"I just came up with a sick theory Mulder"
"Oooo, I'm listening."

While I certainly would not classify it as a great or classic 
episode, "Our Town" is a solid outing that I've always liked. 
I think it is mostly because Spotnitz's first solo effort at 
a Monster of the Week was different. It told us a few new 
things about the characters, the script (despite it's Scooby 
Doo "Zoinks let's pull the mask off" ending) was not that 
predictable, and there was an uneasy tension throughout. 
Perhaps it was aided by the fact that humans are always the 
most frightening monster on the X-Files.

I think in examining that tension that exists in this 
episode you can point quite quickly to the things that made 
it successful. First of all the opening scene between Mulder 
and Scully is a favorite of mine because it is an early case 
of Scully showing a lot of investment in the work. She's 
clearly annoyed at the fact that she believes they are being 
asked to go on a wild goose - or as Mulder points out chicken - 
chase to discredit what they do. Her argument is not with 
Mulder, it is with the mysterious "them" as she starts to buy 
into the conspiracy after two years. Actually, the last few 
episodes of season two did a grand job of escalating the 
threat to Mulder and Scully as a lead into "Anasazi". You 
just felt like they were on thin ice and knew things were 
closing in on them a bit.

The video they watch (as usual with wonderful reflective work 
by the master cinematographer John Bartley) is also edgy and 
disturbing - continuing to set the tone. What's amusing about 
that first back and forth is that while Mulder's talking 
foxfire, Scully thinks the burn mark is a bonfire, and boy 
is she right that time. "Our Town" is one of those episodes 
that does a good job of using both leads proactively to solve 
the crime piecing things together in tandem. It's this type 
of partnership work that always seems to elevate an episode. 
I have to credit Spotnitz with providing some clever writing 
such that the scenes with Kearns' wife and the Sheriff can 
and do work two ways. It helped to keep the audience guessing 
throughout the investigation as to what was going on. 

I have a love/hate thing with the Scully in jeopardy part of 
"Our Town". I can remember being quite annoyed when it initially 
aired because it seemed like Scully was getting bonked on that 
left temple of hers like every other episode and being put in 
some sort of danger. I mean can you even imagine the callus 
she must have built up in that one spot over the years? Still, 
even though I don't like the idea of her being so easily 
overpowered and taken once again, there is something absolutely 
terrifying about this particular instance. I don't think we've 
ever seen Scully look so petrified as she does here, and folks, 
Gillian does it all with her eyes since once again duct tape 
is her friend. It still makes me uncomfortable every time I 
watch it even when I know Mulder's going to save the day, look 
at her all angsty and get to play with her hair.

On a gross scale this one is right up there. In a place where 
even the chickens are cannibals, Chaco Chicken and their "Good 
People, Good Food!" slogan will put you off your feed for a 
while each you see it. All the shots of disgusting sludge (of 
course Mulder finds the grossest thing in the plant to ask 
about it - I'm shocked he did not shove his fingers in it 
first), bloody rivers, and that last gross out with what I've 
always assumed was Chaco's mustache were a little over the top 
for me. I pity the actress who had to take the sludge bath for 
her big X-Files break. Acting doesn't get much worse than that 
for a paycheck. Gillian Anderson actually has one of the better 
bits when she expresses what I felt as an audience member with 
the sick look she gives that bucket of chicken before leaving 
it behind.

The supporting performances were for the most part fine. I 
especially liked John Milford as Chaco, but I've got to say I 
was glad to see George Kearns die in the teaser before that 
actor could really start to wear on me. The editing could have 
been a little tighter especially in the end sequence when it 
seemed like they were taking forever just as to give Mulder 
enough time to show up. I suppose the last melee was there to 
indicate folks running about like chickens with their heads 
cut off, but the stomping of Jess always comes across as a 
little too phony for my taste. Then of course there was the 
aforementioned Scooby Doo denouement.

We've certainly seen better monster of the week episodes, but 
"Our Town" does hold up well in the middle ground of The X-Files.

