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"It's not Evian, but ..."
I've always had a soft spot for this episode despite the fact it is certainly not perfect. It's one I've seen routinely dismissed over the years and I have frankly never understood that reaction. Yes, "Dod Kalm" has some weaknesses, but I am stuck by its strengths and enjoy the different and moody atmosphere it evokes. The words I often think of to describe it are "poetic", "visual" and "tense".
I find Howard Gordon's script incredibly poetic and believe it to be one of his best (this time with his former writing partner Alex Gansa). Outside of the last Scully monologue, (which remains one of my all time favorites in writing and Gillian's dead on delivery), passages like Scully remembering and sharing her father's respect for the sea or relating to Mulder an actual memory from her abduction that they have nothing to fear of death were nice sections. Plus, they even contained continuity, can you believe it? Even the captain's descriptions such as "then the ship, my ship, she began to bleed" or "time got lost" have a haunting lyrical quality to them.
This is also one of those episodes where the strength of the partnership between Mulder and Scully is featured strongly and prominently. The whole episode is about them working together. It's not a case of Mulder and his time traveling wormholes or Scully and her free radicals being right, it is a matter of a synthesis of science and the paranormal. I wish more episodes could use their differences in this cooperative manner. As the fear escalates they theorize together, are considerate of each other, and plan a course of action. When they rush through the narrow confines there are no words needed, only eye contact and head bobs, to convey the next move. It is a lovely team piece highlighted by their discussion over who should drink the liquid Scully found and each insisting the other do it. As Mulder weakens, Scully perseveres on, ignoring Trondheim's "every man for himself" attitude and tries to document a cure for Mulder (and thankfully her science pays off for him in the end). The ending of this episode always touches me: Scully, trying to comfort a dying Mulder who tells her "we still have work to do" and eventually with her own health failing moving to join him in sleep.
I've always been a fan of John Bartley's cinematography and it is episodes like this that really make me miss his presence on the show. In "Dod Kalm" his lighting is poetic as well. The fog, the glow off a radar screen, and most off all those big ass flashlights almost become another character. This hour is full of creative lighting and may actually be the episode that uses flashlight beams the most in the series. The tight confines of the ship and skittering lights only ratchet up the tension further. Director Rob Bowman does a wonderful job of working with Bartley to give us the claustrophobic and confining feel of a dying ship. One of the best moments is that fabulous Scully sequence where she desperately searches the ship for liquids, shot only with inventive camera angles, a dancing smoky flashlight beam, and the panic in Gillian Anderson's eyes. Bowman also manages to focus on the water before we know it is the culprit in a non-obtrusive manner such that we recall it when it becomes clear what the problem is.
Rounding out the technical marvels of "Dod Kalm" is Mark Snow's inspired score for it. Notes echo and clang with an underwater sound to them mixed with a jangling, edgy piano and occasional rushed sections of swirling desperation. Some of his most original and striking work. Perfect for this episode.
Sometimes I think I may be one of the few people out there who frankly was not bothered by the makeup effects in this one. Since the cause of the problem was not just premature aging but something else, I could accept the effects of the phenomena on them without issue. One of the things I have to admire about this is that the layers of makeup forced Duchovny and Anderson to have to focus most of their work through their eyes for us to see the people we recognize, and they do an admirable job here. Anderson added a gradual roughening of her voice which was effective, but I think I could have done without Duchovny's Katherine Hepburn impersonation with the shaking head. At least he did not start talking about the loons. He was doing a fine job without adding that affectation.
I wish I could say all the acting was poetic, but John Savage's halting delivery too often reminded me of a William Shatner impersonation. He even does the odd and awkward pauses combined with rushing lines during the Norwegian subtitle part. What makes him even more difficult to watch these days is that I now have flashbacks to the famous season two blooper reel segment where the man could not remember his lines to save his life. In the end however, I always found the fact that Trondheim drowns after hoarding the water poetic justice.
I will grant you that the deux ex machina ending here is weak. Yes, we know Mulder and Scully can't die. God knows they keep trying to make us think they can though. However, even given our heroes are miraculously saved, "Dod Kalm" was a beautiful exploration of partnership. An episode that relied on overcoming fear and human nature rather than fighting aliens and monsters. I'll take a little well done introspection any time.
-Date Stamp: From Scully's last journal entry we learn the date is March 12 (of 1995 when the episode originally aired).
