The X-Files
Man, it feels like we haven't checked in on Mulder and Scully for almost 3 months. Ha. Well, we are back, back, back again. Like I've said before, it feels like a lot of times, these dual episodes we go over have a theme and these are no exceptions. It's all about twins today, in one shape or another. Let's go.
"Humbug"
Dr. Blockhead: "Did you know that through the protective Chinese practice of Tiea Bu Shan, you can train your testicles to draw up into your abdomen?"
Mulder: "Oh, I'm doing that as we speak."
Notable Guest Stars: Jim Rose as Dr. Blockhead, Michael Anderson as Mr. Nut, The Enigma as The Conundrum & Vincent Schiavelli as Lanny
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: In Gibsonton, FL, freak show performer, Jerald Glazebrook aka The Alligator Man, is murdered in his pool. Mulder informs Scully the murder mimics exactly a string of murders that have happened across the country for the past 28 years. When the agents head to Florida and find out they are dealing with circus performers, the come to believe that the serial killer is hiding amongst them.
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| You got something in your nose. |
This is the first "X-Files" episode penned by famed "X-Files" writer, Darin Morgan. Morgan appeared earlier in the season as the Flukeman and is the brother of other "X-Files" writer, Glen Morgan. Morgan has written some of the best "X-Files" episodes of the entire series. If I made a list of the top 20 best episodes, every single one of his would be on the list and most of them would probably be in the top ten. That is pretty impressive for a guy who only wrote six episodes across the entire series.
"Humbug" is great because it takes the agents out of their comfort zone and throws them into a community they aren't completely familiar with. It doesn't always work, particularly when they are involved with a different ethnic community, but it is great here. There is a ton of pathos and comedy to be mined from the agents routinely putting their feet in their mouth consistently and the people they are encountering routinely reading them for it. Take the manager of the hotel they are staying at, Mr. Nutt. Nutt is played by Michael Anderson who genre nuts probably recognize as the backwards talking Man From Another Place from "Twin Peaks." Mulder makes the incorrect assumption that Nutt used to work for the freak show and gets a nice dressing down. Can't a little person get a degree in hotel management? He gets it again when he finds Nutt crawling under Scully's trailer and assumes he's peeping tom when he's just working on the plumbing. To add insult to injury, Scully pops out and asks Mulder if he's done working.
The episode casts actual oddity performers which adds a degree of realism to the episode. Jim Rose who plays Doctor Blockhead is a famed circus performer and even began his own traveling circus in the early '90's. This wasn't the only time that Rose experienced fame due to a famous Fox television program. In "The Simpsons" episode, "Homerpalooza," Homer joins the Jim Rose Circus as the human cannonball. The jigsaw tattoo covered, raw fish eating Conundrum is played by freak performer, The Enigma. Some of the best moments of the episode is The Conundrum popping up in unexpected places, whether it's the lake with a raw fish or a barrel full of water.
The plot of the episode is great too. Mulder initially believes that the culprit is the Feejee Mermaid, an old Barnum oddity that was the torso of a monkey and the tail of a fish. The actual culprit is the vestigial twin, Leonard, of motel employee and former performer, Lanny played by Vincent Schiavelli. Schiavelli is a well known character actor in movies like "Ghost" and he does an amazing job here. He makes Lanny someone that you feel for and have empathy for. There is a great moment where he and Scully meet in their robes and both self consciously cover up, Scully her cleavage and Lanny the bulge that contains Leonard.
Like the best "X-Files" episodes, there is really no real resolution. Leonard gets away after attacking The Conundrum. There's just so much good here that I haven't even touched on. The running gag of people not wanting to look like Mulder. The revelation that Sheriff Hamilton used to be Jim Jim the Dog Faced Boy. And of course, Scully eating the cricket. Gillian Anderson actually did put the cricket in her mouth because she's a bad ass. If you happen to own the season 2 blu rays, there is a fun behind the scenes of her doing it.
Grade: A
"The Calusari"
Scully: "Have you heard of Munchausen by proxy?"
Mulder: "Yeah, my grandfather used to take that for his stomach."
Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW
X-File of the Week: At an amusement park in Murray, VA, 2-year-old Teddy Holvey, son of Steve and Maggie and younger brother of Charlie, is struck by a train when he follows his balloon into its path. FBI agent Fox Mulder has a photo taken right before the incident analyzed that reveals an electromagnetic image of a person pulling the balloon into the train's path. He and Agent Dana Scully head to Virginia to investigate where they find Maggie's mother, Golda, warning the family that their son Charlie is evil and calling in a group of Romanian elders called the Calusari to help before more people die.
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| Not Damian |
It was only a matter of time before "The X-Files" gave us their take on the classic horror films "The Exorcist" and "The Omen," but who knew they'd be a mash up of the two with some good old fashioned Eastern European mysticism thrown in for good measure and to change things up a little.
Honestly, the moment we get a look at little Charlie Holvey with his sunken in eyes and vaguely menacing expression chillingly telling his dad he wants his balloon after it's taken and given to Teddy, you kind of know where all this is going. Or at least you have a vague idea. I will say it is ballsy to straight up murder a two-year old in the cold open of this episode. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking they were definitely not going to go through with it. But they did, with the parents going on to the tracks with the body and everything.
This episode is fine. I think my biggest problem is that it doesn't really do anything new with any of the various concepts in the episode. Charlie is no different from Damian or any other menacing child that has been on screen. The exorcism scene, while the high point of the episode, isn't reinventing the wheel and is doing a lot of stuff that we've seen the show do in past episodes, particularly at the Holvey house with Scully and Maggie. We've seen dark houses, with lightning flashes and unseen forces pinning people to walls and throwing Scully against the wall. It's super paint by numbers and I think viewers expect more from the show at this point.
The episode throws out some interesting things but doesn't really do anything with them. When the agents first visit the Holvey house, they find Golda drawing a version of a swastika on the back of Charlie's hands. This is kind of shocking because the swastika is more widely known as a Nazi symbol, but it's explained later that the swastika is seen as a symbol of protection in other cultures. That's really cool. I wish there was more of that.
The late in the episode reveal that Charlie is actually possessed by his stillborn twin, Michael is interesting but again, it kind of feels like a third act reveal that is thrown in. I wish there had been some like foreshadowing or something before Maggie reveals it to the agents. I think that would have it been a bit more impactful. This is coupled with the reveal that Golda wanted to do a separation ritual after Michael's death but Steve and Maggie refused. It feels like the episode is trying to take the stance that these kinds of old world seemingly superstitious rituals are valid, but it's very wishy washy about the whole thing.
This isn't a terrible episode by any means. It's very watchable but it's a let down because there is a lot of potential here that isn't realized.
Grade: B-
Next time, the agents deal with a viral outbreak at a prison and spontaneous human combustion.
What do you all think of these episodes? Do you love "Humbug" as much as me? Maybe you think it's overrated. Let me know in the comments.
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