X-Files S4E15: Here's mud man in your eye

Sestra Amateur: 

This episode aired a week after "Memento Mori," in which Scully learned she had cancer. But you wouldn't know something so moving and life-threatening occurred so recently to her (and Mulder) since it's never mentioned. Sculder completely throw themselves into this stand-alone investigation as if Dana wasn’t given a death sentence. 

Today, we’re attending a Jewish funeral in Brooklyn, New York for a Hasidic man named Isaac Luria who was beaten and shot to death in his grocery store. This episode’s title, "Kaddish," means Jewish prayer. (I don’t remember everything I learned in Hebrew school but the prayer recited by the mourners sounded authentic.) The scenes cut from the widow’s perspective to that of her now-deceased husband when he’s looking at his killer. Not sure if that’s for the audience’s benefit or if his wife had the ability to see things from her husband’s perspective. If so, then she knows what the murderers look like. Later that night a hooded person in the cemetery creates a man out of the mud on the victim’s grave, a mud man who appears to be breathing. 

For some reason, this murder in New York has become an X-File instead of a Law and Order episode. In a rare turn of events, Scully is providing exposition to Mulder. One of the teenaged boys who was responsible for Isaac’s murder – Tony Oliver - was found strangled to death, and the prints on his neck belong to the now-dead Isaac. Dana believe it's an anti-Semitic hate crime committed in Luria’s name but not by Isaac himself. Sculder meet with Ariel Luria and her father, Jacob Weiss, during the family’s shloshim (their period of mourning). Jacob is played by character actor David Groh, but it’s hard to recognize him under the fake hair and beard. Groh has the distinction of playing one of General Hospital’s most hated characters, D.L. Brock. Jacob is incensed because he and his people haven’t gotten help from the local police after they were harassed. Weiss supports whoever is achieving vengeance on their behalf and does not want to help the FBI. Unfortunately, Sculder are so busy discussing their perspectives of justice vs. revenge they don’t see the mud man hiding behind a plastic tarp across from Ariel’s apartment. 

The agents interview Curt Brunjes, the printer of Jacob’s anti-Semitic literature, who is unable (more like unwilling) to mask his disgust toward Jews. Scully puts the fate of the remaining two murderous teenagers in Curt’s lap. One of them, Derek Banks, is watching on the video monitor from the back of the store. Brunjes goes to warn him, but Derek and accomplice Clinton head to the cemetery and dig up Isaac’s casket. Derek breaks open the coffin and sees Isaac’s body while someone strangles Clinton to death. 

Scully assumes they desecrated the grave as payback for Tony’s murder. Mulder thinks it’s because they believed Isaac was seeking revenge and wanted to see whether his body was in the grave. Dana notes Isaac was not embalmed before his burial. Fox finds a Hebrew book buried with Isaac that promptly bursts into flames. Derek returns to Curt, who denies telling him and his friends to kill anyone -- he’s a paper-terrorism kind of guy. In a pathetic play on words to The X-Files' running theme, Curt points out how he’s been spreading “the truth” about Jews. Derek is more of an action type of person.

Sculder meet with book expert Kenneth Ungar, played by character actor David Wohl. (Boy, this episode really loaded up on actors named David. Even one of the extras is named David. Do you think on set they just called them David 1, David 2, David 3 and David 4?) He explains about the book Mulder found in the casket, which apparently didn’t belong in the grave. Although its text is considered mystical, the book itself is made of boring old leather and paper. Oh, and Jacob Weiss’s name is embossed on the book in Hebrew. I guess that would be considered a clue.

Ariel reveals she and Isaac were not yet married, their wedding would have been that day. Jacob survived the Holocaust and protected a ceremonial Jewish wedding ring which would go to Ariel after her wedding. Sculder interrupt prayer time at the synagogue, where Jacob makes a very slow getaway. The agents track him to Derek’s hanging body. Jacob almost gets the better of Sculder until Dana takes a shot at him. Then they take Weiss into custody while someone else with a mark on his hand watches them.

