Signs And Portents In The Comedic The X-Files Spin-Off The Lone Gunmen

The Good: Moments of humor, Decent acting and character development, some interesting plots
The Bad: Never seems to get to its potential, Addition of "beautiful people."
The Basics: In a fun, but average, series, the conspiracy theorists The Lone Gunmen attempt to save the world by exposing weird manipulations by those in power.


Perhaps what defined the trio of characters collectively known as The Lone Gunmen on The X-Files was that they were the atypical group of geeks who appeared, were paranoid and brilliant and did not quite fit the mold of what one would expect out of, well, pretty much anybody. They were, through and through, geeks. Part of their popularity with fans of The X-Files was that the Lone Gunmen were most analogous to the fans, somewhat crazy conspiracy theorists, many of whom lived in the basement. So, when Fox ordered a series based just on the Lone Gunmen, they were targeting a very specific demographic of a very specific demographic.

The Lone Gunmen follows the adventures of Byers, Frohike and Langly, the investigative reporters and editors of the conspiracy-theory publication The Lone Gunmen as they attempt to save the world from megalomaniacal computer hardware and foil a plot to blow up the World Trade Center using a plane (months before others succeeded in real life). Unfortunately, despite their drive, they are dirt poor and their business and publication are failing. They unwittingly enlist the aid and funds of a rather wealthy man improbably named James Bond and they find themselves constantly embroiled in schemes that pit them against the quasi-villainous Yves Adele Harlow.

On DVD, The Lone Gunmen is a complete series, of sorts. Basically, this is the end of The Lone Gunmen with footage of the trio's origins in The X-Files available only on some of the bonus features. There are thirteen episodes in the series and the DVD producers graciously added the sendoff to the series from The X-Files, entitled "Jump The Shark," which effectively ends the storylines left open in The Lone Gunmen.

So, what is this show really? It's a conspiracy-thriller comedy and the problem there is that throughout the series there is a sense that it does not know quite what it wants to be. There are moments that are so overtly going for laughs, most notably involving Frohike and slapstick humor, but the best episodes of the series tend to be the most serious. The superlative story, "Tango De Los Pistoleros" is in fact funny only in a dancing montage clip, but otherwise remains one of the most tense, humorless stories of the series. Beautifully shot, that episode follows the Gunmen following Yves to a tango competition to stop a smuggler from selling very classified information to enemies of the U.S.

And problematically, The Lone Gunmen abandon the classic, humble (dare I say "geeky") roots in its attempt to make a viable television show. In short, in order to make the show fly, the series adds Jimmy Bond and Yves Harlow, two very obviously, very Hollywood beautiful people. Yves, played well by knockout Zuleikha Robinson, is an adversary, but she's also quite obvious sex appeal to make the show, well, sexy. The problem is, the Lone Gunmen aren't supposed to be about sexy. They're geeks who live in a dungeon exposing the underbelly of government conspiracies!

The principle characters in The Lone Gunmen are:

John Fitzgerald Byers - The classy Gunman who has the integrity to probe into the government conspiracies based on a long-standing problematic relationship with his father. Byers is the cool head among the Gunmen and the most respectable of the bunch,

Melvin Frohike - Perhaps the most classic geek of the bunch, Frohike has ideas and old-school paranoia and ultimately acts as comic relief more than being useful,

Ringo Langly - The hacker, tech man for the Gunmen, he is the man who can get into virtually any computer service, until later in the series when the Gunmen inexplicably need help from someone even better at hacking than Langly. Go figure,

Jimmy Bond - Dimwitted and wealthy, Jimmy joins the Gunmen as its financial backer with brain of an ox and a heart of gold,

and Yves Adele Harlow - A woman of uncertain allegiance, she is essentially a bounty hunter who brings the Gunmen cases and/or foils their work.

The acting is fine. Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood and Dean Haglund each show up and give their usual wonderful performances as Byers, Frohike and Langly. The only real issue is that their acting talents are almost never challenged. They are playing the characters we're used to seeing on The X-Files for years, only here they are given more airtime.

Ultimately, the real problem with The Lone Gunmen is that it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, so it ends up being a little of everything and not much of anything. So, it's political in "Like Water For Octane," suspenseful in "Tango De Los Pistoleros," and ridiculous in "Diagnosis: Jimmy." It's a tough nut to crack and odds are it will be enjoyed most by the sliver of fans of The X-Files that most loved the occasional trio of guest stars.

For other shows that originally aired on FOX, please check out my reviews of:
Family Guy Presents: It’s A Trap!
Glee - Season Two, Volume One
Fringe - Season Two
Arrested Development
Wonderfalls
Millennium
VR.5
The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.

6/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Scully's Death Sentence Begins With "Leonard Betts" And "Memento Mori!"

The Good: "Memento Mori" is an amazing Scully episode!
The Bad: Special effects in "Leonard Betts"
The Basics: Scully and Mulder encounter a man who has the capacity to regenerate due to a strange form of benevolent cancer,which leads the agents to learn something important about Scully!


While doing some research on The X-Files for one of my reviews, I came across the little factoid that "Leonard Betts," which aired after the Super Bowl in 1997 became the most-viewed episode of The X-Files ever. Go figure. I suppose it was a smart move on the part of FOX and the producers of The X-Files, to do a "monster of the week" episode, but still . . . it's "Leonard Betts!" On VHS, "Leonard Betts" and "Memento Mori" kick off the explicit character arc that is one of Scully's two big arcs for the series.

