THE ERLENMEYER FLASK Episode 24 Season 1 of The X-Files

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E.B.E Episode 17 Season 1 of The X-Files

The Foundations of a Phenomenon  10/10

Synopsis: A secret government agency transports a downed U.F.O and Alien across America, can agents Mulder and Scully track it down and what ‘truths’ are they to believe along the way?

E.B.E represents a leap in The X-Files universe. It plots a course for the truth that will map out an entire franchise. This is where it all begins. Of course we have been offered glimpses of the government’s seemingly reckless actions and the callous way in which it covers the truth, however  E.B.E looks closer, exposes more and for the first time offers us answers that maybe we never thought were coming. Fuelled by snippets of conspiracy laid down in earlier episode, E.B.E rises up as the maiden episode of nine seasons of mythology.

E.B.E offers us an up close and personal look at Deep Throat and the reasons for his role as informant.  Deep Throat has been a concrete source of Mulder, showing him where to look and assisting him in solving cases. There seems to be a mutual respect between the two men, I would even go as far as to say Mulder admired the man. The events of E.B.E. cast doubts over the validity of this trust. With Mulder confronting Deep Throat for the first time and then launching a tirade aimed at the ethical practise of his work, a tirade that Deep Throat can defend himself against.

Deep Throat reads like a book in this episode we learn what makes him tick. The information he offers has always been concrete, yet we find him also deceiving Mulder. Like a tactician he plans his truths and lies like a chess game, a distinct characteristic of the government conspirators seen throughout the X-Files. During the meeting at the shark tank he defends his deceit by saying ‘a lie Mr Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between to truths’ One of the most iconic lines in X-Files history.

Most importantly we learn of Deep Throats intentions. He explains to Mulder that after watching him for years, with enthuses put on years, he choose Mulder as the one to trust. Deep Throat needed someone to expose certain government conspiracy. In his role he has carried out heinous and brutal acts against man, nature and biological entities (We discover that Deep Throat implemented the act of exterminating biological entities) and is of the thinking that Mulder can expose the government for what it really is.

E.B.E is the first episode in which we see direct attempts by government agencies to interfere with the X-Files. Firstly with the bug found in Scully’s pen and the bug found in Mulders apartment. Then two men that follow the agents on route to the airport, in a brilliant sequence in which Mulder and Scully evade the cronies. And lastly the feigned alien rescue mission that depicts the lengths in which the conspirators would go to halt Mulders hunt for the truth.

E.B.E offers us more than the beginning of a conspiracy trail that will lead on for 10 years. It reunites Agents Mulder and Scully. Not since ‘Space’ has David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson shared this much screen time and it shows, big time, for their ability to act with one another has metamorphosed into something quite wonderful and it hits home in one magnificent episode. The only way I can think of describing it is seeing a child for the second time after a three year interlude. The screen presence they share has simply grown.

They bounce of one another so effortlessly; the opening scene that they share investigating the report of the U.F.O sighting from the previous nights is one of my favourites from the whole program. Scully offers up her most rationale theories as Mulder humours her, brilliant.

Of course the duo have to share a moment of truth and that comes with Scully telling Mulder that he is too determined to believe Deep Throat, and that there are people out there willing to use his blinding beliefs as a way of deceiving him. Which is fair after all, how far would Mulder get if he never had Scully there to rein him in once in a while?

We also have our first instalment of everybody’s favourite conspiracy theorists The Lone Gunman. The trio are introduced to us in their very clean well lit office, is it there dealings with agent Mulder that drives them to a more underground feel later on?

They share information on anything with Mulder freely so they obviously trust him and he can complicity trust them in return, a stark contrast to any shady government agents Mulder is used to dealing with.

Langley and Byres spout off conspiracies on the JFK assassination and the leader of the Russian Social Democrats to Mulder and all he can muster is a shrug or funny remark.

