"Brand X"

"That sounds like a Darryl Weaver problem to me."
Originally Aired 4/16/00

While Season 7 might be the most "uneven" season in several years, the writers did manage to create several interesting villains, with more of a focus on monsters. Those monsters would actually be "human" monsters like Rob Roberts in "Hungry", Orell Peattie in "Theef", and now Tobin Bell as Darryl Weaver in this episode, "Brand X." That particular brand is a brand of cigarette, created by the Morley Tobacco Company, but without an actual appearance by the Cigarette Smoking Man; maybe his choice in brand is why he has developed cancer. This deadly cigarette as a "monster of the week" villain seems timely because if I recall correctly, the early 2000's was full of those 'Truth' PSA's about the dangers of smoking. I even remember one with a board room of executives that were brain-storming ideas, which reminds me of the scene where Mulder and Skinner confront the Morley company.

Speaking of A.D. Skinner, he also plays a larger role in this week's episode, continuing the trend of removing Skinner from behind his desk. In Season 3 he was the "X-File", in Season 4 he was being black-mailed by the Cigarette Smoking Man, and then again in Season 6 he was being manipulated through a device by Krycek. Rather than being a puppet for the Syndicate, this episode puts Skinner in the thick of an investigation for once. Mulder and Scully are mostly sidelined as Mulder comes down with a bad "bug" and Scully gets another interesting autopsy scene. I think Skinner was given much of the spotlight as David and Gillian were tied up with their own directing assignments, with Gillian's airing the week before and David's following "Brand X." I think using Skinner was a much more effective way to work around the lack of their stars than what happened with "Chimera" and "all things." When you have one without the other it seems to create an imbalance, but leaving both out seems to usually produce better results for whatever reason- like the times when the Gunmen had their own episodes and also the Cigarette Smoking Man's episode, too.

The episode was about deadly cigarettes and they took it literally and created many smoke-filled scenes. "Brand X" opened on smoke billowing out of a chimney, it's villain emerged from a fog and served as an awesome visual introduction for the character, and then there's the deadly smoke from the villain himself, Darryl Weaver. The special effects of the beetles and the make-up used for the victims of Darryl's smoke were great visual effects too. I think that while "Theef" earned the show an Emmy for special make-up effects, it should've went to "Brand X."

This bring us to the villain of "Brand X", "Mr. E. Pluribus", Darryl Weaver. He could almost be the true son of the Smoking Man as he sits alone at night in his apartment watching old war movies, he smokes like a chimney while delivering awesome one-liners ("I got all the coffin nails I can suck down"), and both seem to be delusional with the belief that they're a "hero." The Smoking Man felt the weight of the world was on his shoulders because he protected the secrets of an alien conspiracy, while Darryl Weaver seems to think he'll play a pivotal role in science since he's the cure for cancer. While the Smoking Man was in charge of experiments, Darryl actually is the victim of experimenting.

I really enjoyed Tobin Bell as Darryl Weaver as the villain of the week, Skinner had more screen time in an episode than usual, and a thrilling investigation make "Brand X" one of the better episodes of the Seventh Season. That's all the more surprising because it was the creation of a pair of a newbie X-Files writers, Steven Maeda and Greg Walker. Both will also stick around for a few interesting episodes in the Eighth Season which I'm excited to rewatch and see if they can hold up to my original feelings from eight years ago.

Toodles.