Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files, Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.
Sestra Amateur:
It’s Toomsday and Eugene Victor Tooms is at it again. Remember him from the third episode? He’s the guy – thing? – who goes on a killing spree every 30 years and can fit pretty much anywhere. Turns out Tooms is up for release from the sanitarium because our heroes couldn't charge him with murder, just his attack on Scully. That’s just what society needs -- a yellow-eyed, elongated creepy serial killer.
Back to him in a bit, 'cause it’s Skinner time! The upside of being familiar with the X-Files history is I know how important Assistant Director Skinner will be to our Dynamic Duo – in good ways and bad. But in his first episode, in which he is clearly being influenced by the Cigarette Smoking Man, he seems just like every other AD who is working against Sculder. He tries to intimidate Scully, who has grown a lot since the last time we saw her in an AD/CSM meeting. She stands up to Skinner -- figuratively, not literally -- and suggests he should have an open mind regarding X-Files cases. But Skinner doesn’t give her any wiggle room, especially with CSM hovering directly behind him. On a technical note, I hope the wardrobe peeps do something about the reflection in Skinner’s specs; you can see the whole crew in them.
Mulder attends Tooms’ release hearing. We see Tooms start to change, but he manages to control himself. Too bad the same cannot be said for Mulder during his testimony. The “pro” is he provides enough exposition to catch up old viewers and not confuse new ones. The “con” is Mulder ends up sounding pretty crazy. It’s a good thing most X-Files cases don’t end up in a courtroom.
Scully’s late for the review because of her meeting with Skinner. For me, that casts him in a bad light from the get-go if this is how Scully’s morning started: “Hey boss. I need to go testify at a hearing to keep a man who attacked me from being released.” Skinner: “No, let’s talk about something you probably discussed monthly with other ADs instead.” So, of course, Tooms is released. He even gets his job back with Animal Control. Almost immediately, he is back to his creepy behavior, but he gets liver-blocked by Mulder.
Meanwhile, Scully visits Briggs, the original detective, to see whether they can still build a case against Tooms. Remember how Briggs conveniently maintained all of the evidence from the decades-old murders in the third ep? I can buy that since he considered the cases unsolved. But now, Briggs miraculously mentions something he never disclosed to Sculder or even tried to follow up on his own: He pulls out a 60-year-old liver in a jar that he said belongs to his one missing victim. Briggs even tells Scully where he thinks the body is buried, and of course, they find the bones pretty easily. Well, that's convenient. But why would Tooms leave a liver in the first place? Wasn’t he killing people for their livers? Sestra Pro, I need more exposition! Scully has the bones examined and unofficially identifies them as belonging to Briggs’ missing person from 1933.
Mulder follows Tooms, who is hot on the trail of a potential victim. Mulder falls asleep on his unauthorized stakeout -- that’s exactly why you need teams of two -- while Tooms elongates himself to get in through the sewer system (P.U.!) and the barred windows (Eek!) Mulder awakens and warns the family they may have a serial killer inside their house, but Tooms makes a not-so-clean getaway. Mulder is just not looking good in this episode at all.
Scully meets up with Mulder on yet another unauthorized stakeout. They have a cute bonding moment and Mulder leaves to get some rest. What he doesn’t know is Tooms stowed away in his trunk. After he gets back to his apartment, Mulder falls asleep. Tooms gains access through the A/C vent, but instead of killing or hurting Mulder, he sets up the agent up so it looks like he attacked Tooms. It sort of works and Sculder are brought before Skinner. CSM is still silently lurking in the background. Do you think William B. Davis got paid by the word or the cigarette? Scully alibis Mulder, who uses science to prove he never attacked Tooms.
Scully finally has evidence that Tooms murdered the man whose bones were found and they go to arrest him. But by now, Tooms has killed his shrink and is ready for hibernation. Man, those liver addicts have no self-control. Sculder determine Tooms will return home, but his apartment was destroyed and replaced with a shopping mall. Yes, in the seven months between these episodes, the contractors demolished a multi-story building, built a shopping center complete with escalators, filled the spaces with retailers and opened for business. Too bad road construction crews can’t work that efficiently.
Mulder finds the nest below the floor and Tooms non-verbally invites the agent to join him. Mulder non-verbally declines and a creepy chase ensues through the vent. Mulder kicks Tooms in the face, then starts the escalator. Tooms gets caught in the track, and well, I’m sure all of your parents told you what would happen if you ever got caught in an escalator. If not, there are some disturbing YouTube videos out there that will catch you up.
The next morning CSM finally decides to speak. Turns out he believes Sculder, but is that just about Tooms or about all of the X-Files? Mulder warns Scully that change is coming. Oh, don’t get so foreshadowy, Fox.
Sestra Professional:
He's baaaaack. And he's heeeeere.
The team of Glen Morgan and James Wong created a classic X-Files villain and a blueprint for "Monster of the Week" episodes in Eugene Victor Tooms. And the show hit the mother lode casting Doug Hutchison, because he's so supremely creepy and does it with a minimal amount of dialogue.
Very cool that a legal loophole brings Tooms back into the fray and the public since his behavior in the mental institution was exemplary and the agents' evidence against him -- 19 murders spanning nearly a century -- defies belief and/or common sense. Mulder's liver-extraction theory certainly leaves a bad taste in the judicial system's mouth.
Less cool that Skinner's first meeting with Scully, as Sestra Am pointed out, comes at the expense of an ongoing case. Walter cites their inconclusive findings backed by opinion -- "Maybe your mind has become too open." His charge is quick to point out Sculder's conviction or case solution of 75 percent, well above the bureau standard. He calls that their saving grace, she counters with a claim that conventional investigation may decrease the rate of success. No biggie, he's a quick learner.
Mulder knows Tooms needs to kill to survive, and he won't be sloppy about it -- at least not until near the denouement of the episode. Scully, who just stood up to Skinner, still winds up in some kind of verbal tussle with Mulder. "If you're resisting because of some bureaucratic pressure, they've not only reeled you in, they've skinned you." No, Mulder, they've Skinner-ed her.
So Mulder follows Tooms around town -- the mutant's hearing and seeing things in slo-mo, is that something yellow eyes do for you? -- and Scully goes off to rework the previous murders. By the way, the detective on the original case should be an X-File himself. There's no earthly reason why he should have figured out exactly where the evidence was in the cement, for if he could truly do that, he should have solved that one before now. That dude must have been soooo Mulder -- aka Spooky -- back in his prime.
So much meta for me in this episode from Mitch Pileggi's first appearance to David Duchovny's outtakes. A story I've been lucky enough to hear in person a couple of times, Mitch was brought in several times to test for the show prior to this episode. When they wanted to see him again for Skinner, he was pretty perturbed and let that show in his performance. That controlled anger ultimately landed him the role, obviously a more important one than in his previous auditions. Meanwhile, David's riffing on poor, poor Tooms for animals. "I use him to hunt mousse ... for my hair" and "Where can I get a jumpsuit like that?"
