X-Files S7E7: Don't look any Pfaster

Sestra Amateur: 

Do you remember Donnie Pfaster? I didn’t until I reread my Season 2, Episode 13 recap  of "Irresistible." Donnie was a fetish-driven serial killer who kidnapped Dana Scully five years ago. Of course, Scully stopped him, but my frustration with the writer’s storyline contrivances is still evident years later. (Yep, I’m looking at you, Chris Carter.) I hope this episode’s writer, Chip Johannessen, doesn’t follow Carter’s example too closely.

Reverend Orison is preaching to inmates at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. This guy must be important because his last name is the episode title. He seems to reach all of the prisoners except one. Donnie Pfaster, again played by Nick Chinlund, won’t jump on the board the religion train. He doesn’t chant, clap or stomp his feet like the others. A level of nonconformity can be healthy in a person, but it probably won’t play well here. Later, one of the pastor’s followers loses his fingers in a tragic accident. Donnie uses the distraction and walks away from the prison. And here I thought he was going to scoop up some of the guy’s severed digits.

Scully wakes up to a breeze from the open window and a malfunctioning alarm clock which reads 6:66 before correcting to 6:06. Sculder are called to the penitentiary. Dana stands by her belief that Pfaster is not an X-file, but she understandably wants him apprehended ASAP. Scully doesn’t tell Mulder she woke up the moment Donnie walked away. Fox reveals there were two similar escapes from nearby maximum security prisons over the past year. Mulder interviews the “injured” inmate. (Today’s alliteration example is brought to you by the letters I and N.) Turns out it was all in the guy’s head, he didn’t even lose a fingernail. Guess that explains why Pfaster didn’t take the fingers with him. Fox sees the prisoner exhibit a post-hypnotic suggestion and realizes the prison chaplain has been in touch with all three missing inmates. Meanwhile, Dana keeps getting distracted by a memory song she hears through the vents, "Don’t Look Any Further," originally sung by Dennis Edwards of the Temptations.

Donnie arrives at a diner in Harrisburg, Illinois. He’s still wearing his prison attire, but the clothing is so non-descript he doesn’t stand out at all. It’s a good thing prisons and jails eventually went to the scrubs look. A hooker with horrible cuticles falls into his lap, but Pfaster's pitch is interrupted by the Reverend Orison, played by Scott Wilson, who is probably best known for The Walking Dead, one of his final roles. I remember him mainly from C.S.I. The marshals are hot on Donnie's trail, but Orison creates an illusion that allows Pfaster to escape. Then Donnie turns the tables, hits the reverend with his own car and escapes with cuticle girl. Sculder catch up to the marshals and they are too dazed to be of any help, but the diner radio is playing Scully’s favorite song.

Dana interviews Orison at the hospital. He tries to use her religious faith to get to her. Mulder arrives with a dose of reality -- crime-scene photos of what Pfaster did to cuticle girl. Fox also learns the not-so-good preacher is a convicted and paroled murderer. The reverend claims he’s doing God’s work, but as usual, Fox is the skeptic when it comes to religion. Dana reveals the song’s connection -- it was playing when she was 13 years old and learned her Sunday school teacher had been murdered. Orison called her "Scout" just like her teacher did. Scully also tells Mulder about the relation to Pfaster and the clock on her nightstand.

Meanwhile, Donnie is trying to disguise Orison’s car pretty much the same way the prison breakers did in Johnny Dangerously. (“Come on, shelf paper!”) He searches the trunk and ignores what appears to be clothing from the other missing (and probably dead) inmates. Pfaster finds the Reverend’s home address and house key so he heads that way. Knowing a serial killer has Orison’s car, you’d think local police – and even our intrepid heroes – would send cops to the home in case Donnie tried to hide there. I guess we’ll see.

Sculder learn Orison has self-inflicted swelling of the brain, which Fox assumes was done to enhance the mind-control power while in prison. One trick is called "stopping the world," which seems to be what happens to everyone else when the inmates escape. Yep, the reverend truly is God’s “Tool.” He hypnotizes the marshal guarding his room and escapes the hospital. Back at Orison’s house – where there are zero cops! – Donnie calls for door-to-door hooker delivery service. The one who arrives isn’t too bright; even though Pfaster opens the door in his tighty-whities and looks creepy as hell, she’s relieved the preacher who lives there isn’t the one who called her because “they always like the weirdest things.” Donnie finally unnerves her to the point she wants to leave. (It’s a wig!?!) She gets away by knocking him unconscious with a candle. 

At the hospital, Sculder learn Orison left a cryptic note -- “Don’t look any further” -- but Dana claims she never told him the song title. Pfaster regains consciousness (still no cops) and the reverend returns home with a gun (still no cops. Darn it, Chip!) Even though they’re both injured, Orison manages to get Donnie to the woods and makes Pfaster dig his own grave. Donnie then morphs into a demon who overpowers and buries the reverend.

The next morning, police and Sculder are all over the crime scene in the woods, but only because Pfaster called them. Mulder tells Scully, “don’t look any further” but there are still 13 minutes left in the episode and we haven’t seen a Scully/Pfaster showdown yet. It’s very naïve of Dana (and Fox) to not have a security detail outside Scully’s home until Donnie is apprehended. She is clearly unfinished business to Pfaster! 

