Case 09, File 10: Providence

AKA: So It's About Rhode Island, Right?

At what point did The X-Files lose control of its storyline. Arguably it never had control, it is very clear in retrospect that the plan for the story was functionally nonexistent and they had been winging it long before everyone figured out they were. But that doesn't need to be a problem, lots of decent stories weren't written with a game plan in mind, and they can work out. No, I think that the problem is a lot stranger and more interesting than a simple lack of a long term plan.

After a brief cold open about the leader of the UFO cult getting rescued in Iraq (the first time around) by super soldiers, our story this time around kicks off where the last one ended; William has been kidnapped right out from under the Lone Gunmen by a lady from the UFO cult, Doggett is in a coma from being hit by a car and the FBI guy (Comer) who tried to kill William is in one from being shot. Brad is leading a task force to find William but the Lone Gunmen aren't cooperating and Scully thinks that Brad isn't actually trying, and tells Skinner that right to his face.

But it turns out the Lone Gunmen aren't really helping the task force, they're helping Scully track down the lady on her own with a phone Beyers dropped in William's car seat, because Scully doesn't trust Brad or Skinner anymore. But even though Reyes is hanging around Doggett's bedside, having heart to hearts with Skinner, she still trusts Reyes enough to go help her grab the lady. Meanwhile, back at the cult (that's a new one), they have the UFO unburied but it immediately closes up with two cultists inside.

Before Scully and Reyes can reach the cult lady in Pennsylvania, she's bolted with William and they're forced to head back to DC. Reyes heads to the hospital chapel to pray for Doggett and runs into Brad...who immediately tells her that he knows about her heading off to Pennsylvania with Scully and wants him to work with her...because Comer just woke up long enough to write down "Jacket" on a piece of paper, and he wants Reyes to find out what it means.

"Look, I know we're being shot at, but we still gotta run in complete unison!"

Scully instantly knows this is a reference to the artifact in his jacket and for reasons I didn't totally follow, decides to use the artifact to heal him. He wakes up and tells them that the UFO cult has a prophecy that William will save humanity if Mulder is alive and destroy humanity if Mulder is dead. Put that down to having a strong male role model. Since he thinks Mulder is dead, he decided to kill a baby to save humanity cause he really believes that prophecy.

Before they can ask any follow up questions, the Toothpick Man shows up at kicks them out of the room. Back at the cult, the rando lady has shown up with William and the UFO opens to reveal that the cultists inside got fried. When Reyes gets back in the room with Comer, Comer is dead and the artifact is gone, and despite her slightly crazy ranting, they refuse to search the Toothpick Man for the artifact. Meanwhile Scully goes to see the still comatose Doggett, who wakes up just in time to tell her not to trust anything she hears and for the cult leader to contact her.

The cult leader drags her all the way up to Calgary to tell her that the only way he'll give William back is if Scully kills Mulder. Turns out Mulder is alive. Anyway, she follows his car back to his compound, but before she can get there, the UFO flash fries everyone except William and then bolts. The next day Doggett and Reyes meet and chat about him hearing her talk while he was in a coma, and Brad wants Kersh to take his name off the report, cause not everything adds up. Oh and the Toothpick Man is a super soldier. Got it?

Provenance and Providence are together two of the oddest episodes in the entire season so far, maybe the entire series. Providence is trying much harder than its predecessor to hammer the super soldier plotline onto older plotlines and then crashes what seems like a dramatic buildup into absolutely nothing. As such they feel like they were made months apart by diametrically opposed teams, as opposed to a week apart and written by the same people. It's frankly baffling.

"He wrote 'Jacket' on this one and 'My Morning' on another. We're baffled."

The conclusion is where a lot of this oddness comes in and it feels like an entirely unforced error too. The cult frankly got a huge buildup over the last 2 episodes that comes to nothing; They kidnapped William, put Doggett in a coma, held Beyers at gunpoint. The cult leader (whose name is Josepho, but I think they say his name aloud once) gets the opening narration and tells Scully that she needs to kill Mulder and then 90 seconds later he's gotten randomly flash fried by a UFO. It's baffling that they didn't try to make them hang around longer.

Josepho is also the sight of the episode's most thankless task, which is hammering the UFO with the marking plotline onto the super solider plotline and it feels like such an afterthought. Having him get rescued in Desert Storm by super soldiers is such a random addition and while it could be interesting, much like all the other cult stuff, it gets left on the table when the cult gets microwaved. There's lots of cool ideas in Josepho's character, from whether the prophecy is based on something or just his own delusions or how he knows Mulder is alive or not, but all of them just get cut off when the cult is killed.