Unfortunately, on the original VHS release, there is some necessity to pairing "Leonard Betts" which ends with an insinuation that seemed obvious without the final scene, with "Memento Mori," wherein Scully is officially diagnosed. For those unfamiliar with The X-Files who might want the surprises that come with all of the various character arcs on the series, now is a good time to stop reading, because it is impossible to discuss "Memento Mori" without revealing what is going on with Scully.

In "Leonard Betts," an EMT is driving and becomes amazed at the skill of the paramedic she is driving to the hospital and gets the ambulance in an accident which results in the paramedic being decapitated. His name is Leonard Betts and his untimely death is followed rather rapidly by his body being stolen from the morgue. However, it appears his body was not stolen so much as it walked out on its own volition.

Mulder and Scully begin their investigation of Betts only to discover his cells appear to be riddled with cancer, leading Mulder to hypothesize that Betts is actually able to regenerate lost limbs, including his head. As they attempt to explain this genetic mutant, the FBI agents discover that in addition to being made entirely of cancerous cells, Betts appears to feed on discarded cancer cells of others. Drained from regenerating so frequently, Betts begins to remove cancerous tissues from victims he comes in contact with, ultimately leading him to a showdown which puts Scully's life in danger!

In "Memento Mori," Scully is hospitalized having been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in an inoperable portion of her brain. Having had the scans determining that the tumor will be lethal, she and Mulder head to Pennsylvania to meet with the M.U.F.O.N. members who Scully met the prior year. Unfortunately, all but one of the members of that group have died of cancer and Scully sidelines herself to get treatment from Dr. Scanlion, who thinks he can save her life.

While Scully is getting treatment, Mulder enlists the Lone Gunmen to infiltrate a facility that seems to have information on the abductees, including Scully. Mulder works with a young man who seems as determined as Mulder to protect the information gathered by the M.U.F.O.N. and when he breaks into the medical facility, Mulder discovers the reason for the man's determination that the information not fall into the hands of the shadow conspiracy. Inside, Mulder makes a terrifying discovery about the nature of what was done to Scully and the other women and Skinner sets down a dark road he would not allow Mulder to travel on.

"Leonard Betts" is a remarkably simple "monster of the week" style episode and it is a fair one, to be sure. The necessity of the episode only comes in the last few moments of the episode and the truth is, "Memento Mori" is just as good without sitting through the lead-up. (As well, there was an episode aired in between the two episodes and it works with or without the Scully Cancer Arc).

This is the beginning of an arc that seemed inevitable given that when the M.U.F.O.N. was encountered by Scully in "Nisei" and "731" (reviewed here!), all of the members had implants like Scully's that had been removed and they were all ill. The speed and severity of their cancer is painted as menacing and the implication is truly terrifying; that what was done to Scully would be so insidious and obviously malicious.

What makes "Leonard Betts" worthwhile outside the whole introduction of the Scully Cancer Arc is that Betts is painted as one of the more human, humane and likable "monsters of the week." Whereas prior bottle-episode characters have almost all been killers and demented beyond their physiological differences, Leonard Betts is a likable guy who has done a pretty decent job of blending. He works a job, he hurts no one by eating the biowaste cancer tumors and he illustrates a genuinely high level of morality, like when he calls the medics after operating on his mother.

It's unfortunate; because left to his own devices, Leonard Betts never needed to do anything that would have put him on the FBI radar. Of course, one has to wonder why he didn't just move to a different area and hospital after being decapitated so as not to run into problems like he did, but that's nit-picking. Less nitpicky is the idea that The X-Files never followed up with this episode with one of the more obvious sequels possible; after all, if the headless corpse can regenerate a head and the whole man can create a duplicate, wouldn't the thumb he tore off himself have the ability to regrow into another Leonard Betts?

The real winner on this video, though, is "Memento Mori," one of the best Scully episodes of the series. If only "Paper Hearts" (reviewed here!) had been put on the same tape as "Memento Mori," that would have probably been the only video from the fourth season the viewer needed! Just as "Paper Hearts" was an intense Mulder episode, "Memento Mori" gives Scully a powerful episode as she is diagnosed with cancer and deals with the emotional ramifications of that. While Mulder runs around looking for solutions and external evidence to try to save Scully, Scully begins keeping a journal where she works to accept her impending death.

Actress Gillian Anderson is absolutely amazing in "Memento Mori" as the wounded and ill Scully. While I seldom do this, the unfortunate aspect of this video is that it is missing one of the most amazing performances by Anderson. The DVD release of this episode includes a deleted scene where Scully and her brother have a quiet argument and Anderson has to seethe and play exhausted, which she does masterfully. Still, it is a great episode and Anderson's performance is impressive without the scene. It's just there is more to her performance than we get to see.

"Memento Mori" is a quiet, contemplative episode in The X-Files mythology and it continues the whole concept of the alien invasion being largely about colonization. It's a strong enough episode on its own to lead one to recommend this video.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Fourth Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Leonard Betts" - 7.5/10
"Memento Mori" - 9.5/10
VHS - 8/10

For other television program reviews, please visit my index page on the subject!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Scully's Turn To Get Doped Up/Mulder's Turn To Have A Family Member In Peril:"Wetwired"/"Talitha Cumi!"

The Good: Scary, Clever, Moments of character, Moments of acting
The Bad: "Wetwired" is a bit predictable, "Talitha Cumi" is rather expository
The Basics: Two good episode of The X-Files are presented with "Wetwired" and "Talitha Cumi," but we could have lived with the first episode being swapped with "Quagmire!"