Even when Dana arrives home, she doesn’t search her own place. And considering the number of times she’s been kidnapped, she should have an alarm system! The clock tips her off too late that Donnie is in the house. He chokes Scully, she digs her thumbs into his eyes. Too bad Pfaster gets the upper hand again. Meanwhile, the marshals from Illinois leave a phone message for Mulder about the wig-wearing call girl who got away. Fox hears "Don’t Look Any Further" on his radio and calls Dana, who doesn’t answer. Donnie readies the tub and plays the same song on the stereo while Scully struggles to get to her gun. Mulder arrives (seriously, he didn’t call for local police who could arrive long before him?!) and Dana shoots Pfaster to death. She never should have been put in the position of self-defense vs. vengeance in the first place, but we have Chip the writer to thank for that. 

And as far as the plan to use "Don’t Look Any Further?" It was a great song choice because of the title and tone, but the song was released in 1984. (On April 3, 1984, to be specific. Is that a sign?) If Dana was 13 in her memory, that would make her 29 years old here. But Scully’s birthdate is Feb. 23, 1964, which means the story in her memory occurred in 1977, seven years before the song was released. Ironically, The Temptations had a song called "Don’t Look Back," but maybe the show couldn’t get the rights to it. Of course, if you don’t want the episode ruined by actual facts, then don’t look any further… 

Sestra Professional: 

You didn't remember Donnie Pfaster, Sestra Am? For my money, he's the creepiest monster our heroes have faced in a bottle episode. And that's saying something, because there were some choice candidates in the first four seasons.

There was a nice reveal of Donnie in the teaser. One sideways glance from Pfaster and I'm freshly unsettled. I was expecting more creepy greatness from "Orison," but it never fully delivers. Maybe the episode title should have been "Pfaster and Furiouser" or something like that.

Someone forgot to throw away the key: The key element to "Irresistible" then and "Orison" now is Dana Scully. Back then, we saw her rankled like we rarely did. Donnie got under her proverbial skin as he tried to get to her actual skin. We also see Mulder in better form than he has been for much of this season. He's always been great at the profiling game and this is his wheelhouse. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the return of Robert Patrick Modell as "Pusher" (S3E17) in "Kitsunegari" (S5E8). Modell got to Fox ... Pfaster gets to Dana. 

This story really isn't solely about Donnie, it's also about the reverend -- much like "Kitsunegari" revealed more about Pusher's sister. I'm starting to detect a pattern. As great as it is to have actors who have given us the biggest jolts in the series back in the fold, it doesn't do a lot for me to put them in the background for much of the episode. And then -- gasp -- a medical malady causes the renewal of evil. 

It's a catch-22, what could be done with said characters that wasn't in the initial go-arounds? Mulder and Scully track them down, outwit them, catch them. We get a reprise of Donnie and the chemically treated shampoo thing. The flip being that the hooker in question was wearing a wig. Talk about a turnoff for the hair freak.

God knows you're capable of it: There's an attempt to bring Dana's faith back into play. I can appreciate that, even if it's done as clunkily as it is here. But the early payoff is an appreciated faceoff between our leads -- Scully doesn't think God is a spectator on the sidelines, Mulder does. It's striking when Fox chooses not to believe, even though it's usually in a religious context. It makes viewers sit up and take notice because it doesn't happen every day, er, every week.

I'm certainly in touch with letting a song affect your life. ("Native New Yorker" has been bugging the snot out of me all day.) I like the obscure tune Dana remembers from years ago specifically tying into the story -- that's when Scout learned about the nature of ultimate evil. Donnie has been the personification of evil in both his appearances and having him listening to that song when Scully is fighting for her life is creepy majesty, if there is such a thing. That sort of slant makes "Orison" seem more like Millennium, the series, than "Millennium" the episode a few weeks ago. (And surprise, surprise, Johannessen was show runner on Millennium in the third season. Maybe he should have written the Frank Black wrapup script.)

Much more from The X-Files' playbook is the regulation "Scully in peril" moment. There's just no making ultimate evil see reason, why Dana previously strived to make sure he got life in prison instead of the death penalty is beyond me. That leads up to the very dubious outcome -- the flip being Scully making an atypical choice of vengeance when her life was no longer hanging in the balance. 

Meta music: Dana's got a bug for tunes, doesn't she? Remember "Beyond the Sea" in another of the episodes (S1E13) in which Scully believes and Mulder doesn't? ... Gonna give the show a pass on the "Don't Look Any Further" front. Since the version the show uses is by John Hiatt and wasn't an official release, in our fictional world it could have come out when she was 13. Since plenty of movies and TV shows have taken a song and shoehorned it into a different world, I'll buy it here. ... By the way, according to the official episode guide, producer Paul Rabwin and company first approached Lyle Lovett to do the song, but he was unavailable. They quickly followed up with Hiatt, who sent over a demo. "It was chilling, eerie and soulful," Rabwin said in the guide. "It was perfect." ... One of show creator Chris Carter's contributions to the episode was having Scully's clock flash to "666" at 6:06. ... Rob Bowman, second only to Kim Manners for directing the most X-Files episodes, helmed only two in Season 7 -- this one and En Ami (the 15th of the season). Both have proved to be ... controversial. 

Guest star of the week: As much as I'd like to give the nod to Scott Wilson as the title character of "Orison," Nick Chinlund slips back into Donnie's skin all too easily. All he has to do is say one word in that macabre Pfaster tone and my hair stands on end.