X-Files S2E17: More Samanthas than answers

Sestra Amateur: 

Remember last week when Scully was on the phone with Mulder at the same time he showed up at her hotel room? Hold that thought. This episode begins on a submarine north of Alaska. The crew has encountered a UFO -- Underwater Flying Object -- and attempting contact made the sub lose power. Can you imagine being trapped on a sub under sheets of ice? Chilling … literally. 

Back in Maryland, Dana plays the “wrong number” card so in-person Fox won’t get suspicious. She grabs her gun but not-Mulder punches her and throws her into a coffee table. At least, we hope it’s not Mulder. He morphs back into Brian Thompson, bounty-hunter form. The Terminator comparisons don’t work as well in this episode as the previous one, so I’ll be revert to form and start referring to the bounty hunter as Boba Fett. 

Mulder and Samantha arrive at Scully’s hotel room too late. Samantha says the bounty hunter can only be killed by piercing the base of its skull. She also warns Fox about Boba Fett’s toxic blood … that’s definitely not a Mandalorian trait. But Mulder wants more answers, so Sam tells him about the colony of clones throughout the country. They worked in abortion clinics to get access to fetal tissue and found a way to combine alien DNA with human DNA. Samantha tells Fox he has to trust her because she is his sister. Clearly, she doesn’t know Mulder – or human nature – at all. 

Skinner arrives and reports the four Gregors that Scully put into protective custody are missing. Fox introduces his boss to his sister and says Dana is missing. That’s a lot of information for Skinner to absorb in a five-second period. Boba Fett lets Scully call Mulder and arrange a trade: Dana for Sam. 

They meet on Memorial Bridge in Bethesda and complete the exchange, but Samantha tries and fails to stab Boba Fett in the neck. A sniper takes the shot which hits Boba Fett, but both Sam and Boba go into the icy water. The next morning, divers are still searching for them and Mulder has the unfortunate task of telling his father. Fox assumes all responsibility and breaks down in front of his dad. Luckily – conveniently – Samantha left an “if anything should happen to me” envelope with Mr. Mulder for her brother that includes a key card for a local abortion clinic. 

Mulder moseys over there, but Scully calls to say the divers finally found Sam’s body. After hanging up, Dana sees Samantha’s body start to disintegrate. Back at the clinic, Fox finds “Samantha” in the lab. Turns out, Samantha was a clone too! Mulder also sees Samantha 3, 4 and 5. He learns they were just manipulating him to get his help. None of them are the original Samantha, but one claims to know where the real Sam is. Boy, clones will say anything to get their way. Unfortunately, Boba Fett tracked Fox there – he’s good at his job – and knocks Mulder unconscious. He sets the clinic on fire but the firemen only find Fox, not the Samanthas. Does that mean the Samanthas were taken or dissolved? 

While Mulder is spinning his wheels, Scully learns how the cold weather helped preserve the bodies exposed to the retrovirus like Special Agent Weiss (who inhaled Boba’s toxic blood) and Samantha 1. Fox reaches out to Mr. X, who says all the clones are dead and the bounty hunter is returning to his ship in Alaska. 

Scully later goes to Mulder’s apartment. (Sestra Pro: Is his apartment number, 42, an intentional Douglas Adams reference or just a happy coincidence?) Dana notices the X in masking tape on Fox’s window while she’s searching his computer. She reads an email Mulder wrote to her explaining how he’s going it alone because he wants to keep her safe. Scully doesn’t want to stay safe so she asks for Skinner's help through “unofficial channels,”  but he declines.

Dana returns to Fox’s apartment and “calls” Mr. X. He shows up, surprised that it’s not Mulder. Makes you wonder how the covert government official who knows everything managed not to know Fox had already left for Alaska. Mr. X plays dumb and leaves. Walter intercepts him at the elevator and tries to encourage Mr. X to change his mind. They both use their heads to resolve the issue – literally. They headbutt each other. Skinner gets the 411 and relays it to Scully. Unofficial channels, indeed. 

