"It's backwards. Everything is going backwards."

I remember the days when if for some reason they needed to give the stars of 
the X-Files a rest they merely tapped on the shoulder of some of the 
supporting cast and gave us an episode about Skinner or Cancerman or the Lone 
Gunmen. There was some grumbling in the fan base, but it was still the 
X-Files. Now, instead of doing that, 1013 has given us episodes like "Hungry" 
or this week's offering "Redrum" and for the first time we get an episode 
that is even *Doggett* light. While "Redrum" was certainly a well made hour 
of television, I'm just not sure it was the X-Files.

It's almost as if "Redrum" was actually the script to another show - some 
sort of anthology mystery/supernatural thing like "Twilight Zone" or that ilk 
and the characters we recognized were merely tossed in because they had to 
be, not because they mattered to the show one bit. I wish writer Steven Maeda 
had found a better way to include them in the story. Instead he falls back on 
the worn out show formula that once you join the X-Files weirdo things start 
happening to your family and everyone you know - even if you haven't seen a 
guy in three years. Scully should have warned Doggett about that part of the 
job when she gave the guy a desk. Then again we could decide to believe that 
all of "Redrum" happened because Scully now has a magic Omega product 
placement watch to go along with her believer status. 

In the little time we actually saw Scully and her magic time travel watch she 
makes a halfhearted attempt at the reluctant believer bit again, dragging up 
a chair when Wells starts going on about premonitions. Is the woman looking 
for an X-File in everything now or did she just inherit Mulder's Spidey sense 
while he's gone? Still, she isn't even in the episode enough to do much more 
than give out some paranormal feel-good mumbo jumbo with an eyebrow half 
cocked about finding the answer within before skipping out for a latte. 
Frankly I thought Robert Patrick's line reading on "make sure I skip that 
frickin' meeting" was one of the most entertaining things about the entire 
episode.

Still, I will admit that "Redrum" held my interest primarily due to the top 
notch performance by Joe Morton as Martin Wells. I found his moment with the 
kids and the shaky way he pulled out the photos of his wife's murder to be 
especially poignant. This episode would have failed miserably with a lesser 
actor. Director Peter Markle also did a fine job with "Redrum" - I especially 
liked the opening shot of the spider web as we then move into focus on Wells 
and began to untangle his web.

So anyway, "Redrum" wasn't a bad hour of television, but given a season in 
which we are already missing Mulder I'd rather watch something that has to 
actually do with the regular characters on the show instead of someone the 
new guy *used* to know. That is the reason the "Redrum" tape will be one of 
those that gathers dust on my shelf.

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

-Date Stamp: They're all over the place in this one. Of course Scully still 
isn't showing even though we are clear into the second week of December, but 
that's our boys at 1013. She'll probably get magically huge in May after 
having been pregnant a year.

-Inside Joke: The case number for Martin's court appearance was 8ABX03 - 
which is actually the episode number for "Redrum".

-Truth be told, there is really no reason why Scully and Doggett should be 
traipsing around with evidence to confront Wells with. It's not even remotely 
their case so they have no business waving that card key or pictures in front 
of his face when his lawyer is not even present.

-I can't be the only one disappointed that they did not change the tag line 
to "The truth is going to keep you in here and make you somebody's bitch". I 
feel that way about the X-Files sometimes. It's a lot more likely than The 
Truth Is Out There these days.

-Frank's Fashion Spot: I'm starting to think that Scully only has like 4 
outfits total this season. Are they having to pay Duchovny so much money that 
they can't even afford to shop for her anymore? I'm just glad that the OBSSE 
presented Gillian Anderson with a bunch of buttons to give to Scully this 
week. Lets hope she puts them to good use. Well, I guess I can't complain too 
much about an episode that has Scully in not one but two turtlenecks.

-How big an apartment does Doggett need? That thing was HUGE compared to 
Mulder or Scully's. He must be pulling quite a salary as Kersh's lapdog.

-Our Little Sailor: Was Scully even in this episode long enough to swear? I 
refuse to do this for the supporting cast. I guess after all that in 
"Roadrunners" we don't really need it this week anyway.

-Well, Doggett is perhaps taking that "don't ditch your partner" mantra a 
little too far since he obviously calls Scully in the middle of the night and 
makes her drive to Baltimore just because a guy he hasn't seen in three years 
knocks on his door with crazy talk. I guess all those other cops were not the 
proper back up as far as he was concerned.

-Scully must be a pretty fast dresser at that as Doggett is still in that 
shirt he was sleeping in and she manages to throw on a suit for the night 
time event.

-Manly Man Meter: Things were once again pretty manly this week. Most 
impressive was Doggett running straight at a guy shooting a gun and taking 
him down. Plus he did bust down the door and tackle SpiderMan and then shoot 
him in the nick of time later. He also gets manly official points in that 
even his coffee table book and sleep shirt had official seals on them not to 
mention his hallway art with a pen drawn flag in the picture. Still, that was 
a pretty clean apartment. I didn't see a tower of Bud cans anywhere. That 
leaves us with an 8 on the cojones count.

Autumn 
"Maybe you already have the answer within you."