The X-Files
We are trucking through the first season of "The X-Files." It's always interesting to watch a series when it's first starting out and see everyone involved kind of finding their footing. That is exactly what these two episodes are. Lots of finding their way.
"The Jersey Devil"
Mulder: "Don't you have a life, Scully?"
Scully: "You keep that up and I'll hurt you like that beast woman."
Mulder: [as she holds the door open for him] "8 million years out of Africa..."
Scully: "... and look who's holding the door."
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: In 1947, in New Jersey, a family watches as the dad is dragged away. He is found dead in the woods by the police, some appendages eaten off. The cops kill a large humanoid and kill him, finding undigested human bones in his belly. The medical report mysteriously goes missing. Scully reports that a similarly chewed up body was found recently in New Jersey.
 |
| Clan of the Jersey Bear |
These two episodes are just alright. They aren't the worst episodes of the show and they are far from the best. Both episodes suffer from the same affliction. They are boring. It starts off with the MotW. "The X-Files" very rarely borrowed wholesale from American folklore or cryptids and this is why. The story of the Jersey Devil is so well known that it is difficult to try to add anything new to it. The show tries to dress it up with a lot of biology and evolution talk but... who cares? The reveal that the creature is actually a woman rather than a man is a pretty cheap, thinly disguised ploy to garner sympathy from viewers. I was sort of surprised the show would go that route when I first watched, but then I saw that Chris Carter wrote the episode and it suddenly made perfect sense.
The final chase through the abandoned building is very anti-climactic and is not as exciting as that score would have us believe. In the end, this is an X-file that actually gets closed, so I guess there's that.
The other big mistake that this episode makes is splitting Mulder and Scully up all so Scully can go on a shitty date we all know is going to end poorly. The main thing the show has going for it right now are Duchovny and Anderson's crackling chemistry and to deprive us of it for a good portion of the episode is not cool. And for this guy? I don't even remember his name and I refuse to look it up. Every time Scully is around him she looks bored. It's like even Dana knows that this is all a crackpot plot cooked up by some dude to show her "having a life" which means dating and worrying about if she can have it all, which is for sure the subtext here. It's so dumb. So unnecessary. And really drags the episode down quite a bit.
All in all, a ho hum episode that is and should be easily forgotten.
Grade: C-
"Shadows"
Mulder: "Have you ever seen the Liberty Bell?"
Scully: "Yes."
Mulder: "You know, I've been to Philadelphia a 100 times and I've never seen it."
Scully: "You're not missing much. It's just a big bell with a big crack, and you have to wait in a long line."
Mulder: "Yeah, but I'd really like to go."
Scully: "Why now?"
Mulder: "I don't know. How late do you think they stay open?"
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: Two unknown agents contact Mulder and Scully on a case in Philadelphia. Two muggers were found dead with their throats crushed from the inside. Both bodies possess an electrical charge. Mulder plays dumb but he has seen X-files with these separate components. This case is the first to contain all the elements. Mulder believes they are dealing with psychokinesis.
 |
| Weirdest Skinemax ever. |
The agents independent investigation lead them to a woman named Lauren Kyte. Lauren was attacked at the ATM by the dead men. Assassin's are being sent after Lauren because she knows her new boss, Dorlund, sold technology to the Isfahan and had her old boss, Howard Graves, killed because he was going to squeal. Dorlund, rightly, believes Lauren is also a squealer hence the assassin's but Graves is protecting Lauren from beyond the... grave. That's right. You thought it was a plug it up situation but really it's a Weeee'rrreee heeeerrrreeee situation. (In case this wasn't clear, I'm saying that it's not psychokinesis we are dealing with ie Carrie, it's a poltergeist ie... Poltergeist.
I liked this episode a little bit better than "The Jersey Devil, but overall, it was just alright for me, dawg. There is some solid Mulder/Scully banter, like the Liberty Bell exchange that I highlighted at the beginning of the recap. That medical examiner that Scully is talking to about Graves possibly being alive? Comedic gold A lot of the time the locals especially law enforcement, MEs, etc, get sort of played as fools so it is always nice to see them turn the tables on the agents.
Mulder and Scully do some solid FBI'ing. I always get a kick out of Mulder using his glasses lenses to pick up prints and seeing Scully take over the Mulder role in their "interrogation" of Lauren is kind of cool. But when I think on it, I don't think it's a tact that Scully ever uses again so if you're being less than generous that could be chalked up to lazy writing. This episode doesn't need any more checks against it so I'm going to go ahead and say that was inspired.
Otherwise, much like "The Jersey Devil," this episode is just boring. I don't care about this industrial espionage plot line. That is not why I watch "The X-Files." Lauren is the worst. All she does is scream and cry, which makes sense because she's going through it, but it's not what you want to watch someone do for 45 minutes. I hated that they made Graves a poltergeist rather than make Lauren psychokinetic. Even if she was just lashing out blindly and killing people, that would have given her a little bit of agency. Also, when you've been attacked once, why are you going into the person who did its office and yelling about how you're onto him? Like... get it together, Lauren.
The less said about the haunting effects the better.
Grade: C
Next up, technology bad and a bottle episode in the Arctic.
What did you all think of these episodes? Am I being too hard on them? Not hard enough? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment