X-Files S5E18: Calling Mulder's Bluff

Sestra Amateur: 

There are times when the episodes feel like they are out of order because there is zero reference to the previous ones. This is one of those times. I seem to prefer weekly dramas that have at least a throwaway reference to what happened before so they can show continuity and character growth. No such luck here. Maybe this was supposed to air at a different time. Sestra Pro may have the answer but for now, all of the emotion racked up last week is just non-existent here. 

Fox Mulder is demonstrating healthy lifestyle choices by jogging through a D.C. park. Whoops, scratch that, he’s actually on a stakeout for Jacob Steven Haley (aka Alpha), who just disembarked from a metro bus for a clandestine meeting with an unknown male (aka Beta). Haley is played by character actor Daniel von Bargen, best known to me as Chief Grady in Super Troopers. (Fun fact: The title of von Bargen’s episode of Ally McBeal was "The Ex-Files.")  Everyone waits for Assistant Director Skinner to give the signal while Beta looks inside an envelope handed to him by Haley. Suddenly, Beta collapses and Alpha bolts. Agents checks on Beta, whose flesh is disintegrating right before their eyes. Mulder chases after Jacob, not listening to (or able to hear) Scully’s warnings about a possible biohazard. But it doesn’t matter anyway, Fox blows it and Alpha gets away.

Back in Mulder’s office, Scully reviews the surveillance footage and believes Fox intentionally let Haley escape. Mulder blows her off until the agencies’ debriefing about the incident. Turns out it was a joint FBI/CIA effort to capture the murderer/terrorist. He also got away with $50,000 of taxpayers’ money. The task force is led by Leamus from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and played by character actor Sam Anderson, who has a credit in almost every TV show I’ve ever watched. Their new target: August Bremer, played by character actor (I’m sensing a theme) Michael MacRae, who has over 80 IMDb acting credits but I can’t place him in a single movie or TV show. Jeez, I didn’t even remember him from his previous X-Files ep "The Jersey Devil "(Season 1, Episode 5). However, I managed to remember it was the fifth episode of the first season without looking it up, so I’d call that progress. Bremer and Haley are apparently vying for control of their domestic terrorist organization. Leamus wants to expose that factoid and capture both men.

In Gables Corner, Ohio, Die Hard with a Vengeance is playing at a local theater. Either it’s a retrospective or the town is just that far out of touch with timely flicks because DHWAV came out in 1995 and this episode takes place three years later. Bremer is about to do something awful to the poor usherette/cashier/popcorn girl at the concession stand. He’s making her make a whole new batch of popcorn, even though there’s clearly some left. By the way, the soon-to-be-victim's portrayer has quite the nepotistic last name, so I’ll let Sestra Pro cover that one if she chooses to let you in on it. Outside the theater, another angle of the movie marquee reveals they’re also showing Titanic. Considering how long that was in theaters, I’ll concede they show recent and retro movies. But that really doesn’t matter now -- the moviegoers and employees are dead, victims of that darn bio toxin but that’s “Summer in the City,” peeps ... OK, spring in the Midwest.

Somewhere in Delaware, Mulder is on the phone with Haley, who claims Fox set him up. Mulder clearly is supposed to sound like he’s gone to the dark side, but we can’t take it seriously. Meanwhile, Dana has followed Fox to the motor inn and goes to confront “Mr. Kaplan” (Fox’s alias – is that a North by Northwest reference, Sestra Pro?) but he gets picked up by unknown men in a sedan. Scully follows them until she gets cornered by two vehicles filled with way too many government agents. In a scene very reminiscent of Princess Leia being escorted to Darth Vader in the first few minutes of Star Wars, she’s flanked by numerous Stormtroopers – I mean agents – to the office of the Dark Lord of the Sith – I mean Leamus. Skinner is there too, so maybe … that’s a good thing? Skeamus confirm Mulder is under deep, deep cover so The New Spartans – Haley and Bremer’s group – would try to recruit him for their own means. I still can’t tell whether Scully is more annoyed that she wasn’t let in on the secret or because the “good guys” tried to run her off the road. Don’t be so overly dramatic, Dana. You were the one driving on a dark road with your lights out. Another agent breaks the news about the movie theater situation.

