Case 8.5, File 10: Tango De Los Pistoleros

 AKA: Did They Coordinate Having Two Spanish Titled Episodes At The Same Time?

The Lone Gunmen are idiots. They may be brilliant hackers and decent reporters, but they are also massive dumbasses. And I don't consider those two ideas to be contradictory; If I can believe that Mulder is a soulful genius at the same time I believe he's a complete moron who would die if Scully left him alone for 20 minutes, I can believe the Lone Gunmen are dumbasses at the same time as they're genius computer experts. Yves, on the other hand, is not a dumbass, she actually knows what she's doing, so one of the most solid character dynamics they've seized upon is letting the Lone Gunmen fuck up her plans. By being dumbasses.

Our story kicks off, after a brief flash forward to Langly getting stabbed (and the rest of the cast dancing while Yves monologues about the tango? It's more entertaining than it sounds) with Yves disguising herself as a bodyguard (named Cuchilla) for a mob boss (named Santavos) and trying to make a purchase on his behalf. But, unknown to her, the Lone Gunmen are following her looking for a story and they blow the sale by uh...accidentally causing the smuggler's boat to drive off. A plus guys.

Yves is understandably pissed about that so she tells them to get the hell out of Miami, something that Frohike is 100% on board with, but the rest of the gang isn't so sure. And we, the audience, aren't so sure either after we see the smuggler bring his stuff to Santavos and it turns out to be a CD of tango music. Santavos it turns out is a big tango guy and in case we didn't figure that out, we then check in at his tango practice where Yves is trying to infiltrate it. And in case we don't know why, Yves immediately sabotages Santavos' partner so her feet swell up.

With his partner out of commission, Yves begins working Santavos to get to be his new partner, while Cuchillo murders the smuggler and the Lone Gunmen find his body to discover that Cuchillo was a member of an Argentine Death Squad. That actually never really matters, but it sure is cool. After some more futzing about, they find out that Santavos is in a tango competition, so Langly, Beyers and Jimmy try to enter. It uh, goes about as well as you're expecting.

Meanwhile, Cuchillo is incredibly suspicious of Yves, who manages to evade being found out, while the gang bring in Kimmy the Geek (remember him?) and eventually manage to figure out that the disc contains plans for some...magic radar evading tech, whatever, the specifics don't matter. What does matter is that they go to try and warn Yves and get caught warning her by Cuchillo. So Yves assumes they're screwed and won't be able to infiltrate the contest.

I said in my notes this would wind up in the review, and I was right.

But, twist, turns out Frohike is a skilled tango dancer and he decides to come out of retirement, giving Jimmy and Beyers a chance to sneak in, while Yves pretends to kill Langly to keep her spot with Santavos. But, even as Beyers and Jimmy figure out who Santavos is selling the disc to and stop him, Cuchillo realizes Yves betrayed them and goes to kill her. But, further twist, Santavos sees what's about to happen and takes the knife for her. Oh and another twist, there's no reward, Yves, just did all this cause it was the right thing to do. And thus the episode ends, with Santavos dead and Yves and Jimmy dancing.

We're on the final stretch of Lone Gunmen episodes, and while behind the scenes knowledge of the series is sparse, the feels like the sort of episode that gets written when everyone on board knows that they're on their last legs and are going to start quietly wrapping things up. The episode is low key, more interested in comedy than plot and features something of a wrapup for Yves' character arc. It's the kind of episode that makes me wish we got more of the show, but also the kind of the episode that makes me understand why the show was never going to survive in 2001.

Fleshing out Yves is the order of the day here, the Gunmen mostly spend their time running around doing not much until the third act (but providing some nice physical comedy). Yves is an odd character, here and in other episodes. She is billed as, and mostly functions as, a femme fatale and while The Lone Gunmen is interested in subverting spy tropes, with Yves they're kind of trapped by the realities of television production, meaning she still has to be drop dead gorgeous and stuck in a semi-flirty will-they/won't-they relationship, with the most conventionally attractive guy on the show.

Okay that looks quite genuinely painful.

But either through good writing or good acting, Yves does feel like a more coherent, well realized character than he cliched setup might imply. I guess it helps that Yves is significantly more competent than any of the rest of the cast, especially Jimmy, and she never gets made into a damsel in distress. All of her problems in this episode are caused by the Gunmen fucking shit up for her, and she gets herself out of it. A longer show might have had more time for episodes where Yves is just going about her business trying to keep the Gunmen from destroying everything she's working towards, but with only a handful of episodes, this will do.