You're going to get sloppy and you're going to get hurt: Mulder hasn't slept for three days? By Sestra Am's own reckoning, he falls asleep twice during this one episode! Maybe because he's so tired, he tells Scully he even made his parents call him Mulder.
I think it's kind of a cool plan Tooms came up with to frame Mulder. Of course, he's no match for the G-Man, because that guy can figure out what's what just by finding a loose screw. Also appreciating how technology can utilize information from the original murders to point the elongated finger at Tooms now.
You can get the next mutant: I totally concur on the ridiculous shopping center springing up magically between Episodes 3 and 21, but regarding the liver, maybe he was just saving it for a late-night snack? I had a fear of escalators long, long before this show -- guess my mom did tell me what would happen if I ever got caught in one. Chock up another solved and closed case for Sculder ... and this one won't have to go to court, Sestra Am.
Guest Star of the Week: I didn't give it to Hutchison last time, although he definitely earned his paycheck in both eps. And another fine piece of X-Files meta -- the guy performed his final scene chasing Mulder through the duct nude, and that made Duchovny eXtremely uncomfortable and all too eager to get away from him. Perfect motivation, I say.
Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files, Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.
Sestra Amateur:
In northwest Washington state, a group of loggers are panicking. They run through the woods all night. Two guys get swarmed by a swarm of ... swarmy things. Picture neon-green homicidal lightning bugs. They fly; we don’t know what they are. Doesn’t that make them UFOs by definition? As Veronica Cartwright -- who plays a recurring X-Files character in the distant future -- said in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, “Why do we always expect metal ships?”
Back east in less-buggy Washington, D.C., Mulder explains the case to Scully. It may be eco-terrorism, but he's assuming it’s an X-File since a similar incident occurred 60 years earlier.
Sculder meet with Larry Moore of the Federal Forest Service and Steve Humphreys, who employs the 30 missing loggers. They drive up toward the loggers’ camp together, but get delayed when eco-terrorist road spikes disable two of their tires. They continue on foot to the deserted camp where it looks like the loggers left in a hurry. Remember that scene in Aliens when the Colonial Marines arrive on LV-426 and the colonists’ camp appears completely empty? Well, it’s like that without the rain. Too bad the missing loggers probably don’t have locators implanted in their bodies. Their trucks also were disabled with sugar. Damn those eco-terrorists; they never account for potentially deadly infestations.
Sculder and Ranger Larry check the area and locate a large cocoon in a tree. They hoist Scully up to it and she sees a desiccated body inside. Meanwhile, Steve finds monkey wrencher Doug Spinney in the kitchen. Doug tells them his friend (and fellow eco-terrorist) was devoured by the bugs and warns they will come back ... when darkness falls. The non-Sculder folk then get sidetracked arguing about their own agendas.
The next morning Doug proves Steve’s loggers were in the wrong. Good news though: No trees were harmed in the making of this episode. The tree Steve touches is amusingly fake. Mulder notices a weird ring in the fallen tree’s stump. Larry analyzes the sample and sees living wood mites. Doug claims everyone disappeared and his partner died after the loggers cut down that particular tree, which was several hundred years old. Steve hikes back to Ranger Larry’s truck, but Numbnuts forgot to get the keys so he’s stranded out there ... when darkness falls. Naturally, the swarm gets him.
Back at the cabin, Scully conducts a biology class and Mulder delivers a history lesson that ends with his ancient insect eggs theory. Spinney seems to appreciate the poetic justice. The next morning, Mulder trusts Doug with the last can of gasoline and lets him leave to check on his friends/fellow eco-terrorists. Scully and the ranger are a teensy-weensy bit perturbed at that, especially since they don’t have enough gasoline to run their own generator all night. So darkness falls ... and our heroes barely make it through the night.
They hike back to Ranger Larry’s truck with a spare tire. And that’s when they find Humphreys. Poor cocooned Steve. Mulder’s faith in Spinney is justified when he arrives to save them. While driving out of the forest darkness falls yet again ... and Doug flattens their tires with the road spikes he probably forgot were in the roadway. Spinney exits the Jeep, gets swarmed and runs away. I’m pretty sure that’s the end of Doug. Sculder and the ranger get swarmed inside the Jeep and are found the next morning in a cocooned state by government operatives in containment suits. Looks like they found our heroes just in time. Even Ranger Larry probably gets to survive this one, but I’m pretty sure we’ll never see him again. How do I know this? I checked IMDB.
Sestra Professional:
"'Darkness Falls' across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize your neighborhood." This episode makes me itchy. And not just for Skinner's arrival in the next episode.
It'll be a nice trip to the forest: For once, Mulder's not going the supernatural route. He doesn't believe the rugged manly men taken out in the full bloom of their manhood were felled by Bigfoot -- "That's a lot of flannel to be choking down, even for Bigfoot." He develops something of a rational, coherent theory that Scully, for once, doesn't have to move heaven and Earth to try and disprove.
The eco-terrorists ensure Sculder and the Freddie and the head lumberjack wind up good and stranded. The road spikes effectively take out multiple tires on their vehicle, while rice and sugar was used in the tanks of trucks up at camp.
So this is definitely a better way of going about a statement episode than last week's ill-formed "Shapes." The loggers may be planting saplings in place of trees they cut down, but they've also taken out specifically marked old-growth ones they weren't supposed to touch. In doing so, they
released carnivorous mites and doomed themselves. When corporate Paul Bunyan refuses to believe, he gets caught in a no-longer-proverbial web of his own making.
Sanctimonious crap: Mulder's a bit too do-gooder for his (and Scully's) good in this episode. And when Scully calls him on letting Spinney go without so much as a word to her and Ranger Larry, he says she is the one delivering "sanctimonious crap." OK, he gets some brownie points back by being able to calm his usually unflappable partner down when they realize the bugs are all over everything -- in and out of the light.
And ultimately Mulder wasn't wrong, Spinney did come back. Of course, in this episode of ultimate comeuppances, the eco-terrorist hits one of the road spikes while driving them out and subjects all of them to the deadly fireflies. Good thing that they made some calls for help before the generator died.
This episode went so fast. It's nicely paced by executive producer Chris Carter and skillfully weaves its message with the action. But I have to admit, I've scratched at least 20 times rewatching this thing. (Editor's Note: Now up to about 50, since I played it again while putting the blog together.) And the government's big plan for putting an end to the issue? Controlled burns and pesticides. Will they never learn, when it's Man vs. Nature, the latter tends to win out.