They trio don’t take up much screen time in E.B.E but do have a significant part to play in this episode, and of course grow in stature as The X-Files grow. They not only offer assistance to Mulder and Scullys campaign for the truth they also offer banter that is worth its weight in entertainment value. Love these guys.

E.B.E, The foundations of a phenomenon 10/10

Musing;

• If I have learnt anything from Sci-Fi it is don’t randomly shoot at spaceships.

• Frohike’s love affair with Scully begins here, calling her ‘hot’. When Scully later remarks that the Lone Gunman’s beliefs are implausible Mulder says ‘I think it’s plausible that you’re hot’ Oh so he has noticed.

• How do Mulder and Deep Throat know where to meet, have I missed something?

• I hope there was some spaceship on board that truck or that’s one obese alien 2000ibs!

• Names of the U.F.olygist agencies Mulder lists include NICAP, Max Fenigs group.

• Five and a half minutes in Mulder mentions our favorite lake for the second time this Season 'Lake Okobogee'' 

YOUNG AT HEART Episode 16 Season 1

YOUNG AT HEART Episode 16 Season 1

Redemption 9/10

Synopsis: A murderer who dies whilst serving life imprisonment returns for revenge against the man that sent him there.

I was taught by my English teacher that a story must comprise of a beginning a middle and an end. What Chris Carter taught me was a story must be rich in depth and meaning, that you must have a protagonist with strong unwavering ideologies and indomitable methods and yet the mortality to question his own actions and the ability to redeem those actions and grow before our eyes. His antagonist’s motives must be comprehensible and yet his methods must remain unpredictable. The reader or in this case watcher must care about the people they meet along the way and revel in the alluring mystery as it unravels before them.

Mulder’s back story grows deeper in Young at Heart and as a result the character flourishes. We meet Agent Reggie Purdue whom Mulder considers a friend and one of the only people within the Bureau he finds worthy of trust. The pair appeared to share a warm relationship. They met whilst working in the violent crime division. Mulder playfully toys with Reggie chanting his name when they meet at the jewellery store crime scene, the first place of which a clue is left to signify John Barnett’s involvement to the surprise of agent Mulder who believed him to be dead.

Barnett, the man whom we discover has left Mulder fighting inner demons. Mulder blames himself for the death of a fellow FBI agent shot during a stand-off with Barnett. The empathy he shows towards the family of the dead agent clearly present when he notes that the man’s child is now an all-star football player, Mulder must have been watching over them due to what he perceives as his accountability. Mulder will later go on to blame himself for Purdues death claiming he should have shot Barnett when he had the chance.

Mulder appears to have met his match in the figure of Barnett. A man who knows how to enter Mulders head and push all the right buttons. The two spa throughout the episode, not in the conventional manner but via a deadly game of cat and mouse. Barnett calculated supply of clues lures Mulder closer. It would seem inevitable that the two should be draw together into a similar situation they found themselves in before, with Barnett taking a hostage and Mulder forced to make a decision with his weapon drawn. Mulder seeks for redemption, it is this incentive that drove him to Barnett and drove him to pulling the trigger. With a clean shot he puts his man down.

Barnett’s rejuvenate abilities were down to the experimental Dr Joe Ridley. Ridley had no compassion and saw his progaria patients as little more than lab rats and a great opportunity on which to perform his experiments. He was an outcast in the medical profession compounded by the loss of his medical licence for illegally performing experiments on live human test subjects. This is when the government employed Ridley to continue his work, allowing him to use prisoners as live test subjects. He confess all to Mulder and Scully, he is terminally ill and seeking his own forgiveness.

The government had known of Barnett’s existence and that he was the only successful candidate of Ripley’s treatment. Mulder meets with Deep Throat for answers. Deep Throat explains to Mulder that the government has been bargaining with Barnett for Dr Ripley’s stolen research. He tells Mulder that they need Barnett alive as his information could change the course of mankind, another interesting angle in a plot with more than just a middle, beginning and end.

Scully play her part to. Seamlessly gathering information and acting upon it. She ascertains that the account of Barnett’s death was suspicious and looking further into it discover of Dr Ridley and his work. She also finds a finger print belonging to Barnett on her answering machine that leads the agents to the theatre where he would shoot agent Scully and in turn be shoot by agent Mulder.

Young at Heart is a strong episode that draws parallels with the entire series and Chris Carters involvement in the script is ever-present. Now that’s good story telling 9/10

Musings;

Mulder shoots and kills his man in the end. He was driven to it and not offered much choice. Killing is not something Mulder takes lightly.

I never realised the man that tries to gather information from the dying Barnett was the Cigarette Smoking Man. I caught the name William B. Davis in the end credits, his first appearance since the pilot. I love discovering new information on re-watches.

Mulder seems to have the admiration of the bureaus handwriting specialist known to us only as Anderson.

Barnett is not the only one to use Fox Mulders name as a pun to describe a hunt. Fast forward to season 5 episode ‘Kitsunegari’, which means Fox hunt in Japanese.

EVE Episode 11 Season 1 of The X-Files

EVEil Genius 10/10

Synopsis: Mulder and Scully investigate two identical murders that happened at the exact same time only miles apart.

EVE is an amazing episode full of red herrings and twist. From start to finish the unfolding plot keeps Mulder and Scully guessing on the potential suspects. The likelihood that a sophisticated Murder could be carried out by an eight year old girl was beyond the realms of thinking even for Mulder. As a viewer it was nice to see a tightly woven story unravel in front of my eyes.

There is no denying that twins in horror works as for some reason they are able to possess a certain unnerving quality much like a china doll. The younger EVE twins are murders are evil and genius, a scary group of attributes to hold. They are capable of killing without feeling regret but instead share jubilation in their methods homicide, gleefully watching as their self-cultivated poison terminates the closes thing the girls could ever come to calling a mother. This gives much reason behind the elaborate ways in which the fathers of the two girls met their demise. Exsanguination is a word I had to look up not a method of murder, least that is what I thought. The creativity involved in the murders inevitably contributed to the girls undoing as it was quickly passed down as an X-File due to its oddness in nature and without Fox Mulders intuitive observance the girls break for freedom would have been successful.

Harriet Harris turns in some credible performances playing Dr Sally Kendrick, EVE 6 and EVE 8. As the psychotic EVE 6 she was very convincing, chattering her teeth whilst telling stories of biting a guard eyeball and I really wouldn’t like to be locked in a cell with her. She had an air of unpredictability about her and played unhinged very well. Another of her scenes is also rather thrilling. Cindy Reardon lies in bed when her wardrobe doors begin to open, we then see from Mulder and Scully’s view point that she is then quickly snatched. Scully runs to Cindy’s aid entering the house she doesn’t know what she will find and neither do we. Whoever or whatever it was that snatched Cindy had to have been waiting in that wardrobe for two days as the house was under surveillance. The music adds to potential scare we’re about to receive. Scully makes her way up the stairs and is knocked down by EVE 7 who then bursts through a patio window and escapes the waiting Mulder by holding a gun to Cindy’s head. A top sequence in the episode of which there are so many highlights. My favourite sequence of the lot has to be the rest stop scene. The girls poison the agents drink only to be thwarted by Mulders intuition. I thought it was filmed really well and showed Mulders at his think ‘outside the box’ best.  Not many agents would evaluate the evidence in such a way as to suspect little girls.

Deep Throat makes an appearance here, divulging the project that created the EVEs called the Lichfield experiments. These experiments were designed to rival that of the Russians attempt of creating a super race at the height of the cold war. They created a group of genetically modified children, the boys were called Adam and the girls were called Eve. We know from meeting Eve 6 that the experiments still continue and that these children grew to be psychotic. We learn from EVE 7 that the young EVEs; Cindy and Teena have developed at a greatly accelerated speed, meaning they’re very dangerous. On their capture they are returned to the Lichfield experiment.

