The X-Files
So, I was doing great updating my blog at regular intervals. Then, depression and anxiety took hold and things kind of went off the rails. We are backpack, backpack back again though and ready to finish up the last two episodes of "The X-Files" inaugural season. Let's get to it.
"Roland"
Mulder: "You got a brother, don't you Scully?"
Scully: "Yeah, I've got an older one and a younger one."
Mulder: "Well, have you ever thought about calling one of them all day long and then all of a sudden the phone rings and it's one of them calling you?"
Scully: "Does this pitch somehow end with a way for me to lower my long distance charges?"
Notable Guest Star: Zeljko Ivanek
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: When Dr. Ronald Surnow is killed during the testing of an engine that is trying to break Mach 15, Agents Mulder and Scully are brought in to investigate potential industrial espionage. As more of the scientists working on the project turn up dead, Mulder becomes convinced that a mentally handicapped janitor at the facility, Roland Fuller, is somehow responsible.
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| Mulder explaining stuff. |
This episode is... something. It feels like in the mid-'90's to early '00's there was this epidemic of shows/movies that took characters that were mentally handicapped and either made them these savants or really condescended to them. They are all really cringe-y and uncomfortable and the fact that non mentally impaired actors are playing them just makes it a lot worse. "The X-Files" falls victim to this terrible trope in this episode and honestly, the less said about it the better.
Character actor, Zeljko Ivanek, plays Roland Fuller, the magical mentally impaired person in this episode. Ivanek is a fantastic actor and if you want to see him really shine, I highly recommend the FX tv show, "Damages." He's great and he deserves way better material than what is given to him here. Every time Roland is on screen, I am so freaking uncomfortable. I understand that showing Roland in his assisted living home, doing crafts and spending time with another resident who maybe has a crush on him, is supposed to humanize him or whatever but it doesn't do that. I'm not convinced that Chris Ruppenthal who wrote the episode has ever met let alone interacted with anyone who is mentally handicapped.
Aside from the cringe-y stuff, this is your typical first season "X-Files" stuff. Weird shenanigans happening at a top secret government facility, working on super secret science-y stuff. Mysterious deaths. Unseen killers. We've seen it all before and that is another part of the problem. This is the penultimate episode of the first season. The next episode is the season finale. There should have been more to this and there wasn't. You should be ramped up and excited for the season ending and wondering what's going to happen next season. This episode gives you none of that.
Meh.
Grade: D
"The Erlenmeyer Flask"
[last lines]
Mulder: "They're shutting us down, Scully."
Scully: "What?"
Mulder: "They called me in tonight and they said they're going to reassign us to other sections."
Scully: "Who told you that?"
Mulder: "Skinner. He said word came down from the top of the Executive Branch."
Scully: "Mulder..."
Mulder: "It's over, Scully."
Scully: "Well, you have to lodge a protest. They can't..."
Mulder: "Yes they can."
Scully: "What are you going to do?"
Mulder: "I'm... not going to give up. I can't give up. Not as long as the truth is out there."
Notable Guest Star: Lindsey Ginter as the Crew Cut Man
Mythology or Monster of the Week: Mythology
X-File of the Week: A high speed chase ends with the car and driver, Dr. William Secare, crashing into the ocean. Secare seems to be doing ok for a dude who is bleeding green blood. Deep Throat brings this chase to Mulder's attention and encourages him to investigate. This leads to Mulder finding an Erlenmeyer flask labeled Purity Control and to Secare's partner, Dr. Berube, who is murdered by a mysterious "Crew Cut Man." After doing some investigating, Scully reports that the flask contains bacteria that doesn't exist in nature. It can only be described as "extraterrestrial." Have the agents finally stumbled on the truth?
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| What an ugly baby |
Now this is more like it. After the generic, cringeworthy snooze fest that was "Roland," the show rebounds big time with a finale that may be the best episode of the season. "The Erlenmeyer Flask" starts at a breakneck pace and never slows down. It gives us action, mystery, reveals, but then more mystery and ends with a character death that lends real pathos to the episode. It even gives us a killer cliffhanger that I bet was torture if you were watching this live in May of 1994. I don't usually say this but let's give series creator and episode writer, Chris Carter, a slow clap on this one.
I'm going to begin this recap by pointing out the one thing that I don't love about this episode. They split up Mulder and Scully almost immediately. Mulder going out and doing the fun, pseudo dangerous investigating, while Scully spends the majority of the episode sleeping on a couch while poor Anne Carpenter analyzes purity control and basically signs her own death warrant.
Other than that though, this episode brings it. It introduces a lot of stuff to the mythology that would be revisited throughout the show's 11 season run. We get our first menacing, nondescript white dude coming after the agents: the Crew Cut Man. We learn that Secare and Berube were running experiments on 6 terminally ill men using the alien bacteria and they were recovering. Hello, human/alien hybrids. The x-files get closed for the first, but (spoiler alert) not the last time. All good stuff.
The imagery in this episode is iconic. The warehouse that Mulder finds with the bodies suspended in liquid is so cool and I never get tired of seeing it and I have seen this episode... a lot. It's still amazing. One of the lasting images from the series is Scully revealing the alien fetus frozen. When I think about "The X-Files" this is one of the top 5 images that comes to my mind. Sidebar: I am not 100% certain, but I'm almost positive Gillian Anderson was pregnant in this episode. She is wearing a lot of bulky trench coats and she does take her maternity leave early on in season two.
The episode ends with not just the reveal that the x-files have been closed and the agents re-assigned but also with the death of Mulder's OG informant, Deep Throat. DT is a character that you honestly shouldn't have much affection for, seeing how is kind of a snake, lies like a rug and you can't totally trust, but even knowing those things, his death hits you hard. That is really a testament to Jerry Hardin who leaned heavily into his older man charm. Sure, DT is all of those things that I mentioned before but he's also your grandpa and you don't want to watch your grandpa get gunned down.
Seriously, all the superlatives for this episode. Season one overall is pretty bumpy but "The Erlenmeyer Flask" is a strong close and a preview for a much more confident season two.
Grade: A
Next up, Mulder begins a quiet life of reflection after the closing of his life's work and bad stuff is happening in the New Jersey sewers.
We did it, Joe. We did it. We finished "The X-Files" season one. I'm super excited to start watching and recapping season 2 and I hope you all are too. Now that we're at the end tell me what you think. Is "Roland" the cringiest? Is "The Erlenmeyer Flask" a home run? What are your favorite and least favorite episodes of season 1? Let me know in the comments.
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