"Unusual Suspects"

"The coolest hack in the world."
Originally Aired 11/16/97

"We don't need no stinkin' badges."

Usually on The X-Files when you get big developments in their conspiracy/alien mythology episodes, it's followed up with one that's right back to the status quo, like hunting for a mutant. This episode doesn't just ignore last week's episode, it doesn't even star anyone who was even it! I don't know if it's a brilliant move or completely bone-headed.

The "Redux" trilogy was an important part of the series as it brought 4 seasons together, closed some stories and created potential stories, yet the follow-up involves the history of secondary characters, the Lone Gunmen. Other episodes have followed Cigarette Smoking Man and Skinner as lead characters for an hour, but featuring John Fitzgerald Byers as a central character works surprisingly as well. At heart, he's as good-natured and nerdy as Fox Mulder, just dialed up to 11, while Langly and Melvin Frohike are just nerds who steal cable. I like how Mulder is weaved into it briefly and it not just shows the start of their friendship, but also the genesis of his work on The X-Files. I guess when you consider that this is the true start of the The X-Files and the other winks to the series this episode makes, it is a good follow-up to "Redux" which had several references too. Why I think it might be bad placement in the season is because it while it was filmed first, it could have been shown at any time and not effected anything.

I actually watched this episode about five years ago and haven't seen it since, so it's a nice stop-gap between 5 episodes I hadn't watched before ("Elegy" to "Redux II") and 5 more I have never watched ("Detour" through "Kitsunegari".) In the meantime I've watched many episodes of Law & Order and Homicide: Life On The Street, which now gives this episode another reason to be memorable. Richard Belzer guest stars as his character Detective John Munch, who was on NBC's Homicide: Life On The Street, making these two shows within the same universe. Not only that, Det. Munch was later on Law & Order, Law & Order Special Victims Unit, The Wire, and even Arrested Development, making him one of the longest running televised characters and also featured on the most amount of tv shows. What's funny is that Munch even mentioned "staying home to watch X-Files" on an episode of Homcide.

I don't think this is writer Vince Gilligan's funniest episode or his most creative, but it did make for an enjoyable hour filled with laughs and intrigue. While Morgan & Wong are my favorite writers on the series, I think this episode proves that Vince may have been the writer most suited for this show. He understands every character on the series and is able to weave them convincingly with humor and heart, like a weird hybrid of the stylings of Morgan, Wong, and the other Morgan, Darin; I think he "got it."

"Welcome to the dark side."