As The X-Files wrapped up its third season, I was in college and finally becoming a fan of the show. As a result, I distinctly remember watching the third season finale, "Talitha Cumi" and being excited about it. So when it was released on video, I also remember picking it right up and being pretty excited about that, too. Rewatching the video of "Wetwired" and "Talitha Cumi" reminds me how timeless television series' can actually endure well after the decade they helped define. The X-Files had some serious issues in its later seasons, especially in the "mythology" stories. But here at the end of the third season . . . wow.

"Wetwired" finds Mulder and Scully investigating a series of murders where a man, in a crazed state, claims he was actually attacking a Serbian war criminal. Disturbed by the correlation between what the man has been watching on television and who he thinks he was killing, Mulder and Scully begin to investigate his video collection when another murder occurs, this time a woman thinking her husband was having an affair that she sees out her window while doing dishes (in fact, the old woman blows away her neighbor, whose dog was laying on him in his hammock!).

As the investigation persists, Scully begins to hear a telephone ringing and she becomes paranoid about Mulder. Convinced he is betraying her to the Cigarette-Smoking Man, Scully fires off some shots at Mulder and goes AWOL, a series of events that convinces Mulder of what the Lone Gunmen suspect; that someone is using a sub-channel on the television monitors to agitate people into killing!

"Talitha Cumi" opens with a man freaking out in a fast food restaurant and shooting up several people there before he is shot by police. By the time Mulder and Scully arrive on the scene, though, there are no wounded and the man who went on the spree claims to have been touched by god, who healed him. The agents attempt to corroborate his story and are disturbed to discover that the man who healed him with his touch disappeared and appears to be able to take on multiple forms.

The hunt for Jeremiah Smith, the man with the miraculous healing power, continues when Mulder is informed that his mother has had a stroke while at the Rhode Island cottage the family owned. He is presented by X with information that the Cigarette-Smoking Man was present moments before Mrs. Mulder's collapse and that the Cigarette-Smoking Man had come to the house looking for something, something Mulder becomes obsessed with finding, while Scully tries to work out who and what Jeremiah Smith truly is!

"Wetwired" is a tough sell to die-hard fans of The X-Files if for no other reason than in the second season finale, Mulder's water is contaminated with LSD much the same way that the various killers' televisions are plagued by the added aggression pattern creator. We've seen the paranoia, hallucinations and strung-out quality as a result of influence by the shadowy conspiracy before and frankly it's not much different with Scully as the victim as opposed to Mulder.

Still, it is a clever and frightening idea that is well-developed by Mat Beck who worked on The X-Files as the visual effects supervisor. He gets the voice and feel of the characters and show right in his script and were it not for the almost identical elements in "Anasazi" (reviewed here!), "Wetwired" might be a knock-it-out-of-the-park episode. As it is, it is light on character - though it does reinforce well the relationship between Mulder and Scully and returns Scully to her mother's care, which works well for the character. Outside the fact that the plot is essentially recycled the only real problem is that when Mulder calls Mrs. Scully, she doesn't ream him out about losing her daughter yet again. After all, poor Scully got the crap kicked out of her numerous times in the second season and she was abducted twice in that season. Now, about a year and a half later, Mulder calls up Mrs. Scully to say "yeah, I lost your daughter" and she doesn't go ape on him (especially after her other daughter was shot and killed because of the work Mulder and Scully do) . . . come on!

"Talitha Cumi," on the other hand, is both a much tighter and much more nebulous episode. How is that possible? First, it is a mythology episode that is laying down important information for the viewer in virtually every scene. It is in this episode that we (along with Mulder) learn that Mulder's mother and the Cigarette-Smoking Man have known each other for years, which set off years of rumors that Mulder might be the Cigarette-Smoking Man's son. We learn that the Alien Bounty hunter is part of a race that is here to colonize the Earth. We also learn that the colonization plan seems to be largely what the big secret conspiracy is all about. And when the Alien Bounty Hunter reappears, it's pretty cool.

In "Talitha Cumi," the viewer also learns that the race represented by Jeremiah Smith and the Alien Bounty Hunter seems to have more powers than simply the ability to shapechange along humanoid lines. They can heal and there is the implication in the scenes between Smith and the Cigarette-Smoking Man that they might have some form of telepathy or sight that allows them to see within a person. It is the scenes between the Cigarette-Smoking Man and Jeremiah Smith, as the shapechanger takes on the appearance of Mulder's father and Deep Throat, that the episode takes on a remarkably nebulous tone. The characters talk in code, alluding to plans that are not made explicit. This adds an air of realism to the dialogue (those in the know would not need to spell it all out) but is problematic to viewers who are being run over with the sheer amount of information packed into the expository dialogue.

"Talitha Cumi" is by no means a perfect season finale, either. There is a scene wherein Mulder and X get into a pretty violent fight and while there is some believability to Skinner - a former Marine - holding his own with the shadowy operative, that X doesn't succeed in completely shutting Mulder down is unbelievable.

That said, it does set up a number of threads that take years to pay off and it holds up remarkably well over multiple viewings, making for a decent episode to return to again and again.

On video, "Wetwired" and "Talitha Cumi" include a bonus feature, an interview with Chris Carter that spells out a number of behind-the-scenes details on the making of the two episodes and it is a good way to add value to these video tapes even now.

