BLOOD Episode 3 Season 2

‘I played right field’

Synopsis: An experimental pesticide has an adverse effect on its town when the inhabitants begin to embark on killing sprees culminating in suicide by cop.

It is impossible to think that this unforgettable episode will ever cease to become anything less than enjoyable and being a true favourite of mine I cannot wait to surmise the bountiful reasons as to why!

KILL, KILL’ EM, KILL’EM ALL Each violent instruction introduced by a high noted and sharp bang on the piano keys followed by a thumping heart beat drum rhythm. Straight after our opening teaser with the once mild mannered now disgruntled postal worker Edward, we discover that these cases of digital orders prompting there victim to act on murderous impulses are not isolated incidents but more of an epidemic in the usually peaceful town of Franklyn Pennsylvania. The premise of which is wholly exciting, dangerous and mysterious.

The spree of superficial random acts of violence is quickly continued with vigour by the vigorous porn/television actress Ashlyn Gere giving this episode an even finer cutting edge, her character’s virginitiphobia has to be an insider nod to her customary profession as does her attack on self-confessed sex addict David Duchovney (I kid obviously, David wasn’t diagnosed with sex addiction back in 1994 he was however diagnosed with young free and single-ism at the time).

Steady television actor William Sanderson’s portrayal of a sweaty nervous disgruntled postal worker on the edge of break down is superb. We eagerly anticipate his inevitable killing spree, with each passing opportunity more tension builds and culminates in an expertly derived unhinged shooting from top a clock tower and Mulder and Scully’s race to prevent it.

Mulders exposure to the experimental pesticides used on Franklyn’s crops is a wonderfully clever and subtle addition to the story line, the LSDM only effect on him is the message he received on his mobile phone ‘ALL DONE…BYE BYE’ the message could have only been sent by the government syndicate in charge of the spraying and this type of shadowy unknown government group going as far as to conduct inhumane experiments on its own citizens is what Mulder fears most.

This episode acts as a great exhibition of Mulder’s humour and reverence to his wit. One liner abounds and always gives reason to a re-watch. I particularly like his defence of playing right field in baseball and also noticed his immature ‘rubber’ joke that must be yet another homage to Ashlyn Gere’s profession.

With Mulder and Scully still on temporary hiatus the cameo by The Lone Gunman seems ideal. This is nothing more than a gentle re- introduction and they only conspire on Mulders own thoughts by adding in a brief history lesson on Government conspiracy with experimental pesticides. It is great to welcome them back and this time in shadier surroundings to their E.B.E premiere.

There is obviously one massive and confusing plot hole in Blood; the murderous instructions being able to be displayed on any electronic screen or display seen by any of the hundreds of people exposed to the LSDM. You may say perhaps due to the LSD contained within the LSDM that the victim’s fears prompted a visual hallucination on these devices which doesn’t go as far as to explain how each visualisation of the phrase 'kill them' are distinctly abbreviated in the fashion ‘KILL’EM’ as you would expect each individuals spelling to differ.

This level of technology and surveying is completely impossible so on the first few watches I hoped I had missed something but believe me it is what it is and in truth that is completely forgivable because this thrilling effort from Glen Morgan and James Wong makes up for its lack of plausibility with pure minute to minute humour, tension and well erm….. thrills!

Musings:

Just one, Scully’s sly introduction into this episode didn’t go unnoticed, I’m watching you. 

Watch Blood Instantly with Amazon

LITTLE GREEN MEN Episode 1 Season 2 of The X-Files

No, Jorge, don’t touch that red button. Noho on the Roho.

Synopsis: The closure of The X-Files has left Mulder without direction, until a friend reaches out to him with some significant intelligence.

It’s season two of The X-Files, it’s time to get serious. A lot of Season one’s charm comes from its innocent misgivings, season two did not have the same luxury and had to mature. Season two needed to wow from the start. With time and money vested in growing its popularity Chris Carter and Co needed to grab the attention of the shows newcomers whilst staying faithful to The X-Files philosophy. With Little Green Men, Morgan and Wong nailed it using the right blend of emotion, conspiracy, scares oh and the first sight of an extra-terrestrial!

The first episode of the second season hooked millions of new fans to The X-Files, compare Little Green Men with its spoon feed treats, silky camera work and exotic locations to the pilot episode. In many ways they are similar but at the same time they are truly worlds apart.

The opening to this episode is as intriguing as it is clever. The introductory monologue tells the story of the voyager program and hints towards its successful contact with alien life from the far reaches of our solar system.  If the promise of contact is intriguing how about actually making contact? I remember the sight of the slender E.T as pure sensory overload, for avid fans and new comers alike, a great piece of television.

So our aliens finally have a face, well outline to the body anyway. As part of a semi-reinvention to The X-Files universe they are no longer seen as the atypical invisible scavenger like creatures depicted in Fallen Angel but the more traditional slim big head big eyed aliens from so many documented accounts of close encounters.

Both the dream sequence of Samantha’s abduction and the contact Mulder experiences at the observatory are hair-raisingly to say the least but for a good old jump out your skin moment look no further then Jorge in the bathroom  it got me 18 years ago and it still gets me today. Poor Jorge left looked inside the observatory for some inexplicable reason, his inclusion in the story an inspired one, how long had he been there? How many times had he been abducted? For a grown man to be scared to death it would take something callous.

The mythology arch of this episode was a true indictment of how far The X-Files had come in its short tenure and what direction it would take, a brief peak at an alien was enough to get us salivating at the mouth and we wanted more. So did Mulder

The unkempt Mulder stuck on an endless wiretapping detail seen earlier on in the episode was a depressed shadow of his former self. He allowed himself to question his own beliefs; his paranoia raged uncontrollably and seemed a man devoid of all-purpose. Without The X-Files Mulder felt worthless, although hope remained in the guise or Senator Matheson. His apology to Mulder about not being able to secure The X-Files future tells of his vested interest in the cases and that he was most probably Mulder’s friend in Capitol that he refers to in Pilot and to whom Skinners referred to in Tooms.

Mulder heeds Matheson intelligence and travelled without hesitation to the satellite observatory in Puerto Rico with complete disregard for his assignment with the Bureau. Telling in that his prerogative to a regular pay check pales in significance to his search for the truth. I find Mulders use of the Dictaphone brilliant as not only was it a good way of explaining to the viewers what the partner-less agent is seeing but also his reactions to what he was seeing, it was interesting to hear him doubt himself without Scully’s faithful ear to bend and in hindsight and a view to subsequent seasons it is especially interesting to hear him cast doubts 

over the events of Samantha abduction.

Mulder made sure Scully had her work cut out in Little Green Men. Her shoulder to cry on was all that was keeping Mulder in anyway sane, she believed in him even if he didn’t. With Mulders fantastical imagination and hostility towards authority figures it is easy to forget that Scully is three years his junior and that a year prior to Little Green Men Scully was heading for a perfectly amicable career in the FBI. She takes it upon herself to follow him blindly and back him at all conceivable cost. Lying to her peers she evaded the watchful eye of the bureau surveillance team and heads all the way to Puerto Rico, the airport scene is reminiscent of the airport scene for E.B.E and typical of the sort of covert methods taken by Mulder. Without this level of devotion and sacrifice Mulder and Scully would never have worked. Scully’s eleventh hour appearance is all that saves Mulder from the shoot to kill U.F.O crash site recovery operation team. This was not the first time Scully had saved Mulder’s life and it won’t be the last, debunking the theory of Mulder constantly saved the damsel in distress; Scully. Well actually he does but what I am saying is that it was not all one way traffic.

The cherry on the top of the icing on top of the cake for this episode and one of my all-time favourite moments from the second series is the final scene that not only authenticates Mulders paranoia to his being watched but also creates one of these; that awkward moment when Skinner yells ‘get out of my office’ and you think his taking to Mulder but his really talking to me! Ha love it and its significance to the development of Skinners character, he is no puppet but whether he likes it or not he cannot sit on the fence forever.

Consider attention grabbed Chris Carter there is nothing to dislike about this strong episode, its imagination and constant of thrills sees to that.

