Part two of the (now) series.
Week 11: Biogenesis
As season finales go this was somewhat of a disappointment. I enjoyed greatly the follow up episodes at the beginning of Season 7 but this one did a little too much setting up for that storyline and didn't really leave me feeling it absolutely necessary to see the next two. I think part of the problem may be that I never saw this episode before I watched The Sixth Extinction. So I already knew what was going to happen and the cliffhanger kind of lost its effect. What was good about this episode is we are returned to Mulder's brain cancer whatever thingy which later we find out is happening because of his exposure to the black virus which he has become immune to. Anyway not much else I could say other than 7/10.
Week 12: Pusher
usher is a great episode brought to us by writer Vince Gilligan who has proved himself to be one of the better episode writers. The main character is a man who can get people to do what he wants by the power of suggestion. It is all very Jedi mind trickish. "Pusher" as he is called learned this skill by studying Japanese martial arts techniques and also apparently has a neurological condition which, while killing him, also gives him the ability to perfect this skill. Unfortunately the man is a sociopath and views other individuals as objects. As such he gets entertainment from willing people to kill themselves in terrible ways. He even wills his way out of trial in which he is obviously guilty. The teaser for this episode is another of my favorites as simple as it is. Pusher is grocery shopping and unbeknownst to the viewer but knownst to Pusher he is about to undergo an FBI bust. I love the arrest sequence how he just casually reaches out and pulls down the flap on the guys jacket revealing that he is FBI. Other specific ways Pusher uses his skill in the episode are getting Agent Collins to light himself on fire, sneaking into FBI Headquarters by putting a paper that says "pass" on his jacket, getting Holly to kick the crud out of AD Skinner (poor Skinner has been attacked in the past two episodes I have reviewed consecutively and both times by co-workers), making Frank Burst have a heartattack, and getting Mulder to play Russian roullette not only on himself but on Scully. Trivia for the diehards, look for Dave Grohl, lead singer and front man for the Foo Fighters and ex-drummer for Nirvana, in this episode walking behind Pusher as he enters the metal detector at the FBI. This is a great stand alone episode and I give it a 10.
Week 13: Trust No 1
Terry O'Quinn is awesome and I wish that he could have guest starred as someone more prominent than in this episode. That being said he still did an awesome job as the crazy NSA super soldier. Except he didn't get to punch any holes in cars or anything like that. Oh well. The basis of this episode is that the NSA is watching everything that Scully does through surveillance. The teaser shows this by showing voyeur shots of different scenes we recognize from earlier seasons. Then Scully gets contacted by someone at email trustno1@mail.com. It is obvious that this is Mulder. Well NSA super soldiers of course pick up on this and realize that Scully now has a way to contact Mulder and trick her to setting up a meeting with him under the premise that they are going to give him information which will help him stop the super soldiers when in fact they are trying to find him so they can kill him. My question is if they have surveillance in all corners of the globe why can't they find him themselves? Or email him using Scully's email address? I guess there are plausible explanations but it doesn't seem very realistic. The scene where Terry O'Quinn's character leads Scully to the meeting place is kind of fun but the one problem I have is that after driving west into the night we see that Scully is still on the phone. Couldn't he just call her when she got there? What did they talk about all that time? Wouldn't the battery die sooner or later? My final frustration with this episode is the constant teasing that we might actually get to see Mulder. By the way I noticed in the episode that Scully's email address is Queequeg0925@hotmail.com. I'm not sure if this is a real email address for fans back in the day like the phone numbers on 24 or if it is even still active or not but I sent an email to the address and have not gotten any response. I will edit my review with details if this should ever occur. I give this episode a 6 out of 10.
Week 14: Deep Throat
Deep Throat is another great episode in which we get more government cover up and conspiracies. This time it has to do with UFO technology being used in US aircraft taken from the craft which crashed at Roswell. The pilots of these craft however are unable to handle the pressures and stress of flying them and end up going crazy. When this happens the base takes them to their hospital and erases all they know about what has happened from their memories. After the pilot who's disappearance Mulder and Scully was investigating is returned and after being stopped by two cars full of Men in Black and their evidence destroyed, Scully is adamant about leaving and ditching the case. Mulder then takes off without her to the military base where they had seen UFOs flying around the night before. He arrives at the base where one of the UFOs stops right above him. I'm not sure what his plan was at this point but it wasn't a very good one because he immediately apprehended and put through procedures to take away the memory of what he has seen. Scully bargains for his release and they go back to DC. The title of the episode has to do with the introduction of Mulder's source who they call Deep Throat. Deep Throat warned them to stay away from the case early on and frankly they probably should have followed his advice. Then we get the famous meeting of Deep Throat and Mulder at the track and Deep Throat's classic response to Mulder's accusation that there are aliens working with the government, "Mr. Mulder they've been here for a long long time." While it is well known that the mythology didn't really take shape until later in the series this to me says that Chris Carter always had the idea of aliens returning to a planet that they had once inhabited. Deep throat is another 10 out of 10 for me.
