Case 08, File 20: Essence

 AKA: He's Not Exactly Captain America Here

Since the death of the Conspiracy, The X-Files' overarching plot has lacked a certain sense of urgency. It's not that the series actual stakes have gone anywhere, the invasion is still theoretically impending. But without the human players working in and around that, those stakes have never seemed more nebulous, and I think the series knows it. They needed a new hook to build their Myth Arc episodes around, and with only a little bit of digging, they found one.

Our episode kicks off, after a brief monologue from Mulder about reproduction with a...baby shower. But hey, Scully's mom is here. Except for like, 3 seconds in Deadalive she hasn't been in the show since the Emily episodes, so that's something. Anyway, Scully's mom brings over a nurse friend named Lizzy of hers to help but dun dun dun, Lizzy starts switching out Scully's meds. Also Billy Miles goes and murders one of the doctors who was messing around with Alien Babies a few episodes ago and burns his lab down.

Mulder thinks that's weird, so he enlists Doggett's help investigating it because he's still not technically in the FBI, but he's gonna act like he is. They discover that Dr. Parenti, Scully's former OB/GYN dude worked with this guy and so they go talk to him and find the...room full of mutant babies, which Parenti kicks them out of. Oh and it turns out Lizzy is working with Duffy Haskell, who I didn't recognize at all at first. I probably should have rewatched Per Manum before watching this one, huh?

Anyhoo, they discover the other doctor's body in the ashes of the fire, but before they can go warn Parenti, he gets murdered by Billy Miles, who kicks the shit out of Mulder and takes several shots to the chest, but keeps on chooglin'. Also Doggett is annoyed when Mulder calls Billy an alien hybrid, because he read the files and they have green blood, not red. That's not like, relevant, I just find it funny. Anyway, Lizzy checks in with Duffy who gets instantly murdered by Billy.

At this point Skinner, Doggett and Mulder all know something is borked, and when Scully catches Lizzy switching her meds, she does too. They bring in Lizzy for questioning, but the pills she was switching are just vitamins and she claims she was just supposed to keep an eye on Scully's baby since it was supposed to be perfect. Mulder wants to bolt with Scully, but Billy Miles shows up (I think after drawing the FBI away by pretending to turn himself in) and has them trapped when suddenly Krycek of all of people shows up to run him over and save them.

I primarily chose this one so you'd know I'm not making up that this episode contains a shot of sperm impregnating an egg.

Krycek tells them that Billy is a mindless killing machine sent to stop humanity from figuring out how to survive the invasion and that Scully's kid is key to that. Billy shows up at the FBI to grab Scully but they trick him to go on the roof and knock him off into a garbage compactor while Reyes (no, you didn't just turn over 2 pages at once, Reyes shows up outta nowhere) escapes with Scully. But, twist, one of the dudes who helps them escape is ALSO an alien super soldier. And then we get out To Be Continued.

Essence is one of those episodes that exists primarily to bat cleanup for the rest of the plot arc episodes this season and to load the bases for the next few plot arc episodes (am I using those phrases correctly? I only vaguely get sports metaphors). As such, while it's an entertaining forty minutes, it doesn't always use that time the best for this specific episode. Given that we're in the first part of a two parter (possibly a four parter? I forget how well the Season 9 premier leads off this two parter) it's understandably a little awkward.

It does just bullrush to get all of the exposition out fast though. Krycek mostly exists to quickly explain the super soldier concept, while Lizzy exists primarily to explain a bunch of the stuff behind the cloning stuff. These two things, combined with the speed at which Billy moves through his targets gives the episode a bit of a rushed feeling, especially since it expects us to just be on board with all the returning characters (I had no memory of Duffy Haskell's face, so when Lizzy got in the car with him, I had to stop it and look up who the hell he was and why I should care).

"I can't die now, I just figured out that I shouldn't leave my mutant babies lying around."

But what I found interesting is that, while the plot setup from previous episodes was mostly wasted on me (it took me way too long to remember the events of Per Manum), the character work from previous episodes worked like gangbusters., Yes obviously everyone loves Scully gently caring for Mulder's injuries, but part of me wishes that Mulder and Scully could team up with Doggett more often, because while his chemistry with Scully was a little awkward, he's got a real fun dynamic with Mulder here, with Mulder dragging him around from crime scene to crime scene. I especially like the recurring bit where everyone knows Mulder shouldn't be at the crime scenes but no one is just gonna kick him out.

The problem is, well, despite some good character interactions, it's not very tightly written. As the first half of a two-parter, it has a point where it needs to start, a point where it needs to end and some stuff to accomplish along the way, which leads to some scenes feeling meandering and some feeling rushed. Krycek just comes in out of nowhere without a hint he was even involved, and the only real emotional throughline of the episode (that Scully feels trapped by her pregnancy being the subject of endless scrutiny) gets tossed off in one line and then dropped.

What papers over a lot of that is the fact that...well it's an exciting episode. Billy Miles may only be here because he was in the pilot 8 years ago (and that must have been odd for the actor) but he's got a good sense of menace, and the episode uses him well, with some nice gooey horror sequences combined with solid editing and direction. There's not a lot of action, mostly just two quick chase scenes and the big one at the end, but all three are a lot of fun, and they've each got a pretty neat little stunt. Plus I'm always down for someone getting crushed in a trash compactor, it's a delightfully gross way to deal with him.

