And now for something completely different, an episode filled with more “wait, what?” moments than a full season of The X-Files, but set to a nice swing-time, drum-thumping beat. In this episode, Mulder channels his inner Wizard of Oz and figuratively follows the yellow brick road which, for him, is located in the Sargasso Sea – one of the Bermuda Triangle borders. He gets rescued by a passing cruise ship filled with British sailors who think he’s an English-speaking German spy with a ridiculous name. Clearly he’s not in Kansas anymore, but since Kansas is pretty landlocked, we knew that anyway. At knifepoint, they bring him to the ship’s captain, who bitch-slaps Fox for answers. Turns out, he was rescued by the S. S. Queen Anne and believes they are stuck in a time loop. The captain and crew think the year is 1939; Mulder insists it’s 1998 … and that the world is at peace. (Ah, simpler times.) Fox is giddy with the possibility of the time loop until he gets into a fight with Spender. (Wait, what?) Of course, Fox gets the upper hand and steals German Jeffrey's soldier uniform.
Mulder gets chased throughout the ship by other soldiers until he ends up at a party in the ballroom, where he bumps into Dana Scully. (Wait, what?) The soldiers catch up to Fox and yell at him in German. This Scully seems to suspect he’s being truthful because most German soldiers understand their native tongue. (Side note: Christopher Pike wrote a short story years ago which featured two characters named Dana. The second Dana, essentially a copy of the original, was called “Dana Two” for narrative purposes. So for the rest of this review, this Scully will be known as Dana Two.) And who is the man lucky enough to be dancing with Dana Two?Soldiers kill the captain when he refuses to give up his ship. The Nazi who ordered the hit is Cigarette Smoking Man. (Wait, what?) He confronts Mulder with some pretty lame interrogation tactics. Seriously, it’s like Zigarettenraucher is just looking for an excuse to execute people. I know it looks like I just Spanglished CSM in German, but really, that’s how Google translates it. (By the way, there are large chunks of dialogue I’m not translating, so if you speak German and spot a nice Easter Egg, please share it with the rest of us.) Another SS soldier brings over Fox's wallet and identification, which identifies him as American. That soldier looks exactly Walter Skinner. (Wait, what?) Of course his intervention keeps Mulder from getting shot, just like our Skinner would.
Back in Washington, D.C., in 1998, the Lone Gunmen approach Scully inside FBI headquarters. It’s amusing to think how easily they can get past security and into a secured government building. They tell Dana how the Queen Anne, a British luxury liner which disappeared 60 years earlier, recently popped up in the Bermuda Triangle. They gave that info to Fox. Dana takes down some notes and walks swiftly toward Assistant Director Skinner’s office. (I love how smoothly the camera follows Scully around the office. The effect exists during the cruise-ship scenes, but it’s more striking in the well-lit, modern corridors of an office building than a dimly lit luxury liner.) Dana barges into Walter's office and asks for his help. He reminds her he’s not the boss of her anymore, but with more appropriately acceptable terminology. This Scully is clearly getting fed up with protocol and tells Skinner to save his own ass … verbatim. She then reaches out to Assistant Director Kersh, who is in a meeting with Zigarettenraucher … I mean Cigarette Smoking Man. (Wait, what?) Dana bolts to the elevator and pulls out a cell phone from who-knows-where. That jacket is already snug. She goes downstairs and threatens Spender into helping her. He is disturbingly compliant, but of course, she can’t trust him.
While Scully waits, she takes a phone call from CSM, who thinks she is Agent Diana Fowley. For a brief moment, Dana actually has the upper hand on Cancer Man. More elevator and cell-phone wackiness ensue. Skinner gives Scully the information she needed and Dana rewards him with a kiss. (Wait, what??) She catches up to the Lone Gunmen in the parking garage and they make their escape in a Volkswagen van. Curious to see what the repercussions ended up being the next time she goes to work.Back on the Queen Anne in 1939, Mulder learns about Thor’s Hammer. Because of The Avengers movies, my brain goes to Mjolnir, but I’m almost completely, positively sure that’s not the one they mean. Turns out, the man dancing with Dana Two is Thor’s Hammer. Fox reveals what he knows to the other prisoners and one of them turns out to be a German spy. Nice work, Fox. The one time you don’t follow your own “trust no one” advice.
