Sestra Amateur:
We’re back in Monster-of-the-Week mode, which is preferred after the last intriguing-but-ultimately-icky episode. This MOW is about a chimera (pronounced "kai-mare-a," but I really want to say "chime-ra"). In Greek mythology, it’s a fire-breathing creature with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail. (I’m not sure if those are the best or worst parts of these animals to be fusing together.) It also has a non-specific definition of “imaginary monster.” But the non-mythological translation of chimera is that it’s an unobtainable dream. Being The X-Files, I’m expecting it to lean more toward the former than the latter.
It’s Easter time in Bethany, Vermont, where Martha Crittendon has planned the perfect celebration for the community. Her daughter, Michelle, seems to be finding all of the hidden Easter eggs. She wanders into the woods and gets startled by a raven and one of the other mothers, Jenny Uphouse. Michelle drops her basket and runs away. Later that night, after calling her husband, Howard, to tell him what happened, Martha finds the raven in their house and gets attacked by a horrible-looking creature. (See? The former.)
Sculder are conducting surveillance on a female serial killer in a seedy part of D.C. (insert political joke here) when Assistant Director Skinner reassigns Fox to the Crittendon case. Martha has been missing for two weeks and Walter wants Mulder on the case because of the raven factor. Howard’s position as a federal judge has made this a priority case for the F.B.I. The next morning, Mulder meets with Sheriff Phil Adderly, whose wife is friends with Martha. Fox notices how perfect the home looks. (OK, maybe it’s the latter after all.) He also sees four claw marks on the mantel and asks about the missing broken mirror in the living room. Howard thinks Martha is with a lover because he found a room key and birth control pills, even though he’d had a vasectomy.
Ellen Adderly is handing out missing person fliers when Jenny startles her. After Jenny leaves, Ellen sees a hideous reflection in a car window and the glass shatters. Later that night, the Adderlys arrange for Fox to stay in their home. At dinnertime, Ellen prepares the perfect meal. The Crittendons are having depressing mac and cheese when the raven returns. Actually it’s ravens now, plural, and they were kind enough to unearth Martha’s buried body in the backyard. (So none of the cops noticed a disturbed area of the yard over the past two weeks?!)
Ellen tells Mulder and her husband about the monster she saw earlier that day. The sheriff is a non-believer, but Fox explains that mirrors (and windows) are doorways which can be used to summon spirits. When asked who could have done the summoning, Ellen points them in Jenny’s direction. Ms. Uphouse denies any involvement, while dropping hints about Martha (and Phil’s) less-than-perfect lives. Meanwhile, Ellen is cleaning her living room and the sweeper sucks up a key similar to Martha’s. The raven appears on her child’s crib. Ellen bravely grabs the baby and runs as the creature appears and chases them, breaking mirrors along the way. (The former!) Luckily, Phil arrives home in time, but he thinks it’s all in Ellen’s head. The sheriff gets the key from Mulder and later uses it to unlock the door to a cabin where Jenny is waiting to have sex with him.
The next morning Ellen has made the perfect breakfast (the latter!) and even ironed Fox's shirt. They have a talk about the importance of family and relationships before Phil returns home from “work.” Mulder reveals Martha was four weeks pregnant but Sheriff Adderly isn’t naming names. (I’m still trying to figure out why a law enforcement officer is wearing a uniform that’s clearly missing its badge.) Back in the hotel room, the ravens pay a visit to Jenny. The mirrored ceiling crashes down on her as she gets attacked by the beast. (The former!)
Adderly and Fox respond to the scene, where the sheriff finally admits to affairs with both Jenny and Martha. The pig claims his wife trapped him into staying in a loveless marriage by getting pregnant. (I guess he wasn’t using condoms with anyone. Classy guy.) Of course, now that Phil could be considered a suspect, he’s on board with the supernatural aspect of the case. But poor Ellen realizes the wound on the back of her neck occurred when she fought the creature.
