X-Files Rerun "One Breath"

"You got him killed! You got her killed. That's not going to happen to me. You're my tool, you understand? I come to you when I need you. Right now you're heading in a direction that can lead them right here."
Originally Aired 11/11/94

With this episode The X-Files completes its first, and possibly the best, story arc of the series. "One Breath" is considered the end of a trilogy of episodes involving the abduction of Agent Scully but its roots can be traced all the way back to the first season's finale, "The Erlenmeyer Flask." That episode ended with The X-Files unit being shut down as a means to separate Scully and Mulder, however when that still didn't work, forces within the FBI (or even higher in the government) set in motion a plot to abduct Scully.

"One Breath" begins with Scully's mysterious appearance in a hospital on life support and Mulder seeks to find out who took her, why, and if she can survive. David Duchovny is asked yet again to carry an episode of the series, but this time there are plenty of outstanding performances from a number of supporting players. I knew I was going to like this episode from the moment I pressed "play" on my DVD remote back in 2009, yet it wasn't until a year ago when it finally sunk in and surpassed all others to become my favorite of the series. One of the reasons it became my favorite is because it features nearly all of the supporting players that we have seen until this point in the series and each of them is given time to shine. Frohike from the Lone Gunmen is dressed in a suit and tie when he delivers flowers to Scully's bedside, showing a softer side to his character; Skinner gets a moment where he bonds on a near father-son level with Mulder; the mysterious informant X appears to aid Mulder yet warns him that he will not let Mulder cost him his life; and the poor Cigarette Man lives alone and watches old war movies. Definitely not what I was expecting out of a high-ranking member in a government conspiracy.

An odd bit of trivia that I discovered is not only was a main character on The X-Files in a coma during the second week of November in 1994, but the same thing was happening on another FOX series. The 5th Season episode of Beverly Hills 90210, "The Dreams of Dylan McKay", featured Dylan in a coma after a car wreck and he also had visions of his father. Pretty strange how two FOX shows used the same plot device within a day of each other.

At this point in the series, Mulder and Scully are not in love, yet there is a friendship which goes beyond their respectful working relationship; even Mrs. Scully points out his level of respect for her daughter. That's why its not surprising why Mulder decides to stay at Scully's side rather than face the men who are responsible for taking her. If this was any other scenario with a mutated worm or a downed U.F.O., he would have risked his career and even his life for answers, but that's not the case when it comes to Scully. As I have become much more of a fan in the past 5 years I've realized the series was never about aliens, its about that connection between Mulder and Scully. I feel this episode sums up everything The X-Files ever was, or hoped to be, within its 45 minutes, making it the best of the entire series. That theme wasn't only featured in "One Breath", Mulder makes this choice at other pivotal moments in the series, too.

I feel like I have come such a long way since I purchased my first season of The X-Files in 2007. I was only interested in creepy moments, such as the Flukeman and the Peacock family, but now here I am in 2013 writing about how much I enjoy the relationship between Mulder and Scully.

X-Files Rerun "3"

"Don't you want to live forever?"
"Not if drawstring pants come back into style."
Originally Aired 11/4/94

The X-Files Pilot premiered on the FOX Network on September 10, 1993. In a week will be the twentieth anniversary of that date, so this seemed like a good time as any to get back into the groove of writing. However my excitement quickly deflated once I realized where I had left off; "3." I honestly did not even watch this episode completely four years ago; each time I tried I would always fall asleep, so I wrote a quick review and moved on. Today, in honor of the 20th anniversary, I have finally bitten the bullet.