Musings:

• It seems Mulders has been ‘hounding’ a lady for a date, I doubt that very much given his demeanour at the time and I am guessing that message was from an admirer of which I assume Mulder had many.
• The big bucks second season means a proper Hoover building, the guts of which now look authentic and is a series main stay.
• Mulders dream sequence of Samantha abduction differs from his recollection of the event via hypnotic regression. C.C explains the phenomena as possible inaccuracies in hypnotic regression. Want to know the real reason? Morgan and Wrong had never seen Conduit!
• The alias George Hale is in reference to the mentally ill scientist that Mulder compares himself to during the covert meeting with Scully in the car park. If you have time Google him for a fascinating read.
• Voyager 1 is currently the furthest man-made object from Earth, it is still in our solar system but scientists predict the craft to reach interstellar space within 3 years. I hope it doesn’t attract any unwanted attention!

Watch Little Green Men Instatnly with Amazon

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

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ROLAND Episode 23 Season 1 of The X-Files

Roland’s revenge

Synopsis: The deaths of two scientists linked by their work prompt Mulder and Scully to investigate.

The penultimate episode of the X-Files season one sees a repetitive, candid pattern turn full circle. Roland is another story of revenge from beyond the grave by controlling the will of an unsuspecting person, see similar season one episodes; Shadows, Space, Lazarus, Born Again. The decision for Roland to follow Born Again was myopic and if it were not for Roland’s saving graces this review would be just another scathe-fest. As a fan with many re-watches under my belt I find myself looking beyond the story. I feel as an X-Phile that it is my job to see what some may not and sing high praises to episodes found wanting by others and mainly I would just feel plain guilty trouncing this one straight after trouncing Born Again.

Always look on the bright side of life.

The performance of steady actor Zeljko Ivanek is convincing, his character, the autistic Roland lends inspiration and a numerical gift from the similarly named autistic Raymond from late 80’s hit Rain Man. It is one thing to curl up your hands, speak in a laborious monotone voice and role your head slowly back and forth, it’s another to pull it off. His efforts are matched by co-star Kerry Sandomerski playing Tracy. I knew she wasn’t disabled because I saw her on Fringe the same night I began this write up acting as a perfectly ably mannered nun. Nailed it!

I can’t help but feel a nerve tingling unease when watching their scenes inside the politically correctly named half way house, partly due to the direction and the other part possibly guilt. The dull ache in the pit of my stomach is more than evident, an emotion David Lynch himself would be proud of generating. I find myself relieved when they are over and yet somehow disappointed they are not longer. The finale scene in which Roland must leave Tracy is especially sad when you factor in the autistic persons slight understanding on love and the pairs inevitable loneliness. The dream sequences that use vivid colours contrasting black and white also resonates well.

Mulder shows his compassionate side once more in the way he interacts with Roland. The understanding and identification he shares with societies victims is always direct, just and sincere and in complete distinction from his contempt for the villains. He has displayed this tact with children, i.e. Born Again and numerous adults, i.e. Fallen Angel with a warm trusting manor. Perhaps this empathy comes from Mulders own feeling of loneliness and confusion. Sometimes however his directness allows his mouth to run ahead of him leaving Scully to cut him short to avoid either embarrassment or ill feeling as she did when Mulder attempts to explain the events leading to Roland’s departure from the half way house to Mrs Stodie.

The inspiration for Roland’s character may have been Rain Man but surely the idea of the cryogenic chambers has to be accredited to the film Demolition Man. They are a massive sci-fi shout out and although they have no place in the labs of jet propulsion scientists, they are a fun inclusion. As are the manor of the scientist deaths. The noise Dr. Surnow creates when hitting the fan can only be described as a squelch and the chalk line of Dr. Keats fragmented head draws a wry smile.

The story may boast a fuzzy back story and inconsistency in plot, but there is occasion to laugh and cry. 18 years later and blessed with hindsight we know where all the effort went so it’s forgivable 7/10

Musings:

• The computer software used in early X-Files to render e-fits of criminals and alter their age and appearance is nothing short of other worldly.
• In the word of Kirk Lazuras ‘Everybody knows you never go full retard.’ 

