"all things"

"And I'm not wearing any pants right now."
Originally Aired 4/9/00

I read a brief quote from Vince Gilligan where he said they took the most risks during their seventh season, or something to that effect. I initially wrote it off as the same statement a musician makes when the current album being released is their best work, and also maybe he took personal risks with his COPS "crossover" episode. However, after watching "all things", I've realized his statement is true. While every season of the series up to this point has taken risks, like series star David Duchovny writing and directing an episode in the sixth season and director Bob Goodwin writing "Demons" in the fourth season, this year has taken the most collectively. In addition to the COPS episode, David Duchovny wrote and directed another episode, William B. Davis wrote "En Ami", Vince Gilligan also directed his first episode, the series crossed over with Millennium and included Lance Henriksen's "Frank Black" character, the Samantha Mulder story was concluded, and now Gillian Anderson has an episode in which she both wrote and directed.

I really wanted to like "all things" since I liked "The Field Where I Died" which was also a controversial episode, but I'm still struggling to fully express if I liked it or not. I appreciate the effort from Gillian and the fact that the show attempted many different styles of storytelling, so chance encounters and "what if's" sounded like an interesting concept to explore. I've always wondered, probably too much wondering, if things I had done would be different if I'd only taken another action instead. Although if I had, it would've resulted in a different 'Andy' who is currently writing this review. Perhaps I may not have even become an X-Files fan in the first place.

The 'holistic' healing is a little weird though, with a lady telling Scully that she recovered from cancer when she cleared her mind. That's also following something else I failed to mention in my review for "En Ami", that a religious family believed God would cure their son only if it was his will, so they shunned medical treatment. That reminded me of the present day scenario with families opting to not vaccinate their children. I think your mental health does affect your physical health, such as when people worry themselves to a sickened state, but I don't think it works backwards with diseases going into remission when you clear your mind. I think maybe this woman had a chance encounter with the Smoking Man's cure for all diseases from a few episodes back. She also said accidents happen when we're not paying attention- yeah, it's called not watching the road, lady.

The episode failed to grab me the first time through, in fact it's the first time I've fallen asleep multiple times since Season 4's "Kaddish." Perhaps I was hypnotized by all of the water droplets, pencil tappings, and ticking noises throughout the episode. There really didn't seem to be much of an "X-File" to be investigated, although several last season weren't traditional cases either. It also seemed odd that Scully had another 'mid-life crisis' moment of not wanting investigate with Mulder... didn't she learn from what happened the last time when she hooked up with that guy with a talking tattoo?? Well this time it's a chance encounter with a man she loved before joining the FBI and The X-Files, a doctor from her time in medical school. It's already been established she liked older men, when it was revealed she had a relationship with her instructor at the FBI in the first season. Maybe it's not the fact that Scully feels she's longing for a past relationship that didn't work out and wondering how things would be if she hadn't joined the FBI, it's the line where she says, "I want everything I should want at this time in my life." I guess it must be that she 'sexed' Mulder, and is actually having doubts....and BOOM! I'm a shipper. I guess I really am a 'shipper' after all since I'm wondering about her feelings for Mulder and when she came to that realization. 'Shipper' has always been a dirty word for me since many fans seem to take their enjoyment for the Mulder-Scully relationship to the extreme. I just like the fact that they have something deeper than just a friendship, but an understanding and an admiration for each other. It's not just the act of sex, but this relationship seems finally confirmed within this episode. She now seems to be a believer in other possibilities, and I think that led to her choice to to stay with Mulder and not continue with the doctor. Perhaps this is also foreshadowing her pregnancy as well. Season 7 must be the year of subtlety.

Just like last week's episode, the "B" plot of the story is weak, as Mulder is off investigating crop circles in England. Really? Crop circles? I think aliens have better things to do than burn images into fields, like burning faces with their cattle prods. Although I do like the clever hat that Mulder is wearing, which reads "Stonehenge Rocks", but I highly doubt he'd ever wear an ugly tan coat like that. Ugh... now I really am a "shipper."