Many movies have a unique quality due to their director, the editor, and the cinematographer having a vision for what will be seen on screen. However television shows typically look the same throughout the course of the series due to a formula, despite having a different director each week. The X-Files quickly found its formula because of its setting in Canada and also a preference for darkness. "3" occurs just when the series was finding its groove, so its sticks out as a sore thumb to me; some could look at it as being unique. Instead I think it looks and even feels more like an episode from a syndicated series like Forever Knight or Silk Stalkings. Perhaps its just lacking the Mulder-Scully dynamic; its off balance without her. Yet Scully was the main focus of "Never Again" (it had just a few scenes with Mulder) and two flashback episodes in Season 5 lacked her completely, and none of those episodes felt like they didn't belong. Perhaps they took the opportunity to try something new since they knew Gillian Anderson would be absent for an entire episode. Mulder being alone on an "X File" does make me wonder what it was like for him investigating cases before he had a partner. Was he always getting beaten up for peeking into windows at night?

There is one part that I do enjoy about this episode though. Vampire mythology seems to change with each new tale, as some leave parts out or add new wrinkles to the legend. Mulder is questioning one of the suspects whom he believes to be a vampire and the scene is completely flooded with red light because the suspect is sensitive to light. Later, when he is thrown into a jail cell, the sunlight moves closer towards him and he screams for the guards to close the windows. Nobody listens and he is soon burnt to a crisp. It looked as painful as it sounded! At least they got one thing right about vampires and he didn't sparkle in that jail cell. And now that I have finally survived all of "3", I'm never going back again. SCULLY!!!

The X-Files: Fight The Future

"A plague to end all plagues, Agent Mulder."
Premiered 6/19/98

It turns out by coincidence that I watched this on the same date it premiered in theaters, which was June 19th, so I still followed along with my viewing schedule. I had a few things planned to do during the week and I asked a friend if he wanted to hang out, grab something to eat, and watch this movie on my only free night, and we didn't even notice the dates were the same until we watched the trailer.

It's hard to review this as a movie and as an X-Files fan, which is because I seem to have two different writing styles. When I watch an episode of the X-Files, I'll usually watch it a few times to pick it apart, then I post my thoughts as more of a stream of conscious rant on what I watched. With my movie reviews, I started that as something for my job and I would post them to the radio station's website, so I tried to write as little about the plot as possible. I focused on the actors, the special effects (if any), and just enough of the plot without spoiling anything. Writing about this movie as just as movie is hard for me, possibly my hardest movie review, since I am invested in seeing these characters more than any others that appear in films. Being as invested as I am in the characters, it's interesting to see a new side of Mulder in a bar. It serves two purposes- its not just a funny scene, but its a way to sum up the entire series in under 30 seconds.

As a fan of the series, it seems very obvious to me that this was written a year earlier in the break between the fourth and fifth seasons. This could in fact have worked better as the fourth season premiere and opener for the fifth season since it features the bees and the oil that played more of a role during that year of the series. However part of it does fit in line with the fifth year, which featured the use of a vaccine to the black oil. Chris Carter stripped away much of the mythology, which is actually for the best, since it would have bogged down the movie with far too much plot. Some fans may have felt cheated since they didn't see Krycek or other events from the series, but I realize why those cuts were necessary.

What actually bothers me as a fan is that they knew they were writing the Well-Manicured Man out of the series by the end of Season 5, so they should have got much more mileage out of the character before his death. He did appear three times in during that season (Patient X, The Red and The Black, and The End), but it seems like much more could have been done with his role. They did imply his role as good guy, but killed him off just as it was revealed, which is much the same way that X met his end in the beginning of Season 4.

The use of the black oil bugs me too, though I think it is most effective in this movie. It acts as a vessel for creating new aliens, much like the face hugger in Aliens, so humans or any other species act as nothing more than a cocoon. It fit this grander scale for a movie yet it just complicates what we've previously seen on the series. The first use was a vessel as well as it body jumped into people in it's quest to find it's space ship and go home. Cool; its a liquid E.T. that wanted to phone home. Then came another pair of episodes where it was less fluid, but still made its victims into mindless zombies. Chris Carter always expects fans to read between the lines and understand his thought process, so my only guess is that this version of the black oil is an original version that came to Earth first and was never seen before because it was trapped in a cave; what has been seen before is the decaffeinated version.

