"I could never have scripted the events that led us to this. None 
of us could. All the brilliant men. The secret that we kept so well."

I'm not sure it was such a well kept secret or even all that 
brilliant. Yup, with "Two Fathers" the secret that we guessed 
all along is definitely out. They made it up as they went along. 
Chris Carter says in interviews that the mythology is actually 
very simple. Well, sure it is if you conveniently forget what 
doesn't fit together. That makes it a whole lot more simple. I 
think Gillian Anderson put it best when she was asked to describe 
a portion of the mythology and she laughingly said "The bees, um, 
something about pollen." 

The Carter/Spotnitz penned "Two Fathers", in its attempts to 
make more sense out of everything, suffers at the hands of its 
predecessors. After spending years tossing everything and the 
kitchen sink into the mythology suddenly when push comes to shove 
some of it just doesn't make sense. So for those parts convenient 
amnesia will do. All of a sudden Cassandra Spender is "the one". 
Someone better tell poor little Gibson Praise who is now no doubt 
collecting unemployment since he lost his gig as "the one". The 
X-Files is so flippant in who gets to be "the key to everything". 
You're the "It" boy one week and yesterday's news the next. 
Speaking of old forgotten news I bet those Kurts thought they 
were very special (let alone the Samanthas and the Gregors) now 
we find out that they were just masquerading as alien/human 
hybrids. You see the Kurts could never hold down a job. Sad but 
true, so they could not be the first "successful" alien/human 
hybrid. If only Kurt3 had never been caught on the street corner 
that day by the syndicate with a "I will clone for food" sign he 
could have been the one. But it is Cassandra Spender, the woman 
who suddenly found a clue. She's been abducted repeatedly for 25 
years thinking it is just swell but apparently this last time 
after the aliens finally saw fit to heal her she was skulking 
around the mother ship and learned all their secret plans. Hey! 
Those aliens are mean not nice. Damn. 

If I keep talking about all the plot holes I will just whine for 
the entire review. However, if I talk about the *feeling* I had 
watching this episode and just take a "sure. fine. whatever." 
attitude about it making sense, then it was successful. It was 
well, fun. Heck, there were even some plot things I did like. I 
thought that the tie in to "The Erlenmeyer Flask" with the oilien 
being called "purity", makes "purity control" all the cuter. Of 
course the whole nature of the black oil has shifted over the 
seasons, but who's paying attention to stuff like that? In some 
ways this episode distilled the X-Files to its most basic appeal. 
Good melodrama. The bad guys are so bad you want to boo them off 
the screen and the dashing hero and heroine are so earnestly 
fighting alone to save all of mankind. 

Since this is a mythology episode everyone treats Scully, oh I'm 
sorry did I use her name? I mean "Mulder's partner" or "home girl" 
like she's just background noise. A lovely Mulder accessory. (I 
can just see the fashion show: "In today's mytharc ensemble our 
most Special Agent sports this attractive and handy partner. A 
must for the formal invasion." Ahem. But I digress.) Cassandra 
is glad to see Dana but would rather see the man who was an 
unbelieving prick to her last time they met up. The other various 
players whine and moan Mulder this Mulder that. The funny thing 
is that it is Scully who is the only one working this episode. 
She's tracking Mulder down, egging him on to talk to Cassandra, 
finding boxes full of evidence, etc. while He Who It Is All About 
is wasting time pouting and shooting hoops. 

This episode it seems was a tale of the supporting players. 
Mulder and Scully were in it - apparently mostly sitting around 
Mulder's apartment playing scrabble and waiting for things to 
happen to them when they weren't trading weighty and significant 
looks - but instead of being their story it became CancerMan's, 
and Spender's, and Krycek's, and Fowley's. I'll make a little 
admission here. I don't watch the X-Files because I want to 
learn more about Spudner's personal angst. Heck even his own 
mother would rather hug Mulder and Scully than him. Still, I 
have to compliment the players. William B. Davis did his best 
to make that bastard a sympathetic character. His delivery of 
"I'm sorry" as he killed the Doctor was wonderful. Diana Fowley 
was finally made a little interesting in the love to hate her 
category. Chris Owens, despite the fact that "you pale to Fox 
Mulder" Spender looked like he just wanted to barf the whole 
episode, brought some layers to that character even if I spent 
most of the episode laughing at him. However, Nicholas Lea this 
steals this episode as the duplicitous Krycek. One minute he's 
giving a glorified powerpoint presentation to the Elders and the 
next he's oh-so-innocently turning Spender against his "great" 
father in his ever so helpful manner after a one-armed plamming 
with a flair.

