X-Files S6E10: Death becomes him

Sestra Amateur: 

Spoiler alert: "Tithonus" is a poem written by Alfred Lord Tennyson about an immortal man who wants to die. In this episode we visit Los Angeles’ version of New York City. (This line was funnier when the show filmed in Vancouver.) 

Photographer Alfred Fellig, played by character actor Geoffrey Lewis (who has quite an extensive acting resume, but I know him best from Night of the Comet and The Lawnmower Man), follows a mail clerk as she makes her rounds. They both enter a crowded elevator, but he leaves after seeing everyone’s monochromatic reflections in the doors. (I can relate; if an elevator is too crowded I often choose to wait for the next one.) Alfred runs downstairs to the basement as the cables snap and the elevator car crashes to the ground. Alfie sees the dead bodies and takes photographs of them. (OK, I’m no longer relating to Fellig.)

Sculder are diligently doing background checks at FBI Headquarters when Scully is summoned to Assistant Director Kersh’s office. He gives Dana a new partner for the day: Agent Peyton Ritter from the New York bureau. Ritter, one of the guys from Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place (the other guy being little-known actor Ryan Reynolds), somehow learned Alfred has a penchant for taking photographs of crime scenes before he’s been notified there was a crime in the first place. 

Fellig has already moved on to his new subject, a man having a heart attack. Before the poor dude dies, Alfred sees him in black and white as well. Scully and Ritter investigate Alfie at the NYPD and find records dating back to 1964. Turns out he hasn’t aged much. Let me rephrase that: He’s old but hasn’t changed age in the past 35 years. He’s gotten kind of brazen though; while Sculter (Ritly?) are doing their thing, Fellig photographs a murderer and gets stabbed and robbed for his trouble. Luckily he’s able to pry that knife right out of his back and walk away.

The next morning, the prints on the knife lead Ritter to believe Alfred was the killer, not a victim. During a brief interview, Fellig shows the stab wounds on his back. Dana points out to her partner du jour that their job is to find the truth, not to just get a confession from Alfred. Scully reaches out to Mulder who is (not literally) chained to his desk but able to stay in the loop after intercepting Ritter’s emails to A.D. Kersh. 

Dana relieves Ritter on a stakeout at Fellig's apartment. Scully confronts him alone about the photographs and agrees to go for a ride with Alfred. The duo (Scullig? Felly?) drives around until he finds a monochromatic woman (probably a hooker) and warns Dana about her impending death. Scully intervenes when a man (probably a pimp) starts harassing the woman, who gets killed by a truck. Alfie, who’s had enough fun for the evening, leaves Dana behind. 

At the precinct, Ritter confronts "Dana" because Scully is X-filing his investigation (apparently that’s synonymous with mucking it up). But it should be an X-file; Mulder’s background check of Alfred Fellig (and his previous names) reveals him to be 149 years old. Conveniently, fingerprints confirm Fox’s findings. 

Sidenote: I got to wondering why didn't Fellig use a more common name for each identity like Smith or Brown. All of his chosen monikers are pretty specific, so it’s very easy to track his history. In fact, according to mynamestats.com there are only about 70 Felligs in the world, with none living in the United States, according to the last census. I assumed there had to be some type of in-joke involved. It turns out, that’s the case. There was an Ascher Fellig, a photographer famous for his black and white crime scene photographs who died in New York City. And Alfred is likely a nod to the original "Tithonus" poet. We now return to our regularly scheduled episode review.

Scully defies Ritter yet again and confronts Alfie, who is jealous of his subjects’ ability to die. Fellig shows Dana the photograph of the carnage from the crashed elevator. He clearly sees Death taking the mail clerk’s soul (spirit, life, what have you). Scully claims it’s a lens flare and starts to look at his other photos. The one of a dead woman from 1928 seems to get to her. She leaves the darkroom, calls Mulder and asks him to research one of Fellig’s possible aliases, Louis Brady. Afterward, Alfie lifts her cell phone and turns it off.

Fox learns Louis Brady was charged with double murder and calls Ritter when he can’t reach Dana. While talking to Scully about his long life, Alfred sees her in black and white, knows she’s about to meet Death and wants to take her picture. Scully handcuffs him just as Ritter arrives and shoots Fellig, who is standing in front of Dana. Ritter’s high-caliber bullet goes through Alfie’s camera, through Alfie and lodges itself in Dana’s stomach. Fellig, in pain, still sees a monochromatic Scully. He tells Dana not to look at Death and holds her hand. The grayscale moves from her to him and Alfred finally gets his wish.

