X-Files S3E24: Attack on the clones

Sestra Amateur: 

Is it just me or does the episode title "Talitha Cumi" sound a lot like a Jedi name? And did you see The Last Jedi last week? Back on point ... we have reached the end of Season 3, so let's get to it and through it. A man named Galen Muntz is in an Arlington, Virginia restaurant taking hostages. He’s grossly outnumbered and only has a six-shooter, but everyone complies with his orders. At least he lets the children leave. 

Jeremiah Smith, played by veteran actor Roy Thinnes, is the one brave soul who slowly approaches Muntz and tries to talk him down. He’s getting through to Galen but the SWAT team arrives extremely quickly and sets up outside. Muntz hears a police radio through the open front door and shoots three of the customers before SWAT takes him out. Jeremiah not only heals Galen’s chest wound, he cleans his white t-shirt better than any bleach pen could. Not sure which ability is handier.

Sculder arrive at the scene and learn all the shooting victims are no longer injured. The unnamed local detective doesn't have much to tell them. One of the victims shows Scully the bullet hole in his shirt – I guess Smith started half-assing the stain removal and clothing repair work at this point – and says Jeremiah told him he would be all right. Mulder interviews Muntz in the back of the patrol car, he claims a holy man healed him with the palm of his hand. Unfortunately, Smith left the scene. It’s not like they had any grounds to keep him there.

In Rhode Island, Cigarette Smoking Man meets with Teena Mulder and they tensely discuss things like water skiing and implied extra-marital affairs. When Cancer Man water skied in his younger days, do you think he did it with a lit cigarette in one hand? Their conversation gets more animated as someone discreetly takes pictures. Sculder continue their investigation in Virginia until Assistant Director Skinner calls with the news that Fox’s mother has been hospitalized.

Sculder race to the hospital and learn Teena suffered a stroke. She tries to communicate with Fox and writes “palm.” Mulder thinks there’s a connection between his mother’s condition and Jeremiah. The agents head back to Washington, D.C. and watch video footage of the crime scene from the local news. While reviewing the tape, they see Smith turn into someone else and disappear. Meanwhile, Jeremiah is hard at work at Social Security Administration when Cancer Man and his lackeys arrive. He quickly and quietly gets taken away, trussed up like Hannibal Lecter and left in a prison cell who knows where.

Mulder meets with Mr. X at the family summer house in Rhode Island. X shows him the photographs he took during Cancer Man and Teena’s argument. Think he ran over to the local Fotomat to get them developed? X takes credit for saving Teena’s life and claims CSM didn’t do anything to her. Fox denies knowing why his mother was at the house. Back at FBI headquarters, Scully meets with “Jeremiah,” who claims he doesn’t remember anything until he went to work the following day. 

Mulder waits until dark and starts searching the summer house. He thinks “palm” means “lamp,” so he starts breaking the lamps in the living room until he finds one that is hiding a silver ice pick-like weapon, you know, like the one from Colony (Season 2, Episode 16). Cancer Man meets with the incarcerated Smith, lectures him about “the project” and claims “the date is set.” Jeremiah then accomplishes the impossible by morphing into Deep Throat and rendering CSM speechless. Cancer Man regains his composure and leaves Smith in the cell.

After returning to the office, Mulder confronts Skinner about Cancer Man. He demands a name but the assistant director promptly points out “these men don’t have names.” Fox claims CSM is trying to kill Jeremiah, but Dana tells him Smith came to the office the day before and is already back at work. This would have been one of those days where cell phones might have made things a little easier for our intrepid heroes, Scully could have – and frankly should have -- told him Jeremiah came to the office already. And Mulder should have told Dana what he found at his mother’s before confronting Walter about it. 

Sculder ask Jeremiah to come with them, but he morphs into another person and disappears. Cancer Man goes back to Smith’s cell to taunt him again. After some mediocre name calling and a couple of ciggies, Jeremiah gets the upper hand by claiming CSM is suffering from lung cancer. Cancer Man denies it. Meanwhile, another Jeremiah arrives at the prison and morphs into the Alien Bounty Hunter from "Colony'! ("Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?") And, of course, he has another silver weapon with him.

At the Providence hospital, Fox learns his mother may not regain consciousness. CSM shows up outside Teena’s room and Mulder yanks the cigarette right out of his mouth. Fox also threatens to shoot him, but for some reason, the cigarette thing seems more ballsy. Cancer Man claims Teena called him to try and locate Samantha. Mulder leaves without shooting CSM or giving him back his cigarette. In the meantime, Scully is researching Jeremiah Smith and finds several versions of him. This time, she tries to call Mulder but his phone has no service. 

