X-Files S9E4: Traveling through another dimension

Sestra Amateur: 

This is one of those episodes in which you can’t multitask while watching or else you’ll miss something. Unfortunately, writing this while watching it demands multitasking, so let’s see how it goes. John Doggett and Monica Reyes are working a sting with Assistant Director Brad Follmer to catch a serial killer named Erwin Timothy Lukesh. Monica follows the suspect who slashes her throat. John catches him in an alley…or so he thinks. The tables are turned and Doggett ends up taking a bullet instead. 

After the opening credits, John and Monica are having a nice normal moment -- he brings hot dogs to her new apartment. I guess she’s officially staying in D.C. Assistant Director Walter Skinner calls Agent Reyes to tell her Doggett’s been shot. Then she realizes John is no longer in her apartment. So, to summarize, Monica wasn’t part of that sting with Doggett and Follmer, and Reyes was not present when John was shot at the scene.

At the hospital, Dana Scully says Doggett survived surgery but will be paralyzed. John can’t breathe on his own so he's on a ventilator. Skinner gets ballistic results which conflict with reality, but not with the opening scene in which Lukesh stole Monica’s gun. Scully and Reyes bond outside Doggett’s hospital room until Walter calls for them to meet him at a D.C. Metro police station. There, Follmer interviews Reyes as if she was a suspect, because of the gun and "eyewitness" Erwin Lukesh. Again to summarize, John was shot with a bullet from Monica’s gun which was not actually fired and she (and her firearm) were nowhere near the crime scene.

Back in Doggett’s hospital room, John can only move one index finger. He communicates the word “Lukesh” via Morse code. Reyes has no idea who that is. Meanwhile, Erwin is in his no-so-happy home with his sad, needy, infirmed mother, Miriam. (Picture Anne Ramsey in Throw Momma from the Train.) And now we know why Lukesh cuts out his victims’ tongues, his mama just won’t shut up! 

Later, Walter reveals the details of Erwin’s witness statement to Monica. They meet with Dana and Brad so Doggett can communicate with Reyes using a computer. John reveals the details of the other version of events in which Lukesh slit her throat before shooting Doggett. To summarize, Monica Reyes believes in a parallel universe in which John Doggett was in her apartment while they were simultaneously on a stakeout. And she thinks Erwin Lukesh may be able to freely move between the two worlds. Does that mean there’s possibly an X-Files TV series that still films in Vancouver?

Skinner and Follmer interrogate Lukesh based on John’s witness statement. Erwin knows the truth but acts like the bureau is trying to cover up for one of their own (Monica). He lawyers up and leaves. Too bad all evidence of his nefarious activities is in the parallel universe. Lukesh and Reyes have a battle of wills in the middle of the police department. She taunts him about his mental breakdown in 1995. He gloats about killing her in the other world. 

Back at home, Erwin’s mother is unusually quiet. Looks like she found his/Reyes’ handgun. She’s also freaked out because the feds want to interview her. Lukesh finally hits the breaking point and he stabs his mama to death. To summarize once again, the man who used a parallel universe to commit murder as a way of dealing with his mommy issues just killed his mommy.

Team Johnica has a moment when she shaves his face. He’s either starting to believe Monica’s theory or using it as a reason to convince Reyes to help him commit suicide. Neither sounds like the Doggett we know, but maybe this one’s death will bring back the other one. Skinner calls from Miriam’s crime scene and now there’s a new stakeout team in town: Reyes, Scully, Skinner and Follmer. Erwin takes the bait and attacks Monica, but the team in the van can’t see what’s happening. Luckily, the ADs listen to Dana and storm into the apartment. 

Brad shoots Lukesh in the head before Erwin can kill Reyes. This convinces Monica to do what John wants. She goes to his hospital room and turns off his life support system. Then she’s back in her new apartment with a perfectly healthy Doggett and their hot dogs. So to summarize one final time, the parallel universe is short one Team Johnica.

