Sestra Amateur:
Whether “This” works for you or doesn't probably depends on your level of X-Phile nostalgia. Maybe this is the show’s way of saying sorry for the ickfest of the previous episode’s revisionist history. Well, maybe not a full-on apology, but here’s a bone for you/us.
A distorted voice reaches out to Special Agent Fox Mulder on his smart phone. The image on the screen appears to be Richard Langly, who died along with the other Lone Gunmen back in "Jump the Shark" (Season 9, Episode 15). This Lone Gunman wakes a sleeping Mulder and Special Agent Dana Scully with a question most people don’t get to ask: “Am I dead?”
Meanwhile, there’s also a home invasion in progress at Mulder’s house; three would-be robbers with cool taste in music enter with guns a-blazing. Sculder kill two, but one gets away. Langly cryptically points out, “They know that I know.” Scully calls in the incident while Fox hides his phone. Dana mentions that nobody saw The Lone Gunmen’s bodies after their deaths because they were exposed to the Marburg virus and incinerated. So their caskets in Arlington Cemetery should be empty? And now we’re supposed to believe no one – not even DOCTOR Scully, who performed so many autopsies during the run of the show – autopsied Langly, Byers or Frohike? And Scully took the government’s word for it that The Lone Gunmen were dead and burned? If we hadn’t seen it actually happen in that episode, then I would definitely assume their deaths were faked. The only “evidence” that convinces me: I don’t think Frohike could have stayed away from Scully for 16 years.
Two more sinister vehicles arrive at Mulder’s house. The Russian occupants demand Sculder disarm themselves. Scully calls Assistant Director Walter Skinner for help. He knows what’s going on and he tells her to surrender. Fox is resistant but he and Dana are outnumbered and quickly subdued. They want Mulder’s phone but he isn’t giving it up. Too bad Langly won’t stop talking; they find the phone in Fox’s oven. Sculder work together and escape from the distracted soldiers. After running through the woods they find Walter, who claims a private security contracting company that works directly for the executive branch of the U.S. government came after them. Scully asks Walter if Langly is alive. He roundabout answers her.
Sculder end up in an internet café to scan the QR Code. It relates to a building which Mulder once investigated as an X-file, thanks to a tip from … Langly. Sculder need to get into their office in the FBI building. They approach Skinner in the parking garage. He seems frustrated by the gluttony of “intelligence” agencies in the world these days. He takes pity on them -- probably because of what he learned in the previous episode -- and explains how X-files are now accessible via computer thanks to Director Mueller. By the way, I stumbled across the perfect example of how multitasking can be detrimental to these blogs. While typing during Skinner’s exposition, I almost missed the best FBI Special Agent ID photo EVER taken. But I digress.
It appears the Russians trying to kill Sculder have access to all of the X-files. Fox starts searching the database and learns the information he seeks has been scrubbed from the system. There are no Langly files, but the Frohike and Byers ones are visible. Luckily, Frohike’s “spank bank” is still there and contains a clue which leads Sculder to Dr. Karah Hamby. They meet with her but she claims Purlieu Services (the private security contracting company) is watching. Her explanation is very Black Mirror, specifically the San Junipero episode; she and Langly planned for a “life eternal” together. She gives them her phone to help reach Langly. Too bad her days are over; the very determined hitman kills her and Scully takes him out, finally.
Sculder relax in a diner until Langly contacts them through the smart phone. He describes heaven but he knows it’s a lie. He -- and others -- are being used as digital slaves for their knowledge and abilities. He tells Sculder to destroy the digital afterlife and sends them to Titanpointe. Sculder arrive at the FBI office in New York. They use a charade to enter: Agent Scully is bringing in an “apprehended” Mulder. Somehow, it works for a while and they almost make it. Too bad the Russian and his cronies capture Fox in the stairwell and escort him up to the 29th floor.
Guess who’s there waiting for Mulder? Erika Price from the previous episode. She’s amused that Langly could have reached out to any one of seven billion people but he picked Fox. Does that mean Langly knew Byers and Frohike were dead too? He had to ask Mulder about his own death so that might be another plot hole. Fox tries to trick Price into thinking he wants to be uploaded with Dana. In return, Price still wants Mulder to kill Cancer Man. Meanwhile, Dana has searched every 20-something floor until she finally reaches Fox. He finishes his conversation with Erika, subdues the Russian assassin and rejoins Scully. While she disables the simulator containing everyone’s consciousness (No battery backup option? Bad planning.), Mulder fights for his life against the Russian. Eventually, Sculder escape and return with legit FBI agents. but Price is gone and so are the machines.