Fans of The X-Files will love "Talitha Cumi," despite its flaws, but fans of science fiction, horror, or general thrillers, will probably get more out of "Wetwired," which has a good premise and whose real flaw is that premise has (essentially) already been explored on The X-Files before.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Third Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Wetwired" - 5/10
"Talitha Cumi" - 7.5/10
VHS - 6/10

For other television episode or season reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Perfect Dark Two-Parter Starts Off The Myth Of The Black Oil With "Piper Maru"/"Apocrypha!"

The Good: Character, Acting, Plot, Video bonus features, Pacing
The Bad: None that I can find! (Medium)
The Basics: Two great episodes of The X-Files introduce a new alien villain in "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha!"


Those who follow my reviews know that it is a rare thing for me to rate something with a 10/10 and declare it "perfect," especially a two-part television episode. I happily rate "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" with the perfect rating because this is when The X-Files got it right. In fact, in these two episodes, they get everything right and part of that is because this is the establishment of the conspiracy mythology that would follow through the remainder of the series. It is episodes like these two that would later be forgotten or mortgaged as the series went on and it's too bad; this is an intense two-parter that deserved the attention of anyone who likes great science fiction!

In "Piper Maru," a French salvage vessel finds a downed American plane on the bottom of the ocean, but the diver who finds it discovers something more down there. The diver returns, possessed by an entity whose only indication of its presence within him is a black oil that can appear in his eyes and that coats him when it eventually leaves his body. The French diver is the only member of the Piper Maru's crew to not suffer incredible radiation burns, which are killing most of the crew of the ship. Mulder gets word of this the same day that Scully learns from Skinner that her sister's case is being made inactive. Distressed by that fact, Scully reluctantly accompanies Mulder to San Diego where the crew of the Piper Maru is being treated.

In San Diego, Scully finds a medical mystery that defies her explanation and she goes in search of one of her father's friends, who might be able to tell her what the French were looking for on the bottom of the ocean. Mulder, for his part, begins to investigate the salvage company that sent the Piper Maru to the same location as the Talapis. His search takes him to Hong Kong where he finds himself faced with Krycek, the man who killed his father!

In "Apocrypha," Mulder returns with Krycek only to be driven off the road by shadowy operatives who the infested Krycek easily dispatches. Having learned of the mission in 1945 that cost a naval vessel most of its crew, Scully returns to Washington, D.C. to find that A.D. Skinner has been shot and she soon learns that his assailant is the same one who shot her sister. Mulder's search for the long-lost digital tape (which Krycek was using to sell secrets, like the one that sent the Piper Maru to the Talapis' salvage location) leads him to a meeting with the Well-Manicured Man, whose interests also lay in finding Krycek.

With everyone suddenly hunting for Krycek, the infested rogue seeks out the Cigarette-Smoking Man for a trade: his space ship for the digital tape. As Mulder and Scully hunt him for the answers they seek, Skinner's life is once more put in jeopardy, with only Scully to save him!

"Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" do what the best two-parters do; they tell a single story, as opposed to stretching a story out for suspense over the course of two weeks. No, in this case, the story is one that is well-developed conceptually and given the freedom to develop and be properly explored. In this case, as well, the episode is one that depends rather heavily on seeing other episodes of the series. The character arc that Scully goes through in this episode only makes sense if one has seen "Paper Clip" (reviewed here!). Similarly, the importance of the digital tape is laid out in that episode, but the mission of the Talapis (which, to be fair, only occupies a passing reference in this episode, despite the vital importance of its salvage) which came up in "Nisei" (reviewed here!) helps to enrich the plot of this episode.

"Piper Maru" puts Scully in a rather defensive position from the outset, which is something she might be used to given the outrageous theories Mulder often comes up with. However, in this case, her sense of being an outsider is much more based upon actual character elements. She is deeply frustrated over the treatment of her sister's case and when it is closed, she - who has been involved in catching villains with far less evidence to go on than what was left by the killer of her sister - rails against Skinner and becomes more melancholy and withdrawn.

The treat for fans of Scully is to see how she is able to take control of the situation in "Apocrypha." In that episode, when Skinner is gunned down, she fills the power vacuum and it makes for a wonderful bit of character work where we see her in an authoritative position and she handles herself admirably. Scully's ability to take charge works and it is a shame we seldom see that side of her in the course of the series; actress Gillian Anderson seems perfectly comfortable with her character being assertive and she moves with a strength and dignity that the viewer seldom sees her with on The X-Files.

As powerful as Scully taking charge in this two-parter is the sense of something that I seldom address in my reviews of The X-Files. Part of what makes "Piper Maru" and "Apocrypha" so stark is that Mulder and Scully are running around on essentially separate missions the whole time. Mulder and Scully - largely in the "mythology" episodes - frequently seem to be working on separate things, something I've only been catching as I go through the series this time. In fact, I'm surprised by how it never registered with me before how often they are actually doing separate investigations; fans tend to think of them as partners and almost constantly together.

The serialized nature of these episodes might make it difficult for non-fans to get into them, but the truth is, anyone who loves great science fiction or even just creepy action adventure stories, will find something to like about this two-parter. It is also worth noting that the "mythology" that The X-Files created, which was populated by various alien races, never tied up all of the loose ends, which was good. However, it is seldom noted that the black oil creature in these episodes has many of the same powers (like the ability to essentially nuke people where they stand) as the unseen alien in the first season's "Fallen Angel" (reviewed here!).

