The Amazing Maleeni

"It's about originality, style, and more than anything else soul - 
because that's what separates the great ones from the hacks."

I'll give "The Amazing Maleeni" points for a story that was original 
(at least to the X-Files) and style, but in the soul department this 
one is a Salieri. Clever and cute are not the soul of the X-Files, 
despite what the last two years would have us believe. This tale of 
magicians certainly had its share of "neat tricks," but in the end 
was far from being even close to the "greatest show ever."

If I grudgingly set aside the fact that I've grown oh so very tired 
of X-Files episodes just jam packed with cute little bits to try to 
make the audience smile, I will admit that "The Amazing Maleeni" 
did amuse me. I enjoy magic and I enjoy a con story. However, this 
con story did have a significant flaw in that if indeed Maleeni 
and LaBonge were after federal involvement for the badge and 
fingerprint there was absolutely no reason for any FBI agents 
to be out there from the start except for the fact that the 
circumstances amused Mulder. Thank God they also anticipated 
just which of the guards would check the back of the truck too 
and doctored the right gun or LaBonge's smirking days would be 
long over. Then there was the "Magic, She Wrote" type ending 
complete with flashbacks just in case we missed the significant 
events that didn't get by our heroes. Nope, not them. Mulder and 
Scully shake their fingers at those pesky law breaking magicians 
and tell them not to try that trick again instead of putting a 
freeze on fund transfers using Mulder's credentials and catching 
them in the act.

As far as the magic went, the card/coin tricks were entertaining, 
but I found myself annoyed at the story resorting to obvious 
trickery when LaBonge was able to pick Mulder and Scully's pockets 
without even touching them. That's some misdirection. There were 
some moments of magic in this episode beyond the sleight of hand. 
The fascination with magic tricks by both Mulder and Scully (which 
had them no doubt practicing in their hotel rooms at night just 
to one up the other later) was fun. Scully even specifically 
brings up the head turn just so she can show Mulder her trick 
(which if I can do it frankly must not be that hard). I liked 
the fact that Mulder's leaps were kept relatively in check and 
Scully was allowed to be the one to find the fingerprint clue 
(complete with admonishing Mulder for being a "skeptic"). Both 
magicians did a nice job on the acting front (though if you want 
to see a real con movie check out the wonderful "House of Games" 
that Ricky Jay (Maleeni) made earlier in his career). It's also 
always nice to visit the autopsy bay, especially when the results 
are so puzzling.

Speaking of, in the special effects department they did a great 
job creating a realistic looking severed head, but the big spin 
trick was more than a little disappointing. Not only could they 
not manage to show it to us without twice cutting away, the little 
of it we did see looked rather cheesy in its computer manipulation. 

All in all there's really not much to say about this episode, and 
that says a lot right there. 

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

-Retread Alert: Not a person, but a thing. The Craddock Marine 
Bank is apparently the Lariat Rent Car of financial institutions 
with offices everywhere. We saw the DC branch blow up quite a 
few times in "Monday."

-Date Stamp: The vault sign out log that Scully picks up is dated 
1/12 as the day the armored truck had its little incident.

-This week's teaser appeared to be brought to you by Coca-Cola 
since when people weren't walking by coke signs they were sipping 
coke as they watched the show.

-They finally found a Los Angeles area landmark they could use in 
the Santa Monica pier. No wonder they went for the lingering shot 
to start the show.

-Frank's Fashion Spot: OK. I've decided it must be a conspiracy 
at this point. For some reason Gillian's hairdresser and costumer 
are united in some unholy plot to make Scully look as bad as 
possible this season. First the horrid haircut which has me 
imploring "grow, grow!" at the screen of late, but now... is 
it so hard in all of Los Angeles to actually find clothes that 
fit? These untucked gapping button up blouses have GOT TO STOP. 
Don't even get me started on that jacket she was wearing with 
only the top button done. At least we had some bizarre clothing 
continuity in that Scully seems to be sticking to her odd fashion 
statement of wearing black bras under white shirts. 

-There was one nice fashion moment with the top hat, though it 
seemed to be another of those "cute" moments inserted merely to 
be featured prominently in the promos. Frankly, if I had something 
on my head that two birds had been trapped in for days I think I 
would have whipped it off a little more quickly.

-The biggest tragedy in this episode: Someone is finally rooting 
around inside Scully's jacket and she doesn't even feel it.

-I think they can put to rest the person assumes Mulder and Scully 
are married joke. We've beat that horse one too many times at this 
point.

-I enjoyed the little exchange about cheating at cards that ends 
in Maleeni asking Scully "Who raised you?" - heck after shooting 
unarmed suspects living with yourself for cheating at cards is 
child's play.

Autumn
"The hand may be quicker than the eye but it still leaves 
fingerprints."