Meanwhile, just north of Alaska, Mulder walks up to that submarine which has been trapped in the ice for a few days. Fox  enters the sub – shouldn’t those things have some type of lock on the outside? – and finds a survivor. He tells Mulder how they lost power and drifted into the ice. A man – yes, Boba Fett – came aboard and killed the others. Fox assumes this sailor is the bounty hunter, so he handcuffs him and interrogates him about Samantha. 

Turns out, Mulder’s instincts were correct and Boba Fett morphs back to his original form. He throws Fox around the sub like a rag doll and taunts him by saying the real Samantha is still alive. Mulder shoots Boba in the back, but the toxic blood hurts the agent instead. The bounty hunter locks Fox outside where the cold will likely keep him alive now that he’s been exposed to the retrovirus. Boba Fett then maneuvers the sub down through the ice. 

So now we’re back to the prologue scene from last week’s episode. The medical staff is trying to save Mulder the normal way because they think he’s only suffering from hypothermia, but Dana now has the right information to make sure Fox can be saved through unorthodox means. So even though he got some answers, I think Mulder needs to consider this one a loss, especially considering the emotional toll on himself and his parents. Boba Fett is off to who knows where, celebrating his win. Do you think he got paid a flat rate for the overall job or per clone kill? And what did he accept as currency? Maybe he’s a clone of the bounty hunter. Although that would make him more like Rick Deckard from Blade Runner than Boba Fett. 

Sestra Professional:

You can't swing a cat without hitting a dead Samantha around here.

And welcome to the party, Frank Spotnitz. As said last time we convened, Spotnitz came up with the concept of the returning Samantha, but his first credited contribution didn't come until he co-wrote the conclusion of this two-parter. As we can see, he quickly becomes a part of the show's overarching dynamic, raising the stakes as this episode did.

I remember once upon a time David Duchovny saying "End Game" was his favorite episode. One might think it's because Fox's search for Samantha showed some forward movement, but he joked it was because as the shape shifter, he got to toss Scully around willy nilly. And by the way, yep, Sestra Am, Mulder's apartment No. 42 has long been seen as a reference to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 

That would kill anyone: Among the handy-dandy tips we learn in this episode, we find out how to dispose of a shape shifter in one easy lesson -- by piercing the base of his skull with that ice pick that goes "pfffft." We also know to cover up when a clone gets penetrated, cause the gas that green goo emits is vicious.

Now that the emotion of getting his long-lost sister back has worn off a bit, Fox seems to have noticed he doesn't know all that much about what happened to Samantha. Since the clone is well versed in Sam 101, she tells a good story, and that's one of the ways in which the conspiracy plot gets advanced.

So why would Mulder make this trade -- his partner of a year and a half for the sister he's been seeking since he was a teenager? It makes for some top-notch tension, to be sure, but the only way to justify that is to presume somewhere deep down inside the recesses of his haunted mind, Fox knew it wasn't really her all along. At least the hope I've clung to lo these many years.

I'm not your savior: But his conscious mind doesn't seem to be aware of that, because he's really upset when he happens upon the field of Samanthas at the abortion clinic. His father's guilt trip was already eating away at him like that retrovirus soon will be, maybe he's just struggling with what he'll have to tell his parents next. They might ground him and take away his porn.

I'm still a little hazy on Mulder chasing down the sub when he knows the shape shifter not only has a head start, but certainly the power to kill him a thousand times over. "You'll only win the war if you pick the right battles, Agent Mulder. This is a battle you can not win," X rightfully tells him. How ticked off must Fox's informants get when he never heeds their advice?

How hard do you want to make this? Couldn't agree more with Sestra Am about why X was looking for Mulder's bat signal when he thought he was on his way north. And how does Scully even figure out the taped X is way to contact him anyway? Maybe it's just leftover hurricane protection. Nevertheless, it's impossible not to dig that Skinner-X fight scene. "I've killed men for far less," X claims. No need for bragging, dude. 

