Case 04, File 20: Small Potatoes

AKA: The Ballad of Eddie van Blundht

After Darin Morgan stopped writing episodes for the show, the series would make several attempts to recreate what he did for the show, to varying degrees of success. It would lean heavier on the funny episodes as the series wore on and it started to get stretched for content, but even in the golden age, it would bring back come comedic episodes, some good, some bad, some involving Mulder singing the Shaft theme song and therefore amazing. But for my money, I think that the smartest decision one could make is, if you can't have Darin Morgan writing, have him acting.

Our story kicks off with a woman named Amanda giving birth in a hospital where she claims the father of her child is from outer space. Oh and her kid comes out with a tail, that's relevant. That, plus the fact that four other women in the town have given birth to tailed children, gets our intrepid heroes involved, who go to interview Amanda, sure that she's going to have a tale (heh) of alien abductions. Instead she has a tale of being seduced by Luke Skywalker.

So Scully decides the best thing to do is check out the other tailed children's paternity and they discover that all of them have the same father. This leads Mulder and Scully to go check out their fertility doctor who was treating all the woman except Amanda, and accidentally join the mob of parents who are pissed at the fertility doctor. But Mulder searches the building and discovers Eddie van Blundht, a formerly tailed janitor at the building.

While interviewing Blundht, he insinuates that there was a romantic aspect of him impregnating the women even if they don't remember sleeping with anyone other than their husbands, while Scully thinks it involved roofies and decides to hold him. But, while he's being checked in, he transforms into the cop checking him in, attacks him and flees. So Mulder hits his theory: Eddie can transform into other people, explaining why the women only remember sleeping with their husbands. And why Amanda remembers sleeping with Luke Skywalker.

How is "Scully Reaction Images" not a tumblr with 10,000 followers?

They head to Blundht's house where they meet his dad, who immediately proves Mulder's theory correct by turning out to be Eddie in disguise, the real Van Blundht Senior being a mummified corpse in the attic. But he gets away by hiding in one of his victim's house and pretending to be first the husband and then Mulder. Mulder heads to the hospital to interview Amanda about Eddie (who it turns out dated him in High School) but is beaten there by Eddie, who interviews her as Mulder. When Mulder realizes what's happened he tries to give chase, but Eddie cold cocks him and locks him in the hospital basement, while heading back to DC pretending to be Mulder

Upon arriving in DC, Eddie discovers that Mulder is a massive dork and that Scully is an overachieving nerd, and seems to think those are bad things as opposed to the reason why I love them with all my heart and soul. He decides that he's going to try and seduce Scully, because that's what you do when you're in Mulder's body. But Mulder returns just in time to stop him and the episode ends with Eddie in prison, talking to Mulder about how he should take some time to live his life.

Small Potatoes is an episode that is hard to nail down, especially since it works so well but I have trouble articulating why. It's a strange episode, with a weird tone and an oddly laid back feel despite the fact that, unlike some of Darin Morgan's best work (which it is clearly intended to ape) there are actual stakes and peril. Morgan casts a long shadow over the entire rest of the series yes, but the best episodes of this style are ones that go for their own style. But this is not one that tries to escape Darin Morgan's shadow, it revels in it. It drags Morgan in front of the camera for god's sake.

"Look, just cause I'm not sure how this became my life doesn't mean I'm not going to do the best job I can."

The key, I think, is two fold. The first major piece is Vince Gilligan. Gilligan has gotten so rightfully lauded for his work on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul that it's hard to remember that he was one of The X-Files' most reliable scribes from the 2nd season on. And part of that is because he, like Darin Morgan, has such a firm grasp on not only Mulder and Scully (and their relationship) but also what makes them compelling and engaging characters, as well as understanding how to make the side characters distinct and memorable, which is why I think Eddie makes such an impression (more on that in a moment).

The other key, oddly enough, is Duchovny. Yes, he's always great on the show, but he really goes the extra mile here. It's difficult to play one character pretending to be another, but he does a lot in this episode with small details, working to filter Eddie's mannerism through his Mulder disguise. Admittedly the director gives him a lot of help, cutting to close ups to emphasize him smiling to himself, and Darin Morgan's original interpretation of the character is interesting and weird enough that we can tell what Duchovny is going for. I especially like the scene with Amanda in the

It also helps that the episode is full of great little script and directing details. I love the slow realization by Eddie that while Mulder and Scully both look like models, they're also total dorks. The timing on the reveal that Amanda thinks she was impregnated by Luke Skywalker is amazing, building the absurdity until Mulder just up and walks out of the room. Heck, even the scene where Eddie-as-Mulder and Scully talk is great, demonstrating some rarely seen aspects of Scully's personality.

This is the best shot in the episode, bar none.