-The number (925) painted on the U.S.S. Ardent is a nod to the birth date of Gillian Anderson's daughter Piper.
-The only annoying moment for me partnership wise occurs at the beginning when it is apparent once again Mulder has called Scully out without telling her why to use her as his little medical tool and then tells her to report back to his office. At least he bothered to say "thank you."
-I can only imagine what an adventure doing the expense reports for this one was. Two spur of the moment tickets to the Port of Middlst of Nowhersk, Norway and no prior approval from their supervisor has got to be a problem. They'd have to end up using the hospital stay as a sympathy card.
-The accent of the captain of that teaser fishing trawler always cracks me up. He has a real problem with the "Th" sound, hence his boat number is "CV 2 Tree Tree" and he tells the other boat he is "trowing" them a line.
-I wonder at the fact that 18 hours later the mutineers looked like hell (I guess they were all just kicking back guzzling water from the ship) and yet days later Captain Barclay is still kicking around the boat. Just how much Jack Daniels did the man have? And whatever happened to alcohol dehydrating your system?
-I've always been curious if the actor who played the Lt. Harper really did have that big mole on the side of his face making it easier to recognize him as the same man when the fishing trawler met up with him, or if they drew a huge one in for the occasion.
-Speaking of moles, this is one of those episodes when they did not do a very good job of covering up Gillian's. It is plainly visible while she is talking to BadActor!NavalNurseBoy in the beginning of the episode.
-Scully's bossy nature in a hospital setting is evident here. Even after she is confronted she continues to plow ahead trying to get information until she is finally threatened with removal and I believe we see the hint of a pout.
-Apparently between the hospital and the office Scully stops off and has her hair done or at least spends some quality time with one of her many season 2 curling irons. Maybe Psychic!Scully "just knew" that it may be the last time in the episode that her hair looked good so she'd better make the best of it. Once on the boat humidity started to work its usual wonders, and while whatever is happening to them does not appear to turn their hair gray, it certainly did not do them any follicle favors.
-Frank's Fashion Spot: Not the easiest episode for a fashion spotlight that is for sure, but I will weigh in on loving the barn coat that Scully sports for the majority of the episode as functional fashion.
-Well, I guess Halverson had no family or I'm sure they might have been less than pleased with Trondheim's decision just to dump his body overboard.
-It's the little things that count: an ill Mulder telling Scully she's lucky she inherited her "father's legs" - not exactly a compliment for a gal - until he specifies "sea legs" and manages a cute quick smile from Scully.
-It is always nice to see Scully isn't the only one Mulder gives his non-answers to. When Trondheim asks "So exactly what is it you're looking for up there?" we get the ever- helpful "a number of things" response. Well that was exact.
-These two certainly do a fine job of keeping watch. Mulder spends first watch staring at the wall half asleep and Sleepy!Scully tells us "I'm up" with her face buried in a pillow. Well, who can blame them though as we soon find out it was a heckuva a rough night.
-Lucky for Mulder when the boats crash his head lands on a roll of paper towels otherwise that could have hurt.
-Now either "First, let me go." sounds almost exactly the same in Norwegian and English or they subtitled that line for no particular reason.
-Throw away effect that did not make sense: the rapid corrosion close up of the Ardent's name plate. Nothing else visually changed that rapidly and we got the picture just fine without adding that in. Having the hand fall off the body when barely touched was a much better way of showing all was not right.
-How come Mulder and Scully did not get those hideous fast growing nails like everyone else? Were they busy giving each other manicures when we weren't looking? "What gives you such lovely nails Scully?" "Why Mulder that would be sardine juice, snow globe water and lemon - you're soaking in it."
-Speaking of, I'm sure Scully isn't often called upon to play bartender - wonder what you call that little cocktail from hell she mixed, a "Cold Sour Fish?"
-Out of all the 1013 bathroom moments I've got to credit this one as one of the best. There are few scenes more visually disgusting then panning from a dead man against a blood smeared wall across a filthy bathroom to someone slurping water out of a toilet.
-Why is it when Mulder was so bad off that he ends up looking so much better than Scully does when they are in the hospital at the end? I wonder if they just did not bother to put makeup on Duchovny since the close ups were of Scully and hoped the distance masked the fact. Anyway, it's a good thing these two are quick healers. I'd hate to think of how much Oil of Olay they went through to get that skin back to normal so quickly.
Autumn
"I think I hear the wolf at the door..."