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| Within :posted 08/10/03 Without :posted 08/17/03 Patience :posted 11/25/00 Roadrunners :posted 01/05/01 Invocation :posted 01/05/01 Redrum :posted 08/25/03 Via Negativa :posted 09/01/03 Surekill :posted 05/13/01 Salvage :posted 03/08/04 Badlaa :posted 03/21/04 | The Gift :posted 05/13/01 Medusa :posted 05/13/01 Per Manum :posted 04/01/04 This is not Happening :posted TBA Dead Alive :posted 05/13/01 Three Words :posted TBA Empedoceles :posted TBA Vienen :posted TBA Alone :posted 05/13/01 Essence :posted TBA Existence :posted 06/05/01 |
Subject: Sonya's "Within" reviewWithin
Episode 8 X 01
November 05, 2000
Thought I forgot about these, didn't ya? Well, they're late but since I like to be complete, I figured I'd finish the reviews. <g>
Another season begins and Within starts this one off with a bang. With DD in part time mode, 1013 felt it necessary to introduce another main character and they had to do it quickly. I'm not knocking them- I guess it would have been difficult having a pregnant Scully go it alone (which begs the question- why make her pregnant?) or teaming up with AD Skinner (umm, doesn't he have is own work to do?) but the press releases about Doggett being a manly man are too testosterone laden for me. That said- I like John Doggett. Robert Patrick does a good job of keeping this hard boiled marine a real person. He razzes Scully for being in Mulder's apartment and not knowing where the fish food is, yet in a show of good will he produces the car receipts. He springs the tombstone on her (dumb, dumb, dumb- hello, 1013- why would the FBI cart a heavy piece of granite from NC to DC, wouldn't they have just taken a picture?) but then tracks down more information and honestly lets her in on his theory- that Mulder faked his own disappearance. Hell, he wouldn't put Skinner's confession of an alien abduction on record, claiming it wouldn't help him find Mulder. I also liked the fact that Doggett went to Kersh to suss him out. The phone call to him from Scully, accusing him of tapping her phone lines must have really rattled him. Between that, the Skinner confession and files being slipped under his door at night, Doggett is already showing some uncertainty. This culminates in a very puzzled Doggett in Arizona, when he just happens to bump into Scully and Skinner. "What are you doing here?" Indeed! Although this was a nice vehicle to introduce us to Agent Doggett, the story mostly concentrated on Scully and her personal plight. From the first moments of what appeared to be Mulder emerging from a pod (like those seen in Fight the Future) you wonder if this is actually happening in a Psychic!Scully moment or if this is nothing more than Scully's nightmares getting the better of her. At the start of act one, Gillian treats us with a simple, heartfelt scene in front of a mirror. She's staring at herself, thinking a million thoughts. Because she's Scully, she has to put those wildly emotional feelings back into their box. She needs to be strong. You can see her resolve strengthening with each button she closes. She's putting on her armor. The slow motion effect was used in this episode and the next whenever something bad was happening. We watch Scully glide though the halls and then to the elevator, all while some of the most moving music Mark Snow has ever written is playing in the background. As Scully makes her way to the basement, she's confronted by a passle of agents swarming all over the office. She's incensed. She tries to make the manhunt team see reason, but they're under orders. Upstairs, she questions Skinner only to find out that it's Kersh calling the shots. Mitch Pileggi does a stellar job as Skinner though out. He's protective of Scully and her pregnancy while feeling guilty about having Mulder disappear on his watch. He wants to tell the truth as he saw it, that Mulder was abducted by aliens. After a tense meeting with the new deputy director, you're not sure if Kersh is in on the conspiracy or if he's just concerned about how the FBI looks. His admonishment to both AD Skinner and Scully that aliens have no place in this investigation causes Scully to tell Skinner he mustn't tell the truth. She's been with Mulder long enough that she realizes Skinner on the outside won't help, a believable change of heart for our Saint. Scully and Skinner arrive at the task force door. The AD is ushered to a desk while Scully is asked to wait. A polite agent gets her a cup of water and strikes up a conversation with her. Although it isn't blatantly prying he says just the wrong thing. Learning paranoia on the X-Files prepares Scully, and she quickly surmises that the friendly agent is none other than John Doggett, "Kersh's task force leader" . Her contempt is evident and when he smirks at his unveiling she's decided she's had enough. She tosses the full glass of water at him, then storms out, loudly slamming the door. It took guts to just sit there and stare down his team's open mouthed stares. LOL Next we see Scully doing her homework. She's checking up on who John Doggett really is. From the report she reading you see he was a Marine and a NYC police officer. As she's perusing the file, she becomes nauseous and has to run to the bathroom. While we wait, the faucet in the foreground drips steadily, a direct reference to all things, which is possibly when conception occurred. The morning sickness prompts a call to her mother. We haven't see Ma since season 5 (Christmas Carol / Emily) and unfortunately we don't see her here