Mulder and Scully Revisited IV

We're enthusiastically making our way through the sixth season at the moment, which means I should be blogging about my five favourite episodes of the fourth season! Yes, indeedy! We also watched The X-Files Movie again, which held up pretty damn well, in my mind. But, let's go back a bit, shall we?

**Warning: spoilers ahead**

PAPER HEARTS (4x08)
This episode has so many things going for it; the dream sequences, the possibility of knowing what happened to Samantha, Tom Noonan's amazingly brilliant and underplayed turn as serial killer John Lee Roche, the climatic scene in the bus depot...it's just stunning. Written by Vince Gilligan with Noonan in mind to play Roche, it might be my favourite of the fourth season. The way Mulder's memories are manipulated by Roche, and the constant 'did he?/didn't he?' undercurrent make it stand out from the usual X-Files fare.  I just can't speak highly enough of this one.

MEMENTO MORI (4x15)
Scully's battle with cancer sees her undergo treatment and spend time in hospital while Mulder desperately searches for a cure. He even considers making a deal with the Cigarette Smoking Man, until Skinner strongly advises him against such an action. Watching Scully come to terms with what is happening to her body is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the whole series. Mulder's little covert raid with the Lone Gunmen is another big highlight too. 

TEMPUS FUGIT (4x17)
I love that Max Fenig returned to the show, (albeit only for two episodes, and even then, he's hardly in them) and I dug the whole concept of trying to piece together the final events of Flight 549. Scary Moustache Man (as I call him) makes for a nice mysterious villain too. If only Tom Selleck was available for the role! The concluding episode Max is also good, but the sheer scale of recreating an aerial crash site puts this entry slightly ahead. I love that title translates to 'time flies' as well.

SMALL POTATOES (4x20)
Another cracking episode from Vince Gilligan that is filled with humour as we follow Darin Morgan as Eddie Van Blundht, a man who can assume the shape of any other person. I thought I had remembered this episode as being better than it actually was, but my recent viewing confirmed its status as one the series' best, in my opinion. One of my favourite moments occurs when Mulder and Scully knock on the door of Van Blundht's father's house. Throughout the episode he constantly corrects the spelling of his surname, in that it has a 'D' in it. After the home's door is struck, the 'D' from the lettering bearing the family name on door falls off. It's so subtle, that you might have missed it, but it cracked me up.

GETHSEMANE (4x24)
This episode is pretty polarising, as its cliffhanger ending would have us believe that Mulder has become so disillusioned and lost that he has taken his own life. While that's too extreme a notion for some to entertain, surely most viewers would have seen the truth that was revealed in the season five opening episode coming. As if Mulder would die. Remember the Anasazi cliffhanger? I can see how his character could have considered that option. The episode pretty much tears down all the things he was lead to believe over the last four years (or did it?) and the truth he thought he desperately came close to uncovering was in fact the biggest lie of all. In addition to that, his hope to one day learn the truth about his sister's disappearance seemed further from his grasp than ever. Written by Chris Carter himself, I love the way the plot unfolds via Scully's narration at the FBI hearing. For me, the image of the big rectangular table all lit up is synonymous with this episode. Gillian Anderson's role as the narrator and participant of the story is also very well done, and I think her performance while revealing Mulder's 'fate' at the end is quite excellent. The discovery of the alien body and all the other facets of the mythology in this outing are hugely entertaining too. There many religious overtones throughout as well, not least being the title. Another highlight for me is the first appearance of Michael Kritschgau, played by John Finn. I have no problem citing this as one of my five favourites.


HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Home, Unruhe, Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man, Tunguska and Max.

STINKERS: The Field Where I Died (my vote for the worst X-Files episode of all time) and El Mundo Gira.

Mulder and Scully Revisited III

Okay, so it's time to look back on the third season now. We've just finished off the fifth season, which is probably my favourite. That means while be watching The X-Files Movie in our next session! I don't know why I need a two-season buffer, but it seems to serve me well. Let's get down to my five picks...

**Warning: spoilers ahead**

CLYDE BRUCKMAN'S FINAL REPOSE (3x04)
Darin Morgan's second offering for The X-Files is just as entertaining as season two's Humbug, arguably even more so. I think part of this is due to Peter Boyle's effortlessly brilliant performance as the title character. His interactions with the ever-dubious Scully are just wonderful. The dialogue between the police feels like something out of a cartoon at times, which adds to the outlandish atmosphere. Why is it that the best episodes are the ones that veer away from the classic X-Files formulas? Not that this is wildly different, as there is still a paranormal undercurrent within Boyle's psychic Bruckman. With striking images, quotable lines and unforgettable final scene, this would probably be in my top five episodes of the entire series.

731 (3x10)
While I quite enjoyed the preceding Nisei episode, it's after Mulder jumps onto the train (which Duchovny did himself apparently) that the action and suspense starts to build. I love the scenes between Mulder and Stephen McHattie's Red Haired Man. It reminds me of Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in the final act of From Russia With Love. The fact that X pulls his finger out and actually does something to help Mulder is pretty cool too.

PUSHER (3x17)
Written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, this episode looks at Robert Patrick Modell, a man who can push his will onto others. Unfortunately for those he comes into contact with, this usually means death by their own hand. As Modell eludes capture, the cat and mouse game he plays with Mulder comes to a head with an emotional round of Russian roulette. You'll never look at cerulean blue the same way again. Suspenseful stuff!


