The X-Files
Season one of "The X-Files" soldiers on and we have the first type of episode that will become a staple of the series for the entirety of its run, for better or worse. The agents go into another culture episode. It's fun stuff.
"Beyond the Sea"
Mulder: "It was five hours of Boggs channeling. After three hours I asked him to summon up the soul of Jimi Hendrix and requested 'All Along the Watchtower.' You know, the guy's been dead for 20 years but he still hasn't lost his edge."
Notable Guest Star: Brad Dourif as Luther Lee Boggs
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: In Raleigh, NC, a collegiate couple is kidnapped by a man posing as a police officer. A similar incident happened a year prior on the Duke campus, with the kidnapped couple being found dead five days later. Luther Lee Boggs, a serial killer on Death Row that Mulder helped put away, is claiming psychic powers that he claims could help find the kidnapped couple. He'll use them in exchanged for a life sentence rather than a death sentence. In a twist, Mulder is skeptical of Boggs' claims.
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| She's going to play Maggie Thatcher. |
"Beyond the Sea" is a knockout episode of "The X-Files." It is the first episode that really showcased the acting powerhouse that is Gillian Anderson. This whole episode belongs to her. It introduces her parents. Margaret Scully as played by Sheila Larkin will recur throughout the series but Don Davis' Captain William Scully makes his only appearance as a living character. The beginning of this episode does so much and it does it without spelling things out. The interactions between Dana and Bill Scully are loving, but you can feel a distance between them. Things unsaid. It's just really great acting all around that you don't normally see in a show like this especially in the early '90's. The scene where Scully wakes up and seeing her dad silently mouthing things in the chair across from her is sad and kind of chilling at the same time. And you know before the phone rings that he is dead. It's all just really, really well done.
It was only a matter of time before the show subverted Mulder and Scully's roles but they did it sooner than I would have thought. Mulder knows that Boggs is an unrepentant psychopath who kills people for fun. He believes that the kidnapper is Boggs' partner and Boggs is faking his "powers" to get a leaner sentence after jukeing execution once before. He gives Boggs a piece of fabric supposedly from one of the victims but after Boggs does his seer routine reveals the fabric is actually from his Knicks t shirt. The agents should be on the same page for once but when Boggs begins singing "Beyond the Sea," a song that is very important to Scully's dad, she begins to become the believer. That belief is only strengthened when things Boggs said lead her to a warehouse that the victims had been at before.
This leads to some great moments between Mulder and Scully. Mulder understandably upset when Scully lies about how she found the warehouse. This episode definitely gives off some "Silence of the Lambs" vibes, particularly with Scully and the Clarice Starling of it all, but it never feels like a rip off, more like an homage.
Brad Dourif, who you may remember as Grima Wormtongue from "The Lord of the Rings,"kills it as Luther Lee Boggs. He's menacing and sad and pathetic all at once. You can understand why Scully would want to believe that he was telling the truth. The high point of the episode for me is the scene between Scully and Boggs when he's recounting his first walk to the gas chamber. The imagery is really unsettling and powerful, with all of Boggs' victims lining the hallway as he takes that long walk.
The underlying kidnapping story with Boggs' most likely accomplice, Lucas Henry is pretty pedestrian and I think episode writers and "X-Files" legends, Glen Morgan and James Wong, know that. It's not this kidnapping that is the star here and they know that. It's everything else that elevates this episode to classic level.
The episode ends on just the right note, with Scully deciding not to attend Boggs' execution to maybe or maybe not hear her father's message and Mulder and Scully having a chat and reverting back to their original roles with maybe more of an understanding of where the other is coming from.
"Gender Bender"
Scully: "There's something up there, Mulder."
Mulder: "Oh, I've been saying that for years."
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: There have been five deaths in six weeks from DC to Boston, three women and two men. They all died in the throes of passion from coronary episodes though all victims seem to be young and healthy. All victims have a large presence of pheromones, one hundred times stronger than any found in nature and the pheromones contain human DNA. White clay found in scratches on the most recent victim lead Mulder and Scully to an Amish-like sect called the Kindred.
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| Ain't no party, like an Amish barn party... |
Like I mentioned in the intro to this post, this is the first episode in a long line of episodes, where Mulder and Scully explore other cultures and what results is usually tone deaf and disastrous. I will say that this one isn't the worst of the bunch mainly because the Amish are a religious sect that have already been explored many times on various television shows and episode writers Larry and Paul Barber aren't really re-inventing the wheel here. The Kindred aren't Amish per se, but they are definitely an Amish analogue. They shun modern conveniences, they drive horses and buggies, they live out in the middle of nowhere and they sustain themselves by making pottery made from a special white clay unique to their particular sect.
This episode is fine, but I'm not sure the central conceit works. The murderer is a Kindred who is switching sexes at will, which is apparently something they can do, but it's really vague and not really well explained. Is it the clay? Can others switch willy nilly like this? After an awkward dinner where an old man seemingly almost dies, Mulder sees them covering him in the white clay and then it looks like he's becoming female. I don't mind that "The X-Files" isn't always super forthcoming when it comes to explanations but I could have used a little bit more here.
There is some stuff that really doesn't work revolving around the Kindred and their weird ill defined pheromone powers. Brother Andrew tries to use them to rape Scully which isn't great and then at the end of the episode he headbutts her as they spirit away Brother Martin, the killer. The episode doesn't feel fully formed and the insinuation that the Kindred were aliens based on the crop circle found at the end of the episode just feels like lazy writing.
We do get our first glance at Nicolas Lea who will play a major role in the show starting in season 2. He must have made quite an impression as almost murder victim.
Grade: C-
Next up, we get a possessed bank robber and an old enemy of Mulder's returns... except he's dead.
What did you guys think of things? Any praise you want to lavish on "Beyond the Sea?" Any "Gender Bender" fans? Let me know in the comments.
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