BORN AGAIN Episode 22 Season 1 of The X-Files

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!

DARKNESS FALLS Episode 20 Season 1 of The X-Files

Great Buzz 8/10

Synopsis: Mulder and Scully turn prey to ancient carnivorous insect when an investigation into the disappearance of 30 loggers in Olympic National Forest turns into a fight for survival.

The success of The X-Files in its fledgling season was no fluke. The majority of episodes were made up from a recipe of inspired casting, creative paranormal focused plot lines, subtle comedic undertones, solid production values and of course scares and it was this cocktail that established the shows core fan base that it still prevalent today. There are of course exceptions to the rule, flops if you will and guilty pleasures if you won’t. Inconsistency in value from one episode to another is a possibility for the first season of any show as they test the waters, but for a show which very essences is built upon the paranormal I would say it becomes an occupational hazard.

Darkness Falls is a great exhibit of the strength season one had to offer, an unassuming episode that keeps our interest from start to finish. The opening teaser sets the tone, 30 brawny plaid shirted lumber jacks scared witless, scream as they flee hopelessly through the dense boundless woodlands of the Olympic National Forest, Washington State. This vast forest is an ideal setting for this X-File. It is natural and wonderful to behold and at the same time mysterious and dangerous, the peaceful solitude turns into remote isolation and with the threat of darkness comes a sensation of helplessness and intense claustrophobia similar to that of Ice. Man versus nature is obviously the theme and Carter warns us there can only be one winner although ultimately it is the U.S Government.

There is understated comic relief in place throughout the episode, not meant as detraction from the moody ambience but rather a ploy to loll us into a sense of security. The relaxed opening scene between Mulder and Scully in the familiar warmth of the X-Files office acts to divert our attentions away from the horrors that lay in wait. This shroud of blissful ignorance soon disperses as the agents make their way deeper into the woods and we learn that this field trip is going to be no picnic.

The supporting cast all give solid believable performances which helps amalgamate the episode. The agents enlist the help of park ranger Larry Moore as chaperone to the logging site and are accompanied by Steve Humphreys, head of security for the logging company responsible for the missing men. All round good guy Moore is played by Duchovnys’ close friend and scientologist defector Jason Beghe who pulls of the strong outdoorsman man’s man role very convincingly. Humphrey although seemingly pleasant shows overzealous contempt for the eco warriors in an attempt to deflect attention away from his companies’ reckless and illegal logging methods. Doug Spinney plays the logger’s antagonist whose magnanimous nature directly opposes that of Humphreys’ which entertains malevolent undertones.

Spinney in affect sacrifices himself to save agents Mulders and Scully and park ranger Moore and in doing so vindicates Mulders actions of allowing him to leave their base camp along with the car battery, a decision that perplexed Scully, Moore and everyone who has ever watched Darkness Falls it even had Mulder doubting his own decision making. Who are we though to question Mulders choices? Admit it you felt a little guilty.

There are so many factors that make Darkness Falls’ re-watchable and it is always a pleasure to revisit this strong MoW. 8/10

Musings:

• What do you call a camel with three humps?
• Apparently Chris Carters inspiration for this episode came from a tree-ring dating course he took back in his college days. I suppose Darkness Falls justifies his omission from simply dating girls back in his college days.
• The awful microscope affect used is completely allowable because the episode pulls its weight with the aspects that really matter.
• As a foursome of three guys’ one girl, our agents, park ranger and logger man stumble across a cocoon half way up a tree. They decided to send ‘the women’ up in the harness to retrieve the icky insect webbed corpse, very brave guys and very funny. 
• This is one of the few MoW that isn't left open-ended  

SHAPES Episode 19 Season 1 of The X-Files

Sit, Stay, Play Dead 4/10

Synopsis: Mulder and Scully’s investigation into a shooting over a land dispute turns out to be more than just an open and shut case when a savage animal is introduced into the mix.

The episode is by no means an attention grabber let alone attention retainer. It is a werewolf yarn and we all know what a werewolf is and how they work; man gets scratched/bit, man turns into werewolf. Although it seems we are taking our prevailing knowledge for granted as it appears that The X-Files universe is unaccustomed to such myth. So as I watch Mulder and Scully investigate and learn about this nameless phenomenon I find myself reaching for my laptop.

