Case 09, File 04: 4-D

AKA: Hey Cause 4th Dimension And His Apartment Number! Clever!

I've gotten asked by people in the past what elements make a good Monster of the Week episode and the honest answer is, there's no specific elements that an episode needs. There are things that help; Unique monster, solid central performance, good hook, on top of the usual things an episode needs (directing, acting, script). But the lack of any one of those central elements won't sink an episode, and frankly having any one won't make it work. If I had to say what an episode needs to be, it's more than the sum of its parts.

Our episode opens with Doggett, Reyes and Brad on a stakeout, tracking a serial killer named Lukesh who has a knack for impossible escapes and steals his victim's tongues (ew). He seems to recognize that he's being watched though, and Reyes gives chase. It doesn't go well as she immediately gets her throat cut and when Doggett chases Lukesh into an alley, Lukesh disappears, reappears behind him and then shoots Dogget in the back with Reyes' gun. That is roughly as bad as a stakeout can go.

But then we cut to Reyes at her new apartment, where Doggett shows up with some Polish Sausages (not a euphemism). Midway through the conversation, Doggett disappears and then Reyes gets a call about how Doggett has been shot. She thinks that's a bit weird, and when she gets to the hospital, she tells Brad, Skinner and Scully that she thinks something is weird, given that Doggett disappeared and got shot instantly. They think she's a bit nuts, but are willing to try with it.

Meanwhile, Skinner has found the bullet that shot Doggett and he's investigating it, when Brad suggests that it could have come from an FBI gun. He and Skinner also have some petty squabbling over sharing information that doesn't actually matter to the plot of this episode, but I think is intended for character building. Whatever, they discover that the bullet came from Reyes' gun and a witness places her at the scene! But the witness is Lukesh!

So after a brief check in with Lukesh's home life (he lives with his ill mother who he cares for but also feeds her his trophies from his kills, and also still has Reyes' gun) he disappears while going out to kill during the night. But, even while Reyes is the main suspect in Doggett's shooting, she's still allowed to visit his bedside. And good thing too, because he briefly wakes up (he was in a coma, and also paralyzed) and taps out Lukesh's name in Morse Code for Skinner to translate.

This is a nice first shot out of the cold open and it's kinda blunt but I like it.

It takes until this moment for anyone to look into Lukesh and it turns out he had a pretty bad mental breakdown after the death of his father. They eventually get Doggett a computer that lets him communicate and he asks how Reyes is alive when Lukesh killed her? This is the catalyst to get Reyes to eventually figure out that Lukesh can travel between parallel universes and that the Doggett who got shot accidentally joined him, and that's where uninjured Doggett in her apartment went to, they can't exist in the same universe.

They bring Lukesh back in and he gets evasive and cagey, and then basically admits to Reyes that she's right when she confronts him. But when he gets home, the FBI has called and his mom has discovered Reyes gun and he kills her to keep her quiet. Reyes takes her theory to Doggett, who begs her to kill him so that she can bring back the uninjured Doggett, but also because I don't think he's super jazzed about being paralyzed.

The FBI decides to bug Reyes' house in case Lukesh shows up, which he immediately does, but finds a way to avoid the cameras because...I dunno, doesn't really matter. Scully realizes she hasn't done anything this episode and figures out something is up, so she and Brad rush in and shoot Lukesh in the head, so that's that dealt with. But, Reyes decides to do what Doggett asks and pulls the plug on him, immediately sending her back to her apartment where Doggett is alive and fine. So uh...yay?

I'm not gonna lie, 4-D kinda fucking rules. It's not up to the level of some classic episodes (and I feel like a callback to Beyond the Sea is ill advised) but it honestly just kind of cooks. It's the first real test of Doggett and Reyes as a duo, without much Scully to support them, and it works really well. If we gotta keep going into 9 (and 10, and 11) seasons, I would prefer the episodes with Doggett and Reyes kick a bit of ass.

Again, this kind of shot is super blunt, but it's striking.

Lukesh as a character is probably the episode's secret weapon; The actor playing him has some excellent screen presence, a kind of creeping weirdness that flips to abject (and still disconcerting) patheticness in some specific scenes. He feels like what would happen if you handed a real serial killer this power, and the quickness with which he crumbles the moment he's not in control makes him feel real in a way that works extremely well for the character.