One week later, Mulder tells Scully that Fellig’s autopsy showed he died of a single gunshot wound. Ritter is lucky Fox didn’t punch him in the face for shooting Dana. Although, when you think about it, Mulder sorta, kinda (but not really) shot Scully this season in "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" (Episode 6) so maybe he just didn’t want to be a hypocrite. They can form their own club instead.

Sestra Professional: 

So "Tithonus" feels more like an old-school episode of The X-Files that would have fit into the Vancouver years nicely, but it sometimes tends to get overlooked during discussion of the show. I've done it myself, although upon reflection, it's definitely a wheelhouse ep. It's kind of nice to be back on that terrain.

Director Michael Watkins rather vividly brings Vince Gilligan's chilling concept to the small screen. This is the writer's second foray into photography as an X-file after the thoughtography killer in "Unruhe" (Season 4, Episode 4). Watkins and the art department composes this one as well as Rob Bowman and crew did the other visual effort in the fourth season. The picturesque way the victims are seen in black and white through the camera's lens must have taken some doing. And the story is laid out at a nice languid pace we haven't seen a lot of in the sixth season.

Don't forget your toilet brush: "Tithonus" also fits very well into where the ongoing saga is at the point. With the actual X-files not within their grasp, Scully and Mulder are doing routine background checks. Assistant Director Kersh hasn't given up on Dana yet, so her expertise in forensic pathology has some value to him and the bureau.

Pulling her away gives us an offbeat look at Fox as well. He truly is eating his heart out that she's called off on a de facto X-file. (I guess if it was actually classified as that then Spender and Fowley would be on the case.) Just by looking at the reports in the FBI computer, Mulder devises an array of X-filey opinions -- murder by telekinesis, the fact that Muslim tradition believes photographs steal souls -- our usual first step in solving these mysteries. So he's on the case too without even leaving the office.

But we get even more insight into Dana in this one, not surprising considering Gilligan is one of the better Scully writers in the fold. She's willing to stand up to a green agent who just wants to bust the most obvious suspect in the case. Scully, as always, just wants the truth. To that end, she does go to some extremes. A ride-along with the suspect doesn't sound like the best idea in the universe. Maybe she's taking the psychic's contention that she doesn't die from "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" (S3E4) too seriously. After all, she did survive cancer and numerous perilous situations thus far. No, I don't think she really is, but Darin Morgan's throw-away line in that episode continued to be a fan beacon after that.

Guy's a regular Dick Clark: This one continued to remind me of bits and pieces of previous episodes. Another example: Fellig has been around a long time. Maybe he took some pictures of liver-eating mutant Eugene Victor Tooms' earliest victims ("Squeeze," S1E3). But Alfie's lack of compassion for the victims eats away at Dana the most, pun intended. She gives it her best shot while trying to save the ostensible hooker, but would that woman have been killed by the guy accosting her instead of the truck if Scully didn't subdue him? Looks like we'll never know. 

Don't sweat the math: Thank goodness Fox still can put the pieces together more cohesively in Washington than the green rookie who is probably scarred for life. He'll be lucky if he can handle doling out pizza after this. Mulder did get a big assist from Dana on the Brady pseudonym. Because that's when the fact that the photographer out looking for death went too far in that pursuit gets revealed.

There's a long final discussion between Scully and Fellig. Dana's assumed her typical X-file stance, she's recognizing something supernatural is going on but doesn't completely believe what Alfred's telling her. So it's not really a surprise but still a shock when we see Scully marked for death in black and white at the end of that scene. And since we're not in the aforementioned "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" scenario, it feels more visceral. I'm still not convinced about the old switcheroo that gave Fellig what he wanted most. Maybe Bruckman was right after all. 

Meta murals: So close, Sestra Am. According to the official episode guide, Alfred Fellig was named for the original photographer, Arthur Fellig, and another Vince Gilligan admires, Alfred Stieglitz. I thought there had to be a reason why Fellig's name was so close to beloved show abductee Max Fenig. ... Gilligan noted the guest star gave Gillian Anderson a boost during this episode. "At a certain point, you get kind of tired of playing the same character week in and week out. That episode seemed to invigorate Gillian a bit. She really liked Geoffrey Lewis and the two of them had this kind of simpatico," the writer said in The Complete X-Files. ... Some of the New York scenes were filmed on NYPD Blue sets at the other end of the Fox lot. ... Gilligan was introduced to the poem "Tithonus" by girlfriend Holly Rice, who he paid tribute to in the ep once again as one of Alfie's aliases -- L.H. Rice -- and with her birthday of April 4 on Fellig's press pass applications.

Guest star of the week: Lewis' wizened look proves effective in these environs. The veteran actor drew pictures with his words throughout the show, particularly delivering the story of yellow fever wiping out half of New York City with so much style and substance it reminded me of Robert Shaw's USS Indianapolis speech in Jaws.