The X-Files
Season two of "The X-Files" has been good, but kind of different from season one. Gillian Anderson's pregnancy caused her to film less so Mulder and Scully have spent a lot of the season so far separated. Now she's been abducted and Mulder is truly on his own. How's he handling that? Read on to find out.
"3"
The Son: "Don't you want to live forever?"
Mulder: "Not if drawstring pants come back in style."
Notable Guest Star: Perrey Reeves as Kristen Kilar
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: A murder in the Hollywood Hills brings Fox Mulder to town for his first X-Files investigation since they have been re-opened and the first sans Scully. The M.O. of this killing matches similar killing in several states where the victim is drained of blood and a bible verse is written on the wall in the victims blood. Due to the MO, the killers have been nicknamed the Unholy Trinity. When Mulder finds the Son, he becomes convinced that not only are vampires real, but they are Unholy Trinity.
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| Red (Mulder's Version) |
I'm going to be upfront and let you all know that this is one of, if not my absolute least favorite "X-Files" episode of all time. The story came from a freelance script written by Chris Ruppenthal. It was heavily re-worked by Glen Morgan and James Wong. They are great writers but this script must have been a real dud, because even they couldn't make this concept work. It's kind of sad because I think it's an interesting way to tackle vampires, but it all just sort of falls apart really fast. Luckily the show will tackle vampires again in a few more seasons and it will be much, much more successful. It's a dud right from the start. I hate when the show tries to be sexy, because it fails spectacularly. "The X-Files" has a lot of strengths and it can do a lot, but it can't do sexy. The whole opening sequence is just super cringe-y and gross and you have to fight the urge to fast forward through it.
I just don't understand the thinking behind this. This is the first episode after Scully has gone missing. There are so many ways the show could have gone with this and they decided to go weird, sexy vampire route. It's really baffling. Also, if you thought the cringe from the opening scene was a one off, just wait until Mulder heads to Club Tepes, yep, that's the vampire clubs name, and meets up with Kristen. She is played by Perrey Reeves who will achieve some notoriety by playing Jeremy Piven's wife in "Entourage." Here she is forced to try to make the unsexiest dialogue sound sexy and try to drum up the smallest bit of chemistry with David Duchovny.
You'd think it would be easy having chemistry with David Duchovny. But I'm here to tell you, dear Reader it is not. And this episode proves it. I felt like I was reading a Stephen King sex scene each time they tried to make this "romance" happen. I get Mulder has some sort of damsel in distress complex, but come on. How do you fall for this, dude? And I love Mulder, but he goes from "there's no such thing as vampires" to "Vampires are definitely real and they are killing these people" so quickly. I am with the medical examiner who is just as disturbed by what Mulder says as the fried body on the jailhouse floor.
There is a lot of action packed into the last 5 minutes but there is nothing that can salvage this. And it's too bad. Like I said, there is a flicker of a decent idea here, that is never really fanned into a flame. I kind of wish we had gotten more of Mulder pensively thinking about Scully like we did in the first ten minutes of the episode. Or a case that somehow tied into her being gone or Mulder's feelings about it. Instead, we got... this.
Grade: D
"One Breath"
Mulder: "I brought you a present. Superstars of the Super Bowls."
Scully: "I knew there was a reason to live."
Mythology of Monster of the Week: Mythology
X-File of the Week: Special Agent Fox Mulder is not taking the disappearance of his partner, Dana Scully, very well. Her mother is ready to move on, but Mulder refuses to. His stubbornness seems to pay off when it's revealed that Scully has been returned. She's in critical condition and is not expected to pull through and no one knows how she got to the hospital or where's she's been. Mulder is determined to get to the bottom of this but his single minded pursuit of "the truth" may cause him to miss the chance to say goodbye to his partner.
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| Poor Scully. |
We need to start things off by giving a slow clap to Gillian Anderson. She returned to work on the show literally days after giving birth hence why she only missed one episode of season two. That is devotion. It's borderline insane, but can you imagine if she ended up missing another episode? Or more? There would be so many more episodes like "3" and the show may not have survived. All hail, Gillian Anderson.
This episode is so great. I love how contemplative it is and you don't say that a lot about episodes of "The X-Files." There are a lot of monologues in this episode and each one is so good. Glen Morgan and James Wong really redeem themselves after the dialogue shit show that was the previous episode. Honestly, I'm not sure how they both could have been written by the same people.
There are three main monologues in this episode. The first is from Scully's mother to Mulder where she tells him a story about Scully shooting BB guns with her brothers and killing a snake and how remorseful she was after it happened. It is a great insight into Scully's life and her faith. It is a great start to the episode and the reveal that they are waiting for Scully's tombstone makes the whole thing more of a gut punch. While in her near death fugue state, Scully sees a vision of her dead father who talks to her about the shortness of life and how he should have spent more time with her. It's so nice to see Don Davis again and this short heartfelt speech enriches the relationship between Scully and her dad, introduced in the episode "Beyond the Sea" which this episode feels like a spiritual sequel to. My favorite speech of the episode is Skinner recounting his near death experience in Vietnam to Mulder. It really removes any doubt as to who Skinner is and who's side he is on. It enforces the father/son dynamic between Mulder and Skinner. Mitch Pileggi nails this scene. It's beautiful.
We meet Scully's sister, Melissa, in this episode. She is the complete opposite of her sister. She's a self proclaimed psychic and is relatively cliché with her New-Age-y philosophy and crystals. Melinda McGraw does a great job of raising Melissa above this. Even Frohike of the Lone Gunmen gets a nice moment in the episode when he brings Scully flowers to her hospital room.
There's a lot of great imagery in the episode. The way the episode shows us Scully's tenuous connection to life is great. Her sitting in a rowboat alone tethered to a dock. The whole Nurse Owens maybe angel thing didn't work for me, but I wouldn't give it to harsh of a mark on the episode as a whole.
There is definitely the typical "X-Files" style conspiracy theory stuff. The Lone Gunmen talk about branched DNA that is now dormant that seems to confirm alien abduction. Someone tries to steal Scully's blood but is killed by X. It's all fine, but these are the least interesting parts of the episode.
I can't end this without giving props to David Duchovny. He shows all the emotions. Manic and angry and accusing. He has his first showdown with the Cigarette Smoking Man and he chooses sitting with Scully over the potential for revenge over the people who may have orchestrated her abduction. All this and Scully of course wakes up at the end.
Grade: A
Next up, Mulder and Scully are back, baby! They are investigating odd goings on at a volcanic research base and some irregular teenage behavior.
What do you all think of these episodes? Does anyone enjoy "3?" Are you glad that Scully wasn't gone too long? Let me know in the comments.
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