I do like the revelation by the Well-Manicured Man, before he becomes the Well Done Man in a car bomb, which is that he tells Mulder about Samantha's disappearance. She was given up by his father so that she could become part of their experiments into clones and hybrids and now it finally makes sense to me why there are so many varieties of clones. Eves, the blond boys in Season 4 that were seen with the Samantha clones, the adult clones of Samantha, even those doctors. I think that could have even been explored much more within the series, but I am going to "read between the lines" again and assume that the blond boys were the son of another Syndicate member.

F.E.M.A. being mentioned as the government within a government sounds very much like what the Syndicate could be and that seems like an interesting new wrinkle to the series. Cigarette Smoking Man as the head of F.E.M.A. could have worked as well to finally explain just what his job is, except we've already seen him within the F.B.I. as a man who ranks above A.D. Walter Skinner. I guess its back to my original theory, that CSM works at the F.B.I. but his role within the Syndicate is that he's their head of security so he oversees moles within other branches of the government. I still like knowing that F.E.M.A. will take over if the government should fall. It's so eerie that it just has to be true.

While this movie complicates some plot threads and adds interesting new wrinkles to the series, I think its strongest point is between its two central characters, Mulder and Scully. The moments they have together are the best moments of the movie and it ties back into the ending of Season 5 as well. The possibility that Scully would leave the F.B.I. may be more believable as a part of a season ending cliffhanger, but they did pull it off wonderfully through their dialogue. Mulder shows more feelings towards Scully than ever as he says she owes nothing and he owes her everything, which ties it all back to the "Redux" arc where he blamed himself for Scully's cancer. She also shows more feelings than ever towards Mulder as it looks like she is about to spit out the words "I love you" before being stung by that stowaway bee. The characters of Mulder and Scully are at their strongest at the movie's conclusion, despite not being X-Files agents, and it acts a great way to lead into the new direction for Season 6.

"The End"

"I was sent to bring you back."
Originally Aired 5/17/98

After I watched this episode yesterday for the first time, I sent a text to a friend that said, "In The End...'Gibson Praise reads minds, Smoking Man returns to f*ck sh*t up.' Not really as cool as it sounds." Perhaps that summary was a bit hasty since I always seem to come around after the third watch. There are some very neat sequences and a new direction that is teased for the next season.

This is the most bittersweet episode I have ever watched of The X-Files. As I have stated before, I am watching the series from start to finish over nine years as way to stretch out episodes I haven't seen before and "savor the flavor." I am nearly at the point where what's been new to me and things I have discovered for these past five years, even things I have grown to love, have met what I previously knew about the alien conspiracy. Before watching this episode in full for the first time, I did have the accidental experience of witnessing the closing moments on the SciFi Channel when I remembered reruns were on in the afternoon; sometimes I remembered, sometimes I forgot. The rest was all new to me so I have counted this among the "unseen episodes"; a number that is fastly dwindling. 26 left to be exact.

The best sequences of this episode, no doubt, are the moments when the Cigarette Smoking Man is onscreen. In an earlier episode it was shown that the Smoking Man is nursing his wounds in a cabin and I want to believe he is passing the time by writing his third Jack Colquit story. However, he doesn't get to finish it when two men parachute down outside of his cabin, in a sequence that resembles an opening to a James Bond movie. The Smoking Man is retrieved by Alex Krycek, and when he reunites with the Syndicate, its like a triumphant hero returning. He's loving every minute of the fact that he's in demand, while the Well-Manicured Man is no doubt pissed about that fact. I really wish more had come of the splintering of the Syndicate, but I guess that's just implied with Smoking Man manipulating his son now. That's also a great scene when father meets son, and it reminded me a lot of the early years with Mulder meeting X in dark parking garages.