Back at Fox’s house, Langly contacts them again and tells Mulder to destroy the backup. (See? Told you there would be a backup option!) Then Langly disappears and the silver-haired assassin -- the one Scully shot after he killed Dr. Hamby -- takes over the screen. Poor Langly. I hope he was able to connect with Karah and have some semblance of “happily ever after.” If Black Mirror managed to allow one happy ending, then so should The X-Files. But I guess they burned their happy ending during the end credits scene of I Want to Believe.
Sestra Professional:
The ninth season of the regular run leaned heavily into The Twilight Zone territory, and the best episodes from that year came out of that distinction. Here we see Season 11 making a foray into Black Mirror terrain, and again, I do think the series is better for it. It's kind of a boomerang effect, The X-Files can be considered an influence on shows like Black Mirror, and here it comes full circle. This playbook opens up our show in a number of ways, as we see in "This" and other upcoming episodes.
We gotta take a trip to IKEA: The opening scene carries genuine tension. We're as taken aback as Mulder and Scully upon seeing the visage of the deceased Richard "Ringo" Langly on Fox's phone, and then they have to deal with a break-in on top of that. So we get engaged directly in two distinctive ways. Episodes in the "My Struggle" arc haven't had this kind of resonance, they're more like something we've been suffering through. From the opening, we're invested here.
"What world are you living in?" the Russian aggressor asks Fox, and it's a question we could use the answer to as well. If you've misplaced your scorecard, it's tough to tell who is on what side nowadays. Skinner tells Scully that the dynamic duo should just give up, but the Russian Cold War expert was prepared to end them right then and there. How well would that have sat with you, Walter? The last thing you told them was to give up.
Who needs Google when you have Scully?: Oh well, at least Skinner showed up to give his former charges money and to clear the air about this particular collection of gun-toting radicals working for an American security contractor. That sends Mulder and Scully off to Arlington for a whirlwind round of presidential trivia supplemented with a numbers game.
As if all this actual suspense wasn't enough, we get a nice slice of life between our leads, namely Sculder's exchange about the bran muffin. That was as tasty to me as it was to them, apparently -- Mulder says he's going to open an X-file to get to the bottom of why it's so good followed by Scully's claim that she doesn't care if it came out of an alien's butt. (The latter was reportedly an adlib by Gillian Anderson.) And so in the 11th season, we get evidence that they're normal people who eat and drink just like you and me.
The world is different: Count on Skinner (and writer/director Glen Morgan) to detail for us how the backdrop has changed since Fox and Dana originally met back in 1993. It's not just dark forces in the government any more. He explains that a lot of people -- including America's enemies -- have had access to the X-Files files since Sculder took off for parts unknown. Can you imagine someone having to pore over over all those files, running across people like Cecil L'Ively from "Fire" (S1E12) and the tulpa from "Arcadia" (S6E15?)
Then we get into the Black Mirror aspect of the case -- the simulation Langly planned with a hot professor. I'm trying to get past the fact that it's unlikely those two seemingly disparate people forged that kind of connection. But that's not too tough, because I'm distracted by the fact that Dr. Karah Hamby is played by Sandrine Holt, who co-starred with Nicholas Lea (Krycek) in the entertaining Once a Thief during the prime X-Files years.
Speaking of influences, Deep Throat's real name Ronald Pakula was indeed a nod to Alan J. Pakula, who directed All the President's Men (among other things). That 1977 film and its subject matter -- Watergate -- were huge influences on Chris Carter when he began developing the show.
This guy's like Hannibal Lecter-level psycho: It's intriguing that simulated Langly can discern those in the alternate universe are living a lie that needs to be destroyed. Fits right in with the recurring Black Mirror theme that as great as technology can be, there's an underbelly that often shows something entirely different.
So it's up to our heroes to find a way to save the day and get Langly out of his purgatory, even though they keep being told point-blank that they don't understand what's going on. We've heard that every day since the show started, but Barbara Hershey's Erika Price claims life on Earth is (again) about to be crushed, making computers necessary for the evolution of species. Mulder realizes they're playing God. (Haven't thought of that David Duchovny movie in a long time.)
Despite the constantly high stakes, Fox and Dana remain particularly quippy in this episode, culminating in an instantly classic moment when they get home from the adventure and decide against dealing with cleanup of the ransacked house. Take a break, you certainly earned it! Maybe have another muffin?
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