AKA: Is The Title A Chessboard Reference, I Don't Get It
I mentioned this earlier, and I'm sure I will mention this again but at a certain point the Myth Arc episodes begin to get a little...frustrating. Not because the episodes themselves are bad or unengaging, but because you know that huge chunks of the plots of them will either be undone or just will never pay off. I brought this up at the beginning of the season because the big plot twists and status quo shakeups from Redux were destined to be undone, and now here we are.
After a brief cold open where a mysterious figure in Canada sends a letter to the FBI begging his son for reconciliation, we start right back where we ended last time: On a bridge in Pennsylvania with a bunch of burn bodies. Mulder and a bunch of FBI and medics show up, but Scully is nowhere to be found! Oh wait, they find her with some other survivors. She doesn't remember what happened but she's alive. Cassandra is still missing though and Jeffery Spender is pissed about it.
Back at the Conspiracy, everyone is trying to cure Marita who got a bad case of Black Oil from the kid who got his eyes sewed shut (who is dead, incidentally) but it doesn't work. Irritated, the Well-Manicured Man does what we all do when we're irritated: Yells at Krycek. Specifically, he has Krycek captured and he wants to know if Russia has a cure for the Black Oil, while also being ready for Krycek to betray him.
So while all this is happening, the Conspiracy reveals (to each other, but mostly to the audience) that with a vaccine for the Black Oil resisting the aliens is possible and also that a plane crashed and they captured a faceless alien that crashed in West Virginia. They don't need to tell the audience that, the audience saw that. Meanwhile, Scully decides to get some hypnosis to figure out what happened on the bridge. It turns out the Faceless aliens showed up to kill everyone, and then a spaceship showed up to kill them and then abducted Cassandra. That description is pretty dry, but the hypnosis scene is super cool, trust me.
Okay, so after we spend some time with the Conspiracy arguing about whether they should join with the alien rebels (the vaccine doesn't seem to be helping Marita) a Mulder and Scully heart-to-heart, and a couple of fun cul-de-sac's where Spender shows up and decides the best way to engender audience sympathy is to be a massive bad of dicks to both Mulder and Scully, Krycek breaks into Mulder's apartment and tosses our big reveal at us: The faceless dudes are rebels against colonization and they were lighting people on fire to try and stop it. Most of us had figured that out by now, but Mulder doesn't believe in aliens anymore (and also he's learned not to trust Krycek anymore) so he doesn't buy it.
But he still WANTS to believe (see what I did there?) so when Krycek drops an address for where the captured alien rebel is, he's gotta go check it out. There he witnesses a faceless alien showing up to rescue the first faceless alien (the Conspiracy decided to help out the rebels cause the vaccine worked). This apparently restores Mulder's belief in aliens cause...he's very malleable. Anyway, since we're in the business of undoing big changes from the beginning of the season, in our denoucement, we find out that the man sending the letter in the cold open was the Cigarette Smoking Man. And his son is Jeffery Spender.
As you can tell from the fact that Mulder believes in aliens again and the Cigarette Smoking Man is revealed to have survived being shot, we have reached the point of the series where they got bored of the changes in the status quo that hit in the series premier and just decided to take them back. I get...tired of that quickly, cause I don't like feeling like a series is jerking me around (which is why I still haven't watched more than 1 season of Lost). But I'm invested enough in The X-Files to power on through it, especially since the Alien Rebels are one of my favorite concepts in the series.
I'll tell you who isn't one of my favorites though, and it's Jeffery Spender. Spender will hang around for most of the rest of the series in the background as a semi-important character, and they'll try various avenues to make him interesting. Sometimes he's a hero, sometimes he's a villain, sometimes he's morally ambiguous, but they never got a strong characterization for him outside of "Cigarette Smoking Man's son" and him beginning his run on the series acting like a douchebag doesn't help things. Krycek may switch sides at the drop of a hat, but he's got strong characterization and Nicolas Lea clearly loves playing him.
Speaking of Krycek, this is a good episode for "Scenes that shouldn't work but do." The two big examples are Scully's hypnotism and Krycek's exposition bomb. Scully's scene sounds really lame on paper, but it's well edited and Gillian Anderson sells the shit out of it. Krycek's scene is basically just him telling him "By the by, aliens are real and they're here and they're fighting and it's bad buddy" but Nicolas Lea is still great in the role and he's sells the scene with an admirable intensity.
