Case 8.5, File 05: Three Men and a Smoking Diaper

AKA: I Haven't Seen Three Men And A Baby Either

As The Lone Gunmen settles more naturally into a comedy mindset, it's going to have to start figuring out what kind of stories it wants to tell. Sure it could lean into The X-Files stuff and have the characters chase monsters and conspiracies, but the more overt comedic tone of the show makes those kinds of episodes feel incongruous, and besides, feeling too similar to the show it's spinning off from is how spinoffs sink. As such the show has two major directions it can go; Either lower the stakes so they can fit more nicely into the style or raise them to ridiculous levels to make the whole thing feel like a parody.

Our episode kicks off this time with the Gunmen hacking into a reporter's earpiece and making him ask Senator Jefferson about the recent death of a campaign worker that they suspect he was having an affair with. But they're swiftly found out and dragged off by the police. When they get out and grab their van from impound they find that someone has written an RX number on the windshield, which they realize means they have a potential mole in Senator Jefferson's campaign.

So while Langly and Frohike infiltrate a doctor's office to get the prescription attached to that RX number and end up faking Frohike having really bad gas (it's a funnier scene than it sounds in description), Byers and Jimmy wind up sending Jimmy in to infiltrate the campaign to get fingerprints and figure out who it is. But he's only been there 2 minutes before he's bumbling around overhearing conversations from his aides (Brenda and Jock, and yeah it did take me all episode to absorb those names) about how they need to cover for the Senator's mistakes.

So Langly and Frohike follow the trail left by the prescription, find an apartment owned by the (dead) campaign worker and find a baby there! Dun dun-oh that's not ominous. Anyway, they realize the kid must be the campaign worker's kid with the Senator and, after some discussing, Byers and Jimmy decide to continue to pursue their end of the investigation, even though Jimmy actually likes the Senator. And he continues to like him even though he finds out the Senator has a condition that causes him to randomly collapse. This actually ends up not mattering all that much, but it sure does happen and we get a couple laughs out of it.

It takes them an inordinate amount of time to notice this message.

Anywho, after some futzing about with Yves coming over to help Frohike and Langly take care of the baby (is she just in the gang now? It's cool either way, I'd just like some clarification), Jimmy gets offered a bribe to keep the info about the Senator's condition quiet, which only lights a fire under him to prove the Senator is no good, so he goes and brings everyone coffee and then collects their coffee cups to get their fingerprints. Not sure why the Gunmen didn't think of that before, that's literally what interns do, but better late than never.

Hokay, bring it home; They find out that the informant was one of the Senator's aides. No, not Brenda whose had characterization and screen time, Jock. He did it because he's tired of cleaning up the senator's messes, but it does turn out the senator didn't know anything about the campaign worker's death but Jock didn't intentionally kill her either, her death really was an accident. So the Senator, learning about his illegitimate son, decides to go out and tell everyone. And so, the episode ends with the race still possibly going to him after he shows up at the Gunmen's hideout to pick up his kid. And I guess Brenda is there too. Not sure why.

Three Men and a Smoking Diaper is by far the most comedic episode of The Lone Gunmen thus far, but that's not the sly insult it seems to be. If the series is going to make this setup work (and we're going to forget that it's not) it has to actually work with the tools it has in its toolbox. And while that toolbox is frighteningly low on drama, horror and even sci-fi tools (IE the major building blocks of the show it's spinning off from) the toolbox is overflowing with comedy tools. I think I might have mixed my metaphors there, but you get the idea.

It's a long journey to get to this bit, but it's a funny bit.

Jimmy, for example, is increasingly someone the show is more comfortable leaning on, both for comedy and storytelling purposes, and that's a good thing. The Gunmen are funny yes, but Jimmy has a unique energy from the three of them that really comes into its own here. The emotional core of the episode is built around Jimmy's belief in the Senator and he drives a lot of the action in the third act, both in terms of what happens (they're really pushing the idea that he's perceptive in a roundabout sort of way) and the thematic beats. And he pulls it off with a surprising amount of sincerity, along with doing a solid job with the physical comedy he's called on to do.

The rest of the Gunmen mostly spend the episode hanging around, either caring for the baby or just generally trying to assist Jimmy, but that's not to mean there's no fun to be found with them. Frohike and Yves remain a delightful duo when they're just semi-flirtatiously bouncing off each other, and Frohike and Langly work extremely well together. They built an entire subplot around the idea that we'll find the three of them entertaining together and that turned out to not be a bad bet.

The rest of the subplot, as well as the back half of the episode, is built around a pretty generic, but reasonably well executed, "Unprepared men have to care for a baby" plotline. None of it is new, but they do an okay job with most of it, either tailoring it for the characters (witness the nightmarish contraption they strap the kid in) or to their actor's strengths (the kid peeing on Langly isn't funny, but him barking "Are ya done!?" at him is).

Seriously, this thing is terrifying, but it does look like something Langly and Frohike would build.