either, we only get her voice. In a sloppy move, we and Scully hear some clicking on the line and when she peers into the darkness we see someone watching her apartment. Scully then calls Doggett with some pointed questions. She believes he's the one surveiling her. When Scully turns towards the door she sees a shadow. The distance from where she's standing to her gun is just a few feet, I guess she's learned her lessons all of those other times when she was stalked in her home. <g> Leaving the apartment, Scully takes off after the shadow which turns out to be her landlord. He says he saw Mulder. You see a brief flash of hope in Scully's eyes as she returns home. Timidly she calls his name, only to find her computer taken. <sigh> Another disappointment. Next, Scully arrives at Mulder's, looking for any sign that he might actually be there. The only new development is his missing computer. As she begins to leave, she is drawn to his bedroom. Anderson clearly conveys with her eyes the profound sadness Scully feels. She clutches Mulder's shirt to her chest and breathes in his scent. Lying down on the bed, we presume she's going to cry herself to sleep. Morning comes and with it, John Doggett. A noise wakes Scully and as she tumbles out of Mulder's bed the ASAC is standing in the doorway with a knowing smile. This just pisses Scully off and she's not afraid to get into his face. Doggett stands his ground and implies that he wasn't the one who authorized the wire tap. In a rather circular conversation, Doggett tries to draw out the truth from Scully which Scully won't admit since Kersh has threatened her job. A telephone call causes the investigation to be moved back to FBI headquarters. Both Scully and Skinner are again questioned as to the whereabouts of Agent Mulder. It looks as if he's sneaking around, gathering up any possible evidence which would prove alien involvement. A tombstone bearing the names of the entire Mulder family is flown in from Raleigh. Fox's date of death is filled in as the year 2000. Doggett uses this a proof, along with some medical records that Mulder was dying. Doggett surmises that since Mulder didn't have long to live, he concocted his disappearance to lend credence to the alien conspiracy. A stricken Scully is unsure of what to believe. I say hooey! Why wouldn't Scully know about this neurological problem? She was his doctor and had access to his records frequently through out season seven ( Amor Fati, Brand X, Fight Club.) But it obviously strikes a chord with her, since it is Mulder's style to hide things from her which he feels could hurt her ( the ova from Memento Mori.)
Skinner is not dissuaded. Angrily he tells Doggett the truth, in order to alleviate some of Scully's suffering. When he finishes Scully pleads with the ASAC not to reveal what was just said. Looking like someone just clocked him on the head, John agrees. Back at Scully's apartment, Skinner and the Lone gunman produce what information they have and in a leap that Mulder would have been proud of, Scully makes the connection between where the UFO is to who it wants to find, Gibson Praise. Poor Gibson. we haven't seen him since The Beginning and I have to wonder what he's still doing in Arizona. You mean to tell me that in 2 years no one bothered to check the reactor to find this kid, the one that the FBI and the consortium both wanted? And what about his parents? Where are they? Skinner takes control and goes to Arizona with Scully. He's taking his watchdog role very seriously and he's willing to try anything to get Mulder back. As they drive through the desert landscape, Scully has two psychic moments, one as she's taking a cat nap and another as she peers into the heat. She knows something is out there. Meanwhile, Doggett is also in Arizona. The night before, an X-file was slipped underneath his door and he surmises that Mulder's going after Gibson. In an ironic twist of fate, Doggett arrives moments before Skinner and Scully, but not before Gibson has flown the coup. As Doggett leaves the principle's office he runs right into them. "What are your doing here?!" they both query. They're both trying to find Mulder. <g> Using some solid detective work, Doggett follows a set of tracks which lead him to the top of a mesa, where someone who looks like Mulder is dragging an unwilling Gibson. "Let the boy go." and a TO BE CONTINUED indicate the end of this episode.
Sonya
Subject: Sonya's "Without " reviewWithout
Episode 8 X 02
November 12, 2000
Who let the Doggett out? Woof! woof! woof!
Without provided very little that was substantive to the mytharc. We get a better picture of who John Doggett is and we saw how 1013 slipped him into the X-Files unit. This despite Chris Carter's protestations that Agent Doggett would not be Scully's partner. Tell me another one surfer dude.
Who didn't know that 'Mulder' wasn't the alien bounty hunter, hmmm? Humorously, almost every actor in this episode got to be the ABH, except for Robert Partrick, who's character was in denial over what he saw. At least in season one, Scully didn't witness most of the otherworldly goings on. How do you explain the fact that there were two Scully's in the dorm room? Mass hallucination? He's confused and being played for a fool. I liked the Skinner / Doggett conversation. It cleared up a great many things for John and the viewers. Kersh may be an asshole and he may not be working for the consortium, but he recognizes a threat when he sees one and has effectively neutralized Mr. Doggett. Props to the evil Deputy Director.
