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"Maybe I'm just trying too hard."
"To do what? To be Mulder?"
Chris Carter is always proud of "the story" in interviews. Over the years he's convinced himself that people have always watched the X-Files for "good scary stories" rather than the characters. For this reason I find it highly amusing that in many of his scripts the only stuff that really works is the character based stuff. I've sat through many a lame and hole filled plot and still enjoyed the episode. "Darkness Falls" is a great example, as is "Jersey Devil" - both written by Carter. "Patience" too falls into that camp. I found Scully's character arc in it both insightful and interesting. I thought her struggle was well done. However, the straight out of the Weekly World News bat boy plot was just plain silly. I suppose, as Carter also directed this one, we should be happy he did not resort to the gimmicks that have been trademark in written and directed by Chris Carter episodes the past few years. I mean after all we could have had that bat thing flying at us in the glory that is 3D with our X-Files Collector Edition Batacular Glasses.
So before I play with Carter's idea of a "good scary story" let's talk about what worked for me. The story starts in isolation with Scully contemplating Mulder's nameplate and making a decision to put it away. Just as she's about to place it in a drawer she hears Doggett (who actually has friends he can laugh with in the FBI unlike the others who have occupied the office) and pals mocking the X-Files. So, instead of going through with her initial instinct she defiantly marks the territory of the X-Files and the office as Mulder's. She tells Doggett that this is not their office, it is "her partner's". Never does she refer to Doggett as her partner even though he and others use that word. She then takes on the facade of Mulder, and everyone knows that starts with a slide show, right? Scully misses Mulder by trying to become him. She toys smugly with Doggett in the slide show like she's been toyed with so many times before: "Any thoughts? Any Questions?" It's a test.
What's interesting is to watch her falter with this plan to mark the X-Files as Mulder's by being him. Gillian Anderson shows us Scully's vulnerability in this position time and time again. At first she's got the pissing off the local law aspect down, but she moves in and out of confidence in her role. Sometimes awkwardly or uncomfortably answering questions. Sometimes backing down when her science that she has always relied on does not help her draw conclusions. Parts of Scully start to peek through and she feels she owes the Detective an apology - certainly not something Mulder would say. She struggles with where science belongs with her now, still using it as a shield such that she buckles against being called a "leading authority on paranormal phenomena" and counters by classifying herself as a scientist who has seen things. Later, when she second-guesses herself ("maybe I'm wrong") she mentions science again. Even in the end, when Ernie points out it was she who figured it all out, Scully uncomfortably offers that Doggett got them there. Yeah, she made the connections and he, well, he rowed.
It's apparent the "be Mulder" plan is not working. If she is to honor him by continuing his work she must find her own way and keep what makes her strong on this journey. So, two weeks later we are back to the nameplate and Scully looks caught when Doggett enters as she is holding it. Doggett has just found out that since he now works on the X-Files he too will be mocked. So, Scully being Scully offers a kindness. Something that was always important to her - that in "Never Again" she equated with being respected and valued: "I never had a desk in here Agent Doggett, but I'll see that you get one."
In "Patience" Doggett and Scully are still circling each other warily and sniffing - both making some of these types of concessions. When Scully tries to spar with him by offering Mulder's take on Occam's razor in doing so she also offers up that Doggett is clearly no Mulder. Doggett doesn't take the bait and instead says he's just trying to figure it out like she is. He tries to show her respect in his own way by classifying her as an expert or calling what she's suggested they do "good cop work".
Where Doggett makes his big mistake this episode is in how he handles having a female partner with the local law. I've always been interested in the way the X-Files has explored Scully and the sexism she faces. In this case the Detective immediately turns his back on her to her chagrin to favor her male counterpart. Later when Doggett pulls the Detective aside to get him to do what she wants she is pissed off by this behavior. I am reminded of an almost direct counterpoint with Mulder when the local law in "DPO" confronts Scully and rather than jumping in Mulder does absolutely nothing and allows her to handle it herself. Doggett would be wise to learn this technique.