Lots of fun meta from the elevator battle, with Steven Williams coming up with the idea of the dual head butts. In addition to taking some shots to the groin, Mitch Pileggi reportedly broke the set on the second take of the bit in which Skinner throws X against the wall. And Williams cracked a knuckle when he accidentally connected with Mitch Pileggi on one punch.

Even the shape shifter speaks more sense than Fox: "Is the answer to your question worth dying for?" Sure, the guy gives Mulder the same taste of what he gave Scully, guess we should be grateful he didn't pierce the back of his neck with the ice pick of doom. Or his frontal lobe or any other part.

I found something I thought I'd lost -- faith to keep looking: A half-hour after Fox makes his deal with the devil, Dana saves him right back. Truth be told, I never liked that line at the end of Pretty Woman, but it certainly fits the bill here as Scully uses science to deal with a "bad case of freezer burn." We certainly got more questions than answers, but some of these new plot points will fuel the show for a few seasons.

X-Files S2E16: Shifting the mythology momentum

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X-Files S2E15: Picking at dem bones

Sestra Amateur: 

You can consider "Fresh Bones" to be The X-Files' voodoo episode. This is a bottle ep in which writer Howard Gordon did not wander too far for inspiration. If you’ve seen 1987’s The Believers starring Martin Sheen and/or Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow from 1988 then you know exactly how this episode is going to play out. Years ago, I read Nicholas Conde’s novel The Religion, which led to The Believers movie. Everyone should get to see a nest of spiders coming out of Helen Shaver’s face at least once in their lives. You’ll panic every time you get a pimple. I never read the book by anthropologist Wade Davis that inspired The Serpent and the Rainbow, but his writings fall under non-fiction so true believers should proceed with caution. 

In Folkstone, North Carolina, we’re watching the deterioration of a marriage. Private Jack McAlpin is snapping at his wife, Robin, who is clearly terrified of him. Their young son, Luke, also cowers from Jack’s angry behavior. Maybe some counseling will help this family, but since this is The X-Files, that’s clearly not going to be the proper course of action. McAlpin tries to eat his cereal, but it looks like a bowl of maggots to him. He drives away but sees his face as a bloody, skeletal mess in the rearview mirror. Whether accidental or intentional, Jack drives into a tree. Unfortunately, this tree has ritualistic markings painted on one side. Either that or it’s just really creative gang tags. 

One week later, Sculder arrive in Folkstone. Robin doesn’t buy the military's claim that her husband committed suicide. Another soldier, Private Manuel Guttierez, also died there. Both soldiers were assigned to the INS processing center, a refugee camp housing Haitian citizens. Robin found a conch shell in Luke’s sandbox and the shell contained ritualistic symbols written in blood. (OK, it could have been red Sharpie for all we know, but blood has more of an impact.) A 10-year-old boy recently died during a riot at the refugee camp. Is this payback?

Sculder proceed to the processing center. A kid hits on Scully and sells Mulder a talisman to shield them from harm. Not surprised to find Scully a skeptic and Mulder a believer when it comes to voodoo. Colonel Wharton, played by Daniel Benzali, is the man in charge of the processing center. He claims the refugees hate the soldiers and that voodoo beliefs caused the riot which killed the boy. Private Harry Dunham clearly knows something but isn’t say anything … yet. Scully wants to autopsy McAlpin’s supposedly decapitated body, but it’s been replaced with a dead animal. At least we hope it was replaced. If McAlpin turned into a dog then this would be a different type of X-File: "Shapes Part 2" maybe. 

Mulder interviews Haitian refugee Pierre Beauvais, who would be their main suspect if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s been locked in a cell for weeks. Mulder asks Beauvais about the ritualistic symbol. Pierre says it's a mirror which forces some to confront their true selves. He also says the refugees just want to return home but Wharton won’t let them. Beauvais says they agents have been warned and now no magic will save them. After they leave the camp Scully almost hits someone wandering on the dark road. It’s McAlpin and he’s intact. Case closed, end of the episode.

