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"Mulder this is not reality."
That line could be the theme for the season. In a year that reveled in altered states and things that did not really happen, this was one of the more interesting entries in that category by giving us a twisted peek into psyche of the dynamically drugged duo. Still, after a season where almost a third of the episodes contained events that were imagined or erased, I'm ready to move onto to a time when Mulder says "I'm here and I'm real" and we can actually believe him.
I really enjoyed the framework within which the "Field Trip"script worked. The prolific team of Gilligan and Shiban working with a story by Spotnitz smartly use the events of an everyday argument to color the rest of the tale. Just as Mulder and cully comment on each other's behavior they are right. We've seen the "perfunctory dance" on both their parts for ages now. Mulder does however need to work on his math if he believes he is right 98.9% of the time. Most of the time what actually happens is a synthesis of both approaches moves them towards the answer, and it was an exploration of this yin yang partnership that drove the episode.
This is what makes the hallucinations particularly interesting. Mulder's fantasy Scully tells him the words you'd think he'd love to hear "You were right. All these years you were right, and suddenly everything seems everything but right and he tries to question events logically. Poor Scully snaps and turns paranoid when she hears her own rational explanation parroted back to her for the umpteenth time and searches desperately for an answer Mulder would come up with. How they see themselves in this hallucination is quite telling. Mulder is brave and walks into the light instead of being fearful or shooting at it and sees himself as blissful when he thinks he finally discovers his truth. Scully it seems still has some issues to work out on what she perceives to be her value to the X-Files. Methinks that snippy Mulder and his I'm always right neener got to her leaving her questioning the value of her methods. They both adopt each other's styles eventually, again demonstrating only together are they a whole. The last scene of them connecting physically after having used their mental connection to escape was a nice coda on the episode. They may start at odds to each other but they survive linked.
What was very interesting was that they appeared to share a hallucination once Mulder walked in the door. I'm not sure how that could have really happened, how the LSD laced goo allowed them to suddenly have their shared connection turn into full fledged ESP, but stranger things have happened on this show. To see the two of them trying to puzzle their way out of a drugged haze made it worthwhile. Even 'shroomed to the gills Scully still is doing the math and this time coming up with the bizarro yet correct theory that the Monster of the Week is a giant man eating fungus. Who says they've run out of ideas? Actually that was one of the things I liked the best about the "Field Trip" script. It was certainly unique. I especially enjoyed the false ending where we discovered they had not indeed escaped and instead their brains had just imagined the events. Probably the weakest part of the episode was the special effects. While I liked the way the goo-vision would occasionally wash over the camera and the look of Mulder and Scully trapped in the pods, every time the people would dissolve it just looked way too comic book hokey for my tastes.
As far as the acting was concerned if you could get past the guest actors apparently thinking they were on a soap opera rather than the X-Files there was a lot to enjoy here. Duchovny played Mulder with a slightly buzzy edge and a little unfocused look in his eye giving him a childlike simplicity as he explained to Scully that he had indeed found the truth and it was in his bedroom. (Mulder might want to remember that line to use sometime in the future.) Gillian Anderson is given a little more emotional ground to cover and gives a gangbusters performance. First she does a hell of a job showing us a stunned Scully with her little scientific world rocked by Mulder's new pet, and later nails the scene with Scully struggling with her emotions after being left with only the bones of someone she loves yet valiantly trying to figure out what is happening. Scully fighting tears gets me every single time, and the pain in her delivery was aching. Her slow confused build to a snap with first Skinner and then her pals the Lone Gunmen all giving her the same answers is pulled off with a nicely paranoid intensity.
All in all I enjoyed "Field Trip". It was a new and interesting story with a partnership theme and well acted by our leads. After such a hit and miss season it's certainly been nice to see the show finishing the year so strong.
-"I don't know what they did with the screen for this thing." Well, for those of you desperate for some semblance of continuity or at least an acknowledgement that others did dwell in the office I suppose you could use that. They probably had to toss out the screen because it had Spudner brains all over it.
-Poor Mulder it has been so long since he has actually done a slide show that he's losing his edge and can't even aim the thing properly anymore.
-Mulder's bedroom. For five years it remained a mystery. Now it's the most popular room in his apartment. I wonder if there is something Freudian about Mulder fantasizing Scully and an alien in it and Scully seeing it as a room to hold a dead body...
-Well, on the "hey look it's bog sludge let me stick my finger in it" front Mulder once again does not disappoint. Just once I'd like to see him be really sorry for doing that.
-One of the interesting things about this episode was the use of music. With a show like the X-Files that usually uses more music than most dramas it made parts of it seem even more surreal by its absence.
-I was kind of hoping for a more inventive use of the camera for the drugged sequences to make things seem a little off from our visual perspective as well. With the exception of the slow speed of Scully's walk through the wake and some interesting edit cuts (the light to a shining 42 and the hidden wipe cut that made it appear as if the whole party of folks at the wake disappeared) this did not happen as much as it could have.
-In the ongoing is he or isn't he religion debate it seems at least Scully still doesn't think Mulder is Jewish as she imagines a cross on his casket.
-Frank's Fashion Spot: Today's spotlight falls on Langly. Only he would "dress up" for a wake by wearing a tux T-shirt. Scully's got his fashion sense nailed in her drug induced haze.
-Most unnecessary shot: Frohike chugging wine from the bottle. It seemed obviously tossed in because it would be "funny", but was distracting to the importance of what was happening.
-I don't know what it is but somehow Scully driving a truck always cracks me up. I have to wonder how many blankets they have her sitting on.
-I guess Scully doesn't use the side mirrors to actually look at the cars behind her as the driver's side mirror was turned totally towards the truck. I guess she was using it to reassure herself that she was still wearing black.
-Speaking of, I guess Scully doesn't really have any problems picking out the proper outfit for a funeral in her closet does she?
-Nice touch: the bright alien light probably being the small beam on Scully's flashlight shining in the cave.
-Was it just me or did David Denman as Wallace Schiff occasionally remind anyone else of Nick Lea? I'm not sure if it was his delivery, tone of voice, or what but it kept distracting me.
-It makes no sense that we saw the goo from Wallace's perspective when he is filling the cup in the cave since he is part of the hallucination and not real.
-Our Little Sailor: Present in both Mulder's and Scully's hallucination if that's any indication of how much a part of her it is. First "Why the hell did you leave North Carolina without telling me?" and then "What the hell is wrong with everybody!"
-Funny little physical moment: Scully walking under Mulder's arm as she walks into the apartment. Guess the heels were not all that high at the moment.
-That Mulder has a hell of a way proving something is a hallucination. Lucky for Skinner it wasn't that 1.1% of the time when Mulder is wrong.
-Also thank God those FBI labs work fast. I'm assuming that is why the calvary arrived wearing the gas masks in time to find the gooey agents.
-I certainly can't imagine this one was a barrel of laughs to shoot. Besides having that goo dripped all over their faces all that emerging from the dirt over and over had to be special.
-Why in the world were there no EMTs in the back of that faux ambulance with them? All those people running around and they just dump them in the back of a truck? Sure. I guess no one wanted to get in the way of that cathartic hand holding. Who needs an IV when you've got your partner's muddy paw to grasp.
Autumn
"No, it is NOT the obvious answer!"
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