"Kill Switch"

Originally Aired 2/15/98

"Hellooo, nurse!" Wait; "Helloooo, goth chick!"

I know this won’t be a popular opinion in X-Files fan circles, but this episode is so dated that it’s even painful to watch. It’s actually not the computer software that feels outdated when compared to an earlier episode with an “evil” computer called “Ghost in the Machine”. In fact, the computer that tracks Mulder and Scully is a form of GPS before there was GPS. (That’s probably not accurate but I didn’t know about GPS until a decade after this episode.) What makes this feel way too “90’s” is all of the techno-geek babble when Invisi-Goth explains the computer to Mulder and Scully, then later her conversation with the Lone Gunmen. Also, there's the fact that her name is “Invisi-Goth.” I wouldn’t normally think of the “goth” crowd being the same as the computer geek crowd but I guess they would be equally socially-awkward. Also her choice of music adds to the dated feel, since she seems to be jamming out to KMFDM while in her hide-out in a shipping yard. She reminds me of Angelina Jolie from that 90’s hacker movie, which I think was even called “Hackers.”

The highlight that somewhat redeems the episode would be Gillian Anderson. During all of the techno-babble scenes I felt I could relate to Scully, like when she rolled her eyes and mocked the computer’s choice to kill its creator in the middle of a gang shoot-out. I’m sure all X-Files fans love the sequence where Mulder is drugged by the computer and hallucinates that his arms have been severed, which is a great scene; especially when Kung Fu Scully saves the day. I personally loved Gillian’s hair flip when she blows her hair out of face after showing off her kung fu skills. 

Though I said this episode is severely dated, I think it’s actually a positive that so many episodes of this series don’t feel that way. After the first season’s bad wardrobe and hair style choices, the following seasons up to this point are everything but dated. The filming by the directors and cinematographers were excellent and even beyond most tv standards of that period. I don’t know if this is entirely true but to me it seems like they even made the jump to filming in widescreen before most of their television peers. So one “dated” episode is a pretty good track record and hardly spoils this season of daring episodes.