Case 05, File 18: The Pine Bluff Variant

AKA: I Don't Remember Point Break Well Enough To Make A Reference To It

One of the central tensions of The X-Files is that it is deeply, consistently distrustful of the government, almost to the point of paranoia (and I am not one to trust the government, trust me on that). But it's also about government employees who are doing government work. And not like Parks and Rec, they work for the FBI, their job is often to track down people who are against the government. It's a weird energy for the series and one which only a few episodes manage to address head on.

Our episode opens with a big operation to capture a terrorist named Haley in the middle of an arms deal, with Mulder out in the field waiting to intercept him. But when the arms dealer dies suddenly of a random case of rotting flesh, the terrorists bolts and gets away...but Scully thinks Mulder helped him! A fact that she keeps to herself when they both meet the rest of the FBI about their plan to take down Haley and his boss Bremer.

Mulder keeps acting shady though, eventually heading out a hotel where he gets a phone call from Haley, where it's revealed he's working with Haley, helped him escape and that Haley contacted him. Scully being totally clued into Mulder and also not stupid so she's following him when he goes to meet with Haley. But she gets boxed in by some government agents and we get our big twist: Mulder is deep undercover with Haley's terrorist group.

Mulder meanwhile is meeting with Haley's group who is suspicious and gently questions him via finger breaking, but eventually decides he's on the level. Meanwhile Bremer his up a theater in the middle of Ohio and sprays a mysterious thing, eventually causing everyone in the theater to get hit with the same case of rotting flesh. Scully meets Mulder at his apartment and bandages up his finger, but it turns out Bremer is recording them talking.

"Here's the payment."
"...could you be a little more subtle, I'm pretty sure they saw us in the next town over."

Mulder tells everyone that the terrorist cell is planning on robbing a bank, while Scully discovers the flesh eating bacteria is transmitted via touch and that it was probably created in the US (they thought it was created in Russia but that's not true). Mulder goes with them on the robbery where they steal a little bit of money (while wearing monster masks, that's cool) but spray the rest with the flesh eating bacteria stuff. Also Mulder is ordered to kill a hostage but one of the other guys does it. I'm underselling that scene, it's a good scene.

Anyhoo, Scully realizes what they're actually up to and starts trying to figure out which bank they robbed, while back at the terrorist compound, Bremer accuses Mulder of being a mole while Haley says that Bremer is the mole. But then Bremer has the audio of Mulder talking with Scully, and it turns out he's the mole. So Haley bolts, and Bremer seems like he's about to execute Mulder but lets him go. Mulder rushes back to the bank but Scully has figured out which bank they robbed from Mulder's finger and the day is saved, except Mulder is suspicious that the whole thing was orchestrated by a US Attorney who's been hanging around, to test the virus. And then the episode ends with Haley having been exposed to the virus and dying.

The Pine Bluff Variant is a tough sell of an episode, a very dark and serious episode with a slightly new format as we close in on the season finale but it's a pretty intense one. It's nice to see the series acknowledge how weird Mulder's attitude is for a government agent, and also pretty engaging to see the series address shitty stuff the government might actually do (like test horrifying diseases on its populace) instead of aliens and such.

"Hey dude, you remember that scene in the Homega Man where Homer is in the theater with the corpses?"
"Yeah, why do y-Oh ohhhhhh,"

Since Mulder going undercover with a terrorist group is such a uh, let's call it unique occurrence, that's going to be the central element of the episode, and it's a credit to the writing team how well they handle it. First is how they make it into a mystery in the first half. Yes, we know conceptually that Mulder can't actually be working with a terrorist group because then the series would be over (or at least profoundly changed) but the buildup and release of that tension is still important and it's good to see that the episode understands that.

The second way the episode handles it well is how much it focuses on Scully's reactions. This does a lot of good stuff (let's Mulder's actions take place off screen to build the mystery, reinforce their relationship as she goes to Mulder rather than Skinner, let her figure out the mystery on her own) but most of all it keeps Scully involved in a story that she'd normally on the backburner during. This season has a lot of episodes with lopsided focus (due to Anderson or Duchovny being off filming the movie) so it's nice that the episode's they're both there for makes room for both of them.

It helps that the infiltration storyline has some really excellent scenes and acting. I actually really like the scene where Mulder gets interrogated because of Duchovny's acting. Too often the way the hero responds to being tortured by being overly stoic, so it's nice to see the hero having a realistic reaction, IE yelling furiously. I also like the scene with Mulder agonizing over whether to shoot the civilian, even if it is ultimately pointless (since someone else shoots him).

Oh man, now Mulder's gonna have to let them go while firing his gun in the air and screaming. That's Point Break right, not something else?