Not quite. Is this Zombie McAlpin? Mulder says Tetrodotoxin can be used to create a death-like state. The next morning Sculder go to the cemetery to exhume Guttierez’s body. The caretaker claims body snatchers got there first and shows Sculder an empty grave. Why was he buried locally in the first place? He didn’t have any family or friends to arrange his burial anywhere else? Bet he didn’t get full military honors even though he was an active soldier. 

While at the cemetery, Sculder encounter Chester Bonaparte, the boy who sold protection to Mulder. He’s collecting frogs around the grave sites to sell to Beauvais. Ever the scientist, Scully says toads contain bufotoxin, which is similar to pufferfish poison and can cause hallucinations. Mulder spies Dunham following them and confronts him. The private says Beauvais threatened to take the souls of Wharton’s men one by one because the colonel authorized beatings of the refugees. Dunham sounds like a true believer, he really should ask for a transfer. 

Meanwhile, Chester makes a run for it. Mulder chases him to the docks, but the kid gets away. At least he’s frogless for now. Sculder confront Wharton whose breakfast also starts bleeding. Maybe his ham was a tad bit too rare. Scully gets cuts from a string of thorns wound around her steering wheel. Too bad Sculder didn’t see the ritualistic markings under their car. She should have let Mulder drive that day. 

Remember Mr. X, who we haven’t seen since Scully was in a coma? He decides to butt into this one to tell Mulder the government is going to shut down Sculder’s investigation. While Steven Williams tries to justify his presence in a stand-alone episode, Scully finds the AWOL Private Dunham dead in Mulder’s hotel room. Fox apprehends Private McAlpin, who just happened to be in the area. Colonel Wharton observes the interrogation and McAlpin signs a confession, but it doesn’t seem that cut and dry. Wharton also claims Pierre Beauvais committed suicide, so Sculder should have no more business there. But Scully’s hand is hurting and she has a headache so apparently there's still work to be done. 

Robin shows Sculder a picture of Wharton and Beauvais in Haiti long before the refugee camp came to pass. They search the colonel’s office and learn McAlpin and Guttierez filed complaints against Wharton. The agents assume Wharton used voodoo as retaliation. Wharton’s guard tells Sculder they can find the colonel at the graveyard, where, it turns out, Wharton is performing a ritual. 

Dana says she has a headache and tells Fox to go after Wharton alone. The Scully we know would never do that so clearly she’s being affected by something more than a headache. She hallucinates blood in her mouth and Bauvais breaking through the small puncture on her hand from the thorn. That’s extreme even for The X-Files, I was expecting spiders or maggots, but a fully grown man? Even more interesting: If the ritualistic markings under Sculder’s car was supposed to be a mirror into their “true selves” then white female Scully’s true self is a black male? She’s the real Mr. X!? Not really sure where Mr. Gordon was going with that. 

Luckily, Mulder left his “protection” in the car. The spirit of Bauvais confronts Wharton, who appears to die. The next day the government makes arrangements for the refugees to return home. McAlpin, who looks and acts normal again, tells Sculder that Chester had died weeks ago during the riot. Wharton is later buried, but of course, he’s not really dead. He was just in a death-like state. But since he’s a U.S. military officer and died on American soil, shouldn’t he have been, I don’t know, autopsied? Embalmed? Memorialized at a large service? Stop borrowing from Wade Davis, Mr. Gordon. We all know you can do (and have done) better.

Sestra Professional:

We do expect a lot of Howard Gordon. We've seen him take inspiration from other material and not quite reach the heights he's capable of with episodes such as this season's "Firewalker," so I'm with you on this, Sestra Am. "Fresh Bones" not a bad concept, it just seems we've seen all this before, this version just has Sculder shoehorned into it.

