"The Truth Is Out There" Re-Watch: "Zero Sum" & "Elegy"

 The X-Files

We are heading to the end of season four. And in these episodes we get a Skinner focused episode which I'm never upset about and a re-focus on Sully's cancer as we head into the final two episodes. Let's get to it!

"Zero Sum"

Walter Skinner: "I won't be a party to murder."

Cigarette Smoking Man: "I wouldn't get too comfortable on your moral high ground, Mr. Skinner. This only happened because you left your job unfinished."

Mythology or Monster of the Week: Mythology

X-File of the Week: In Vienna, Virginia, postal worker, Jane Brody, is killed in the bathroom by a swarm of bees while she is taking a cigarette break. Assistant Director Walter Skinner covers up the crime at the behest of the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man but that doesn't stop Special Agent Fox Mulder from getting wind of it. And as Mulder gets deeper into the investigation, Skinner attempts to stay one step ahead of him.

Skinner meet Covarrubias.

I know that I am not the only Walter Skinner fan out there. So I know that when there is a Walter Skinner focused episode, you other Skinner fans are just wondering one thing. Do we get a shot of Skinner in his briefs. And I'm here to tell you that we certainly do. We get to see him in all his tighty whitey glory. My only complaint about it is that it's not nearly a long enough shot.

This was sort on an unexpected mythology/Skinner focused episode towards the end of the season. Gillian Anderson had to take a week off so she could go film her part in the movie "The Mighty." The writers decided that rather than have David Duchovny carry the weight of the episode. They decided to give Skinner the spotlight and tie this story back into the bees from "Herrenvolk," the season premiere.

Viewers have probably been wondering what Skinner has had to do for the Cigarette Smoking Man since he made the deal with the devil to save Scully's life. And it shouldn't come as any surprise that part of that deal is doing dirty work for the Smoking Man on behalf of the Syndicate. Skinner deletes emails from Mulder's computer. He sets the body of Julia Brody on fire to cover up the bee attack. He replaces a blood sample and turns away the detective that contacted Mulder about the case initially. It's impressive to see Skinner do all this. You don't think about him being this duplicitous or this methodical so it's kind of cool to see this side of him.

Some of my favorite scenes in "The X-Files" are the times that Skinner and the Cigarette Smoking Man go head to head and we get some great ones in "Zero Sum." There are moments when the Cigarette Smoking Man has the upper hand, like when Skinner confronts him about the death of the detective. You can hear the gloating in the CSM's voice when he basically blames Skinner for the death and the glee when Skinner realizes that the man was killed using his gun. But then there is the moment towards the end of the episode when Skinner goest after the CSM in his apartment, Skinner is full of righteous fury. He fires warning shots in to the wall but won't kill the CSM just in case he can actually do what he said and save Scully.

With some of "The X-Files" mythology, there sometimes isn't a clear explanation of what it all means and what it's all about. And you'd be forgiven if you thought that maybe the bees were going to be another thing that was never totally clear. But, that's not the case here. After the bees attack the entomologist that both Mulder and Skinner have reached out to about the bees they learn that what killed the man wasn't the bee stings, but the virulent strain of the smallpox virus that the bees carried. The bees are basically going to be biological weapons and the Syndicate is ready to conduct a large scale test of this.

I don't think I was ready for that test to be carried out on an elementary school playground in South Carolina. Sometimes "The X-Files" really hits you hard and this sequence is one of those times. It is chilling and brutal to see these bees attacking children. It doesn't help that one of the kids looks like Thomas J. from the movie, "My Girl." And it looks like he died which is horrifying. Honestly, one of the scenes from this series that sticks with me is that teacher on the ground of that playground 

Walter Skinner meets Marita Covarrubias in this episode. Covarrubias is such an interesting replacement for Deep Throat and X. Since she's appeared on the show, you haven't really been sure where her loyalty lies and it has seemed that she's been on Mulder's side, but it turns out that isn't the case when it's revealed that she is working with the Cigarette Smoking Man when he tells her to tell Mulder what he wants to hear. It's possible that she is doing this under duress since there is a shadowy man in her office on the other line whens he's talking to CSM.