At the police station, Jacob claims he hanged Derek in self-defense. But he assumes responsibility for the murder and wants to see Ariel. Scully tells Mulder that Jacob also has a terrorist past, but Fox is convinced Jacob didn’t kill Derek. Weiss seems to be protecting Ariel, but his daughter isn’t exactly  ‘fessing up. Then the marked mud man kills Curt. Mulder goes back to Ungar and asks about the Golem, a mud creation brought to life by a righteous man and the “power of the word.” Only its creator can destroy it. The Hebrew word written on the killer’s hand is “emet” (I actually recognized the Hebrew letters. One for me). Dana tells Fox about Curt’s murder and they get a hold of the surveillance video that captured a clear image of his killer … Isaac! 

Mulder explains to Scully that a Golem is a form without spirit. Jacob, who for some reason has been released from jail even though he confessed to murder, goes to the synagogue and finds Ariel, who still thinks Isaac will show for their wedding. Jacob is strung up and almost strangled to death, but Sculder save him just in time. Fox goes after Ariel and finds her waiting for Isaac, who makes the obligatory appearance on his own wedding day. Mulder shoots, but Isaac overpowers him. Ariel gets Isaac’s attention by showing him the wedding ring. They complete the ceremony and Ariel releases Isaac from the spell. Guess this whole situation will be hard to explain when she starts dating again. L’chaim!

Sestra Professional:

Every now and then, The X-Files tries to tap into real world issues. It's always a treacherous slope and hasn't been the show's greatest forte. But as these soapbox episodes have gone, this one isn't half bad -- the hatred is palpable and the terror easily felt -- but it's not exactly a crowd pleaser either.

Very Old Testament: I can back up Sestra Am's assertion that the opening prayer of mourning is authentic, I found Ariel's a little later on more awkward. But it's an intriguing manner in which our agents are brought into the fold to explain how the first victim's fingerprints wound up on the second one. And the supernatural aspect, a Golem risen from the grave to avenge his death, certainly fits perfectly into the show's realm.

Sculder are immediately thrust into the world of racial tension and hate crimes. Those they talk to are not exactly willing to help out. The principals still speak their minds, though, anti-Semitic Curt tells Mulder he looks like he "might be one" himself. Our heroes rise above such insinuations, striving to do their jobs when everyone's suspicious about their motives and why law enforcement wasn't on the scene long before the death toll started to rise. 

It's a delicate balance to walk and the script by series stalwart Howard Gordon does a fine job of toeing the line. Director Kim Manners then has the arduous task of marrying these hefty concepts -- and the procedural questioning that comes along with them -- with our Monster of the Week.  

The story about Jacob's communal wedding ring -- one of the best props the series will ever have, it was owned by a rabbi who survived the Holocaust -- may sound heavy-handed but it really develops the idea of every wife being a queen, every husband a king and the home they made a castle. And, in turn, that furthers the concept of the celestial mud man -- creating a living being from the earth itself.

I agree with Sestra Am that intended or not, the driving home of the series' theme of "the truth" as an essential component of the golem comes off as a little forced. OK, it's strange to be able to stomach a man-made monster easier than the idea of having our theme shoehorned into this story. Well, at least it's amenable until we get to the stilted and romanticized dialogue revealing Ariel brought Jacob back to life through love.

I never attended a mud-man wedding before, what's the dress code? It's a rare occasion in which an episode loses you but then gets you back. And when Ariel erases the letter that changed the Golem to dust, it rubbed out the problematic "power of words" logic delivered during "the truth" portion of the guy's explanation. At least for me it did.

Meta matters: "Kaddish" was the 12th episode filmed, but the 15th that aired that season due to the Super Bowl shuffle and the slotting of the two previous Scully show. ... According to the fourth-season episode guide, the plot was inspired by violence going on between Orthodox Jews and African-Americans in Brooklyn at the time, but was changed to reflect anti-Semitic bigotry.  ... Jacob Weiss' incendiary book on mysticism wasn't quite as spontaneously combustible during filming of the episode as evidenced by the fourth-season gag reel. ... In the episode guide, Gordon said probably every Jewish writer with the show had pitched a Golem episode, but he was the one who got the green light in his final year on the series. "Kaddish" is dedicated to his grandmother. ... Ron Leibman was the original choice for Jacob Weiss but was unavailable, according to the episode guide. ... Due to communications mixup, the guide said David Groh shaved off his natural beard before heading to Vancouver to play Jacob, so another had to be applied by the crew.

Guest star of the week: To tell the absolute "truth," I wasn't overly impressed by any of the performances in "Kaddish," but David Groh was forthright and true. He did erase some of those General Hospital memories, even if he didn't quite recall his halcyon Rhoda days.