X-Files S9E14: They did the monster mash

Sestra Amateur: 

In Fairhope, Pennsylvania, a young boy named Tommy Conlon is scared of something in his bedroom. His father, Jeffrey, played by Scott Paulin, just wants Tommy to go to sleep. Tommy can still hear the creature and tries to escape the room but dear old dad is holding the door closed. That’s called tough love, right? Fun fact: When you type “Fairhope Penn” into Google, the second suggested result is "Hillbilly Haven Fairhope Pennsylvania."

Dr. Dana Scully is trying to eat her lunch in between classes at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, when she gets a surprise visit from accountant Leyla Harrison, whom we first met in "Alone" (Season 8, Episode 19). Harrison manages to ruin Scully’s appetite with photographs from a graphic X-files case involving Tommy’s now-dead mother. Even though Tommy insisted a monster killed his mommy, the coroner’s autopsy determined the victim stabbed herself. Sixteen times. Harrison also claims the monster killed Tommy’s cat, Spanky. 

Dana dismisses Leyla and goes about her day until she gets a call from Special Agent Monica Reyes, who is heading to Pennsylvania with Special Agent John Doggett … and Harrison. She manages to convince Team Johnica to continue with the investigation. I wonder whether Leyla is as fascinated with Reyes and Doggett's expenses as she was with Sculder’s.

The trio meets with Jeffrey Conlon, but he sends the feds away. Luckily, John notices some physical evidence that convinces him to get a warrant to search the place. Too bad their car gets disabled in a very disgusting manner. Meanwhile, Dana gets woken up in the middle of the night by Harrison's friend Gabe Rotter, who hand-delivers Tommy’s dead cat. (Wow, the things a guy will do for a date.) 

Back in Fairhope, no one has a working car or phone, so it’s sleepover time. They hear Tommy scream for help upstairs and observe Jeffrey preventing his son – and the monsters – from leaving the bedroom. Doggett shoots the creature but that splits it into two monsters. Jeffrey tries to defend his actions but Leyla doesn’t buy it.

During the necropsy, Scully determines the cat did not commit suicide like Mrs. Conlon. She then speaks with Sheriff Jack Coogan (Jackie Coogan? Sounds like some kind of in-joke), who is familiar with the Conlon family. Too bad the worsening weather may make it difficult for him to get to the agents. Outside the Conlon home, the feds unearth a broken piece of mirror, not a monster. They’re preparing to leave the house with Tommy and Jeffrey when the sheriff arrives. Too bad it’s not actually him, just a meaty shell John is able to impale with his fist.

Gabe complains to Dana about Leyla’s fascination with Mulder and Scully. She decides to head to Pennsylvania with Mr. Rotter. After Team Johnica examines the “sheriff” and realizes he’s not a typical human being, Doggett proposes an interesting theory: Maybe they’re experiencing something similar to what happened to Team Sculder during an exposure to mushroom spores in "Field Trip" (S6E21). Tommy and Reyes head upstairs to his bedroom while Team Harriett tries to get more information from Jeffrey. Dear daddy claims he locked Tommy in the room with the monsters because he knew the creatures would not hurt his boy like they hurt everyone else. While they’re upstairs, Tommy shows Monica his latest drawing -- it depicts a creature inside her stomach.

Scully and Rotter (Scotter? Rully?) arrive at the Sheriff’s office but the big man doesn’t think they can get to the house safely. And Reyes, who now has a creature inside of her, realizes Tommy is the scary monster! (Of course, most parents of 8-year-old boys probably figured this out much earlier.) Too bad John chases the kid into the bedroom and falls into an abyss, where he gets attacked by hundreds of these things. Tommy then makes Leyla bleed from her eyes by drawing that very scene. 

Doggett, who managed to convince himself the creatures aren’t real, escapes from the room and confronts Jeffrey with the truth. And Mrs. Conlon truly did stab herself but only because of what Tommy caused her to believe. John and Jeffrey get the women out of the house while Doggett prepares to burn it to the ground with Tommy inside. The little boy thinks he’s bluffing until everything starts to burn. Somehow, his fear enables Leyla and Monica to heal. Team Scotter swoops in to save the day. Inside the house, Dana and Gabe find an alert John and an unconscious Tommy. Luckily, Doggett was bluffing and never set the fire. He didn’t even use actual gasoline. What a letdown.

Leyla and Gabe later visit Scully, Doggett and Reyes in the X-files office. Harrison’s backhanded compliment to Doggett shows she’s still a little in awe of the X-files agents. And Tommy’s treatment to stifle his imagination and prevent the return of the monsters? Television, lots of television. Interesting message from a TV show that aired for nine years and needed viewers to continue. I wonder whether they already knew The X-Files was being canceled by this point.

Sestra Professional: 

I'm sure it's been fairly evident that, on the whole, I'm a fan of Season 9. There are a couple main reasons for that. First and foremost, I've always thought the Doggett and Reyes characters show how malleable The X-Files formula could have been. I know legions of shippers will disagree with me on that front. But I think I could have the Star Trek universe in my corner in that regard. Second, it's because of the breadth of stories coming from a lot of different directions. I've mentioned The Twilight Zone cross-pollination on a number of occasions. Last week, Chris Carter gave us arguably his best stand-alone ep, and this week, well, lookie lookie, it's a throwback to the early X-Files (aka The Vancouver Years) complete with a textbook "creepy kid." 

That juxtaposition between the show creator's flight of fancy last time out and the return of Leyla Harrison makes the season's pendulum swings all the more apparent. So after jumping off the high board, we revisit the character who winds up speaking for the fandom simply because she herself is a fan of the Mulder and Scully dynamic and their work on X-files cases. Looks like a little temporary blindness in "Alone" did not permanently close her eyes to the cause.

How could someone stab themselves 16 times? This particular episode also reminds me of an episode of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff Angel -- "I've Got You Under My Skin" -- that had originally aired a couple of years earlier. The scenario feels sort of Millennium-istic to me as well with some misdirect over the behavior of a dad who seems to be extraordinarily tough on his young son.