By the way, Scully solved the D.C. mystery. There was no serial killer, just a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” This convinces Mulder that Ellen is their killer, but she’s too afraid to see herself for what she really is. She/it attacks Fox and gives him a good thrashing before attempting to drown him. But Ellen defeats the monster inside and releases Mulder. She gets committed to a psychiatric facility and the doctors rationalize her condition as dissociative identity disorder, which is figuratively and literally true. Hope you’re happy, sheriff. Now go find your badge.
Sestra Professional:
This is one of those episodes I admittedly don't remember as well as most of them in the series. After reviewing it this week, I'm considering that a good thing.
During the original run, I never really got up in arms about the show moving from Vancouver to Hollywood. At the time, I just thought anything keeping the increasingly unhappy David Duchovny in the fold would be a good thing. But as we get deeper into Season 7, I'm starting to have a long-delayed adverse reaction to that change.
There's something ennobling in that: A Vancouver episode would never open with the idyllic Easter teaser we get in "Chimera." Even if the plotline was startingly similar, there would be something undercutting the whole thing. That was the atmosphere of Vancouver. And this show is a pretty good example of why I usually rank the Season 7 at the bottom of my favorite season list.
If you ask me, the stakeout about the alleged female serial killer is much more interesting than this raven business. Then again, if we're talking about round-the-clock exposure to a seamy underbelly, Fox's venture into the 'burbs seems to fit a similar bill. It's just shaded better in pastels.
What a crazy caper: This is a little too Peyton Place for me. I'd call it soap opera, but the daytime drama The Edge of Night utilized its Raven a heck of a lot better than The X-Files does here. Writer David Amann (with the assistance of staff writer Greg Walker, according to the official episode guide) utilizes every single thing he's ever heard about ravens in this story -- they're attracted to death and decay ... they are companions to evil. It's overkill, literally and figuratively.
I find that happens on occasion with Amann's scripts for the show, but at the same time, I appreciate his distinctive take on our genre. I'm one of a precious few who love "Agua Mala" (Season 6, Episode 13), but this year's "Rush" (S7E5) suffered from some of the same oversimplification that "Chimera" does. "Terms of Endearment" (S6E7) and next season's "Invocation" (S8E5) are underrated -- in my opinion -- and his final effort for the show, "Release," (S9E17) will be one of my favorites of Season 9.
There are just parts of the episode that teeter perilously on the edge of a proverbial cliff. The sheriff -- in addition to not knowing the whereabouts of his badge -- thinks his wife has imagined everything due to stress. Occasionally, he does make a salient point, like when he pointed out that Mulder thinks the broken mirrors have deeper meaning, but couldn't tell him exactly why. (Our expert profiler from the Vancouver years wouldn't have such a problem, isn't that textbook psycho for "can't bear to look at him or herself?")
In the midst of the sheriff's scum and villainy, we get one scene that serves to move our core story along. Mulder confesses (to evil's companion) that he doesn't have a significant other "in the widely understood definition of that term." It doesn't quite mean he doesn't have someone in his life, though. I thought it was a nice subtle way of making the point. And there wasn't a lot of that in this one.
Witness that the solution to Dana's surveillance helps Fox solve his case. I'm going to overlook that quick fix in favor of considering this another way of looking at Mulder's thought processes. The ability to draw the parallel makes Fox the special agent he really is. On the other talon, Mulder's lucky that he got through to Ellen on some level, because she really had him at a disadvantage in that bathtub. On the other other talon, again maybe I'm not giving Fox enough credit. The fact that he was able to reach her also means he saved his own life. He's truly a special special agent.
Metatarsals: Scully's not in the raven's share of this episode because Gillian Anderson was in preproduction for next week's "all things," which she wrote and directed. ... Sadly, this was the last screen credit for Gina Mastrogiacomo (Jenny Uphouse), who passed away from a rare bacterial heart infection the following year. ... It wasn't too difficult for Michelle Joyner (Ellen) to act as mom to the baby in her scenes. Katy was played by Joyner's real-life twin boys.