The Smoking Man isn't the only character in this episode, though. Mulder and Scully meet a chess prodigy who is more than meets the eye, while Agent Spender returns, and another new character is introduced. I liked Agent Spender a lot in the previous arc and he's just as good here as a foil for Mulder. I have no idea what Smoking Man's endgame is for bringing his son into the fold, and though it likely won't be realized, it is a cunning move on his part. Another principal character who's introduced is Diana Fowley, a former flame of Mulder who is instantly more convincing (and less annoying) than Season One's Phoebe Green. I mentioned before that this episode teased a new direction and it's through the use of Diana Fowley. I read for years that this was a wrong move on Chris Carter's part to bring in a female who could be a possible love interest for Mulder, however I didn't get that impression at all. It seems to me like she is just a plot device to bring Mulder and Scully together in a way that the series hasn't done yet. Previously Mulder and Scully have been close because they both have grieved over loss of family and Mulder blamed himself for eveything that happened to Scully, but none of it was ever in a romantic way. Now it seems like both, or at least Scully, are actually reflecting on those feelings for one another; in fact Gibson Praise just seems like a means to that end, too.

While Agent Spender, Gibson Praise, and Diana Fowley are new characters that are positives to this episode, it appears that longtime guest player Alex Krycek is getting lost in the shuffle. He's always been fun to watch but its more apparent than ever that there is no meat to the character, no motivation for anything. At least Spender was clearly defined as dismissing anything alien because of his mother, yet Krycek changes sides each season as he went from Syndicate henchman, to rogue operative, and finally a chauffeur for the Well-Manicured Man.

I would also kick myself later if I didn't mention Martin Ferrero as the assassin. He's likely more famous as "the blood-sucking lawyer" from Jurassic Park and I will always remember laughing hysterically the first time I watched him get chomped off the toliet by the T-Rex. Martin Ferrero is less famous to some as Izzy Moreno on Miami Vice; man, I need to get back to that show in my downtime before I start the sixth season of The X-Files. I digress. The FOX cartoon clips throughout this episode are a fun time capsule, especially since I didn't even know a Silver Surfer cartoon existed.

The bitter part of all of this is that I have finally reached the end of the Vancouver era and out of four seasons remaining, I have only the amount of a full season left of new episodes to go. This is even the last season finale that I haven't seen before, since I've seen 6, 7, and 8, and caught parts of the series finale during reruns (and dvd menu screen spoilers.) Yet, I enjoyed "The End" more than the past two season finales. The sweet part is that when I was becoming a fan back in 2007, I only wanted monsters and creeps and dismissed the sixth season as light, corny, and The X-Files gone soft. Six years later, I'm actually ready to embrace a lighter X-Files. Bring on Season Six! But not too soon, since I'm not ready for this ride to end.

With another season wrapped up, here are my "Fave Five" of the year.

1. The Post-Modern Prometheus
2. The Pine Bluff Variant
3. Patient X/The Red and The Black
4. Folie A Deux
5. Bad Blood

Honorable Mention: Unusual Suspects

"Folie A Deux"

"Dial and smile, Gary."
Originally Aired 5/10/98

Always a sign of a quality episode, despite Mulder making a face like he passed gas.

Before starting my "9 Seasons in 9 Years" journey, this fifth season episode was in my top ten episodes; now, I don't know. I think it lost a bit of it's luster after seeing several amazing episodes like "Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man", "One Breath", "Wetwired","The Post-Modern Prometheus", and even last week's episode, "The Pine Bluff Variant." That doesn't mean it's not an enjoyable hour of the series, it just means that this current season has been balls to the walls.

I do like how there's continuity with Mulder's finger that was broken in "The Pine Bluff Variant", yet Mulder's attitude towards the case would have been better if this episode was placed before "Patient X." In the first portion of the season Mulder treats the X-Files like its just a job rather than his passion because his distrust of the government has reached its threshold. "Folie A Deux" also makes use of that doubting Mulder since he groans at being sent on another monster hunt, but I like how this turns out to be more than just a typical hunt. Vince Gilligan turned the typical monster hunt on it's head by shifting gears mid-way through and turning it into a character piece on Mulder.

