"Via Negativa"

"Everything seemed real...but then it was a dream. A dream that ended in their deaths."
Originally Aired 12/17/00

Earlier this season was an "evil" religious episode in which an isolated town worshiped a slug-like creature. Here we have another such episode, except this time those worshipers were already found slaughtered in the opening of "Via Negativa". I guess they should have chosen to worship Jesus instead, since he offers things like wine and holy water, not wounds to the forehead! This cult's leader was Anthony Tipet, who founded the cult after he served time for the "bludgeoning" death of his wife, and coincidentally many of the deaths in this episode are similar fates. Tipet and his cult were trying to find God through a higher plane, but it seems they found something much worse, as "Via Negativa" is explained by Skinner to be a plane of darkness.

If the evil cult already sounded familiar to you, well there are even more similarities to other episodes found in this episode. Season 4's "The Field Where I Died" featured a doomsday cult, a pack of rodents were used in Season 3's "Teso Dos Bichos", and death by dreams was even used back in Season 2's "Sleepless." Despite the similarities to previous episodes, I still felt "Via Negativa" had plenty to offer on it's own. Writer Frank Spotnitz has mostly contributed to mythology episodes with Chris Carter, and also teamed with John Shiban and Vince Gilligan, but this is his first solo script since Season 5's "Detour". I didn't even know I wanted another Frank episode until after I watched this, and now all I want is more Frank. For as good as this episode is at creating a creepy atmosphere and all of it's horror movie imagery, it's also a great way to throw Doggett into the deep end of X-Files territory. It's sink or swim, and there's no turning back for this guy now.

In fact, Doggett is on a clear descent into darkness throughout this episode, and it feels a lot like a few of the late 90's Hellraiser movie sequels. Two in particular feature a character who has come into contact with the deadly cube, the Lemarchand's box, and nothing is as it seems. Doggett meets a similar fate when he comes into contact with Tipet towards the end of this episode. Robert Patrick plays this paranoia to perfection, and it's his best performance yet in his short tenure as a lead on The X-Files. Mitch Pileggi gets more to do here as Walter Skinner fills the void left when Scully is off to have a doctor visit and he easily slides into the "believer" role. David Duchovny departing the series should have thrown the series out of whack without its believer-skeptic dynamic and all of the humor that it provided, yet it actually feels like a breath of fresh air without Davey. Robert has great scenes with Mitch Pileggi, James Pickens' Director Kersh character, and now the Lone Gunmen are thrown into the mix. I like how they just happen to be hanging out in the basement office when those conspiracy theorists should have a hard time making it through a security check-point; although they somehow had access to the FBI offices in last season's finale, "Requiem."

Along with Frank Spotnitz turning in a rare solo script, this episode also features first-time series director Tony Wharmby. Tony, along with the special effects artists and lighting staff, created such an eerie atmosphere that I think this might even crack my top ten episodes once again. I say "once again" because I had a few I would call favorites before I began to watch the series in order in 2008, but I scrapped that list and decided to start over. Most of my previous favorites remained firmly in the top ten, like "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "The Host", while a few new ones were made like "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man." I expected to not like "Via Negativa" as much when I finally made my way around to it, yet there was much to re-discover. The only sequence I could recall was the ending where Doggett is standing over Scully with an axe while there's a scary, purple, strobe effect. I only now realized after watching it for the 6th time in 3 days that Doggett is actually about to turn the axe on himself. What an ending!

"Redrum"

"If you don't remember, how can you be certain that you didn't?"
Originally Aired 12/10/00

This is an episode that I loved upon my first viewing of Season 8 years ago. I was drawn to this show because it felt like each story was much like The Twilight Zone, with a different creature or freaky happening every week, it's just that The X-Files had two people investigating those instances. The Twilight Zone's favorite scenario was to take everyday men and place them into extraordinary situations, like when Burgess Meredith portrayed a nerdy vacuum salesman who was suddenly given great strength by aliens. Another scenario was famously spoofed on Seinfeld:

Jerry: "You know, this is like that Twilight Zone where the guy wakes up and he's the same and everyone else is different."

Kramer: "Which one?"
Jerry: "They were all like that."

The X-Files would have many that ventured into Twilight Zone territory, especially in Season 6 where Mulder swapped bodies with a Man In Black from Area 51, and later when Mulder and Scully were stuck in a fatal time loop. "Redum" is much like that doomed fatal time loop episode, however it flipped the scenario. This time it's centered around a man who has been charged for the death of his wife, yet he's living the week in reverse, with Scully and Doggett acting as background characters. That man is guest actor Joe Morton, famous for his role in Terminator 2, which also starred The X-Files' Robert Patrick. Morton plays his role of "Martin Wells" convincingly as he lives each day of the week in reverse, leading up to the moment when his wife is murdered. The mystery isn't the why and how he's in the time loop, but instead, "Can he prevent his wife from being murdered?" In fact, it almost feels closer to being a freaky episode of Law & Order. The X-Files even had John Munch from Homicide: Life On The Street (and later Law & Order SVU) as a guest start in Season 5, so it might have been cool to see one of the many Law & Order judges presiding over the hearing to further the connection between these tv shows.