Today I was off on a Native American Google search tangent that started with The Wounded Knee Incident mentioned by Ish during his first exchange with Mulder. I went on to learn more on the Native Americans’ plight against the U.S government , their battles to preserve the lands, their culture, their weapons, their farming methods, their hunting methods, their religion, their casinos. All the while Shapes listlessly stumbles from scene to scene offering little more than soft background stimuli.

This emphatically predictable story was in no way buoyed by the script and direction, which in places was downright awkward, the pinnacle of which has to be Mulders chucking in of the line ‘I want to believe’. When used without the class and the coherent context found at the end of Conduit this epic X-Files tag line is reduced to nothing but a cheap catch phrase.

Scully fairs little better. Her most poignant character trace is the ability to dismiss incomprehensible occurrences with logic and it is a trait we all appreciate, after all its part of what makes The X-Files so great. Although her ability to dismiss the ‘shape shifting’ Kyle Parker as a mountain lion is blind to the point of denial and not the ‘I saw it but I won’t admit it’ denial but the ‘repressed memory that may one day give me a brain tumour’ type of denial. The latter even played out on film to a certain extent when Kyle Parker gave off several loud roars as he was ‘shape shifting’ in the bathroom, the shot of Scully attempting to gain entry to the bathroom is silent. See no evil, hear no evil.

I think that the transformation scene of Kyle Parker into a werewolf still looks great today and finally my Google search tangent had a challenger to my attention. Alas it was a short lived battle of which Google prevailed.

There were other moments in which my curiosity peaks along the way. The castings of Duchovnys’ Twin Peaks co-star Michael Horse for example. As Sheriff Charles Tskany he practically reprises his role of Deputy Tommy Hill in a nod to the early 90’s supernatural drama to which X-Files owes for some of its inspiration.

There was also the backstory to these ‘shape shifting’ events which are attributed as the first ever X-Files. Apparently Edgar J. Hover himself initiated the investigation in 1946. The case, seeming unsolvable was swept under the carpet by Hoover(pun intended), which is a conspiracy in itself I suppose.

I find this episode unintentionally funny which is some sort of bonus I guess but this and its other entertaining facets are too few and far between in an episode guilty of sticking to closely to the myth ultimately causing it to be too banal. I did however get more out of watching this episode than expected, an education into the plight of Native American Man. 4/10

Musings:

• Or rather musing; Mulder breaches the gap left from a history of bloodshed between the U.S. Government and Native Americans. He offers an olive branch which is accepted. Is karma now at work? Is this act of philanthropy what helps the Navajo Indians bring Mulder back to life in ‘The Blessing Way’ Not trying to put too fine a point on it put Karma does play a large part in the Native American belief system. 

Miracle Man Episode 18 Season 1 of The X-Files

Beware false prophets 7/10 

Synopsis: Samuel a supposed miracle healer is tried for murder, Mulder believes in more than just the boy’s innocence.

With the paranormal, evolution and/or aliens the ever present subject matter of The X-Files, it is inevitable conflict and amity with religion developed on a regular basis. Miracle Man represents season ones first and only head on foray into religion. That is if you are wiling to except that ‘The Kindred’ from episode Gender Bender are not a religious sect.

Christianity is first in the firing line, or maybe more the false prophets that exploit the faith instilled in people who are made vulnerable by their lame limbs, old age or prevalent mourning. There are religious television channels that run all day that film these false prophets placing their hands on members of their congregations and ‘heal’ them of their physical and mental burdens using the power given to them by God. If you can’t tell I’m sceptical, although this boy Samuel, he has me believing.

I watched with my very own eyes this young boy put his hands upon a dead man, a man burned alive minutes before in a fiery car crash, I watched as he asked this man to rise, rise up and heal using the power of faith and the power of God. I saw that man rise from the ashes as if he were Lazarus himself.

