The X-Files
These episodes are kind of awkward and definitely not my favorites so let's just jump right in and we will get through this together.
"Excelsis Dei"
Scully: "Good morning."
Mulder: "Whatever tape you found in that VCR, it isn't mine."
Scully: "Good, because I put it back in that drawer with all those other videos that aren't yours."
Mythology of Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: After a nurse is violently assaulted and raped at Excelsis Dei, a private nursing home in Worcester, MA. Mulder and Scully become involved when the nurse says she couldn't see her attacker but believes it was a resident, Hal Arden. After some investigating, the agents uncover recovering Alzheimer's patients and two drugs that could be doing more than helping their condition.
 |
| Old man |
I'm not even sure how to talk about this episode. I really don't like it. I think it is incredibly problematic and can be triggering to people. This episode originally aired December 16, 1994. I hate saying things are products of their time, but maybe this is? I'm hopeful that if the show was airing in 2021 that it would handle the topic of rape with a little more care and class than this episode did.
The episode begins with the rape and battery of nurse Michelle Charters. And it's pretty horrific. As it should be. But like, the way the show paints her from the beginning isn't great. The old men grabbing her ass while she's working is painted as playful instead of pervy. It's implied that she shouldn't be upset about it. She's a shrew, etc. It's pretty gross right from the start.
The shift to like Mulder joking about porn, which on it's own was funny, was pretty jarring too. Mulder is kind of the worst here, too. I don't understand why he picks and chooses what to believe. He has believed some crazy shit in the past couple of episodes, but this he just can't get behind. He's not sensitive to the situation at all. He condescends to Michelle when they interview her. He snickers at the gross behavior of these old men and doesn't take them serious as supsects at all. It's' not a great look for Fox at all and I hate it.
The amount of victim blaming here is absurd. Luckily, the audience knows she's telling the truth, but everyone else is convinced she is lying. The director of the nursing home brings up other reports she's made. It's a terrible way to create tension in the episode. And even when it's confirmed she's been telling the truth the whole time, she still gets the shaft. Violently thrown against a wall, almost drowned. It's a mess.
The reveal in the episode isn't great either. It turns out an Asian orderly is giving the patients herbal pills that is curing their Alzheimers but is also calling spirits that died there to attack people. I guess the ghost effects are pretty cool for the time... and that's really it.
Grade: D
"Aubrey"
Dana Scully: "I guess that's why we're going to Aubrey."
Fox Mulder: "Yes, and I've always been intrigued by women named B.J."
Notable Guest Star: Terry O'Quinn as Lt. Brian Tillman
Mythology of Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: Aubrey, MO detective, BJ Morrow, has visions that lead her to a field where she uncovers the remains of an FBI agent who had been missing for almost 50 years. At the same time, murders start up again that pattern the killings that the same FBI agent was investigating. Could this be the result of the genetic trait of violence being passed from the original killer to his descendant? And how does BJ factor into all this?
 |
| BJ? |
"Aubrey" is an interesting episode. I think that the concept is really interesting. Everyone is curious how their genetics influence who they are and how they act. It is a whole different spin on free will. Do I like this certain food, drink, music, etc because I like it or am I genetically predisposed to liking that. And, in this episode, what about the trait for violence? For sadism? For murder? If an ancestor was a serial killer, is that something that is doomed for you no matter what? Does it happen in every generation? Does it sometimes skip a generation like it does in the case of BJ Morrow?
It's pretty obvious that when the new killings start that the culprit is not going to be the elderly Cokely, but his granddaughter, BJ. I'm not super upset about that, though. The "whodunnit" is probably the least interesting of the episode.
I have mixed feelings about the actress who plays BJ, Deborah Strang. Everything that she does is so exaggerated and over the top. Sometimes it works great. When she has fully succumbed to the Cokely persona and is pushing Linda Thibodeaux, her grandmother and Cokely's last attempted victim. The crazy, manic energy, the husky voice, it's perfect. But the rest of the episode when she's acting basically the same only barely restrained, it's not nearly as effective. In fact, it's kind of comical. Take when Scully offhandedly mentions dreams and BJ repeats it "drrreeeeaaammmmmssss?" as if she's that Family Guy parody of Mrs. Garret who just found out that Jo has a penis. You're trying to play it cool, BJ. This is not playing it cool.
Joy Coghill, the woman who plays Linda Thibodeaux, is amazing. Her talking to Mulder and Scully about the night that Cokely attacked her is really mesmerizing. Strang should have taken notes. And, shot out to "Lost's" own Terry O' Quinn who almost looks exactly the same then as he does now.
Grade: B
Next up, death fetishists, Satan worshippers and voodoo, oh my!
What do you all think of these episodes? Does "Excelsis Dei" have any redeeming qualities that I can't think of? Is the actress who plays BJ great and I'm being too hard on her? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment