In Worcester, Massachusetts, a frantic man is using a public pay phone (ah, memories). He runs into a local police precinct, screaming that the man chasing him is going to kill him. But he’s too vague and desperate, so the cops rightfully put him in a cell. Well, at least two officers should have checked outside to see whether someone was actually there. While locked up alone, the unarmed man suffers a fatal bullet wound to the head. Looks like Season 8 has a larger red paint budget than the previous seasons. Another example of what they can afford with less Duchovny.
Worcester Police wisely hand it over to the X-files Division. (Shouldn’t these actors at least sound like they’re from Massachusetts?) Looks like the bullet came through a tiny air vent in the cell. Agents Scully and Doggett learn the bullet went through the roof, fiberglass and concrete before hitting its target. Both agents are trying to determine a practical cause, but keep debunking their own theories.
Meanwhile, at AAA-1 Surekill Exterminators (wonder whether that name guarantees they’re first in the Yellow Pages … ah, memories), secretary Tammi Peyton checks the answering machine (ah, memories) and hears the dead frantic man’s last message. She knows him as Carlton Chase and is following his last instructions when the boss, Dwight Cooper, startles her. Dwight, played by frequent Tarantino actor Michael Bowen, has little patience for the skittish Tammi (Kellie Waymire) and wants to see his brother, Randall, when he arrives. Randall (Patrick Kilpatrick) claims Carlton was stealing and Dwight alternates his behavior between controlling and nice. And it looks like the boys are going out later that night. Dwight is gleeful; Randall is dreading it.
Team Sculett are on the trail and find Carlton’s hotel room. Poor guy had been armed with a .45 and was still terrified. Meanwhile, Dwight and Randall’s nighttime activities have turned them into greedy Robin Hoods: They rob/shoot the rich (drug dealers) and give to the poor (I’m assuming themselves). Team Sculett are called to the latest murder scene where Dana floats the theory their shooter may have X-ray vision. John makes the obligatory Superman reference, but it turns out this is the fifth similar shooting in the area. He (incorrectly) assumes rival drug dealers are doing it.
Back at the pest control office, Tammi and Dwight are about to have sex while Randall spies through the wall. She says she always feels like somebody's watching her. Luckily, Randall shows some decorum and walks away, right before Team Sculett arrive. Dwight, who claims he’s legally blind, says Carlton was one of their clients. Doggett reveals Chase called the exterminator’s office shortly before his death. Our intrepid heroes really need to get Tammi away from Dwight if they want any useful information. I hope Tammi didn’t get him anything for Boss’s Day.
Scully and Doggett learn Dwight did time for grand theft auto and Randall, his twin, committed the crime with him. Tammi continues to feel watched in her apartment, but takes a shower anyway. The next morning, a frantic Tammi tries to get to the ledger book (ah, memories) from her desk, but Dwight and Randall are right behind her. So are Team Sculett, with a search warrant. Unfortunately, the ledger is gone, but fortunately, Scully finds the Chase Realty files that incriminate Dwight.
Team Sculett are on the trail and find Carlton’s hotel room. Poor guy had been armed with a .45 and was still terrified. Meanwhile, Dwight and Randall’s nighttime activities have turned them into greedy Robin Hoods: They rob/shoot the rich (drug dealers) and give to the poor (I’m assuming themselves). Team Sculett are called to the latest murder scene where Dana floats the theory their shooter may have X-ray vision. John makes the obligatory Superman reference, but it turns out this is the fifth similar shooting in the area. He (incorrectly) assumes rival drug dealers are doing it.
Back at the pest control office, Tammi and Dwight are about to have sex while Randall spies through the wall. She says she always feels like somebody's watching her. Luckily, Randall shows some decorum and walks away, right before Team Sculett arrive. Dwight, who claims he’s legally blind, says Carlton was one of their clients. Doggett reveals Chase called the exterminator’s office shortly before his death. Our intrepid heroes really need to get Tammi away from Dwight if they want any useful information. I hope Tammi didn’t get him anything for Boss’s Day.
Scully and Doggett learn Dwight did time for grand theft auto and Randall, his twin, committed the crime with him. Tammi continues to feel watched in her apartment, but takes a shower anyway. The next morning, a frantic Tammi tries to get to the ledger book (ah, memories) from her desk, but Dwight and Randall are right behind her. So are Team Sculett, with a search warrant. Unfortunately, the ledger is gone, but fortunately, Scully finds the Chase Realty files that incriminate Dwight.
At the police station, Dana takes on Randall while John interrogates Dwight, but the rooms are close enough that Randall can spy on Dwight and know what to say. Scully immediately picks up on Randall’s ability and lays out their rob-and-kill plan to make money. Team Sculett let the Cooper brothers stew while they interview Tammi. They let Tammi go home, but later learn she may have been involved with Carlton. Tammi meets with her spying neighbor – Randall – and asks for his help. But this Tammi is not the shrinking violet we’ve seen; clearly that’s for Dwight’s benefit. Lovestruck Randall gives Tammi the ledger with the key to the safe deposit box containing her stolen money.
