"The Truth Is Out There" Re-Watch: "The Field Where I Died," "Sanguinarium" & "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"

 The X-Files

July was a busy month so I took a little blogging break. But we are back in full force in August starting off with three "X-Files" episodes. And two are... just OK. But one is pretty great. So it all evens out? Maybe? Let's get to it.

"The Field Where I Died"

Fox Mulder: "Dana, if, um... early in the four years we've been working together... an event occurred that suggested or somebody told you that... we'd been friends together... in other lifetimes. Always. Would it have changed some of the ways we looked at one another?"

Dana Scully: "Even if I knew for certain, I wouldn't change a day. Well maybe that Flukeman thing. I could have lived without that just fine."

Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW

X-File of the Week: Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are part of a raid on a compound ran by the Temple of the Seven Stars, a local cult they are suspecting of hoarding illegal weapons. In the course of investigating, the agents meet Melissa Riedal-Ephesian, the leader's wife, who has multiple personalities that Mulder believes are actually past life experiences resurfacing.

So sad.

Uff da. This episode, y'all. This is definitely on my list of worst "X-Files" episodes of all time. I just can't help but roll my eyes each time that I watch it. The crazy thing is that it is written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, two pretty prolific "X-Files" writers, who make their return this season after their one season series, "Space: Above and Beyond." 

This episode was written as a showcase for actress Kristen Cloke, who plays Melissa and is also the wife of Glen Morgan. It was also written to try to challenge David Duchovny as an actor. Neither really succeeds for me. Cloke isn't a bad actress, but I don't think she has the range to make these past life manifestations rise above just a basic caricature. Playing a character with multiple personalities is difficult. You have to make them all unique and realistic. I think each one feels just very cringe. Whether it's Sidney, the informant, with his squinting and forehead hitting and cliche '20's mannerisms or little girl, Lily. Cloke's big moment is the monologue in the field as Confederate Nurse Sarah Kavanaugh. It is meant to make you feel big feelings and stir something in you like it does Mulder and it definitely does not.

I want to preface this by saying that I think David Duchovny is a great actor. I think he really excels at playing the character of Fox Mulder. I appreciate them trying to stretch Duchovny but this isn't it. I think the episode does things to detract and distract from Duchovny's performance. I usually really enjoy the music in the show but the music that plays during these emotional moments and monologues that Mulder has is so heavy handed and schmaltzy that I found myself actively rolling my eyes. 

Duchovny's big moment in the episode is when he goes through past life regression in front of Scully and he supposedly relives these different lives where other characters appear. He believes at one point he was a Jewish woman who's husband was taken by the Gestapo and taken to a concentration camp and then he is the Confederate lover of Melissa's past life. It just doesn't hit. Duchovny is doing his best and even Gillian Anderson is doing some stellar face acting, but there's really nothing they can do that can elevate what, for me, is some pretty weak writing.

It doesn't help that the backdrop of this whole episode is the cult raid. We've seen this all before. It's a pretty blatant mashup of Jonestown and Waco. So much so that the episode mentions it. I appreciate them not trying to shy away but that doesn't really make the lack of originality any better. There are a lot of serious things happening in this cult like child abuse and using that as a backdrop for this past life stuff, which feels extremely silly, is a weird juxtaposition that I don't think works. 

This episode just doesn't jive for me. It doesn't make sense that Scully has all these concerns and yet she allows Mulder to lie to Skinner and go through this regression hypnosis that that could harm Melissa and himself. Of course Melissa dies at the end. Forced to literally drink the Kool-Aid. All in all, while I feel this episode is an epic fail, I can appreciate them trying to take risks even if they don't work out.

Grade: D+

"Sanguinarium"

Fox Mulder: "Are you aware that Dr. Lloyd is claiming that he was possessed during the incident?"

Nurse Rebecca Waite: "I guess it's cheaper than malpractice insurance."

Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW

X-File of the Week: In a plastic surgery center in Winnetka, Illinois, Dr. Harrison Lloyd liposuctions the wrong patient to death. He claims to have been possessed during the procedure which brings in Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to investigate. During the course of their investigation they learn that this particular hospital might be the target of black magic.

BLOOD.

Television in the 1990's was kind of wild and different than a lot of other decades. One way that it differed from today is that television series would purchase spec scripts and tweak them and use them in series. A spec script is a scrip that is written by someone for a show that its not commissioned for. This spec script was written by Vivian and Valerie Mayhew. It was tweaked by Chris Carter and Howard Gordon. "The X-Files" has used spec scripts before to various levels of success and this episode continues that seesaw of quality.