Guest Star of the Week: The eco-terrorists call themselves monkey wrenchers? And guest star Jason Beghe starred in underrated 1988 horror gem titled Monkey Shines! Just
a coincidence? Well, yeah, probably. Especially since plays the "Freddie"
-- employee of the Federal Forest Service -- and not a monkey wrencher.
Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files, Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.
Sestra Amateur:
In Browning, Montana, someone – or something – is killing the cattle. It attacks one rancher, then gets shot by another. The creature turns into a human and we get to observe the fakest stage blood since Alfred Hitchcock used chocolate syrup in Psycho.
Even though Jim Parker was arrested for the shooting, Scully and Mulder are there to investigate because it occurred on an Indian reservation. Jim defends his actions, but not with the "stand-your-ground law." It’s more like an "I-swear-it-was-an-animal" defense. Jim claims he saw red eyes and fangs, but Scully thinks he just saw what he wanted to see.
Jim’s son, Lyle, tells Sculder he felt something watching him that gave him the creeps. You ever get the creeps, Scully? Don’t answer that. You’ll just provide a psychological explanation of “the creeps.” While investigating the crime scene, Scully and the writers inadvertently remind us they’re in Canada by using the metric system. Mulder finds footprints that seem to change form from human to animal. He also finds a piece of skin that had been shed. Ew.
Sculder go to a bar looking for leads. They stumble across Gwen, the sister of the dead manimal, Joe Goodensnake. Mulder also talks with an elderly Indian man named Ish, who recalls some well-deserved distrust of the Feds. Sculder talk to Sheriff Tskany, played by Michael Horse. He also played Deputy Hawk on Twin Peaks. Typecast much? Remember when David Duchovny was on Twin Peaks as a Fed? Of course, he was a cross-dressing Fed, so slightly less typecasting there. Sculder look at Joe’s dead body and spot some telltale signs of wolf-ness. Similar to last week’s episode, an autopsy is a no-no because of religious reasons. Guess that will let them drag this non-mystery out a little longer.
Mulder shows Scully the first X-File from 1946. Of course, it involves the same types of deaths in Browning, which actually originated 150 years earlier and recur every few years. Scully, of course, writes it off as a psychological version of lycanthropy, not a physical one like American Werewolf in London or Teen Wolf.
Sculder crash Joe’s funeral to try and get answers but don’t really succeed. Lyle arrives during the ceremonial cremation – which reminds me of Funeral Pyre for a Jedi – but Gwen and the sheriff chase him away. Back at the ranch, Jim is killed by a creature that resembles pre-dead Joe. The next morning, Scully finds Lyle, who claims he was drunk, and takes him to the hospital to be treated for exposure. Sheriff Tskany won’t talk, but brings Mulder to Ish, who tells “Running Fox” about the 1946 murders. Ish describes the Manitou – a supernatural being that controls nature. They sound like werewolves but don’t require a full moon to change.
The doctor who treated Lyle at the hospital tells Murder that his partner took Lyle home, then imparts a teeny bit of extremely important information -- Lyle somehow ingested his father’s blood. Considering the worst-case scenario is that Lyle is a Manitou and the best-case scenario would be Lyle is a cannibal, it’s safe to assume the doctor should have told this to Scully or the sheriff long before he casually mentioned it to Mulder.
So Mulder and the sheriff have to race back to the ranch to save Scully while Lyle begins his transformation. Scully is trying to break into the bathroom to get to Lyle, who she thinks is “sick.” Lyle beats her to it and busts out. Mulder and the sheriff finally arrive and Mulder shoots a perfectly innocent stuffed bear in the head. Lyle attacks Sculder, so the sheriff puts Lyle down for good. And just to show she’s making some progress, Scully seems to accept the inexplicable on this one. Can you imagine if Lyle transformed Mulder or Scully? A prime opportunity to watch the first Manitou federal agent on a weekly basis just slipped away.
Sestra Professional:
Full disclosure, during the original series run when X-Files fandom meant listing preferences in chat rooms and email groups, I always considered "Shapes" to be my least favorite episode. But I am willing to stay open to the possibility of change during the rewatch. Just thought I should state that at the outset. And I am looking forward to finding out if that's still the case.
Right away, I get a sense of why I didn't take to this episode all those years ago. It makes comments on the plight of Native Americans vs. farmers and Native Americans vs. government at will. And if it wasn't done with such a heavy-handed conceit, maybe it wouldn't make me cringe constantly. For example, mentioning once that the FBI shows up when it wants to as opposed to when they ask for help is fine, why do we have to go through that rigamarole a couple more times?
Everything about this episode feels green to me. It feels like it's from the first half of the season. Our leads seem to be either struggling or sleepwalking. As Sestra Am mentioned, the wounds leave a lot to be desired. But hey, people fly through the air great. That's something.
There are some inspired bits and pieces. Love Mulder's dubious glance at Scully's back when she's questioned about having the creeps. The description of human tracks in one step and animal tracks in the next seems like a perfect X-File.
With his Indian first name, Mulder's obviously open to Native American legend. But Scully's particularly of the non-believing persuasion in this episode. She thinks it's an open-and-shut case of reservation homicide. That no one can physically change into an animal, and anyone who thinks they can is suffering from lycanthropy. (At least we're expanding our vocabulary.)
The protracted funeral scene just stops the episode dead in its tracks... so to speak. Eventually, we do learn about the Manitou. Pretty convenient that when bloodlust builds, it releashes savage energy. And when that's done, he turns back into a man, unaware of what's happened -- even though that we saw flesh and bones and whatever else during a pretty thorough change. I don't think mere shedding accounts for all the physical transformation. At any rate, the idea of doing that every night has really gotta suck.
This isn't a job for Sculder, I think we need Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. And the proof of that is when they follow the MacGuffin -- the dead guy's sister -- and Scully's with the actual beast. Although I gotta say the fact he had no clothes on when she found him probably should have been a dead giveaway.
So this one's still a dog to me. Actually, now that I have new terminology, it's a Manitou to me. Stay tuned for next week, when our pretension shifts from the Native American reservation to loggers vs. nature. And for Sestra Am, your Skinner Watch is down to two.
Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files,
Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves
as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.
Sestra Amateur:
In Kenwood, Tennessee in 1983, a preacher stands by as his young son tries to bring a badly burned man back from the dead. The boy seemingly succeeds and the burn victim moves his arm. I’m all for saving lives, but why do that to someone whose entire body suffered severe burns? Ian Malcolm said it best in Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” No, it won't be another week of Spielberg homages; just one last one to get out.
Ten years later, father and son are still at it, but now their gig has snowballed into the Miracle Ministry. The boy, Samuel Hartley, is now a man. His father, Reverend Calvin Hartley, presides over his flock and encourages Samuel to heal their sick and infirmed followers. But it's not working out so well -- a woman who was suffering from cancer dies after Samuel touches her.
