"The Unnatural"

"But to be a man is to have the heart of a man. Integrity, decency, sympathy. These are the things that make a man a man. And Ex had them all. Had them all, more than you or I."
Originally Aired 4/25/99

When I first watched this episode in 2007, I ranked it among my top ten, although I had only watched around half of the series' episodes. It seemed like a touching fairy tale, something I didn't expect out of the series. At the time that I was becoming a fan of The X-Files, I felt it was very similar to the The Twilight Zone because each week there is a new story and they would range from aliens to monsters and even an episode with a repeating day scenario. There was also a sentimental side to a few episodes of The Twilight Zone  and here The X-Files ventures into that territory as well. It's a fantasy involving aliens and baseball that may seem too out there even for this series, though it works, and it also comes from an unlikely source- series star David Duchovny.

David's name had been attached to episodes in the past, although they were mostly story credits, but with "The Unnatural" he's contributed not just the script but also directed it. It's quite a feat that the star of the show has also written perhaps it's most creative episode. The story is about an alien who has taken the form of a black man in the negro baseball league after he fell in love with the sport, and allows him to hide in plain sight as a black ball player. It's told through flashbacks by Arthur Dales, however this time Dales is not the same one played by Darren McGavin. That is actually the only flaw with the episode, since it was clearly written for McGavin, though his replacement M. Emmit Walsh does a bang-up job as his brother who's also named Arthur. He tells Mulder they even had a sister and a goldfish named Arthur. The only thing I can't figure out is why Mulder didn't remember that he had already visited Dales in Florida, so he wouldn't be living in that same apartment anyway.

I said I loved this episode upon my first viewing in 2007, and now after watching all of the series up until this point, I appreciate it even more. It's very similar to Morgan & Wong's "Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man" from the Fourth Season. They aren't similar stories but they share the same theme. Previous mythology tales had taken cues from real world events, such as "Operation Paper Clip" and the use of Nazi scientists following World War II, and I liked the twisting of history to enhance the sinister nature of the Syndicate. Morgan & Wong sought to try something even better, by taking those historical events, adding the roots of the conspiracy, and crafting an entirely original story. It was a genius move on their part because the building blocks were already in place, they just shuffled the pieces around and created a complete backstory for the Cigarette Smoking Man. Whether it's a true origin or not isn't the point; the fact that they took a risk is, and it's what opened doors for all of the experimental episodes in these past two seasons. David Duchovny used same method as Morgan & Wong- one part conspiracy, one part reality, and combined them into a fantasy episode. I feel like he actually outdid the "CSM" episode because while that episode was centered around an already established character (although in a younger version), this episode features an unknown character (Jesse L. Martin as Josh Exley) and a one-time guest actor (Frederic Lane as Arthur Dales.) I also support more opportunities to see The Alien Bounty Hunter, too (which is also a co-creation by Duchovny.) A funny thing is that while sitting in the theater last year watching that 42 movie about Jackie Robinson, all I could think about is that a year from now I could finally watch "The Unnatural" again. Nothing against the Jackie Robinson movie, though.

I'm not quite sure if "The Unnatural" returns to its former spot in my Top Ten episodes, even though I do feel it is the most creative episode that the series produced. Much like this is a very sentimental episode, I have my own sentimental favorites that I feel I can't move down a notch or two...yet.