Case 03, File 15: Piper Maru

AKA: Oil Is Usually Black, Right?

Ah, the Black Oil. One of the most key components of The X-Files' internal mythology, and yet it didn't show up until over halfway through the third season. It's definitely one of the most memorable aspects of the mythology, visually distinct and utterly unique from most of the previously established alien mythology (which, aside from the Alien Bounty Hunter, have been pretty straightforwardly pulled from general UFO ephemera). And its introduction would mark a major turning point in the story.

Our plot kicks off with some French divers looking for a sunken World War 2 plane (is French Diver a cliche I'm unaware of? It was in an episode of American Dad I watched right before this, is why I ask). Upon arriving at the bottom of the ocean, the diver discovers that the pilot is still alive and infected with black oil, and when the diver comes up from the bottom of the ocean, he is too. Back on land, Skinner informs Scully that the FBI is dropping the investigation into her sister's murder, which naturally upsets her.

Downstairs, Mulder decides the sensible solution is for the pair of them to head out San Diego to investigate the ship that we saw in the opening. It turns out the ship limped into port a few days ago and everyone on board is dying of massive radiation poisoning, except the guy who was at the bottom of the ocean. Weird. Anyway, they head off to check out the boat, which has no radiation traces, but Scully recognizes the plane from underwater footage (just roll with it) and she and Mulder decide on their usual setup for episodes like these: Mulder goes an adventure while Scully wrestles with personal issues.

While they're divvying all this up, our oil possessed guy heads to his home where he ransacks the place looking for something, until he encounters his wife and hits her with the oil too (I guess they're one of those couples that share everything). Mulder finds him and, after getting him to a hospital, decides to go check out the address on one of the envelopes he found on the floor (which I guess means we can add mail theft to the list of crimes Mulder is willing to commit).

"Honey, you're back from the hospital, where you had suffered no injuries and are acting very strangel-oh I'm fucked, aren't I?"

Meanwhile Scully goes and sees a friend of her dad's who, after some stalling, tells her he served on a sub sent to find the same plane the French were sent to, that the captain was possessed by the Black Oil and that shit went kinda sideways. Back in Mulder's storyline, he goes to see the lady at the address from the envelope he stole, who is evasive and unhelpful, and immediately bolts when Mulder leaves. Fortunately Mulder follows her and heads on a plane to Hong Kong to keep following her, and is followed himself by the Black Oil possessed woman.

Back in America, Skinner gets some warnings from some weird dudes at a restaurant to keep his nose out of Scully's sister's case, but he ignores it, so the next time he's there, one of the two dudes who killed Melissa shoots him. Back in Hong Kong, Mulder captures the lady and goes to see her contact, who i selling info, who turns out to be none other than Krycek! After some dudes show up and kill the lady Mulder had captured (and are themselves killed by the Black Oil possessed lady) Mulder tracks Krycek to the airport and, after Krycek promises to give him the digital tape from Paperclip, they decide to head back to the states. But, twist, the Black Oil possessed lady tracks Krycek to the bathroom and the episode ends with Mulder and Oil possessed Krycek heading off.

I've been pretty down on the mythology episodes thus far, but I do really dig this one. It might be just that I've always been exceptionally fond of the Black Oil but this episode also just generally kills. It has a spy thriller feeling that some of the better mythology episodes have, but it also manages to include the feeling of an unknowable, unstoppable monster (aside from the Conspiracy) provided via the Black Oil, which gives it an edge that a lot of other Mythology episodes don't have.

 "Hey Mulder. I'm double crossing you."
"We aren't even working together!"
"Then I'm preemptively double crossing you!"

It also helps that the episode utilizes its characters better than a lot of Mythology episodes. I made the joke that Mulder gets to go have adventures while Scully stays home with personal issues a lot, but in this episode, it works better than normal. Part of it is that I get a good sense of Scully's emotional journey in this episode and the one that follows. I admit, it's a little contrived that she just happens to have used to live next door to the guy who was sent to find the plane before (okay, a lot contrived) but giving her something real to struggle with, the FBI dropping her sister's case, and showing it clearly relating to other family members she's lost (her dad) gives the storyline some emotional heft. It also helps that Gillian Anderson sells the hell out of it.

