Case 03, File 16: Apocrypha

AKA: Aliens Drink Your Milkshake

Back when you first start watching The X-Files, you are always under the impression that the show has a long term plan for its Myth Arc that will eventually bear out. Once you've finished it, you realize that it was mostly just making it up as it goes, which is good preparation for disappointment from stuff like Battlestar Galactica or Lost. That isn't necessarily a bad thing; Junji Ito's Uzumaki was written by the seat of its pants and it has a great story and ending. It does make some individual episodes kind of messy though.

Our story kicks off with a repeat of the submarine flashback from the previous episode, but this time with a dying soldier telling it to a young William Mulder and a young Cigarette Smoking Man! I mean, a younger version of THE Cigarette Smoking Man, not a young man who smokes cigarettes. Anyway. We return to Skinner having been shot and going into surgery, as Scully coordinates the action to find his shooter and protect him, because Scully is the most badass human alive.

Meanwhile, Mulder and Oil-Krycek arrive in the US, but are immediately run off the road by some weird dudes in a car. Mulder is knocked out, but Oil-Krycek does the flash frying thing to them. Mulder wakes up to find Oil-Krycek gone and Scully waiting for him (aw) where she tells him that the guy who shot Skinner is the same guy who shot Scully's sister. Meanwhile the Syndicate shows up to discuss the fact they have a leak and just generally be mysterious, while CSM orders the flash-fried bodies destroyed.

After some time recovering, Mulder decides that the oil he found in various places around the last two episodes is a conduit for an alien intelligence, which is insane but because it's Mulder, he's right. He and the Lone Gunmen try to jack the digital tape from a storage locker Krycek gave them the key to, but the tape is gone, because Oil-Krycek is returning it to the Cigarette Smoking Man in exchange for info about where the recovered UFO is.

Wait, isn't this the 1950s? Doesn't EVERYONE smoke?

Mulder uses the envelope that the digital tape was in to find a phone number, which turns out to be to the Syndicate's place. After a brief conversation with the Well Manicured Man, they agree to meet, where they have another conversation about the UFO, which accidentally tips Mulder off that Skinner is in danger. Scully rides with Skinner's ambulance, and is attacked by the guy who attacked Skinner earlier (they find out his name is Luis Cardinal at some point) and Scully manages to capture him, despite a VERY strong desire to kill him.

Cardinal tells them to head to an abandoned Missile Silo to find Krycek. They arrive to find it not so abandoned, but the Cigarette Smoking Man shows up with some mysterious SWAT guys and drags them out. Deep underground, in the salvaged UFO, Krycek de-oils himself which is pretty gross. Later on, Scully visits Melissa's grave, while Mulder tells her that Cardinal was found dead in his cell, which would be a nice, intimate moment to end the episode on, except the episode instead ends on a horrifying note with Krycek still trapped inside the silo with the UFO.

After my surprise enjoyment of Piper Maru, I was equally surprised by the fact that Apocrypha feels like a step down. I can't really pinpoint anything specific wrong with it, and it's not particularly bad, but I was expecting another Myth episode I could really dig, rather than one which merely picks up the pieces from the previous one and finishes off what they were doing. Which I guess is the reverse of the usual "Slow 1st episode, epic 2nd," so it's appropriate.

This is a pretty neat shot. That's all.

I think the episode's issue is that it's trying to do too much. Skinner's subplot was fine when it was just a couple of scenes, but here it needs a solid chunk of the episode to move forward and it just shoots the pacing all to hell. The plot isn't bad, and the final scene involves some really good acting from Gillian Anderson, but it just doesn't have the stakes of the other plots. In particular, a huge chunk of it is devoted to the characters learning what the audience already knows, that the guy who shot Skinner also shot Melissa.

The rest of the plots are a lot better, even if they suffer from that familiar X-Files confusion about where the plot is going. I particularly like the bits with the Syndicate bickering and snapping at each other. The Conspiracy is more frightening when it's a faceless power behind everything, but it's more engaging when it's a bunch of humans with their own desires and motivations, and as the eventual goals of the Conspiracy are revealed, it's important that they be somewhat human.