Make no bones about it this boy is the real deal, and if we are to believe the blatant New Testament imagery he is also the second coming of Jesus. While running the risk of patronising you I shall lazily list these metaphors:

• He performed Miracles.
• He was arrested and wrongly accused.
• He was beaten to death whilst in the ‘crucifixion’ pose.
• He forgave the man that had him killed.
• He rose from the dead and disappeared.
• He drank beer and got into fights.

The writers cleverly used Samuel divine powers to reignite the interest in the story line surrounding Mulders abducted sister. First Samuel envisages Samantha’s abduction he then shows visions of Samantha to Mulder. This not only gave Mulder reason to belief in Samuels’s powers and thus find the real suspect but also re-opened the book on Fox’s hunt for his sister for the first time since episode Conduit.

With Miracle Man following E.B.E, an episode that really kicked started the alien conspiracy mythology, there was a lot to get excited about and it was no coincidence that household ratings went in to ascendency following them.

With the exception of the first episode Pilot, this is the first episode that leaves you guessing on the suspect. I’m not saying that it is or is not difficult to figure out (I didn’t have a clue), what I am saying is that we normally know who the perpetrator is before we are treated to Mark Snow’s eerie score. This will become a more established template for future MoW episodes as we watch The X-Files evolve.

An enjoyable episode that offers up a surprise killer and small amount of early Samanthology. 7/10

Musings;

• Mulder already knows of the Reverend Calvin Hartley and of his son Samuel’s healing powers before Scully show him the case. He doesn’t explain why, perhaps he read about it in The Lone Gunman or maybe he previously looked into seeing Samuel about his sister. Or maybe he just saw him on the GOD Channel.
• Scully refers to her catholic faith saying that ‘God never lets the Devil still the show’ Reference to Sully’s faith is few and far between in the first season but are later established frequently.
• I found the trail of food left on the roof to the ventilation shaft for the locus is hilarious. They are insects not Hansel and Gretel.
• Vance went a little far with the Locus thing as it left a paper trail back to him, not that it mattered in the end.
• Best quote undoubtedly goes to Mulder ‘Remember, the boy did rise from the dead. That kind of thing happens only once or twice every two thousand years or so.’
• Sheriff Daniels wrongly persecuted Samuels and had him beaten to death in his cell. He then got arrested and most probably imprisoned, leaving his paralysed wife to a life of solitude and himself to a life behind bars with criminals he would of helped to send there. What was this guy’s motivation or am I missing out on some New Testament imagery????

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.

LAZARUS Episode 15 Season 1 of The X-Files

And stay dead 2/10

Synopsis: An FBI agent and a bank robber are gunned down at the scene. The robber dies while the FBI agent is revived however Mulder suspects the agent of not being who he appears to be.

Raising of Lazarus is a biblical story of a miracle performed by Jesus in which he raises Lazarus of Bethany from the dead. Unfortunately the story on offer here is less than divine and plainly insipid.

If you were a bank robber shot whilst on the job and in death you were given a second chance what would do? Would you catalogue your mistakes and misgivings in your first life and act upon them in a way of redemption in your second learning to appreciate that the error of your ways may be related directly to your untimely demise and perhaps learn to change them?

Or would you clumsily hunt down your ex-husband murdering, FBI fugitive, double crossing wife and once finding her abduct a federal agent?

My point being that at the very least you would keenly prevent attention being draw to yourself. This is not for bank robber Warren Dupree, who spends no time what so ever on considering his options. I am not going to pretend that The X-Files is always believable, after all it is Science Fiction, but it is when palpable human behaviour is so blatantly disregarded that I find myself rolling my eyes.  I see little reason to look further into this MOW impractical behaviour. Well maybe I could say he was driven by passion which is the only argument but really? Yawn. It seems like lazy storytelling to me.

The lack in character depth does bother me somewhat although it is not all bad and as you know I am not one to kick an episode whilst it is down. It’s a fun story, having the mind of a criminal jump to that of FBI agent Jack Willis a man whom he’d been hunted by for two years. Dupree recklessly gets up close and personal with the FBI. A little more focus on his interactions around other FBI agents and inside the FBI headquarters could have added a touch of sophistication to this episode. Regrettably it wasn’t to be as I believe this would have made for a more invested storyline.  Mulder was the only one within the FBI suspicious enough of Willis’ new behaviour to show enough concern. Which is odd really given the common knowledge that Willis inexplicably cut the finger off a corpse in a scene that makes me wince, and yet still manages to pass a physical and perhaps more surprisingly a psychological exam.