Mulder gets hand delivered to Haley, whose “truth serum” involves breaking Fox's finger and threatening to spray him in the face with the bio toxin. Mulder claims Haley was set up by one of his own. Skilly arrive at the crime scene and Skinner notes that 14 people died. Dana is convinced it’s not an airborne contagion, all of the victims must have touched an infected item. She waits for Fox in his apartment and treats his broken finger. They talk about Bremer while August listens through a bug. Mulder meets with Skeamus and reveals Haley wants funding for his militia group. Leamus conveniently has more of our tax dollars available for Fox's sting operation, along with the requested information on Federal Reserve schedules.

Scully is hanging out at the Center for Disease Control to learn more about the bio toxin. The analyzing scientist seems almost impressed with the contagion. And he has ruled out the Russians because it’s too sophisticated. Dana calls Walter, who is still with Leamus. Scully tries to tell only Skinner that the bio toxin may have been made domestically, but Walter reveals enough information to pique Leamus’s interest. By the way, the episode’s title "The Pine Bluff Variant" is a reference to an arsenal in Arkansas that used to store chemical weapons.

With Haley, Bremer and Mulder all together, August recruits Fox for their next heist. Dana realizes the money was the infected item and bolts from Mulder's motel room. The thieves arrive at the Federal Reserve in an armored car and masks to commit armed robbery. Everyone is extremely compliant except for one teller who really wants to hit the panic button. He gets shot but Fox refuses to finish the job (the murder, not the robbery), so Haley does it for him. Bremer contaminates unstolen (no, it’s not a real word but that is what it is) money with the bio toxin. After they escape, August burns the stolen money and Mulder realizes the terrorists’ goal was just to infect cash that will be distributed to the public. Bremer is about to shoot Mulder when Jacob steps in between them. August reveals his Sculder recording which really irks Haley.

Scully finally finds Skeamus to tell them the money is infected. See, this is one of those episodes where a cell phone call would have really simplified matters. The Feds are investigating 27 bank robberies that day, but Dana's able to pick out the masked Mulder from surveillance video so they can decontaminate the right bank. Bremer spares Haley’s life, but kicks him out of the club. Fox is looking at assassination, but August takes out another member instead! Turns out, he’s there to save Mulder, not kill him. So Bremer is deep, deep, deep under cover. Mulder catches up to Scully at the bank and learns he was set up by his own government from the get go. The agents realize Leamus really is Darth Vader after all. Skinner is annoying speechless, he may as well be Governor Tarkin in this one. On the upside, Haley doesn’t get far. The car keys were contaminated so he becomes a fleshless mess on the side of the road. Not even the best car detailing shop in the world can get out those stains. And according to IMDb credits, even though their story is left wide open, Leamus and Bremer never return, so feel free to forget everything you saw and read here today.

Sestra Professional:

It's funny that Sestra Am references the placement of "The Pine Bluff Variant," because I've always maintained that it would have factored better into fifth season earlier when Mulder was disillusioned with his work and not on the same page with Scully. The idea of Fox going to the dark side might have carried more weight during that time. But having said that, it still ranks as one of the highlights of the season for me.

Is this the Pepsi Challenge? Mark Snow's variation on a '70s suspense theme puts us immediately into the right mind-set for this episode. And thinking back on it, while Mulder's previous actions this season did seem to provide fodder for renegade elements to turn him against the government, maybe I should just allow for the fact that it takes time for those machinations to happen. It probably does take some time to pinpoint a potential turncoat and bring him into the fold.

Haley echoes some concerns we heard four episodes ago from Krycek in a pivotal scene in "The Red and the Black" about how a war is raging and Fox must decide whether he's going to be on the right side or the wrong side. Aliens aren't even on Jacob's radar, but that seems to back up a larger point about how all of us everywhere continue to be in peril in a myriad of different ways. And sitting by meekly while the world is torn asunder doesn't seem like the best option.