OK, now for the fun part - let's talk about the plot. Now let me get this straight. This bat thing has waited around for 44 years to take further vengeance after killing a bunch of people because what was apparently his lovely batspouse was killed in Montana. Never mind we are in the middle of southern Idaho now quite a ways from Montana. Batman is an EXCELLENT tracker and very patient. Hmm and the episode is called "Patience" - I get it. Anyway, where was I? Oh right - all of a sudden hell hath no fury like a man bat wronged. Its excellent sense of smell allows it to smell one of the guys that killed its main bat squeeze 44 years ago through contact with a burned body that was near the guy. Even if the person reeked of embalming fluid! Still, for some odd reason it can't smell the guy himself living on an island a stone's throw away from the rest of the folks until Scully and Doggett get there? And this guy's been getting rafts full of supplies for years and never sending anything back because well, it would be contaminated with his scent, right? I mean who wouldn't rather hole themselves up on an island in the middle of nowhere Idaho cut off from everything living in a creepy house where you play with bats all day and cover up every inch of your body when you could, say, MOVE TO ENGLAND? Or even Florida? Better to cut yourself and your wife off from civilization. After all brother Myron who is also a nutcase will send you cans of beans and expensive radar equipment. Now that makes perfect sense. Almost as much sense as that line about the batish one only killing at night when we just watched it off an old lady at 3:18PM according to the time stamp. And just where did Doggett get a 1956 Montana newspaper clipping from in the middle of Idaho? Did Mister "I don't leap" just head on down to the Burley library and start going through old Montana papers on a whim? Or did he fly back to DC really quick and search through the files again? OK, I think I'm done talking about the plot now and I did not even mention the logic about a man springing from a bat since this is the X-Files and stuff like that happens. But I reserve the right to mock it further if the mood strikes.
I will give them points for cinematography and mood though. I liked the night on the island shots a lot. Almost reminded me of Vancouver again. I will admit I jumped when Mr. Bat flew out at Doggett. He also looked pretty creepy when Ernie turned around from the fireplace to see him there. They did a nice job as well on the makeup for the creature.
>From a supporting actor standpoint, I thought that Bradford English as Detective Abbott certainly found the right amount of priggishness for the character. Plus as a bonus, he got to die like most anyone that is rude to Scully. While we didn't learn if Ernie Stefuniak actually died, I know that I could do without that weird and highly distracting delivery that actor Gene Dynarski decided on for the part. Then again, it did make him seem like someone stupid enough not to just move. And here his brother went all the way to Wyoming to get away! That must have taken hours.
Yeah, I obviously laughed at the silly parts of "Patience", but there was payoff for me as well. Watching Scully struggle with how to approach that first monster of the week with someone new was fascinating to me. Going back to work, doing your job does not mean giving up or forgetting. Mulder and Scully have always handled their emotions differently. I felt Mulder was a huge influence in coloring Scully in this episode. As I recall Mulder too went back to work after placing Scully's things (which I suppose would have included a nameplate if she had one) in a file the episode after she was abducted. I'm just glad she channeled herself into trying to do what he would do in solving a case rather than deciding to let the Winged Wonder shave her legs before sleeping with it or sitting at home listlessly watching porn to express her pain. God only knows how much folks would have been upset about her behavior if that were the case.
-As soon as old George had his pants around his ankles I knew he was a dead man. Killing someone in that matter has become such a favorite of 1013 it's become as X-Files cliche as dying in the bathroom. Now if, as a supporting actor, you can die in the X-Files with your pants around your ankles in the bathroom... well that's the stuff dreams are made of.
-And the credits change again. I'd be shocked, but it's my bet it was done just to stay in accordance with the Screen Actor's Guild rules.