If the episode has a flaw, it's that it's not really interested in exploring Eddie, or his actions. We get hints here and there, like that he thinks what he's doing with the wives is romantic (which is contrasted by the incredible selfishness of him seducing his ex) and some of the stuff Eddie-as-his-dad says, but it also never really dives into his mentality or how fucked up Eddie's actions are (he commits rape-by-fraud like 4 times). It's not as bad as a season 5 episode we'll talk about later, but The X-Files does not have a good track record of dealing with sexual assault.

But that's not a huge issue in the larger scheme (although I wouldn't blame anyone who doesn't like this episode because of it's handling of sexual assault). The episode is as a whole is one of those where it seems like it shouldn't work, but it's always been one I look forward to and have fond memories of.  It's a testament to the writing and acting that an episode with such a basic premise is so dug into my brain.

Also, Vince Gilligan is SUCH a shipper, my god.

Case Notes:

• Look, I know she's on the delusional side, but if I was Amanda and I thought the father of my baby was from space, I might keep that belief under my hat.
• As cold open reveals go, the fact that the baby has a tail is on the low end. I suppose it's our first sign this is a comedy episode.
• Mulder getting his leads from the Weekly World News is a little season 1, but those headlines sell it (and yes, I know it's actually called something different for copyright reasons, it's still Weekly World News).
• Scully instantly knows that Mulder wants to do this case not because of the tails but because Amanda says the baby's father is from space.
• Mulder and Scully's faces go through some amazing journeys after Amanda reveals that her baby was fathered by Luke Skywalker. And then Mulder just up and leaves the room, I love it.
• The camera lingers just a little too long on Eddie in the hallway, letting us know to remember him.
• Hey, Scully figures out the solution to this case (that all the babies have the same father) on her own, instead of Mulder's massive leaps of logic. That's nice.
• Heh, one of the parents mistakes Mulder and Scully for a married couple. I love it.
• The plumber crack is Mulder's key to figuring out that Eddie is responsible. That's simple, but I like it, it fits the case.
• Mulder tackles Eddie and they go sliding right to Scully's feet. Cute.
• Scully goes right for date rape drug explanation, which at least hints at how dark Eddie's plan is.
• The bit where Eddie first transforms into the cop is a good scene, just because we haven't yet gotten knowledge of what his powers are and the scene is paced out pretty well.E
• Scully picks up on Mulder's theory instantly. Vince Gilligan is such a shipper, I swear to god.
• Rare instance of Mulder reminding Scully that they've seen some weird shit, including weird shit exactly like this.
• I like Mulder and Scully's little philosophical discussion of what it would be like to be someone else for a day. I also like that Scully picks Eleanor Roosevelt. It seems very...in character.
• Scully says the deputy who Eddie attacked wasn't hurt badly. Uh, he was knocked unconscious overnight, he's got some brain damage.
• I like Eddie's escape and the subsequent scene in one of the victim's house. It's nice that Mulder figured Eddie out using what is supposedly his actual real talent (being super observant) and it's nice character building for Eddie.
• Eddie is supposedly not very smart, but he's good at thinking on his feet, such as changing into Mulder when he's about to be caught.
• I love the mask Scully wears as she's about to saw into Eddie Sr.
• Being able to change your appearance due to a thin layer of muscle tissue under your skin is as good an explanation as any I suppose.
• Mulder breaking off the tail and fumbling with it for the rest of the scene is hilarious and I will hear no argument against it.
• I L-O-V-E love the scene where Eddie as Mulder interrogates Amanda as Eddie. It's full of little details that reveal what's going on, and Duchovny is doing some great acting, basically acting as Eddie acting as Mulder.
• The scene where Mulder handcuffs the security guard and the doctor has great comedic timing.
• Eddie leaving Mulder a sandwich and an apple is amusing in a dumb sort of way.
• Is this the first time we've gotten Mulder's home address? He lives in Alexandria, which is about a half hour outside of DC, which isn't a terrible commute. Of course in rush hour that's like 8 hours.
• Whenever anyone gets into Mulder's life their first two thoughts are 1: Mulder is a massive dork and 2: Must seduce Scully.
• Eddie, the moment you touch Scully, she's gonna know you're not her soul mate, I dunno what your strategy is.
• The final shot of this episode is pretty cute.
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Current Celebrity Watch:

Well the guy who plays Eddie also wrote a few epi-you know what, no. I did the "Pretending not to know who they were" bit with young Krycek AND the last time Darin Morgan acted in this show, I'm not doing it again.

Outside of that, Amanda was played by Christine Cavanaugh, a well traveled voice actress who's most notable credit was probably playing the voice of Babe.

In an eerie coincidence, the actor who played one of the husbands is also a well known voice actor, who played Goku in a LOT of the dubs of Dragon Ball Z. He would also go on to play Adam Brody in one of the Stargate TV shows, uh...Universe.