Scully's still working hard at Quantico, so hard that she apparently doesn't have time to eat. She's gotta be used to that, right? It's not like we saw her and Mulder chowing down very often when they were working in the FBI basement. Gillian Anderson gets the bulk of this ep's light-hearted moments, if having to do a late-night autopsy on a dead cat can be categorized as light-hearted. It is fun to watch her unencumbered by the overbaked mythology for a while.

Mulder and Scully, Scully and Mulder, blah blah blah: So the actual monsters come off as cartoony, but I appreciate that since they're supposed to have been thought up by a young boy. It fits the profile. So does Gabe Rotter, when he voices sentiments he's had to have heard from Leyla a lot more than we have in the two episodes she's been a part of. I mean, we have gotten Sculder discussion to the point of distraction, right? It would have been worse on a guy trying to get with Harrison. And Rotter, named after the show's writers' assistant, must have heard such talk even more than the viewers. Symmetry!

Leyla's apparently having as much of an effect on John as the FBI investigators have on her. For Pete's sake, the man cited a previous X-file as a possible explanation for what's going on with the monsters. His guess of "Field Trip" was about as unsubstantiated as Harrison's reference to the boy fueled by lightning in "D.P.O." (S3E3). But at long last, Doggett's disbelief that things are really happening as they appear to be finally comes in handy for the ultimate resolution.

I made this: Once I stopped being tickled by the fact that eerie Tommy voices the words we hear every week for the show's production company Ten Thirteen, I focused on how great Annabeth Gish vocalized Monica's screaming. For some reason, I didn't doubt for a second that Reyes was in major pain from having a monster with pincers trying to claw its way out of her stomach. And poor Leyla. Two cases, twice victimized in the eyes.

As Sestra Am pointed out, that was a dispiriting way to end the episode, though, with the idea that inundating a young boy with even more television would be the only way to squelch his overactive imagination. But The Complete X-Files backs up Sestra's assertion, it was during production of this episode that the cast and crew found out the show was going to end its regular run.

It wasn't a complete bummer behind the scenes, though. I got some extra insight into Jolie Jenkins' return as Leyla via Cameo last year. "I wished for it so hard. I feel like I manifested it ... the opportunity to go back," Jolie told me. "Particularly working with Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish ... I had such a great time with the two of them. I just remember having so much fun. Everyone was so warm and friendly, and it was such a wonderful work environment in that way. And at the same time, everyone had such respect for the show and what Chris Carter was doing."

Guest star of the week: Apologies to Scott Paulin, but I'm giving it to Jenkins again. How thankless a task is representing The X-Files base at large? You got your shippers, your no-romos, your Vancouverians -- and a large chunk of that base was pretty disillusioned with the show by now. But for the second time in as many chances, Jenkins provided a breath of fresh air as the FBI's resident fan girl and she lived up to some lofty standards once again.

X-Files S9E13: Playing the numbers

Sestra Amateur: 

How bad can an episode be when the opening scene features Burt Reynolds? He’s in a casino, imparting wisdom to a pathetic gambler named Wayne. Both of their heads are turned by a lovely female loser who also always lets the house win. And her luck goes from bad to worse when she gets murdered in the bathroom by our pathetic gambler. Did Burt know that would happen? That seems … improbable.

Special Agent Monica Reyes is reading about the death. She picks Special Agent Dana Scully’s brain about the universe and mathematical equations. Monica believes she’s found a serial killer link via numerology and karmic numbers. Scully thinks it’s bunk but she does notice physical similarities with the victims’ injuries.

Wayne spots Burt playing three-card monte outside his apartment. Apparently, three is a very important number here -- people show up in threes, do things in threes, etc. It’s quite a rhythmic scene; too bad, Sestra Pro can’t attach a gif instead of a jpg to the blog. Wayne confronts Burt and upsets the apple cart when he doesn’t like what Burt has to say.

Meanwhile, Reyes visits Vicki Burdick, a numerologist played by Ellen Greene, who doesn’t really believe in her own science. Special Agent John Doggett calls Monica with an update: He and Dana have found two more victims with the same M.O. Now called the Triple Zero Killer, the feds have formed a task force to catch him. Too bad he found his way to the numerologist and adds her to his murder list. Wow, that too seems … improbable. FBI supervisor Fordyce, played by John Kapelos, loves Reyes' initiative but cringes at the esoteric aspects of her investigation.

The Triple Zero Killer meets with Burt at an outdoor café. Doggett briefly stops at their table to watch some domino action. Too bad he doesn’t know how close he is to the killer. Meanwhile, Scully is about to autopsy the numerologist but the number six keeps distracting her. She identifies “666” markings made on the other victims’ bodies by the murderer’s ring. Fordyce provides John with a textbook serial killer profile description and is surprised when Doggett doesn’t consider it much of a lead. Team Scules also stumbles across the killer, this time in an elevator. Too bad the women don’t know it’s him until Dana sees the ring on his finger. He manages to get away because Scully won’t shoot a fleeing unarmed man, even if he is a serial killer.

In the parking garage, they find Burt “waiting for a friend.” Instead of finding a way out of the garage and continuing their investigation, they play checkers with Burt and lose badly. Monica determines from the game they will be the next victims because the Triple Zero Killer targets a blonde, a brunette and a redhead. Reyes and Dana's argument about the patterns in the case and God’s influence over all of it lead Monica to believe the killer is still in the garage with them. (Yes, that means Burt is God.) 

The lights go out and Wayne attacks Reyes. He’s about to shoot Monica with her own gun when John arrives and shoots the Triple Zero Killer. So, to summarize, Scully and Reyes stopped looking for the killer, played checkers and had to be rescued by their male partner. That is the most improbable part of this whole episode.

Sestra Professional: 

It's time for some name-dropping of the highest order. My favorite college professor, Watson B. Duncan III, is the man who got Burt Reynolds into acting. As the story goes, and no one -- not even Chris Carter -- told a story better than Watson B. Duncan III, when Reynolds suffered a career-ending injury in football at Florida State University, he was at the end of his proverbial tether. When he returned to Palm Beach County, the multihonored English prof was the one who told him to try out for a play (and believe you me, Burt was none too willing at first). The rest is history and I'm glad The X-Files got to be a part of his storied career.

