"Of Monsters & Meth"

In my 6 years of consuming X-Files episodes like Leonard Betts eats cancer, I never imagined I would be able to see a new movie on the big screen, purchase brand new comics based on the series, nor witness one of its best writers become a household name. The X-Files' cast and crew have had varying degrees of success since the show ended in 2002 but none have struck gold quite like Vince Gilligan. Gilligan's Breaking Bad quietly debuted on AMC on January 20, 2008, though it built up steam and eventually captured an Emmy for Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Walter White, while also earning nominations in several other categories. The praise for Vince Gilligan came as no surprise to me because I've always enjoyed his darkly comedic style.

Though he never crafted his own episode of The X-Files' series mythology, which included government agents, aliens, and clones, he made his mark with standalone cases of the week that rank among the best of the entire series. In fact, he was cranking out more than any writer over a three-year period between the start of 1997 and the end of 1999. Despite never being called upon for one of the mythology episodes, he always found ways to work in references to those episodes and even past one-off monsters such as the Flukeman.

Luke Wilson in "Bad Blood"

One of his fan favorites is a tale about vampires called "Bad Blood" that featured guest starring appearances from Luke Wilson and the "Great Hambino" of The Sandlot, Patrick Renna. What made this episode special was not due to its guest stars nor because it featured vampires, its because of the way Vince holds up a microscope to Mulder and Scully. The episode is told in a series of flashbacks, with one being from Mulder's perspective and the other from Scully's. As viewers, we always watched the series from a third-person perspective outside of the characters, and rarely did the series use narrations from its two lead characters. The multiple perspectives in "Bad Blood" allowed us to see how Mulder views Scully and also how she views her partner.

X-Files villain John Lee Roche in "Paper Hearts"

Not only was Vince skilled at comedic episodes, he also wrote thrilling episodes like "Pusher" and "Paper Hearts." "Pusher" centered around the chase for a man who pushed his will onto his victims just by saying simple phrases to them. One of the long-running mysteries of the series was about Fox Mulder's sister Samantha, who was abducted as a child, and he believed aliens were responsible. "Paper Hearts" was the closest Vince came to The X-Files mythology and it offered another possible explanation, that she was abducted by a child killer. When you look closer at Vince's episodes, a recurring theme appears to be human monsters; either those who are misunderstood and only villains out of necessity or humans that obtain pleasure from their villainous acts. 

Bryan Cranston in "Drive"

 A strong villain is always entertaining, and many writers and performers will tell you that the best villains are those who believe what they are doing is right. For example the main villain of The X-Files, the Cigarette Smoking Man, saw himself as a hero because he believed he was doing the right thing by protecting the government conspiracy. This should come as no surprise why Walter White is such an excellent character. He is very much a family man and only turned to his life of crime as a way to support them after he was diagnosed with cancer. His evil acts have been out of that necessity to protect his secret life and continue building a nest egg for his family. What makes this unique is Bryan Cranston was also a guest star in one of Gilligan's X-Files episodes called "Drive", playing an unlikely villain character named Patrick Crump. Crump was another unconventional villain, who only acted this way because low frequency waves could cause his head to explode if he didn't drive his car fast enough. It sounds a bit ridiculous on paper, but trust me, it's a great episode. A quote from Vince Gilligan on the casting of Cranston for The X-Files also mirrors why he selected Cranston for the role of Walter White: "We had this villain, and we needed the audience to feel bad for him when he died. Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick. And it is a trick. I have no idea how he does it."

However, over the course of five seasons on Breaking Bad, Walter has transformed into Vince Gilligan's other archetype: the villain with a perverse pleasure for his villainy. At first Walter used his "Heisenberg" alias just for his dealings in the drug world, but he fully became Heisenberg once he was able to get the power he never had in his mundane life as a high school chemistry teacher. I guess the cost was that the further he got into the criminal underworld, the further away he was from being the “family man” that he believed he was. Once he realized that, it was too late; his family was gone.

 

Bryan Cranston as Walter White

It’s a risky premise for a television series, to take their main character and actually make him such an unlikeable character. However that’s what makes Vince Gilligan’s writing so special, whether it’s for Breaking Bad, The X-Files, or its own spin-off, The Lone Gunmen. He takes tv conventions and flips them on their head. And Vince, I love you for it. From babies with tails to a man in a wheelchair with a bell as his only means of communication, I love it all.

X-Files Rerun "One Breath"

"You got him killed! You got her killed. That's not going to happen to me. You're my tool, you understand? I come to you when I need you. Right now you're heading in a direction that can lead them right here."
Originally Aired 11/11/94

With this episode The X-Files completes its first, and possibly the best, story arc of the series. "One Breath" is considered the end of a trilogy of episodes involving the abduction of Agent Scully but its roots can be traced all the way back to the first season's finale, "The Erlenmeyer Flask." That episode ended with The X-Files unit being shut down as a means to separate Scully and Mulder, however when that still didn't work, forces within the FBI (or even higher in the government) set in motion a plot to abduct Scully.