Part of what lends the entire episode credibility is the quality of the acting. In addition to Gillian Anderson's powerful performance as an assertive Dana Scully, Nicholas Lea, John Neville, William B. Davis, and Mitch Pileggi all give amazing supporting performances with their recurring characters who are each given fairly juicy scenes. Davis -whose character of the Cigarette-Smoking Man - had been somewhat weakened by events early in the season, comes back with a confidence that makes his character once more seem unstoppable. Pileggi's Skinner is given a meaty part and the mature actor gives a surprisingly realistic performance while bedridden!

David Duchovny caps off "Apocrypha" with a beautiful exchange with Anderson that reminds viewers of all of the potential of the chemistry between the two characters. Duchovny and Anderson play off one another remarkably well and after an hour and a half of running around as Mulder, the more cerebral scene suits Duchovny well.

This two-parter marks the first appearance of the black oil entity and sets up a vital component of the conspiracy arc for the series.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Third Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Piper Maru" - 10/10
"Apocrypha" - 10/10
VHS - 8/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission

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Return To The Dangerous Place Where The Truth Kills: "The Blessing Way" And "Paper Clip!"

The Good: Good acting, Decent stories, Pacing, Video bonus features
The Bad: Somewhat light on character for my tastes
The Basics: Dark and impressive, "The Blessing Way" and "Paper Clip" put Mulder and Scully on the trail of the conspiracy that is racking up quite a body count!


The truth, if there is an absolute of that concept that can be translated by measly humans limited by their perspective, is out there, we are told by The X-Files, which wisely manages not to suggest where out there they mean. Even so, some episodes of The X-Files are essentially the U.F.O. cover-up conspiracy stories the show is oft-assumed to be about. Such is as it is when The X-Files began its third season with the two parter "The Blessing Way" and "Paper Clip."

Actually, the two parts that open the third season are actually the last two parts to the second season finale, "Anasazi" (reviewed here!) and lacking any "Previously on The X-Files. . ." recaps on the videos, one is left to piece together what happened in that episode if they only watch this tape. There is something strange about starting with an episode where Mulder is presumed dead, a digital tape is referenced, Mulder's father has been killed with Mulder himself implicated in the murder and Scully is about to be fired for breaches in protocol by her superiors at the F.B.I.

In "The Blessing Way," Scully returns to the Navajo reservation in New Mexico to discover that Mulder has been killed and that the agents of the Cigarette-Smoking Man have beaten up everyone they could find in their vain attempt to find the digital tape containing the MJ files. After being stopped by an unmarked helicopter which whisks away her hard copy of the files, Scully returns to Washington, D.C. where an inquiry strips her of her position and puts her on suspension.

Back in New Mexico, Mulder's body is found in a state near death and Albert Holsteen begins the Blessing Way Chant to attempt to heal him. In his delirium, Mulder connects with his dead father and Deep Throat who urge him to return to the land of the living to finish the work he set out to and to find the truths that they worked so hard in life to hide. Scully, on the trail of the truth thanks to Frohike, is given an ominous warning at Bill Mulder's funeral, one which puts her in imminent danger of assassins.

In "Paper Clip," Skinner and Scully are shocked to learn that Mulder is actually alive and back in town and the location of the digital tape is revealed. Pressured by his shadow consortium, the Cigarette-Smoking Man intensifies his search for the digital tape, dispatching Krycek to recover it. When the Lone Gunmen clue Mulder and Scully in on the identity of one of the men in a photograph with Bill Mulder, the F.B.I. agents go in search of Nazi scientist Victor Klemper.

Klemper sends the pair to West Virginia to a subterranean record's storage facility where the agents discover genetic histories of Scully and Samantha Mulder and thousands of others. While Skinner attempts to negotiate with the Cigarette-Smoking Man for Mulder and Scully's safe return to work, the agents are hunted by those who want to keep the truth buried!

"The Blessing Way" is essentially a healing story for Mulder and a setup of Dana Scully's larger character arc for the rest of the season and series. Forced to go through the front door at the Hoover Building, Scully discovers a chip implanted in the soft tissue in the back of her neck, which she soon comes to believe was left there when she was abducted back in "Ascension" (reviewed here!). Its presence and removal in "The Blessing Way" sets off a chain of events that will plague Scully for years.

The thing is, though, this is treated as a b-plot to Mulder's healing story. Mulder is given the will to keep on fighting the shadowy forces of lies and deceit by his dead father who warns Mulder that the truth will force the young man to look at his father differently. That Mulder opts for the truth and the fight for life says much about his character. But most of his part in the episode is quiet, subtle and hardly action packed.

On the other hand, "Paper Clip" is packed with all of the exposition, aliens and U.F.O.'s that fans have waited years to see. Trigger-happy Krycek illustrates he has a backbone, Mulder and Scully run around in the dark, Skinner shows exactly whose side he is on and the Cigarette-Smoking Man's position is revealed to be a lot more tenuous than most might think! "Paper Clip" is a pretty packed episode.

The thing about both episodes that unifies them well - outside the obvious chronological order - is a general sense of Navajo spirituality and a generally decent sense of connectedness between Man and Earth. This is not theologically overbearing, but rather it is utilized for exposition of its own and to illustrate a fairly incredible concept of price, debts and consequences. Mulder is granted his life back through the Blessing Way, but another life is taken (for those keeping score, this is technically three lives for Mulder's as Bill Mulder and the Thinker were killed in "Anasazi" to get this little bloodletting started). The question, then, becomes whether it is all worth it or not.

