"The Red And The Black"

"I was sent by a man, a man who knows as I do, that resistance is in our grasp and in yours."
Originally Aired 3/8/98

Before I start reviewing this week's episode, I'd like to bring up something I forgot to mention last week. There were so many great things to say about "Patient X", that I forgot to do my usual nit-picking. I even made sure I presented evidence for my complaint. Chris Carter's poor geography skills were a focal point for "The Host" back in Season Three and they also played a part in this mythology story. Carter having poor skills is the only way I can rationalize the amount of times Mulder flies to faraway places. This time is by boat.

Now in "The Host" episode, the Flukeman was a radiated stow-away on a Russian cargo ship that somehow sailed from Russia to New Jersey, while this time Krycek and his stitched-up face companion travel nearly the same distance. I drew a red line to show the actual distance and the green line to show Chris Carter's wacky continental sailing.

Onto "The Red and The Black", this episode is actually better than last week's, and it's one that makes me so proud to call myself an X-Files fan. "The Red And The Black" is one of the most satisfying hours of the conspiracy because it not only ties together the black oil episodes from Season 4 that seemed like a disconnected plot thread with Scully's abduction/cancer saga, and even advances the mythology further. While I liked those Russian episodes ("Tunguska" and "Terma") for being action-packed and fast-paced, they did seem to be a case of The X-Files conspiracy spinning it's wheels. This two-parter brings back the oil and presents a cure for it, which raises the stakes. I like how there's even a race of the familiar bounty hunters that have actually mutilated their faces to resist being possessed by the oil; it's frightening imagery that this series is known for. What's a neat wrinkle with those aliens is that while they are against the bounty hunters and the aliens that plan to take over Earth, it's not clear whether they are really good guys. In order for them to ruin the colonization plans, they had to murder innocent citizens. Well, not just murder; they set them on fire.

I really wish this development had led to the Syndicate splintering into factions just like the alien race. It would have been neat to stretch it past this episode, with The Well-Manicured Man and Krycek trying to woo Mulder (and maybe even Scully) to their "resist" side, since that's something that not even The Cigarette Smoking Man could do. Instead, the Elders decided way too quickly to stay on the "serve" side. I even pointed out back in "E.B.E." that it would have been cool if Mulder would be forced to follow in Deep Throat's footsteps and shoot an alien to keep the conspiracy quiet. So it would have been awesome if Mulder actually had a flashback to Deep Throat's scene when he is about to become a stow-away on the Bounty Hunter's truck carrying the captured rebel. Then in a future episode, maybe Well-Manicured Man serves as a mentor like Deep Throat to Mulder. It seems like this season they have set up a few interesting directions to take the series, yet they only tease them briefly within the episode.

I can't review what I didn't see though, but what they did do with the characters was very engaging. I felt like the Well-Manicured Man was very awesome to watch, as he looks hopeful for the vaccine to work, scolds Krycek, and then questions his associates in the Syndicate. The actor who plays the Elder and the actor who plays the Well-Manicured Man are polar opposites, but not even the lame, montone Elder can hold back the Well-Manicured Man from acting circles around him. I really liked watching Jeffrey Spender, too. The character has so much potential (especially once you see the closing seconds of the episode) and I even feel sorry for the guy. He just wanted to protect his mom by keeping the X-Files away from her, only to end up that she actually becomes an X-File. Also notable is how frustrated Mulder is. He's trying to deny aliens and abandon those beliefs because that is what caused Scully to be abducted and resulted in her cancer, yet now she's actually starting to believe in that along with Skinner! Another character returns from last week, Marita Covarrubias, yet both Krycek and the Well-Manicured Man shrug it off; guess the b*tch got what she deserved. Something I noticed after seeing Quiet Willy again is that he is like a doppleganger for Terry O'Quinn, who actually shows up in the movie. Would have been cool if they had actually cast Terry for the role of Willy, then kept him alive for that part in the movie; more wishful thinking.

While some of the characters have reverted to the status quo after "The Red and The Black", the mythology is anything but that. I really love how this took a few previous episodes and laid them as a foundation for what happened in this two-part story. We have the Syndicate revealed as not just responsible for the government experimenting on humans, but now it's actually for the purpose of serving an alien race. Well-Manicured Man is on the verge of becoming a good guy (like Deep Throat?), Agent Spender is introduced, Cigarette-Smoking Man has returned, and Cassandra Spender has disappeared. As much as I love "The Red and The Black", I can't stop thinking that this is the beginning of the end, rather than the beginning of a new chapter.

Looking at just the facial expressions changes that whole conversation.