We also get more angst ridden Scully. With the departure of Mulder, she has to step up and be the believer. She knows that Mulder didn't fall off the cliff. It only takes a small amount of prodding before she explains to Doggett that there's an ABH in their midst. When John dismisses the idea, Scully is exasperated at his skepticism. Shades of irony!
As soon as Skinner realized the implications of a shape shifting assassin, he and Scully should have devised a password for identification purposes. When 'Scully' (ABH) hurts a member of the task force, Skinner and Scully end up with guns drawn on one another (see the Mexican stand off scene in Paper Clip). The AD gives in and lowers his weapon, perhaps realizing the extent of Scully's frustration. When the agent inches closer, he disarms her then berates her and her methods. His over protectiveness melts when a teary Scully pleads to be allowed to finish what she wants to do. Together they take off to find young Gibson.
Psychic!Scully comes to the fore when she and Skinner find Gibson Praise. Gibson's ability to hear people's thoughts allows him to know that they're close to finding Mulder. He tells Scully this and in another incredibly stupid move, she wanders around the desert in the middle of the night while Skinner takes the boy to the hospital. Perhaps because of her desire to find Mulder, she sees a light in the sky and for a moment honestly believes that a UFO is coming in for a landing.
At the beginning of the final act, we see that the UFO is actually a helicopter. Remember Duane Barry, and Mulder on top of Skyland Mountain where a helicopter flew off into the night with his partner? Nice parallel. In this episode, John Doggett hops out and Scully accuses him of following her. Doggett claims that she's where the action is.
"What does that tell you? That I'm crazy or that I'm right?"
Using her trademark logic, she susses out that Skinner and Gibson are in danger. And, more importantly, she convinces Doggett that there just might be something to the threat. As she leaves, the cloaked UFO sits just a few feet away. A tortured Mulder screams for Scully, but she is already on her way. So close Scully! </me shakes my head>
When they get to the hospital, we already know what they're going to find. Yep, Gibson's gone. As Scully scrambles through the other rooms, she runs into 'Skinner'. Parinoia running high, she isn't sure that the AD is who he appears to be. He isn't and is in fact the bounty hunter. This doesn't save her because he easily takes away her gun then tosses her across the room. As he attempts to leave with Gibson, Scully grabs her weapon and fires, turning Mr. ABH into a green puddle of goo. She always was a good shot. <g>
Doggett, following the commotion, bursts in and finds a shaken Agent Scully. Yelling for medical assistance, he comforts our Saint, and in an attempt at privacy, she covers her eyes and breaks down. When his team doesn't respond quickly enough, he gruffly reiterates his request for assistance.
Back in DC, Doggett is heckled by Deputy Director Kersh who is unimpressed with his field report. Doggett understands; Kersh never wanted him to succeed. At the hospital, we see a scuffed up Scully in bed reading a get well card. The intrepid Agent Doggett thoughtfully gave it to her. He also gives her the status of the case. When Scully asks what he's doing, he informs her that he's now part of the X-Files division. A stunned Scully wonders what's going to happen next. On the UFO, Mulder is circled by multiple alien bounty hunters.
Other tidbits Sonya
Subject: Ranty complaining about "Patience" Patience
Episode 8 X 04
November 19, 2000
(Quelle surprise, Cathy B. tried to post a couple thoughts on "Patience" and it turned into a lengthy diatribe. Sorry about that. Anyway, SPOILERS below, not to mention party-pooper-esque commentary, so beware.)
Bats. Thank you, Chris. Thank you sooooo much.
I guess I'm out of the loop again with my crazy Mulder-lovin' opinions, which is OK. Here's my usual thought process about a dumb-looking MOTW: "Oh, god, bats. That looks so cheesy. Well, hopefully there'll at least be some nice M&S moments, so the episode won't be a total waste." Here's the thought process about this one: "Oh, god, bats. That looks so cheesy." Afterwards: "Oh, god, bats. That was so cheesy."
Here's how I'm feeling about Doggett lately: like he's a guest star who won't leave. "Is that guy on AGAIN? He was just on LAST week. How long is his arc going to be?" I haven't yet internalized that he's a regular now, I guess, and not just an occasional regular, but a REGULAR regular. I'll get used to him eventually. Aside from that, his on-again off-again faux NY accent is really starting to get on my nerves. Can you imagine if DD had tried to fake a Boston accent all these years? Groan. I know, he's a hardboiled NYPD cop and all that. Well, Dennis Franz has a Chicago accent. It's OK. Don't force yourself, RP. It's bad enough when GA lapses into Midwestern or British. Well, I find that adorable, actually. :P
I'll confess that I got just slightly tingly with delight on seeing "STARRING GILLIAN ANDERSON." I'm not bothered that DD's out of the credits for now. I'm sure they'll put him back in when he comes back. Most shows do that; they kill somebody off and the next week the credits have changed. Most shows don't keep the exact same credits (except for minutely changing a phrase of the music in the third season) for seven years.
The X-File itself: That's OK, don't bother to explain anything. We're used to it. Like how on earth a woman who was pulled dead out of a lake could still have enough of the "scent" of her husband on her that that scent would be detectable on anybody who had TOUCHED the BODY, AT ANY TIME over the past SEVERAL DAYS. I know, bats have a better sense of smell (???? I thought they used sonar), but come ON. How about, where did the man-bat COME from? I know, the theory would probably just have been "He's some kind of crazy mutant," and it's Mulder that's usually the one to theorize that and it never really matters because we never find any proof, but they could have taken a STAB at it; nobody seemed to even care. And I know Doggett's manly, but they used his getting mauled by the bat as a cliffhanger and then never came BACK to it. He was just sort of OK at the end. How did he escape the man-bat? Dunno. Same way Scully & Co. escaped the clear-Jello monster in Agua Mala, I suppose. Important plot point? Nay!
Also, I guess I'm not really ready for back-to-MOTW time. I guess I wanted MORE angst. We've finally got great potential for angst here, why can't we USE it? Why can't Scully be wandering around in a half-daze, snapping at everybody, making mistakes, refusing to share with Doggett, attacking the man-bat bodily in a screaming frenzy of misdirected fury? I would have loved that. Heh. I don't like this resignation with a faint air of petulance. I know Scully's better at hiding her feelings and putting up a professional front and all that, but, I mean, when Scully was missing Mulder moped around despairingly, beat people up, and threw himself unheathily into the arms of a vampiress. Scully's just sort of, "Well, guess we better get on with the matter of solving this bat case, then. And hey, don't bring down your weird manly friends to stare at me, K?" There wasn't even the usual soul-searching about "How are these random mutant cases in any way advancing our Noble Cause?" (answered, of course, with some platitude like "The truth is in there" or "All the unexplained stuff in the world is probably, y'know, connected in some way" or "Because it's our job, and life goes on, and we must carry on and help these suffering people whom no one else will listen to" - come on, I don't want much, just a TOKEN!).
It irritates me that, because they're trying to prime us for DD no longer being there, it's showing in the characters. They don't want Scully TOO despairing, they want her moving on, because they want US to move on and not despair. I know there's little else they can do, but it's not organic, it's not how it would go if they didn't have contracts to think about. I hate it that Scully's dealing so admirably. I find it out of character. She was more upset in her hallucination in Field Trip for heaven's sake.
This is definitely my own problem, but I also hugely resent the "See, we're not sure if we like Doggett at first, but it's OK, Scully isn't EITHER, but she'll slowly grow to ADORE him, and so will YOU, audience!!" stuff. I have a big hangup about being told what to do, it makes me really contrary, as I think I mentioned. I'll get over it. And at least the Scully/Doggett dialogue this episode wasn't as groaningly zingy as the premiere two-parter ("Phony chitchat"? "Give a little, get a little"? Hey, David Amann, writer of "Rush," "Don't make it if you're gonna break it," is that you?). They seemed to be talking like regular people finally instead of characters in a radio play of the thirties. That's a good step.
Let's see. The "partner" line irritated me, really mostly because they so VEHEMENTLY denied that Doggett was to be Scully's partner. I don't care, really, if he's her partner (and I didn't really see how else they could possibly have them investigating cases together). Mulder's gone, she's assigned a new partner. That's how it works. But the whole "PEOPLE OF EARTH, YOU MUST NOT FEAR, SCULLY WILL NOT HAVE A NEW PARTNER, DOGGETT IS MERELY AN ASSISTANT OF SOME SORT, WE HAVEN'T GOT THE DETAILS WORKED OUT YET, BUT HE WILL DEFINITELY NOT BE HER PARTNER" thing makes me a TINY bit nervous that OTHER stuff they've been reassuring us about might be completely untrue too. Um, David IS coming back to the show at the end of the year, right? There WILL be a resolution to that little plot thread? And, again, it'd be nice if she'd had a little more angst in that moment, just by virtue of the seven years she's had with a different partner who's now missing and possibly dead. Just a pained look would have done it. Gillian's so good at those. I saw nothing. First case together, after Mulder's taken away from her and he's probably being tortured somewhere and she has all the horrifying vague memories of her own abduction to fuel her imagination and she's having to carry on with this new guy who's a nice guy but still not Mulder, and this cop refers to him as her partner, which he is of course, but it's so STRANGE and DIFFERENT - and NOTHING. Not even a blink.