In a rare twist, Scully brings the case to Mulder’s attention, but he already knows of the Hartleys’ reputations. Turns out, the cancer victim was the second person to die after being touched by Samuel. They arrive in Tennessee and attend a Miracle Ministry session which looks like the tackiest convention ever. Afterward, Reverend Hartley won’t help Sculder find Samuel. His driver, a pale, scarred man wearing all black, gives the Reverend the move along. I’m pretty sure he’s the burned man Samuel saved in 1983, unless the healer kept on reviving burn victims. Sheriff Daniels gives Scully the coroner’s report as well as some background exposition on the Hartleys. Although he has a very sick wife, the sheriff does not believe the Miracle Ministry lives up to its name.
Scully reviews the coroner’s report and learns the two victims were not autopsied. To add to the conspiracy theory, the coroner is a card-carrying member of the Hartleys’ church. Sculder plan to exhume one victim for an autopsy, but the burned man, Leonard Vance, brings members of the flock to prevent the exhumation in the name of religion. It’s hard to describe how Vance looks now. If you’ve ever seen Amazing Stories, Vance resembles the creepy stalker in the "Mirror, Mirror" episode with Sam Waterston. Damn! Another Spielberg ref! (Fun fact; that’s actually Tim Robbins in the costume.)
The sheriff’s deputies locate Samuel, who got into a bar fight. The healer and Scully talk about God, until Samuel zeroes in on Mulder’s pain about his lost sister, Samantha. Before getting arrested, Samuel tells Mulder to open his heart and his eyes. Hope he doesn’t mean it literally. The following morning, Samuel’s attorney is trying to get him out of jail, but the kid doesn’t want to leave. During the hearing, the judge sets bail and the courtroom is attacked by locusts. I’m sure it was just a coincidence. Reverend Hartley calls on Sculder to complain about the sheriff. While there, Mulder sees a little girl and thinks she is his sister. He runs outside, but she disappears.
At the next revival, Vance meets a woman named Margaret Hohman, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, and her parents. The tent is packed with supporters wearing Hartley swag. (Sestra Pro, have you ever looked for a “Samuel Heals” button or an “It’s a miracle” cap?) Sculder attend the performance – I mean sermon – and Mulder gets distracted by the little girl again. Samuel tries to heal Margaret but after touching her, the poor woman suffers a seizure and dies. Vance tries to block the autopsy, but Margaret’s parents want answers. In preparing for the procedure, Scully looks like she’s about to carve a Thanksgiving turkey. She determines the poison could be cyanide or arsenic, but won’t know definitively until she gets back the toxicology results.
Mulder visits Samuel in jail to get him released, but the mender thinks God wants him in jail. Poor Mulder doesn’t know what to believe, but he wants to know if Samantha is still alive. If she was, wouldn’t Mulder be seeing an adult version of her instead of the child version? After Mulder leaves, a deputy lets two men into Samuel’s cell and they beat him to death. The fighting choreography was so bad it looked like a spoof of a beating. The reverend confronts the sheriff over the jail’s shoddy security.
Meanwhile, Sculder learn how the locusts infiltrated the courtroom. They also discover Vance ordered a pesticide containing cyanide which killed the three church members. Vance’s guilt is getting the better of him and he starts talking to Samuel’s ghost. Sculder and the sheriff go to the Hartley’s house to arrest Vance, but he is already dying from his own dose of cyanide. Vance says he thought Samuel was evil for bringing him back to life -- a life of suffering. And that’s the end of Vance.
While Scully writes up her report about how no miracles occurred, Mulder learns Samuel just got up and walked away from the morgue. Sheriff Daniels is under investigation for Samuel’s death and his wife never gets healed. What a downer ep. When do I get my Skinner fix?
Sestra Professional:
We're not too far away from the Skinner fix, Sestra Am. And I can't say I've ever searched for a “Samuel Heals” button or an “It’s a miracle” cap, mostly because I don't watch this ep a lot. For good reason.
Just for the record, this show is all too good at casting creepy child actors. He's only in the teaser before the episode starts proper, but I'm bugged out by young Samuel (Alex Doduk) before he even speaks and brings the human charcoal briquette back to life.
This is the part where they bring out Elvis: The whole revival aspect gives Mulder quite a few chances to work on his quips. Samuel performs his miracle twice on Sundays. ... Mulder saw many of the people at Woodstock -- the movie. Even Scully pipes in with a Jessica Hahn joke to recall the Jim Bakker scandal.
It does seem rather passé, even when this episode originally aired in 1994, for these people to be so naive that they wouldn't be on to the con of a reverend knowing how far they had traveled for the Miracle Ministry. And that's just one of the eye-rolling moments contained within. How about we call on Samuel to heal this episode? Of course, we don't know which one we'd get -- the fixer or the beer-swilling chain smoker whose gift has been corrupted.
Samuel does portend The X-Files future, however, when he speaks about a man becoming so proud that he should get the crap kicked out of him. That goes a long way to explaining a lot of the beatings Mulder will be taking on our horizon.
God never lets the devil steal the show: We get a pretty good peek into the faith of Scully, which will become more and more important as the series goes on. Here he explains that she doesn't doubt the power of God, just the veracity of Samuel's claims. Our complex Dana can be very practical when it comes to her job. She'll believe agricultural infestation over locusts and medical books full of unexplained spontaneous cures long before she'll jump into religion.
You're right, Sestra Am, I found Scully sharpening her knives for the autopsy to be almost as creepy as the teaser kid. And although her guess that the poison was potassium or sodium cyanide was right on point, a lot of this episode works itself out. In jail, the doubters take care of Samuel -- in a very thinly veiled Jesus reference -- complete with Christ-like pose in shadows. And then Mr. Kingsford eliminates himself with the glass of cyanide.
Mid-show, Scully says even in medicine, if you imagine a miracle, you're halfway there. But I can see why Sestra Am was bummed out by the end, because Mulder -- the guy who believes in absolutely everything -- states that people want miracles so bad that they see what they want to see.
You were right in your original diagnosis, Scully, this wasn't an X-file. This case was actually tied up at the end. Well except for the dead body that walked out, so much for the pretty bow on the box.
Guest Star of the Week: Scott Bairstow (Party of Five, Lonesome Dove) does a fairly decent job as Samuel, a young man haunted by more demons than Mulder. He manages to be charismatic in the Miracle Ministry scenes while still generating sympathy in the bar and/or the jail cell over his total disillusionment.
Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files,
Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves
as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.
