Case 06, File 07: Terms of Endearment

AKA: Ash Is The Evil Dead

Content Warning: This Review discusses miscarriages. If reading about that is a problem for you, I understand and I'll see you next time.

Fame is a complex thing; A person may be very famous in one circle and a complete unknown in another. I am reminded of when I watched the episode Sleepless with a friend (prior to doing these reviews mind) and pointed out Tony Todd in the villain role, and they just had no idea who Tony Todd was. So, when you're casting an actor to play against type or to subvert expectations, you have to have a good idea of who your audience is and who they would find famous.

Our episode opens with a couple, Wayne and Laura Weinsider, getting a sonogram and learning that their upcoming baby has some unique complications (it looks like the baby has horns, is what no one is willing to say). Both of them seem pretty upset, but they agree to take it in stride and see what happens. Turns out they don't need to though as that night a demon shows up and uh...just sorta takes the baby, the mechanics aren't super clear. Laura wakes up thinking it's a dream but then finds that she has, in fact, miscarried.

The sheriff of the town (who is Laura's brother) brings the case to Spender's attention but Spender is a jackass and ignores it, so Mulder digs it out of his trash (and reassembles it: Spender shredded it) and heads off to investigate, when he should be with Scully doing background checks on government employees. He interviews everyone but finds that he is weirdly suspicious of Wayne.

Scully, after reviewing the evidence, thinks that Laura had an abortion (which is illegal in Virginia after the third trimester) while Wayne is burning something weird in the yard. Mulder still suspects Wayne though, and the audience gets some clues Mulder might be right when Wayne goes and visits his other wife, who is also pregnant and about to get a sonogram. Scully and Mulder go and interview Laura and Wayne, returning from his visit to his other family, decides the best thing he can do is lie to Laura and tell her that he found her chanting to the baby's body and he took the body and burned it.

She buys it, and the police, being dummies, also buy it. Mulder doesn't though, and when Wayne leaves to go and try to visit his other wife, Mulder follows him, preventing him from making it to the sonogram. Mulder even follows him to a checkup on another family (where Wayne talks wistfully about wanting kids, and also reports Mulder to Kersh). Wayne then goes and visits Laura in prison where she questions his version of events and he responds by uh, sucking out her soul. Uh, dunno if that's an appropriate response dude.

"I'd love to help you sir, but I'm too much of a jackass."

But despite needing your soul for living, the EMTs save Laura and take her to the hospital, while Wayne buggers off to his other family, where he learns that his baby there has the same defects. Meanwhile Mulder and Scully dig into Wayne's background and discover he moved here from the Czech Republic, that he has a lot of different aliases, that two of his previous wives died with little evidence of how and that he has another address across the county. So Mulder, being the rational sort, assumes that it means Wayne is demon. And them finding a bunch of demon baby corpses in his yard proves Mulder is right.

Wayne immediately pulls the same stuff on his second wife (whose name is Betsy) who proceeds to grab him by the literal throat and tell him to knock it off. Later, while heading over to Wayne's they find Betsy in the road who looks like she had a miscarriage and says Wayne took her baby. But, when they get there, Wayne is just digging up the yard and before he can explain why, Laura's brother (remember him?) shoots him. Wayne gives back Laura her soul and dies, but Mulder and Scully find a bunch of normal baby bodies under the yard. And the episode ends with Betsy driving off, with her demon baby and demon eyes, as she was apparently seeking a demon baby.

Okay, I gotta eat crow for a minute: I said in my last review that the next two episodes were comedic, and that was, I admit, based on my sketchy memories of this episode. I remember Bruce Campbell's presence and the, dark but amusing, final twist. The episode as a whole is pretty dark though, a weird and often conceptually gross (albeit pretty clean in execution) concept. The next episode is a funny one though, that much I'm sure of.

"Wayne, why did you get the most ominous looking furnace in the world?"

And our plot is a pretty good one. It's built around a series of major twists (second family, demon, Betsy is also a demon) but it flows around them pretty nicely. Rather than jerk from plot point to plot point, it actually manages to keep the pace up by focusing on other elements of the plot. I remain very fond of the reveal that Betsy is a demon, because up until the moment she grabs Dwayne, it seems like it's just going to be a repeat of the earlier scene to up the stakes. Even six seasons in, the series can still throw a solid twist into the works.

Part of what makes that twist work is the fame of the man at the center of it, and the genuinely great performance he gives. Casting Bruce Campbell as a demon is a great way to subvert his established fame among a good portion of The X-Files fanbase (since he's famous as a demon fighter, something his later work like My Name is Bruce and Ash vs. Evil Dead would take great advantage of), and Campbell sells the hell out of it. Despite him being a demon, he manages to find a lot of humanity in what could have been a much more one dimensional character. I'm not saying what he does is acceptable (it's pretty clearly not) but understanding his motivation for doing it makes the plot more interesting. How come people haven't tried giving him more dramatic work.