Mr. X surprises Mulder and demands the silver weapon. He also claims they’ll kill Fox to get it back. X's stunt double decides to fight Mulder’s stunt double for it. They stop punching and hold each other at gunpoint. X claims Fox is a dead man. Scully returns home and Jeremiah Smith comes a-calling. He claims she spoke to an imposter and also says he has information for Mulder about Samantha. Fox and Dana arrange a meeting in an abandoned factory. With Mulder holding the weapon on him, Jeremiah explains he has a long and complicated story to tell. (More complicated than the first three seasons of The X-Files??? Doubtful.) Fox really wants Jeremiah to go see Teena, but the Alien Bounty Hunter arrives and slowly approaches them. ... Maybe he’ll tell them what the hell "Talitha Cumi" means. May the force be with you, Sculder!

Sestra Professional:

Sestra Am is such a Star Wars fan that it's not surprising she sees Jedi in her breakfast eggs, particularly since The Last Jedi is already on everyone's lips. But there's also something to be said for getting that vibe from "Talitha Cumi." 

Just a couple tidbits from the initial investigation of the fast-food crime scene. "There's not a man here who can tell you what happened," unnamed detective says. Maybe we can ask the women? ... And never one to want to let a Mulder moment of skepticism pass, he looked particularly dubious when the suspect explained he was healed by the palm of someone's hand.

I've repressed it all: Teena and Cancer Man's conversation was certainly interesting, but I think X jumps the proverbial gun a little by deeming it wasn't CSM's fault. She was looking pretty strong and healthy during the argument through the lens finder. Her swift illness always comes off as jarring, but juxtapose that against all the victims from the teaser who walked out without a scratch and it makes quite an impression.

X continues to get pretty testy for an informant, baiting Fox with lines like "surely you were aware they knew each other." I think that might have come up before in conversation if he did. (Although it's funny Mulder can jump from "palm" to "lamp" with ease, but never picked up on the fact his mama knew his nemesis.) Not to mention the fact that X is constantly showing violent tendencies against those he's allegedly attempting to help.

This episode provides a lot of good two-person conversations/discussions/fights. Jeremiah was holding his own against CSM before he even pulled the Deep Throat switcheroo. Cancer Man spews the governmental party line about how Americans are tired of waiting for miracle and mystery and have put their faith in science. Smith gets a hit by countering that CSM may have the means but he has no right to make such grandiose decisions for the world at large.

You live in fear: When CSM states "the date is set," don't you have new understanding for what Sculder go through? It's pretty frustrating to hear vague statements like that. But then the low blow -- Jeremiah morphs into Deep Throat. Not that we mind one bit, it's a blast to see Cancer Man unnerved for a change. Smith gives as good as he gets even better in Deep Throat guise -- the lung cancer diagnosis is just the shutdown line.

Like Chris Carter always says, no one ever is really gone in The X-Files universe. As Jerry Hardin returned as Deep Throat, so has Brian Thompson as the Bounty Hunter. This guy exudes creepiness and doesn't have to memorize any words. The stiletto weapon has more dialogue than he does -- we once discussed how co-producer Paul Rabwin's recording of "pfft" became the sound for the weapon popping up when the perfect sound effect couldn't be found for it.

You want to smoke on this: Mulder gets to have confrontations with both Cancer Man and X. I'd say the former went a little better than the latter, and not just because of the previously mentioned obvious stunt doubles. But this still becomes one of those frustrating times when Fox has his man at his fingertips. He makes us go "yeah, Mulder" while ultimately not really accomplishing much. His relationship with his informer seems very tenuous. "I oughta shoot you anyway after everything I've given you" and "You're a dead man, Agent Mulder, one way or the other" -- these are words you just don't want to hear from the guy who you're putting all your stock in.

And nothing else metas: Even though the bulk of the Mulder-X confrontation was obviously done by stunt doubles, Steven Williams did hurt his shoulder during filming of that scene, according to the official third-season episode guide. ... We also find out in the guide that the water-skiing reference was an inside joke about William B. Davis' championship skill in the field. ... Roy Thinnes was brought to the show's attention by David Duchovny, who saw him on a plane around the time this one was being written, according to The Complete X-Files. ... And wonder no more, the episode guide informs us the title comes from the Aramaic story "Arise Maiden," a story about the healing of a young girl. 

Guest star of the week: Thinnes brings such weight to his role(s) as Jeremiah. It can't be understated how much value that provides to the show. He's able to unsettle the otherwise unflappable CSM, seemingly without raising his pulse rate. By being so strong and forthright, he's able to convey the sense that good can triumph over evil. And with Deep Throat no longer among the living, that's so important when our leads aren't really sure what's going on as they're still in the dark, at least one step behind the action.