Believe me I am not intentionally ripping holes in this episode it is just inescapable.

I will move on. Another small portion of Dana Scully’s past was offered up to us. Her relationship with FBI Jack Willis was confirmed to be more than just friendship when Scully revealed to Mulder that the two had dated for almost a year. It seems Scully has a habit of mixing work and pleasure and this time with a man she appears very incompatible with. We also learn of her birthday, February 23^rd, but not the year.

I’m sorry if my take on this episode conflicts greatly with your views on it. There just aren’t enough redeeming features on show.  As much as I dislike low scoring I have to be realistic. A lowly 2/10 and a big look forward to the next episode Young at Heart.

Musings;

The biblical story of Lazarus will again be the source of inspiration in season 7 episode HOLLYWOOD A.D.

Scully has the inconvenient habit of being abducted which begins and certainly does not end with this episode.

We know Mulder has at least one colleague within the bureau apart from Scully that defends him, agent Bruskin.

GENDER BENDER Episode 14 Season 1 of The X-Files

GENDER BENDER Episode 14 Season 1 of The X-Files

Remember Gender Bender? 5/10

Synopsis: Several deaths that occur after sexual intercourse lead Mulder and Scully to investigate an Amish like community known as the Kindred.

I have a strange affiliation to Gender Bender and no it is not what you’re thinking. 18 years ago I remember sitting round my Grandma’s house watching GB with my dad, mum, Nan and sister. I remember where I was sat where they were sat, I remember it like I remember yesterday. The reason I remember that night so vividly is because we sat and enjoyed the show together, The X-Files brought us all together. It was a show we all could enjoy watching.

One thing that drew me to GB when I was younger was the Amish influence. I had no idea that there were groups that had wilfully detached themselves from modern society for hundreds of years. I could remember thinking to myself that I would not be able to live without my Super Nintendo or Power Rangers for one week let alone a lifetime.

You must realise I was eight years old but even so, many adults of the time knew next to little about these sects. Today it’s a different story; we have films, documentaries and even reality television show based on their way of living. They no longer seem alien to us.

1994 however was a different time; their existence was alien to the general population. Here the writers play on that but maybe missed a trick. I found the back story missing and in place it found sex scenes, they may have tied into the story but really were unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong I like a sex scene as much as the next red blooded male but if the producers ideas of sexing up the show where having a women that was really a man or vice-versa, changing sexes right after the doing wild thing then they are clearly mistaken. Unless it is me who is mistaken?

If only they substituted the sex story line parts of this episode with more mystery surrounding the ‘Kindred’ and the farm on which they lived. The farm was a marvellously atmospheric setting and could have played host to a real spooky episode.

I see that maybe the writers were looking to show the contrast between the two different worlds but it was hardly done in an imaginative or thought provoking way.

All we were left with were horny transsexual chick and dude magnet aliens that for some reason travelled across time and space just to settle down into an Amish way of life and ban themselves from the fruits of the forbidden tree without any explanation what so ever. Somehow I don’t think this is the ‘truth’ Mulder had been expecting to find.

I do like to draw some of my own conclusions from each episode but come on not all of them!

Other noteworthy episode points include:

Scully’s disbelief that a person would have sex with perfect stranger, such a prude. Scully’s Profile of the killer: indeterminate height, weight, sex, unarmed but extremely attractive. A funny prude no less.

Enter player Nicholas Lea. Before his appearance in the next season as Alex Krycek he had a role in this episode having, sex with brother Martin.

The pathetic attempt at a crop circle at the end. They didn't have to call in experts but jeez guys that was rubbish!

When questioned on the possibility that the show might be met with disapproval from Amish communities Chris Carter simply stated that he was not worried as the Amish do not watch television. Hahaha

This episode is flawed and feels incomplete but it is a fun ride and bring back fond memories for me, I could never say I dislike it or skip it during a Season watching marathon. 5/10 for me.