", but...ouch!
Scully: Stand back, or make yourself useful - but stay out of my way.
(Tough, down-to-business Scully is always fun to watch).
Apart from learning the Smoking Man's "real" name, it's interesting to note that I remember the events of this episode (and the next two, as a matter of fact) better than the previous two (despite being big ticket mythology episodes). I don't wanna jump to conclusions, but I've certainly come to see the merit in the perspective I've discussed previously by which some fans consider the standalone, monster-of-the-week episodes to be the more enduring takeaways of this series, at least in the later seasons (although I suspect they are referring to such experimental episodes as the likes of The Post-Modern Prometheus, and Triangle, rather than the traditional freak-of-the-weeks, when they say that). I still wouldn't necessarily say that I prefer them to the mythology episodes (even as far as freak-of-the-week episodes are concerned, my favorites are probably in around seasons 2-4). But I can definitely see the merit in considering those episodes - which are alternately fun, funny, imaginative, and scary - more enduring examples of what the series accomplished at a point where the mythology was something considerably less accessible to casual fans (Fight The Future notwithstanding), and not infrequently under-satisfying even to the dedicates.
In any case, for what it's worth, this one starts out looking like a classic, spooky episode of the X-Files. One of the ones that isn't going to win any awards, but that in previous years - when episodes of its kind were more plentiful, and not the rare exception - proved to set the overall tone and atmosphere of the show. (Leave it to newcomer David Amann, who also penned this season's Terms of Endearment, to capture that "classic" X-Files spirit). Things are back to the status quo, it appears (this episode jumps right in to the thick of it with no real preliminary setup), with Mulder and Scully investigating X-Files (and not having to go behind anyone's back to do so). This is another episode about a sea monster, like season 3's Quagmire, but it's a very different sort of monster - more of a cross between 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and the alien parasite from Ice than the Loch Ness monster.
Arthur Dales - the man who discovered the X-Files, now retired and living in Florida - returns from the episode Travelers, to alert Mulder to an unsolved case right in his backyard. An impending hurricane has apparently washed something deadly ashore - something with creepy-looking, clear tentacles. Though shot mostly in interiors, this episode manages to effectively construct an atmosphere of sheltering from a hurricane. It's almost enough to bring the viewer back to the Vancouver days, with all the rain, and the darkly lit sets. There is, however, also a good deal of humor threaded throughout the story. It's not altogether unwelcome, but - while not being completely self-conscious - it tends more toward "jokey" comedy than the subtle character-driven humor that I prefer from earlier seasons. Most of the characters we meet stranded in the condominium where the majority of the episode takes place are caricatures and one-note stereotypes, clearly designed for fun, and not depth. There are definitely some welcome creepy elements to this story, but, like The Rain King, it ultimately steers too much toward humor in the end to be a truly good, dark episode of The X-Files.
Memorable quotes:
Arthur Dales: Don't sneer at the mysteries of the deep, young lady. The bottom of the ocean is as deep and dark as the imagination.
Mulder: Don't dismiss him so easily - he discovered the X-Files forty years ago. He's seen things that I've only read about.
Scully: Because sea monsters can only be read about, Mulder. Because they don't exist.
Mulder: If the sea is where life began - where our ancestors first walked ashore - then who's to say what new life may be developing in its uncharted depths?
(I know there's stigma surrounding the term "sea monster", but as a scientist, Scully should be aware that some really strange things do live down under the sea. On the other hand, I guess the Shark Week episode "Alien Sharks" is still over a good decade away at the time this episode was filmed).
Mulder: The good thing about zero visibility, Scully - it can't get any worse.
Mulder: You know, Scully, some day we're gonna look back on this and we're gonna laugh. And we'll just think of it as man pitted against the forces of nature. Think of it as a test of our mettle.
Scully: I don't need my mettle tested.
Mulder (picks a watch out of the toilet): I've heard of "passing the time", but...ouch!
Scully: Stand back, or make yourself useful - but stay out of my way.
(Tough, down-to-business Scully is always fun to watch).
Thursday, November 5, 2015
The X-Files - S6:E8 "The Rain King"
[ S6:E7 "Terms of Endearment" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E9 "S.R. 819" ]
This episode opens with a lot of promise. It's a traditional X-File about paranormal phenomena. It doesn't waste time trying to explain why Mulder and Scully are still investigating X-Files even though they've been forbidden to do so (at increasingly less-convincing risk to their jobs). And it has a cool premise - Mulder and Scully visit a town in Kansas with anomalous weather conditions, to investigate the possibility of the pathetic fallacy being more than just a fallacy. We haven't seen a person who could control the weather since season 3's D.P.O. - the human lightning rod. This proves once again (as I mentioned last season in my review of Schizogeny) that at this late stage of the series it takes the outside writers to capture the essence of what the X-Files used to be. Or at least that's how it appears at first. The episode starts out with a little tongue-in-cheek humor that's fun, but ends up placing way too much emphasis on being funny, and highlighting the romantic schmaltz of its premise (this is, in many ways, a Valentine's Day episode of The X-Files) for my liking. I feel a tangent brewing about the budding romance in this season, but I think I'll post that separately from this episode's review.
Memorable quotes:
Cindy: Don't you all need a warrant, or subpoena, or something like that?
Scully: We usually just say please.
Holman: A huge, high pressure system is the primary culprit. There's no credible evidence that suggests that Daryl, or any man, can be held accountable for our predicament.