If I have one minor grip, it's that maybe Skinner's duplicity goes off a little too easily. And it is a touch unrealistic that Mulder would forgive Skinner so easily, but overall this is a solid episode.

Grade: A-

"Elegy"

Martin Alpert: "I brought visitors today. They are investigating a crime."

[the patients appear alarmed]

Martin Alpert: "It's ok. They just want to ask you a few questions."

Fox Mulder: "Hi. I wanted to ask if anyone used the payphone out in the hallway there, on Friday night? Because somebody called the police and reported a murder."

Martin Alpert: [whispers to Mulder] "Sloppy Joe night."

Fox Mulder: "That was Sloppy Joe night."

Chuck Forsch: "Ooh. That was me. I did it. I admit it, I did it! I'm just a human being, after all."

Martin Alpert: [sternly] "Chuck, tell the truth."

Chuck Forsch: "Nah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, I lied. I lied, but... I'm just a human being."

Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW

X-File of the Week: Angie Pintero, a bowling alley owner, finds a dead body in the pinsetter of one of his lanes. He sees flashing police lights outside and goes to tell them and finds the same body he saw lying in the street with her throat cut. Special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully come to investigate. Mulder believes that Angie saw death omens and so is Harold Muller, an autistic man who lives in a special needs facility nearby and works at the bowling alley. Scully isn't sure what to think especially when she starts seeing apparitions as well.

Scully sees dead people

This episode is an interesting one for me. It has a lot of elements that should make me really dislike it. The plot is a bit derivative of the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." There is a magical autistic person which is not a trope I love. There is a lot of violence against random women. But I actually really enjoy this episode despite those things.

Let's start with the "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" comparisons. They are purposeful, which is appreciated. But it's difficult to do a slight homage to a great movie when the biggest thing that makes you think of the movie is the watered down version of the classic villain from the film. Nurse Innes is a clear Nurse Ratched analogue. The issue is that Innes is kind of lame. She's extremely two dimensional. She's basically a jilted woman who starts killing women who remind her of the younger woman her husband ran off with and she torments Harold and chooses women he thought he was in love with to steal his happiness... or  something. It definitely feels like the writer of the episode, John Shiban, realized at the last minute that he had to wrap this up and he was kind of scrambling.

There is something about when a show uses an autistic or special needs person as a plot device that is kind of icky for me. And maybe it's just me. Maybe other folks don't have an issue with it. But, I don't really love it. And it's a well that "The X-Files" goes back to time and time again. This portrayal is not the most offensive I've seen, so I think that is part of why it doesn't like take away from my enjoyment of the episode overall.

I think that part of the reason that I like this episode is that it focuses on Scully. Gillian Anderson was missing from the last episode and though we love Skinner, she was definitely missed. Her absence was explained by Mulder as being related to her cancer diagnosis and that plays a role here. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is a reason Gillian Anderson won an Emmy for this season. She just kills it over and over again. This storyline has peeled back layers on Scully, allowed her to be vulnerable but also allows her to continue to be a badass. I feel like Scully gets in more physical altercations than Mulder an this is no different. She has a brawl with the Wish version of Nurse Ratched in the bathroom and its great to see her let the crazy lady have it.

Talking about vulnerability, we get to see Scully talking to her therapist and admitting that she has come to depend on Mulder more than she realized. And that makes her conversation with Mulder at the end of the episode even more impactful. She admits to him that she saw the death omens as well. Mulder is understandably upset and talks to her about whether or not he can trust her. That has to feel like a punch to the gut especially after what she admitted to her therapist earlier in the episode. They talk about the fear that they both share. I love these kinds of moments with Scully and Mulder where they get deep and they get real and I kind of wish we had gotten a little bit more of it.

Things aren't looking great for Scully. Earlier, Mulder had hypothesized that Harold was seeing these death omens because the victims were dying and Harold was getting ready to die. Scully is visibly shaken when after he conversation with Mulder, she sees a death omen of Harold in her backseat.

Grade: B

Next up, Mulder may be a killer and in the season finale, Mulder is shown proof that alien activity may be just a smoke screen to cover the government's covert military operations.

What do you all think? Do you love a Skinner focused episode? Do you wish there were more and longer shots of him in briefs? Is Gillian Anderson killing it even more than usual this season? Let me know in the comments.