Of course, in retrospect, this episode doesn't do a whole ton to advance the overarching plot. Oh sure, we find out what the Oil does, but we already knew that from context, and most of what the Well Manicured Man tells us is a Reader's Digest version of stuff we already know. I guess I have the benefit of several full series watches so I know what's going on, but if you were watching it Week to Week, you might appreciate the recap.

"Let me out! There's no one to betray in here!"

Honestly, I feel like I'm being hard on the episode, it's not bad. Its pacing is wonky due to the slow moving Who-Shot-Skinner sections, but other than that, it's got pace and energy. Kim Manners, who directed the episode, is already a veteran X-Files director and he clearly knows how to take what is obviously kind of a middling script and make it the best it can be. He can't always rescue an episode (we'll talk about that a couple episodes in the future) but he can make good episodes great and bad episodes entertaining.

In particular, I like the big finale. It's not much of a finale, mostly just Mulder and Scully running through some empty hallways, but Krycek de-oiling himself and then being trapped in the room with the UFO are solid stuff, and I do like the small intimate scene between Mulder and Scully at the graveyard. Even when the episodes are middling, or outright bad, their bond, as well as Duchovny and Anderson's chemistry, do a lot to carry the series, and a good director like Manners gets that.

So it's mediocre, and kind of a letdown after Piper Maru. These two episodes are mostly concerned with cleaning up some loose ends from the super crazy season premier and the Nisei/731 duo, so they can just barrel into the season finale in a few episodes (or like, 6, I dunno). This isn't a great way to handle their Myth Arc, but it kept them humming for 9 seasons, so what do I know? In any case, I've been very much looking forward to the next episode, so I'm just gonna cut this review off here and go watch that.

Case Notes:

• The "Previously Ons" are getting a little more informative, but this one is still pretty vague.
• The flashback in the cold open is mostly information we already have, but the bit with the Black Oil leaking out of the dude's mouth and nose is pretty freaky.
• I also like the reveal that it's Mulder's dad and the Cigarette Smoking Man doing the interview, but I have to wonder if any other show could get away with a character solely being identified by the fact that he smokes cigarettes.
• Scully rushes to see Skinner in the hospital, but she should know he's too badass to get put down by one bullet.
• A flight from Hong Kong to DC is at least 18 hours with at least one layover each way, but Mulder seems completely fine, despite having done it immediately following a 13 hour flight from California. I would be dead on my feet.
• Scully starts giving orders about protecting Skinner like she owns the place, which let's be honest, she basically does.
• Mulder notices he and Oil-ed Krycek are being followed and immediately moves to deal with it. He fails, but it's still kind of kickass.
• Honestly, Mulder should have realized Krycek wasn't himself when he didn't immediately double cross him.
• Scully is the first thing Mulder sees upon waking up in the hospital. Aw.
• The Syndicate meetings are always tantalizing, but also frustrating, because they, by necessity, speak in really vague terms.
• First day back in the office and Mulder has not only flown a French diving in from San Diego but also has an insane theory about an alien entity using Oil as a medium. He's right of course, but out of context, he'd sound insane.
• Things That Happen in This Episode: The Lone Gunmen on Ice.
• The guys watching the ice rink are pretty conspicuous honestly.
• The second Conspiracy meeting is much better, since it shows the internal tensions in the group, and helps them feel like a group of characters, rather than a faceless blob. Less scary, but more interesting.
• The bit with the Lone Gunmen rattling off different methods they could use to get the writing from the indentations on the envelope is cute.
• The park where Mulder meets the Well-Manicured Man looks nothing like Central Park.
• The protecting Skinner/catching Luis Cardinal subplot kinda dicks the pacing around, but it gets us some really great acting moments out of Gillian Anderson, so I'll forgive it.
• This episode is pretty light on the snark, but I do like Mulder's "I didn't sign any disarmament treaty," crack.
• And yet another excursion ends with Mulder and Scully being chased by Black Ops soldiers, under contractual obligation not to shoot them.
• Okay, the scene with Krycek getting de-oiled is pretty fucking horrifying, good job X-Files.
• The scene in the graveyard is an unusually somber one to end the episode on, except it's not how it ends.
• Krycek trapped in the silo is also pretty horrifying, although I don't recall how they explain how he got out.
• As with last episode, these reviews are officially supported by Patreon, so if you like what I do, please consider becoming a Patron, so I can eat.