The script does a lot of heavy lifting in that department, giving Wayne a lot of either alone time or one on one time with Mulder or one of his wives (putting Scully out of state for the majority of the episode gives up some more time to the secondary characters), allowing Wayne to feel like a fully fleshed out human. Well demon. You get my point.. I really like the detail of Wayne giving Laura back her soul at the end, it makes his regret at killing her (and their children) seem more genuine. As I said, the character is irredeemable, but having him feel some remorse makes it more interesting.

Best shot in the episode? Best shot in the episode.

I will say, I wish the episode had some more pacing or stakes in the middle stretch. The twists require a lot of downtime to set up and let misdirects build, but the end result is that the episode feels like it's just sort of coasting along after the cold open until Laura gets her soul sucked out. I like that the episode is confident enough in its plot to not artificially inflate the stakes, but it could maybe hint that Laura's life is in danger earlier. Oh and I guess Laura could be more of a character. Betsy obviously can't be, because expanding on her would reveal the big twist, but we could get a bit of a better read on Laura's thoughts and feelings.

Terms of Endearment may not be a funny episode, but it's definitely a weird one, one that a lesser known show probably wouldn't get away with. The series has always had a weird habit of putting depth and care into its monsters, and actually making one a sympathetic villain, without falling into the trap of not making him a villain at all, is a tough line to walk, and one this episode does excellently. 

Case Notes:

• I like how exasperated Wayne  acts in response to the news he gets at the beginning of the episode, it's good telegraphing of the first twist, as is his "I just want it to be normal" line.
• I love the hard cut from the first wife asleep in bed to her in the light of the fire, it's a good shocking cut.
• The slow burn reveal that the cop isn't talking to Mulder is solid. I wonder why they never did a full episode of Spender and Fowley doing an investigation, besides the fact that Spender is a twit.
• Also solid? Mulder bullshitting the detective that he's there on assignment.
• Mulder having the reconstructed paper is a good example of how obsessive he is. He dug through Spender's trash and taped together shredded paper. Good stuff.
• Mulder suspects Wayne immediately because...well he's Mulder.
• Scully interviewing the guy is comedy gold. But seriously, have you ever consorted with people who smoked pot? How is anyone who went to college gonna answer that question no?
• "Scully this is a classic case of demon fetal harvesting." Amazing Mulder, just amazing.
• I know the thing in the backyard is just a furnace to burn leaves but they do such a great job making it look scary.
• Mulder slept in his car? Can he not afford a hotel without the FBI paying for it?
• Mulder doodling horns on Wayne's picture is amusing.
• Mid-episode reveal that Wayne has another family is really good, especially since there's not a lot of hints toward it in the lead in.
• Given the shit going down in Alabama right now, the bit about the wife getting arrested for possibly aborting their kid is really rough to watch.
• Mulder just casually dropping that "Devil" thing in when talking with Wayne is really good Mulder nonsense.
• Wayne character gaslighting his wife to say that she did it and that he burned the body to protect her is dark, darker than I expected.
• I like Mulder telling Wayne he's on to him, but Mulder, you need to stop doing that.
• I love Mulder stalking Wayne going to his second wife's house. When he gets on board with an idea he does not give it up.
• I do like that Laura figures out that Wayne is full of shit. It nearly gets her killed, but it's nice that she's not totally passive.
• The episode loses a bit of steam once we know that Wayne is a demon and we're just getting everything in place for our big twist, but I like Mulder and Scully arguing in the hospital, they've been apart for too long this episode.
• Hey, they're using the mapping equipment from Jurassic Park.
• The HARD twist in the middle of the second baby snatching sequence is still great. I love Wayne's second wife just revealing she won't take his shit.
• I also love her bullshitting Mulder and Scully, playing off their expectations for what's going on.
• Man, it took me to his final monologue to fully take on board, Bruce Campbell is really good in this episode.
• I like Wayne giving Laura back her soul as he dies, it helps make him a more complex character who did actually care for Laura (in his own, demonic, way).
• As always, these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Check it out so I can bring you more searing insights like: Bruce Campbell is pretty good in this episode.

Current Celebrity Watch:

Okay, here's the big one: Wayne Weinsider is, of course, played by one Bruce Lorne Campbell. I'm not joking, that's his real middle name. He's famous for playing the lead character in Sam Raimi's directorial debut The Evil Dead and has been hanging around B-Movies, horror flicks and TV ever since. Modern audiences probably know him best for his secondary character on Burn Notice.

Also, while Lisa Jane Persky. who plays Laura, never got properly famous, (she was most famously in a movie called The Great Santini) I will tell you she was in KISS Meets The Phantom of the Park, because I am legally obligated to bring that movie up at every natural opportunity.

Audio Observations:

During no less than two separate driving sequences Only Happy When It Rains by post-Grunge band Garbage plays. Honestly, their self titled first album and Version 2.0 (their second album) are two of my favorite albums, so I dunno if I can be objective about it, but I really perked up when that song started playing.