X-Files S3E5: On his list of the worst things in life

Sestra Amateur: 

This episode lost all credibility for me from the get-go. I’ll believe in aliens, conspiracies and reincarnation, but I refuse to believe the State of Florida conducted official electric-chair executions outside of Starke. On the lighter side, it’s amusing to see the Vancouver production team’s version of Florida -- no one has air conditioning anywhere, everyone just glistens with sweat. 

In Leon County – not Bradford County, which would have at least kept up the illusion of accuracy – J.T. Walsh, playing the warden of Eastpoint State Penitentiary, authorizes the execution of Napoleon “Neech” Manley. Neech’s supporters think the governor will grant a stay of execution at the last minute, but Lawton Chiles was probably busy that night. Manley has some choice last words for Warden Brodeur – is this Chris Carter paying homage to New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, who won his first Stanley Cup mere months before this episode originally aired? Neech’s soliloquy is making him sound like deranged Horace Pinker in Shocker, who was played by none other than Mitch Pileggi, or Max Jenke in The Horror Show which starred Lance Henriksen of Millennium (and The X-Files). I’m sensing a theme here. Neech’s monologue gets interrupted by life-ending voltage running through his body. Well, that’s just rude.

A few days later, Mulder lays out the details of Neech’s case for Scully -- in 1984, Manley was convicted of robbery and murder. He received the death penalty, but was granted two stays of execution over the ensuing 11 years. Manley’s philosophy background and belief in reincarnation appeals to Mulder, and the story particularly piqued Fox’s interest because one of the prison guards was found dead in Neech’s cell. The suffocated guard was one of five names on a revenge list supposedly compiled by Manley. 

Dana views the guard’s body in the prison morgue, it's rotting and covered with maggots. If anybody is eating rice while reading this, put the fork down. It’s not going to get any easier. Mulder talks to convict John Speranza while Scully speaks to prison guard Fornier, Then she gets accosted by prison guard Parmelly, who tries to convince her an inmate named Roque has the list. Parmelly’s behavior spooks Dana into leaving the prison. Roque leers at Scully while she waits for the doors to unlock.

An inmate later finds Fornier’s severed head in a paint can. The prison doctor thinks the hot and humid environment is causing the bodies to decompose faster, hence the larvae infestation in Fornier’s head. Sure Doc, blame Florida. Roque confirms there are five names on the list and the dead guards were two of them. He tries to barter for a better deal in exchange for the remaining three names. Warden Brodeur claims not to know who is behind the conspiracy. He later finds Fornier’s body in his own office. I wouldn’t think inmates would be able to access that area of the prison, at least, not the living ones. 

Back in Neech's cell – which, for some reason, is being kept as if he was still alive – Sculder peruse his personal library. Dana's catechism teachings contradict Manley's belief, so she’s not on board with him as the suspect. Prudent Scully thinks the other guards are responsible for the murders. Things get interesting when Mulder asks who would make the cut on her list. Dana feigns surprise that she only gets to pick five names and Fox banters right back. If Scully was the type of person to have a kill list, we know Krycek would be one. Cancer Man might even be another. Maybe Mulder if he really did forget her birthday…

Sculder interview Danielle Manley about her executed husband. She believes he could come back from the dead. No wonder she promised to never love another man. Back at the prison, the guards take Roque to see Brodeur. Clearly scared that he may be on the list, the warden punches Roque. The inmate confirms Brodeur is Number Five – no, not the robot from Short Circuit. Scully, who conveniently has her cell phone for once, gets the call that Roque was beaten to death. Meanwhile, Mrs. Manley has been shacking up with Parmelly. Lying to your about to be executed husband was probably a bad idea, Danielle, especially in an X-Files setting. 

Somehow, Parm gets back to the prison before Sculder, because he is standing over Roque’s dead body when they finally arrive. Maybe they took a break to watch Short Circuit and lighten the mood. The warden puts the prison on lockdown, thinking it will keep him alive. He also admits Neech was beaten by the two dead guards. Mulder doesn’t believe Roque was on the list, because his death doesn’t fit the pattern. Fox wants the name of the executioner because he thinks that man is on the list, even though it’s confidential information. Mulder is right, of course, and by the time he and Scully get to his house, the man who flipped the switch is dead and rotting in his own attic.

Fox goes back to Speranza for answers. The inmate confirms Roque was not on Manley's list. Dana goes the technical route and checks Neech's phone records. Attorney Danny Charez's digits are all over that list and he visited Speranza three times since Manley's execution. Sculder interview Charez, who explains he was Neech’s court-appointed attorney. Charez, the only man in Florida with working A/C, claims he visited Danielle Manley at home, but her prison-guard boyfriend chased him away at gunpoint. Now that’s some good intel. Warden Brodeur makes a deal with Speranza to hopefully save both of their asses. Back at Charez’s place, his air conditioner goes on the fritz. So much for that luxury. He lies down and gets smothered with a pillow … by Neech? Parm? Definitely not Danielle. Poor guy, his only real crime was being an inexperienced defense attorney. That’s four from the list, right?

