Case 06, File 09: S.R.819

AKA: A Weapon To Surpass Metal Gear

Audience knowledge can be a hindrance to crafting an effective story or creating proper stakes. Knowledge that the massive pile of character deaths at the end of Infinity War would almost certainly be undone turned it from tragic to frustrating. And that's especially true in a TV series or other serialized fiction, where we know instinctively that the hero isn't in any real danger. So this episode's solution: Put a secondary character in danger.

Our episode opens with Assistant Director Skinner dying of a disease that makes his veins flare up. A little shot and depressing, but at least the episode was unique. Oh wait, no, we cut then to 24 hours earlier, where in the midst of a boxing match (or possibly boxing practice), he suddenly gets dizzy and get downed. His doctor says he's okay, but he gets a mysterious phone call, telling him he has only 24 hours to live and when he gets to the FBI, he's still feeling sick.

But fortunately Mulder, and his supernatural ability to recognize when something is off, see Skinner and realize he's sick. So Mulder, being the reasonable sort, decides that he must have been poisoned, and after trawling through some footage of the FBI, they find the man they think is responsible, a Dr. Kenneth Orgel, as he'd grabbed Skinner earlier during a visit to the FBI. Mulder and Skinner go and check it out, only to find Orgel being kidnapped. That's weird, right?

So they chase down the kidnappers and discover that they work for the Tunisian embassy, which grants them diplomatic immunity (which I feel doesn't ACTUALLY cover kidnapping and assaulting an FBI agent, but whatever) but Mulder runs a background check on Orgel and discovers he was working on a senate resolution called S.R. 819, which Senator Richard Matheson (remember him?) was working on. Mulder goes and questions Matheson about it, finding out it's about shipping medical equipment somewhere else in the world, but doesn't get much than that.

"Alright Skinner, I need you to get in there and beat him. And for god's sake, stop humming Gonna Fly Now."

Meanwhile, Scully teams up with Skinner's doctor and examines his blood to discover: Nanomachines. Specifically Nanomachines that are building up blockages in his blood and will swiftly kill him. While all this is happening, Skinner is getting into a gunfight in the FBI's parking garage where a mysterious bearded man runs over his assailant. But he's sent back to the hospital with a serious case of Nanomachine Blood. Scully tries desperately to figure out a way to save him while Mulder realizes that S.R. 819 was a bill Skinner was investigating and goes chasing after the bearded man when Skinner gets another threatening call.

Meanwhile Matheson gets called to come to the place where the kidnappers are holding Orgel and finds him also injected with Nanomachine Blood, and the bearded man capable of controlling with a palm pilot (which kinda reduces the tension). Mulder finds Matheson who figured out that S.R. 819 had to do with sending alien tech around the world and vows to expose it.

Skinner realizes that the bearded man had been everywhere, but then catches up with the cold open and dies, only to recover instantly when the bearded man turns off the nanomachines. A few days later, Skinner rejects Mulder's request to investigate further and it is revealed that the bearded man is Krycek, who now has the ability to kill Skinner whenever he wants to and is damned sure gonna use it to control Skinner.

S.R. 819 is a weird episode by Myth arc standards, oddly structured, centered around the danger to an atypical character and with no second episode attached, but consequences that wouldn't be felt until...Jesus, I think the season finale? That doesn't mean it's bad, I actually dig the shit out of this episode, but it does mean that the critical tools I've honed on dozens of other Myth arc episodes will need to be readjusted to take a look at this episode.

"My god Otacon, what is it?"
"I'm telling you Mulder, I don't get these references.

Well our first place we should probably look should be Skinner, our main(?) character. Is he the main character of this episode? He's the one in peril, but I think Mulder and Scully do end up with more screen time. That feels like a flaw. Anyway, he's the focus in any case. Skinner was created as sort of a morally ambiguous character, someone whose loyalty was always in question, but he hasn't fulfilled that role in a while, since he became something of a staunch Mulder/Scully ally. I like that their solution to put him back in that role doesn't rely on rolling back his character development, instead putting him under the thumb of a much more treacherous character.

This actually leads to one of the flaws in the...I guess series at this point, and that's Krycek. Krycek is a hard to gauge character, because he's a variation on a popular character archetype, the id powered wild card who not only makes things more fun, but also can move pieces around the plot when needed. Krycek is similar, but instead of id, he bounces around betraying everyone and while I like the character, at this point it's gotten silly and it makes him hard to take seriously. Why should I even worry about his plot in this episode, he's probably going to just betray whoever he's working for right now.

Speaking of treachery, this episode features the triumphant return of Senator Richard Matheson who does...uh, very little actually. He's fundamentally a member of the conspiracy in this episode, an older white man who winds out of his depth when Krycek betrays them (man, the conspiracy is not a very diverse group is it?) Matheson's primary purpose in being in this episode is to be a redirect. Those of us who remember Matheson will think he's a good guy and learning he's actually working on behalf of the evil bill of the title is a solid twist. Though I gotta assume people who don't remember him will be very confused.

