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"It's not ice cream. It's a non-fat tofutti rice dreamsicle."
No matter what you call it, it was dessert. A sweet fable about the unnecessary things in life that bring the most joy. Perhaps the timing was not the best in a season where we already have a toothache from the sugar, but the difference here was that, for the most part, instead of poking fun at the characters it celebrated them.
Notable as an episode penned by series star David Duchovny, "The Unnatural" is infused with something often lacking in the X-Files: optimism. Love and laughter are key in this story of unlikely friends thrown together by fate (sound familiar?). The theme of what it is that makes us really human is gracefully told through the game of baseball. Jesse L. Martin plays the alien Ex with a joy that tells us why he gave up an existence of living with one of those "very tiny mouths" for one filled with laughter and smiling. It was perfect that the last thing Ex does before he dies, transformed by his passion into a real man, is laugh. Baseball was, as he says, "the first unnecessary thing I ever did in my life, and I fell in love." Duchovny's echo of this in the episode's coda where a usually straight-laced Scully intones that she has "more necessary" things to do with her time yet ends up joyfully celebrating something unnecessary with her partner was a perfect ending. I'd love to see Duchovny get his hands on these characters again some time.
Duchovny as first time director did not meet with as great of success. Certainly not a bad first effort at all, but hardly noteworthy. It had hits and misses. Of the few more interesting shots he set up, the opening of the teaser worked the best for me: the camera tracking to lights, swirling with all the stars in the sky, then back down to see the All Stars playing baseball. On the other hand, the ending transition craning down on Dales and Ex to craning down on the older Dales seemed stagy and overly long. The use of the period boy moving through time seemed a bit forced. Especially when we were subjected to the too pronounced message of the black and white child arms around each other talking baseball - take the same scene just walking together and it does not seem as obvious and we still get the point. I will give him points for the clever, yet too self-referential for my taste when "Colony" was thrown in, use of the black and white TV to move back and forth through time. I was also not amused by being forced to watch the rather dull focus of the camera on a policeman spit shining his badge just so the real focus of the scene - the Bounty Hunter could remain obscured for a surprise at the end. Given more time and experience in the director's chair to even things out (if it is his wish) I think his cleverness could lead to some interesting things.
So, how do you categorize a story that features the alien Bounty Hunter, grays, the sacred words "the project" , green blood, and Mulder spouting off questions about hybrids in this case? I can't call it mythology or decide it has impact on the mytharc because the picture in the paper is the only concrete thing. The rest of the story is filtered through an old boozehound who says to "trust the tale, Agent MacGyver, not the teller". So the grand revelation that alien Bounty Hunters are just morphing gray lizard aliens who in their spare time contract out to local law enforcement is hard to swallow as series canon.
The acting in the "Unnatural" was for the most part delightful. I'm glad that Fredric Lane got to be in an X-Files episode that is so watchable after his last unfortunate outing as Dales. He plays the character with such a pureness of heart that it really makes you wonder what went wrong to make this man into the rather sad loner he became late in life. I'm convinced Jesse L. Martin could charm anyone with his sweet style and twinkling eyes. M. Emmet Walsh, a late addition pinch hitter for the other Dales, does a nice job of trying to get Mulder to understand the heart of his story. My only real complaint was the overly nerdy portrayal of "Moose" , with the glasses and that silly tongue thing he was doing it just became a caricature.
As for Duchovny and Anderson, they were a breezy delight. What fun to see Scully playfully taunting Mulder with her ice cream treasure as they "hurl cliches" at each other and poke gentle fun. I'd like to personally thank Mr. Duchovny for allowing us this glimpse of playfulness with these two. You could tell both actors relished the opportunity to break out of the "joyless myopia" that seems to cloyingly surround Mulder and Scully. I have to believe that no matter where you stand in the great relationship debate, that the last moments of the episode, our heroes laughing, smiling and just plain happy as together they hit home runs was enough to put a smile on most faces. When you spend six years caring about fictional characters like we have these two, well, what can I say, I just want those kids to be happy. Tonight seeing them happy made me happy. Even in the "light" X-Files episodes as much as we may laugh the characters rarely get joy, and frankly they deserve a little frisky fun.