I'd argue it is because Mulder and now Scully are off searching for a truth they believe must be exposed to right the wrongs of . . . well, world history. Scully manages to press Klemper pretty hard and her encounter with the Well-Manicured Man in both episodes clearly shakes her. Unable to return to work without Skinner's help and told exactly how his men will come for her, Scully's experience with the Well-Manicured Man emboldens her and sets her running for the truth alongside Mulder in a way that they had not been before.

Arguably, Mulder and Scully have never been too far apart in their beliefs; both utilize science to justify their beliefs. Scully has always used more earthbound science while Mulder has more readily made more fanciful hypotheses to prove. They both use the same methodology to prove their beliefs. The thing is, in "The Blessing Way" and "Paper Clip," there is an attention to detail and philosophy that accents the simple plot expositions. As far as details go, the producers were smart enough to include Mulder's gunshot wound (in "Anasazi" he was shot by Scully) and as far as philosophy, this two parter becomes all about defining what the shadowy conspiracy's agenda actually is: to control the future.

Mitch Pileggi gives a great performance as Walter Skinner who finally falls off the fence and firmly into the category of "ally" to Mulder and Scully as he openly defies the wishes of the Cigarette-Smoking Man. Pileggi provides realistic scenes of physical battles as well as pulling off cool and neutral scenes where he impresses the viewer with his ability to portray an Assistant Director in the F.B.I. He balances well the physical and intellectual roles that it takes to make a character like Skinner work.

But nobody does cool like John Neville, who joins the recurring cast as the Well-Manicured Man. Neville might best be known to audiences for his role as the title character in The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen. Here he is completely different. There is no spark of life or adventure in his character on The X-Files. Instead, he plays the part with cold detachment and makes one of the most intriguing villains the show has.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson leap into the new season with Anderson doing the lion's share of the acting heavy lifting in "The Blessing Way" (Mulder, being wounded, requires Duchovny mostly to lay still for several scenes). Duchovny also gives an unfortunate monologue - a telepathic contact from Mulder to Scully - that seems strangely out of character. As odd as it is to suggest, the scene has Duchovny speaking more like Duchovny than Mulder.

Outside such miniscule details, these two parts get the third season of The X-Files off to a pretty rockin' start!

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Third Season, reviewed by me here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, here!
Thanks for reading!]

"The Blessing Way" - 9/10
"Paper Clip" - 8.5/10
VHS - 8/10

For other television show and episode reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The First The X-Files Comedy And Another Conspiracy Episode Appears With "Humbug" And "Anasazi!"

The Good: "Humbug" is funny/quirky, "Anasazi" is dark and dangerous, Acting, Concepts, Extra features.
The Bad: Both are a little light on character development for my tastes.
The Basics: In another fairly incredible video of The X-Files, Scully and Mulder do comedy and end up at one another's throats with "Humbug" and "Anasazi!"


The wonderful thing about The X-Files might well be that the series did not take long to attempt to find its footing and simultaneously reinvent itself. On the one hand, The X-Files began to develop its own mythology, figuring out exactly what the government conspiracy was in relation to the existence to extraterrestrials on Earth. That mythology framed the larger arcs of the series and was balanced by bottle episodes with a monster-of-the-week. The monster-of-the-week stories essentially came in two types: one where the viewer knows the monster from the beginning of the episode or one where the viewer follows the clues with Mulder and Scully to figure out just who or what the creature of the week is.

"Humbug" became the first bottle episode to change that and it did it by playing with the whole concept of The X-Files. Instead of a serious, tense murder mystery, it has the distinction of being the first comedic episode of the series. As a result, there is a ramped up amount of wordplay, physical jokes and, indeed, a lighter tone to the piece than most episodes of The X-Files. And because it worked so well, the series would (at least attempt to) produce one comedy episode per season. Also on this video is "Anasazi," the second season finale, which was designed to top the first season ender and manages to give it a fair run for its money with a solid conspiracy mythology episode.

In "Humbug," Mulder and Scully investigate a murder in Florida that is part of a string of murders going back over forty years. The victim in the latest murder is a carnival freakshow performer and much of the mystery in the case revolves around the lack of easy access to the various victims as well as a lack of pattern in the people being killed. This puts the FBI agents in a small town with a carnival where virtually everyone in the park is a suspect.

Mulder's initial fascination with the Fiji Mermaid quickly gives way to Scully suspecting that the killer might well be an extreme personality or circumstance. Amid contortionists, geeks, and sadly disfigured individuals, the pair hunts for perhaps the most unusual killer yet.

In "Anasazi," Mulder has been behaving erratically for days when he loses his temper and attacks Assistant Director Skinner. Relieved of his duties for the attack and his suspected receipt of the Defense Department's MJ files (all of the proof of extraterrestrial contact that the U.S. government has), Mulder is called to Martha's Vineyard by his father, who attempts to confess to Mulder his role in the conspiracy to keep the knowledge in the MJ files private.

As Scully works to salvage Mulder's career and to translate the MJ files from Navajo, Mulder's father is killed by Krycek and Mulder begins a hunt for the rogue. In the process, Mulder and Scully find themselves closer to the truth than they ever have been before and Scully uncovers the reason for Mulder's behavior, but finds herself met with paranoia and a life threatening situation.