"Chimera"

"You put the service back in the 'protect and serve'."
Originally Aired 4/2/00

This is like 'X-Files meets Desperate Housewives', if only this series was around just a couple seasons longer; maybe then it might have worked as a creepy parody of that ABC drama. Instead I'm trying to view it without my knowledge of "Chimera" being written as an excuse to leave Scully out of the main investigation because Gillian Anderson was tied up behind the scenes with her own episode. Mulder leaving Scully behind on a stake-out leads to a humorous moment or two when they're speaking over the phone, much like "Chinga" was before it, though the reason for even having the stake-out is a little flimsy.

Mulder off on his own to investigate a disappearance in another idyllic town also seems like going to the well again since he was thrust into that life in "Dreamland" and then posed as a married couple in "Arcadia", but "Chimera" adds a different and darker twist. Mulder is actually rooming with a sheriff and his wife as he investigates a murder but finds himself in the midst of a love triangle. It also goes back to the old formula from past seasons when Mulder was working with local law enforcement, twisting it so that now that officer becomes a possible suspect. The domestic life that isn't what it seems, combined with the disappearance of a wife, also reminded me a little of last year's movie Gone Girl. "Chimera" doesn't have the same twists and turns as that story but I got the same vibe. Maybe that's what the movie was lacking- a good supernatural monster.

It seems to me like whenever the X-Files team had a script that didn't quite "click", they didn't try a new idea, they just kept hammering away on the first idea til they got something that might work. That strategy isn't always sound and I think this episode suffered a little. I liked the murder mystery and the revelation of "whodunit?" but I don't get a sense that any of the characters really clicked. Maybe they weren't supposed to due to all of the affairs or I'm missing a cut scene or two, possibly. For what it's worth, in a season of "back to basics" X-Files tales, this is one that is truly back to the good old days and isn't the worst that I've seen this season (or will see.) Although, "it's not the worst" isn't much praise..

"En Ami"

"Wow. I'm learning a whole other side to you. You're not just a cold-blooded killer. You're a pop psychologist as well."
Originally Aired 3/19/00

Finally, the Cigarette Smoking Man is back! These last few seasons have been light on Ol' Smokey, limiting his scenes to only the big event, two-part installments of the on-going conspiracy since Season 5, save for a fantasy sequence as a Nazi in Season 6's "Triangle." Not only is the character back for an episode, but the actor portraying him- William B. Davis, also wrote the script. His scenes in the episode are paired with Agent Scully and it's interesting to see those two interact with each other. This is the man responsible for her cancer so it's only fitting they finally have a face-to-face "confrontation." I can't recall a time where they ever had any scenes together except for those early moments when the Cigarette Smoking Man would lean against a filing cabinet and smoke. I believe she's met every other Syndicate baddie, both the Well-Manicured Man and the 'lead' Elder in Season 3, and Deep Throat long before them.

Just like the ending to "Theef", this is one I saw in the early morning hours on TNT, so I must've watched "En Ami" after that one ended. Either way, I saw this long before I began watching the series in order so my only knowledge of the series' most important villain was only through the "Duane Barry"/"Ascension" two-part story. After seeing the "how" and "why" of the entire cancer storyline with Scully unfold over the years, this episode has a bigger impact than it would've back in 2007. I've read online that some say this episode is out of character for Scully but my opinion differs. This is totally in-line with Dana Scully- why would she ignore a news report of a child who was miraculously cured of cancer? Especially when the boy also has a similar scar on the back of his neck and even the Smoking Man's mention of a chip cannot be ignored. The Smoking Man has always believed his actions have always been for a just cause, and he's viewed himself as a hero, so I chuckled when he told Scully he's doing God's work. Scully is also far from out of character since she realized she might be in the middle of another game of the Smoking Man, whether he actually is doing "God's work" or not, so she wore a wire and attempted to mail cassette tapes back to Mulder for evidence. She'd be a fool to not try to protect herself, because after all, this is a man who murdered his own son Jeffrey. ...or am I the only one who cared about Agent Spender?