It doesn't help that there's just plain not a lot going on in this episode outside of the cult plot. The weird thing with Doggett hearing voices in his coma and Reyes praying over him isn't much more than a handful of lines, and doesn't amount to much (maybe it'll come back) and while I recall the Toothpick Man becoming an important character in the rest of the season, his appearance here is pretty low key and kind of dull. There's also the fact that Comer could have the potential to be a really interesting character and even backfill some of the stuff about the cult, but he dies unceremoniously, so never fucking mind. Even Brad's shifting loyalties seem more like setups for future plots than anything relevant to this episode, and I do think Brad is one of the more valuable additions to the secondary characters in a long while.

Honestly, while I'm not ready to declare it a full on dud, I think I can safely say the super soldier storyline just isn't working for me. I'm not even sure what it is, but it just kind of keeps falling flat. Every time a new character gets revealed to be a super soldier, my eyes roll a little and its involvement in the cult stuff felt entirely superfluous. I can't even really say what's not working about it, except that it feels like a retread of ideas the show has already done better (most notably the Alien Bounty Hunters).

"Is that where the cult live? Literally the only building within miles?"

If the episode still has something going for it, it's an acting showcase for Gillian Anderson. Duchovny may have been the one pegged as being the big name going forward, but it became clear later that Anderson was the real find and she proves it here. I really like her gearing up to go full Ripley on the cult lady and she manages to play up her despair when she's talking to Doggett really well. Neither of them really matter to the plot mind, but they're good moments of humanity, and I think the episode would do better to have more of them.

I asked at the top when The X-Files lost control of its storyline, and the answer is, I still don't know. The problem the show has is that everything for the last few seasons has felt reactive to outside forces, to Duchovny's exit, to his absence, trying to force storylines together. The show feels less like its moving its story and characters forward, and more like its trying to hold it together long enough to get to the finish line. Maybe that's my outside knowledge that the end (well the initial end) is coming up like a freight train, but that's the impression that I get.

Case Notes:

• I get that the cold opening is supposed to be dramatic, but aside from a pretty solid couple of explosions, it just does not work. The soldiers in cover are very clearly shooting at nothing, the narration is pretty dumb and badly delivered, and the super soldiers just casually jogging over to where the Iraqis are is really goofy.
• The shot of the cult dude standing on the UFO is pretty solid I guess.
• There's something kind of odd about The Lone Gunmen working to identify a suspect, but I think the show knows it since it turns out they're bullshitting.
• Scully has a point about Brad withholding evidence and honestly, I hope there turns out to be a reason why Skinner is acting like such a dumbass.
• Doggett is in a coma for what, like the 2nd time this season? I guess the first was in an alternate timeline.
• Mitch Pileggi hasn't been in this season much, despite the promotion to main credits, but he does still do a good job with his memories of Vietnam.
• Langley slipping a cell phone in William's car seat is good, seems very Lone Gunmen-y.
• There's something adorable about the cult just prying at the UFO hatch with a crowbar.
• The cultists are all pretty indifferent about the UFO starting to move, even when the two inside get locked in there.
• I feel like Reyes being religious is a mistake, especially since there was a solid amount of depth with Mulder being a believer in Weird Shit, but not religious while Scully was a skeptic but religious. Still, I get why Reyes would go pray at that moment.
• I keep forgetting Brad and Reyes have a history, and it comes up so rarely it feels odd.
• Comer and the cult having different motivations is good, it's a nice third act twist.
• Still not sure how the lady drove from DC to Calgary without being caught, but whatever. And yes, obviously, the two dudes inside the spaceship are dead, it would be even more surprising if they weren't.
• I find the scene between Scully and the cult leader funny cause she just has no time for his bullshit.
• "Bring me the head of Fox Mulder" is such a funny phrase to me, cannot tell you why.
• The climax of the episode feels very disconnected from the rest of the episode, although I like that the Lone Gunmen are there to help.
• The UFO nuked two of his cult members and the leader still just hops into it when it opens. Can't say he's a super smart cult leader I guess.
• It's kind of depressing that the UFO, that looks so good as a practical effect/set looks so dogshit in motion.
• The UFO just nuking the cult and leaving seems like a lame ending, and I can't say why.
• None of the wrap up scenes feel like they make up for the main plot's abrupt ending but I do like the first hint that Brad might not be totally on board for the role he's signed up for.
• As always these reviews are supported by my Patreon. I already made the joke about starting a UFO cult in the previous review so...your move.

Future Celebrity Watch:

The injured soldier in the cold open is played by Jamie McShane, who has had semi-recurring and guest roles on a TON of shows, but has apparently made it to main cast in CSI: Vegas right now, and will be playing a main character on Wednesday, a show about a teenage Wednesday Adams. If I have to remember that show is coming out, so do you.