Random Musings
--------------
-George to Paula in the car: "It's not like you're still in 
high school". I sure as hell hope not if she was 47. 

-Mark Snow uses some familiar themes heard throughout the 
series in this episode, but his scoring of act four in 
particular did an evocative job of increasing the tension 
while the towns people prepared to find out just how tasty 
Scully is.

-Apparently they grow their doctors pretty dumb in Dudley. 
Doctor "I'm just a staff physician" seems to have blocked 
how to treat anything much greater than a scratch. I like 
the fact that he's prescribed codeine that these folks seem 
to down by the handful for their dramatic seizures. The way 
Kearns was acting in the teaser you would have thought it 
was nitroglycerine for a heart attack. Thems fast acting 
codeine pills if he could snap out of it so quick. No wonder 
Kearns was falling all over himself later though. I'm 
surprised he could even walk after crunching down that dose. 

-I've always found the comment by Scully "I didn't think 
anything gave you nightmares" interesting since there seems 
to be such a fan focus on Mulder as having nightmares. I 
thought this comment was intended about monsters and such 
rather than having anything to do about Samantha. Mulder's 
monsters have always been his family.

-Just how many chickens does Chaco think he needs to keep in 
that small pen with no hutch in his backyard? It was like a 
crowded chicken prison next to the tennis court. The set 
people certainly could not have been more obvious in the fact 
that it was just tossed into the backyard of the house they 
happened to be shooting at.

-The picture of Mulder in shades pulling a plastic fork out 
of the ashes always gives me a smile. Nice little bit of 
foreshadowing with that one.

-Frank's Fashion Spot: I will say I always liked that camel 
color trench coat of Scully's, but my favorite fashion moment 
in this episode is a bit of a silly one. It's not often Scully 
wears one of those scrub dresses, and seeing her in that 
complete with the white hose and shoes is highly amusing. 
Plus, though sadly she does not wear them, at least her 
glasses were also sitting there in that scene taunting us.

-We've always known Scully does good autopsy, but she's even 
more impressive than usual in "Our Town" since she's able to 
get a slice of Paula Gray's brain out without even cutting 
into her head. The body just lies there completely intact 
from every angle as they look at this miracle brain tissue.

-Another fun John Bartley moment: he's able to capture a good 
reflection of Mulder and Scully in the shades of the Sheriff.

-Nice reactions all around when the Sheriff tells them 
"Foxfire's nothing more than a ghost story about swamp gas". 
In fact Mulder looks a little like he's having one of his 
"dodger dog" moments at that point.

-It's the little things that count. For some reason I really 
really like that moment in the chicken plant where Scully is 
calmly closing in and trying to talk Paula down. Despite the 
situation you feel like Scully is the one in control, the 
consummate law enforcement professional. 

-I cannot for the life of me figure out why that one woman 
is wearing a badge over her chicken plant outfit. Is she some 
sort of a member of the Ranger Chick Club wearing her merit 
badge?

-Danny makes another non-appearance in this episode running 
missing person's checks for the dynamic duo.

-Annoying Spotnitz Dialogue: Having Mulder point out the 
bones have been polished to Scully after she just showed 
him that in the previous scene. I think the audience could 
have remembered this all the way through the commercial break 
Frank.

-Speaking of commercials I find the reference to the Anasazi 
tribe in the episode before "Anasazi" always a little odd. 
It's like it should have meant something and it didn't.

-Thank God Chaco labels his knickknacks for easy reference 
with things like "Jale tribe, New Guinea, 1944" and keeps a 
bunch of heads in his entryway. It really makes investigations 
go a lot quicker. I do keep wondering what the label by the 
bone said though. Perhaps "My first femur".

-I'm not sure why Mulder pounded that lock off the cabinet 
when we just saw him use his handy lock pick gun to break 
into the courthouse. More dramatic I guess.

Autumn
"I'm surprised she didn't call Oprah as soon as she got off 
the phone with the police."