"Rush"

"You must've been a betty back in the day."
Originally Aired 12/5/99

I've realized that rarely do these current episodes follow the template of the early seasons in which Mulder discovered his cases by reading articles in the newspaper or watching a video tape. Instead, they're already on the case immediately following the opening credits, which is anywhere from a few hours to the next day following a murder or some supernatural occurrence. I'll just make believe that over the years Mulder's reputation as "Spooky Mulder" has grown so much that he's actually called upon to investigate cases, much like when Shaineh Berkowitz called him in "Post-Modern Prometheus." In "Rush", possibly the less time spent getting Mulder and Scully on the case allows for more time for teenage melodrama. At least "Rush" revisits an old X-Files staple with the local law enforcement officer who doesn't appreciate Mulder being on the case.

A trio of teens are involved in a murder investigation and it reminds me a lot of this recent movie Chronicle, where four super-powered teens end up battling each other and their own angst. I even liked the reference to the song title, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", when Mulder quips, "You think? Smells like murder to me."

The highlights of this episode come from the production crew. The sequence which shows Tony discovering the ability to vibrate and move at a high speed reminds me a lot of the special effects sequence in that first Saw movie where the character of Amanda is thrashing around in that trap on her head. There's another excellent sequence where the character of Tony follows Chastity through the woods and he discovers a cave. The music is unlike Mark Snow's usual score, in fact it's very dream-like and atmospheric, while the lighting and setting of the scene is more theatrical than the rest of the episode. Perhaps that was intentional on the part of Snow and the episode's director, Robert Liebermann, because the discovery of the cave was like a teenage rite of passage.

I can't say I really enjoyed the plot of the episode but I understand it's purpose, that the ability to move fast and the need to keep getting a "fix" is just like abusing a drug, hence the title being "Rush." The gruesome deaths of the deputy and the teacher also match the tone of this season so far, in which we've seen a much more violent X-Files than the previous season. Scully battled biblical plagues, the Cigarette Smoking Man watched the world burn, a shark-toothed monster devoured brain matter, and the dead rose from their graves. What's next for Season 7?