It's also neat to see the Smoking Man's office...if it really is his office. In my head I called the building, "Syndicate Central", since we've never seen much other than that smoke-filled office in New York where the Elders would meet to discuss catastrophes that threatened their secrets, like alien rebels and black oil. There has to be some kind of behind the scenes work like that, complete with offices and secretaries, since they did all those experiments with clones and vaccines. Might have been a fun reference to the past if the building was labeled under the Roush company banner.

Not only was it interesting to see a new wrinkle to the series with Scully and the Smoking Man, but they also brought back the grey-haired "Man in Black" from the Fight The Future movie as the Smoking Man's shadowy assistant, and even the Lone Gunmen get a fun appearance when they're each disguised as a different member of the trio. Although this is also a bitter sweet episode because it's the last to be directed by long-time series director Rob Bowman, who's been with the show since late in Season One and also directed the movie, too.

As I'm writing this, I did realize I've been mistaken about any interaction between the Smoking Man and Scully, since it was just a mere four episodes ago when he appeared in her apartment to tell her of his involvement in the abduction of Samantha Mulder. I also said that scene was foreshadowing his larger role in this episode, which this episode and even Season 7 as whole seem to be slowly working towards Scully's character evolving into a "believer." I recalled Scully and Smoking Man interacting but now I can't remember a time when the Gunmen met Skinner. After 7 years of reviews I should've learned to take better notes on these matters. I do have to say that even though I enjoyed this one for what it was in 2007 as a fun goose-chase for a cure for cancer, I now have to say it's the best episode of not just Season 7, but since "The Unnatural." I guess I truly have transformed my own character beliefs, just like Dana Scully, as I'm now a firm believer in the character episodes than the "monster of the week" episodes.

"Theef"

"You do keep me guessing."
Originally Aired 3/12/00

Months ago a friend and I met at a theater to witness an amazingly horrible horror movie called Annabelle. I'm always skeptical of these modern horror movies because haunted objects/possessed people are done to "death", though this one was surprisingly high on unintentional comedy as we ended up laughing constantly throughout the last third of the movie. It all started with a comment about having "black juju", and I'm using that to segue to this week's episode "Theef", which is centered on juju of the bad variety. I was going to say voodoo, but Mulder tells us that it's "hex craft", which is basically due to a doctor's bad juju.

While watching "Theef", it dawned on me that even though this is a 'back to basics' horror story, it still follows the trend of recent seasons. We always seem to follow the villain more than our heroes now, while the early seasons were more about Mulder and Scully uncovering the truth the same as the viewers do and also butting heads with local law enforcement along the way. "Theef" gives ample screen time to it's "villain", Billy Drago as 'Oral Peattie.' I actually spent a good chunk of the episode distracted by a few plotholes, such as how did Peattie get from the backwoods of the Appalachians all the way to sunny California, and also how he was able to track down the Wieder family if he can barely operate a microwave. I guess giving as much screen time to the villain as they have been doing, these standalones live or die by how effective the villain is, and Billy Drago eventually won me over. I really don't care how he trekked across the country because it actually adds to his 'creep factor'. Basically everything from the 'death by microwave' scene to the moment 'Executive Producer Chris Carter' appeared on the screen is "full of win", as kids on the internet would say.

I also feel like my attention span and memory is becoming as awful as the internet because I seem to forget how much I liked the previous episode before the current one has even ended. I was ready to claim this as the best standalone of Season 7, just like the internet jumps from 'meme' to 'meme', but I remembered a few of the earlier episodes such as "Orison" and "Hungry." Both of those were heavier on darker plots and horror elements than Season 6's lighter entries and are not to be easily dismissed. That's also what I enjoyed about "Theef" were it's horror movie elements, like borrowing a corpse in bedroom resembled Norman's mother in Psycho, and Peattie carrying a severed head is much like Jason's mother in Friday the 13th Part 2. Speaking of X-Files' former episode staples like local law enforcement, the early seasons also seemed to have a fondness for exhuming bodies. I've never seen so many exhumed bodies in all my hours of TV watching than I have with The X-Files. I think this is the first exhumation scene since the third season... but I'm not counting.