The plot of this episode is pretty simple. Deaths are occurring at a plastic surgery suite and it looks like the birthdates of the victims all coincide with dates of the Witches' Sabbath. When the agents learn that similar killings occurred ten years ago they deduce that this hospital is the target of black magic. It feels like they try to make things different by setting it in the world of plastic surgery. I feel like in the mid '90's that plastic surgery was a plot line on a lot of shows and it was never shown in like a positive light. I have no actual evidence to back this up, so maybe I'm wrong. If you're reading this looking for facts rather than wild conjecture, I'm actually pretty surprised.

I think the biggest issue I have with this episode is that it feels more like an episode that the show would have produced in season one rather than season four. It doesn't really feel original. It's very predictable. It's extremely obvious that Nurse Waite is a red herring. If there's one thing that you've probably learned from watching this shows is that pentagrams are used for protection so when you see Waite using the leeches to make that symbol on the patient it feels like the episode is tipping its hand pretty early. 

The episode leans pretty heavily into gore due to the surgery crime scenes. It's a lot more graphic and grosser than most episodes. There is a lot of blood and gruesome scenes. I am the type of person that doesn't love that and don't think that its really needed. It feels like that it is covering up the weak plot. There are some cool visual moments particularly when Nurse Waite jumps out of the bathtub full of blood. 

There's not a ton for me to say about this episode. It's fine. It's entertaining. But it's nothing special. It's just kind of mid. 

Grade: C

"Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man"

Deep Throat: "I'm the liar. You're the killer."

The Cigarette Smoking Man: "Your lies have killed more men in a day than I have in a lifetime."

Mythology or Monster of the Week: Mythology

X-File of the Week: The Cigarette Smoking Man listens in while the Lone Gunmen tell Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully about the past of their nemesis, the Cancer Man. Or is it?

Life is like a box of chocolates...

This is kind of a weird episode to review. It's great. One of the strongest episodes of season four. The Cigarette Smoking Man is one of the most mysterious and enigmatic characters of the series. You don't know much about him and even after seeing this episode you maybe still don't know too much about him. 

This episode is a real showcase for both actors that play the Cigarette Smoking Man. Chris Owens plays the younger iteration of the Cigarette Smoking Man. Owens is pretty familiar to "X-Files" fans because he plays a different, pretty famous character later on in the series. You can tell that Owens has really studied his older counterpart and you can see shades of him in his portrayal but it never veers into impersonation. He actually makes the Cigarette Smoking Man charming and dangerous at the same time, which is a side to him that we really haven't seen.

I've always felt that William B. Davis is "The X-Files" secret weapon and this episode really showcases that. He really takes full advantage of the spotlight he's given here. He's given these great monologues that he really sinks his teeth into from his conversation with Deep Throat regarding killing the EBE or his final words with the homeless man at the end of the episode. It will definitely make you think differently the next time you hear Forrest Gump say "Life is like a box of chocolates."

This episode makes you do something that you never thought you'd do: empathize with the Cigarette Smoking Man. It humanizes him. Whether its his respect for Martin Luther King, Jr or his journey as an author, you start to see this character as a real person. There's some unexpected humor here. I love in the more present day sequences when the show gives us a list of the things that the Cigarette Smoking Man has his hands in. From the Anita Hill hearings to the Rodney King trial to more mundane things like rigging the Oscar nominations to making sure the Buffalo Bills never win the Super Bowl. I love these moments of levity sprinkled throughout the episode. 

I love how the show plays with history and kind of twists it to fit into the narrative that they are trying to tell. It makes complete sense that in the world of "The X-Files" that the Cigarette Smoking Man would be responsible for the assassination of JFK and framing Lee Harvey Oswald. There are so many conspiracy theories revolving around the killing of JFK so it makes total sense for the show to really lean in to that. The same goes for Martin Luther King, Jr. In the narrative of the show, what causes the government to assassinate King is his talk of how communism is a judgment against America's failure to make democracy real, which again, makes total sense with the story this show has been telling.

This episode is really great. I'm not completely sold on the ending. I feel like the Cigarette Smoking Man would have gone ahead and shot Frohike. I understand them wanting to tie it into his novel and maybe this is the show's way of getting us to question this story in general. But it does feel like a bit of a cop out. That being said, I'm glad that they didn't shoot Frohike.

Grade: A-

Next up, Mulder takes a trip to Russia with Alex Krycek.

So, what do you all think? Are there some "Field Where I Died" defenders? Did "Sanguinarium" make you reconsider plastic surgery? Are you a Cigarette Smoking Man stan? Let me know in the comments.