As Sestra Am noted earlier, Reynolds certainly made for a refreshing change of pace around these parts. There aren't a lot of actors who we could buy slotting into the role as Mr. Burt, a concoction that seems part hustler, part celestial being and all heart and soul. I'll give all the credit in the world to Carter for this. He finally stopped trying to be Darin Morgan/Vince Gilligan and gave us a truly unique concoction of his own. With complex numerical factors giving way to supernatural results, I believe Chris finally dialed into his comedic stand-alone ep voice within his own creation. He's come a long way from "Syzygy" (Season 3, Episode 13), baby.

It's playing the hand you're dealt: Carter really gives voice to some intriguing concepts through Mr. Burt, continuously reinforced via ingratiating refrains of famed French writer Karl Zéro songs like "Ca Va Ca Va" in the background. We're certainly not in the usual X-Files milieu, but we are on firm Season 9 ground for sure. It only helped my case to have just rewatched Magnolia, in which Paul Thomas Anderson detailed random occurrences that wound up being anything but while also raining frogs down on Los Angeles.

Come to think of it, "Improbable" is a lot like that film. There are aspects we take note -- like Sestra Am mentioning the penchant for things happening in threes, the rhythm of sweeping matching another Zéro song, and the expansive dance number at the conclusion -- but we can't tap into Carter's motivation and meaning on every single level. We can cling to the obvious ones (our agents running into the baddie in offhanded ways) and marvel at a greater picture we can't see quite as well as that final expansive image of Mr. Burt.

Go, girl: This is a really fun episode for Reyes. She has still been making Mulder-esque leaps during investigations, but the bulk of her "whale song" impulses this year have been muted. Utilizing numerology to crack unsolved murders provided a refreshing look at the investigator we knew was in there somewhere. And yet it also brings her point of view in line with the Scully we've always known and loved. In this episode, it truly is all connected.

Ellen Greene, long a favorite of mine on stage and in the heaven-sent Pushing Daisies cast, gives possibly the finest brief appearance in the show's run. Totally prejudiced here, but how one-note would a couple of scenes of the numerologist talking about filling out forms have been without being Greene? And equal kudos to John Kapelos. In nine years on the show, no one has hit the FBI crew chief note quite like The Breakfast Club's insightful janitor.

Choose better: That leaves Ray McKinnon to bring Mad Wayne to his inevitable conclusion. A performance largely overlooked because it's as big and brash as the episode requires him to be, the Sons of Anarchy/Deadwood veteran moves the proceedings along with the necessary unsophisticated blend of cluelessness and psychosis.

The scenes with Mr. Burt, Monica and Dana in the garage rank among my favorites for the season. The checkers scene is playful, but there's a greater, more X-filey sentiment at work. Yet I have to admit I never thought of the denouement quite the way Sestra Am envisioned it -- with John having to save his two brilliant co-workers -- and now I feel I will see it no other way, particularly since it's fitting a very particular Carter profile.

Guest star of the week: Greene and Kapelos add dashes of flavor to the concoction. But it's beyond improbable and jumping ahead to inconceivable to not give this ep's kudos to Reynolds. He utilizes all the tools at his disposal to make the ep unforgettable. That surely would make Watson B. Duncan III proud.

X-Files S9E12: Be wary of what lurks 'Underneath'

Sestra Amateur: 

On a rain-soaked street in Brooklyn, New York in 1989, a gravel-voiced man orders a cable repairman to “do your damn job.” The timid man complies, clutches his rosary and heads toward the house. A teenager inside is on the phone talking about Milli Vanilli (because it’s 1989). She lets the cable guy into the house but Dad claims their cable is working just fine. Our friendly neighborhood repairman goes into a fugue state, during which someone butchers Mom, Dad and the teens. The cops arrive and take him into custody. One of the responding patrolmen is future Special Agent John Doggett.

Back in the present (at least as far as this episode is concerned), Doggett learns DNA has exonerated Screwdriver Killer Robert Fassl. (Why would anyone want to harm a screwdriver?) John describes the scene to his current partner, Special Agent Monica Reyes. She plays devil’s advocate and points out John didn’t catch Robert in the act of committing murder. Special Agent Dana Scully uses her medical training to confirm it was not Fassl’s DNA found at the crime scene. Doggett asks for their help to prove Robert is a murderer.

Fassl gets released from the Ossining Correctional Facility. He seems happy to be holding his rosary again. During a press conference with his attorney, Jana Fain, Robert sees a creepy bearded man across the street. Team Sculett talk with Assistant D.A. Damon Kaylor, who stands by the decision to release Fassl. Jana Fain arranges for Robert to stay in her mansion. He kisses his rosary and begins to pray. Too bad that evil presence wants Fassl to kill Fain. Doggett tracks down his former beat partner, the now-retired Duke Tomasick, who seems OK with the knowledge they arrested the wrong man. But all the praying in the world isn’t helping Robert. The bearded man punches him and presumably goes after Jana.

The next morning, John is still relentlessly poring through the case file when Dana again confirms it wasn’t Fassl’s hair at the scene. She does have some good news; the DNA sample from the hair is genetically linked to Robert. Jana confronts Fassl because she thinks he went through her drawers while she was working all night. Things don’t work out as well for Fain’s housekeeper. Robert finds her body and cleans up the crime scene. (The use of the word “clean” is truly inaccurate.) Reyes helps Doggett by conducting follow-up at Sing Sing. The warden tells Monica about a murder committed in the prison which was attributed to Fassl. Turns out, they have a shot of Robert’s blood-spattered bearded tormenter on camera but guards never found the flesh-and-blood version.

A.D.A. Kaylor confronts John about the DNA retests and tries to put an end to Doggett's dogged pursuit. Reyes arrives with the bearded man theory. Scully learns the original DNA evidence that convicted Fassl was planted after the murders. (Based on the characters we’ve seen, we really only have one suspect for that.) Kaylor goes to Fain’s house to talk about the case. Robert begs to go back to prison but the bearded man murders the A.D.A. too. 

Doggett confronts Duke about the frame job and he freely admits what he did. Dana tells John about the missing Kaylor. Robert hides this body as well, in an area that already has a weathered skeleton or two. Then he gets cleaned up and meets with his attorney and Team Reyly (Scules?) Monica wants more information on the bearded man. Fassl is stunned to see photographic evidence of his evil entity’s existence. Dana tries to bond with him, Catholic to Catholic. He’s about to talk but Jana ends the interview. Reyes thinks the bearded man manifested into a second personality for Robert because he could not face his own sins. Back at the Fain residence, Robert’s evil side again tries to push him into committing murder. While helping an injured Fassl, Jana sees the evil one with her own eyes.

Team Johnica are on a stakeout when Doggett sees the bearded man run out Jana’s front door. Reyes checks on Fain, who is uninjured. John and Monica chase their suspect underground by the cable access trap door. The bearded man startles Reyes, hits her and gets away. While searching for him, she falls down a grate and lands in the sewer water. She discovers lots of skeletons and calls out for Doggett. He’s about to head her way when the bearded man stabs John with a screwdriver. Monica finds them and tries to get Robert’s personality to emerge. She’s able to anger him enough to shoot the bearded man without hurting Doggett. The evil entity lands in the water, but when John pulls him out, it’s a dead Robert Fassl. So Officer Doggett was right all along. Fain isn’t able to admit it to herself yet. Actually, neither is Special Agent Doggett.

Sestra Professional: 

(Hey, Sestra Am, I could murder a screwdriver right now! Oh, you're talking about the tool not the drink. My bad. )

You know how there are episodes you once loved that you don't appreciate as much now as you did in years past? My best example of that, far and away, is "Arcadia" (Season 6, Episode 15). But "Underneath" is like that to a lesser degree. It used to pack a bigger punch for me, but my ability to buy into it seems to have ebbed away. Oh well, people change (although generally not as much as Fassl).

Having written for the show since the third season -- often as part of a three-headed team with Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz -- and producing since year five John Shiban finally got his chance to take the reins behind the camera. He both penned and directed this one.

Materialized how, like Casper the Friendly Ghost? You can almost see the wheels turning in Shiban's head from the original germ of an idea to completion. Let's put a Charles Manson-esque killer into The X-Files grind. He will supernaturally get frumpy Robert Fassl to do his bidding. The killings started years ago, providing a chance for a look back at Doggett's pre-FBI days. (Don'tcha just love how Shiban signals it's 1989? By talking about then-heartthrobs Milli Vanilli. Yeah, it definitely couldn't be any other time period.)

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly where the show was heading at this point in time. Over the past few episodes, stories seem to have been written to advance our two newer leads. On the other hand, the stage might have been being set for the grand finale of the regular run. Maybe it was up in the air at this point with the show just covering its bets.

In a way, it's comforting to see some of Doggett's old habits coming back to the surface. He used to go about completing his cases in a certain way -- with structure built on the facts in front of him. That's what he does again here, or at least, that's what he wants to do again. The fact that his partner planted evidence hits him as deeply as anything he's run across during his time with the X-files.

 

Comfort in times of tribulation: Reyes does her level best to help out, seeing things the way she often does through an open prism. But it's Scully who gets the proceedings pointed in the right direction. She's the one who realizes the 1989 evidence is unusable. Dana can tell Fassl's religious by the way he fidgets with his rosary. She's been there and she's done that. So it's that rare case in which each of our Season 9 trio really contributes, but one in which a lot of effort is somewhat clunkily expended putting these pieces together.

 

The next episode of the show is "Improbable," but that could have been the title for this one too. I don't think Doggett's the only one who can't really buy into this sentiment at the end of the day. We've had shapeshifters turn into other people, and yeah, well, I believed that. But ultimate evil with a side course of religion? Not so easy for me to buy that anymore. 

Guest star of the week: I'm tempted to give the kudos to Alan Davidson, truly creepy as our bearded killer variant, but W. Earl Brown does his pay his dues as Fassl. There aren't a lot of subtleties involved in the performance, but we genuinely feel for the character for living with his burden since Milli Vanilli blamed it on the rain.

X-Files S9E11: We are in the 'Zone'

Sestra Amateur: 

In Falls Church, Virginia, Agents Monica Reyes and John Doggett have ended their workday, but the scene has more of an “end of date” vibe. Too bad John doesn’t take the hint, Monica unbuckled her seat belt while dropping him at his place. Also too bad, she doesn’t get to muse about it for long. While heading home, her car gets T-boned by a speeding driver who blew the stop sign. (That’s not the kind of impact she was hoping to make.)

When Reyes wakes up in the hospital, it’s not a normal one. Heck, it’s not even normal for an X-Files hospital. Monica is trapped in limbo but she’s not alone, a man named Stephen Murdoch is with her. He says he had a heart attack before arriving there. Stephen then introduces Monica to Val Barreiro, another trapped soul who suffered a head injury at a construction site.

Doggett is at Reyes' bedside when Special Agent/Dr. Dana Scully breaks the news that Monica is brain dead. ER doctor Jack Preijers confirms Reyes had a living will and wanted to be an organ donor. Monica goes into investigative mode to figure out where she is. She chases a woman through Limbo Memorial but loses her at a dead end. Meanwhile, Mr. Barreiro dies and disappears in front of Monica. 

In the real world, the woman Reyes chased is a patient aide. We see her outside the deceased Mr. Barreiro’s hospital room. John is trying to find answers before the doctors send Monica’s organs across the country. Scully isn’t being supportive on the “anything can happen” X-files level and is once again referring to John as Agent Doggett. Doggett finds the patient aide sitting with Reyes. She can see John cares for Monica and says her soul is not gone. Doggett wishes he could talk to her again and tell her things. The woman heads toward the basement where there is a model of the hospital. Inside the model, the aide, Audrey, talks to Reyes and Murdoch. She passes along the message that John loves her very much. Monica asks Audrey to tell Doggett he’s a dog person to remind him of the last conversation the two of them had.

In the real hospital, a nurse calls out Dr. Preijers for not including an injection in his notes on Reyes’ treatment. He responds by injecting her with the same drug. Jeez, is he killing people for the organs or the thrill of it? Meanwhile, John thinks back to his last chat with Monica, but when he remembers it, it ends with an almost-kiss. The nurse’s death pulls Doggett out of his memory/fantasy. John is thinking conspiracy and Dana agrees to do an autopsy. Afterward, Audrey passes along Reyes' message to Doggett and it grabs his attention. 