Guest star of the week: The cast doesn't get much to work with, on paper, all the characters seem to be cutout dolls. I'm giving the nod to Joyner, largely on the basis of the scene in which Ellen encourages Fox not to miss out on having a family. It's the only thing that hits home in this one. Does the fact that she's also the raven detract from that?
Sestra Amateur:
Google Translate interprets this week’s episode "En Ami" to mean "as friends." Considering the plot of this particular ep, that’s more than a little hard to fathom. After all, it’s against the laws of man and nature. It even sounds like "enemy" when you say it out loud. In Goochland, Virginia -- Yay! An East coast story! -- a married couple cares for their sick son in a way that causes people to protest outside their family home. Sometime during the night, the boy, Jason Peck, wakes to a Spielbergian scene outside his bedroom window. Are they poltergeists? Aliens? Government agents? On this show, anything is possible.
The next morning, Scully sees the miracle cure story in a newspaper, one to which she does not subscribe, on her doorstep. After receiving an anonymous tip, Mulder greets her with the same inspiring tale at their office. Dana is leaning toward spontaneous remission over miracle cure. She travels to the Peck home to interview the family. Jason describes his miracle angels as men who pinched him, then shows Scully the scar on the back of his neck.
Afterward, Dana encounters the Cigarette Smoking Man in her car. He claims he saved the boy with the same technology that cured Scully, left the newspaper for her and sent Fox the anonymous tip. Cancer Man claims he’s dying and wants to right some wrongs. He’ll pass the cure along to Dana provided she never tells Mulder about it. After giving it some thought, Scully traces CSM’s phone number to an office which employs the only competent security guard in X-Files history. Dana finds CGB Spender, who claims he is dying – no, not from cancer – but from complications caused by brain surgery. He says there are chips containing information for medical cures in a secure location and he needs a few days with her to get them. Scully agrees but leaves a message for Fox and puts on a wire before they go. Road trip! Driver picks the music!
Too bad there’s no music, but Dana wins one battle by getting Cancer Man not to smoke in her car. He reveals his affection for her and Fox, which, coming from him, sounds sinister. Meanwhile, Mulder goes to Scully's apartment and learns she left with CSM, who is playing dime-store shrink by analyzing Dana (somewhat accurately).
They arrive at the home of Marjorie Butters, an allegedly 118-year-old woman who CGB has saved. Marjorie has the expected scar on the back of her neck and is able to bring out CSM’s human side. Scully (with Cancer Man’s consent) calls Assistant Director Skinner directly to allay his (and Fox's) fears but still doesn’t reveal anything, at least not on the phone. During a gas station restroom break, Dana mails one of her audio tapes to Mulder while Cancer Man pumps the gas. Did I mention they’re being followed? An unknown man retrieves Scully’s letter from the mailbox. It was worth a shot, Dana.
Fox has the Lone Gunmen trying to locate Scully’s digital trail. They find deleted emails related to someone nicknamed Cobra. Mulder realizes someone hacked Dana’s computer and was pretending to be her while corresponding with Cobra. They bring the information to Skinner and claim it was CSM. It’s late when Cancer Man and a sleeping Scully arrive at their destination in Pennsylvania. He carries her into the house and changes her clothes, but luckily it’s all done off screen. The cringe factor is already pretty high without having visuals.
CGB claims they’ll be meeting their contact for dinner and gives Dana a dress that will not allow her to easily conceal a wire. Scully’s presence is supposed to assure Cobra that his extraterrestrial cure -- one that cures all human disease -- will end up in the right hands. CSM’s revelation and claim of redemption borders on cheesy pickup line and the ick factor still dominates the episode. Cancer Man steps outside and meets with his lackey, the one who’d been following them, to make sure he continues to do his job. At the same time, Dana receives a cryptic note with their next location.
The next morning, CSM sends Scully alone to meet with Cobra in the middle of a lake. He hands her the disk then promptly gets assassinated by CGB's lackey. Cancer Man then saves Dana's life by killing his own employee. She returns to the dock and stupidly hands CSM the disk. He appears to give it back to her and she finally gets the hell out of there.