One of the best scenes occurs roughly half-way through when Martin explains to Scully and Doggett what is actually happening, and that he doesn't remember his wife being murdered because to him, it hasn't happened yet. Doggett refuses to believe and walks away, while Scully asks him why he thinks it's happening. I really like Scully a lot in these brief moments in this season, as she is walking the line between science and supernatural. The 7 years she's spent on X-Files cases has given her this sage-like knowledge. Martin is left wondering why this is happening, when Scully tells him maybe the answer is already inside of him. Young grasshopper Martin Wells isn't quite ready to snatch the pebble from Master Scully's hand just yet. When he does snatch the pebble, he realizes that he's responsible for his own situation and accepts the consequences of his actions, for better or worse.

Aside from Joe Morton guest-starring as Martin Wells, there's also another famous face present that I actually forgot about. Danny Trejo guest stars as the villain, who is probably the king of these types of villainous roles over the last 20 years, with appearances in Con-Air, Predators, Spy Kids, From Dusk Til Dawn, and even the starring role in Machete.

A minor notable moment worth mentioning about "Redrum" is that we see that Doggett is actually a homeowner. Mulder had an apartment, where we typically saw him sleeping on his couch or taping an "X" to his window. Scully has her own apartment, or maybe even a condo, I can't be sure. This could actually have been done to distance Doggett from Mulder and Scully since he was married before and had more of a stable life, such as owning a home, while Scully and especially Mulder have become too engrossed into their work to have any kind of life resembling normal. Or this could be just a fan "over-thinking" a minor detail like a house.

While some fans may be upset over the supporting appearances of Scully and Doggett, with "Redrum" centering the story around a guest character, I think "Redrum" is much like the great episodes of Seasons 5 and 6, which stretched the series beyond it's formula. This installment in Season 8 puts a darker spin on it, unlike those lighter episodes of previous seasons.

"Invocation"

"Agent Scully, don't ask me to believe that this is some justice from beyond the grave."
Originally Aired 12/3/2000

This episode takes me back to May 2007, well over a year before I began this season-by-season journey through the series. Prior to that special month May, I had watched several on the Sci Fi Channel (not Syfy as it is now), and several more standalones on DVDs of Seasons 1 and 2. I had been watching the tail end of 7 and the beginning of 8 in the wee hours of the morning on TNT when I made my way to this episode, "Invocation." I fell asleep moments before the climax and I just had to know what happened! Luckily, my girlfriend at the time owned the Season 8 box, so I borrowed it from her so I could finish the episode. What happened after that was fate, maybe destiny, possibly nerdy, or something else entirely. I was so entertained by "Invocation", that I went back an episode to "Roadrunners" which I had missed on TV, and from that point I finished the rest of the season in a single weekend. I believe I watched another two episodes after that on Friday night, followed by another four on Saturday, then my Sunday was spent entirely in bed as I watched 9 straight episodes. What felt like an intense marathon for me back then is likely nothing compared to people's binge-watching habits on Netflix.

As for the episode itself, it doesn't seem to hold up nearly as well to my memory. In fact, it feels much more like an episode of Millennium. The opening sequence, it's eerie lullaby score and use of slow motion, is much more like The X-Files' sister series than it's own. While this season of The X-Files was filmed in sunny California, there is a definite lack of that sunshine, and the episode appears to be heavy on greys and cloudy skies much like the first season. The wooded scenes remind me of Millennium, even down to a scene where a skull is unearthed.

The-Files, "Invocation"

Millennium, "Skull and Bones"

Doggett is very much the focus of the episode, with Scully almost a background character. Most of her lines appear to be a variation of the same thing, telling Doggett that a child who was missing for 10 years has been returned at the same age he was when was abducted, an "anomaly." Doggett appears more like Mulder in this hour of television, pushing the child to speak and also pushing for the suspect to confess. Doggett is acting a bit of a character than what we've previously seen of him this season because he's "personalizing" the case, much like Mulder would do when faced with a case about young girls, like Season 3's "Oubliette." With Doggett, its the case of a missing boy because his own son went missing. There have been many complaints of retreading the same storylines since Mulder was faced with similar situations because of his sister, with now Doggett having struggles because over his son. I'm okay with that, as Doggett needs an arc of his own to be a fully developed character on this show, otherwise he'd just remain a side character floating aimlessly like Krycek. Spender was even given an arc of his own as he eventually had to confront his own beliefs in "Two Fathers" and "One Son", so this could lead to Doggett overcoming his as well. The ending scene with Scully is the episode's highlight, as these last several episodes have been very good with character moments between Doggett and Scully. It's as if she's holding his hand and guiding him on this quest for Agent Doggett to open his eyes and believe, much like Mulder did with Scully at the end of "Beyond the Sea." In fact, this episode could very well be Doggett's "Beyond the Sea".

A TV and movie trope that has been done to death is the "creepy child." The X-Files has went to that well already, this episode is even treading in similar waters of "Born Again" from Season 1; that's an episode I always forget about and even had to look up it's title to make sure I was right. Billy, the child who was abducted and now returned, delivers on that creep factor. It's the brother Josh, however, that is actually the irritating one as he just makes weird faces the entire episode. While "Invocation" might be a mixed bag of previous episodes, it still has enough of a creepy factor to make it watchable, and I'll always look back fondly as it was another stepping stone on my road to X-Files fandom.