Case 03, File 21: Avatar

AKA: I Don't Know Whether to Make a James Cameron or a Last Airbender Joke

The X-Files is not a show known for a deep well of supporting characters. I'm not saying that it doesn't have engaging and enjoyable secondary characters, but compared to shows like The Simpsons or even Seinfeld, its not exactly leaning on its cast, it's mostly about Mulder, Scully and whatever people they pick up on an episode by episode basis. This can make focusing an episode, not just a subplot but a whole episode, on a secondary character something of a dicey prospect.


Our episode opens with the man, the myth, the legend, Assistant Director Walter Skinner...in the middle of refusing to sign his divorce papers. He heads off to the bar where he is approached by a pretty girl, they hit it off and next thing you know, they're up in the bedroom, banging. Skinner has a vision of an old lady in bed with him and next thing you know, he's waking up and the lady he was sleeping with is dead next to him.

Mulder shows up at the hotel to investigate (I dunno if they ever establish how Mulder found out, but whatever) and finds the local PD assuming Skinner is a suspect and Skinner telling Mulder not to get involved. Scully examines the body and finds a weird glowing liquid around her mouth. Next thing we know, Mulder finds out that the woman Skinner was sleeping with is a prostitute, who was paid with Skinner's credit card. Dun dun-wait that's not a dun dun dun.

Anywho, Skinner is released from custody and sees the old woman from his vision on the street. He pursues her but it just turns out to be his ex-wife, Sharon. Dun du-that's not one either, dammit. Mulder and Scully talk with her about how closed off Skinner was and Scully eventually finds out that Skinner was getting treatment at a sleep clinic for visions of an old woman strangling him in his sleep. Scully thinks Skinner might have killed the woman in his sleep but Mulder thinks the woman is a Succubus.

"Hey, what's up? Just gonna stand here in this ultra-red coat, looking creepy." 

Sharon visits Skinner at his home, but they argue and she leaves. Later on Skinner is awoken by the old lady again and discovers that his wife's car has been run off the road, apparently by his car. The two FBI Agents who have been looking into Skinner's fitness to remain Assistant Director hold a hearing on it while Mulder is investigating the car, and immediately decide to dismiss Skinner. Mulder meanwhile discovers that the face made in the imprint of Skinner's car's airbag is not Skinner's face. Dun d-dammit, I need an actual one.

Mulder and Scully go to see the madam from the first half of the episode, but she's dead and they realize that the guys who set Skinner up are cleaning house. They contact another one of the call girls and have her arrange a meeting with the guys who are framing Skinner. But they're watching the call and know its a setup DUN DUN DUN. Finally, god. Anyway, Skinner goes to see Sharon and confesses that he misses her but she briefly transforms into the old woman and gives him a message. Back at the meeting, the killer heads up to the room to attack the call girl and Scully but Skinner appears out of nowhere and saves them, and the episode ends with Skinner back where he belongs and Mulder musing on how Skinner knew to head there.

Avatar is an odd episode, in that I can't pick out any major crippling flaw, but it just does not work on any level. There's a lot going on in this episode, a lot of it mysterious, much of it rushed and none of it is very interesting. Its not an inherently awful concept and I guess there's a couple bits that are pretty solid, but on the whole, the episode just does not click in any way to make the episode engaging.

"Mr. Skinner, do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"Nope. Just gonna sit here and brood."

The big issue is that while this episode is supposedly devoted to Skinner, it's pretty uninterested in Skinner. He gets maybe one or two scenes devoted to him and his relationship with Sharon (the second of which is pretty good), and one monologue to Mulder about his time in 'Nam, that's it. And yeah, that sounds like a lot but he's not in the episode much outside of that. The plot mostly follows Mulder and Scully as they search for who's setting Skinner up. If any episode was crying out for Hungry's plot structure, a heavy focus on a secondary character with Mulder and Scully playing background roles, it was this one, but I guess they weren't ready to mess around with the formula that much.

The episode also shares an issue with Blood Money in that it has a supernatural element that's kind of superfluous and isn't developed very well. The shrieking old woman is an interesting and she's responsible for the creepiest scenes in the episode, but the episode doesn't devote much time to it and never completely susses out what her deal is. Oh it throws theories at us, but never devotes enough time to figure it out, which is honestly more frustrating than Blood Money's technique of just ignoring it.