The Lone Gunmen analyze the disk in Fox's apartment, and of course, it’s blank. CSM covered all of his tracks and Scully finally realizes she’s been had. Even Mulder seems disappointed in her for believing CGB's tale. But in the end, Cancer Man doesn’t use the cure to save himself or decide who lives and dies. He destroys the disk, which makes it seem like nothing was accomplished, except the elaborate assassination of an anonymous scientist. That and Dana's memory of a music-less road trip with her "enemy."
Sestra Professional:
Once upon a time ... meaning before the revival's finale ... "En Ami" was one of the best episodes of Season 7 for moi. After "My Struggle IV," it's kind of difficult to see it as much more than gross. "Ick, ick, icky ick!" is the way Sestra Am put it when submitting her portion of the festivities. I'm going to try my hardest to review this one on its own merits, though.
This episode was the brainchild of William B. Davis. Those in the fandom who have watched even one panel with Davis on it at a pop-culture convention will recall that he considers the Cigarette-Smoking Man to be the hero of The X-Files. So using that particular mind-set -- one probably not shared by legions of viewers -- he crafted a quiet personal story between CGB Spender and Dana Scully. Davis and, by extension, Cancer Man -- the show kinda stopped using that particular derogatory name, hasn't it? -- deigned to have the practical doctor understand him a little bit better. He probably didn't mind so much that Scully's easy on the eyes either. (Uh oh, I'm veering into ick territory.)
I just gotta know whether it's Roma Downey or Della Reese: So first ol' CGB has to get her away from his son/sworn enemy. Yep, claiming there's technology that will eliminate cancer, and in fact, all disease is the way to do it. First, she sees the little boy who was instantaneously cured and the familiar mark on the back of his neck is enough to get her involved in more than just an investigative way. It's not that Dana didn't realize she's doing a deal with the devil, she knows he has access to a treatment and wants to see how it plays out.
Being the shrewd operator he is, CSM claims 1. he's dying and 2. he will rescind offer if she contacts Mulder. He acts like he has some semblance of conscience by admitting that most of what he built is in ruins and he has no real legacy. There's no reason for Scully to believe a word he's saying, but as a human being, she's got to at least hope some of it's true. For his part, you can fathom that she's someone CGB really would like to have in his inner circle.
It's time I quit: The scenes between Davis and Anderson are powerful, they know their characters so well that their slightest reactions to what the other is saying feel genuine to what they've created over lo these many years. When he says he has always had a particular affection for her, it does ring true, especially when he references saving her life in "Redux II" (Season 5, Episode 2). He brings up an interesting point. He did hold her life in his hands, and one can almost visualize what that sensation might feel like to someone who enjoys wielding that kind of power. Critical to buying into this concept is his statement that no sacrifice is purely altruistic. He'll always have an ulterior motive.
Try as I might, it's impossible to get past the scene of Dana waking up in the hotel room and finding out that she's been undressed. That always had a repellent quality. Even the idea of him buying her a killer dress is rather gross. Now I'm thinking about him deciding between different options before settling on the one that really is absolutely perfect for her. It's very Pretty Woman.
Since CGB wasn't in "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" (S6E6), he doesn't know that his attempt at pop psychology is crap, for however much he is correct about her. But I agreed with something along the lines of what he states outright -- Scully would die for Mulder but wouldn't allow herself to love him. I kind of think that's how show creator Chris Carter played it. That might change in the near future, but it does hold water at this point.
CSM plays two cards a lot in this episode -- the death card and "this must be why you became a doctor." When he offers her a Life Saver, it's more than just a cigarette replacement, it's a clear sign that he's one of those guys who has to remind a person that at some point he was of assistance.
Where this dude works even shadows have shadows: There's not much for Fox to do except fret over Dana. There's something to be gained from him knowing something is up even when she's claiming that she's fine. They really should have some kind of secret code that would confirm that for him.