Mulder comes across Kersh’s counterpart, a man desperate to take the ship to Jamaica. Fox is trying to save history by getting the boat back on the right course. The soldiers bring him upstairs to identify Thor’s Hammer. SS Spender is able to translate for Mulder, who refuses to name names. Dana Two steps in and gets a gun in her face for her efforts. To end the bloodshed, Fox falsely names one of the executed passengers as Thor’s Hammer, but the brave man steps forward anyway. Unfortunately, he also names Dana Two as an agent accompanying him. Nice work, Hammer. OK, it’s swing time, the scene which features my second favorite piece of Mark Snow score (behind the beautiful lullaby in in "Paper Hearts’ (Season 4, Episode 10), of course). Scully and the Lone Gunmen locate the S. S. Queen Anne and look for Mulder while Fox and Dana Two are about to be executed. British soldiers storm the ballroom and attack the Germans. Even some of the well-dressed partygoers get into it. Hard to imagine a huge brawl is in progress while Scully and the Gunmen walk through the dark, empty hallways. Fox and Dana Two escape the ballroom and run through the halls until they are stopped by a German soldier, who is quickly dispatched by German Skinner. (As you can see, the character parallels are pretty spot on.) Dana Two and Scully then cross paths … same hallway, different dimension. (Wait, what??) Dana Two seems disgusted, but Scully just shrugs it off and keeps walking.
The brawl continues in 1939, but the ballroom is a ghost town for our present-day heroes. Mulder lets Dana Two know how she can correct history, then Fox kisses her goodbye (Wait, what??) and she belts him. (OK, I expected that.) Mulder jumps overboard in 1939 and gets rescued in 1998. His Wizard of Oz moments continue when everyone comes to visit him in the hospital, “You were there, and you were there…”. Did you know Oz was released in the United States only a week before the Queen Anne timeline date? But Fox chooses this bedside moment to tell Dana, “I love you.” (Wait, what??) And, like Scully, I rolled my eyes. Of course, he’ll always believe that shiner on his left eye and cheek came from Dana Two because that’s how he rolls. But I’m sure he’s glad to be home. Because, well, there’s no place like zuhause.
Sestra Professional:
"Triangle" is my go-to rewatch episode of The X-Files. Is it because Chris Carter crafted a homage to my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie by filming the episode in 10-minute takes? Perhaps, although ultimately as Sestra Am said, it's more of a television take on The Wizard of Oz than Rope. For my money, it stands as Carter's greatest stand-alone episode. After more than five years, he found his own voice for a bottle ep, he's not honing in on territory better delivered by the likes of Darin Morgan or Vince Gilligan.
In true Carter tradition, the show creator doesn't just dole out references to The Wizard of Oz, he uses the proverbial Thor's Hammer to hit us over the head with them. It's obvious in dialogue like Scully telling Mulder to close his eyes and think "There's no place like home." (Nothing about ruby slippers? Maybe Dana Two was wearing them.) Skinner references being there with his dog, Toto. The Lone Gunmen have always been our answer to the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. Mulder's wrecked boat? Lady Garland. The ballroom band? Almira Guilch and the Lollipop Guild. And Captain Yip Harburg? E.Y. "Yip" Harburg wrote the words to the songs in the film.I think there's been a mistake, I think the mistake is mine: I'd go so far as to say the entire episode is Fox's dream, a waterlogged delusion crafted in his unconscious mind to bide time while awaiting a rescue. Naturally, egocentric Mulder would have a chance to alter history. Fox would picture his enemies as Nazis. He'd be well versed on the legend of the Queen Anne. And, of course, this is what Mulder thinks people do in his absence -- Dana impatiently talks back to everyone at the FBI, threatens Spender and kisses the person who helps her; the Lone Gunmen waltz into the office at will and Skinner always backs his former charges in the end. I don't think there will be any repercussions the next time Scully goes to work, because none of it really happened.