There's a line in "The Unnatural" where baseball is described as "useless but perfect". This episode was neither one of those things, but it certainly was an enjoyable hour of television.
-Delightful moment: As Vin Scully tells us over and over how "gorgeous" and "perfect" the day is, our Scully hauls huge dusty old tomes down the basement steps and yearns to be outside playing herself.
-I guess when they called it the cactus leagues they really meant it because as far as I could tell the cactus caught more balls than anyone else.
-Scully has never played baseball? Say it ain't so. I have a very hard time believing a tomboy with two brothers who doted on her father never swung at a pitch. My theory is it had been a while and the adult Scully was just interested in getting some private lessons.
-So what does Dales do on the bus rides while the team celebrates life around him? He studies French and practices saying "You are without heart, Mademoiselle." Maybe this is the reason he ends up alone.
-Mark Snow apparently spent so much time coming up with the wonderful mournful guitar used in the baseball scenes that he had to fill a lot of the rest of the episode with samples of the movie score.
-Speaking of the music, I will admit that I now find it very funny that we have "plam music". I swear every time that thing opens with the Rabwinesque "pfffft" we hear the same dramatic notes.
-Just why is Mulder looking for his Arthur Dales in DC when he just saw him in Florida? Maybe "Agua Mala" does indeed take place in the future during hurricane season.
-Sooooo, there were two brothers and one sister all named Arthur. I wonder if Fredric Lane will also play the sister at thirtysomething in drag if we ever get to meet her since they all seem to look the same until they are much older.
-Funny how that 1947 newspaper references a past event in 1995 in the text to the left of the Bounty Hunter's lovely mug.
-Frank's Fashion Spot: I always enjoy 40's period costumes, but some of those extras were having serious hat issues. Also, nice to see even Mulder notice fashion when he comments on Scully's nice suede jacket.
-Dale's refrigerator scared me even more than the one in Scully's living room. It was filled with liquor and condiments. Yum. I guess if you keep all your hard liquor in the fridge it cuts down on the need to dilute it with ice. Looks like the Dales brothers have the old lonely boozer living in chaos in common. Lovely.
-I loved watching Scully tromp in and then scale boxes with ease to crane her neck out the window to enjoy the Saturday sun.
-I see Mulder continues to impress with his tipping skills. Heck, a buck is better than the pizza guy got.
-I did like the "There was a bee on you" cover for the mistaken rescue. Because God knows, we understand just how much a bee on you can suck all too well.
-Wow, it was interesting to note while they may not laugh or smile, even aliens are capable of a girly scream.
-A few technical highlights I'd like to point out. First, kudos to editor Lynne Willingham for scoring with the delightfully edited scene at the end. Also a nod to the makeup team for a great job with the Exley as alien scene. Usually we only see such things obscured or in fleeting and I thought they did a nice job giving us an extended view. My only complaint was the Bounty Hunter's exit where the alien head looked too much like a masked horseman.
-Noticed the little tribute to the late Dimaggio next to the TV: "Joltin' Joe Has Gone".
-That lab was just too silly. How many different brightly colored bubbling, smoking liquids did we need for a scientist who wears dishwashing gloves to do experiments?
-In the "that's gotta hurt department" : "sliding down a razorblade into a big old glass of lemonade".
-Line that should have been cut or changed: the reference to the ticking of Scully's biological clock when this series has already rendered her sterile. It was just the wrong thing to say at that time because of what it evokes.
-I've got to wonder if "I don't want to be no famous man. Just want to be a man." had a bit of the writer speaking in it.
-"In the Big Inning" gets my vote for worst use of a tag line change since "Teliko". What a groaner.
-Poor Gillian, her height and the set conspire against her at the end such that as she is walking up the only way her face is not obscured is if she hunches over and ducks her head to deliver her lines.
-Mulder manages to make hunting aliens sound downright sexy mumbling in Scully's ear as they played handsies with the bat and hit home runs when the two of them have yet to get to first base. I bet he probably wishes he thought of this little birthday idea earlier.
-Is it wrong to enjoy a simple line like "I'm in the middle" this much? I hope not.
Autumn
"Shut up Mulder, I'm playing baseball."