"Je Souhaite"

"Your wish is breath-taking in its originality."
Originally Aired 5/14/00

There are two distinct episodes I can pinpoint as being watershed moments in my fandom of The X-Files. The first was in 2002 during Senior year of high school when my English class watched "The Host" and it set me on a course to become a fan, though it was a very slow progression. The second moment was when I watched this episode one morning on TNT in May of 2007. I had seen a handful of episodes over the previous five years, it just wasn't until I saw this episode that I was finally "hooked" enough to watch the following episode, which spilled over into Season 8, followed by another batch of episodes on TNT. I needed more.

At the time I knew nothing of Vince Gilligan,  nor the significance of this point in the series, I only knew that the 44 minutes of "Je Souhaite" that I had watched were supremely entertaining. The investigation surrounding a genie seemed really hokey since several other tv series have relied on the "wishes gone bad" gimmick before but none that I've watched have pulled it off as effectively as The X-Files. That remains true today as well. Given what I know now about Vince Gilligan, it's not necessarily about The X-Files doing a "genie" story, instead it's just a creative way to twist their "reluctant villain" storytelling device. The genie isn't bad, it's just that the people that are awarded their three wishes are too careless or not specific enough. Vince Gilligan wasn't the first to feature that type of villain, though he loved finding new ways to keep it fresh and interesting, from a man that consumes cancer to another character that had an appetite for brain matter.

This episode's guest stars are a hoot, with Will Sasso and Kevin Weisman co-starring as dim-witted brothers. Vince also seems to have a knack for telling stories about lower class yokels, like Eddie Van Blundht in "Small Potatoes" and Patrick Crump in "Drive." The pop culture references are also great, with naturally the theme of I Dream Of Genie being referenced, but also Mulder and Scully peering around a corner like The Three Stooges, and a sly reference to Looney Tunes, when Anson attempts to kill himself by setting a fire with a match and gas from the oven. At least that's what it reminded me of, when Bugs Bunny was trying to hide gangsters from the police in an oven. Not only does Vince turn in a great comedic script, he also stepped behind the camera for the first time, and proceeded to blow something up. He really made a "bang" with his first directing assignment.

The significance of "Je Souhaite" that I wasn't aware of during my first viewing in 2007 is that this episode marked the end of an era- the last "standalone" episode for Mulder and Scully. I feel like that's why Vince made this decidedly sweeter and more whimsical than his recent entries and allowed not only Mulder and Scully, but David and Gillian, to have more fun than usual. Although Mulder's overhead projector is absent, he does present the case to Scully in their office, and the episode even ends with a rare "intimate" moment in Mulder's apartment as they share a beer and watch a movie; how cute. Walter Skinner gets a quick appearance too, with all of this proving that Vince Gilligan is as much of a fan of The X-Files as we are. When I watched this years ago it had ranked in my top ten among the episodes that I had seen, but I reset that list when I decided to watch this series in order from the beginning. While it's just shy of my "new" Top Ten, its hands-down the best standalone episode of Season 7 and my favorite standalone episode since last year's "Dreamland II." Thank you Vince.