Even though I started 2007 with using a gift card to purchase discounted DVD sets of The X-Files' Seasons One and Two following a few reruns on the Sci Fi Channel the previous year, I believe my 'fandom' fully kicked off in the spring when I happened to catch a few reruns during the early morning hours on TNT. They were actually in Season 7 when I joined their cycle of episodes and I caught the closing moments of this episode. I did eventually see the full episode but it didn't strike me as anything special. Viewing it again several years later and given it's placement in the series, the moments with Scully and Mulder actually lift the episode above the average. While the writers/producers weren't sure of The X-Files' fate beyond Season 7, this episode (combined with "The Sixth Extinction" and "The Goldberg Variation") seems to hint at Scully becoming a believer.

Microwave popcorn will never be the same again!

"First Person Shooter"

"He's getting his 'ya-ya's' out."
Originally Aired 2/27/00

Just like the previous episode, "X-COPS", I held off on watching it until I could watch it with another person. There was greater significance for "X-COPS", but a good friend of mine and I share a love for action movies, so I had a feeling this would be up our alley since it's full of effects, guns, and lots of cheese. The cheese factor was really high this episode as evidenced by the dialogue, with lines like, "Scully's in the zone!"

If I wasn't aware that this episode was written by William Gibson and Tom Maddux, who also wrote Season 5's "Killswitch", then I'd have argued that this was the work of Chris Carter; he is credited as the episode's director. It feels like a companion piece to his canceled series Harsh Realm, which happened to air concurrently with this season of The X-Files, that is until it's early cancellation. Much of this episode takes place within a highly realistic virtual reality video game, similar to Harsh Realm's setting of military-simulated virtual reality. In Harsh Realm, a human character played by Terry O'Quinn hi-jacked the video game from within, while in "First Person Shooter" the villain is actually a character that has taken control of the game. Even the level in the video game in "First Person Shooter" resembles a setpiece from the series Harsh Realm.

As I stated before, this episode was another 'computer-gone-bad' episode from William Gibson and Tom Maddux, and part-way through I was actually wishing that I'd rather be watching their earlier episode, "Killswitch." I didn't like it because it felt very dated, mostly because of the 'Invisi-Goth' character, who was a very bad stereotype of what a hacker/loner/computer chick would be. This time around, it's very dated because of it's cornball dialogue. It might not be as bad if the writers didn't feel the need to give everyone lines that felt ripped off from the Ninja Turtles and Spicolli from Fast Times At Ridgemont High; "radical!" The saving grace is actually David Duchovny, with his sunglasses that he wore throughout his time within the video game. I don't know why it made me laugh but it did. An appearance from the Lone Gunmen is always appreciated, especially since this season has been very light on appearances from the trio. In fact, this might even be their first appearance so far this year.

I could very well be wrong about this episode, though. If it was made as a parody of action movies and video games, maybe it's ahead of it's time since this is far before Call of Duty and other console-based shooters became hugely popular, much like Vince Gilligan's "X-COPS" seemed ahead of the 'found footage' trend. All I can recall from this era were arcade games you had to feed quarters into at the mall, Doom for computers, and games like Duke Nukem on Playstation. This episode even has the busty babe which is an action movie staple, also a slow-motion walking scene with the heroes (maybe it needed doves like in a John Woo movie), and a scene spoofing Basic Instinct, so it possibly is more farce than anything to be taken seriously. I still feel like the 'computer-gone-bad' is a well they've hit too often, following "Ghost In The Machine" and "Killswitch."

The odd thing about Season 7 is that it seems to have more high points with it's mythology arc than it's standalones, and I'm not sure why that is, since the mythology is actually not as compelling as it was a year ago. I guess they can only do so much with alien rebels and bounty hunters, because just like I stated during the fourth season, I like the way Carter turned inward for his stories and centering on the characters themselves than the fantastic elements. The two-part installment of "Sein Und Zeit" and "Closure" would be an early favorite for me if I were to rank the season at this point, although a few "new" episodes still remain. Those would be "Chimera", "allthings", "Hollywood A.D.", and "Fight Club", though I caught about ten minutes from both "Chimera" and "Hollywood A.D." years ago on the SyFy Channel when I was still a new fan. Those 4 remaining are actually the final four I have left of the entire series as I've previously watched all of 8 and 9.