"You saved the world Scully."
"Yeah, you're right. I did."

And at the end I clapped. First and foremost this is television. 
It's entertainment. And "Triangle" just entertained the hell out 
of me. I guess I'll never be an X-Files "purist" by some people's 
standards. I always seem to love the show's unusual episodes for 
the breath of fresh air that they are. Mostly though because they 
are fun, and hold it against me if you must, but I'm just a sucker 
for fun. Writer/Director/Creator Chris Carter offered this 
experimental joy ride for the fans as well as the Emmy panel, and 
this time I really hope he gets his Emmy. He's earned it.

Of course the technical aspects of this presentation deserve 
special recognition. The use of letterbox formatting was really 
only the start here. Director Carter decided to give both his 
actors and the show's newest member of the editing staff, 
Louise A. Innes, a huge challenge in making most of the episode 
appear as if it were done in long continuous takes. The editor's 
task was to hide the cuts from the audience. It was a little 
easier to fake us out in the shipboard sequences as they were 
shot so damn dark (one of my only complaints about this episode 
as it became increasingly annoying) that cutaways were easily 
hidden in black moments or a journey through steam. The triumph 
that was act two, however, presented a little more difficulty in 
giving us that delightful romp of Scullyvision. Here they 
primarily used a "whip pan" technique to hide editing in a blur 
of motion. However they were doing it, it worked, allowing us to 
live a frantic ten minutes of Scully's life.

Which, to be quite honest, has become one of my favorite ten 
minutes ever on the show. Scully's always been concerned for 
Mulder when he gets into trouble, but it seems with all that has 
happened to the dynamic duo of late it doesn't take too much to 
work her up into "gun ready to go off mode" - so much for the 
"I'm fine" answer I'm sure Spender would have liked to have heard. 
Gillian "I don't need no stinking lines, just a camera on my face" 
Anderson gives us the emotional gamut as Scully cavorts through 
the hallways swinging through emotions in a big way. When Mulder's 
in trouble the tigress comes out in this woman. I delighted in the 
little Scully moments we don't often get to see: her berating 
herself, her breathless gratitude at Skinner's help, her defeated 
droop out of Kersh's office, and that hilarious moment in the 
elevator as she's talking to herself and uncrumpling her little 
note while the coworker along for the ride gets a full dose of 
manic Mrs. Spooky for the rumor mill. Give me Scullyvision any 
day, I love the ride.

It's not surprising it worked so well because one of the things 
you can pretty much count on from David and Gillian is that if 
you give them something new or exciting to do they light up the 
screen. Duchovny gives Mulder a childlike presence throughout, 
from his giddy "this is unbelievable" discovery to his goofy bliss 
at the end. I got a chuckle out of Mulder steadfastly trying to 
convince everyone on the ship about his time warp theory by 
trying to get them to look at the date on his watch and the 
like. The funniest thing though was Mulder trying to get 1939 
Scully's attention by thinking hey, maybe if I tip my hat and 
look at her wide eyed THEN she'll recognize me. He's perfect at 
the episode's end poking at Scully, trying to tell her what he 
believes happened and finally, having to actually say the words 
and tell her he loves her after she playfully toys with him 
("There's no place like home"). Duchovny and Anderson just nail 
this scene. It's why *we* love them both.

I've got to take some time to mention Mark Snow's score as well 
here. Like he did in the movie, he subtly weaves the main X-Files 
theme throughout the music we heard in "Triangle". However, I 
was most delighted by the act four swing score that managed to 
infuse the entire act with bopping excitement. There was just 
something about seeing Scully and her Lone Gunmen "posse" searching 
with that great swing drumbeat that made what would usually be 
considered an overbearing score perfect. I couldn't keep still 
in my seat.

We did get a lot of important information this episode as well, 
or rather Scully did. She now knows Kersh, Spender, and Fowley 
are all involved with CancerMan and that Skinner pretty much has 
his nuts in a vise over the past help he's given them as well. 
Personally, I wish they hadn't gone for the obvious in making 
Kersh a CSM lackey, but it does set the "you and me against the 
world" feeling up even more for the heroes. I also didn't buy 
that goofiness with Skinner in the hospital room. He's afraid 
to even talk to Scully and yet he has no problems with the one 
big happy family scenario at the end?