Inside Limbo Hospital, poor Stephen becomes Dr. Death’s next victim. Audrey takes John downstairs and shows him the model. She said she used to relax in there but people started to show up, like Murdoch and Barreiro. Doggett learns about the two recently deceased men from Audrey and does his research. He gives their medical files to Scully so they can find a way to revive Monica. Team Sculett are present when Murdoch officially flatlines. His “soul” disappears from Reyes' arms.

John begs Audrey to convince Monica to show them a sign she’s still in there. For a moment, he truly lets it be known how he feels about Reyes. Then stoic Agent Doggett is back in control. Audrey passes along the message but Monica thinks she can do more. Audrey breaks down and reveals she’s illiterate. That’s the clue Reyes needs to convince Audrey she created the world inside the model so she has control over it. Too bad Dr. Death knows where Audrey is and threatens her with an injection. 

Audrey convinces Monica to jump into the abyss. She does … and Reyes wakes up. Her first word is, “Audrey.” John detains Dr. Death and finds Audrey’s dead body. Considering how many people he killed while feds were in the hospital actively investigating Monica’s case, Dr. Preijers must have wanted to get caught. Three days later, it’s Doggett’s turn to drive Reyes home. They say good night. The feelings are there but no one acts on them. I wonder how John’s memory/fantasy will play it out later.

Sestra Professional: 

I've been making references all this season to how The X-Files found a way to reinvent itself in Season 9 by meshing its style with The Twilight Zone. I think "Audrey Pauley" gives us the best of both of these worlds. This is what the show could have been going forward, if it had gone right into a 10th season. The collective fan base had different opinions, though, and those didn't stretch much further than the Mulder and Scully dimension. 

You are a dog person, John: But I am glad that there still are episodes like this one that give us a taste of what could have been. For my money, it's got a lot more juice than a lot of what we saw in the previous two seasons. The biggest selling point in the advancing Reyes-Doggett relationship has been not trying to recapture lightning in a bottle (yep, talking about Fox and Dana again.) The only thing these couples have in common is the fact they're not high on talking about their feelings, but we get a pretty good sense of what they are in moments of stress.

So Monica is floating off in the strange hospital void while John bemoans her fate. And true to form, that's when we get our best look at how tight that bond has become. After the credit sequence, we find out Reyes isn't so alone there, but man, that place is still pretty eerie. There aren't a lot of times when Doggett goes against the grain with supernatural facts right there before him, but thank goodness this is one of them.

This seem like heaven to you -- a big, deserted Catholic hospital? The episode was penned by Steven Maeda, who also wrote the season's other strong Monica-John show, "4-D" (the fourth ep). I would have liked to have had even more from him, he showed some nice insight into these characters as more than just backups for our original leads. And I'm guessing he would have been able to marry the X-Files/Twilight Zone concept even further, and not in a traditional "marry" wedding scenario. I think his stylistic vision for "Audrey Pauley" could only have been brought to full effect by one of the show's directors, Kim Manners, so thankfully he was tabbed to do this one.

The setup doesn't do much for Scully, though, and she's sort of shifted into the Doggett role for this episode. Dana just looks at the diagnosis and accepts that as the reality. Although having seen all she has over the years, and particularly this season, maybe she should be a bit hesitant since the absence of other medical factors doesn't completely back up the brain-dead conclusion.

This place is all you: "Audrey Pauley" gives us stronger guest work than we've had in a few episodes. We have some one-note performances resulting from one-note scripting. But here there's nice work across the supporting platform. Tracey Ellis, our Guest Star of the Week in "Oubliette" way back in Season 2's Episode 8, gives us the troubled and very sympathetic title character, and she loosens up both Robert Patrick and his character. Familiar TV and movie face Stan Shaw is completely fabulous as Stephen Murdoch, in a way he kind of serves as John's voice in Monica's alternate universe. His opinions give Reyes something to work off of. And Jack Blessing stands out too in the thankless role of the villain of the piece, the veteran TV actor's reactions say as much or more about what the bad doctor is up to than his actual words.

 

So how does one go about seamlessly meshing The X-Files with The Twilight Zone? By giving our heroes the opportunity to suss out the situation. The fantastical happens at the start to get them into the story, but how they resolve it hinges more on our characters being the people we've come to know them to be. (Cue revival warning lights starting to flash in my head.) Monica figures out what Stephen can't, that the confusing paperwork documents aren't just jibberish, they mean something in Audrey's world. Meanwhile, Doggett takes his glimmer of hope and runs with it the same way he would in a "normal" FBI investigation.

 

Guest star of the week: I mentioned the glut of strong supporting roles this week, but it's Tracey Ellis' moment again, for sure. This was the last credit in IMDb for Ellis, which is such a shame. She created two of the most indelible -- and underrated -- guest characters in The X-Files universe. Over the course of single episodes, she fully fleshed out both Audrey and Lucy, making us care for both of these characters by tapping into our leads' emotions at their respective cores.

To be Con-tinued

It was the revenge of ... no, the return of New York Comic Con, after obviously going a year without due to the pandemic. The return meant a few things were done a little differently (wearing masks and showing proof of vaccination now de rigeur across most of the land), but it was sure good to have it back any which way but loose. 

When tickets went on sale, there were individual day passes instead of the four-day variants. We were told overall crowd numbers would be down and availability thusly lower, but we scored the two days we wanted -- Friday and Saturday. It did seem like there were fewer people in attendance when we jumped through the hoops and entered the event Friday. On Saturday, the numbers seemed to pick up, but that could just have been a result of us being in certain areas of the Javits Center at certain times. We got many chances to marvel at the new building during the weekend.

As always, buying tickets in advance of the lion's share of guest announcements winds up being something of a gamble, but year after year, we've found it's more about the experience for the Sestras. Something we were reallly interested in did pop up in the panels -- Ghostbusters: Afterlife -- with director Jason Reitman and cast members in attendance.

