"Badlaa"

"This whole thing didn't make any sense."
Originally Aired 1/21/01

Just when I thought the series' well had run dry for quips and one-liners, Agent Doggett saved the day in the nick of time, just at the very end of the episode. Doggett told Scully, "This whole thing didn't make any sense." I'm not too sure what to make of this week's episode either. Why couldn't the show have done something else on my birthday, anything but the episode called "Badlaa". Actually, had the episodes aired in the order in which they were filmed, then the 10th episode produced would've been last week's "Salvage." Instead it was shuffled around, likely so that David's first appearance back would coincide with February sweeps. Season 8 had nearly every episode filmed out of order, possibly to accommodate for David Duchovny's limited schedule as well.

As it is, "Badlaa" aired on my birthday in 2001, which is an episode known for it's "villain" that travels on a creaky, wheelie cart. He also has another mode of transportation, which is the ability to crawl inside of men's buttholes, so fans have affectionately referred to him as "the butt genie." I liked that term, it makes me giggle, but it's such a strange concept even for The X-Files. Judging it solely on "the butt genie" is doing it a disservice, though, and you'd be overlooking it's creepy moments and visuals.

However, the little guy possibly crawled into his last butthole, and wasn't able to make it out in time before his human vessel was taken to the local morgue. Scully was set to perform an "unofficial operation", when she saw a hand emerge! Oh man, that certainly is a classic X-Files visual, even better than the uber-creepy creature she had in her body in "Roadrunners" at the start of this season. X-Files + body horror = a winning combination. Not only does the butt genie have an interesting mode of transportation, he also has mystical powers that allow him to create illusions. That ability tricks people into seeing someone else rather than the actual small man on his wheelie cart, which he chooses to disguise himself as a janitor at a junior high school. The origin of the wheelie cart man also brings back a very underutilized guest star, which is Bill Dow as "Chuck Burks." Normally Mulder visits Chuck when a case involves something of a religious nature. I think Mulder called him in on the "Biogenesis" alien spacecraft artifact case, then recently in "Hollywood A.D." with the Lazarus Bowl mystery. Chuck actually gets three separate scenes this time around, which is nice that he's utilized more, yet I really liked how Doggett shot him down in typical "Dick Doggett"-style. Chuck calls them 'siddhi mystics', and since this one used buttholes to travel, so rather than a "butt genie" I decided to call him a "shitty mystic." Butt...shit... oh man, I'm so juvenile. I doubt that will carry over to fandom, though.

Something that I almost overlooked was Scully's storyline within the episode. In each standalone case this season she's had a moment or two where she talks to Doggett in an attempt to open his mind to the paranormal and freaky X-Files occurrences. I think it was starting to weigh on her, dealing with the loss of Mulder and still trying to solve these cases while pregnant, and here she suffers a mini-crisis. I think "Badlaa" does a better job of summing up her struggle with being a "believer" than the previous 8 episodes. Job well done for writer John Shiban, whose work is usually overshadowed by Vince Gilligan, Howard Gordon, and Chris Carter. Also job well done for Gillian Anderson, who is reminding me once again why she earned her Best Actress Emmy and Golden Globes awards for the early seasons.