IMDb X-Files Discussion Club Weeks 1-10

I have been participating for that past year or so in an online Discussion Club on the X-Files' IMDb discussion board. Each week everyone writes a review about a particular episode and debates the good and bad points. As such I have gained quite a collection of reviews for the episodes and thought I would share them here with those of you who like the X-Files but don't visit the IMDb page. I am quite proud of some of these reviews and other not so much. Here are weeks 1 through 10. More to come.

Week 1: Folie a Deux

This is by far one of my favorites. The episode is about a creepy buglike creature that can change its appearance into a human being by "hiding in the light". A man who works at a call center realizes that this his boss is this bug and the bug is killing the employees and turning them into zombies who also look normal in the light but zombie like in the dark. Somehow this man has learned how to see them for what they are. This episode reminds me of a Goosebumps story. Not a specific one but I can see one being like this. I like the scenes where the manager is calling each employee in to meet with them and the man can see that it is a bug and not a human. It seems very comical yet at the same time terribly creepy to see this bug welcoming his unsuspecting employees into his office. I also love the part where Mulder is taken to the mental hospital for attacking the man in Skinner's office. This is one of those wonderfully comical yet creepy scenes. I use the following dialogue as example:

NURSE: There we go. (closes the bed curtain) Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
(NURSE turns off light and leaves the room. MULDER starts to relax, then hears insect sounds. Through the curtain he sees the shadow of the insect creature in the window)
MULDER: Nurse. Nurse! Nurse! It’s here! Nurse! It’s here! (NURSE opens the curtain.)
It’s here! It’s at the window!
NURSE: What’s here?
MULDER: (trying to sound calm and rational) There is something … there is something at the window and it’s trying to get in here. Please unstrap me so that I can stop it.
NURSE: We’re three floors up. There’s nothing at the window.
MULDER: Undo my straps so I can check.
NURSE: (turning on light) I can show you …
MULDER: No, don’t! No! Just please …! Please.
NURSE: See? (taps closed window) Nothing’s going to get you.
MULDER: Okay. Just, uh … just untie me anyway please.
(NURSE looking spooky unlocks and opens window.)
MULDER: What are you doing?
NURSE: (sounding spooky) You just need some fresh air.
(As MULDER stares at her, NURSE tightens the straps holding MULDER and closes the curtain again.)

We later find out that the nurse is also one of the bug's zombie slaves. Wonderful episode. 10/10.


Week 2: Triangle

What a great episode! For me this is a very different kind of X-Files episode. It is a lot more Sci-Fi rather than horror and supernatural. There are many great comical moments. I believe that this is the only other episode along with "Bad Blood" that cuts off Mulder saying the SH word.

Basically Mulder is shipwrecked somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle only to be caught onto a boat from 1939 that is being invaded by Nazis. I really enjoy the Nazi Skinner and the 1940's Scully. Very spunky. There's also a lot of kissing in this episode based on X-Files standards. Scully kisses Skinner and Mulder kisses the 1939 Scully. Both are very comically well done. Skinner seems quite flush after Scully's kiss and Mulder gets a punch in the although not with the left hand as he was expecting. I truly love the camera work of the scene with Scully running around FBI headquarters how the camera follows her the whole time. And finally the final scene in the hospital where Mulder tells Scully he loves her and all she can reply is "oh brother". This is a very entertaining episode as far as developing relationships. I give it a 9 out of 10.


Week 3: Small Potatoes

Ah... Not only is Darrin Morgan one of the better episode writer's but he also portrays two of the better MOTWs in the famous Flukeman and Eddie Van Blundht. The teaser for the episode is very well written by Vince Gilligan. Another of those episodes that completely confuses you. A baby is born who's father is from "another planet" and the child has a tail. Not only that but the doctor who delivers the baby laments that there is another baby with a tail. Confused? Well turns out the father of the baby is Luke Skywalker. Yeah that Luke Skywalker. turns out all of the babies all have the same father. And the father is not actually Luke Skywalker but Eddie Van Blundht. But Eddie looks nothing like Luke Skywalker. I'm still confused are you? We find the father Eddie has a tail too and what's more... Eddie can shape shift! Oh so he made himself look like Luke Skywalker and the other women's husbands and they all had his children. Because Eddie can changed his appearance he is able to escape pretty easily and ends up locking Mulder up and returning to D.C. with Scully as Mulder. Right before Scully is about to do the wild thing with Eddie Van Mulder the real Mulder shows up and saves Scully. There is an interesting commentary at the end about Mulder being a loser by choice. There are a number of humorous moments in the episode that make it not only intriguing as to the plot but enjoyable and entertaining to watch. I give this episode an easy 10.