I was excited about the chance for a photo op with Adam Savage, so I signed on for that before there were designated times. With the release of the panels list came a new system for getting those reservations on a first-come, first-served basis. The thing that was a bit of a struggle was that each adult had to log onto the system -- a really buggy one that did not work the way it was supposed to -- with a code sent to that person's email. So I couldn't get two for me and Sestra at the same time, I had to get one and then she had to get one.

But we did score the Ghostbusters reservations, and I added the Adam Savage panel and a couple of others for future consideration. There were two other panels I was interested in -- NASA's space technology and MTV's 40th anniversary -- but those were in smaller rooms and didn't require using the needlessly complex system.

For the first time ever, the signings and other photo ops didn't call much to either of us, this was the first NYCC in which I only did one celeb photo and no signings. We might have done more if there wasn't a plexiglass separation between the stars and the fans that made it seem like we were in different zip codes. (The Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell combo op springs immediately to mind.)

But that's not really a complaint, because there was still much fun to be had. My con began with the Savage panel, which started with a slide show of how he spent his quarantine time in San Francisco. He declared himself to be not a good enough machinist to do some of the building he did, although he was good enough to get his projects across the finish line. His favorite (and mine) was a spacesuit, complete with cooling systems.

In the slide show was a photo of Adam at a different convention with Robert Patrick. He recounted the experience of our favorite replacement X-Files agent yelling to him, "Come over here! What's that hat?" In their slide show photo, Robert's wearing the hat. Savage has an affinity for quick stories. When asked about his death scene in The Expanse, he said, "I want this whole career in television where I die on people's TV sets."

So many young people who have been influenced by Adam and his work went to the microphones during the Q&A period. He made sure to ask of them, "Your childhood home is still standing?" All the answers came in the affirmative. And Savage got understandably emotional when asked how people could best pay tribute to his late Mythbusters co-host Grant Imahara. Adam recommended parents giving teachers $20 or whatever they could afford since teachers are buying school supplies with their own money, and also just to put the tools of interest in front of children.

That was a recurring theme in my second panel of the day too, NASA's Explore Space Tech with astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, roboticist Zaykia Tomlinson, space technologist Lindsay Aitchison and moderator Aubree Hill. It may have seemed like it was a "women in space" panel, but Moghbeli hit the proverbial nail on the head when she said they were there because they were four experts in their fields and not because they were four women.

All of them recalled dreaming of working for NASA from very early ages. Jasmin did a book report on Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, in the sixth grade. Zaykia wanted to be an aerospace engineer even though she didn't know what that meant, and having toured Johnson Space Center at age 4, Lindsay was fascinated by the prospect of catching up to the M&M's she saw floating in space in an exhibit.

What came next was figuring out where each of them fit into the puzzle. Aitchison's work focuses on designing spacesuits to work better. "It really is a personal spacecraft," she said. I truly had never thought of it that way. Moghbeli, considered the potential future face of space exploration, appreciates how every day in the life of an astronaut is different. Her future moon mission will help set the stage for the eventual trek to Mars. And Tomlinson eventually did realize the perfect field for her was robotics.

The panel was asked what representations of space in movies or TV make them shake their heads. Lindsay offered up spacewalks, when people return without even breaking a sweat. Jasmin pointed out something similar when people push off of a ship and heroically grab onto something. (The Martian and Gravity sprung immediately to mind for me.) And Zaykia made the packed house laugh by simply saying, "I usually just tell myself orbital mechanics is a tough subject. I just let it go."

So conversely, what movies or TV series have gotten it right? Moghbeli immediately thought of Apollo 13 and related it to life at the International Space Station. She thought the movie drives home the point of dealing with challenges constantly in space, and how the team on the ground is every bit as involved in the process and the problem solving. Tomlinson picked From the Earth to the Moon for its attention to detail, and Aitchison specifically noted that mini-series' episode "Spider" about the development of the lunar module.

As I previously mentioned, the panelists were asked about engaging young minds -- and the discussion was capped specifically with a 4-year-old dressed as a fairy whose dream is to ride a rocket to the moon. Zaykia recommended Legos, Jasmin pointed out that anything hands-on helps children learn math and physics because they see it in action, and Lindsay added parents can play a big part by trying things out, taking things apart and putting them back together. In that situation, failure is an option because it's about discovering what makes things tick.

Not all panels got me as fired up. MTV's 40th anniversary panel joined my collection of yawners (MegaCon's Smallville and NYCC's Elementary have been the other two most notable entries to date.) As someone who watched the channel day and night the moment I found out we had it, I was looking forward to that discussion with co-creator John Sykes, director Tim Newman (Randy's cousin whose projects included the famed ZZ Top videos), former veejay Karen Duffy and Naughty by Nature's Vin Rock. The sparsely attended panel didn't provide nearly as much insight as the average episode of Pop-Up Video (also created by Sykes).

While I was in one of the panels, Sestra ran across the Shark Angels' table in the vendor room. The conservationist group came up with a unique idea of donations through stuffed shark adoptions. They had a trivia contest later in the day, although it was less about the things I might have known -- actual sharks and Jaws -- and more about Sharknado-type movies. We finished out of the prizes on Friday. I was incredulous, but not bummed, because I'm kind of glad I don't know how many insert-number-here-shark-headed movies have been made.

After walking the vendor room for a couple hours, it was finally time for the Ghostbusters: Afterlife panel. They had a full house on stage and off. Director Jason Reitman, Ivan Reitman (Jason's father, the director of the original movies and producer of this one), co-writer Gil Kenan, Mckenna Grace (Phoebe), Finn Wolfhard (Trevor), Carrie Coon (Callie), Logan Kim (Podcast) and Celeste O'Connor (Lucky) were on hand to talk about the experience.

Jason Reitman recalled initially having a couple of ideas in mind -- a girl in a field putting on a proton pack and a boy driving the Ecto through those fields. He didn't know who they were until beloved Harold Ramis passed and he knew those characters were the Spenglers. 

Mckenna, who played the girl in the field, laughed that her own grandmother didn't recognize her in the movie trailer. And Finn recounted knowing he was auditioning for a Jason Reitman movie, but without any idea it was Ghostbusters. He marveled at Logan, the newcomer who apparently showed up on the set like it was his 70th movie. 

