"Bad Dog."
"Yeah."

"Alpha" is one of those Monster of the Week episodes that attempts 
to do all the tricks that usually garner it a biscuit, but instead 
just rolls over and plays dead. Sometimes formula can kill a show. 
It did for me in this case. It all seemed so obligatory and 
predictable with no real surprises. Sort of like everyone was going 
through the motions starting with the writer and ending with the 
performances. It all just sort of sat there.

Jeffrey Bell's script was equal parts obvious and illogical. So 
Detweiler travels to the Far East tracking this mythical beast, 
somehow gets possessed by it and says to himself "I know, I'll 
ship myself home in a box." Stupid subtitled teaser fodder crew 
members then decide to actually open the heavily locked box of 
the attacking creature with the glowing red eyes because they 
think shining a flashlight in a little hole "killed it". We then 
have Doggy Detweiler and his traveling spotlight (to menacingly 
project his shadow) morphing about killing all the people in the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department that ever looked at him crossways 
and Karin the Creepy Canine Kook getting the tinglies from mouse 
maneuvers such that she considers giving up Wolves for Fox. 
Meanwhile, Scully is the real "Alpha" in the story (Look! Subtext!) 
trying to protect her non-mate mate from the female tricksters of 
the world and Mulder is clueless to these goings on but still 
manages to make his usual incredible logic leaps when it comes 
to extinct Asian weredogs rampaging through the greater Los Angeles 
area. Plus, there is a lot of non-suspense as we all say ho-hum 
when Cujo appears in the backseat of the car or flits about the 
kennels. But wait, there's more. The obligatory "character moment" 
is fulfilled by Mulder getting to feel bad at the end and Scully 
digging out her tried and true "it's not your fault that every one 
around you dies" speech. The X-Files brought to you by 
paint-by-numbers.

You know I really miss the Mulder who had passion. The one who 
got excited about a good monster case instead of sort of glumly 
giving the "facts" to Scully interspersed with bad jokes. If he 
really is "home" why doesn't Duchovny give us that feeling? About 
the only time Mulder even looked excited about the case was when 
he got the chance to name off his cryptozoology hit list. It all 
seems so halfhearted, and if Mulder can't get excited about it 
how can we? Heck even Scully fell asleep (though I will admit she 
has a knack for that). Despite all the subtextual sniffing about, 
all the performances in this episode were soooooo low key any 
emotional connection, even to our leads, became difficult. While 
I will admit I enjoyed the fact they gave Scully the best joke of 
the episode when she tells us "Yeah, he uh, he doesn't listen and 
he chews on the furniture", for an episode that featured them 
actually investigating together it lacked spark.

I also was less than thrilled by the way Mulder got his poster 
back. If I'd had my druthers the writing staff would have made 
that a significant moment between Mulder and Scully. Her giving 
him something that important rather than having it bestowed as a 
parting gift by someone we'll never hear a peep about again. There 
are very few big props in this show, and that is a cornerstone 
much like Scully's cross. I wish they'd treated it as such. Then 
again maybe they did. They can just change their minds as to who 
gave it to him sometime mid season seven if it serves a story. Meow.

And then there were the dog references. Every joke bad and good 
was trotted out for display ranging from a free plug for Taco Bell 
to Mulder almost stepping in a pile. By the end I was groaning at 
the references.

On the plus side I did think that Bill Roe did a really nice job 
with the atmospheric shots using fog and steam to great effect. 
Director Peter Markle also tried to liven some things up with 
that dog-cam like shot sneaking up on Cahn talking on the radio 
and some cool use of crane shots. However, I couldn't help but 
wonder if some additional character moments were cut out for the 
sake of trying desperately to make the attack scenes creepy. I 
thought the interplay between Detweiler and Berquist could have 
been further fleshed out. The way it played we had to assume 
Karin had some sort of wild psychic doggie sense that made her 
recognize Detweiler for what he was. Plus, if she was trying to 
protect him as she claims bringing Mulder in makes even less sense 
beyond wanting to meet him and surely she was not that completely 
self- delusional. I'd also have to say the editing of the Mulder 
mouse moment was a bit too heavy handed for my tastes. You'd have 
thought a bomb went off and Mulder did not notice it the way that 
scene played. It screeched SIGNIFICANT MOMENT. 

It wasn't that "Alpha" was terrible, it was just that it was 
lifeless. This is a script that could have benefited by a few 
more drafts. On the bright side at least dogs manage to look more 
menacing than house cats.

Random Musings
--------------

-It appears in honor of their prey Mulder and Scully took the red 
eye from DC to LA to get there bright and early the next day.

-That Detweiler was quite the morpher. None of those pesky clothes 
ripping from cheesy werewolf movies effects for him, he just morphed 
his dumpy duds on and off. I especially like the way he managed to 
morph on a pair of pants before he died.

-Speaking of Detweiler could he at least morph a snappier outfit? 
He did seem to have a thing for wool making me wonder if they were 
going for the "wolf in sheep's clothing" effect in costuming him. 
All this of course leads to...

-Frank's Fashion Spot: It appears that having Lupus also impairs 
your sense of fashion. By the time Karin showed up in that dorky 
hat I was laughing at the anti-social/only-communicative-behind-a-
keyboard stereotype depicted.

-While I'm talking about this sort of thing what in the hell was 
the matter with Scully's hair this episode? They actually managed 
to make it look flat and unflattering the entire time.

-I'm really curious as to how Detweiler got this "blood curse" as 
it seems this breed of wolfman does not work in the traditional 
werewolf fashion or Mulder and Scully will be back in LA soon 
hunting Officer Cahn.

-Someone please explain to me why Scully is carrying an umbrella 
when it is not raining and no umbrella when it is.

-I don't think we can count this as one of the jealous!Scully 
episodes, as I was not getting jealous or catty from her at all. 
Scully has always been a good read of character and to call her 
calmly seeing through a charade jealousy does her a disservice. 
Protective yes, jealous no.

-Dr. Berquist certainly had an interesting bookshelf that I am 
sure was not lost on Scully. Right next to all the wolf love 
and "Better than Human" tomes was nestled "Nice Girls Do" which 
is considered by some to be a landmark book on female sexuality.

-In yet another example of everyone and their neighbor's dog calls 
him Fox except Scully, he had obviously used that name with Karin. 
Maybe he thought she might relate better to it.

-Someone needs to work on more funding for those Fish and Wildlife 
guys because it seems like they can only afford one vehicle. Both 
men who were attacked were driving the same car with the same plates.

-I thought it was funny that in that close up on Scully when she 
finds Dr. Riley you can just tell she's doing that patented two 
finger pulse check she's so fond of without even actually seeing 
it. How odd that it has its own expression.

-Speaking of Riley, if he's dead why call paramedics? If he's not 
quite dead yet why leave him in a bloody lump and both wander off 
except to allow for a plot device moment.

-Ever heard of knocking? I love the way Scully just waltzes into 
Karin's house and up the stairs to confront her about Mulder. One 
would think someone living in the LA area would lock their doors.

-That Scully is one smart cookie being able to whip out an obscure 
medical diagnosis on the fly on top of a psychological profile all 
in a few short meetings. Her time on the X-Files has served her well.

-This was swift. Use a night establishing shot outside the hospital 
and then have Mulder say "it's not yet dark."

Autumn
"Don't mind him, he'll go on forever."