Week 4: Space

ou know this episode gets a bad wrap and not without good reason but I personally don't necessarily hate it as much as some people do. I like the idea of the episode. As a stand-alone it works well enough but my main problem is the stupid mars ghost thing that looks like the Mars Face. Lame. And then the mission control lady. After she flips her car she goes running into the control room with blood all over her face. Holy crap at least go get a wet towel or something. Anyway those are just the main things I don't like but I do like the focus on mission control procedures and the focus on NASA and space and astronauts. Like Mulder I too used to want to be an astronaut and space shows always bring out the kid in me. I give Space a 6 out of 10.


Week 5: Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man

Here it is... another of my favorite episodes of the series. Once again a great Morgan and Wong script and once again as I have mentioned they use an actor that they would later use in Space Above and Beyond, Morgan Weissman. He plays a somewhat insignificant character but there he is. Anyway, I really like this episode because of the depth that it gives to CSMs character. I honestly find myself feeling sorry for him by the end of the episode. This is a great reflection on William Davis' acting talent but also on Morgan and Wong's ability to write when they really want to. Unfortunately they don't always impress this way. I didn't quite understand the part with Lee Harvey Oswald being framed for the assassination attempt however but I probably just need to watch a little closer. I really like how he doesn't want to kill Martin Luther King but has to because of the job and how affected he is emotionally and joins the country in mourning. Finally I love how he is constantly trying to be a writer and gets all kinds of rejection letters and finally his box of chocolates monologue after his final rejection at getting published in a low quality magazine. 10/10.

EDIT: I almost forgot! Yet another strong hint at the fact that Fox Mulder is CSMs son. Why else would he have a picture of Mrs. Mulder and her baby boy?


Week 6: Anasazi

This is the first episode in my favorite 3 part mythology series. The story is quite entertaining and engaging and is everything about the mythology that got me hooked on this show. It starts with a character known as The Thinker who if I remember right his character was based as a tribute to an online fan of the show. The Thinker by pure chance is able to hack into the DoD database and download a DAT tape, a holy grail to any conspiracy theorist. All of the top secret files that Mulder mentions in the Pilot that someone had been blocking his access to. The Thinker hands this tape over to Mulder trusting that he will do what's necessary to make the information public. We start off somewhat confused at Mulder's behavior in this episode as well as another strange moment early on. First there's his reaction and insulting of the Lone Gunmen calling them the 3 Stooges and accusing them of defacing library books, then an old lady down the hall in the same scene shoots her husband for seemingly no reason. Later Mulder flips out when he realizes the files are not English and immediately thinks its a joke, then he hits Skinner in the hall, he mentions he's been having trouble sleeping and is running a fever, then he becomes overly paranoid of Scully. Something is going on. It turns out as Scully later finds out that someone had been injecting his water with LSDish drugs. Scully is really on her game in this episode. With Mulder's psychosis she keeps a cool head and does everything right in order to keep Mulder from getting into trouble even to the point where she shoots him to keep him from killing Krycek with the murder weapon that killed his father. I'm getting ahead of myself. Mulder leaves his apartment while waiting for his informant to go see his father. During this time there is an attempt on Mulder's life which we realize because of how nearly the bullet grazed Scully. Thinking Scully to be Mulder the shooter aimed for the head of Mulder which is above Scully's. Then Bill Mulder is killed in his home by Krycek. The only real sense I can make of these events are that they wanted Fox Mulder dead because of the DAT tape and they wanted Bill Mulder dead because he would have been tempted to come clean to Fox now that he was going to find out the truth anyway from the files. What was in these files that was so worth hiding? Merchandise. Or in other words, human tagging. Including Mulder's sister and including also Scully. Scully takes Mulder to New Mexico to meet Albert Holstein who can show Mulder the proof he needs in a boxcar in a remote quarry on the reservation. While at this car Mulder receives a call from CSM who is able to track the signal and arrives in a helicopter as Mulder is checking out the inside of the car. From here we don't know what happens to Mulder. The army guy says he's not in the car but we didn't see him leave. And then they blow up the car! This is a great cliffhanger. I remember feeling like I definitely needed at least another episode of story to figure out what exactly was happening with that tape. Luckily we get two.