It's a great teaser, though, the show went all out on Jack's freakout and apparent suicide. We can thank the show's trusty director/producer Rob Bowman for that. I touted the late great Kim Manners last week, and Bowman served as the other go-to guy for long stretches of the original run (and the first feature film).

Mulder picking up a good-luck charm from Chester reminds me that he's probably got quite the assortment of souvenirs picked up on the job. He told us earlier in the run that he has an aversion to salt and pepper shakers, but his bric-a-brac collection already includes this juju and an alleged photo of a UFO.

Again, the show attempts to tackle a topic of the time, and once again, it's rather awkwardly deposited in the scope of the series. Gordon reportedly said news of three servicemen committing suicide in Haiti and the internment of the refugees led him to pen this tale ... with a tail. 

Maybe it's because the soldiers have to belabor the point that the military doesn't have enough resources to house the refugees, but when we bring real-world considerations into the fantasy show, it slows down the action and makes it a little tougher to buy the premise.

Scully does a good job of explaining things away, such as with the "zombie powder" that can slow metabolism to a point in which the patient seems clinically dead. Unfortunately that's usually followed by a quote such as "Power of suggestion is considerable, but this is no more magic than a pair of fuzzy dice." Which, in turn, is usually followed by something that can't be explained quite so easily, such as a previously dead man wandering down the street.
 

The Statue of Liberty is on vacation:  Thank goodness X shows up to point us back in the right direction, although in our current political climate some of this episode really starts hitting a little close to home. As X proclaims, "The new mandate says, if you're not a citizen, you better keep out." 

That was a seriously creepy scene with a body emerging from Dana's hand in the car. Another point for Sestra Am, they did tell us earlier that those allegedly experiencing voodoo were just confronting their true selves. I'm not really sure how that fits into Scully's story either, sort of a plot point that ends up going nowhere beyond having usually sensible Dana reach for the talisman for help. But more kudos to Bowman for the final scene, which might have been predictable but still played really well.

And now some words about the use of animals in "Fresh Bones." The caretaker's dog's name is Wong? Talk about on the nose, named after the co-writer who had just departed for greener pastures. And the toad budget this season must be enormous between the ones hopping around in Chester's sack and the frogs falling from the sky in our previous ep, "Die Hand Die Verletzt." 

Guest star of the week: Sorry, Daniel Benzali (although speaking French in the graveyard denouement was nice work), but Jamil Walker Smith was the one who provided real spark in this episode as the dearly departed Chester. (Maybe he was just using up another of his kitty lives.) As an extra bonus, take a peek at a great moment on the Season 2 gag reel between Smith and David Duchovny. 

X-Files S2E14: The show finds some Manners

Sestra Amateur: 

I know what your first question is so let’s address it immediately: The episode title, Die Hand Die Verletzt, means “The hand that wounds” in German. If you pay close attention and/or watch this episode with subtitles you’ll notice it’s chanted during the Parent Teacher Conference meeting at the beginning of the episode. Not many towns have PTCs with devil worshipping, so clearly this isn’t a typical town in New Hampshire. 

Later that night, some teens are hanging out in the woods and drinking, standard adolescent hijinks. They decide to try and raise some evil spirits and start their own chanting. Haven’t they watched The Evil Dead? Don’t they have cable or a movie theater? One girl wises up and runs away, praying for real. One boy, Jerry Thomas, doesn’t make it and the manner of his death results in the local sheriff calling in the FBI. 

Considering how last week’s murders affected Scully, she’s surprisingly undisturbed when standing over a dead teen whose eyes and heart have been removed. And she also seems to enjoy pointing out clues that Sheriff Oaks’ investigators missed. Mulder insists the area feels weird. When Scully says there’s nothing odd about the woods, they get caught in a frog rainstorm. Good thing they already had their umbrellas opened. Scully easily explains it away by tornadoes in the area.