The secret of success to the perfectly executed con is the fact that Cancer Man's motives have never been black or white. There's grey all over this one. He does want to have Scully's approval on some level, something he could never have. But he has one mission objective and it is decidedly not to give Dana the cure for all human disease. He gets the extra benefit of casting some doubt in Mulder's eyes. It shouldn't be overlooked that, yes, CSM saves Scully's life once again. And what, he didn't even quit smoking? Sheesh. What a liar.
Meta murphies: This marked Rob Bowman's last episode for the show. The director with the second-most credits on the show after Kim Manners, Bowman was essential to creating the look and feel of the show and even was tasked with bringing that to the big screen for the show's first feature film. ... In the official episode guide, Davis admitted there was a lot of William Shakespeare's Richard III in the proceedings. But most of all, he wanted more to do with Anderson. "I've always said, if they're not going to give me one scene with Gillian, I'll just have to write one myself," he said in the guide.
Guest star of the week: Veteran actress Louise Latham, who many will remember from the original version of The Philadelphia Experiment. There is something very engaging about 118-year-old Marjorie Butters. So don't feel too bad, Dana, I bought her message as well, thanks to Latham.
Sestra Amateur:
X-file-worthy cases in 2000 remain confined to the state of California. In Marin County, the family of Dr. Robert Wieder are celebrating his Physician of the Year award. Unfortunately, his good fortune takes a nasty turn. Father-in-law Irving Thalbro finds what looks like a gingerbread man made of dirt in his bed while a creepy guy sneaks up behind him. Robert later finds Irving hanged to death, the word “theef” written in blood on the wall. Hope the killer didn’t mean “thief.” It’s always awkward when you spell a word wrong and can’t undo it.
Sculder arrive to the crime scene where Fox shows Dana the “hexcraft” dirt in Irving’s bed. Seventy miles away in a Foster City boarding house, the landlord speaks with resident Orel Peattie, who is making medicine inside his apartment. He's also making voodoo dolls. (Peattie's played by Billy Drago, I know him best as troublemaker Barbas on Charmed). Post-autopsy, Scully finds evidence of kuru – a neurodegenerative disease -- in Thalbro’s system and concludes he killed himself. (Fun fact: To prevent kuru, Wikipedia suggests avoiding cannibalism.) Mulder sticks with his murder theory, believing the illness was inflicted upon Irving.
Back inside the Wieder house, Orel steals a family photograph. Not surprisingly, Nan Wieder doesn’t want to stay in a house where her father died horribly, but Robert vetoes her. They’re about to go to bed when Robert finds a hexcraft in their bed and Nan gets felled by a disease more commonly found in Africa than California. In a San Francisco hospital, Fox has trouble convincing Robert voodoo is real. Wieder reviews his wife’s X-rays and finds the word “theef.” Peattie confronts Wieder, who doesn’t know his tormenter. Robert conducts his own investigation to locate a woman named Lynette Peattie. Inside a Jane Doe patient file he finds an embroidered bracelet that reads “flax-hair lamb theef of mans heart.”
Orel is making another hexbag at home when his landlord asks for more medicine. Seems like she’s becoming a believer. Mulder remains one as he and Scully visit an alternative medicine proprietor. She claims the dirt is “goofer dust” and is spread near victims to “direct misfortune.” Several items, including a photo of the victim, are placed inside a “poppet” which Scully succinctly calls a voodoo doll. Their source also reveals the user may be “charmed” by drawing his power from a literal charm. So, take the charm and Peattie loses power.
In the hospital, Orel's first use of a microwave to make popcorn mirrors Nan’s use of radiation to treat her disease, mainly because her poppet is in the microwave. Now poor Nan is toast. Robert has become a believer, especially since “theef” was branded into his wife’s chest. The next day, Wieder tells Sculder about an emergency-room Jane Doe, who was a victim of a bus rollover accident the previous year. Because she was dying and in pain, Robert put her out of her misery with morphine. Fox deduces Lynette Peattie was Orel’s daughter because Peattie’s revenge is to take away Wieder’s family.