Back in Tammi’s apartment, Scully thinks she’s on the run out of fear, but Doggett is convinced it’s a planned escape. Dwight is also on to Tammi and hides in her car with a gun while she cleans out the safe deposit box. He takes her back to the office and confronts her about everything. Randall, who thought Tammi abandoned him at the bus station, stumbles into the drama. Dwight tries to play the loving brother card to get Randall to kill Tammi, but Randall takes out his brother instead. So Dwight’s dead, Randall gets arrested and Tammi (and the money) are in the wind. This might be the equivalent of a happy ending for an X-files case.
Sestra Professional:
Well, this was disappointing. After a very strong start to Season 8 with the near-impossible task of transitioning to a new co-lead, The X-Files hit the wall -- not even proverbially -- with this one. To make it worse, it's a rut the show won't climb out of for a few episodes.
Meta mopeds: Robert Patrick got revved up for this episode since he got to share the screen with biker buddy Michael Bowen, according to The Complete X-Files. ... Kellie Waymire, who passed away in 2003, was in Playing by Heart, which starred Gillian Anderson.
Back in Tammi’s apartment, Scully thinks she’s on the run out of fear, but Doggett is convinced it’s a planned escape. Dwight is also on to Tammi and hides in her car with a gun while she cleans out the safe deposit box. He takes her back to the office and confronts her about everything. Randall, who thought Tammi abandoned him at the bus station, stumbles into the drama. Dwight tries to play the loving brother card to get Randall to kill Tammi, but Randall takes out his brother instead. So Dwight’s dead, Randall gets arrested and Tammi (and the money) are in the wind. This might be the equivalent of a happy ending for an X-files case.
Sestra Professional:
Well, this was disappointing. After a very strong start to Season 8 with the near-impossible task of transitioning to a new co-lead, The X-Files hit the wall -- not even proverbially -- with this one. To make it worse, it's a rut the show won't climb out of for a few episodes.
I don't know if it's the case, but I always think of "Surekill" and the two that come after it as the lowest point of the original run. Maybe it's because the show was invigorated by John Doggett and the way he had been implemented into the series. It could be because in every long season there's a patch that can't possibly live up to the creativity coming before or after. And although the last one in this trifecta has more going for it than the first two (more on that in a couple weeks), that's the implanted vision I continue to live with. We'll see whether the rewatch changes my mind.
It was a legitimately interesting teaser. Frenetic Carlton Chase seemed genuinely petrified and the fact that he tried to grab one of the officer's guns certainly was grounds for locking him up, although Sestra Am was definitely right about that cops-shoulda-looked-outside thing. And, of course, the future splatter also was on target about the fact that whoever was after him could still get to him. Not sure the officers could have prevented that from happening.
Stupid ain't cute: John and Dana's initial investigation is somewhat compelling as they try to figure out how the impossible was made possible. ... And then we get to the exterminating business office. I feel like I was dosed with that high-quality insecticide they were talking about. There's a squirrelly receptionist who doesn't take off her coat. Then one creepy guy, then the creepy guy's even creepier brother. And lots of rats. It's really not a recipe for an all-time favorite episode. It's about as good a recipe as Randall's proclivity for sandwiches with both mayonnaise and ketchup on them. Yuck.
Despite some forays involving our heroes arriving at bullet-ridden crime scenes and quipping lines like "You know, Elvis used to do this to his hotel rooms," most of our time is spent with the low-rent schemers. Their tawdry affairs in the midst of money-making schemes and subsequent ripoffs aren't very absorbing. Apparently Tammi was the only game in town too, because they all wanted a piece of her at least as much as the money.
I hate twins: That's one powerful lighter Randall carries on his person. I guess he needs an eight-inch flame for better hallway vision, although he probably should be able to determine that Tammi's lying since it's been painfully obvious to us as long as we've known her. Not that she doesn't have reason for being bugged out when she knows that she's a glorified peep show for the eagle-eyed brother. Guess she was biding her time until the sting was complete.
Which brings up the question, how long did they plan to keep up the Robin Hood act in Worcester? They had scored over $700,000 in five drug ripoffs. Might it have been time to ditch the rat race and at least move on to another burg? There's an abundance of reasons why Dwight -- the alleged brains of the operation -- might have wanted to get his moneymaker out of Tammi's sight lines, No. 1 on the list being that he might have lived.
When push comes to shove, the problem is that "Surekill" is a yawner. The biggest crime in this episode isn't the drug dealers wiped out, the money stolen or the affairs. (OK, maybe it was, but that was for melodramatic effect.) It's that none of this bears rewatching. Dana and John try to understand why a man who could look at anything in the world singled out Tammi. Well, to quote the knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he chose poorly.
Guest star of the week: The only believable non-regular performance in the whole thing for me came from the guy whose death set everything into motion. Carlton Chase was played by Tom Jourden, whose IMDb filmography includes lots of bit parts in movies, soap operas and other television shows. Background players often complete the picture for the viewers. Here, Jourden made it for me.
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