The main plot is a little lightweight, and is building towards what was, in retrospect, a really obvious Bill Clinton joke, but that's good. Trying to make the show's comedic tone work with heavier stakes like the last episode feels incongruous, and also makes me wonder how the Gunmen haven't been more successful if they're doing big scale work like finding a water powered car. Trying to unseat a sleazy politician seems like its more these characters speed and it works much better with the tone. It's not a terribly complex mystery (I feel like I want a better point of comparison for the villain being the dude who exists but doesn't do anything more than Scooby-Doo) but it executes its plot well enough and that's all you can ask.

The specter of "What if" always hangs over TV shows that fail, and while I do very much wish we'd gotten more of The Lone Gunmen, this episode more than any other so far I thinks tells us what further episodes would have been like; A light mystery, some solid comedy beats and a general tone of hanging out with some characters you like. Much worse shows have coasted for a lot longer on a lot less.

Maybe they should have sprung for a Mulder or Scully cameo earlier though.

Case Notes:

• Opening the episode with some footage of a campaign makes me real happy I didn't hit this episode in October.
• The Gunmen breaking into a newsman's audio feed to make him ask really nasty questions about a woman's death (and her possibly having had an affair with the candidate) seems like the sort of thing a real hacker would do. That is not a compliment.
• Okay the behind the scenes newsguy saying that the anchor is too stupid to make up those questions got a laugh from me.
• Not sure how the news guy spotted the fact that Byers hijacked the transmission with a balloon but whatever.
• Jimmy trying to claim he's from 60 Minutes is good stuff.
• I actually kinda dig Langly's confrontation with the cop at the impound, it's a good moment for Dean Haglund to do some acting and the fact that the cop basically instantly threatens him with violence feels real.
• Jimmy not knowing who Deep Throat was and reacting accordingly got a chuckle.
• I am amused by Langly and Frohike going to investigate the prescription number they got without even the ghost of a plan is worth a chuckle.
• I was set to condemn the show for going for a fart joke but the fact that the joke went on for like 20 seconds and the increasingly dramatic camera angles actually made it come around and be really funny.
• Byers saying that he got the forensic adhesive from a "Friend at the FBI" makes me feel like the show really wants to say "Mulder" but isn't allowed to.
• Jimmy getting to be a volunteer by giving a very sincere sounding speech is good use of Jimmy.
• Also, as someone who's coordinated volunteers at a campaign before, I gotta say that asking what "Special skills" Jimmy brings kinda makes you a shit volunteer coordinator, find something for him to do.
• The bit with Jimmy and the glue seems like it should probably be stupider than it is, but it just kinda works. Jimmy is good at physical comedy, and he's such a handsome looking guy that it's nice to make him the object of fun.
• I get that it's a storytelling shortcut, but I feel like the two campaign workers should have done a better job of checking to make sure the bathroom was empty before doing exposition.
• I like Frohike and Langly reacting to the dialogue on the TV like it was being said to them.
• The Senator's "Love Nest" where he's keeping the baby is basically a full on hotel bar, how are they keeping it a secret?
• The Senator having a condition that made him randomly pass out is an interesting wrinkle.
• Couple of really solid edits in the bit with Jimmy at the campaign headquarters.
• Not sure how I feel about Yves being the only one who knows how to care for a baby, but I like that she doesn't question for a second that the kid is Frohike's.
• Jimmy clearly not knowing what angina is a bit that just doesn't land. I see what they're going for, and the follow up conversation with the lady campaign manager (Brenda?) is okay, but it's just not very funny.
• I like that Jimmy, while clearly dumb, is not so dumb that he can't figure out that he's being bribed.
• Jimmy's subplot appears to be about him losing his innocence but the episode doesn't take his loss of innocence seriously enough for it to be meaningful. I'm not complaining, not totally, I feel like that subplot would be too heavy for this episode if they took it seriously.
• Yves telling Langly and Frohike that it's unmanly to not know how to care for a kid is much better.
• Yves and Frohike at the baby class is a decent enough bit, but the episode throws it off with Frohike wearing the ridiculous bra thing.
• Jimmy is pretty clever coming up with the coffee cup idea.
• Yves believing they're failing by not telling the public what they know is a weird beat for such a mercenary character. I guess with such a limited run of episodes they have to pull her through her character arc fast.
• The Senator coming to collect the kid and Frohike and Langly not wanting to let him go is the way the story has to end, but it works okay.
• I get that the Senator is supposed to be an extended Bill Clinton reference, but the fact that he named his kid William Jefferson is just a bit too much.
• The Senator (probably) getting reelected feels like it's a little too rosy for this show but I guess they earned it.
• As always, these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Check it out so I can afford to run for office...that joke would be funnier my degree wasn't in Political Science.

Future Celebrity Watch:

Christopher Rich, who plays Senator Jefferson, was a main character on Reba, a sitcom starring Reba McEntire. I don't know what to do with the information that Reba McEntire had a sitcom which lasted for 6 seasons, but I have it now.

Audio Observations:

You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman by Carole King plays over the final scene at the Gunmen's hideout. I think the implication is that it's playing on the Gunmen's radio but it doesn't seem like their music taste?

Also the in-universe band at the Senator's rally sing Soulville by Ben Webster and Oh Happy Day by Edwin Hawkins. They also sing a song about Senator Jefferson. Do Senators usually get theme songs? I want a theme song.