The other thing that gives the story some emotional heft is that it has real consequences. Skinner's little side plot could be better set up (it basically wanders in partway through the third act) but having a beloved and well established character actually get shot because he was pushing for Melissa's investigation makes the stakes feel real; Anyone can get hurt, and while I know that Skinner will be fine (this isn't Game of Thrones), the feeling that death is a real possibility, even if it's a lie, gives the episode an edge.

But let's be honest, the main thrust of the episode is, was and will be Mulder pursuing the information about the Black Oil. The fact that it involves him wandering all the way to Hong Kong of all places (which is hilariously far outside his jurisdiction) gives it a sense of forward motion, that Mulder is venturing far outside his comfort zone in search of answers. The fact that he runs into Krycek then gives the impression that, no matter how far he goes, he can't escape the little shit, but that's basically true so I can accept it.

"So I'm just gonna kill everyone in this hallway with a blast of radiation. Cool? Cool." 

But of course, the episode is mostly designed to set up its follow up episode, as well as the rest of the series (Black Oil, as all X-Files fans well know, is one of the most important elements of the series) and it's very good at that. Krycek walking towards the camera with Black Oil eyes is an all time great cliffhanger and the episode as a whole gives us just enough information about how the Black Oil works for us to follow along, while still keeping us curious.

Sure, I got quibbles: As odd as this sounds,, I wish the episode made more room for Scully's sister stuff, since the submarine stuff is mostly pretty dull and honestly, while the script is pretty good, the direction could stand to be a little more stylish. There's a couple of nice shots here and there, but come on Rob Bowman, I know you can do better. Still, I've been looking forward to digging more of the Mythology episodes (I really like this little stretch of them between now and the end of Season 4) and this one is just flat out great. I'm honestly a little stoked for Apocrypha.

...I actually can't remember if Apocrypha is any good frankly.

Case Notes:

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• The diving suit the French guy is wearing the cold open looks intensely silly.
• There must be a more efficient way of finding sunken fighter planes than sinking a single dude down in a suit. Titanic had that drone thing, and that's only a few years out.
• The Black Oil remains one of the most intently creepy things in the entire show, and the guy still trapped in the plane underwater 50 years later is genuinely unsettling.
• I can't believe I haven't ranted more about how much I love Scully's long jackets in this show.
• Gillian Anderson really quietly kills the scene where Skinner tells her they're stopping looking into her sister's murder.
• Oh snap, I forgot this episode tied into the Russian sub from Nisei.
• Aw, Scully loves how relentless Mulder is. Her fondness for him causes there to be a small amount emotion in my cold, dead heart.
• I also love how one dude escaped the Piper Maru without any radiation damage and no one thinks that's odd enough to want to hang on to him and maybe run some extra tests.
• Scully just randomly knows what kind of fighter they're looking at from some blurry underwater footage and memories of her brothers assembling model planes. Contrived, but I'll deal with it.
• The Black Oil-ed people are very bad at pretending to be human, which you think would get them caught more often.
• The show is pushing Scully's sadness about her sister's case being dropped pretty hard, and isn't very subtle about it. I should be more annoyed, but Anderson is killing it.
• Mulder finds a guy lying on the floor, not remembering anything of the past few days, covered in oil and immediately starts pressing him for information about a letter. Never change.
• Speaking of being bad at things, the lady at the salvage office is very bad at not acting like she's up to something.
• Am I the only one who thinks it's a big coincidence that Scully used to live down the street from a guy who was on the submarine sent to find the airplane from this case? Just me then? Okay.
• Mulder just casually tosses off a "I gotta go to Hong Kong," on the phone to Scully. Amazing.
• And now we check in on Skinner, sitting in a completely empty restaurant.
• The guys sent to intimidate Skinner are very bad at it. Of course it's hard to scare someone as badass as Skinner, but still.
• And now we briefly cut to a deleted scene from the remake of Hunt for the Red October.
• And now a deleted scene from The Bourne Identity, jeez this episode has a lot of styles.
• The lady tells Mulder that he can't do anything to her cause they took his gun and he immediately handcuffs himself to her. Mulder is a madman and I love it.
• Hey, it's Krycek, right in the middle of yet another double cross.
• "Hong Kong doesn't allow guns." 90 seconds later, everyone but Mulder has a gun.
• I've seen this episode at least half a dozen times and I still totally forget that Skinner get shot until I see Krycek's partner's face.
• Mulder beating the shit out of Krycek is pretty great, especially how intently angry Duchovny seems.
• On that note, Krycek walking towards the camera with black oil eyes is a great final shot to the episode.