The central mystery helps make it work, by being well constructed and intriguing. The cold open is one of cold opens that both makes you wonder how they're going to get our leads out of this one and believe it's some sort of flash forward, so when it turns out to be happening now, you're honestly probably pretty intrigued, and the episode parcels information just slowly enough to keep you interested. It's a really well constructed mystery.

Which is why one of the first major issues is that once we have the basics of it, the episode stops working as well. Aside from the Doggett central post-script, once we figure out how Lukesh is killing people and once he kills his mom, the episode basically has to wrap up immediately. The final scene in Reyes apartment seems to come out of nowhere and ends even quicker. Honestly it could stand to be a little more drawn out...and also would it be too much to ask that Reyes gets to pull the trigger? Not Brad? It is basically her episode after all.

Reyes being the focus makes a certain amount of sense, she's the newest character and she needs to build up a little bit, but the episode also has trouble juggling the other character. Doggett doesn't get a lot of screen time, makes sense he's paralyzed most of the episode, but Skinner is very downplayed in this episode and Scully basically isn't in the episode. The series still doesn't know how to juggle four leads and as a result it seems that every episode, someone is getting shortchanged.

"So you uh...gonna shave lower?"

But it doesn't really matter, because Reyes is doing good work in this episode, as is Doggett. You can argue that Doggett's plot is a little ableist, and yeah, begging for death because you're paralyzed is kinda ableist, but it makes sense for his character and situation and both Patrick and Gish play it pretty well. Hell even Skinner does well with his limited screentime; Recognizing from the interrogation what Lukesh's weakness is and immediately beginning to prod it feels very in-character for him and Pileggi plays it very well.

I mentioned earlier that the episode makes an explicit and, in my mind, ill advised callback to Beyond the Sea, one of the best episodes of the entire series and I don't think that was a random choice. I think, on some level, this episode was intended to be for Reyes what Beyond the Sea was for Scully; an opportunity to see what she's like without her partner. And while I don't think it works as well (as creepy as the dude is, he's no Brad Dourif, and the writing is a little weaker) I think that's a worthy goal.

Just, you know, don't try to force it.

Case Notes:

• Wow, Doggett and Reyes doing an actual stakeout, with Brad no less. Actual FBI work, I'm shocked.
• I like the shot emphasizing Reyes' neck, it's a nice callback.
• The scene with Doggett and Reyes in her apartment is a clear attempt to push Doggett and Reyes as the new Mulder and Scully. It doesn't land as well, but it's the first bit of chemistry we've seen between them, so it's good.
• Carey Elwes is still doing a really nice slimy dude performance still, and he and Skinner sparring over control of the case is really solid.
• I like the slow shift to reveal that Lukesh is the one who placed Reyes at the scene is really solid. We still have very little idea what's going on, but he's got good creepy energy so it's good to see him again to build suspense.
• The scene in Lukesh's apartment is good for building character for Lukesh, but it's pushing references to time too much for it to not be relevant.
• Lukesh feeding his mom the tongues from his victims is really gross but in a good way.
• The scene with Doggett in the hospital is very solid, very good at making us question what's going on. The machine they picked seems less efficient than just using more morse code though.
• Lukesh sleeping in bed with his mom is deeply uncomfortable.
• I like the subtle implication that his mom knows more than she's letting on.
• Doggett made a dick joke after being tested for reflexes.
• I like that Reyes uses a little incidental moment to test to see if the Doggett in her apartment was authentic.
• Reyes gets her first figuring out what's going on, with Lukesh passing between dimensions and Doggett accidentally joining him.
• There's something so inherently weird and childish about Lukesh calling his mom "Mama."
• The scene with Lukesh and his mom works really well too, the actor does a really good job selling him losing emotional control of the situation.
• I actually dig the finale with Lukesh and Reyes, even if it gets started and resolved kind of suddenly. Although Scully being in the van reminded me that she's basically not in this episode huh?
• Reyes pulling the plug on Doggett is a nice scene, completely free of dialogue and I love the edit of her returning to her apartment.
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