Scully: Thank you. (To Mulder:) Can we go now?
(I love Scully's smugness here. She's much better when she's being playful rather than vindictive about saying "I told you so").
Mulder: He wants advice - dating advice.
Scully: Dating advice? From whom?
Mulder: Yours truly. (Silence). Hello? Hey, Scully. Scully, are you there?
Scully: Well, it seems to me...that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day, you look at the person, and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.
This episode opens with a lot of promise. It's a traditional X-File about paranormal phenomena. It doesn't waste time trying to explain why Mulder and Scully are still investigating X-Files even though they've been forbidden to do so (at increasingly less-convincing risk to their jobs). And it has a cool premise - Mulder and Scully visit a town in Kansas with anomalous weather conditions, to investigate the possibility of the pathetic fallacy being more than just a fallacy. We haven't seen a person who could control the weather since season 3's D.P.O. - the human lightning rod. This proves once again (as I mentioned last season in my review of Schizogeny) that at this late stage of the series it takes the outside writers to capture the essence of what the X-Files used to be. Or at least that's how it appears at first. The episode starts out with a little tongue-in-cheek humor that's fun, but ends up placing way too much emphasis on being funny, and highlighting the romantic schmaltz of its premise (this is, in many ways, a Valentine's Day episode of The X-Files) for my liking. I feel a tangent brewing about the budding romance in this season, but I think I'll post that separately from this episode's review.
Memorable quotes:
Cindy: Don't you all need a warrant, or subpoena, or something like that?
Scully: We usually just say please.
Holman: A huge, high pressure system is the primary culprit. There's no credible evidence that suggests that Daryl, or any man, can be held accountable for our predicament.
Scully: Thank you. (To Mulder:) Can we go now?
(I love Scully's smugness here. She's much better when she's being playful rather than vindictive about saying "I told you so").
Mulder: He wants advice - dating advice.
Scully: Dating advice? From whom?
Mulder: Yours truly. (Silence). Hello? Hey, Scully. Scully, are you there?
Scully: Well, it seems to me...that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day, you look at the person, and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
The X-Files - S3:E3 "D.P.O."
[ S3:E2 "Paper Clip" <<< Season 3 >>> S3:E4 "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" ]
Honestly, I love the mythology episodes, but after the tour de force that was "the merchandise trilogy", I'm kind of looking forward to settling in for a string of easy, monster-of-the-week episodes. And this is a pretty straightforward one, starring Giovanni Ribisi as an aimless youth who has gained some unusual powers after being struck by lightning in an Oklahoma town. (I'm beginning to think "freak-of-the-week" is a far more frequently accurate term). Also appearing in this episode is a young Jack Black. The stylistic opener channels Stephen King's Christine, with the music, and the car, and the pizza delivery punk who gives off a bit of a greaser vibe. This is one of those episodes that's fun for a watch, but isn't super memorable otherwise.
(As an aside, this is probably a normal thing for FBI agents, having to step in on what often start as local cases, but in a lot of these episodes Mulder and Scully have to go through the town sheriff in the course of their investigations, and it's just interesting to see the different kinds of sheriffs they encounter. All of them have different personalities, but they mainly come in two categories: those that are friendly, and willing to bend over backwards to help out the agents, and those that are very territorial, and resent the FBI stepping on their toes. This episode's sheriff is definitely the latter, as is apparent when he gleefully rips into Scully for not doing her "homework" on the town's local lore).
Memorable quotes:
Zero: Aw, man, you should'na done that.
Scully: I don't understand.
Sheriff: Well that's as clear as glass.
Mulder: This is the first lightning strike I've ever seen that left behind a footprint.
Scully: So you're saying that he's some kind of a lightning rod?
Mulder: No, I'm saying that he is lightning. And we've gotta get to him before he strikes again.
Scully: You said yourself, sheriff, even science can't explain how lightning works.
Honestly, I love the mythology episodes, but after the tour de force that was "the merchandise trilogy", I'm kind of looking forward to settling in for a string of easy, monster-of-the-week episodes. And this is a pretty straightforward one, starring Giovanni Ribisi as an aimless youth who has gained some unusual powers after being struck by lightning in an Oklahoma town. (I'm beginning to think "freak-of-the-week" is a far more frequently accurate term). Also appearing in this episode is a young Jack Black. The stylistic opener channels Stephen King's Christine, with the music, and the car, and the pizza delivery punk who gives off a bit of a greaser vibe. This is one of those episodes that's fun for a watch, but isn't super memorable otherwise.
(As an aside, this is probably a normal thing for FBI agents, having to step in on what often start as local cases, but in a lot of these episodes Mulder and Scully have to go through the town sheriff in the course of their investigations, and it's just interesting to see the different kinds of sheriffs they encounter. All of them have different personalities, but they mainly come in two categories: those that are friendly, and willing to bend over backwards to help out the agents, and those that are very territorial, and resent the FBI stepping on their toes. This episode's sheriff is definitely the latter, as is apparent when he gleefully rips into Scully for not doing her "homework" on the town's local lore).
Memorable quotes:
Zero: Aw, man, you should'na done that.
Scully: I don't understand.
Sheriff: Well that's as clear as glass.
Mulder: This is the first lightning strike I've ever seen that left behind a footprint.
Scully: So you're saying that he's some kind of a lightning rod?
Mulder: No, I'm saying that he is lightning. And we've gotta get to him before he strikes again.
Scully: You said yourself, sheriff, even science can't explain how lightning works.
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