I don't want a solid six months of angst, really I don't. And I appreciate that they tried to make it a little transitiony. It just wasn't enough for me. The compartmentalizing has always (at least since season 3 or so, when they started doing it in earnest) made me a little crazy. Having Mulder come back from undergoing involuntary brain surgery and almost dying and experiencing a vision of a completely different life, and go straight to investigating a case about a brain-eating burger flipper, is frustrating enough, but now MULDER IS GONE and it's business as usual, and it just makes me tired. The way it's always been played is that as long as there's still Mulder and Scully, they will persevere, no matter what other hardships they face. Now, I know, it's nobody's fault but DD's that Mulder's gone. I just wanted A LITTLE MORE TRANSITION. I'm sure in real life losing your partner wouldn't be more traumatic than having your sister shot or being abducted and experimented on by aliens, but on THIS SHOW, it is. One of them losing the other is the WORST thing that could possibly happen, on THIS SHOW, as it's been played for seven years. It deserves MORE than some vague bookends with Scully looking wistfully at Mulder's nameplate.
There were things I liked. It was great to see Scully in charge, and she had just the right amount of bewilderment over how to proceed. I don't know how she's suddenly acquired the ability to make deductive leaps, but I suppose you could argue that she's never had to try before, which works for me. I do like Doggett, believe it or not, and I liked his attitude toward her, his affable willingness to go along with what she thought. And, I'll confess, I was thinking that if it had been Mulder and Scully investigating this case, it would have been the usual old thing of Mulder putting forth theories about bat-men or man-bats and Scully rolling her eyes and telling him he was crazy and Mulder ending up being right. This was a different pattern and that was interesting. It's good the show is being shaken up. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough. For me. I can't help it. Maybe I'm not enough of a Scullyist. Feel free to excommunicate me. :/
Next week's looks good. I enjoy Scully-on-her-own episodes too, it's just that I'm not looking forward to a steady diet of them til Mulder gets back. Because, for me, there are three kinds of episodes: Mulder episodes, Scully episodes, and Mulder-and-Scully episodes. I tolerate the first two (I prefer the Scully eps to the Mulder eps, all right, but they're still not what I love the most) to get to the third kind. I like Doggett, but not enough for him to get his own category. He just doesn't interest me enough. So it'll be, as far as I'm concerned, all Scully episodes until Mulder gets back. Except for the ones she's not in, or hardly in. Those will be in the Travelers category, I guess. I can't wait for the first Doggett-centered episode. A show made up entirely of guest stars. Sigh.
Once when I was haranguing on ATXF about the prospect of a Duchovny-less X-Files (way back in season 5, when Doggett's original incarnation, Spender, was first appearing on the scene amid rumors of DD's imminent departure), somebody (rudely, I might add) asked, "So, are all the other shows on TV not good because they don't have David Duchovny in them?" Of course not. Nor is this one bad because it no longer has David Duchovny in it. It's just that The X-Files is David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, so without one of them it's not The X-Files anymore. Do I like this new show? It's OK so far. But I still miss The X-Files.
Sorry to be such a wet blanket. I'm not going to whine like this after every episode. I just needed to get it off my chest.
Cathy B.
Just a few comments...
I'm of two minds on the name plate. Part of me feels the same way you do. That Scully seems to be dismissing Mulder by forcefully dumping it into the drawer. It is 1013's signal that they're putting DD out of their thoughts; so why should we be dwelling on him? I believe that CC is confusing the actor Duchovny (whom he's pissed at) with the character Mulder. I also don't expect the abduction to be in every scene from now until he's found, but some sign of underlying pain would let us know that he isn't forgotten. Christ! This is the first MOTW since he's gone. There should be more thrashing.
On the other hand, another part of me sees this as a practical Scully-like thing to do. By placing it in the desk, she can look at it whenever she wants to, but it isn't on top to openly taunt her. She doesn't need another painful reminder in the office she's working in to upset her already topsy-turvy world. Think about it. You're partner / lover has just been taken by aliens, you can't say where you think he went without endangering your job, the agent who appears to be Kersh's spy is your new co-worker and your hormones are running amok because your pregnant. She may be ready to snap but doesn't have the luxury of doing so. The fate of the X-Files and Mulder may depend on it.
One thing that really made me sad, was the line about polydactylism. Doggett isn't Oxford educated and the days of "diminished acetylcholine production in recidivist offenders" are of the past, I'm afraid. <sigh>
Subject: AAAAHHHHHH!!!! (Cathy B's "Roadrunners" review)Roadrunners
Episode 8 X 05
November 26, 2000
Subject:
OH MY GOD, that was the scariest X-Files I have EVER seen.