Sestra Amateur:
Whether it was intentional or not, this episode had a lot of Steven Spielberg references. I’m not talking about the obvious ones like Close Encounters of the Third Kind or E.T. We will see how many I can cram into the recap, but first things first; I believe in UFOs. If an object is flying and hasn’t been identified then who am I to say it doesn’t exist?
Back to our regularly scheduled conspiracy theory. An Iraqi pilot sees a UFO. and shoots it down. The UFO crashes near the Iraq/Turkey border and U.S. forces respond to investigate. Later in Tennessee, a truck driver goes through the Roy Neary in Close Encounters experience; his 18-wheeler loses power and he sees a UFO in the sky. But unlike Roy, this guy has a working flashlight and a shotgun, and he does not hesitate to use either of them. Pretty sure the bullets did not have any effect on the UFO.
Sculder arrive to investigate and Mulder checks for radiation. He also uses the less scientific stopwatch test to see whether time has been altered in any way. Mulder sounds dismissive as he humors Scully’s so-called logical theories – "Swamp gas? Really?" Mulder takes a sample from a radioactive patch and his stopwatches show one was affected by exposure to the site. Mulder’s argument holds more water, even when pronouncing the word "data" in a way I’ve never heard before – I know “daytah” and “dahtah” but “dottah”? -- but Scully is equally dismissive of Mulder’s theories.
That agents interview Roy Neary, I mean Ranheim, who has Roy’s UFO light burn on his face and hands, as well as a nasty cough. Ranheim denies he is suffering from Gulf War syndrome, which has the same symptoms. The police interrupt Sculder’s interview, release Ranheim and kicked Sculder to the curb. While at the car rental office, a woman borrows Scully’s pen – I’m sure that will mean something later.
In D.C., Mulder reaches out to – insert fanfare here – The Lone Gunmen and Scully meets Frohike, Byers and Langly for the first time. Frohike flirts with Scully, Byers destroys her $20 bill to prove his conspiracy theory and Langly apparently answers the phone in a way that “bugs” Scully. Three examples of “meet cute” in one! Scully is convinced they are paranoid and delusional until she realizes her pen is bugged. Conspiracy theories can be contagious, I guess.
Mulder changes the light bulb in his apartment from a normal one to a blue light. It’s like he has his own personal bat signal. He later meets with Deep Throat who gives Mulder a packet of information about the UFO incident over Iraq. Scully’s investigation reveals Ranheim is actually a Special Ops Black Beret named Frank Druce who may have been transporting something top secret in the 18-wheeler. Mulder assumes it was the crashed UFO. He says he trusts Deep Throat and Scully says she trusts only Mulder. Mulder doesn’t say the same. Give it time, Scully.
Deep Throat surprises Mulder with a photograph of the UFO and tries to lead them to Georgia. Scully thinks the picture's a fake and believes someone is setting up Mulder to fail, but her partner says Deep Throat's never misled him. Mulder still has the photo analyzed and has to admit it is, indeed, a fake. He meets with Deep Throat at the aquarium in front of the shark tank – Jaws! Deep Throat admits the photo was doctored and warns Mulder “they” are still listening.
Mulder destroys his apartment looking for the bug and finds it behind an outlet cover. Maybe there’s more than one, Mulder. You should keep looking. He shows Scully and they jump through lots of cross-country hoops to track the truck without being monitored. It’s like Indiana Jones trying to find the Ark in modern times. Sculder meet in Vegas, then fly to Seattle. It has to be annoying when you spend your own money on work expenses because your own government is undermining you. Wonder if they can declare the expenses on their tax returns.
Sculder catch up to Druce and start following him and the truck – reverse Duel! After tailing him for hours, Sculder end up in the worst hail storm ever. They all stop in the middle of the road. Sculder can’t find Druce, so they go into the back of the truck. They uncover an empty makeshift medical facility. Mulder believes they were transporting an injured alien. He does his stopwatch test and learns it was a hoax; whatever created the light show and hail storm to stop them was not extraterrestrial in origin.
The agents discover the sightings mirror Druce’s path west from Tennessee, so they crash a UFO party in Mattawa, Washington that is located just outside a secured military facility. Mulder calls Langly to get them identification codes to enter the facility. In return, he promises to send proof of the Extraterrestrial Biological Entity. So E.T. is really shorthand for E.B.E. Mulder becomes Tom Braidwood – the name of one of the show's first assistant directors and the actor playing Frohike. Scully becomes Val Stefoff – I had to look up who that was -- a variation on another first assistant director, Vladimir Stefoff.
"Tom" and "Val" get caught on the wrong level and Scully fesses up to being a fed. Mulder makes a break for it and the armed military personnel chase him to the E.B.E's secured room, which looks like a POD with a window and eerie red lighting. Mulder is surrounded and the guards won’t let him look in the room. And then Deep Throat arrives to call off the military and save Mulder. Deep Throat admits to Mulder the conspiracy began after Roswell in 1947 (1941? Eh, close enough.) Several countries made a pact to exterminate E.B.Es and Deep Throat killed one in Vietnam. Providing information to Mulder is Deep Throat’s atonement. Mulder looks through the window, but the room is empty. Deep Throat leaves and Sculder live to investigate another day. Hey, Mulder’s blue light and the E.B.E’s medical room red light make The Color Purple.
Sestra Professional:
It's kinda fun to get back to the aliens after a few weeks of more earthly bound pursuits. The show's crackerjack writing team of Glen Morgan and James Wong might have felt that way too, this marked their first foray into extraterrestrials on the show. Nice opening teaser and first scene, although it takes a while to get to Mulder and Scully after the protracted beginning. I guess that's all right, though, considering the rest of the show is almost entirely about them, rather than the both of them just having reactions to things happening to other people.
Scully's got pretty rational explanations for the tangible evidence at the truck site -- lightning and swamp gas. Do they explain eyewitness accounts by cops and civilians in three counties? Not to Mulder, who is downright giddy over having more evidence than he's accumulated in any prior case -- anecdotal, exhaust residue and radiation levels five times the norm. He fixates on finding out why the trucker was singled out.
On the one hand, the cough, fever and rash being explained away by Gulf War syndrome seems to hold some weight. But on the other, it's all too convenient to say soldiers have frequently reported seeing UFOs while on duty. For who is more likely to suffer both mentally and physically under that kind of pressure?
Some of their ideas are downright spooky: Remember Max Fenig from "Fallen Angel"? Now we have three Fenigs with the introduction of The Lone Gunmen. The extreme government watchdog group -- as defined by Mulder -- can occasionally be on target, as when Langly defines Gulf War syndrome as the "Agent Orange of the '90s," but is prone to wilder thoughts of conspiracy. Nevertheless, they do find Mulder's ideas to be weirder than their own.