Sestra Professional: 

This is an episode that proves how malleable The X-Files concept could be beyond the Mulder and Scully relationship, for those willing to give it that chance. I'm not sure why it took me this long to pick up on the fact that the fourth episode of the ninth season is named "4-D," I'll just chalk it up to the fact there is more to be gleaned from repeated viewings.

 

It's actually one of my favorites of the entire run because, and pardon the pun, it offers another dimension to the artist-formerly-mainly-known-as-the-whale-singer, and by extension, to Monica's relationship with John.

Steven Maeda, whose previous scripts for The X-Files -- "Brand X" (Season 7, Episode 18), "Redrum" (S8E6) and "Vienen" (S8E18) all go in the win pile for me -- crafted another eerie little thriller that's tense right from the get-go. Lukesh's menacing smile combined with Doggett's sense of impending doom make for one of our best openers in quite some time.

 

Like I'm back in Gdansk: Following the credit sequence, with the original cosmic mirror effect on the ending words "The Truth Is Out There," there's a dramatic change in the proceedings. And hey, Sestra Am, it's Polish sausage not mere hot dogs! The shippers may call me crazy, but the ease and comfort of Monica and John's scene in Reyes' new apartment comes off as a lot less clunky than a lot of attempts at showing what Dana and Fox did in their off hours.

 

This episode also gives us a better look at Brad Follmer, who is still kinda 2-D but at least distinguishing himself from others of his FBI ilk. It's tough to figure out the premise, but we at least can understand when Brad can't follow his ex-lover's reasoning. There's a lot to be gained, though, from having Follmer investigating with others here -- particularly with Doggett in the opening and Skinner later in the day. 

 

It's certainly nice to see Walter doing something other than wringing his hands about whatever mess his charges have gotten into and/or cleaning up after them. The man's still got some mad skills. So I would co-sign for more investigations with Skinner and Follmer.

 

Too much Star Trek: "4-D," much like Maeda's "Redrum," keeps your brain engaged. We're not just watching things happen to the characters, we're trying to figure them out. It's pretty intriguing how guilty Monica looks, even though she was nowhere near the crime scene. It's not something we can unravel in any normal investigative sense, and the cold hard facts that John likes to work with wouldn't carry much weight. That keeps the suspense high. 

Speaking of Doggett, Robert Patrick plays the hell out of John's incapacitation. It doesn't matter that he has minimal use of his body, we're getting everything he's thinking and feeling through varying degrees of disbelief in Doggett's weary eyes. Likewise with Annabeth Gish in her strongest and most relaxed performance to date on the show. She doesn't just seem like a female version of Fox Mulder anymore. Reyes sees things in different ways than even the ultimate believer would have, because she's doing so without the martyr complex.

You kiss your mother with that mouth? It's never more evident than in the scene that somehow seamlessly transitions from Monica shaving John's face -- according to The Complete X-Files, we can credit Patrick for that idea -- to his Euthanasia request. We know Doggett doesn't believe in Reyes' theory, right? He just tells her to pull the plug because he's not looking forward to a lifetime of paralysis, correct? Or is there a little inkling of belief in her as his partner? After all, if she doesn't get him out of that, he'll never solve the mystery that's shaken him to his own core. 

Now all of this John and Monica development doesn't leave a lot of room for Scully to move around in. But rest assured, she's got just enough leeway to figure out where Lukesh is and save Reyes 2. After all, there's no way that Follmer's going to get that smart that quickly and Skinner's already figured out a plot point in this episode.

Maybe it's kind of pat to go from John's hospital bedside back to the plate standoff in Monica's apartment, but I don't care 'cause that's a lovely ending ... and to bookend the beginning, it's one of the better ones we've had in a while too.

Guest star of the week: Kudos to Dylan Haggerty for delivering smarminess personified. He reminds me of Darin Morgan in "Small Potatoes" (S4E20) but without the empathy we had for Eddie Van Blundht. Even his back story with an almost equally disturbing mother -- and I feel like someone was influenced by the 1970 cult film Where's Poppa? -- doesn't win any compassion votes. And that's because Haggerty plays him as undeserving of any such warmth.