Reincarnated
botch, even the actors seem bored 3/10
Synopsis: A
little girls appears to be killing cops connected by their work in the 80’s but
why and how?
The Gansa
and Howard MoW collaborations of season one got no better than mediocre and mediocrity
is all they could muster here. Inspiration for this episode seems short sighted
at best.
Born Again signals
a return to conventional X-Files detective work for agents Mulder and Scully
not seen and forgotten since Shapes. The agents are brought into this paranormal
investigation by Detective Sharon Lazard played by Maggie Wheeler of O.M.G. Janice from Friends fame on
the recommendation of her non-descript cop brother who had some sort of involvement
on the Tooms case. They meet at New Yorks' 14th precinct, home of the crime
scene and terrible police station banter dialogue.
Mulder
wastes little time in realising what they are after, he has seen this before,
not in some X-File dating back 40 year but in and X-File dating back 16 episodes
to Shadows. This episode is bereft of any originality and if anything just
plain thoughtless. Why if this girl was the reincarnation of Charlie Morris was
she giving psychokinetic abilities? Surely having a vengeful cop in the guise
of a five year old girl on a killing spree was a just cause for paranormal
escapade. Needless to say Gans-ward got a little carried away on this one, their
youthful exuberance is on show, they clearly needed to take a step back and surmise
their creation when it was still on the drawing board.
Read into this
you will but I find these posts easy to write when I am bashing an episode and
fun to write when I am enjoying an episode but with Born Again I am just plain struggling.Even the chemistry
between David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson flounders, highlighted further by their
wonderful exchanges shared in Darkness Falls and Tooms in the two previous
episodes. Scully’s unnecessary presence signifies regression in the
writing and is not something seen since Space.
There was
some development to be had; Mulder asserts a firm belief in regression
hypnotherapy in this episode, this technique of delving into past life and the
sub conscious is a popular method in his pursuit for the truth. We first saw it
was used on Billy Miles in Pilot and Mulder had already used it on himself to
recall his sisters’ abduction. Later Scully will go on to devalue the credibility
of regression hypnotherapy but that’s a different post for a different
time.
Lacking in
so many departments this episode is by no means ever going to be anybody’s
favourite but it is watchable in the same way that a low flying plane is
watchable, saying ‘oh look a plane’ and then forgetting about it 5 minutes
later. 3/10
Musings;
- The plug that attacks Tony Fiore removes itself from the wall socket and appears to look at him before it takes his legs is unintentionally hilarious.
- This was Alex Gansa’s last creative influence on The X-Files story, good. He is the reason I have never seen Homeland which may seem harsh but he is awful in this season. Rant over.
- Pffft NEXT!
Please don't hate me for this, but I rather like this episode. Apologies.
ReplyDeleteI'll be the first to admit, it's very unoriginal and even seems to have elements of the writers previous Lazarus episode in it too, but I kind of got swept along with it. Once again, my most profound apologies.
Oh, I hope it doesn't mean you don't trust my opinion anymore, but, you really ought to check out Homeland. It's one of the best things on television right now.
LMAO I like Shadows so who am I to judge, your opinion is still held in high regard however I will be popping over to I Made This later to slate your review on Born Again lol
ReplyDeleteYour right they have nicked the Lazarus coming back for revenge story line as well, scoundrels!
I will check Homeland out on your recommendation, I'm gonna have to slot it in somewhere between catching up on fringe, this blog/X-Files re-watch and the new episodes of Walking Dead. Phew!
I eagerly await and anticipate your slating.
ReplyDelete