On the plot front, both episodes work very well. "Humbug" is clearly an episode with a pretty light plot: it's a creature feature with a fairly obvious antagonist. Instead of belaboring the investigation, "Humbug" plays with the characters Mulder and Scully encounter as they attempt to track down the killer. Virtually from the beginning, the general location of the killer is known and it is simply a matter of figuring out who among the carnival folk might have done it.

The result is a very effective comedy. Gags include such things as a Siamese twin peeking at Scully's breasts while Scully tries to sneak a peak at his conjoined twin, Mulder assuming that a man of short stature once worked the freakshow circuit only to be given a lecture on prejudice wherein the man surmises that Mulder could be an FBI agent, and Mulder and Scully's attempt to find the killer leads them to exhume . . . a potato. "Humbug" is funny and it manages to be funny in a way that maintains the general spirit of The X-Files while still being a remarkably rewatchable comedy.

In fact, watching "Humbug" now has the added flavor of seeing Michael J. Anderson in a carnival freakshow setting long before there ever was Carnivale (reviewed here!). As always, Anderson is articulate, funny and able to perform in a way that makes his character's appearance memorable. He is almost as memorable as Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, who makes his debut on The X-Files in "Anasazi" as Albert Holsteen. This is the first of several appearances Holsteen makes and Westerman embodies the Navajo elder in such a way that the viewer becomes glad that he is not simply a one-shot character. Instead, Albert seems instantly layered as a Navajo who has a clear understanding of how nature works and he seems able to commune with the desert.

"Anasazi" also puts Nicholas Lea back in play as Krycek, who disappeared early in the second season after aiding the shadow conspiracy forces in facilitating Scully's abduction. Krycek's role here is simple: he's come to kill Bill Mulder and this foreshadows well how Krycek will be utilized in the future. Nicholas Lea is able to play cold-blooded and efficient with an intensity that is believably murderous. Krycek may well be the villain most fans of The X-Files love to hate, but Lea plays him perfectly!

"Humbug" helps to illustrate something that actress Gillian Anderson has not - classically - been allowed to exhibit, namely her sense of comic timing. Instead of being relegated to Mulder's expository soundingboard, Anderson's Scully is portrayed as quick-witted and able to deliver the witty lines with the best of them. Anderson - or the episode's editor - has a great sense of comic ability and is able to emote humorously with facial expressions and body language as well as deliver great funny lines while in character.

Similarly, "Anasazi" gives David Duchovny the opportunity to strut his stuff and show off his acting chops. Duchovny is saddled with playing Mulder consistently on edge, which involves a lot of Mulder yelling at, well, everybody. Duchovny manages to play the scenes with a genuinely dangerous quality and he keeps it interesting by making his character's body language sag slowly over the course of the episode. As Mulder becomes more and more deranged, Duchovny shows is with his performance beautifully.

Of course, the whole point of "Anasazi" is to set up a cliffhanger and it manages to do that, going out with a bang that will leave fans of The X-Files clamoring for more. Even on video, "Humbug" and "Anasazi" come with a bonus feature, which is a little featurette about each episode called "a private conversation with Chris Carter," where he discusses some behind-the-scenes aspects of the episodes. They are interesting and those who have not, traditionally, been fans of The X-Files will enjoy the stories of such things as Gillian Anderson's sleight of hand and painting the Vancouver hills red.

"Humbug" and "Anasazi" are definitely episodes for fans of science fiction more than those who like straightforward drama or straightforward comedy. But for those looking to expand their horizons, you could do a lot worse than these two episodes!

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete Second Season, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy and my review may be accessed by clicking here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Humbug" - 8/10
"Anasazi" - 9/10
VHS - 7.5/10

For other television episode, season and series reviews, please check out the organized listing of them on this index page!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Scully Gets Her Chance To Believe With "Beyond The Sea!" ("E.B.E." Is Good, Too!)

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting stories, Moments of character development
The Bad: Somewhat slower ("E.B.E." especially does not hold up so well upon review), Minutiae
The Basics: One great, one average episode makes for a video that is good, but not enduringly great with The X-Files - "Beyond The Sea" and "E.B.E."


The X-Files - I have often argued - had a much rockier first season than some fans like to admit. Much like the obsession in the first season of Star Trek (reviewed here!) to demonize computers and technology (wow, Gene, is it another "computer takes over a planet story?!"), the first season of The X-Files has patches that makes one wonder what Chris Carter thought he was getting away with in terms of his fan base. After all, there are spurts in the first season: two episodes about conspiracies involving huge corporations developing futuristic technologies, three episodes involving the dead speaking to the living or otherwise not staying completely dead, mixed in with the more standard U.F.O. conspiracies. One of the problems the first season of The X-Files had was that the Earth seems to be the stomping ground for an inordinate number of alien races.

As the series went on, the alien races become much more specific, but in the "Pilot," there are unseen time-stopping aliens that remain unshown, in "Fallen Angel," there is an invisible being recovered from a downed U.F.O. And in "E.B.E.," we have another U.F.O. crash and a body that is recovered. This is paired with a serial killer episode (there are a number of serial killers in the first season of The X-Files as well), "Beyond The Sea," on VHS. And these episodes are good, no denying that, but after years of rewatching them, "Beyond The Sea" may still hold up as great (certainly above average), but "E.B.E." is a lot less engaging upon multiple viewings.

In "Beyond The Sea," Dana Scully's father abruptly dies and the usually sober and rational Scully sees a vision of him. Rattled by his death, Scully returns to work - much to Mulder's surprise - to find Mulder working to stop a serial killer who has abducted a boy and girl and all indications point to their death in a few day's time. Those indications come from Luther Lee Boggs, a death row inmate scheduled for termination. Boggs hopes by helping to get the kidnaper, he might get a stay of execution.