Quotes I have picked out for this episode are:

Mulder’s unwitty quip to Scully whilst she reads from the autopsy report.

Scully: Death by hypovolaemia. 75% blood loss. That's over 4 liters of blood.

Mulder: I'd say the man was running on empty.

Mulder’s and Scullys banter. He also points to the sky and says that maybe their looking in the wrong place.

Mulder: One girl was just abducted.

Scully: Kidnapped.

Mulder: Potato, potahto.

Two psychopathic girls that have never met murder their fathers in exactly the same bizarre manner at exactly the same time on different sides of the country. Psychotic clones run amok. Exsanguination, poisoning and biting eyeballs. A supposedly expired highly classified experiment continues. Creepy twins that may in-fact be cloned to create more of the little murderers. This episode had a lot I think I enjoy it more than any other in this series and as I realise I can be stingy with my scoring I feel it is only right to slap a 10/10 on this one.

Join me once more for the next episode ‘FIRE’ coming in the next couple of days. Thank you for reading.

FALLEN ANGEL Episode 10 Season 1 of The X-Files

Max Power 8/10

Synopsis: Mulders attempt to infiltrate a U.F.O crash landing cover up is thwarted by the military leading to a chance meeting with an eccentric UFO fanatic with a history of past abductions.

Townsend, Wisconsin. A spaceship crashed in the woods, or as UFO reclamations expert Colonel Calvin Henderson puts it ‘confirmed Fallen Angel in sector 87’. Operation Falcon is put into action. An operation not only intent in the salvage and cover-up of the downed spacecraft, but also in the extermination of any and all extra-terrestrial life found at the wreckage site.

Mulder is loosely informed by Deep Throat that the quarantined area of a reported train crash in Townsend, Wisconsin was in fact a UFO crash site and that he had only 24hrnbefore all evidence was removed. That is all the information Mulder needs. Begin the defiant agents’ one man quest to uncover the truth. I love episodes where our two heroes go behind enemy lines as they normally always uncover something and this episode is no different. Mulder’s endeavour pays of and he is confronted by one hell of a spaceship and for the first time he remembers to bring a camera to collect photographic evidence. This preparation proves futile as he is soon caught by military personnel and dispossessed of is camera. He is brought in front of Colonel Henderson where his work on the X-Files is severely threatened, more on that later.

After the encounter with the Colonel, Mulder is placed in a holding cell which leads to his meeting with fellow detainee Max Fenig played by unknown Scott Bellis. I think this guy played the role superbly and I am not surprised he was given the opportunity to redeem his role in future episodes. He nailed the traits that one may expect of an obsessive loner. He had the equipment and knowledge to track U.F.O phenomena and mainly acted alone having little face to face contact with others and none with persons from outside the U.F.O fanatic circle. I could imagine that the investigative group he claims to be a part of N.I.C.A.P. consist of only a handful of awkward individuals. I think it is safe to say we have Scott Bellis to thank for the concept of the Lone Gunman. He demonstrated to the writers that informants to Mulder didn’t have to be shady two faced G-Men but could also be allies fighting for the same side. Mulder himself realises this. When he asks Max ‘What makes you so sure there is something out there’ Max replies ‘the same thing that makes you so sure’ Indicating that they both have encountered U.F.O phenomena and thus both want to get to the truth.

Scully’s comes to release Mulder from the holding pen not knowing the reasons for his actions. She rejects Mulder idea of a crashed U.F.O in belief of a highly classified story of a downed Libyan Fighter Jet carrying a nuclear pay load. A story Mulder dismisses as ‘a highly classified lie’. Scully has the attitude of a mother telling off her son, this may be due to the impending closure of the X-File brought about by Mulder’s exploits. Is she growing attached to department she works in or the partner she works with?