I feel sick to my stomach still, I'm so upset. Upset in a GOOD way, though. That was a FINE, FINE episode. It did just what it was supposed to, freaked the living crap out of me. Vince, you've done it again, pal.
EEEEEEKKK. The worm. EEEEEWWWW.
I haven't been this scared by TV in AGES. Jaded little me had to cover her eyes and RUN AWAY when they were chasing Scully with the worm. I was TERRIFIED. And not just the end, which admittedly was gross (though COOL), but the beginning was creepy and scary in that "horror in broad daylight" Home-y way (or, like my favorite X-Files that never aired, "Crampton" by Thomas Ligotti and Brandon Trenz). The paranoia, the FRUSTRATION of almost being able to get out but being THWARTED at every turn. The CREEPY DESERT PEOPLE. The BUS driving by, what was THAT about? I couldn't figure that out. I guess they just took a bus to the desert so they could kill him in a more convenient place. It made for a spiffy image, anyway. Millennium-like, almost (the series, not the episode). Or Roswell-like. (Roswell has kicked ass this year, BTW. You are free to laugh at me.) Admittedly, it ripped off Ice, The Host (is that what the flukeman episode was called? Would you believe I'm blanking? Be a little more generic next time, K?), Orison (the screaming), Our Town, GenderBender, and more, I'm sure. But it KICKED ASS, that's the IMPORTANT thing. And Gillian let it all out at the end there. The screaming. The writhing. Yeah!!
Plus, the rawness of her emotion regarding the pregnancy (which was, appropriately, the first thing to spring to her mind) when they came at her with the worm was great. Perhaps she didn't need to scream "I'M GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!" eighty-seven times, but the FIRST time she did, boy, it shivered me all about. Scary stuff is scarier to her now, I guess. Yay, some good character stuff from the pregnancy thing instead of having it just be a handy code for Skinner! Now, let's not torture her EVERY week just because she's pregnant, but once or twice is OK. ANGST, ANGST!
I was peeved when Scully gave that guy her gun because he was so OBVIOUSLY not trustworthy; she started confiding stuff to him like the instant he woke up even though he was being so sketchy. That was no good. Necessary for the plot, but no good. And she didn't HAVE to give him her gun, actually. Though I suppose it was a good way to get it away from her. But I bet they could have found a different way. Ah well. Oh, and it was damn funny when she randomly held her cell phone up to some wires. I don't THINK that's how it works, though I'm no electrician.
Doggett, he's a good boy. He carried out an efficient rescue. I was worried when he drove away. But he was just being SNEAKY and DELIBERATE. Whereas Mulder, bless his heart, would have just driven his car into the wall and screamed "SCULLY! SCULLLLLEEEEEEEEEE!!!" and then had his ass kicked by the cult people. So I guess Doggett has his uses. :P
Chris Carter Is a Big Fat Liar Watch: "Partner" again. Now, once more, it's OK with me that they're partners, cause how ELSE would they get the show to work. BUT, CC told us they wouldn't be. Either he lies constantly or he just makes stuff up as he goes along and takes guesses at what he might eventually write when people ask him questions, I can't decide which. Both, probably. Oh well, I should know this by now. Let's get him and stick a big worm up his spine and let Vince run the show.
Also, for the record, I still wish there had been more transition, as far as Scully's emotional state goes. She's looking a little too jolly and fine about everything. I'd still rather she had an air of the living dead about her. I'd like less smiling and joking and more blank stares and general pissiness. Just for a couple weeks. They have MONTHS to work on the slowly getting to like each other thing, they don't have to start INSTANTLY. But, I can't have everything. Dialogue's getting better, anyway. Well, it WAS a Vince episode.
I needed this. In case you weren't sure, I've been pretty cranky about TXF lately. This episode, though, pulled me right back in. Would I have preferred Mulder be in it? Sure, though I wouldn't have done much more with him than stick him in the Doggett role for this one. (Though there would have been a different dynamic because they have a different partnership, level of trust, etc. etc., but I don't feel like getting into that - basically, he'd have been a side player.) Am I still tapping my fingers waiting for Mulder to come back, because it feels like half a show to me without him? Yep. Did I think a lot about and severely miss Mulder in this episode, like I did during the SUCKY bat one? Nope. Because IT WAS GOOD. Hoo-hah. Keep this up, 1013, and maybe I'll let you all live when you INEVITABLY ruin the baby arc. :P
BONUS: NEXT week looks good too. Seems like a cool premise, anyway.
BTW, every movie I see Luke Wilson in (My Dog Skip, this weekend, a fine film) I like him more. "Erotic...yeah!" Just a random comment.