"Well ain't that a pisser."

None of this solves the actual issue the series has though, which is the lack of a real human villain. Billy is frightening, and the super soldier concept is good for threatening muscle, but they're basically just the new version of the Alien Bounty Hunter, lacking the human villain to give them understandable stakes (especially since Krycek says they're acting entirely on instinct). The series really needs its Cigarette Smoking Man to give a human face and motivation to its villains (and no, Krycek doesn't count, I don't think even he knows whose side he's on now).

Season 8 is a severely compromised season, rolling in behind the 8 ball with half its main cast missing and having to basically throw its new lead in the deep end. I may have despised it on my first watch purely due to the lack of Mulder, but I've been trying to give it what I think is a fair shake and there is a lot to like. So in the interest of trying to be as fair to Season 8 as I have been to other seasons, I will say that whether this episode is good or not (or whether they manage to bring in a proper villain) depends on whether they stick the landing in the next episode.

Case Notes:

• I dunno how to explain to The X-Files that having Mulder monologue about recreation over a shot of sperm inseminating an egg reads like a parody.
• Scully doesn't want to have a gender reveal party, which is good because they're current responsible for something like 10 city blocks worth of destruction.
• Scully looks kind of uncomfortable at the baby shower, which I like, but I'm also trying to remember if we've seen any of these women before.
• The episode does not beat around the bush with Lizzy Gill being sinister.
• The scene where Billy murders the alien baby stealing doctor is nice and dark; The hard edit on him getting his head exploded is good and the mutant babies remain effectively gross.
• Doggett sitting alone in his house on a Saturday cleaning his gun is good characterization.
• I like that Doggett basically admits he couldn't follow Per Manum at all either.
• I love Doggett trying to pull rank on behalf of Mulder and getting embarrassed by it. I especially love the brief bickering with Mulder before he just goes along with what Mulder wants anyway.
• Doggett and Mulder break into the doctor's office because Mulder's influence is strong.
• Doggett just wanders straight into a mutant baby room, which it feels like a room you should keep locked.
• Mulder and Doggett are interrogating Parenti about his mutant baby room, and then Mulder drops the thing about alien babies, because of course he does.
• When Lizzy gets into the car with the dude, I paused and spent something like a full minute googling to try and figure out if I'm supposed to know who he is. He's from the episode this one is calling back to a lot, but I don't remember his face at all.
• Mulder just keeps walking in and out of FBI areas cause everyone knows they can't stop him.
• I like that Dr. Parenti is packing away his Mutant Baby Jars, as if it just occurred to him that maybe he shouldn't leave those lying around.
• Billy just put Parenti's head in a jar because even though he's an alien enhanced super soldier, he still has a sense of drama.
• Solid action beat here at the middle, with Mulder getting hucked through the plate glass.
• I'm glad that they don't take an opportunity to make a Terminator joke when Billy takes two to the chest and keep going.
• Scully fussing over Mulder's injuries is red meat to the shippers in the audience and I think the episode knows it.
• I like how Billy's kills escalate. First one, we just see blood splatter, second we see the head, third we see him knock the head off and roll a bit.
• I feel like there should be more fervor around the fact that Duffy Haskell had an illegal cloning lab.
• Mulder stop wandering onto crime scenes for god's sake.
• Skinner has basically figured out that Mulder is the father of Scully's baby.
• Scully is naked in a bathrobe and 9 months pregnant and she still manages to scare the shit out of Lizzy. Scully kicks ass.
• The fact that Lizzy is benevolent feels like the way the episode has to go with it, it would be too easy for her to be evil.
• I like the brief reference to the fact that the cloning was started by the conspiracy and they just kept on rolling after all of them dying.
• I feel like Billy maybe shouldn't have announced his presence by shutting off the power in Scully's apartment building.
• The bit where Mulder tries to parallel park his way out in a hurry is bordering on comical. If the implication was that Billy intentionally blocked him in, it doesn't translate to the screen well.
• Krycek showing up to run Billy over is a great reveal but is also just on the wrong side of comical.
• Krycek mostly exists in the final minutes to drop some exposition about super soldiers, but I guess that's okay? Krycek exists enough off screen that he could just find out stuff when no one else is around.
• I like Reyes just randomly getting pulled into this like having just another random character will help. She doesn't even bring her own car.
• The big action sequence at the end where everyone is trying to protect Scully is pretty solid, but it does make me wonder if anyone else works at the FBI.
• Them working together to crush Billy in a garbage compactor is pretty good, and a surprisingly gross way to deal with him.
• I'm not sure how no one noticed that their assistant had his own neck-thing.
• As always these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Check it out so that I can afford my own illegal cloning la-oops, said too much. Good thing no one reads these.

Future Celebrity Watch:

Frances Fisher, who plays Lizzy, had already been in minor roles in a lot of stuff, but would soon go on to a main role in a show called Resurrection, which I'll likely never watch. She's also apparently a recurring character on Watchmen which I will probably eventually watch.