Scully regularly denounces Mulders theories throughout the episode I think in attempt by the writers to revert her back to her original purpose in the show. After all she may have been too willing to entertain Mulders wild notions of the paranormal in recent episodes and there is a need to re-establish her strong independent stance.

Meanwhile it is not enough that Colonel Henderson has to deal with an insubordinate FBI agent, he also has to track down and kill an extra-terrestrial capable of cloaking itself to its surroundings and destroying its adversaries using potent amounts of radiation. A task that it is fair to say he has no grasp on.

This alien creature is only interested in one thing, finding Max Fenig. It was recurring abductee Max that drew the craft to Townsend. He wasn’t aware of this or his previous abductions, He was only aware of blacking out and reawaking in strange places. It was Mulder noticing a scar behind Fenig’s ear that lead him to the conclusion that Fenig was an abductee, as that same scar came up in X-Files cases involving other abductees.  Another spaceship came down to Townsend to retrieve their fellow alien and Max Fenig disappears with them, for now.

Later back at FBI headquarters, agent Scully’s attempts to support Mulders actions appear to be in vein. The Office of Professional Responsibility Hearing run by Section Chief McGrath is not going well. Mulders turn defends his actions, but his evidence and field report are suppressed by conflicting reports from Colonel Henderson to which Mulder proclaims ‘How can I disprove lies that are stamped with an official
seal?.... You can deny all the things I've seen. All the things I've discovered, but not for much longer. Because too many others know what's happening out there. And no one, no government agency has jurisdiction over the truth.’

Although Mcgrath has Mulder banged to rights and makes the decision to disband the X-Files and probably remove Mulder from the bureau. The decision is overturned by Deep Throat. In a secret meeting between the two men Deep Throat explains his actions as keeping his friend close and enemies’ closer. This is the first time we see Deep Throat’s involvement away from Fox Mulder and he comes across as sinister and scheming and maybe more powerful then we previously thought.

Before I wrap this post up I just want to add a couple of my favourite bits from the episode.

·        Mulders reconnaissance mission, hanging on to the bottom of that truck.

·        The downed UFO and the fact that Mulder brought a camera.

·        That intrepid soul in search of a closer encounter that is Max Fenig

·        Scully: ‘we have a plane to catch in under an hour’ (It takes longer than an hour to get through security nowadays)

·        This little back and forth at the US Space Surveillance Centre;

CAPTAIN KORETZ: Sir I have flash traffic at 24-18. Repeated calls for ID go unanswered. And it’s not in the orbital or suborbital inventory.

MILITARY OFFICER: 24-18. Isn't that where...

CAPTAIN KORETZ: Same exact spot sir. Although I am reading a much larger craft his time.

MILITARY OFFICER: Meteor, Ms. Koretz.

CAPTAIN KORETZ: A much larger Meteor, sir. Hold on a second.(Putting hand to earpeice) We have a confirm. Whitmarsh Air Force Base is tracking...

MILITARY OFFICER: Where is it?

CAPTAIN KORETZ: Well, sir. The meteor, seems to be hovering over a small town in Eastern Wisconsin.

·        Various Mulder quotes; ‘a highly classifies lie.’ ‘Enigmatic Dr Scully.’ ‘You don’t seem to understand Scully, Max doesn’t believe he was abducted by aliens I believe he was.’  ‘no government agency has jurisdiction over the truth.’

I like this episode and could go on but maybe you can fill in the gaps or add your take, feel free to use the comment box below. For now I will leave you with my score 8/10

Thanks for reading.

GHOST IN THE MACHINE Episode 7 Season 1

1993: space oddity 4/10 

Synopsis: The elaborate murder of a C.E.O to a large technology company gets pinned on the company founder, but Mulder believes it not to be as straight forward as this.

The creative vision in this episode makes 2001: a space odyssey seem like it was written by an oracle, which trust me is not a compliment by any stretch. At least HAL 9000 seemed plausible or for one of a better word convincing. Considering it was shot 25 years later there are no excuses here for C.O.S. to feel so dated, clunky so unfashionable.