Kudos are certainly deserved for everyone working behind the scenes on the show. Just a couple episodes into their stay in Los Angeles, Carter wrote something up that required a lot of technical skill across the board. The sets are gorgeous -- the dark Queen Anne and the luminous FBI headquarters. Moving the cast and crew through the corridors of both, to quote Mulder while trying to convince the captain of what was going on had to be "a real bitch." Particularly in circumstances like the halls of justice, which required sets to be moved around while Scully was in the elevator to indicate the change of floors.I don't speak Nazi: Not to leave the actors out of this mix, because all of them seem to be feeding off the urgency of filming under such restrictions. If a 10-minute take is going to be messed up by one flub, the adrenaline had to be pumping for everyone. David Duchovny is super fine at the center of this universe, but it's Gillian Anderson who really gets to take the spotlight. Dana 1-B (that's what I'll call Fox's impression of her) has so much spunk and spirit, it's easy to see why no one -- hear that, Fowley? -- will ever take her place in his heart and mind. And she also gets to chew some scenery as Dana 2. (She looks awesome in that gown, by the way.)
"Parts of it were excruciating, but parts of it were exhilarating," Anderson admitted in the official episode guide. "It was like live theater. We were taking risks, doing things differently, learning. You just go here and do this. I was resonating on a whole different level."And if you ever ask me to break policy or protocol, I will have you written up, wrapped up and tossed out of the FBI for good: It's also the strongest episode in a while for Mitch Pileggi. Skinner 1-B and Skinner 2 are crucial to the action in mind and spirit, and that's a welcome change. James Pickens Jr. does a fine job with both the Jamaican Kersh and Sculder's FBI boss roles, and even if William B. Davis' German accent comes off a little suspect, it gives the guy portraying the most devious American an interesting parallel to play. More on Chris Owens as the dual Jeffreys in a little bit.
Know what's also great? Carter's able to advance the Mulder and Scully relationship without offending shippers or no-romos. For all those disappointed that in Fight the Future, the near-kiss and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation were as close as they got, Fox and Dana Two come through with the best smooch these two will ever have. (I said it, I meant it.) It's perfectly timed in the heat of the adventure, with the peril at its highest. They run down hallways hand in hand, for goodness' sake. And it's all wrapped up with a pretty bow at the end when Mulder sweetly admits to Scully that he does love her, only to get a (dare I say, skeptical) "oh, brother" for his trouble.
You saved the world, Scully: Sestra Am and I are of a similar mind when it comes to the score. I too love the swing music and its competition for me also is the "Paper Hearts" contribution. But we'll have to give a large portion of the credit to Louis Prima and Benny Goodman, for the former wrote "Sing, Sing, Sing In Swing" for the latter -- the piece used for the ballroom fight scene. In the official episode guide, Snow said similar music composed by John Williams for a similar scene in Steven Spielberg's 1941 also factored into the work. "So my piece is the third generation of the same inspiration," he said. There have been three Snow X-Files box sets and two limited editions released by La-La Land Records, but still no swinging/swinging. Hopefully some day.I never thought of it before, but I wish "Triangle" had been the actual feature film. I know they had to advance the conspiracy by working within the confines of the mythology, but they ultimately didn't do anything but blow up -- literally and figuratively -- the television show on the big screen. "Triangle" has a lot more to offer, and it could have brought new fans into the fold the same way they envisioned it for Fight the Future.
Meta melodies: In the official episode guide, Carter said he plotted "Triangle" as a way to save film after using more of it to shoot any single show for "The Red and the Black" (S5E14) than any other XF director except Kim Manners. "It helped that a lot of the episode was intentionally dark and gloomy," producer Paul Rabwin explained in the guide. "[Director of photography] Bill [Roe] and Chris used the dark shadows and doorways, when the camera focused on them, as optional editing points -- just like Hitchcock did." Steadicam operator Dave Luckenback handled most of the camera moves. ... Most of the Queen Anne's interior shots were filmed on the famed Queen Mary, which was used to transport troops in World War II. ... "There's a little trouble at our White House, but that'll blow over, so to speak": The reference to the Monica Lewinsky scandal might escape many of the viewers who never heard the salacious details revealed during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. ... Many of the costumes for the episode reportedly also were used in Titanic. ... And Pileggi, who went to school in Germany for a couple of years, penned his own dialogue, according to The Complete X-Files.
Guest star of the week: It's a bit of a cheat, but I want to laud Chris Owens. Jeffrey Spender is a character with little redeeming value to the series to date; he's written as an obnoxious simp. But I think Owens works well in the confines of this episode as both Jeffrey One and Jeffrey Two. And since I've been and will continue to be tough on the role, I wanted to point out for this one shining episode, I appreciate the contribution.
No comments:
Post a Comment