"You're in the basement because they're afraid of you, of your
relentlessness, and because they know that they could drop you 
in the middle of the desert and tell you the truth is out there 
and you'd ask them for a shovel."
"That what you think of me?"
"Well, maybe not a shovel. Maybe a back-hoe."

If it's sweeps month it must be time for another two part 
episode, complete with the prerequisite cliffhanger that deals 
with all the issues Mulder and Scully conveniently forget about 
during their monster of the week adventures. I always like these 
episodes - they usually have some good emoting by one or both of 
our heroes - and always have a surprise or two thrown in for fun. 
However, this episode failed to capture me like they usually do. 
Sure I enjoyed it, but it didn't seem to have the drive and 
intensity that I've come to expect of this X-Files' genre - it 
just wasn't as compelling as I've come to expect.

As our latest entry in the alien/conspiracy arc opens we are 
treated to a favorite of the X-Files - subtitles, this time 
French, of the sailors on the "Piper Maru". When Gauthier gets 
into his Robby the Robot deep sea outfit I couldn't help but 
wonder what "Danger Will Robinson" would sound like in French. 
And, it appears we have another breed of aliens on our hands - 
this one doesn't morph the whole body like our favorite bounty 
hunter - it just gives its current host that dreamy black cloud
look in their eyes and leaves slime and radiation poisoning 
behind.

For me, the good stuff came early on in the episode - more of 
the season three trend to show us that yes, Dana Scully *does* 
have emotions - and a truly wonderful trend it is. In yet another 
moving scene from this great actress we see Scully struggling with 
tears after Skinner catches her by surprise with news about her 
sister's death. There is just something about these scenes between 
Pileggi and Anderson - they really bring out the best in each other. 
Skinner is just *such* a softie for Agent Scully - promising her 
that despite what the "powers that be" deem is an appropriate time 
to close the case on her sister "I am going to appeal this decision".

For some reason, Scully has never been one to hide her emotions from 
A. D. Skinner, but usually it is her anger he gets to see. This time, 
it is her grief. I find this particularly interesting given on her  
trip to Mulder's office after Mulder's brief attempt at acknowledging 
something may be up with Scully (given the war of emotions we see on 
her face) she dismisses him with her usual wall of denial lie. Are 
things in such a state between them that she feels more comfortable 
talking to Skinner about an emotional issue than Mulder? Still, I am 
heartened by the friendly overtones between Mulder and Scully during 
this scene - Scully admitting in a friendly way that she is 
"constantly amazed" by Mulder. Yet their lines are drawn by Mulder 
as he discusses the connection to the Talapus - "what you believe 
was a Russian sub - what I believe was the remains of a UFO." 

After this, once again Mulder and Scully spend the whole episode 
separated - living vicariously through their cell phones once again 
("Mulder, it's me. Where are you?" - I laugh every single time). We  
do get to see a wistful Dana Scully visiting one of her old naval 
base stomping grounds - complete with warm fuzzy flashbacks and 
memories of childhood games. While she digs for information on the 
plane from a childhood source and finds out how "we bury our dead 
alive" and they "haunt us", Mulder is off on a whirlwind tour of 
sailor's homes, corrupt shotgun toting salvage brokers, strange 
hit squads, and finally Hong Kong.

Skinner, meanwhile, is given an interesting subplot. Letting us 
know that he does stand behind his favorite wayward agents despite 
threats against him. Apparently the man hangs out at the local 
coffee shop when he's not raking Mulder over the coals or 
consorting with CancerMan. I enjoyed his one-liner about the 
"intelligence community" - "Remind me not to move there". This 
Melissa Scully cover-up is getting very interesting. Her death 
has become more important than I originally imagined in the grand 
conspiracy plan of things. Important enough to get Skinner shot 
in a shocking turn of events. A question about this though - why 
was Scully called at home when Skinner is shot? Surely he has 
many, many agents beneath him - what warranted a call to her? 

And ooooo-boy Krycek - he’s looking pretty rough around the edges 
these days from his time on the run - not quite so pretty anymore. 
Not to be outdone by X or Skinner, Mulder shows his own talent at 
head butting and Krycek shows his ability to once again let Mulder 
take his gun. Mulder guesses right that Krycek has access to that 
holy grail of the X-Files this season - the digital tape - and 
seems to be willing to deal with the despised RatBoy in order to 
procure it. In a truly righteous moment on the show Krycek gets 
beat up by a woman while taking a whiz - too bad about that dreamy 
black cloud look in his eyes. 

Random Musings
--------------
-Fashion watch: Wow. Two red suits for Scully in two weeks. 
Thank God they are seeing fit to put her in more colors this 
year - death to beige!

-Let there be light. The super-duper flashlights are back!

-We always knew Scully was smart, but the gal can even identify 
WWII planes from a murky underwater camera - no wonder Mulder 
got turned on.

-How come everybody in Hong Kong has a gun except Mulder? At 
least he can’t drop something he doesn’t have.

-Anyone catch the name of that childhood game of Scully’s? 
Better yet anyone know the rules?

-Cool decision to use black and white film for the WWII 
flashback - it captured the feel nicely.

-All that "pardon my gender type" back and forth didn’t work 
much for me, though I did really like Ms. Kallenchuk while she 
lasted - she was fun. "It’s the bull market hon, and I’m Miss 
Popular".

-That "Hispanic Man" - I’m beginning to hate him as much as 
Krycek - kinda wish he’d got trampled by that invisible 
elephant when the actor first appeared in "Fearful Symmetry".

-Flight 1121 to Washington DC.

Autumn