Maybe I am missing the point, maybe it is less of a second rate rip off from the Stanley Kubrick classic and more a tribute to 70’s Sci-Fi adventure series Space 1999. A show that’s colt following has more to do with it being so much farther from the mark than on it. You may argue that 23^rd century man will laugh at the exploits of James T. Kirk but that point is moot. Why? The fact remains that the producers should of know better than to of half arsed it, being that in reality technology was not too far from something similar and that they could have drawn inspiration from this technology.

So rant over really and I have decided to focus my energies on the relationship between Fox Mulder and the ham-fisted Jerry Lamana.

Jerry calls over to Mulder and instigates a hug. Mulders first reaction is to shoot Scully an apprehensive glance. He sends another glance equal to the first in her direction when Jerry claims they were more than old work mates but partners in the violent crime division. The unease Fox feels around Jerry is quickly established by these looks and his less than confident demeanour.

In the next scene Jerry reveals his reason for his meeting Mulder; he needs help on a case. Mulder initially tries to side step the request by saying he is assigned to the X-Files but Jerry desperately pleads with him for assistance. Jerry needs this case to impress the attorney generals and help get his career back on track. A career that as it turns out ‘ran into a little bad luck’ when he misplaced evidence, resulting in a near fatal attack on a federal judge. It now seems evident why Fox felt dubious of Jerry’s presence. Jerry seems like the type of colleague who would have a detrimental effect on Mulders work at the FBI.

This proves the case as Jerry walks into the X-Files office steals the profile Mulder had been working on for the progress report and passes it off as his own work without shame. When confronted by Mulder he simply states that he asked for Mulders help and got it. To me Jerry seems to carry himself like a cornered animal swinging out, a broken man with a bruised ego who will do anything to rebuild his battered reputation no matter how ill advised that may be. I think Mulder recognises this and has genuine sympathy for the man.

Mulder forgives him and allows Jerry to bring in Mark Zuckerberg excuse me I mean Wilczek alone, on evidence Scully found that put Wilczek in the frame for murder. Unfortunately for Jerry this latest attempt at a short cut in restoring his status at the bureau back fired and proved to be his last. Being killed by probably the worse MOW ever was the cherry on top of a disastrous career for Special FBI Agent Jerry Lamana, R.I.P.

Deep Throat makes his second appearance in The X-File on Mulders terms. Mulder needs to know why Level 5 clearance needs to me granted to gain access to Wilczek’s property. It transpires that the DoD are after Wilczek software programing abilities.

The climax of the episode has agents Mulder and Scully trying to reach C.O.S in order to shut it down. Playing out like an episode of Krypton Factor Scully battles the physical challenges whilst Mulder the mental challenges. Claude Peterson, the buildings system engineer turns out to be an agent from a branch in the government (probably DoD) who for two years has tried to infiltrate the C.O.S. Paterson holds Mulder at gun point in preparation to seize the technology only to be thwarted by Scully who appears to have been dragged through a bush backwards.

Mulder and Deep Throat meet up for a second time with a somewhat more poignant discussion. It transpires that the government have taken Wilczek to force him to program software for them.  Mulder states that they can’t take a man like Wilczek without explanation to which Deep Throat replies ‘They can do anything they want.’ This proves the case over the course of the next eight seasons.

I have no problem with the story really. Looking past the horrible dated Sci-Fi style A.I. the episode give us two extra dimensions; the Jerry angle on which we learn more of Mulders backstory and of his compassion and the Deep Throat angle where we learn about the length secret government agencies are willing to go to. These two things save this episode form being erased from my files completely and I give it lowly 4/10

Catch my next blog coming soon, ICE one of my favourites.  

Thanks for reading.

DEEP THROAT Episode 2 Season 1 of The X-Files

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