"One Breath" begins with Scully's mysterious appearance in a hospital on life support and Mulder seeks to find out who took her, why, and if she can survive. David Duchovny is asked yet again to carry an episode of the series, but this time there are plenty of outstanding performances from a number of supporting players. I knew I was going to like this episode from the moment I pressed "play" on my DVD remote back in 2009, yet it wasn't until a year ago when it finally sunk in and surpassed all others to become my favorite of the series. One of the reasons it became my favorite is because it features nearly all of the supporting players that we have seen until this point in the series and each of them is given time to shine. Frohike from the Lone Gunmen is dressed in a suit and tie when he delivers flowers to Scully's bedside, showing a softer side to his character; Skinner gets a moment where he bonds on a near father-son level with Mulder; the mysterious informant X appears to aid Mulder yet warns him that he will not let Mulder cost him his life; and the poor Cigarette Man lives alone and watches old war movies. Definitely not what I was expecting out of a high-ranking member in a government conspiracy.

An odd bit of trivia that I discovered is not only was a main character on The X-Files in a coma during the second week of November in 1994, but the same thing was happening on another FOX series. The 5th Season episode of Beverly Hills 90210, "The Dreams of Dylan McKay", featured Dylan in a coma after a car wreck and he also had visions of his father. Pretty strange how two FOX shows used the same plot device within a day of each other.

At this point in the series, Mulder and Scully are not in love, yet there is a friendship which goes beyond their respectful working relationship; even Mrs. Scully points out his level of respect for her daughter. That's why its not surprising why Mulder decides to stay at Scully's side rather than face the men who are responsible for taking her. If this was any other scenario with a mutated worm or a downed U.F.O., he would have risked his career and even his life for answers, but that's not the case when it comes to Scully. As I have become much more of a fan in the past 5 years I've realized the series was never about aliens, its about that connection between Mulder and Scully. I feel this episode sums up everything The X-Files ever was, or hoped to be, within its 45 minutes, making it the best of the entire series. That theme wasn't only featured in "One Breath", Mulder makes this choice at other pivotal moments in the series, too.

I feel like I have come such a long way since I purchased my first season of The X-Files in 2007. I was only interested in creepy moments, such as the Flukeman and the Peacock family, but now here I am in 2013 writing about how much I enjoy the relationship between Mulder and Scully.

X-Files Rerun "3"

"Don't you want to live forever?"
"Not if drawstring pants come back into style."
Originally Aired 11/4/94

The X-Files Pilot premiered on the FOX Network on September 10, 1993. In a week will be the twentieth anniversary of that date, so this seemed like a good time as any to get back into the groove of writing. However my excitement quickly deflated once I realized where I had left off; "3." I honestly did not even watch this episode completely four years ago; each time I tried I would always fall asleep, so I wrote a quick review and moved on. Today, in honor of the 20th anniversary, I have finally bitten the bullet.

Many movies have a unique quality due to their director, the editor, and the cinematographer having a vision for what will be seen on screen. However television shows typically look the same throughout the course of the series due to a formula, despite having a different director each week. The X-Files quickly found its formula because of its setting in Canada and also a preference for darkness. "3" occurs just when the series was finding its groove, so its sticks out as a sore thumb to me; some could look at it as being unique. Instead I think it looks and even feels more like an episode from a syndicated series like Forever Knight or Silk Stalkings. Perhaps its just lacking the Mulder-Scully dynamic; its off balance without her. Yet Scully was the main focus of "Never Again" (it had just a few scenes with Mulder) and two flashback episodes in Season 5 lacked her completely, and none of those episodes felt like they didn't belong. Perhaps they took the opportunity to try something new since they knew Gillian Anderson would be absent for an entire episode. Mulder being alone on an "X File" does make me wonder what it was like for him investigating cases before he had a partner. Was he always getting beaten up for peeking into windows at night?

There is one part that I do enjoy about this episode though. Vampire mythology seems to change with each new tale, as some leave parts out or add new wrinkles to the legend. Mulder is questioning one of the suspects whom he believes to be a vampire and the scene is completely flooded with red light because the suspect is sensitive to light. Later, when he is thrown into a jail cell, the sunlight moves closer towards him and he screams for the guards to close the windows. Nobody listens and he is soon burnt to a crisp. It looked as painful as it sounded! At least they got one thing right about vampires and he didn't sparkle in that jail cell. And now that I have finally survived all of "3", I'm never going back again. SCULLY!!!