On the other hand, the revelation that Frohike is actually a championship level tango dancer comes right the hell out of nowhere, but it works a lot. I've said in the past that one of the character beats I think the showed figured out works like gangbusters is that Frohike is actually the most suave and competent member of the trio, and this seems like a solid extension of that concept. And even though we never get to see him actually tango (likely cause the actual actor can't) it works, everyone sells it. And hey, he speaks Spanish better than Doggett. Write that one down.

The rest of the episode is mostly frivolity. Well edited and directed frivolity (this episode has some of the best edits in the series), mostly concerned with getting laughs and showcasing the characters tango dancing, but frivolity nonetheless. Yves technology has basically become magic and the Gunmen don't actually accomplish anything until the end except messing up Yves' plans. But getting laughs has been the series' main objective for a while now, and it achieves that pretty handily here; The script moves at a good clip and there are a couple of pretty solid comedic setpieces, with the bit where everyone minus Frohike tries dancing being the big one, and on that got a really big laugh from me.

Frohike will never be cooler than he is in this moment.

That's not to say the episode is flawless, it's got most of the same issues The Lone Gunmen usually has. The script is very loose and has a lot of go-nowhere elements. Kimmy wanders in at the midpoint for absolutely no reason and if there's a payoff to Cuchillo being a member of a Argentine Death Squad, I didn't catch it. I've mentioned before that I think the series would be better in a half hour sitcom format, and this episode really proves it, as it might force them to make cuts and really zero in on what's important. Namely Langly doing the splits.

It's hard to not let my knowledge of the eventual fate of the show influence my reviews. Knowing, as we do, that the series was on its last gasps, the next couple episodes feel like the show fighting for its life, trying to convince the Fox execs that it was worth keeping around, featuring more direct ties to The X-Files or just wackier storylines. Tango de Los Pistoleros on the other hand feels more like an episode of a show that has accepted its fate and is quietly sinking into cancellation. Pushing the Yves/Jimmy romance at this stage, when it seems like something they want to stretch out more, feels like wrapping up. Maybe I'm reading too much into it based on later knowledge, maybe not. But it's the sense I get now.

Case Notes:

• Unironically a big fan of the episode opening with the Gunmen dancing while Yves monologues about the Tango.
• The shot of the group still dancing as Langly lies bleeding in the center is a nice one. Bet you that ends up one of my screengrabs.
• Ooh shortened opening credits.
• Of all of the group Jimmy is the only one who feels guilty about double crossing Yves, because he's got a massive crush on her.
• The episode is not subtle about the "Frohike doesn't want to be in Miami" angle.
• "Frojack" being the name of Frohike's car tracking device got a laugh from me.
• I'm unclear of how much money Yves actually has, but it's still pretty impressive that she'd huck 500 bucks at the Gunmen to get them to leave.
• The smuggler assuming Langly was a woman based on his hair is a weird beat.
• The mob boss wanting a cd of tango music is fun and it leads to a really nice cut to the tango studio Yves is in where the audio doesn't change but the scene does.
• Intercutting the mob boss' goon attacking the smuggler and the dance is nice, and it seems like the sort of thing the show should be doing more often.
• What precisely did Yves put in the other woman's shoes to do that to her feet, my god.
• So Yves is still on the "All my fake names are respellings of Lee Harvey Oswald" thing huh?
• I feel like references to Argentinian Death Squads is maybe a tiny bit too heavy for an episode about tango dancing.
• Yves' recording device being hidden in her purse buckle is clever, as is her realizing they're watching her through a two way mirror. If the tech in this show is gonna be magic, then let it be fun magic at least.
• Jimmy looks delighted at being asked to tango dance.
• Not uh, sure you should check an unknown chemical on your skin if you suspect foul play bodyguard man. I guess the bit with his hand having blown up is funny enough.
• Kimmy the Geek shows up after having been absent all series is fun especially since Jimmy openly doesn't know him.
• The bit where the DoD has a new way to hide stuff from radar is bleak, although I like that the Gunmen all roll their eyes when Jimmy seems to think it's cool.
• Yves plays the scene where she gets confronted by the mob guy and his bodyguard perfectly, it's solid writing for her.
• Jimmy trying to talk up Frohike followed by Frohike just bribing the guard is fun.
• It's clear to the audience how the deal is gonna go down from the start (too much emphasis on the CDs) but the whole dance sequence and Yves fake stabbing Langly is a ton of fun.
• Not sure throwing a knife at someone in the middle of a crowd is a good way to assassinate them, but I am amused by the fact that the mob boss just took the hit for Yves.
• Yves having done all this simply cause it was a good thing is moving her a little too much into superhero territory, but it's a necessary end for the Gunmen to reevaluate their behavior.
• The scene at the end with Yves and Jimmy is cute.
• As always, these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Check it out so I won't have to use my own championship level tango dancing skills, which I definitely have, to support myself.