"I'm willing to believe, but not in a lie."

Well, it was better than "Redux".

I'm still surprised, though by now I should be used to it, 
that X-Files usually manages to bring us a rather average 
episode for the season premiere. I almost always think 
"they had all summer and *this* is what they come up with?" 
Sorry, but I want more than a paint by numbers mythology 
episode for a premiere. Call me greedy, but damn it I waited 
six months and I want to believe it should be special, not 
so-so. What we got seemed like a check list: Finale tie-in - 
check. Dana "what you can't question is the science" Scully 
"woozy" and can't seem to recall riding a friggin' UFO - 
check. Fox "Hallway-shmallway, it's all about me again" 
Mulder performs ditch - check. Villains in place - check. 
CancerMan smokes in non-smoking area - check. Ridiculous new
element to mythology - check. And so on and so on. All these 
pieces came together into an hour that had some highlights 
but for the most part was rather pedestrian. At least there 
were no voice overs.

Now I know I have Scullyist leanings (stop laughing), but 
despite that, after watching this episode I really have to 
wonder if Mulder believes the truth is up his ass since 
that was where his head was for the majority of the time. 
What happened to the movie Mulder who so bewitched me? Even 
Scully is left wondering. Scully may question things, but 
she desperately tries to connect with him using his own 
words and telling him "If I change now, it wouldn't be 
right - or honest". Still no dice. However, even more 
annoying than his ditch (I mean after all on the Mulder 
ditch scale this was a polite one as he actually came back 
to the car and let her know he was running off with Fowley 
because *she* believed him), was that attitude thing going 
on at the end. Let's see - Fowley gets him caught in the 
plant, pulls a gun on him, testifies in a harmful way before 
the A.D. committee, calls him "Fox" every chance she gets, 
and disses Scully with little comments like "You're not 
under the impression that what we're looking for makes 
sense in any conventional way" - but at the end, with 
Scully laying it all on the line about their relationship 
and trust he actually says "You're asking me to make a 
choice?" Geez, was Fowley that good in bed? All Scully 
wanted him to do the entire episode is read her little 
report, to listen to her, to use the word "we" instead 
of "I". Yet, true to form he only really listens to her 
when he finally thinks what she has done might support 
him. 

All that being said, the best things about this episode 
were the scenes between Mulder and Scully. Duchovny and 
Anderson were up to their old tricks, doing their best to 
bring whatever spark they could to the dialogue even if 
Mulder and Scully had to spend the majority of the episode 
snarking at each other. Anderson once again shows she has 
a real connection with child actors, infusing her scenes 
with Gibson with a warmth that is just enough to get me 
irritated all over again at what has been taken from 
Scully. Jeff Gulka has been a real find as Gibson. Not 
only is the kid a good actor, but he's a very interesting 
character to play with. His "talent" is especially fun when 
we see it slice through the little white lies to the heart 
of the matter. In an episode filled with the camera 
lingering on Scully's face for a reaction the "I'm a very 
special lab rat" allusion back to Emily cuts Scully to the 
quick.

Duchovny likewise gets lucky in his scenes with Mimi Rogers. 
Not because she is so good, but because she is just so bad 
she makes him look brilliant. I've nothing against Ms. Rogers. 
In fact I've seen her do some very good work in the past, but 
she just seems lost and unnatural as Fowley. When I watch her 
I feel like I'm seeing an actress just trying to remember her 
lines and get them out in the right order. I mean Chris Owens, 
bless his little actor heart, is at least trying. The problem 
with that is we just don't care because the character is so 
poorly conceived. I was lucky to keep my dinner down in the 
big "father/son bonding through evil" scene which came across 
as too cheesy for words.

In the, "call me a masochist but I am still trying to make 
sense of the mythology" corner, why is it that sometimes 
black oil just likes to take you for a ride like in "Piper 
Maru" and other times it decides you are alien bait? Is it 
just finicky? And is it just me or did we learn from this 
episode that we are all alien love children? Frankly, I 
found the opening sequence in the hearing hilarious because 
it effectively pointed out just how silly and convoluted 
this "global domination" by "vicious long-clawed spacelings" 
thing has become. It's not only A.D. Maslin (named in a jab 
at professional reviewers) that is trying to understand the 
plot. At least, for a change, I can't complain about this 
episode being too complex.

Like I said. At least it was better than "Redux".

Random Musings
--------------
-Retread Alert: THERE WERE NONE. Welcome to L.A.

-It seems, as the person who casts the show, Rick Millikan 
has just been waiting for the L.A. move so that he too 
could die a horrible teaser death. I guess if the Vancouver 
prop master got a gig in "Unusual Suspects" fair is fair.

-Speaking of Sandy, personally I think he may have been 
chosen to die because not only was he wearing a fashion 
disaster vertically striped shirt with a wide diagonal 
stripe tie, but he was so pitiful that all the pictures 
in his house were of him in a lab coat.

-Which brings us to Frank's Fashion Spot: What is with 
these Mulder casual investigation outfits? You'd think he 
was on vacation or auditioning for a GAP ad instead of on 
the job. Is Scully the only one who wears a jacket these 
days?

-I'd hate to see Sandy's utility bill if he actually keeps 
his house at 60 degrees in Phoenix even when he's not home. 
Does he like living in a meat locker?

-Is it just me or was that syndicate scene missing a certain 
well placed "Dear God" in a clipped British accent?

-My biggest laugh: seeing a house plant in the "new" X-Files 
office. On the bright side it looks like Fowley doesn't have 
a desk either.

-Small continuity nod: the scientists worked at Roush 
Technologies, the same company who was paying off Blevins. 
Now if they would only pay the same attention to major plot 
points like how long Scully was missing we would all be happy.

-They went for the obvious Simpson's gag. Homer asleep at the 
controls. What I found more funny was the Vancouver/L.A. jab 
in the same scene. The song featuring lyrics like "gray skies 
are gonna clear up" and "sunshine all over the place".

-I'm still trying to wrap my brain around exactly what Mulder 
thought he was going to do when he found the lizard alien. We 
know shooting them is out. He didn't appear to have a big net. 
Was he just going to try to put it to sleep with a voice over? 

-Now Mulder knows aliens are toxic right? That a bee sting 
can kill. That their "blood" is very dangerous and yet we 
get "Hey cool! Look, a pile of alien goo - I think I'll stick 
my ungloved hand in it!" 

-Our Little Sailor: "God, does anybody know what the hell is 
going on?"

-Well I must say "dip wad" now surpasses "dork weed" as the 
stupidest faux swear word on the show. And that was tough to 
do.

-Tough X-Files question of the week: Is it worth a brain 
operation to get to lay your head in Scully's lap?

-It's a good thing the FBI has all that high tech equipment 
around for Mulder to restore his files instead of doing 
simple backups.

-I guess aliens also have a problem with that dry, flaky 
skin in warmer climates.

-You just have to feel sorry for those poor fools who try 
to tell Scully to calm down when she's worked herself up. 
They just don't see it coming.

-Here's why we should fear those sneaky lizard "spacelings". 
It's not the RuPaul nails or their attitude problems. It's 
because they can apparently become invisible, travel 60 
miles on claw without leaving an obvious trail, and somehow 
penetrate the security of a nuclear power plant. Then again 
if Mulder and Fowley can sneak in too maybe it is not all 
that tough. I don't know about you all but that lack of 
security certainly gives me a warm fuzzy.

-Five years later and they are just noticing Mulder and 
Scully's "very questionable travel expenses"? I'd been 
thinking one of them had been doing some serious flirting 
with someone in accounting for years to get their expense 
reports through.

Autumn Tysko
"Why do I bother?"