Another aspect that I do like about this episode is the setting of a telemarketing office. Most people I know think those call centers are evil since they disrupt you at all hours of the day, but its funny that Vince Gilligan took it a step further and turned them into zombies. Even the gigantic, creepy bug that zips around all blurry is pretty unique, too. The work place horror stories that make people go insane (like "Blood") are wickedly relatable and effective thrillers. Yet, in a way, these hostage situations are a bit odd to watch since there have been too many recent incidents like that.

Mulder's madness in the second half of the episode, as he keeps digging into the case despite the hostage situation ending, is where "Folie A Deux" excels. Past episodes have shown Mulder's determination getting him into hot water, but never has it actually put him into a hospital. I recall reading that Morgan & Wong wanted to write a story arc into Season 4 where Scully has Mulder committed but that was rejected, yet it doesn't seem too far off from what happened in this episode. In fact, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. It's fun watching all of the ranges of David Duchovny, as Mulder goes from apathy to a hostage and then full-on freak-out while strapped to a bed. His "freak out" was a lot more convincing than when he had his arms amputated earlier in the season in "Kill Switch." While this may have been bumped from my top ten, it is on the short list of contenders.

"The Pine Bluff Variant"

"Is this the Pepsi Challenge?"
Originally Aired 5/3/98

I've read, and now have seen for myself how cinematic the series was through its film-making techniques, like tight close-ups and camera angles, and the talent of its actors. Watching this with my mom on my family's widescreen tv enhanced this even more, likely the true way they envisioned the series. Even though this episode was filmed after The X-Files movie, it serves as a teaser for the movie, because it plays out like a spy movie with its twist and turns. I could even tell it was filmed by the movie's director before his name appeared in the opening credits. It's a great episode that oozes coolness and is full of tension, which might even be the coolest episode I've seen from the series.

In this episode Mulder gets involved with a terrorist group that has a powerful chemical weapon that dissolves human flesh, but that isn't even the highlight of the episode. That would actually be the appearance of it's two guest stars who may be familiar to fans of the small screen. Sam Anderson was known for being the principal on Growing Pains, yet he's likely better known now as Bernard on Lost. The other man is Daniel Von Bargen, whom I instantly recognized as George's boss from Seinfeld and the eye-patch wearing drill sergeant from Malcolm in the Middle. Neither of these men would receive an Emmy Award nomination for their performance, unlike Lili Taylor in "Mind's Eye", but I certainly enjoyed seeing them. I have no idea if its a coincidence or intentional, but many actors from FOX sitcoms appeared on this show either before or during the run of their own series- Kurtwood Smith from That 70's Show, David Faustino from Married With Children, and Daniel Von Bargen and Bryan Cranston from Malcolm in the Middle.

Each season of the X-Files typically has an episode that is what I call a "runaround" episode, where they run around chasing something yet end up with nothing at the episode's end. "The Pine Bluff Variant" is the fifth season's version of that episode yet I like how they seem to find creative ways to mask this style of episode. Season Two used an explosive sore that appeared on people who were exposed to bacteria in "F. Emasculata", this time was a deadly flesh-eating chemical. To explain the twists and turns would be futile; I know this because my mom missed the last 5 minutes and seemed confused when I explained it. Yet if you watch it you know just how good this episode is. My only complaint would be Mulder hesitating to shoot a bank teller during the heist. We know Mulder would never shoot anyone but at least shoot the floor next to the guy to make it look like you're a bad guy; the endless stalling seemed odd to me. Despite that, I'm surprised this episode actually came from the mind of John Shiban because he isn't the strongest of the core writers for the series. Bravo, John.

"All Souls"

"Well, then maybe she flew here, Scully."
Originally Aired 4/26/98

It must be 1998 since the cellphones are smaller.