We've learned to be grateful for any episode that gets Skinner out from behind his desk. It's a fresh take to have Walter and Dana working the case together, and by extension, Mitch Pileggi and Gillian Anderson get a little jolt from departing from the regular routine. For more on that front, take a peek at the gag reel -- the duo repeatedly dissolves into giggles while investigating the corpses in the theater. Gillian possesses one of the most infectious laughs, something we don't really get to witness during the normal course of X-Files operations.

Exactly what agency are you guys from? (Silence.) Obviously not the Office of Information: I also appreciate the questioning nature of the case, namely that it can't be quickly solved. How in fact was the pathogen dispersed? (It's a little  much to say there are no hot zones in the movie house, just so Scully can touch things in the theater without using gloves.) But first Dana determines the toxin had to be on something everybody touched. OK, it's not the ticket stub. It takes a little while to determine that dermal contact activates the contagion and how it was applied, then even longer to come up with the bioweapons angle. But I'll say this much, ever since I first saw this episode, I've made a point of washing my hands after handling money.

The bank heist is a fabulous set piece with great eye acting (is that a thing?) from David Duchovny under his Dracula mask. It's a master stroke that Fox's finger splint tips his partner off to which "criminal" is him. The fact that the robbery wasn't really a robbery at all is another unique touch in the change-of-pace episode.

Lies within lies: So what are we to ultimately make of Leamus? I'm not so sure he's a baddie, even if he knows more than his charges. In fact, writer John Shiban used that particular name as a nod to the John le Carre novel-turned-1965 movie The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. In the book/film, Alec Leamas defects to East Germany to try to uncover a mole inside the British intelligence agency. In the official episode guide, Shiban revealed he's a big fan of both the book and the movie. Even though Mulder is fulfilling the role Richard played in the film, I don't think Shiban would tag a supporting player with that name thoughtlessly.

Anyway, it's my turn to tell where I know the character actors sprinkled throughout the episode best! For Sam Anderson, it's definitely WKRP in Cincinnati. He plays a disc jockey a couple of times, but really sparkles as an oblivious immigration officer in "The Americanization of Ivan." Daniel von Bargen was the recurring character Kruger on Seinfeld who really seems familiar despite non-descript roles in Silence of the Lambs, the previously mentioned well-monikered Ally McBeal episode and O Brother, Where Art Thou. Beyond his role as a ranger in "The Jersey Devil," Michael MacRae stands out to me as a police lieutenant in the Moonlighting episode "Witness for the Execution" (that's the one in which Dave and Maddie kiss for the first time).

Monetary meta: That surname Sestra Am alluded to earlier in regards to the movie theater usher belongs to Kate Braidwood. Yep, she's the daughter of the show's first assistant director (aka Frohike), Tom Braidwood. ... Shiban got much positive feedback on this episode after it aired. "People told me it was very scary because it sounded real," he said in the episode guide. "Personally, I can't believe we would do that. ... But it just seems since so much of that has gone on in the past that has been kept from our eyes, that you have to wonder." ... And the guide backs up that Sestra Am was right on target with the idea of the Mr. Kaplan alias serving as an homage to North by Northwest. George Kaplan was the name utilized by the CIA for the imaginary secret agent throughout that 1959 Alfred Hitchcock flick. ... Should we also read something into the use of Die Hard with a Vengeance, which mirrors the use of the Federal Reserve Bank as a target? And by the way, nice "Summer in the City" reference. Sestra -- also hearkening back to the opening of DHWAV.

Guest star of the week: With so many options to pick from, I decided to go with Sam Anderson on the strength of his final scene. While Leamus may or may not have been involved in the government testing on his own people and the coverup of such, he justly points out to Mulder that the devout truth seeker ultimately will have to battle laws both against factions like Bremer's and those protecting them.