I also like the Conspiracy scenes a lot. The problem with the Conspiracy in early seasons is that they had to dance around what they were actually talking about, which made their scenes...a little silly frankly. I like that they actually get to say "Alien shit is coming and we're all boned" (not in those words) and actually get to figure out what they're going for. I also really like the Well-Manicured Man in this episode, totally fed up with Krycek and his nonsense. John Neville should have been a bigger part of the series.
And then there's the Faceless Aliens. It's worth remembering, for all of the sillier episodes and sci-fi bits, The X-Files is still a horror show first and foremost, and the Faceless Aliens are the first time since we got the basic rules of how the shapeshifting aliens down that the aliens have felt genuinely scary. Sure they're rebelling against the colonists, but we don't know why and their appearance is horrifying enough that they consistently feel horrifying to be around.
I said at the beginning of the season that Season 5 is the last of the Golden Age of The X-Files, and that's still true, but as fun as this episode is, we're beginning to see the seams in the overarching Myth arc. Creating major status quo shakeups and then undoing them 12 episodes later is not something you do when your story is going well. A lot of this is disguised by the fact that the next set of Myth Episodes is basically part and parcel with the movie (a series high point) but I can't help but feel a little wistful as we begin our approach to season 6. As fun as this episode is (and as much as I still enjoy the series past the end of season 5, it's downhill from here.
Also, whatever happened to Cassandra? I can't remember if they ever bring it up again.
So while all this is happening, the Conspiracy reveals (to each other, but mostly to the audience) that with a vaccine for the Black Oil resisting the aliens is possible and also that a plane crashed and they captured a faceless alien that crashed in West Virginia. They don't need to tell the audience that, the audience saw that. Meanwhile, Scully decides to get some hypnosis to figure out what happened on the bridge. It turns out the Faceless aliens showed up to kill everyone, and then a spaceship showed up to kill them and then abducted Cassandra. That description is pretty dry, but the hypnosis scene is super cool, trust me.
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| "Wait, why is this our hospital room?" "The aesthetic dude, don't even worry about it." |
But he still WANTS to believe (see what I did there?) so when Krycek drops an address for where the captured alien rebel is, he's gotta go check it out. There he witnesses a faceless alien showing up to rescue the first faceless alien (the Conspiracy decided to help out the rebels cause the vaccine worked). This apparently restores Mulder's belief in aliens cause...he's very malleable. Anyway, since we're in the business of undoing big changes from the beginning of the season, in our denoucement, we find out that the man sending the letter in the cold open was the Cigarette Smoking Man. And his son is Jeffery Spender.
As you can tell from the fact that Mulder believes in aliens again and the Cigarette Smoking Man is revealed to have survived being shot, we have reached the point of the series where they got bored of the changes in the status quo that hit in the series premier and just decided to take them back. I get...tired of that quickly, cause I don't like feeling like a series is jerking me around (which is why I still haven't watched more than 1 season of Lost). But I'm invested enough in The X-Files to power on through it, especially since the Alien Rebels are one of my favorite concepts in the series.
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| "Hey uh, any of you ever seen Independence Day?" "No, why?" "No reason." |
Speaking of Krycek, this is a good episode for "Scenes that shouldn't work but do." The two big examples are Scully's hypnotism and Krycek's exposition bomb. Scully's scene sounds really lame on paper, but it's well edited and Gillian Anderson sells the shit out of it. Krycek's scene is basically just him telling him "By the by, aliens are real and they're here and they're fighting and it's bad buddy" but Nicolas Lea is still great in the role and he's sells the scene with an admirable intensity.
I also like the Conspiracy scenes a lot. The problem with the Conspiracy in early seasons is that they had to dance around what they were actually talking about, which made their scenes...a little silly frankly. I like that they actually get to say "Alien shit is coming and we're all boned" (not in those words) and actually get to figure out what they're going for. I also really like the Well-Manicured Man in this episode, totally fed up with Krycek and his nonsense. John Neville should have been a bigger part of the series.
