AKA: The Devil and Ms. Scully
Scully has been an important part of many of the Myth Arc episodes, but she's never really had any personal interactions with most of the conspiracy, so even though she's been victimized by them a lot (a lot a lot) she's never gained the personal enmity with them that Mulder has with say, the Cigarette Smoking Man or Krycek. But with Duchovny's exit coming down the line like a freight train, and with no idea of what the story of the series is going to be going forward, I think it's about time Scully got some personal antagonism with the Conspiracy.
Our episode opens with a couple in Virginia who are refusing to let their son get treatment for his cancer cause they think God will fix it. That night some bright light and human forms show up outside the kid's window, showing that soon the kid will be fixed and also soon the parents will be insufferable. Sure enough, in the morning both Mulder and Scully get alerted to the fact that the kid got cured (Scully gets a local paper on her doorstep), and Scully gets sent off to Virginia to go check it out.
Upon arriving she finds that the kid has indeed been miraculously cured and also the family is indeed insufferable, but she also finds that he has a scar on his neck, leading Scully to conclude that he has the chip in his neck that cures cancer...like the chip she has that cured her cancer? I feel like that's a loose interpretation of the chip in her neck, but whatever, Cigarette Smoking Man shows up in her car and tells her that he cured the kid to get her attention. She tells him to go screw, but he tells her he has access to knowledge that could cure all diseases but she has to call him at a specific number and not tell Mulder.
She resists for a bit, but then has the number traced back to an office, and goes there to confront him. He tells her that he's dying from something to do with his surgery and he wants to pass on this knowledge before he dies, but she still can't tell Mulder and also they have to drive around for 3 days? I didn't follow that logic, but she agrees, leaving with him. But! She's also wearing a wire! Dun dun dun!
On the trip Cigarette Smoking Man talks a lot of stuff about his relationship to her and her relationship to Mulder, but mostly takes her to meet an 118 year old woman who still seems like she's in good health. Scully isn't super interested in that, but she does take out the tape from her wire and mail back to Mulder. Which would be a good plan, but a strange man who's been following them since the Cigarette Smoking Man's office intercepts it. Dun dun-Oh I already made that joke. Shit.
Anyway, back at the ranch, Mulder talks to Scully's landlord and discovers that she's gone off with the Cigarette Smoking Man and pulls out all the stops to find her; Asking Skinner if he knows where she is and also recruiting the Lone Gunmen. They discover that someone has been using her computer to communicate with some guy named Cobra, convincing him to meet her to hand over the info. Meanwhile, back with Scully, she falls asleep at the wheel and the Cigarette Smoking Man takes her to his house to sleep. That will be much much creepier about 4 seasons down the line.
Anyhoo, the next day after some arguing, Cigarette Smoking Man and Scully go to dinner and wait for Cobra, but Cobra doesn't show, and when he goes for a smoke break, it's revealed the dude following them is working for him. Also while Scully looks away, she gets a note to meet Cobra out on the cove the next morning. She does, and gets the data from him, but the dude who works for Cigarette Smoking Man shoots him and is about to shoot Scully before Cigarette Smoking Man shoots him! Everybody follow that?
So Scully heads back to shore and tries to take the data back to Mulder, only to find that Cigarette Smoking Man switched the CD with a blank CD when Scully handed him it to him in a moment that honestly felt kind of contrived but whatever, I can roll with it. She also finds the office building he was working in deserted and that the tape she mailed to Mulder never arrived, and realizes she was being played the whole time. And thus the episode ends with Cigarette Smoking Man chucking the data into a lake. Kind of a downer ending.
En Ami is kind of a slightly disjointed episode in my opinion, and I wouldn't blame anyone for whom it doesn't totally work. But it works for me, in spite of several major flaws, because it focuses heavily on a relationship that seems like it should have been there more throughout the series. This is the last myth arc episode before the season finale (unless All Things counts as a Myth arc episode? Maybe in retrospect?) and it's nice to see Scully finally jump into a more personal enmity with the Conspiracy head first.
The bulk of the episode is given over to Scully and Cigarette Smoking Man's wacky road trip and it's an interesting conceit, primarily devoted to backfilling a lot of feelings the Cigarette Smoking Man has for Scully, and while they're clearly basically invented for this episode, they make sense. He has affected her life a lot, from having her abducted in season 2 to helping Mulder save her from cancer in season 5, so it makes sense that he'd feel some kind of way about her. And it's nice to see him seem to feel something, even while Scully responds with barely controlled hostility most of the time.