Is this first episode in which Scully fully understands that governmental forces seeking to thwart their investigations may not be up on the up and up? She finds Mulder and the Gunmen to be pretty paranoid until she finds the bug in the pen and sees the one in her partner's apartment. Until now, she's been pretty willing to accept that those people have jobs to do and don't really need to answer to or help out the agents.
The truth is out there, but so are lies: That's quite an overriding conspiracy going on, in which the government allegedly seeks to drive Sculder off the track with a very intricate plan involving the truck and driver. Occasionally it makes me wonder who Mulder and Scully are investigating for, if the rest of the government is so bent on stopping them. Say they do find proof of everything they're looking for. Then they take it ... to whom?
The elaborate hoax continues with the light show, the hail storm and the E.B.E. lab on the truck, is that where our tax dollars really go? It's a good Mulder takes those stopwatches wherever he goes to test radiation. Much less obtrusive than a radiation detector.
I'm wondering which lie to believe: It was then and still is now a jolt to have knocked Deep Throat off his pedestal, as well as a great reminder that a source might have motivations that have nothing to do with bringing truth to light. His back story -- although again the Vietnam aspect felt on the nose and thus clunky -- really serves the show on a lot of fronts. We can recite the buzz phrases "The Truth Is Out There" and "I Want to Believe," but the best line of the series for me to date is much more complex and dark -- "A lie, Mr. Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between two truths."
We find out the conspiracy is more global in this episode. (Although maybe that's just Deep Throat lying again!) He said a coalition of countries have mandated that any nation responsible for shooting down a UFO must exterminate its E.B.Es. Just don't try to regulate such a position, guys, because you might run into more lies -- like some renegade country deciding they were rather study a creature than destroy it, perhaps?
Deep Throat admits he's been haunted by the innocent and blank expression of the alien he killed. "That's why I come to you ... and will continue to come to you ... to atone for what I've done. And maybe sometime, through you, the truth will be known." So that's why he goes to the guy with the innocent and blank expression.
Guest Star of the Week: Roy ... er ... Ranheim ... er Druce is portrayed by Peter LaCroix ... er, Lacroix. He'll reappear in two other episodes of the series. There's a rather non-descript role when the conspiracy really gets rolling in Season 2, but he's even better in a demanding part in Season 4 as ... a military assassin.
Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files,
Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves
as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.
Sestra Amateur:
In 1989, a federal prison inmate accuses one of the doctors of killing fellow convict John Barnett. Dr. Ridley denies it and then the prisoner, Crandall, sees the dead man’s opaque eyes blink. I’m sure it was just an involuntary muscle spasm. Nothing X-Filey about that, so let’s move on to next week’s ep. No? OK, we’ll see this through. “See” what I did there?
Years later, Sculder are called to a jewelry store robbery. Fellow agent Reggie Purdue says the suspect was a lone gunman. No, not one of those Lone Gunmen. Turns out the suspect matches the description of dead man Barnett. The suspect also left a note taunting Mulder, who tells Scully about his first FBI case which involved Barnett. It also turns out Purdue was Mulder’s Assistant Special Agent in Charge on said case. Mulder says he made a mistake when apprehending Barnett and Barnett killed a fellow agent as well as an armored car driver.
Although they've heard Barnett died in prison, Mulder has the note analyzed and learns the handwriting matches Barnett’s. Purdue shows Scully the surveillance video of Mulder’s “mistake” -- essentially, Mulder did not shoot Barnett because the scum was holding a hostage. Purdue tells Scully he wished Mulder killed Barnett instead of following FBI protocol. The decision still affects Mulder too, although we haven’t heard mention of it until this episode.
Mulder watches the dead agent’s son playing football. Afterward, he finds another taunting note and an envelope of surveillance photos left in his car. Mulder knows someone has been following him and Scully. He definitely starts to lose his cool while a man with opaque eyes watches the scene – sounds like an oxymoron.
Scully gets Barnett’s medical records from his former prison and learns he supposedly died of cardiac arrest and was cremated. Mulder flashes back to Barnett’s trial and we see a younger Mulder clearly used less product in his hair. It’s very amusing to watch things like court procedures on television when you know they’re not being portrayed accurately. Of course, it’s easy to say things were done differently 20 years ago, but I’m pretty sure defense attorneys always cross-examine the main witness at criminal trials. No wonder his client was convicted.
Back in their present time, Scully learns Barnett left everything to Crandall, so they go visit the inmate. He tells them he heard Barnett scream and then saw him after Dr. Ridley cut off Barnett’s hand. Crandall also tells them about the tell-tale blinking. Barnett later calls Mulder to taunt him some more. Mulder eventually updates Purdue, but then Reggie is offed and another note left for Mulder. Maybe the frazzled agent should have called Purdue immediately after Barnett’s call instead of waiting until nighttime. Now that's a mistake.
Scully learns Dr. Ridley lost his medical license because of research malpractice and misuse of a government grant. He performed unauthorized experiments on humans suffering from progeria, a genetic disorder that results in young patients aging prematurely. Mulder thinks Ridley experimented on Barnett and aged him backward. I don’t think this is what Frank Sinatra had in mind. Scully is at home writing up her report when she hears a strange noise. She grabs her gun and investigates. (You should already have a round in the chamber, Scully!) She stops searching her apartment when Ridley knocks on the front door.
Mulder comes over and Ridley tells them Barnett survived the experiments. Ridley also admits the U.S. Government funded the research which brings us to … Deep Throat. Mulder meets with DT, who says they are trying to buy back Ridley’s stolen research from Barnett. Geez, the government really dropped the ball on that one.
Scully figures out Barnett was in her apartment after he remotely accesses her phone messages. She gets one of his prints from the answering machine. Since he knows where Scully's going to be, they set a trap for him at her friend’s cello recital. While at the concert hall, I kept thinking about the assassination attempt on the Pope at The Mikado in Foul Play. Now I want to go watch that, but first things first. Barnett is hiding in plain sight, badly tuning the piano next to the cellist. Barnett shoots Scully twice – in the chest/vest, of course – then takes the cellist hostage. Mulder realizes history is repeating itself, but this time he takes the shot and hits Barnett.
Barnett dies at the hospital without revealing the location of the missing research, but we see it may be stashed in a train station locker. Does the number 935 have special XF significance, Sestra Pro? So did Mulder not go by the book because of what happened last time? Or was he more motivated after watching Barnett shoot Scully? I’m going with the former on this one, since the entire episode hits you over the head with the fact that Mulder should have taken the shot years ago. Clearly, this Mulder doesn’t do everything by the book anymore.
Sestra Professional:
A little more than midway through first season and we're using up all our chips on former loves, ex-partners and old cases. Hot off Scully trying to save her paramour from a love-struck robber in the last episode, "Lazarus," now we have Mulder rehashing old times with someone else he used to work with at the bureau. And that's not the first time this particular ep will bring up memories of the 15 that have come before it.