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| You know Mulder, you don't always have to go with your first plan. |
I said at the beginning of the season that Season 5 is the last of the Golden Age of The X-Files, and that's still true, but as fun as this episode is, we're beginning to see the seams in the overarching Myth arc. Creating major status quo shakeups and then undoing them 12 episodes later is not something you do when your story is going well. A lot of this is disguised by the fact that the next set of Myth Episodes is basically part and parcel with the movie (a series high point) but I can't help but feel a little wistful as we begin our approach to season 6. As fun as this episode is (and as much as I still enjoy the series past the end of season 5, it's downhill from here.
Also, whatever happened to Cassandra? I can't remember if they ever bring it up again.
Case Notes:
- How many places in Canada or the US have 10 year old kids collecting the mail? Is this a common thing I just don't know about? I guess the mysterious figure (oooh spooky) just doesn't want anyone to see him.
- Wait, the dam where all the alien lit everyone on fire was in Pennsylvania? That is not a short drive from DC, how did Scully get there so fast?
- Scully managed to save a bunch of abductees. I assume by being just so unstoppably awesome that the aliens wouldn't get near her.
- I do love the fakout of the doctor working on someone and having it turn out to be Marita. Small, but good.
- Mulder is just so happy that Scully is okay, I love them.
- I know he's got a good reason, but Spender immediately deciding to be an asshole to Mulder is not a good way to make me happy he's sticking around.
- I like how little patience the Well-Manicured Man has for Krycek. He sees right through Krycek and is totally unwilling to deal with him, cause he knows Krycek will betray him the first chance he gets. I like the Well-Manicured Man a lot.
- There's a lot of good and subtle work from both Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in the scene where they talk about why Scully follows Mulder. It's a sign of how much the show trusts its audience that it leans the conversation so heavily on our knowledge of their existing relationship.
- The hypnosis scene is pretty solid overall but I really love Scully reaching for Mulder's hand. Adorable.
- I love how basically everyone from the midpoint of the episode on is telling Mulder "Dude, you were right the first time, it's aliens." Scully, the hypnotist, Skinner. It's aliens dude.
- And now Spender is being a prick to Scully. Dude, just fuck off.
- Spender hits Scully with his backstory about how he got abducted and hypnotized when he was a kid and doesn't believe it happened anymore, but it really doesn't excuse him being a dickbag to everyone around him.
- Kryceck gets free and immediately decides to fuck with Mulder. Oh Krycek.
- "I could beat you with one hand." "Isn't that how you like to beat yourself?" and then a moment later "If those are my last words I can do better." A+++ Mulder sass.
- Krycek's little speech could very easily be very very stupid, but Nicholas Lea sells the shit out of it. "Resist or Serve" even became one of the better series catchphrases.
- Mulder's decision, upon finding out about the alien rebel being held captive, is to immediately break into an air force base. Oh Mulder.
- The soldier calling Mulder "Muldaur" is so incredibly funny to me for some reason.
- Mulder just hops on the back of the truck, like it ain't no thing.
- Honestly, why are the normal colonist aliens still using the needle thing if the fire sticks will work? Seems like they're more effective.
- I like the cut from the space ship to Marita's room, back to Mulder on the truck. This episode is really well edited.
- I get that we're using "Canada" as shorthand for Cigarette Smoking Man is in deep hiding, but while North Hatley is a small town, it's also a small town that's functionally a suburb of a city of 150,000+ and about a 90 minute drive from Montreal. He could be deeper in hiding, is me point.
- As always, these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Tune in so I can continue to waste my time talking about The X-Files well into 2019.
Again, I feel that your take on Jeffrey Spender is really unduly harsh... I wasn’t surprised or annoyed by his reactions to Mulder, Scully or the unfolding alien conspiracy/abduction narrative... indeed, I found some of them highly amusing as some of them were very like how a normal person would react if someone unironically advocated these theories in real life. Having invested in these characters for over four seasons, grown accustomed to their quirks, it can be easy to forget how absurd, or even creepy, the main characters’ typical behaviour-patterns can be at times. I imagine that if this episode had been my first meeting with Mulder & Scully then I might be very weirded out and even a little short with them... and it must be said, neither Mulder or Scully have the best people skills either. I can think of many X Files episodes where the leads behaved as badly or worse than Spender does here.
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