If the episode has a weakness it's that Bremer is kind of weak as a main villain. It's not that his actions aren't threatening but that he keeps dropping out of the episode for big stretches (I honestly forget its him who does the theater murders every time I seen this episode). It wouldn't be such a big deal if Haley wasn't there, being a more menacing presence and having a bigger role in the episode. The same goes double for the US Attorney who turns out to be behind the entire thing, who is such a small part of it that they literally have to have a character go "Hey, he's acting shady" in one of the like, 3 scenes he's in.

Whatever, if there's one thing this review/rewatch has taught me it's that the series is pretty hit or miss when it comes to characterizing their villains, and having one on screen villain who's a menacing presence is definitely a mark in its favor. Honestly, my bigger ding is not to involve more real life elements of the stuff the episode is pulling from (like the racial aspect of certain disease tests, like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment) but that might make the episode get just a little too real for a show like The X-Files. I suppose one could write an essay about how the series, and episodes like this, was a tentative first step in getting my generation to question the government, but this review is not the place for it.

Shit, now I've gotta write that essay don't I? 

Case Notes:

• Look X-Files, I'm as big a fan of watching David Duchovny jog as the next man, but you gotta give me more to work with for a cold open.
• I kid, this cold open is pretty solid, even if the two guys meeting that they're watching are some of the most conspicuous people in the world. People could see you passing that envelope from 30 yards away people.
• The flesh eating virus effect not only looks good, it is pretty solidly gross too.
• Scully just leaves their surveillance van to go rescue Mulder from his own terminal stupidity. Love it.
• Scully, rather than going to Skinner with her suspicions that Mulder is a traitor, she asks Mulder about it. She really does trust him more than anyone. Aww.
• The room they're having the meeting about the operation seems kind of crowded, but what do I know.
• There is a metric ton of exposition being dropped in the meeting room, but it works because it seems natural for that setting. The bit about the flesh eating virus is really important to get across.
• I know it seems natural for us to be suspicious of the guy demanding the theater attendant pop popcorn in a different machine, but that's just retail, you get used to it.
• The scene in the theater sticks out to me a lot in my memories of this episode because the shot of the flesh eaten corpses in the seats is genuinely horrifying.
• Going to act break on Scully being boxed in on the road is a good choice.
• "Exactly what agency are you guys from? Obviously not the office of information." This episode is low on sass but this is good sass right here.
• I like that Mulder got chosen by the terrorist group because of his beliefs that the government is lying to people. Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long for the series to put Mulder in deep cover with a group like this.
• Also: Some light continuity with Patient X. That's nice.
• Most people when they find out their partner is in deep cover might avoid them. Scully goes right to him. I just love them so much.
• The bit with the reveal that Bremer is monitoring Mulder is an odd one, especially since we barely know who he is at this point.
• I forget if the fact that Mulder's contact in the Attorney is acting shifty actually comes to anything in this episode. The answer is "Kinda?" I usually kind of forget how this episode resolves.
• The X-Files is always good at having scientists who are just a little too into their subject. It's a nice touch.
• I like how Mulder starts calling the terrorists' muscle "The Gimp" and the leader immediately picks it up.
• Scully immediately picks up that the government is the one who created the bio-weapon. I think Mulder is starting to rub off on her.
• I get why movies keep having criminals commit their crimes in theme masks, but it just makes me think of Point Break. Doesn't help that that also contained an undercover agent.
• I like the tracking shot through the bank. The X-Files isn't big on long tracking shots, so they're nice when they show up.
• The robbery scene is actually pretty great, because it puts the stakes in something other than Mulder's survival (Mulder's success) and because a lot changes very quickly while expecting the audience to follow it.
• I like how much the episode manages to ramp up in its final minutes, from Mulder being at risk of being murdered by the terrorists, to Scully trying to find the bank that they hit. Good stuff X-Files.
• The episode going slow-mo when Mulder thinks he's about to get shot is weird, but the sudden swerve in the final minutes of the episode is good.
• The final reveal, that the leader died from the biotoxin, is obvious but a solid way to end the episode.
• As always, these reviews are supported by my Patreon. If more people donated I might have had more time to devote to this and thus could have rewatched Point Break and made more references to it. Wait, I'm supposed to get people to want to donate.

Current Celebrity Watch:

Sam Anderson. who played the shady US Attorney, had recurring roles on shows like Perfect Strangers (which I've never watched), Lost (which I only watched the first season of) and Angel (hey I actually watched that). He's one of those TV actors who shows up in a lot of stuff, but those are the recurring roles he had.

Also, stretching our definitions here, Daniel von Bargen who played Haley, played a lot of stuff (including the Drill Sarge in Malcolm in the Middle) but for me, he'll always be George's final boss, Mr. Kruger, from Seinfeld.