The script -- credited to Scott Kaufer (who only wrote this one ep) and show creator Chris Carter -- is kind of an intriguing premise, although, like in "Fire," it probably shouldn't be the first we heard of Mulder being haunted by the fact that people died because he followed procedure. (Note to Sestra Am: I haven't heard about 935 being a special number, but I was very interested in the name of the prison -- Tashmoo. That sounds like a writers' room interest in steamboats.)
But an agent died on Mulder's first case because of how he handled the hostage situation and this is the first Scully's heard of it? That seems pretty illogical as all the people who informed her about how "Spooky" Mulder was might have dropped that bit of information as well. It could have been handled a little easier here with a simple "I heard something about that, what happened?"
I'm totally grooving on Barnett getting under Mulder's skin with notes such as "Fox can't guard the chicken coop" and "A hunted Fox eventually dies." It lines up perfectly with the original case in which Mulder testified Barnett was daring them to catch him.
Also kudos for betraying Mulder's cool exterior -- yep, that's a deliberate callback to his breakout line in "Squeeze." Barnett's so under his skin that the smart aleck doesn't have time to quip and he even snaps at Scully once or twice. There should be times when these characters, as driven as they are, snap in the heat of the moment. It can't be every show, but a well-chosen moment -- like the one here -- really serves the character.
I'll get you, you son of a bitch: Mulder yelling at no one in particular on a suburban street after getting one of those threatening "haikus" in his own car is inspired. He's unsettled and the civilians who have no idea what he's reacting to or why are equally uncomfortable. Personally that works better for me than the show's denouement.
Ah, those experimenting doctors. It doesn't seem too far a reach that Dr. Ridley was trying to reverse the aging process in a similar vein to how the Eves (and theoretically the Adams) were genetically created back in "Eve." With all the possible permutations, Sculder will have stuff to investigate for nine -- maybe 10 -- seasons!
One of the tensest moments in the episode is actually the simplest one -- it's just Scully worried she's not alone in her own house. With mood music by Mark Snow and a perfectly calibrated performance from Gillian Anderson, I think it sort of steals the show from an episode that might have redefined Mulder the way "Beyond the Sea" did Scully.
Once again, it takes a very special appearance from Deep Throat for Mulder (and the audience) to discover the government is actually negotiating with the bad guy. Kinda makes you wonder why the X-Files are still open at all. Back in the computer-runs-the-world ep "Ghost in the Machine," our intrepid informant made another appearance out of left field to tie threads together for Fox.
Just like old times: Well, not really, Barnett. 'Cause Mulder's worked through his issues and he's ready for you. And it's a nice little scene -- but really completely lacking in suspense, because we know that Mulder's not going to try going through procedure this time. Still, it's one of the highlights of Duchovny's season to date.
And some more kudos to Anderson for her stunt work when the sitting duck Scully gets shot. The meta on the show's casting was that network wanted Duchovny and didn't want Anderson ... halfway through the season, there was still a chance that she would be replaced. But as we're increasingly seeing, Anderson has the chops, and more than stands up to her lanky co-star.
Guest Star of the Week: The Progeria Society reportedly put the show in touch with Courtney Arciaga, the young girl living with the disease that was seen in archival footage of the doctor. Big fans of the show, Courtney and her family were flown from San Diego to Vancouver for filming.
Editors' Note: On the rewatch of The X-Files,
Lorrie plays the part of Sestra Amateur and Paige serves
as the resident "expert," aka Sestra Professional.
Sestra Amateur:
If you know the meaning of "Lazarus," then you have a general idea of this episode's direction. It’s another example of the extremes a man will go to just to have sex with the woman he loves. Think Terminator or Somewhere in Time without time travel.
Scully and Special Agent Jack Willis are trying to prevent a bank robbery. Willis has been tracking the suspects, a married couple named Warren Dupre and Lula Phillips, for a year. Turns out his tip is pretty reliable and Dupre shows up with a shotgun. Dupre shoots Jack and Scully shoots Dupre. Both Jack and Dupre are taken to the same hospital and brought into the same crash room. Dupre dies, but Scully insists the doctors continue working on Jack, who is her ex-boyfriend. Dupre’s body jerks every time they shock Jack. Doctors seemingly save Jack, but since it’s an X-Files episode, is it him or Dupre?
Two days later, we have a winner -- Jack realizes he is Dupre and remembers shooting Jack. Dupre finds his corpse in the morgue – first place I would look – and cuts off the fingers on the corpse’s left hand to get to the wedding ring. Dupre then disappears from the hospital.
Sculder learn Jack left behind his fingerprints on the victim in the morgue. Scully thinks it’s post-trauma psychosis and tells Mulder about Jack’s obsession with catching Dupre and Lula, who killed seven people during their robbery sprees. In the meantime, Dupre, in Jack’s body, is trying to find Lula. The tattoo from Dupre’s arm starts forming on Jack’s arm as well. Scully, I don’t think psychosis would cause that to happen. Mulder being Mulder thinks Dupre came back to life in Jack’s body. The EKG results for the body switchers seem to support his theory.
Sculder meet with Dr. Varnes at the University of Maryland. He tells them about a similar story which had deadly results. Dupre finds Lula’s brother, Tommy Phillips, and tries to convince Tommy he is Dupre. Dupre says he came back for Lula, then shoots Tommy in the face for setting them up. Sculder investigate the next day and Dupre, as Jack, joins the investigation hoping the FBI connection will help him locate Lula.
Scully tells Jack to get physical and psychological evaluations, which Dupre ends up passing. Must have been pretty weakass exams since Jack looks like hell and Dupre can’t know everything in Jack’s head. Mulder has a better approach; he asks Jack to sign Scully’s birthday card. This shows Mulder that left-handed Dupre is signing the card, not right-handed Jack. It also shows that Dupre does not know Scully’s birthdate even though Jack does; he and Scully have the same birthday. And Dupre doesn’t sign it in Jack’s handwriting.
Scully is in full denial mode when Mulder tries to convince her. I found Mulder’s argument very persuasive. Get with the program, Scully, especially since you killed Dupre. If there’s even a slight chance Dupre’s mind is alive in Jack’s body, then clearly Dupre would want revenge for that whole killing-him thing. Scully also confronts Jack about losing important evidence that was in his possession, but Jack denies it. He and Scully follow up a lead on Lulu alone; Jack claims he called for backup, but Scully doesn’t confirm it. Scully, if you can’t trust him to remember your birthdate or even his own handwriting, then you probably shouldn’t trust him with your life.
They chase Lulu to the basement of an apartment building. Scully catches her, but Dupre shows his true colors and takes Scully hostage. Dupre tries to convince Lulu he is Dupre in Jack’s body and she seems to believe him. Guess it’s Be-Bop-A-Lula time.