There will obviously be a couple of big debates to come out of 
this episode, so I might as well weigh in with my take on them 
and get that out of the way. Was it a dream? Who knows. I'm not 
writing it off as one though. The Queen Anne did appear so 
something was up in the Bermuda Triangle. Frankly I like the 
idea of a freak alternative universe, and kudos for the shot 
where the Scullys converge and each has one of those patented 
Scully psychic moments over the event. Next, what about that 
kiss? What about it? Mulder wanted to kiss her in the movie. 
He kissed 1939 Scully here in case he never gets a chance with 
the real thing. I think it is clear by now that he wants to kiss 
her. I'm really unsure how you could think differently. Though I 
will grant that the "I love you" does not necessarily mean romantic 
love I'm glad he finally said it to her. So up the stakes one more 
notch in the game and off we go.

Random Musings
--------------
-Tag line: DIE WAHRHEIT IST IRGENDWO DA DRAUBEN. Roughly German 
for "The truth is somewhere out there."

-We've already got our first date mix up of the season. "Drive" 
takes place on November 15th and 16th and yet Mulder informs us 
here that the date is November 16th.

-Well we certainly can't say that shooting in Los Angeles made 
this episode too bright. The ship scenes were mired in darkness. 
Seems a pity that Carter decided to take a "landmark" event like 
that kiss and then underlight it so badly you could hardly make 
it out. I suppose that was all part of the ever tiring game of 
the not kiss. Chris, honey, the dance has grown tiresome.

-What wonderful luck to have the Queen Mary available to act as 
the Queen Anne. The beautiful wood paneling and lights of the 
ship really helped with the period feel.

-I guess 1939 Scully also took German in college. Too bad the 
actor's who had to spout the lines didn't.

-Scully just can't catch a break as far as her office is 
concerned. She lives in the basement with no desk for five years 
and then when she gets her desk she doesn't even rank a cubical. 
I'm sure it is easy to concentrate in that work environment.

-I was glad to see that Scully's a post-its on the monitor kind 
of gal. Made me feel a certain kinship there.

-Frank's Fashion Spot: Kudos to the period costumes. We know 
Gillian Anderson is one of those red heads that can carry off 
wearing that color red, but Duchovny looked pretty good in the 
Nazi uniform as well.

-Scully on the edge is not the most graceful of women. If she's 
not stomping on people's feet in the elevator she's almost 
falling on her ass sliding around corners.

-It was a fun touch to have the Jamaican swabbo reminding the 
overly chatty Mulder to "trust no one, mon."

-For a change we actually can see the gun bulge in the back of 
Scully's tailored suit.

-I am confused at one thing. Why Mulder claimed that he saw 
"Thor's Hammer" when it seems he did not. Or was he just not 
wanting to say while innocent people were murdered?

-When Scully comes out of Kersh's office you can clearly see 
the body mike on Gillian Anderson as she does the "what am I 
thinking" bit.

-And HEY. What happened to that cool new cell phone she had in 
"Drive"? Don't tell me she lost the damn thing already!

-How annoyingly organized the X-Files office is these days. 
The things on the bulletin board were so perfectly and 
pathologically lined up it's as if Spudner used a level to 
make sure the edges were even.

-Our Little Sailor was busy, busy, busy. If she wasn't swearing 
to herself she was calling Spender a "rat bastard". As fond as 
I am of Spudner as a name for that character it seems Scully is 
determined to nickname him herself as both incarnations of her 
refer to him aptly as a weasel. I still think he has all the 
personality of Idaho's finest export though. And the thought of 
him having to "do" someone to get information for Scully is too 
icky to even contemplate.

-Speaking of sailors, it seems Duchovny is becoming the master 
of almost but not quite saying a certain not ready for primetime 
word. There's certainly no guessing what he means.

-In the "It's the little things that count" category when Scully 
was on the phone trying to impersonate Fowley it was almost as 
if she was trying to get that same pained look on her face that 
Fowley always seems to have.

-Kudos to Laura Leigh Hughes who has joined the cast as Kersh's 
assistant. This is a wonderful example of an actress taking a 
small part for a big ride. 

-Yet again we get another fine example of Scully's pathetic lying 
ability. This time as it stumbles out she even nods at the end as 
if thinking to herself "that's it".

-The Lone Gunmen and a Volkswagon bus. It doesn't get more perfect 
than that.

-One thing that this style of filming did make obvious is how 
often in episodes they have Gillian standing on that box for the 
takes. She really looks short throughout here without it.

-I know there was some debate as to whether it was a true Mulder 
ditch in "The Beginning", but surely this qualifies. He did 
something "incredibly stupid" without telling Scully. It was an 
international ditch. She had to jump through hoops to save his 
ass, and he wound up in the hospital. Seems all the elements are 
there.

-I'm very glad that the 1939 incarnation had so much essence of 
our Scully in her. Brassy, tough, beautiful, smart, and full of 
banter. It was fun to imagine Scully in another era, and I think 
this woman was pretty close to the truth.

Autumn
"Save your own ass Sir, you'll save your head along with it."