Scully’s research shows Lynette came from West Virginia, supporting Mulder’s original theory about their suspect. Fox wants to exhume Jane Doe’s body and move it to Quantico, but Peattie beat them to it. So that’s what the landlord smelled inside Orel’s apartment. Too bad Peattie catches her inside and infects her with the flesh-eating virus. Mulder sees the related news report and now knows where Orel Peattie has been hiding. He finds most of Lynette’s body and calls Dana to warn her.
Scully is protecting Robert and Lucy Wieder in a remote cabin. Orel, whose charm is his daughter’s head, is watching from outside. Peattie burglarizes their car and gets what he needs for the next poppet -- a strand of Dana's hair. He blinds her by putting nails in the poppet’s eyes. (Why don’t our heroes ever call local FBI agents for assistance? A couple of patrol deputies would have been very useful.) Orel breaks into the cabin, disarms Scully and taunts Robert. Peattie believes he could have saved Lynette if he got to her before Wieder “eased her suffering.” But Orel's poppet has Robert’s name on it, not Lucy’s. He stabs it and Wieder feels the pain. Fox arrives and finds Scully’s blinded poppet. He removes the nails, which allows Dana to shoot Peattie before he kills Wieder. Later at the hospital, Dana reveals how cases like this one question her medical judgment calls and show how she’s changed over the years. Maybe she is starting to believe.
Sestra Professional:
The idea of voodoo hasn't been one of The X-Files bigger strengths over the course of the series, witness "Fresh Bones" (Season 2, Episode 15), for example. So it might not be the biggest of compliments to say "Theef" is the best of those offerings to date. But it is.
Insert your own Dan Quayle joke here: It's good to get back to a creepy episode, we haven't had a lot of them since leaving Vancouver at the end of Season 5. It used to be a hallmark of the show before conspiracy theories and alien ships took over the horizon. The drawback is that because we've spend so much time with the mythology and The X-Files lite humor episodes, it's difficult to feel truly bugged out. I kind of wish we happened upon this one in the latter stages of Season 2.
"Theef" was scripted by our favorite three-headed writing team -- Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz. And that's why we get a quick look at a newsman named John Gillnitz, reporting on the "outbreak" of flesh-eating disease. Because we have our show veterans in the fold, time is made for debates about science vs. the supernatural. (I kind of wish Gregory House could have a shot at this case, though.)
But we also get a couple things that we don't see in bottle episodes not penned by the unusual suspects, including some definite opinions about class systems -- the haves against the have-nots. And more importantly, there's a chance for one of our leads to grow.
"Theef" gives us some reverse Norman Bates action. Peattie took his daughter's body and he's using it as the source of his power. That's kind of how it worked in Psycho, if not to such a mythical degree. I appreciate the homage.
The ep falls apart a bit in the final act with those kind of circumstances we just have to grin and bear as viewers of a regular TV series. Our leads are separated and the bad guy has no trouble tracking the team to a remote cabin. For someone who couldn't figure out how to get microwave popcorn out of a vending machine and heat it up, Orel certainly accomplishes a lot in a short span of time.
You do keep me guessing: But I'm not willing to give up on "Theef" entirely. It's striking to watch Gillian Anderson rock the scene in which Dana is blinded, and the final moment's even cooler. Scully's wondering what could have happened if Peattie was able to get to his daughter before she died, even before Mulder can voice his usual sentiment in that regard. It's probably a litmus test for us as viewers to hypothesize whether Orel could have saved her or not.
Metaphysical meta: If Orel looks familiar to viewers, it's because Billy Drago followed his son, Darren Burrows, onto the show. Burrows was the troubled bank robber Bernard in "Monday" (S6), coincidentally penned by Gilligan and Shiban. ... This is the second straight episode honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences as The X-Files took home an Emmy for makeup. The production team also won awards for visual effects and sound mixing for "First Person Shooter."
Guest star of the week: Drago's Peattie comes off as rather corn-pone, so it's not difficult to side with the doc. Still, all due credit to 24 veteran James Morrison, a mainstay on Space: Above and Beyond, the short-lived series by X-Files writing team extraordinaire Glen Morgan and James Wong.