Life on the set was interesting for the Reitmans. "On the set, you can't say, "Daaaaaad!" Jason said of his more animated discussions with Ivan during production. "It's like having your dad coming to work with you and commenting on everything you do."

The pandemic delayed the release of the long-awaited film and the cast marveled at the changes following in that wake. Grace noted the change in Kim's voice and Coon -- one of our favorites from The Leftovers -- recalled her baby was just learning to talk during filming. Now that child is 3 1/2 years old and she has a new 13-week-old baby.

Even before the release of the movie, people have been curious about whether Jason Reitman will be making another one. He had his answer at the ready. "We wanted to make a movie that opened the universe up to all kinds of stories," Jason said, who added he'd rather see more Ghostbusters films developed by his favorite directors.

And then the big surprise. They were going to show us the new movie about six weeks in advance of its official release. Everyone went wild! When we signed up for the panel, the reservation blocked out a long period of time and we wondered whether we would be getting to see it. But the next day, a time correction was made to an hour-long panel. So the screening obviously had been in the works. We were all sworn to secrecy about details of the film, but sufficeth to say, it lives up to sky-high expectations. The Reitmans and company did right by the originals. I can't wait to see it again.

After releasing reservations on two panels, we didn't have anything on the boards Saturday except visiting the NASA booth again (we found it too late the first day), my Savage photo op and another attempt at the shark trivia. That left us time to people watch, and we ran into my favorite cosplayer of the con -- a sad Jaws shark, although its portrayer was an ebullient young woman somehow maneuvering around on an injured fin. One of the unexpectedly funny moments was watching people pluck lanyards from the bin near the entrance way. Some took great care with picking them up like a game of Pick-Up Sticks. And some ... not so much, there were wayward lanyards on the ground nearby. It might not sound as funny as it looked.

I did a lot better at the NASA booth on Day 2, getting the first edition of the new interactive comic "First Woman," an enamel Artemis pin and various pieces of ephemera. Walking through Artist Alley was a lot of fun, because we can go down an aisle filled with an array of bright and interesting images on both sides, and with laser-like precision, Sestra can focus right in on an object I invariably want (for example, a teeny tiny pin celebrating the defunct Universal Studios' Jaws ride). She also found my new favorite booth, Monkey Minion, featuring an ever-increasing collection of pins and magnets for every astronaut. And it's not NYCC if I don't visit with (and pick up a few things from) famed X-Files comic book artist Joe Harris.

The Adam Savage photo op was set to wrap up our con, and while I was doing that, Sestra was going to give the shark trivia another shot. We bet a lot of the celebs weren't too displeased with the plastic barrier, it pretty much prevented anyone talking to them, asking silly questions, etc. during the taking of the pro photos. Basically my moment with Adam amounted to me tapping to him on the plastic and waving. Meanwhile, Sestra finished third in the contest (we had done some prep on the train) and won me some shark pogs.

And with that, our return to New York Comic Con was complete. It wasn't what we had become accustomed to after eight previous events, but it was still chock full of some surprises, great new items for my collection and the much-treasured quality time with my Sestra.

X-Files S9E10: Adventures in babysitting

Sestra Amateur: 

I was going to start this episode review with the definitions of "Provenance" (the title of the previous episode) and "Providence" (the title of this one). But when it started with the always-tedious voice-over, I lost all interest in definitions and just dove into the show. 

A man is talking about "Come to Jesus" moments, with his own occurring during Operation Desert Storm. At first the voice sounded like Special Agent John Doggett, but the man in the flashback is the one from the Alberta, Canada dig site in the previous episode. Alberta Man recalls seeing soldiers getting shot but be unaffected by the bullets. Super-Soldiers? Way back in 1991? It certainly ain’t the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, despite what he recites. And back in the present (boy, that sounds contradictory), the same man stands on the completely unearthed alien spacecraft in Alberta. Too bad Chris Carter didn’t change the intro’s usual phrase to "The truth is in there."

Assistant Director Brad Follmer is conducting a briefing that sums up the kidnapping of Special Agent Dana Scully’s baby boy from the previous episode. Luckily, the Lone Gunmen (especially Byers) are reasonably healthy. The same can’t be said for poor John, who lies comatose in a hospital. Assistant Director Walter Skinner tries to talk to Dana, but she’s in full Mulder-esque government conspiracy mode. And she’s probably not wrong.

Skinner checks on Doggett and finds Special Agent Monica Reyes by John’s side. Too bad John’s not aware of it. Walter offers her some words of support. Scully asks Monica for help after the Lone Gunmen identify Alberta Woman … but won't tell the feds. Reyes thinks Dana is wrong for trusting the guys again but still helps. Meanwhile, Alberta Woman contacts Alberta Man from a pay phone. During the call, the ship seems to activate. Was that William’s doing? Unfortunately, team Reyly arrive too late to the phone booth to catch up to them.

The next morning, after Reyes is unable to see Doggett in the hospital, she takes a page from Scully’s book and prays in the chapel. Follmer observes and tries to comfort her, then he reveals he knew about the failed attempt to catch Alberta Woman. Brad brings Monica to Special Agent Robert Comer’s hospital room and shows her something Robert wrote on a piece of paper. It’s the word "jacket." Reyes asks Dana what it means. Well, Monica, according to dictionary.com, it’s a “protective outer covering.” (Look at that. Turns out I did have a definition in me after all.) 

Scully reveals what she knows and Team Reyly head back to the hospital where Dana “treats” Comer with the artifact from his jacket pocket. He regains consciousness and explains his mission to infiltrate Josepho (Alberta Man?) and his cult. (Luckily, this isn’t a three-parter. "Providence" Comer is way more forthcoming than "Provenance" Comer.) And apparently, there’s a convoluted prophecy involving Mulder’s “death,” the end of mankind, yada yada yada. Too bad (luckily?) they get interrupted by Alan Dale, the one who currently skulks around at the higher-up FBI meetings. By the way, IMDb.com calls him "Toothpick Man," but I don’t remember seeing him with a toothpick in either episode. They should have just called him "Non-Smoking Man."