I also like the big reveal that Cigarette Smoking Man is playing Scully. Of course it's a foregone conclusion that he is (whenever he has an interaction with our heroes that doesn't involve a gun getting pointed at someone, it's usually cause he's playing them) but it's played out in a very engaging way. CSM gives just enough of an indication that he's actually got some emotional investment that it feels like a swerve, and we get the reveal early enough that we understand his actions in the finale and it doesn't feel like a last minute rug pull. I especially like the ending reveal of how totally he played her, with the fake building and him hacking into her computer.
Which does lead to one of the episode's major issues, that a lot of the episode has to feel a little contrived to get the characters where they need to be. This is the back half of season seven, Scully should know better than to trust Cigarette Smoking Man with anything, but she blithely goes along with it, and even manages to hand over the data to him. I dunno how to solve this problem, but I guess that having them forced to work together by circumstances would be better, even if it is cliche. I'd rather the scenario feel contrived than the character actions.
The Mulder subplot is also on the weak side, mostly cause it doesn't actually matter. It's primarily designed to give the audience the information about Cobra and Cigarette Smoking Man hacking her computer, but Mulder doesn't end up doing anything with that information, he just sort of waits for Scully to come back. A little more action on his part might make him feel more involved. And on the note of feeling more involved, I wish Scully had actually done something in the climax. It's a nice little shootout, but maybe she could do more than reach for Cobra's body.
And there's one thing that I've been kind of reticent to bring up, because it's not IN the episode per say, but it does affect how I read the episode. There's a pretty big retcon in Season 11, regarding the fatherhood of Scully's son and the events of the episode, which I won't spoil before we get there, but does paint a lot of this episode in a much darker light. I've been debating how much I should factor that into my review; I've been TRYING to focus on each episode on its own, and holding the events of an episode that wouldn't air for 18 years after this one against it feels unfair. So I guess I'll bring that up in more detail when we hit Season 11.
Ultimately En Ami is an exercise in character building more than it's an important story for the larger Myth Arc or an action packed thrill ride. And while that might seem like an odd thing to do, seven seasons in with the exit of one of its two leads less than 10 episodes away, one of the things I love about The X-Files is that it cares enough about its characters to give us such a character centric episode at this stage in the game, so I can never find it in my heart to truly dislike this episode.
She resists for a bit, but then has the number traced back to an office, and goes there to confront him. He tells her that he's dying from something to do with his surgery and he wants to pass on this knowledge before he dies, but she still can't tell Mulder and also they have to drive around for 3 days? I didn't follow that logic, but she agrees, leaving with him. But! She's also wearing a wire! Dun dun dun!
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| Sign not pictured: Down With This Sort of Thing |
Anyway, back at the ranch, Mulder talks to Scully's landlord and discovers that she's gone off with the Cigarette Smoking Man and pulls out all the stops to find her; Asking Skinner if he knows where she is and also recruiting the Lone Gunmen. They discover that someone has been using her computer to communicate with some guy named Cobra, convincing him to meet her to hand over the info. Meanwhile, back with Scully, she falls asleep at the wheel and the Cigarette Smoking Man takes her to his house to sleep. That will be much much creepier about 4 seasons down the line.
Anyhoo, the next day after some arguing, Cigarette Smoking Man and Scully go to dinner and wait for Cobra, but Cobra doesn't show, and when he goes for a smoke break, it's revealed the dude following them is working for him. Also while Scully looks away, she gets a note to meet Cobra out on the cove the next morning. She does, and gets the data from him, but the dude who works for Cigarette Smoking Man shoots him and is about to shoot Scully before Cigarette Smoking Man shoots him! Everybody follow that?
So Scully heads back to shore and tries to take the data back to Mulder, only to find that Cigarette Smoking Man switched the CD with a blank CD when Scully handed him it to him in a moment that honestly felt kind of contrived but whatever, I can roll with it. She also finds the office building he was working in deserted and that the tape she mailed to Mulder never arrived, and realizes she was being played the whole time. And thus the episode ends with Cigarette Smoking Man chucking the data into a lake. Kind of a downer ending.
