"Hollywood A.D."

"You see? It's just not true that you can't get good science at Catholic school. It's a lie."
Originally Aired 4/30/00

After 7 long years it finally happened... I watched an episode early! I'd done so good with sticking to air dates but I accidentally jumped the gun with "Hollywood A.D." and watched it a week early. I've been really off for much of this season as it is, since I put it on hold in February to watch "X-Cops" with my grandma, causing me to fall behind by two or three episodes. I did it again with "First Person Shooter" so I could watch that action-packed episode with a friend of mine. So I assumed I was back on track, only to realize after I watched it that my beloved X-Files actually took a week off. But hey, I lasted this long without a slip up, I think that says a lot to my dedication. I only goofed while I was house-sitting for my aunt, so I might even ignore that little mistake since I took on extra tasks like feeding her dog that distracted me.

Now that I'm allowed to watch it for real, I've watched "Hollywood A.D" several times this week in an attempt to fully form my thoughts on it but I still feel it's a mixed bag. While I enjoy the witty dialogue from Mulder, Scully, and their "hologram" sidekick Wayne Federman, I'm still not sold on the actual X-File. There's a religious artifact that can raise the dead, yet I'm lost with what happened between a cardinal of the church and some guy who had forged religious documents. I suppose all of that is meaningless anyway because this episode is really just an excuse to laugh and poke fun at the series, which it does with flying colors. I loved the back and forth one liners, which the series has been lacking since the days of Darin Morgan's episodes. Sure, I've laughed at many episodes since then, but nothing has felt as fresh and as witty as "Hollywood A.D."

During a meeting with A.D. Skinner, Mulder and Scully are informed they're going to be shadowed on their latest investigation by a movie producer, and friend of his named Wayne Federman, which provided the most laughs for me. I loved his description of Mulder: "Jehovah's Witness meets Harrison Ford's Witness". There are other funny quips throughout his scenes like, "St. Peter's bathrobe", "God's Refrigerator", and the episode also references a fan nickname for Walter Skinner which is the "Skin Man." David Duchovny showed his ability to craft another original story for his second episode this season (he shared a co-writer credit with Chris Carter on "The Sixth Extinction II"), which is also quite different from his Season 6 installment, "The Unnatural." While these 3 are completely different stories, I did notice that while his earlier Season 7 entry used religious allegory, this episode pokes fun at religion.

"Hollywood A.D." also pokes fun at the series itself by featuring a movie about The X-Files, well, an amalgamation loosely based on The X-Files, starring Tea Leoni as Scully and Garry Shandling as Mulder. Much of this is actually based on real life events, as Duchovny's wife is Tea Leoni and David Duchovny made guest appearances on Shandling's cable series, The Larry Sanders Show. During David's appearance on that series his amalgamation loosely based on himself had a crush on Larry Sanders, so now that's reversed when Scully jokes that Shandling has a crush on Mulder. While many viewers might not be aware of that in-joke, the movie-within-a-tv series sequences still offer plenty of laughs, like the Cigarette Smoking Pontiff and eccentric actors that only eat "tofurkey."

The real highlights of this hour are actually the one-on-one moments between Mulder and Scully when they discuss their own lives and religion, showing that while David was growing disillusioned with continuing to play a TV character, he still had a grasp on who the character is and what makes him tick; I assume even more than the man who created Mulder. While Carter did create Mulder, it's Duchovny who has brought him to life for over 150 episodes, so I think he should know the man better. David even added a reference to Mulder's porn collection, which I think was nearly forgotten by this point in the series' run. While David may have provided the funniest script of the year, I believe my favorite of these episodes written by cast members remains William B. Davis' contribution, "En Ami." Although nothing against "Hollywood A.D." since I haven't laughed like this all season long. As this season winds down, I only have one new episode left to go, which is next week's "Fight Club."