Alberta Woman and William arrive at the dig site. Alberta Man thinks the boy will be safe with them. The same can’t be said for the two men who were baked inside the space ship when it was activated during the phone call. Skinner and Follmer arrive at Comer’s hospital room and they want to know where Scully and Reyes are. Dana believes her worst fears have been confirmed, that something has been very wrong with William since the day he was conceived. (Wow, she really has no idea how right she is.) And it gets worse; Comer is dead even though he looks healed and healthy. The artifact which Team Reyly concealed in his hand is missing. Monica confronts the nurse, Toothpick Man and everyone else but Scully, who bails to go sit by John’s bedside. Luckily, Doggett finally wakes up. Yet after everything they’ve been through, Dana and John still address each other as "Agent."

Alberta Man calls for a meeting so Scully finds her way to Calgary, Canada. (Is it ironic how the L.A.-based show found its way back into the Great White North?) He quotes the Bible to Dana, who is clearly familiar with the source material but fed up with people keeping her son from her. Alberta Man denies being the one who killed Mulder and he demands proof of death from Scully. Luckily, Reyes and the Lone Gunmen are nearby. Frohike bugs the wackadoo’s truck and Team Reyly quickly follow. Too bad the boys lose the signal. 

Back at the dig site, William’s crying is annoying everyone and everything, including the spacecraft. Monica and Dana stumble across the dig site’s location. Scully runs toward the tent, screaming William’s name. The ship activates and Alberta Man absorbs a beam of light. The ship flies away and the tent burns to the ground, with all of the worshippers’ bodies burned to respective crisps. In the middle of all that, William is still crying, so Dana is able to find her son and hold him again.

The next day(?) Monica goes to the hospital to take John home. He tells her about a voice he heard during his coma that enabled him to help Scully when she needed it. At FBI headquarters, A.D. Follmer confronts Deputy Director Kersh about the report on Comer’s death. It almost sounds like Follmer is becoming a believer. But Kersh hands off the closed case file to the Toothpick Man, who happens to have an implant in the back of his neck. ... On the bright side, no additional voice-overs!

Sestra Professional: 

My gameplan for this episode was to keep saying to myself, "'Audrey Pauley' is next, 'Audrey Pauley' is next." So we'll be back in X-Files/Twilight Zone mode soon enough, and in the meantime, here's the latest reminder that the mythology is currently running on fumes.

 

I was left as a witness to a vision: This might be the best use of a voiceover we've had in many moons. It starts off with the kind of ecclesiastical bent that's become a part of the show for as long as people have been noticing that Dana Scully wears a cross. But then a little twist brings it into a place and time we can all identify with, no matter what our religious proclivity -- finding God in our universe when things are at their worst. That's not such a bad reintroduction to Alberta Man, as those things go. I'm almost interested in what he's up to now.

 

Gonna have to side with Scully when she calls Skinner on his "protection" seeming like more of a systematic FBI effort to eliminate those involved in the X-files. I don't doubt that's Walter's rationalization, but he really needs to clean off those rose-colored glasses. Someone who has survived the kind of battleground we saw at the beginning of the episode as well as over eight seasons of the FBI's oversolicitous ideologies about what the public and its own employees need to know should do better by Dana.

So now we have Toothpick Man (so named for handling toothpicks as opposed to popping them in his mouth) disposing of employees in his best Cigarette-Smoking Man manner. Yeah, he's doing nothing for me. I'm having my own crisis of faith about whether this kind of behavior was more easily acceptable in earlier seasons just because it was CSM and the Syndicate or whether the groundwork was better laid down in those days. But there is some measure of intrigue when the ship starts moving, I guess it's the spacecraft feeling William vibes through the phone or vice versa.

 

Maybe when you're lost, you knock at the door with the porch light on: This has been a rough season for Agent Doggett. He's hospitalized for the second time in 10 episodes after dying/almost dying/not-sure-what-else-to-call-it in "4-D." And lest we forget, John nearly drowned in the season-opening two-parter and clearly needed medical attention as an amnesiac in "John Doe," events that tend to land mere mortals in the hospital. Hey, maybe Doggett's a Super-Soldier too! Has anyone checked the back of his neck lately?

Speaking of bounceback ability, how about Robert Comer? I almost thought he had the Super-Soldier status I've longed for Alex Krycek to have after two near-fatal sequences in "Provenance," but it was just the piece of metal. (Can we call it an "artifact" or something else instead of "piece of metal," Reyes? I don't think the latter description is quite right.)

Just tell them the truth: By necessity, "Providence" is a powerhouse episode for Gillian Anderson, who has to wade through all Scully's emotions for a second straight show after doing light lifting in the early part of the season. What I appreciate most is Dana trusting Monica even though she knows Reyes is being pressed by Follmer and his pals. The women have a good bond, and for the second straight ep, the most information is figured out when they're bouncing ideas off each other.  

I have to admit I still don't get the concept of this prophecy. Alien race leading the world, these ships are the physical manifestation of God and William is the future savior coveted by the forces of good and evil. How do we get from that to both Mulder and Scully's baby need to be dead? And why are we taking it at face value that everyone on Earth perishes if they don't kick off? At least Monica's able to talk to Dana down, because Scully's head is spinning like the piece of metal -- er, artifact -- over the concept.

And so Scully trusts the Lone Gunmen again, and once again, they let her down after swearing to the contrary. Langly states the transponder could track William even underwater in Brazil, and not two seconds later, the signal is lost. I just can't deal with them anymore. Even though their hearts are in the right place, their abilities seem to be offline for good.

It's OK, though, because when Dana and Monica run out of road, no problem! Scully picked up so much from Mulder, including which way to go when there are no roads left to travel (see: Fight the Future). Before they get to the location, the spaceship goes all Raiders of the Lost Ark on the cult. I guess if I can appreciate the mixing together of The X-Files and The Twilight Zone, I might as well enjoy the Raiders-Fight the Future combo platter.

 

Guest star of the week: As much as my gut wants to go with McDonough again, gonna give it to Denis Forest as Alberta Man/Josepho. It was strange to have a non-regular handling the traditional voice-over chores, but Forest makes it work for this two-parter. Sorry/not sorry he didn't get to close it out.