Cathy B., slightly giddy, who also just watched The Practice which was also SCARY SCARY SCARY instead of BORING BORING BORING as it's been for the last several weeks. Sunday night TV is redeeming itself!
P.S. I really wanted to see Scully drive the bus. Hee!
Subject: Cathy B's "Invocation" reviewInvocation
Episode 8 X 06
December 03, 2000
Wow, they're serious about this being a new season of scariness, all right. I'm NEVER scared by TXF, but I hid my eyes two episodes in a row. Now I can't remember exactly at what part I hid my eyes in this one, actually. But it was creepy as all get-out. And the little boy, even if he just turned out to be otherworldly and not evil, certainly LOOKED evil, from the moment he appeared in the teaser even BEFORE he was dead. It occurred to me in the middle of the episode that he resembled a young Eminem, which further frightened me.
Even the other little boy looked evil to me. I suspected him for a while, also because I thought he resembled the creepy trailer trash guy, whatever his name was. (Boy, I suck at remembering character names.) So, all in all, this episode did a good job of keeping me guessing. Of course, this is ALSO probably due to the fact that I wasn't spoiled for once. <g>
Scully was great in this episode. Very forceful, and in control, and definitely the agent in charge. Still not completely confident in what she was doing (being the believer one) but covering it well. Nice progression from the bat episode. Also, my God, her HAIR was FABULOUS. Boy, it feels good to say that.
Doggett: Well, he sure likes to interrogate people. All right. Comes from being a former manly blue-collar cop and all that, I guess. But why, WHY does he have to have a missing child from his past TOO? That makes THREE out of THREE lead characters who have child issues. Come on, couldn't they think of ANYTHING else? A missing dog? Missing mother? (Oh, that was Spender.) Missing grandpa? I don't know. MUST they give him a missing relative? Isn't there any OTHER kind of Trauma Surfacing From the Past that they could use? Like, I don't know, taken hostage by a crazy gunman? Oh, what am I talking about, that's happened to Mulder and Scully dozens of times, it doesn't even COUNT as trauma.
Must he even HAVE a past trauma? I liked the idea of him showing up in these people's lives and having NO IDEA of their level of pain and only slowly grasping it. I guess that's how they did Scully, though. Eh, I don't know. I suppose some retreads are inevitable. I am a little tired of the lost-child thing though.
But all in all, Doggett was good. I get more used to him every week. (And yes, I still miss Mulder.)
Scully and Doggett: I felt their interaction was spot-on in this episode. They were cordial, and professional, but distant. Not distant in a hostile way, just not pal-ish. Which I think is JUST RIGHT for this stage of their relationship. I like that they still call each other "Agent." I liked when Scully came in and said something like, "You going to sleep here?" It was just the right note of casual concern - without being laced with tenderness and worry and resentment and all the stuff that it would be laced with (or ought to anyway) if it were Mulder. Not worried exactly, but certainly not uncaring. Showing concern for a colleague. It was just right.
I really feel like the relationship between them is settling down into something more natural now. I no longer feel like someone's screaming, "LOOK AT THESE TWO CHARACTERS AND THEIR DELIGHTFUL CHEMISTRY! TOUCH THEM! LOVE THEM!! NOTICE EVERYTHING THEY DO AND SAY AND THINK ABOUT WHETHER YOU'D LIKE TO CONTINUE WATCHING THEM FOR ANOTHER SEASON OR SO, AND THEN LET US KNOW!" (Interestingly, it's the three CC-written episodes which I've felt that way about; maybe he's feeling the pressure more or something?) It feels like two characters interacting now instead of the Great Manly Hope. Which is how it needs to be to work, at least for me.
That was another thing I noticed - when they were arguing, it wasn't personal. It probably will get personal eventually, but it wasn't yet, which was right. It would be silly if they started bonding right off the bat (heh heh, no pun intended). Though I did find it interesting to think about last week and how a sweaty half-naked Scully screaming "CUT IT OUT OF ME NOW!!!" differed from the calm professional Scully trying to get Doggett to admit that something weird was going on, and I wondered if he was thinking about it. I guess the slug event was the underwear/mosquito bite "way personal really early on in the game" of the Scully/Doggett partnership.
I'm still not interested in having the Scully/Doggett partnership exactly mirror the Mulder/Scully one, and I hope it doesn't. I don't feel it would be right to try and replicate the instant pull that Mulder and Scully always had to each other (not just in a shippy way, just that they had a connection pretty quickly). I'll be very happy if they continue to go the "growing professional respect, eventually giving way to friendship" route.
Good ep altogether. Next week looks a tad silly, but that's OK. Is it February yet?
Cathy B.