The rest of the episode is conceptually interesting, but practically boring. It turns out its another attempt to take Skinner out in order to weaken Mulder and Scully, but there's two problems. Firstly it turns this story about Skinner into another story about Mulder and Scully (which is a mistake a later and better episode about secondary characters, Unusual Suspects didn't make) which I guess makes it a mythology episode? But more importantly, it invites comparisons to the Piper Maru/Apocrypha arc, and it just feels like the stakes are so much lower. They actually address this in the episode, but it still doesn't make framing him for murder feel as exciting as getting shot.

"Alright, my contract for this episode specified I'd get at least one monologue and dammit, I'm gonna use it."

Aside from that, there's not much to say about the episode. I like the constant rain as it adds to the atmosphere and its reasonably well shot, but it just doesn't have any emotional engagement and the episode never builds up any steam to make up for it. Maybe this is one of those moments where my knowledge of the future of the series is clouding my enjoyment, but its hard to get super attached to Sharon Skinner or her relationship with Skinner when she's never shown up before and I know for a fact that she'll never show up again.

At the end of the day, The X-Files is not a character driven show, its a concept driven show and Avatar has a weak concept. Its not that I don't like the characters on this show, I think my constant gushing about how much I love Mulder and Scully has proved I do. But the series needs cool ideas and interesting concepts for its characters to bounce off of. Without those things, they tend to have trouble supporting an entire episode.

Case Notes:

• I'm sorry, Skinner's wife gave him a pen for an anniversary gift? Like, does he like pens a lot, what's going on there?
• I think Skinner's encounter with the prostitute may be the most explicitly sexual scene in the series thus far.
• Skinner's sex partner turning into the creepy old woman is VERY Shining, and the shot of him waking up next to the woman with the broken neck is a good shot.
• The post-cold-open bits of this episode are moving very fast, trying to establish Skinner as a suspect and get all the pieces into play and I dunno, stuff gets lost. How did Mulder know Skinner called in a crime scene, for one thing?
• I really doubt two agents who work directly under Skinner would be allowed to handle the investigation, but the series doesn't have the best grip on the law.
• The bit with the glowing stuff around the corpse's mouth is okay, but my instincts on horror kept me expecting the corpse's eyes to flick open.
• Do they ever explain what was up with the glowing stuff around the corpse's mouth? I genuinely don't remember and the episode sort of drops it.
• Mulder and Scully are surprisingly non-judgmental about meeting the madam, which I appreciate.
• Scully talking about how they don't know much about Skinner feels like a producer's note about how they need to characterize him better.
• I forget if the episode ever susses out what's going on with the old woman, but I like the fake out of the vision of her turning out to be his ex-wife.
• There's probably an interesting article to be written about how Skinner's "Silence from strength" is toxic masculinity but I don't care enough to write it right now.
• I like Mulder's little sarcastic eyebrow raise when he gets Skinner's file from the sleep clinic and immediately tosses it aside so Scully can deliver exposition.
• Scully: Skinner is having a sleep disorder. Mulder: Its a succubus. God I love this show sometimes.
• I know she has to keep wearing it because it was part of the old lady fake out, but the giant rain coat Skinner's ex is wearing is absurd looking, she looks like Little Red Riding Hood.
• Skinner has hair in his wedding photo and its weirding me out.
• Why is Skinner sleeping on his couch? He has a pretty nice house, does he not have a bed?
• Skinner: "I was no choirboy, I...inhaled." I don't think I need to explain why that's funny to me (it's also a very dated reference.)
• The second half of the episode is mostly just running in circles, so there's not much to take notes on.
• I like that Mulder identifies the guy who stole Skinner's car via his airbag, IE actual investigative work.
• Skinner's hearing is pretty well lit and edited, but it doesn't cover the fact that its mostly just wasting time to drop a predetermined conclusion.
• The cop brushes off the Madam's suicide as "Because of the rain." So you're not going to investigate a rich woman, with no history of depression's suicide?
• Skinner just comes out of nowhere and shoots the guy. Skinner ex machina?
• So we just never figure out what's going on with the old woman? Lame.
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Current Celebrity Watch:

I am pushing the definition of Celebrity well past its breaking point but Sharon Skinner is played by Jennifer Hetrick, who played Tash on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I like TNG a lot, so I'm bringing it up.

Future Celebrity Watch:

Carina, the woman who turns up dead in Skinner's bed, is played by Amanda Tapping who played Samantha Carter on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. I still have not seen either of those shows but wikipedia tells me that Samantha Carter is a pretty big character. She was also the lead on Sanctuary which I have also not seen, but was an ex of mine's favorite show.