Meanwhile, Mulder is working on the Case of the Missing X-Files Partner. Dupre calls Mulder and lets Scully talk to him. It’s one of those rare moments when Mulder calls Scully "Dana." It still sounds weird when he uses her first name, but he's clearly affected by the emotion of the situation.
After the call, Scully tries to reach Jack’s mind with memories of their time together. It starts to work because Dupre flashes on one of Jack’s memories. Jack’s body starts shutting down because, apparently, Jack is a diabetic in need of insulin and he is experiencing hyperglycemia. This could have been an interesting twist because it helps generate a lead to find Scully, but wouldn’t the fact that Jack hasn’t had insulin in several days come up during his physical exams? And how could he pass the physical when his blood sugar readings must have been dangerously high? At any rate, Lula breaks into a nearby drug store to steal insulin and needles.
Mulder receives a report of the theft and gets an idea where Scully is being held, pretty much before Lula even returns with the insulin. That’s a pretty efficient notification system the FBI has in place. Scully, who is no longer handcuffed to a radiator, is about to give Jack/Dupre a shot of insulin, but Lula stops her and destroys the insulin. Turns out, Lula is the one who betrayed Dupre so she could be rid of him and keep the money. Probably would have been better for Lula if she made that reveal before breaking into the drug store and leading the FBI to their location, but the writers probably couldn’t come up with a better way for Mulder to find Scully.
Mulder gets a little verklempt during the briefing for Scully’s search. Between that and the earlier phone call with "Dana," you can see Mulder is starting to care for Scully, probably more than he wants to. Jack talks to Scully, and in his weakened state, he starts to remember Jack’s memories. Dupre tricks Lula into thinking he’s dead, then grabs her gun when she betrays him one last time. Dupre shoots Lula just as the FBI storm the place, then dies and Dupre’s tattoo disappears. But does Dupre die because he killed Lula and can’t live without her? Or does Jack die because of the hyperglycemia? Sestra Pro, what do the writers say about it?
In the aftermath, Mulder gives Scully Jack’s watch, which is the one she gave Jack for his 35th birthday. The watch stopped working at 6:47 p.m., the time when Jack went into cardiac arrest. So the doctors saved the life of “Jack," but broke his watch? Scully should sue.
Sestra Professional:
This episode kinda makes me want to pull my hair out. Cause on the one hand, as Sestra Am said, it's got some interesting notions. But on the other hand, as Sestra Am also pointed out, it's got some clunky ways of resolving plot issues.
There are definitely more questions raised than answered in "Lazarus." Let me address the question of the final Dupre/Jack showdown first. I haven't seen that previously addressed, Sestra, but it is very interesting to note that the writing team of Alex Ganza and Howard Gordon originally wanted Dupre to jump into Mulder's body, according to the official episode guide. That would have been even more difficult to resolve, I fear. Probably a wise move to switch it to a former beau, even that was kind of heavy-handed.
Also overly convenient are the writing devices of Jack being both a southpaw and a diabetic as well as the fact he and Scully have the same birthday. Whenever this episode threatens to get on track, G&G hit us with another clunker.
I thought Sestra Am would be all over the foiling of the bank robbery that opens this saga. Their big plan was to stand inside the bank with guns drawn? And as they wait, Bonnie and Clyde are outside, practically singing "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail in the car ahead of their next crime. Everything seems to be its own spoiler in this episode.
It's true that so far in the run, Scully's angle has seemed to be very reasonable while Mulder has been out on a limb with wild imagination. Even though his guesstimates sometimes pan out, you'd think a more common-sense approach would be considered first. But now it's Scully who seems to be completely and totally wrong ... and she pays for that.
You know how people always talk about a tattoo being permanent? They probably weren't even speculating about it jumping bodies. Now you don't have to worry about fading colors, now you gotta be concerned with taking it to your next state of consciousness.
In providing us with some metaphysical background, Sculder's expert tells a rather
long and involved story about a pilot in a commuter crash who
technically died, but then was resuscitated and started having strange
visions of sex acts with his wife that weren't in his own memory banks.
Turned out one of the dead passengers on the plane had been having an
affair with the guy's wife and that's how he found out. Maybe that
should have been the basis for this episode.
But then we have some more interesting twists courtesy of G&G. Dupre
shoots his girlfriend's brother, thinking he was the informant, only to
find out ... doh ... that it was the love of his life. Being a criminal
can lead to such deceit.
And Lula doesn't believe him at first. So why doesn't Dupre just show her his supernatural tat? Of course, when he follows up with his memorable wedding-day words, "This is so we can be married in all the oceans of the world," she's got to know it's him. This is the sappiest killer in the history of the world. An American Tail is too hard-edged for him.
"This one's important to me, so let's do it right." Showing that Mulder is letting the job get personal for him is another of the pluses in this one. It's great foreshadowing for the future, particularly on the case that he will cling to for dear life for many years.
So did
Scully play Lula to get her to move closer to the still-alive Jack with
the old "he's dead" gag? Cause that would be a swift move if she did,
but she seems to not be on the same page with Jack after that. So the
medical doctor thought her ex was dead? I realize she was chained to a
radiator, but in no way, shape or form could this be considered Scully's
episode. Everyone's character is developed more than hers, even that of
the bad guys.
We've been given so much information on near-death experiences in this episode, the most persuasive of which came from Scully's expert. So when she wants to know what it means when Jack's watch stopped at the moment he went into cardiac arrest, we really already know. What's impressive is Mulder's response: "It means whatever you want it to mean." Did he let her off the hook without forcing her to see his point of view? That is different.
So maybe G&G didn't do so poorly by us after all.
It’s Toomsday and Eugene Victor Tooms is at it again. Remember him from the third episode? He’s the guy – thing? – who goes on a killing spree every 30 years and can fit pretty much anywhere. Turns out Tooms is up for release from the sanitarium because our heroes couldn't charge him with murder, just his attack on Scully. That’s just what society needs -- a yellow-eyed, elongated creepy serial killer.
Mulder follows Tooms, who is hot on the trail of a potential victim. Mulder falls asleep on his unauthorized stakeout -- that’s exactly why you need teams of two -- while Tooms elongates himself to get in through the sewer system (P.U.!) and the barred windows (Eek!) Mulder awakens and warns the family they may have a serial killer inside their house, but Tooms makes a not-so-clean getaway. Mulder is just not looking good in this episode at all. 
You're going to get sloppy and you're going to get hurt: Mulder hasn't slept for three days? By Sestra Am's own reckoning, he falls asleep twice during this one episode! Maybe because he's so tired, he tells Scully he even made his parents call him Mulder.