JOSE CHUNG'S "FROM OUTER SPACE" (3x20)

The third script from Darin Morgan is another X-Files classic. It's told through the eyes of the title character as he puts together a book detailing the alleged alien abduction of two teenagers in Klass County. Each person he talks to has a different take on the events that occured, and some re-tellings are quite hilarious. One witness recounts Mulder's visit to a diner wherein he orders piece after piece of sweet potato pie. Another's description of the two agents paints Scully as angry and violent with red hair that is "a little TOO red". Jesse "The Body" Ventura guest stars as one of the mysterious Men In Black, and delivers an excellent monologue on how most people mistake the planet Venus for a UFO. This episode also has some clever editing and is highly entertaining. One of the best!


TALITHA CUMA (3x24)
The season finale introduces to Jeremiah Smith, a man who possess the ability to heal gunshot victims, among others. But is he human? As this essential mythology episode unravels we learn that Mulder's mother and the Cigarette Smoking Man have a history. The discovery of an alien stiletto weapon in the Mulders' old summer home gives us more questions about Mrs Mulder's past. This episode has two great scenes in it. The first being Jeremiah Smith's interrogation by the CSM, in which he morphs into characters from CSM's past, adding weight to his words. The second is the fight between Mulder and X which ends in the two of them drawing their guns on each other. While he has always been nervous and cautious, X's motives seem to be more about self-preservation than assisting Mulder. When X actually tries to help him in the season four opener Herrenvolk, it ends badly, justifying his paranoia. This is one of the best mythology episodes of the series, with a nice taut cliffhanger ending to boot. I really wanted to have Apocrypha in my five, purely for the scene of Krycek 'crying' the black oil out of his body before being locked in the silo, but it didn't quite make the cut.


HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Nisei, Apocrypha, War of The Coprophages and Syzygy.

STINKERS: Teso Dos Bichos, that's it. The only really awful episode of this season; and it's a doozy.

Mulder and Scully Revisited II

Well, seeing as we've hit the fourth season, I might highlight my five favourite episodes of series two. While there were a few blips, I think the show was starting to hit its stride, and the conspiracy plot (or "mythology") started to really take off as well. Before I get started though, I'm just going to ask this: Why is The Host so revered? It's a pretty formulaic episode and the plot feels sluggish. I don't hate it, but I don't regard it as essential. Anyway, let's take a look back...

**Warning, spoilers ahead.**

SLEEPLESS (2x04)
As well as being highly entertaining, this episode contains several firsts. After hearing the voice of X (Steven Williams) in an earlier outing, we finally meet him in a suitably mysterious fashion. Although he's not nearly as enthused to help Mulder as Deep Throat was, something is driving him to act in spite of himself. I like that his character is significantly different from his predecessor and nearly always appears nervous and paranoid. We also meet Alex Krycek, who begins his journey as a partner for a very reluctant Mulder. He comes across as being as somewhat inept and a little wet behind the ears. I think that was a wasted opportunity for his duplicity to be revealed at the episode's end. It would have really added to the tension of the Duane Barry storyline if we discovered that Krycek was working for the Cigarette Smoking Man, say, just before Scully was taken. Getting back to this episode though, I enjoyed the plot more than I did on my first viewing, and Tony Todd's performance as Augustus "Preacher" Cole is excellent. The idea that a unit of soldiers sent to Vietnam were medically denied sleep is terrifying. 

ONE BREATH (2x08)
I really enjoyed the Duane Barry episodes, and it's only because of my limit of five that neither of those two made the cut. Steve Railsback did a wonderful job playing that character, but it's the return of Scully that resonates with me more. The image of her adrift in a tethered boat while visitors in her hospital room appear on a shoreline wonderfully symbolises Scully's coma. This is taken to the next level when her mother makes the decision to turn off Scully's life support, and the rope keeping the boat near the shore snaps. Mulder's struggle to help Scully shows just how much he cares for her, although he is powerless to really do anything. He becomes shockingly aware of how high the stakes have become when he witnesses X execute a man who attempted to steal a sample of Scully's blood. I also really like the scene he has with Skinner, who refuse to accept Mulder's resignation. One of the best episodes of the second season.

END GAME (2x17)
Concluding the cliffhanger episode Colony, this "mythology" installment has some quintessential X-Files moments. The ending of the previous outing  The elevator brawl between Skinner and X, the revelation that Mulder's returned sister Samantha was actually a clone, and Mulder's confrontation with the alien bounty hunter (Brian Thompson) on the USS Allegiance. Perhaps the best scene is Scully saving Mulder's life by insisting the hypothermia the doctors are endeavouring to reverse is the only thing keeping him alive. I like the way the writers/director/producers used that scene to bookend the two episodes. They would repeat this method several times throughout the series.

HUMBUG (2x20)
The first episode penned by Darin Morgan is also the first to feature a lot of humour. This is possible one of my favourite episodes of the entire series too. Although there are a couple of squirmy, blood-soaked moments it's quite a departure from the usual X-Files fare. The underlying theme of difference and tolerating others resonates in many scenes, with the mirror being thrown back at the viewer as well. Having Jim Rose and The Enigma in the cast adds to the realism of the circus sideshow performers. I also enjoyed seeing Michael J. Anderson and Vincent Schiavelli in supporting roles. 

ANASAZI (2x25)
The sense of danger that permeated the One Breath episode is pushed up a notch when Mulder is given a DAT copy of secret files from the Defense Dept. Suddenly anyone associated with the DAT is a possibly target, and the Cigarette Smoking Man becomes possibly vicious in his hunt for the Mulder and the tape. There is a real sense of tragedy when a family member is taken away from him as well. While it didn't play for everybody, but I liked the Navajo references. These are expanded further in the season three opener The Blessing Way, which is another great episode. The cliffhanger ending where Mulder's life hangs in the balance is one of the greatest TV moments of the 20th century.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Duane Barry, Ascension and Colony. 

STINKERS: Little Green Men, Fearful Symmetry and Fresh Bones.