Another week behind and another difficult review to write. This week's episode feels closer to a plot from The X-Files' sister series Millennium than it does one of it's own. It's about girls who are mysteriously dying by the hand of either a demon or an angel in disguise, which is what feels like Millennium, but the moments I enjoyed involved Scully. She tells this episode in a flashback which is done with her in a confessional booth and I thought that was a creative way to tell this episode's story. I seem to be one of the few who enjoyed the two-part "Christmas Carol"/"Emily" story, so I guess that's why I liked that part of "All Souls." If this was just a typical X-Files case and not attached to that story, I think it would seem rather dull and "soulless", actually. Tying it in with that previous story gives Gillian Anderson a reason to flex her acting muscles (wings?) and I am even more of the belief that Seasons 4 and 5 are *her* story and not Mulder's.

Last week we had an episode with Mulder forming an attachment to a victim, just like he has in the past, so it was nice that Scully was given an episode where she was forming an attachment. However her's was more about letting go of her lost child. Now you would think as much as I enjoyed Scully's scenes, I'm not sure how much I enjoyed it overall. It didn't seem to develop it's villain very much, though I did like the make-up effects used on the body of a pastor that he appeared to have set on fire from the inside of his body. My other complaint is more of a nit-pick; I think Father McCue is a terrible pastor. During a scene where Scully is trying to explain that she saw a heavenly figure, he explains the entire plot of this episode, only to dismiss it as a bogus story. If he had actually believed in that story, he could have prevented all of these girls from dying! He says its just a story and it isn't even recognized by the "Church." Which church is that, just his own? Because it seems like that is religion in a nutshell. That's why we have Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Catholics, and Baptists; they're all basically Christians, its just they decided to leave out certain things. So which is really right and which is just a story?

The X-Files motto was "I Want To Believe" and it took on multiple meanings throughout the course of the series. I like that it wasn't just a belief in aliens; it could have been in human nature, the paranormal, and in religion. However it seems that when The X-Files actually had a plot that used religion, it was hit or miss; mostly miss.

"Mind's Eye"

"We found her at the scene doing a Formula 409."
Originally Aired 4/19/98

This is a very great episode, so why was it so hard to review? I was even pretty good this season at keeping myself from falling behind until "Mind's Eye." In a season full of experimenting and episodes that played with the show's formula, this one is also different from the normal formula. It feels so much like an episode of Law & Order because its set at a police station for a majority of the scenes, and it also deals more with murders than ghouls. Yet in typical X-Files style, its done as a character-driven story, and its guest is very good! Lili Taylor as a blind woman, who's also the suspect, was so good she was even nominated for a "Guest Star Emmy Award."

Lili Taylor's character, Marty Glenn, is why this episode works so well. This episode is very "talky" and full of dialogue, so to make it work it needed a great guest who will get you engaged into what's being said. To compare it to another X-Files episode, I think this actually is what Glenn Morgan was attempting to do with "The Field Where I Died", but it didn't quite translate from page to screen. Mulder becomes attached and is determined to clear Marty's name, much like he connected with Melissa in that episode. A better comparison outside of the series would be to Millennium's first season episode, "Covenant", in which Frank Black fights to clear the name of an innocent man whom everyone thinks is guilty. To connect it back to The X-Files, that episode's guest star, John Finn, also played Michael Kritschgau in this season. Only difference is this episode ends tragically, making it one of the most heart-wrenching standalones in the run of the series. In fact, I struggled to find a humorous line that would work as my intro quote; "Mind's Eye" is too much of a downer.

This one was a real treat out of my remaining "unseen" episodes. I wasn't really sure what to expect before I was able to finally see it. Four episodes remain of Season Five, with only one of them being an episode that I have seen before ("Folie A Deux".) With just four left, it doesn't feel like the end of the season already. Even though there were fewer episodes than normal, they seemed to spread them out more with at least 3 breaks that lasted three weeks each; guess it doesn't help that I fell an extra two weeks behind.

Scully: the Original Duckface