En Ami is kind of a slightly disjointed episode in my opinion, and I wouldn't blame anyone for whom it doesn't totally work. But it works for me, in spite of several major flaws, because it focuses heavily on a relationship that seems like it should have been there more throughout the series. This is the last myth arc episode before the season finale (unless All Things counts as a Myth arc episode? Maybe in retrospect?) and it's nice to see Scully finally jump into a more personal enmity with the Conspiracy head first.
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| "This is either angels or those ghosts from Poltergeist, and either way I am Here For It." |
I also like the big reveal that Cigarette Smoking Man is playing Scully. Of course it's a foregone conclusion that he is (whenever he has an interaction with our heroes that doesn't involve a gun getting pointed at someone, it's usually cause he's playing them) but it's played out in a very engaging way. CSM gives just enough of an indication that he's actually got some emotional investment that it feels like a swerve, and we get the reveal early enough that we understand his actions in the finale and it doesn't feel like a last minute rug pull. I especially like the ending reveal of how totally he played her, with the fake building and him hacking into her computer.
Which does lead to one of the episode's major issues, that a lot of the episode has to feel a little contrived to get the characters where they need to be. This is the back half of season seven, Scully should know better than to trust Cigarette Smoking Man with anything, but she blithely goes along with it, and even manages to hand over the data to him. I dunno how to solve this problem, but I guess that having them forced to work together by circumstances would be better, even if it is cliche. I'd rather the scenario feel contrived than the character actions.
The Mulder subplot is also on the weak side, mostly cause it doesn't actually matter. It's primarily designed to give the audience the information about Cobra and Cigarette Smoking Man hacking her computer, but Mulder doesn't end up doing anything with that information, he just sort of waits for Scully to come back. A little more action on his part might make him feel more involved. And on the note of feeling more involved, I wish Scully had actually done something in the climax. It's a nice little shootout, but maybe she could do more than reach for Cobra's body.
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| "Ach, I'm bad at this." |
Ultimately En Ami is an exercise in character building more than it's an important story for the larger Myth Arc or an action packed thrill ride. And while that might seem like an odd thing to do, seven seasons in with the exit of one of its two leads less than 10 episodes away, one of the things I love about The X-Files is that it cares enough about its characters to give us such a character centric episode at this stage in the game, so I can never find it in my heart to truly dislike this episode.
Case Notes:
- The father in the beginning is just dropping some exposition, but it's just reminding me how little patience I have for people who refuse to see doctors cause they think God will save them, and even less for parents who force their kids to do that.
- The hard shift from the kid thinking it's aliens outside his window to the reveal it's just some guys in suits is Quite Good.
- I like that the Cigarette Smoking Man gave Mulder and Scully info on the case, as if DARPA e-mailing Mulder wouldn't get him 100% committed.
- I like Scully asking the kid what the angels look like. Shouldn't she be suspicious since she knows what angels look like?
- Scully realizing that the kid has a chip in his neck should prompt some more questions, but she just decides to leave.
- I think I mentioned back in the beginning of the season that I wish we got more Scully vs. Cigarette Smoking Man interplay, so this episode should be good for me.
- Mulder gets a message that Scully is gonna be out of town for a few days and immediately calls her, because he knows he'll die without her.
- The reveal that Scully is wearing a wire is pretty good, although I question the need to zoom in on her breasts.
- I like Mulder instantly figuring out that Scully went off with the Cigarette Smoking Man. Not even two scenes.
- The bit with the Cigarette Smoking Man analyzing Scully lands kind of weird, I guess cause they haven't interacted as much as Mulder and the Cigarette Smoking Man, so it feels less like they're drawing on nearly a decade of background.
- I like that Scully's wire is a way to get a message to Mulder, even if it does get intercepted by the guy that's following them.
- I like the Lone Gunmen's disguises, especially Frohike's wig.
- I'm not totally clear why Scully and Cigarette Smoking Man had to drive around for 30 hours to get to Milford, PA, which is like 5 hours outside of DC.
- The fact that Scully's computer has been hacked by the Cigarette Smoking Man to get a hold of a guy named Cobra, is such a late game swerve, I feel like it could have been set up better.
- The conversation between Scully and Cigarette Smoking Man at the table is the best example of why William B. Davis was such a gift to the show in a while. He sells the genuine emotions he's feeling, as well as the reveal that he's playing her.
- As always, these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Check it out so I can continue to hint that eventually I'll get to Season 11.
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