Sculder go to the Crowley High School Library – maybe that’s where Eric Kripke got his inspiration for Mark Sheppard’s Supernatural character. Mulder is thumbing through the card catalog. Someone should tell the librarian that Stephen King’s name is misspelled. Mulder learns Dave Duran has been reading about the occult and checked out one of the books. Turns out, Dave and Jerry were just trying to get a couple of girls to put out. Jim Ausbury, Deborah Brown, Paul Vitaris and Peter Calcagni -- the devil worshipping teachers from the beginning of the episode -- know something is going on, but aren’t being forthcoming with Sculder. Fox notices the water from the drinking fountain is swirling counter-clockwise, so unless we’re watching X-Files Down Under, something weird really is happening.

Substitute biology teacher Phyllis Paddock talks to the girls, Shannon and Andrea. The excessive reflection from Mrs. Paddock’s glasses reminds me we haven’t seen Skinner for a while. Hope that changes soon. (I looked it up … two more episodes.) Looks like Mrs. Paddock has Jerry’s eyes and heart in her desk. Well, at this point, we hope they’re Jerry’s and not someone else’s. Mulder tries to research past ritual abuse involving the students but comes up empty-handed. Scully learns this case is similar to one listed in a Nazi newspaper 60 years earlier. 

Meanwhile, Shannon is supposed to be dissecting a pig in her biology class, but hallucinates it’s still alive and bolts from the classroom. Shannon, Jim Ausbury’s stepdaughter, tells Sculder an outrageous story involving devil worshipping ceremonies and sexual abuse. She also claims her younger sister was murdered. The agents interview Jim and his wife, Barbara. Jim doesn’t exactly deny the allegations, but claims he would kill anyone who hurt Shannon. Barbara tells Scully her daughter died at eight weeks old, not eight years. 

Shannon goes back to class to finish dissecting the pig. Mrs. Paddock says she heard about her disclosure to Sculder. I wish Shannon called her on it. If I told something like that in confidence to two FBI agents, then I would love to know who blabbed to my teacher and why. Mrs. Paddock graciously offers to hold Shannon’s charm bracelet – then uses the bracelet to cast a spell against Shannon that induces her to slit her wrists.

The PTC meet to try and spin the deaths so it looks like Shannon murdered Jerry before killing herself to close the FBI investigation. Neither Scully nor Mulder trust Mrs. Paddock but for different reasons. Mrs. Paddock takes Dana's pen when she's distracted by a power outage. Fox goes to Jim Ausbury’s home to see what’s in the basement. There Jim tells Mulder the other members of the PTC wanted to frame Shannon for Jerry’s death. Jim denies sexually abusing his stepdaughter, but admits she was used in their rituals and later hypnotized into forgetting about the ceremonies. 

Mrs. Paddock, who is casting a spell with Dana’s pen, calls Fox sounding like Scully. Mulder, who had just asked Jim who his co-conspirators were, thinks Scully needs help so he arrests Jim, handcuffs him to the stairs then leaves him helpless in the basement. You just know that's going to be a bad idea. Really, Mulder, you couldn’t just put him in your car and drive him to the school with you? On the way Jim would have named every member of their devil-worshipping PTC. Yet another example of Glen Morgan and James Wong making our heroes look extremely stupid for plot purposes.

So Mrs. Paddock manages to control the biology class’s pet python, which magically shows up at Jim’s house to strangle him and swallow him whole. Mulder gets to the school and sees nothing is wrong with Scully. He takes her back to the Ausbury’s house and find what’s left of Jim’s skeleton and a big-ass snakeskin. I’d love to know where the python went.

Meanwhile, the surviving members of the PTC are ready to offer up Mulder as a sacrifice. Sculder return to the school and find Mrs. Paddock, who claims the others stole her python and knocked her unconscious. While searching the school, Fox gets clocked with a folding chair and Dana gets crushed by a bookcase. The PTC tie up Sculder and drag them across the gymnasium – no hard-soled shoes allowed on the gym floor! – and into the showers because it’s easier to clean up afterward. Deborah Brown is about to stab them when Mrs. Paddock compels Peter Calcagni to shoot Deborah, Paul Vitaris and then himself with a shotgun. Does that mean Phyllis is actually the hero of this tale? Sculder believe Mrs. Paddock controlled Calcagni, but by the time they get themselves untied and back to the classroom she is long gone. But she’s not rude, she left a very sweet goodbye message on the chalkboard. 

