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"I see now the value of such insight. For truly to pursue monsters we must understand them. We must venture into their minds. Only in doing so we risk letting them venture into ours."
In last week's "Teliko" we had a weak conglomeration of old X-Files ideas and episodes. This one really made it look bad in comparison. Yes, Vince Gilligan shows us, there are still new ideas to pursue in X-Files Monster of the Week episodes. When they are well done the audience will more than forgive a somewhat standard formula. Sure, Scully is abducted for what? The sixth time? And yet, he never seems to let her become the stereotypical victim during her reacquaintance with duct tape. When she wanders alone into the construction site because Mulder has run off on her - despite the fact that she has the best lead - she does not fall victim. Instead she calmly hangs up on Mulder (which I must admit I loved) and confronts and arrests the towering Goliath. Even though I knew that Mulder was going to pull a photo of Scully out of that photomat booth the moment still worked. The episode contained enough twists that I easily forgave any indiscretions. It was moody and, more importantly, used the characters in an integral way to the story.
Scully literally and figuratively drives this episode, and gives the talented Gillian Anderson another chance to let us glimpse at Scully's soul. I was quite interested in the whole effect of these events on Scully's psyche. "I have no unrest!" she yells at Gerry in German, but we can easily recognize this as another great Scully lie. Oh Dana, you've got oodles of unrest, and the audience isn't the only one who can see it. You've been chasing the monsters too long now and it is taking its toll. The moment in the interrogation where Gerry (wonderfully played by Pruitt Vince) who has been literally shifty eyed and nervous suddenly fixes on her with realization and states "You look troubled" engaging Scully in an oddly hypnotic stare down was chilling. This episode proves an interesting counterpoint to last season's "Grotesque" - Mulder's embracing of the killer's mind versus Scully's angry disinterest. She is clearly bothered by this case - visibly wincing at every description of the use of the ice pick - and yet wants to dig no further. The juxtaposition of a pondering Mulder still trying to get to the bottom of unruhe, howlers, and the photos after finding the second victim versus Scully's "What the hell does it matter?" says it all. She doesn't want to go there.
And yet, she has to. You've got to know that abductions of women and the fact that she once again falls victim must shake her to the core. Her denial of her own fears has always been a driving character point with Scully. These emotional layers take this well beyond just another "Scully in Jeopardy" type episode. We see the terror in her eyes as she realizes the situation and tries desperately to escape, and yet with Gerry she calmly prolongs her life by talking with him and empathizing with him about his pain and guilt concerning his family tragedy. This allows Scully to buy Mulder time and instead of becoming another flannel nightgown wearing sister substitute that he can "save" she is spared. Perhaps it was the end that struck me the hardest, as we move from a shaken and quiet Scully escaping her confines to what may be one of the saddest and most effective voice over moments on the show - a clearly depressed Scully, hair mussed, and glasses slightly askew typing in the dark about her encounter.
The X-File itself - the "Thought-O-Graphs" was an interesting twist, though it did lead to some downright superhuman logical leaps in Mulder's mental process. From gazing at a surrealistic photo the amazing Mulder can get that the killer looms and means to pass judgement like a God. Then, even more incredibly, links six fingers to tombstones. They don't call him "Spooky" for nothing. The actual process of what was creating them -
Gerry's nightmares - or a glimpse into the future was left a bit up in the air.
Some great visuals in this episode from director Rob Bowman. The photos themselves were very artistic - even the shocking death of the officer was stunningly done. The stilt-legged chase scene was a unique twist, and the stark dark trailer with the dentist chair eerie.
This episode may have had one of the more amusing SRE (Scully Rational Explanation) moments that I can remember. We had Scully spouting off one of her more ridiculous theories about heat and expired film that by the end even she knows is stupid with Mulder giving her just enough rope to hang herself on it. Quite funny to see her just stop in mid stride as she hears herself. Actually, their interplay of ideas was quite comical on the whole as she tries to figure out where he is going and then he tries to hedge the argument he knows is coming with "What if ... what if". They know how the game goes now and seem to be trying to find new ways to amuse themselves with it.
-Retread Alert. Officer Trott was a Doctor in "Fallen Angel".
-The date stamp on Scully's report matches the original air date for this episode: October 11, 1996.
-Initially I thought to express my incredulity at Scully's ability to still speak and understand German when after 4 A-student years of spanish I can only seem to remember "Juan es un muchacho", but then I remembered my brain is walnut size compared to Scully. Heck, I bet she even rents "Das Boot" every so often and just plays it as background to keep up on the language.
-I really liked the scene during the PET scan with that otherworldly sounding "unruhe ... unruhe" coming over the speaker as they discovered the failed transorbital lobotomy.
-Apparently they are tired of the "Scully never gets to drive" whining as it appears to be equal opportunity thus far this year.
-Is it just me or do our heroes seem a bit trigger happy this season? They're shooting these folks left and right so far.
-Didn't you love the way Scully managed to draw her gun before entering "twilite sleep" so very artfully arranged.
-Another great guilt-o-graph for the Mulder scrapbook. He can put this lovely photo of Scully next to that trunk shot he has.
Autumn
"Your film is out of date." "Is that against the law?"