One thing I noticed this time watching that I had never seen before and I'm not sure how. Chris Carter is in this episode. He plays one of the interrogating agents when Scully is being questioned about Mulder's bizarre behavior. I had never noticed this before. Strange. Good trivia to know though. Last thing about the episode that I would like to say is how much I love the scene where Mulder beats the crap out of Krycek screaming about how he killed his father. It actually reminds me a lot of the scene later on in the episode Apocrypha when Scully catches the man Luis Cardinal and starts screaming at him how he shot her sister. Very similar emotions coming from Scully as we se coming from Mulder in this one. Anyway, I really like this episode and give it a 10/10.


Week 7: Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"

Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" is the episode that got me watching the X-Files regularly. I loved how they used humor to tell the story and I loved the comic book cartoony feeling of the alien story with men in black and all. One thing that I really like about this which is also present in the other great episode "Bad Blood" is that you get to watch the episode as a part of someone's side of events which allows for easy comic moments. Like when Mulder yelps when he sees the dead alien body and the sheriff constantly saying blankety bleep for everything. I really like the story with the greys being airforce in costumes and the double twist with the real alien showing up. I mean seriously that is a GREAT idea. I also love the way the story is told with revisiting certain scenes in different ways with different characters. I mean there are literally scenes with the exact same lines but with different characters saying them. The interrogation scene, the hypnosis scene, and others. And the Jose Chung character is wonderfully acted by Charles Nelson Reilly. I give the episode a 10.


Week 8: Shadows

Shadows is a great episode from Season 1. It seems that lately most of the season 1 episodes have kind of gained a soft spot with me as even the ones that I used to hate have become enjoyable for me. I think its the atmosphere that comes with the low budget kind of filming that they had. I like Shadows for a number of reasons. I like the corny acting, it is entertaining. Like the kids that find the bodies in the dumpster. "Hey... I know a great place to crash... up that fire escape." Haha this line is so terribly delivered. I enjoy Mark Snow's music as many of the classic tunes from the series are first used in these episodes and this one included. I like the creepy scenes like the blood in the bath tub and the hitman floating in midair being choked. I guess its not the fact that this is anything really special but that fact that it is a classic that makes me love it. 9 out of 10.


Week 9: Milagro

Milagro. This is an interesting episode. While Scully is the main focus of the episode we get yet another episode where there is a strange creepy guy that Scully gets woo'ed by. I quite enjoy scenes where they have voice-over of what the author is writing to narrate Scully's emotions and thoughts. Very interesting. I also like the actor that plays Padgett. While this episode is a little slower than I am used to I have to say that overall I still enjoyed the story. It only loses 2 points for slowness. Oh one other thing. Is it just me or does every single Scully-falls-for-a-psycho-killer-man episode end with a furnace? Anyway 8 out of 10.


Week 10: Badlaa

Badlaa is not for the very squeamish. The best description I have ever heard for the monster in this episode is "butt-monkey". He is indeed a butt-monkey. The teaser is mediocre unless you realize what actually happened to that poor big guy. Makes me never want to visit India. The idea of the story comes from the idea of a little man with no legs that can travel inside another person by climbing inside them. He also has a sort of spiritual ability where he can appear to others as something or someone else. This is very interesting and it seems that the only ones who are able to see around this are two 12ish year old boys who take it on themselves to hunt this little guy down. I like how the bully in the story and the kid he picked on end up teaming up. While this is quite good in its creepiness and has a good gross-out factor its not really one of my favorite episodes. I give it a 7 out of 10.