"Bad Blood"

"Begin autopsy on white male, age 60, who is arguably having a worse time in Texas than I am, although not by much."

Originally Aired 2/22/98

Having completed the autopsy, I checked into the Davey Crockett Motor Court.

The usual “Winter Blues” have struck again. I seem to always fall behind around the middle of the season and it’s not for lack of quality X-Files episodes, it’s just the weather makes me so cold that I don’t want to take my hands out from under the covers to type reviews. The most I can do is reach out quickly and press “play” on a remote. I fell behind starting with “Kill Switch”, since I watched it two weeks ago but just now posted a review on the weekend where I should have watched “Patient X.” However, “Bad Blood” seems to have zapped me back to life. It’s hard to not want to write about this episode immediately once the credits have rolled; I actually wanted to write this episode as soon as the teaser ended! Seriously, that is the best 90 second teaser in the show’s entire run.

The fun doesn’t stop with the teaser though, as Mulder and Scully spend the entire episode telling exaggerated versions of an X-Files case they investigated on vampires. An earlier episode named “El Mundo Gira” featured an ending where multiple sides to a story were told, but “Bad Blood” goes a step further by making an entire episode about it. This episode even references that past episode too, which I obviously didn’t get back in 2007 when I first watched it. “Bad Blood” doesn’t wear thin either, instead it’s a comical look at how Mulder and Scully view each other. Scully sees Mulder as being go hung to solve cases, while Mulder views Scully as being bored and even annoyed by her work on the investigation because it interfered with her chance to flirt with the town sheriff (played by a wonderful Luke Wilson.)

This is an episode that I appreciate much more today than I did when I first watched it in 2007 after purchasing the then-complete, uber, mega X-Files boxset. Back then I was an X-Files newb who wanted “monsters, monsters, and more monsters.” Now I think I have matured somewhat, especially after having grown with the characters for 5 years, and I appreciate the comedy of “Bad Blood.” David Duchovny seems to be much more suited for this goofy version of Mulder which we really only had glimpses of during one-liners about “little grey men” in the early episodes. So it’s really not surprising why he has been nominated, and even won awards, for comedic roles on Californication and The Larry Sanders Show. I wonder if maybe that’s why he grew bored with The X-Files after seven years and wanted to leave the show because he didn’t feel challenged in his role. One week he could flex his comedic muscles in an episode like “Bad Blood”, but then spend the next month or two in typical standalone episodes that didn’t offer much besides a funny quip or two. As much as I love the standalone nature of the series, maybe it also held the show back in some small way? Today’s tv shows are mostly serialized dramas, an example being The Walking Dead, that tell a story over multiple episodes or across seasons. Even many movie actors are making the jump to act on the small screen; and now my simple review has morphed into an analysis on the evolution of the drama series.

Back to “Bad Blood”, the comedy isn’t the only interesting feature of this episode. For some reason it seems “bluer” than usual, and I don’t mean my “winter blues.” The blue in Gillian Anderson’s eyes even seem to be deeper than usual. Even the wardrobe is full of blue, from Scully’s blouse and FBI badge to Mulder’s dress shirt. The cinematographer must’ve been in-sync with the wardrobe department on this particular week.

The name of it was actually the Sam Houston Motor Lodge.