-It looks like Scully showed Doggett how to travel via magical X-Files air - the fastest planes in the world! George and wife Tahoma die at 3:05AM. Neighbors find their bodies most likely sometime the next morning. Let's be generous and call it 6AM - which would be 8AM in DC. I think we can assume at least 2 hours for the cops to get there and pictures to somehow magically get in Scully's slide machine. And yet Scully and Doggett manage to fly to someplace in Idaho (normally a 5 hour flight from DC) and then drive at least an hour to this town (trust me there are no direct flights to anywhere in Southern Idaho from DC let alone Burley) and still arrive by 11ish AM with what must be every cop in a city of just under 9000 still milling around the crime scene? Color me impressed.
-Frank's Fashion Spot: You know I want to just think happy thoughts about the lovely blue turtleneck they had Scully in. Really I do. But no, it is completely ruined by that ridiculous, unprofessional, unbuttoned and gaping monstrosity of a blouse. Gee Scully, wonder why the other cops won't treat you professionally when you're giving them all a free peepshow? What planet is the wardrobe person from where she thinks that this is in character for professional wear? And why did the director shoot that shot where you can actually see her black bra because the blouse is gaping so much? Oh that's right. He was probably giggling "I made this" the whole time he was looking in her shirt. "Sorry Gillian that didn't quite work for me. Can you try pouting your lips and maybe arching your back a tad? Heh heh heh. One more time - take 1121 - and action!"
-How sad for Scully, she's now teamed with someone that doesn't understand all the big words she and Mulder used to toss around for sport. If Doggett is smart he'll spend next weekend studying a dictionary.
-I found the flashlight give and take amusing. After all Doggett's question as lame as it was did deserve that "never" response.
-While we're in that first attic, did that undertaker and his wife have some sort of odd lamp fetish? The place was filled with lamps of all kinds. It was like the place old lamps go to die.
-As someone actually from Montana I was quite surprised to find out that apparently Montana had it's own version of the USA Today in 1956 called "The Montana Press Telegram" that covered all the important mutant news fit to print statewide. Why not use one of those real local gems like the Hungry Horse News instead?
-Speaking of that newspaper, props didn't do much more than plunk the picture in. The story below that sensationalist headline had to do with the election of someone named Tom Wallace.
-Further proof Doggett is not Mulder: he actually wears gloves when poking his fingers around in an investigation. Where's the sport in that?
-"Patience" was worth the price of admission just to hear someone tell *Scully* "Honest to God you just jump at whatever explanation is the wildest and most farfetched don't you?"
-Time Oopsie: At the same moment the screen legend reads 1:07 in the morning the clocks in the room are set to a totally different time.
-OK, so it's 1:07AM. You just figure out that someone is in danger. You have his address. It's a small town. Why does it take you until 6:58AM to find him down by the river near his house? Does Doggett drive that slow or did it just take Scully forever to change out of scrubs and by then they were hungry and stopped for pancakes at the Burley Breakfast Bistro?
-Manly Man Meter: Well first of all Doggett drives and rows as a bonus, because we all know he *is* the big macho man. Plus he feels the need to intervene for Scully with the local law and seems mystified why that would upset her. Very manly. As is that stance he likes to take where he rests his hand on his gun. Too bad he still has a tiny flashlight and let a flying thing with no obvious genitalia get the best of him and had to collapse in Scully's arms or he'd score better. This week's Spectacular Testicular Total a mere 3. And it could have been big. Really, really big.
-His batishness was pretty flexible for such an old bat dude. I'm not quite sure how he managed to get his whole body out of that rather small hole in the tree trunk that fast, but he did.
-Dialogue I really wanted to see after Ernie asks Scully if she's prepared to sacrifice family, children, etc and be terrorized by a monster. "No, I'm smart enough to spend my money on a plane ticket rather than a ground radar setup."
-How is it that Scully is always such a sure shot when she usually closes her eyes or turns her head when firing? Well, at least she got to kick the door in at the end. I was also glad to see that Scully's bottomless pockets can always produce another clip as well.
-I have to take issue with the "Two Weeks Later" timestamp. Why that long? Just to give Myron time to move? Given their conversation it seems like Doggett and Scully have not talked much since returning from the case making that timestamp just seem weird and arbitrary.
Autumn
"I'm not here to be a curiosity Agent Doggett. I'm here to work."