Sestra Professional:

Welcome to the Kim Manners' era. The entrance of the late great director transports The X-Files to a whole new dimension stylistically. Ultimately, he winds up taking the reins for more episodes than any other director, and right out of the box with "Die Hand Die Verletzt," he shows the ability to balance tension and humor with ease.

The teaser -- one of the best of the entire series -- does this to perfection. How many times have we seen parent groups who think they know what's right for their children on TV and in movies? It's an essential part of portraying teen rebellion. But without going overboard, Manners quickly and smartly shifts from the dramatic beginning to a comic reveal and then back to the utter eeriness of a PTC practicing devil worship.

This episode also marks the last one for a while for the writing team who did so much to get to the show to this point as Glen Morgan and James Wong depart to executive produce the ill-fated Space: Above and Beyond. As such, their script winds up being a bit of a free-for-all. But it's mostly in a good way with Mulder quipping at will without detracting from the overall ambience.

Something is here: We find out Mulder's idea of devils' music is "The Night Chicago Died." But for a change, the king of overactive imagination -- doesn't want to incite local law enforcement's penchant for that when viewing the ceremonial presentation of the first victim. And we'd probably agree with Scully that there was nothing odd about a murderer taking advantage of local folklore ... if the toads didn't fall from the sky.

While the boys weren't really under the occult influence that the parents fear reach their children via music, television and books, it's the ol' PTC itself which brought forth the deadly force. The kind of thing that can display a boy according to a satanic ritual and still make water drain backwards.

Love how the episode goes in many directions. Shannon recounts a repressed memory that's tearing her apart, a story of abuse in which she gave birth three times and her sister was murdered. Shannon believes it and tells it so emotionally that, in the moment, we believe it. But it's just part of a greater horror.

Did you really think you could call up the Devil and ask him to behave? And then there's another twist when the stepfather turns on the group when they want to get the FBI off the trail by besmirching Shannon. The hypocrisy of what they've been doing finally comes clear to him. Glossing over rituals they didn't want to do and delivering post-hypnotic suggestions on kids participating in the ceremony don't seem like such good ideas any more.

It's an interesting X-File in that Mulder and Scully are suspicious of Mrs. Paddock and her story. They look into her background, they just don't get the full picture as quickly as  necessary. Of course, it helps when Phyllis can call Fox as Dana and get him off the trail for a while.

It gets a little at flimsy at very end when the remaining committee members get the drop on our heroes. But to be fair, if the PTA is Paddock-possessed, they're probably capable of anything, including outwitting our heroes. And I can appreciate a minute or two of Mulder and Scully tied up against each other.

Some of the interesting images in Manners' first episode included a spinning camera move on Shannon's attempted pig dissection/subsequent death and the end-around view that starts with Mulder and Scully at the blackboard and travels around the outside of the classrooms to ultimately find them again inside.

There was lots of fun to be had on Manners' initial foray. Apparently, the summoned demon took vengeance on David Duchovny at the drinking fountain -- the blooper reel shows water splashing him right in the face. The departing "Wongs" were directly addressed in another outtake at the end of the episode. And note to Sestra Am: Brit Aleister Crowley's occult theories are credited for forming the tenets of the modern Wicca. (Which also kind of backs up the Supernatch theory at the same time.)

Guest star of the week: I'd love to give it to Heather McComb because she breathes genuine life into Shannon. Everything hinges on one very emotional scene and two freakouts that she has to deliver. But I'm worried about something happening to me if I don't give it to Susan Blommaert, who goes all out with Mrs. Paddock. Her performance never feels campy, even when she's completely immersed in devilish behavior.