I'm looking forward to seeing how all this comes together next 
week, hopefully it will be a wild and entertaining ride. However, 
this was one of those episodes that engulfed me in dread when it 
ended. Not because I didn't like the episode. Actually, I did. 
What I didn't like is the fact that I know every person I know 
who is a more casual fan is going to look to me to explain all 
the things they are confused about. My phone rang right after 
the show ended. I didn't pick it up. I can't laugh and say 
"something about pollen". 

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

-Anyone else laugh when they said "previously on the X-Files" 
and we get a clip from "The Erlenmeyer Flask"? You don't get 
much more previous than that.

-The medical equipment was manufactured by a company called 
"Coherent". At first I thought it was an inside joke reflecting 
on what they hoped the story was, but they are an actual 
manufacturer of medical laser technology.

-Do those Roush guys vanpool everywhere? It almost looked like 
a parody of that car stuffing commercial seeing all of them 
jammed in the van waiting to be the second course at the rebel 
BBQ.

-So the alien rebels - who look amazingly like humans - not to 
be confused with the morphers because they have to actually make 
faces out of some advanced form of alien silly putty - disfigure 
themselves so the oilien cannot get in, but they can still see 
and even talk if they've created a little face with a mouth on 
it. Makes perfect sense.

-I've got to say that if it was never 1013's intention to have 
the bounty hunter morphers and the alien rebels confused then 
why in the heck did he ever let the same actor, Brian Thompson, 
play someone from both races? And are we the only race in the 
whole universe that actually bleeds red? 

-When Skinner visits little Jeffy the first time there are no 
nameplates on the door. Not that there's anything wrong with 
that. Unfortunately it did not stay that way the whole episode 
and we were treated to a lingering shot of nameplates for both 
Spender and Fowley. Scully shares that office for five years 
and she never got the same courtesy. Grrr.

-I loved the way they kept talking about how Cassandra had been 
operated on. How could they tell? She heals automatically and 
leaves no scar. They just sensed it? And what hospital just 
feeds you green jello and doesn't take any green blood?

-Speaking of green blood I'd like a little consistency in that 
department. Why is it that if you plam someone in the back of 
the neck it is not toxic, nor is the disintegrating body, but 
if you shoot an alien or biopsy the little green lump of a 
successful hybrid wannabe it is?

-Frank's Fashion Spot: Mulder may have "game" in that Knicks 
T-shirt, but all of a sudden it looks like he realizes Scully's 
got knees he rarely gets to see.

-Looks like HipHop!Mulder at least amused Scully on some level. 
She was having a hard time hiding her smile after tracking his 
milk white ass down when listening to that "jagoff shoeshine 
tip" nonsense.

-O.K. just how silly was that Elder's death. The way he was 
tossing his head back and forth in the rebel's grip was just 
too bad-30s-horror-movie phony.

-Outside the door to Cassandra's room it read: "No Visitors. 
Quarantine." No wonder Scully barges in. She's never been one 
to follow directions in hospitals.

-It's been pretty interesting to watch Scully's opinion of 
hypnosis change. She doesn't seem to buy into the "prone to 
confabulation" side much anymore.

-I have to say that I am disappointed that the "Redux II" 
Samantha apparently was not real since at the time that scene 
played with such a wonderful honesty. I sort of liked the idea 
that she was just off living a normal life and wanted to be left 
alone. At least we find out that Mulder and Scully had one of 
their "Hey, by the way did I mention I ran into my sister?" 
talks off screen.

-So, in an entire year Mulder and Scully didn't even think to 
do a database search on Spender or his mother? Um okay.

-What's in a name? Jeffrey Frank Spender? I guess Spotnitz likes 
him more than we do. As far as "Smokey's" name, leave it to 1013 
to only give us initials. 

-I'll admit it. I enjoyed watching Spender get slapped around. 
I've wanted to do the same thing myself for a year. Poor Jeffy 
is just so impotent this episode. He can't even get his plam 
up in time.

-The most frightening thing I learned this episode: In 1973 
CancerMan had Elvis hair. Ewww.

-Funniest dialogue: "How did you find us?" Gee Scully, that must 
have been tough for her seeing as though you guys had picked such 
a fine hiding place in hanging out in Mulder's apartment.

Autumn
"Yeah you got so much game I'm wondering if you've got any work 
left in you."