Mulder, usually prone to believe such things as Boggs and his professed psychic ability, is convinced Boggs is a fraud. Mulder has good reason to believe Boggs is a fraud, too; his profile of Boggs was what led the killer to be put on death row. Scully, though, follows an apparently fraudulent vision of Boggs' to a real crime scene and she becomes convinced that he is legitimate and he can channel her recently-dead father for her.

In "E.B.E.," a U.F.O. is shot down over Iraqi air space and the body of an Extraterrestrial Biological Entity is rumored to be recovered by the U.S. military. Sent to the United States for study, Mulder finds himself drawn in when a truck driver has what appears to be a close encounter with another U.F.O. When the driver is set loose with his rig, Mulder learns that the truck most likely was the one carrying the E.B.E. across country.

Spied upon using electronic surveillance, Mulder turns to Deep Throat, who lies to him about the truck and the mission. On one hand, he seems determined to get Mulder to find the truck and with the information he presents him. Mulder and Scully head out on their own in an attempt to find the truck, the driver, and the truck's destination, tracking it by nightly U.F.O. sightings, believing that the sightings must be tied to the contents of the truck and leading Mulder to a bleak conclusion!

"E.B.E." marks the notable first appearance of The Lone Gunmen, who would eventually be granted their own spin-off. The trio is introduced as uber-paranoid magazine publishers who have just enough resources to help Mulder on his quest to find proof of extraterrestrial life on Earth, as well as the ability to forge documents to get Mulder and Scully into an installation that Deep Throat seems to want to keep them from. They make for an instantly intriguing group and it is easy to see why they became fodder for so many writers. As Beyers notes of Mulder, ". . . your ideas are weirder than ours." Mulder connects some dots The Lone Gunmen do not - in this case Gulf War Syndrome being tied to U.F.O. encounters - while they otherwise seem so paranoid they make Scully unsettled.

"E.B.E" suffers because it is essentially a conspiracy story that spends the majority of the episode with Mulder chasing his own tail and Scully following, suggesting he stop chasing dead ends. The first three viewings of it, it seems like a taut thriller, but as one watches it more - even over years in between viewings - they begin to feel dragged along by the episode as opposed to it leading somewhere. Mulder is basically being yanked around and the contradictory directions Deep Throat seems to be pulling him in make one wonder what his agenda is or why the episode seems deliberately complicated in regards to what is actually going on.

"E.B.E." does, however, open with some of the show's most intriguing and fun dialogue. As Mulder and Scully scour the scene of the truck's incapacitation, Scully forms endless hypotheses about what could have plausibly happened on the road the night before. As she rationalizes every piece of evidence, Mulder very calmly collects evidence and dismisses her observations with whatever equivocating word Scully uses in her explanation: "possibly," "hypothetically," etc. It's actually an amusing and meaningful scene.

The episode also works well on the idea that Mulder's devotion to finding extreme solutions could be manipulated by outsiders. That theme is played the opposite way in "Beyond The Sea." In that episode, Mulder is absolutely skeptical of the abilities of Luther Lee Boggs, who is terrified of dying. "Beyond The Sea" has an interesting problem: it is the first of several psychic ability stories and as most of them will come to be, they are like a typical television "prophecy" story. Television "prophecy" stories tend to be rather formulaic in that there is always some doubt as to whether the prognostication is real and then after events occur, there is a certain way to view everything that would seem to indicate that the prophecy actually happened.

What makes "Beyond The Sea" so clever is that there is always the very probable chance that Boggs is manipulating events to create the prophecies. The killer on the outside is rumored to be Boggs' partner and if that is true, rather than predicting his next moves or activities, there is the chance that Boggs is simply exposing his serial killing partner in order to try to get clemency. This adds a depth not usually found in this type of story and as a result, the episode seems a bit more fresh than most tales of this type.

"Beyond The Sea" is one of the first great Scully stories. As Dana deals with the death of her father - played too briefly by the recently deceased Don S. Davis - she becomes open to the possibility that Boggs is for real. The level of detail with which he makes his predictions makes the rational Scully consider his words. Moreover, Scully appears to see her dead father after his death and that works well more than just for this story. After all, at some point, the viewer has to wonder why all of the extraterrestrials and freaks only expose themselves to Mulder.

"Beyond The Sea" also has one of Gillian Anderson's most deep performances. Unlike a number of first season episodes of "The X-Files," Anderson does more than whine or appear as a sounding board for Mulder's exposition. Too often in the first season, Anderson stands and waits for Duchovny's Mulder to explain things to her. In "Beyond The Sea," Anderson is given the chance to be emotive and articulate. She presents Scully as a passionate and realistically-motivated individual who is dealing with some big-time grief issues and she makes it work beautifully.

"Beyond The Sea" is accessible to anyone who likes great drama and who is willing to be truly creeped out, whereas "E.B.E." is pretty much reserved for fans of science fiction conspiracies. On VHS they are accompanied by snippets of an interview with Chris Carter discussing trivia about each episode and that adds a little extra value to the tape.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete First Season, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy and my review may be accessed by clicking here!
Thanks for reading!]

"Beyond The Sea" - 8.5/10
"E.B.E." - 5/10
VHS - 6.5/10

For other television episode and DVD reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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