The rest of the episode isn't up to that level of storytelling. I didn't totally get why the Tunisian embassy is working with Krycek (last we saw him he was working with the Conspiracy to find the Cigarette Smoking Man, what happened?) and a lot of motivations kinda get shuffled around and by the end I wasn't totally sure why Krycek did what he did. That's not an insurmountable flaw, Krycek spends a lot of time doing random stuff in this series, but I'd like to know why.

"Oh you know, ups and downs, peaks and valleys but uh, Krycek abides."

Still, there's a lot of good in this episode. We get a lot of strong characterization for Skinner in this episode, which is good as he's been sidelined for a while, since Kersh took over as Mulder and Scully's boss. I also feel like, while the result is unsatisfying, the mystery itself is really well done, intense with well defined stakes and some solid acting from Duchovny and Anderson.

The Myth Arc episodes are in an odd place at this point, usually stretched out into two part episodes that always feel like they're just messing around too much. So I guess I prefer Myth arc episodes that only have one part and feel a little unsatisfying, partially cause it leaves me wanting more and partially cause it leaves more room for Monster of the Week episodes.

Case Notes:

• I like that the dialogue in the first part of the cold open is clearly intended to make the audience think it's Mulder in the hospital. He's an FBI Agent, he wants us to call Scully, you get the idea.
• The makeup used to achieve the Skinner-is-fucked-up effect is pretty good.
• Skinner narration, that's pretty rare. He's ranting about choice and how he chose not to pick a side and how that's shit.
• Skinner is part of a boxing group because he solves all his problems with his FIST.
• Skinner getting dizzy and sick during his boxing match but keeping going is an obvious choice dramatically, but it actually fits his character.
• A reference to Mike Tyson biting a guy's ear off is an old reference now, but it's pretty contemporary to this episode.
• The halting, electronic text-to-voice on the phone is straddling that line between silly and scary.
• First we see Mulder he's sitting alone, at his desk, in the dark, tossing pencils into the ceiling. You can take Mulder out of his office, but he's still Mulder.
• "You are so paranoid Mulder." Stating the obvious are we?
• Scully wants Skinner to take it easy if he's been poisoned. Skinner wants to go solve the problem with violence. Perhaps he and Scully have more in common than they think.
• I like the scene at the house where they try to capture the men holding Orgel a lot. It's been a while since our intrepid heroes got into an honest-to-god gunfight.
• It's been so long since Mulder had an actual investigation he was assigned to, I'd forgotten how much he does not give a fuck about the rules.
• Oh fuck, I'd forgotten that the explanation for this episode was nanomachines, like it's Metal Gear Solid.
• Holy shit, is that Senator Matheson? Jesus, when was the last time we saw him, season 3?
• I like that Mulder is just firing his pieces of the puzzle out of a cannon when he meets the Senator and is blissfully unaware of how insane he sounds.
• Skinner is so busy looking at his blood rash in the mirror that he doesn't notice the Tunisian diplomat get out of his car, stand in plain sight and aim his gun. Come on Skinner, be better than that.
• The Tunisian diplomat just gets run down in the middle of a parking lot, that's pretty solid.
• I'm sorry, the doctor working with Scully to find the nanomachines is named "Doctor Plant"?
• Mulder rips open the envelope when he is holding a letter opener, come on man.
• I like that the threat in this episode develops because Skinner is investigating a bill for violating export laws. Mmm, actual FBI work.
• Come on Krycek, why are you text-to-speeching from inside the hospital?
• Not to doubt his murdering capabilities, but the Krycek looks like he just came from a Big Lebowski audition.
• The pulsing veins effect on Dr. Orgel in Krycek's Jigsaw building is VERY scary, I like it.
• I'm pretty sure I've seen the cure Scully suggests (filtering all of Skinner's blood out) on House.
• Mulder of course doesn't tell anyone where he's going when he goes to look for Krycek.
• I know tech changes and all that, but it's hard to escape the fact that Krycek is controller Skinner's nano-bots via palm pilot.
• I can't tell if Mulder is checking to see if Skinner is trustworthy when he shows Skinner the pictures from the security tapes. It's very clearly Krycek.
• Oh wait, the reveal that it was Krycek is supposed to be a twist for the ending? Did I just know that, or do I just recognize Krycek all the time now?
• As always these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Tune in so I can afford my anti-nanomachine injections.

Future Celebrity Watch:

I am stretching the definition of "Celebrity" well past the breaking point but Kenneth Tigar, who plays the doctor Scully works alongside played the old German man who stood up to Loki in The Avengers. I found it on IMDB and had to mention it.