We’re back in Monster-of-the-Week mode, which is preferred after the last intriguing-but-ultimately-icky episode. This MOW is about a chimera (pronounced "kai-mare-a," but I really want to say "chime-ra"). In Greek mythology, it’s a fire-breathing creature with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail. (I’m not sure if those are the best or worst parts of these animals to be fusing together.) It also has a non-specific definition of “imaginary monster.” But the non-mythological translation of chimera is that it’s an unobtainable dream. Being The X-Files, I’m expecting it to lean more toward the former than the latter.
It’s Easter time in Bethany, Vermont, where Martha Crittendon has planned the perfect celebration for the community. Her daughter, Michelle, seems to be finding all of the hidden Easter eggs. She wanders into the woods and gets startled by a raven and one of the other mothers, Jenny Uphouse. Michelle drops her basket and runs away. Later that night, after calling her husband, Howard, to tell him what happened, Martha finds the raven in their house and gets attacked by a horrible-looking creature. (See? The former.) 
Ellen Adderly is handing out missing person fliers when Jenny startles her. After Jenny leaves, Ellen sees a hideous reflection in a car window and the glass shatters. Later that night, the Adderlys arrange for Fox to stay in their home. At dinnertime, Ellen prepares the perfect meal. The Crittendons are having depressing mac and cheese when the raven returns. Actually it’s ravens now, plural, and they were kind enough to unearth Martha’s buried body in the backyard. (So none of the cops noticed a disturbed area of the yard over the past two weeks?!) 
The next morning Ellen has made the perfect breakfast (the latter!) and even ironed Fox's shirt. They have a talk about the importance of family and relationships before Phil returns home from “work.” Mulder reveals Martha was four weeks pregnant but Sheriff Adderly isn’t naming names. (I’m still trying to figure out why a law enforcement officer is wearing a uniform that’s clearly missing its badge.) Back in the hotel room, the ravens pay a visit to Jenny. The mirrored ceiling crashes down on her as she gets attacked by the beast. (The former!) 
By the way, Scully solved the D.C. mystery. There was no serial killer, just a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” This convinces Mulder that Ellen is their killer, but she’s too afraid to see herself for what she really is. She/it attacks Fox and gives him a good thrashing before attempting to drown him. But Ellen defeats the monster inside and releases Mulder. She gets committed to a psychiatric facility and the doctors rationalize her condition as dissociative identity disorder, which is figuratively and literally true. Hope you’re happy, sheriff. Now go find your badge. 
During the original run, I never really got up in arms about the show moving from Vancouver to Hollywood. At the time, I just thought anything keeping the increasingly unhappy David Duchovny in the fold would be a good thing. But as we get deeper into Season 7, I'm starting to have a long-delayed adverse reaction to that change.
What a crazy caper: This is a little too Peyton Place for me. I'd call it soap opera, but the daytime drama The Edge of Night utilized its Raven a heck of a lot better than The X-Files does here. Writer David Amann (with the assistance of staff writer Greg Walker, according to the official episode guide) utilizes every single thing he's ever heard about ravens in this story -- they're attracted to death and decay ... they are companions to evil. It's overkill, literally and figuratively.
In the midst of the sheriff's scum and villainy, we get one scene that serves to move our core story along. Mulder confesses (to evil's companion) that he doesn't have a significant other "in the widely understood definition of that term." It doesn't quite mean he doesn't have someone in his life, though. I thought it was a nice subtle way of making the point. And there wasn't a lot of that in this one.
Metatarsals: Scully's not in the raven's share of this episode because Gillian Anderson was in preproduction for next week's "all things," which she wrote and directed. ... Sadly, this was the last screen credit for Gina Mastrogiacomo (Jenny Uphouse), who passed away from a rare bacterial heart infection the following year. ... It wasn't too difficult for Michelle Joyner (Ellen) to act as mom to the baby in her scenes. Katy was played by Joyner's real-life twin boys.