Week 15: Pilot
In the words of Julie Andrews, "Let's start at the very beginning; a very good place to start." The Pilot episode is a wonderful beginning to the greatest television series of all time. It perfectly captures the feel of the show and it is a feeling and atmosphere that is built upon throughout nine more years. The story is about kids who are being abducted by aliens in a town in Oregon. Scully is assigned to work with Mulder on the X-Files as a means to "debunk" his work and prove scientifically that there is no basis to Mulder's claims. Scully seems somewhat put off by this assignment and shows her integrity by deciding that she is not going to take sides straight off but rather is going to find the answers. She soon finds that with the X-Files things don't usually work this way. I love Mulder's line about finding the answers and knowing where to look. "That's why they put the I in FBI." Scully is led to believe that there is definitely something going on with this case and while she doesn't believe that it is aliens she can't disprove any of Mulder's theories based on science being as most of the evidence is destroyed. All except the implant she pulled from the exhumed body which she had kept in her pocket. Finally we get the classic scene at the end of CSM walking through a giant warehouse of evidence and filing the implant with others like it and walking out the door with the pentagon evacuation procedures on it. There are so many great things in this episode including many more well known one-liners which are familiar to any diehard X-Phile. I also really like the music in this episode done by Mark Snow. I thought it was interesting that Mark Snow's first work on the music of the show did not include the show's famous theme. It mainly consists creepy piano sequences backed by resonanting string sounds. I thought it was interesting also that there was another person in the basement when Scully went down the first time. We see a man drinking coffee leaving Mulder's office. Its not too often in the show that we ever see anyone else in the basement unless they are either friend or foe of the X-Files. The Pilot gets an easy 10/10 from me.
Week 16: Improbable
So Reyes is really into numerology. And because of this she is able to make connections to a number of unsolved murders and tie them all to one serial killer. I love the part where she makes a total moron out of herself by explaining to everyone her numerological profile of the killer. And then answers her phone all proud of herself completely clueless that everyone there now thinks she is a total moron. It is kind of a shame too because numerology and this sort of thing actually are quite interesting to me. But this episode takes an interesting topic and turns it into filler material for the series.
I don't really like this episode. The main reason is I just am not a fan of Burt Reynolds. Everyone always rants and raves about how great he is but everything I've seen him in he just bugs the crud out of me. Another problem I have with the episode is that it is not very obvious what the crap Chris Carter is trying to say with this episode as he explains in the commentary. Apparently Burt Reynolds is supposed to be playing God. This makes the episode make a little more sense but doesn't exactly improve my liking of the episode as Burt Reynolds is the exact opposite of what I would imagine God to be. And I'm sorry Chris but I doubt God would wear a bunch of tacky clothing just because he likes nature. And I doubt he follows serial killers around trying to teach them how to gamble.
I have one good thing to say about the episode but even this is kind of bittersweet. I like the music used. The problem I have is the part where Burt Reynolds does the lip sync. This entire scene could have actually worked really well without his terrible attempt to lip sync. He looks like some dork in the car trying to pretend like he really likes a song but he's not even sure of the lyrics. And at the end although the whole Italian festival is kind of humorous to watch it seems like Chris Carter just didn't have any idea what else to do with such a lame story because this honestly has nothing to do with the episode. Oh and of course if you ever want to make a character mysterious just have them be able to disappear out of a parking garage. How predictable was that? Oh man what a bad episode. 3 out of 10.
Week 17: Home
"Home" has to be the best contribution that Morgan and Wong gave us for this show. Every moment of this episode is disturbing and it is definitely no wonder that this got banned from television. I guess we can just thank our lucky stars that it got past the censors in the first place. And then if you get the DVD you can watch the stuff that got taken out. I think one of the creepiest scenes of any show that I have ever seen is the Peacocks going to the sheriffs house. I love how it is dead silent through out the entire town and how the lack of music accentuates this and also gives more emphasis to the Jimmy Mathis song playing in the car. I also love during this scene how Mulder is so determined to watch tv that he is willing to watch some nature show with a terrible picture rather than just go to sleep. Morgan and Wong seem to have a certain group of actors that they love working with and in this episode the special actor happens to be the Sheriff played by Tucker Smallwood and he does a great job as always. There are many other pluses for the episode. Easily 10/10.
Week 18: X-Cops
Very creative idea for a cross-over. There are so many things I like about this episode that I won't even try to name them all. All I can say is there is some violence on this episode that I doubt they would actually play on Cops. Kudos to the gay black couple and the old Mexican lady. "You catch" as she points to the sketch of Freddy Krueger. I think I kind of like the idea that those who are so prone to panic over little nothings are the ones that get killed in this episode. Good riddance to most of them I say. Like the lady at the morgue when Scully is doing the autopsy. Man was I glad when she finally shut up. Anyway, 9/10 for me.
Week 19: all things
All things is a very good episode even if it is not so much an X-File. While it is not necessarily my usual choice of entertainment (ie a little too new age-ish) I still enjoy learning about Scully in this episode. They way I see it there's some kind of guardian angel that is causing seemingly random events so that Scully can learn a lesson and realize what she is supposed to be doing with her life. I love that part where the ponytailed girl turns into Mulder and he's wearing the Stone Henge Rocks cap. What a nerd. This also serves as a confirmation for Scully that she is doing the right thing with her life since she is led back to Mulder at the end. Another high point for this episode is the awesome "The Sky is Broken" by Moby. I love that song and I love the scenes where they play it and show Scully walking in slow motion down the street with the flowers dangling at her side. I give this episode an 8/10.
Week 20: Leonard Betts
Leonard Betts sits up there with Pusher, Squeeze, and other great monster of the week episodes. It begins with a great teaser of an EMT getting decapitated and taken to the morgue only to have his body jump up and walk out. That's right he is a worm man who can regenerate not only limbs but any part of his body up to and including his entire body. There are some great scenes in this episode. I love when Scully is digging through the bio-waste without flinching as Mulder is obviously disturbed and when she tells him she needs his help because he has longer arms. Another great scene is when the head of Leonard "winks" at Scully and Mulder is teasing her about it. In fact all of Mulder's paper-weight jokes about the head are great. I love the ripping off of the thumb in order to escape the handcuffs. I love the random Simpsons-esque explosion of the car when Mulder and Scully shoot a couple bullets at it. And I love when Scully takes the defibrillator to Leonards head. Man she's such a bad A haha. Anyway, for one of the better monsters and stories including the mythology teaser about Scully's cancer I give Leonard Betts 10/10.
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