Parm returns to Danielle’s place and she reads him the riot act because Sculder are outside watching her house. They head back to the prison and tattle that Parmelly is shacking up with Neech’s woman. Scully admits Parm accosted her at the beginning of their investigation and adds that Charez claimed Parm threatened him with a gun. The warden breaks the news that Charez is dead and suggests Parm should be arrested. Shouldn’t the local police handling Charez’s murder investigation do that? Sculder didn’t even know he was dead. Back at Chez Manley, Danielle sees Neech in her bedroom doorway. She tells Parm who spots Sculder and the police arriving at the house. Danielle points a gun at Parmelly, thinking her dead husband has possessed him. Mulder knocks on the front door while Scully watches what’s happening inside through the window. Danielle kills Parm, clinging to her claim that he was Neech. 

Back at the prison, Speranza meets with the warden in the shower room. Brodeur welshes on their bargain and beats up Speranza, who claims there is still one more name on the list. Dana is ready to close the case with Parmelly as the killer, but Fox doesn't think it adds up. He concedes to Scully and they’re about to leave the area when Warden Brodeur drives past them. Neech pops up in the backseat and grabs the warden, causing him to barrel into a tree. It’s a great PSA for seatbelt safety. Brodeur wasn’t wearing his, so he hits the windshield and is killed. I guess that’s Number Five. Thank you for playing. See you next week.


Sestra Professional:

It's a pretty harsh comedown from last week's episode to this one, but -- authenticity aside -- "The List" does have some things going for it, starting with the guest appearance of character actor, J.T. Walsh, who made a living off playing unlikable sods like Warden Brodeur. This ep doesn't traditionally make the list of X-Philes' favorites, but it's not a bad one either.

That doesn't mean it doesn't include a pretty hefty dose of Chris Carter's tendency to overdo things. Case in point, the warden spewing dialogue about how he would have figured Neech for a Nobel Prize had he not been in jail. The show runner had me at "nothing but bitterness and resentment 365 days a year" in prison, but he lost me with the other half-baked line.

It's also pretty clunky how Dana's left alone to be confronted by a guard and then given the agents' first hint about the telltale list. But we don't get a subsequent scene in which she tells Fox about what happened or the information gleaned during that uncomfortable meeting. Since I'm building the case in negative terms, I'm starting to wonder why I considered this episode underrated in the first place.
 
Being obsessed with it doesn't mean you can do it: Things do get lighter when our heroes aren't in darkened corners of the jail or finding body parts and/or maggots. We get to reflect upon Sculder's disparate backgrounds and our resident believer would much rather grab onto the concept of reincarnation than the possibility of conspiracy among some sort of combination of inmates and guards. But as Carter's alter ego, Fox does pose that interesting question -- who would you take out if you could eliminate five people after you pass? 

Points to Carter for the lengths he had to go to keep Mulder and Scully -- and us by extension -- from knowing who the next victims would be and whether or not the list was completed. There are a lot of candidates of people who wronged Neech, five is kind of a low number. Not knowing which one will get what's coming to him or her keeps the tension, with the added bonus that what appears to be the fifth victim may not have been a listee. That said, we all probably are fairly certain Brodeur is gonna get it at some point.

Everyone else is more bugged out than the maggots too. They bought into Neech's premortem claims hook, line and sinker. He's got people running around and handling names he would have put on a sequel list, and who's to say that was not his master plan all along. 

Carter's got Scully all over the map here. She's understandably bugged when left alone and grabbed in prison, and well, by the bugs in general. But not only is she also the usual voice of reason to Mulder's penchant for going off all cocked, she also gets the best quips of the episode, gems such as "A woman gets lonely, sometimes she can't wait around for a man to be reincarnated."

Pleased to meta you: Carter reportedly named his executioner Perry Simon after an NBC executive. No hard feelings from his days at a producer at the network, right? ... Gillian Anderson apparently didn't take to some of her co-stars, namely the maggots that showed up on and around all the various listees. "They're just the most disgusting things you can imagine," she said in the official third-season guide. ... Carter had the prison set built for "The List," but justified the expense in the third-season guide by adding that they recycled it for future episodes.

Guest star of the week: While Walsh does his patented slimeball routine to usual effect, it's ironically Badja Djola that gives the episode life as the ill-fated, vengeance-minded Neech Manley. His presence lingers over all the proceedings as people start turning on each other, it's almost not necessary to even show him in scenes in which his wife is thinking of him or the warden gets his ultimate comeuppance.