Subject: Sonya's "Redrum" reviewRedrum
Episode 8 X 03
December 10, 2000
Well this is going to be short and sweet.
I thought that Redrum was an ok episode. Guest actor, Joe Morton did a fine job as Martin Wells. I believed his confusion and his profound sadness, but I couldn't see the callous prosecutor who let an innocent man go to jail. I understand we only get an hour to see this character, but I just didn't buy that Wells was that jaded. And... if he was that cavalier, why should he get a second chance? Karmicly he would deserve what he got.
Time travel is always a problem, but Steve Madea did a good job keeping the anomalies to a minimum. I don't know why Wells could remember pieces of the murder when he wasn't even there. Was this supposed to imply he could have killed his wife? Or was Wells merely taking over the role of Mulder?
Unfortunately, there's no real reason for Scully and Doggett to get involved. Doggett is his friend, but he hasn't seen Wells in three years. Why would he look him up now? Oh, so we can call it an X-Files? I suppose I shouldn't complain, but I don't like X-Files which don't have Mulder and Scully. My top three episodes I hate are: Travelers, Musings of a CSM, and Hungry. Do you detect a pattern here? This had no Mulder, little Scully and only slightly more Doggett.
So, although Redrum was decently crafted episode, I won't be rewatching it any time soon.
Sonya
Subject: Sonya's "Via Negativa " reviewVia Negativa 7
Episode 8 X 07
December 17, 2000
Doggett, Doggett, he's our man, if he can't do it nobody can!
So, I really like Robert Patrick and how he acts his heart out in this
episode. I think he doing a great job and should be encouraged.
Unfortunately, this story written by Frank "the fans aren't paying
attention" Spotznitz was a uneven vehicle highlighting the manly man.
In the teaser, if Agent Leeds dies in his sleep at the car, how would he have known about the dead cultists? If Agent Stedman wasn't even at the scene, why did Tipet kill him? Skinner states that Tipet was under observation, that doesn't mean Tipet would have even known the two agents. Big Plot Hole #1.
Scully calls Doggett in the middle of the night. Hee! made me chuckle
and recall all the times Mulder used to call Scully at an ungodly hour.
Skinner called her (as head of the X-Files department) and she sends him
off to Pittsburgh alone because she's got a medical problem. Scully
doesn't tell him this, uncomfortable with even trusting him that much.
What is strange, is that she didn't mention her problem to the AD. We
know he is unaware, because he asks Doggett where Scully is. Maybe
Walter's is being too protective and she didn't want to deal with that?
The case doesn't make any sense to Doggett and it makes him testy.
First, he's cranky with Skinner for mentioning the paranormal angle to
Kersh and then he's angry enough at Scully to try calling her when
Skinner tells him that she took a few personal days. Skinner puts him in
his place both times, but his ire is a symptom of his frustration. I
don't think he likes being on the X-Files. <g>
Another thing we learned about Doggett is that he's a hard worker. We
see him poring over evidence at his home at four o'clock in the morning.
Good thing too, since Walter was also awake and on his way to John's house.
After Skinner and Doggett arrest the chemist, the agent takes a cat nap. During this, he sees Tipet with his third eye just hovering, as Doggett is tracking blood through the corridors of the jail. He looks down to find himself holding Scully's head. Scary Stuff, but does Doggett have some unresolved issues towards Dana? And how does Tipet know Doggett? The modus operandi is that Tipet needs to know you in order to enter your dreams. Big Plot Hole #2.
When Doggett and Skinner come face to face with Tipet, they laughably try to stop him from putting his head in a saw blade by pointing guns at him. Umm, guys, he wants to die... get it? And what about the hospital? Who keeps a sheet which is already full of names on a clip board, instead of filing it away? It just gets in the way of other people trying to sign it. And isn't it an invasion of privacy as well, when anyone can stroll up to the admit desk and see who came in?
With the prime suspect in a coma, Kersh thinks the case is wrapped up, but Doggett isn't so sure. The lack of evidence and motive, are two small items which still need to be addressed. The fact that the deputy director poo poos this is our big clue that Doggett must be dreaming. Doggett's smart enough not to know whether he's dreaming or not.
In the penultimate scene, Doggett finds himself at Scully's apartment with an ax in his hand. He walks up to her as she's sleeping. He raises the ax to decapitate our favorite FBI agent but stops before he can do it. He then turns the ax toward himself and swings upward... when Scully wakes him up.
Skeptic or no, John was scared. Scully seems amused and disagrees about supposedly saving his life. All she did was wake him up. Oh, and Tipet died. So, how did Tipet enter this dream of Doggett's if he was already gone? Big Plot Hole #3.
Final analysis
Sonya
Doggett and Robert Patrick = good
Frank Spotznitz = not so good.
