X-Files 6.15 "Arcadia"

"This tells me you're not taking this seriously."

Leave it to Scully to hit the nail on the head. I actually enjoyed the
humorous elements to the story, but felt the monster story fell flat. I
didn't really "get" it, and I didn't really care. I liked the"homeowners
associations as evil" plot, the whole stepford family thing, but, I
dunno, it didn't resonate with me. I think they don't know what to do with
Scully now: she objects to the idea of a monster on principal (by now, why must
she continually disbelieve what Mulder sees?), then sees it and says "yup
it's a monster" and neither she nor Mulder seem especially impressed by
that admission: isn't that big?

I liked Mulder's laying the lovey-dovey stuff on too thick, and scully's
discomfort in her "part," I always like when actors are able to portray
themselves as "non-actors", like when you can tell they're lying. Scully
doesn't suck, but she feels disingenous, and Mulder's delight in giving
her a "new-agey" background doesn't help her out. This all goes to Scully's
innate compassion towards her fellow mn, whereas mulder doesn't really
give a rat's patootie about these stiffs. Loved his "fighting the power,"
LOOOOVED the soft gray shirt. Sigh, the soft gray t-shirt he wore on the
Larry Sanders show. It is gray. I imagine it to be soft. 'Nuff said.
Liked seeing Jerry from ER, and really liked this guy, decent to the end
and, as many men before him: one look at Scully, and he is powerless, he
must help the beautiful stranger, even if it costs him his life.
Scully's opening narrative with the videocamera brought back fond memories of
Mulder's slide shows; will we ever see them again?
I'm such ageek, I know that when Scully said "february 24, 1999 it meant
that it is the day after her 35th birthday. Not Gillian's, mind you, but
Scully's. Yeah, it is kinda embarrassing that i know that.
I liked the familiar "mulder being an ass, and Scully's indulging him"
bit, and loved them as odd-couple roomates. We know Scully likes rules
and order and we know that Mulder doesn't. I don't know how Scully resists
those waggleing eyebrows (that's twice this year) but i honestly think
that neither of them realizes that the other has genuine romantic feelings for
the other, so Mulder (typical guy) plays it for laughs, because he's
afraid of being vulnerable, and Scully, therefore, thinks to herself "sigh,
obviously, the idea of us being more than friends is a big joke to him",
she doesn't want to get laughed at, and they both sleep alone. I liked
Mulder's fear when he thought Scully might have met with a grisly end,
but again, i was disappointed with the end. I didn't get who or what sold
whose soul to who or what and why. the coda about it still being this
great planned community was also heavy-handed, and silly considering that
if there wasn't a monster living there, it might be a great place to
live, who knows? I mean, you can't make a statement against conormity if
conformity actually IS saving you from being eaten by a monster, you
know?

In closing, Diana suggested to me some weeks ago that the show was being
"over-scored," and I have to agree with her. Her objection was to the
dramatic/scary moments, but in the last several episodes, the nice comic
moments have been made silly by that "don't take this too seriously"
music that has soaked this season. Time to give composer Mark Snow a yank on
the ol' choke chain.

It is 12:15 as i write this (I never can get to bed early on Sunday
nights), which means it's my birthday :D So, as you read this, I hope
you have a very happy Christine's Birthday (sorry kids, even I don't get it
off). To my sister, in the words of the Beatles i say: "You say it's
your birthday? It's my birthday too yeah!" :D And, although Scully and I
presumably share the same zodiac sign (as well as an utter disbelief in
that meaning anything:D ) I am not 35, but a mere 28. It's not really
as close to 30 as it sounds......IS IT???????? Have a great couple of
weeks--re-run next week. Maybe I'll re-send my reviews of that episode
just to be annoying ;)

Christine

X-Files...I GUESS!? 6.14 "Monday"

Well folks, I don't quite know what to say. normally, I like to write my
reviews before I hear anything from any of you, because I don't want to
be influenced, but this week, I really wonder what you all thought because I
am completely unable to give an unbiased opinion.

This episode was point for point a carbon copy of the "Star Trek episode
I mentioned last week. In that episode, the "Enterprise" is destroyed in
the teaser, and then every segment of the show leads up to the ship
exploding, and then we relive the events leading up to it again and again, from
different angles, with each character reacting to "deja vu" etc. There
are things that differ, but regardless, there are certain things that happen
every single time. It was EXACTLY like this episode--except in "Star
Trek," a character can say "We're caught in a rift of the time-space
continuum, and we're in a loop and we have to break the cycle in order to
end it," and everyone says "Oh, OK." Cause it's Star Trek and stuff like
that happens all the time. In Star Trek, Scully would be considered
pretty ignorant. This episode of Star Trek, by the way, aired a year before
"groundhog day" came out, so it's not like both were doing a movie take-off.

So, let me know if the Story really worked for you. i thought the
resolution was a little weak after all that build-up, and Mulder's
surrendering his weapon to a crazy man was completely inexplicable. I
loved Scully's cradling Mulder's head, and how desperate she was to save
him of course (unlike last week when she abandoned him to the "sea
monster") and I'll admit that I am simply NOT strong enough to totally
resist an episode that has Mulder waking up shirtless over an over again.
The waterbed was great, it was nice that they were acknowledging that
that episode DID happen, even if Mulder and Scully don't remember it. Loved
Scully's reaction to Mulder's casual reference to his owning a waterbed (
I'd love to see her reaction to his mirrored ceiling) and one of the best
Scully lines of the year: After mulder asks her to cover for him, she
says "When do I not?" What was up with Mulders electric blue shirt? is he
going swing dancing later at a martini bar/?
Seems to me, carrie hamilton from Fame should have been working on that
bank teller, and finally gotten her to NOT trip the silent alarm, but who
am I to say. I hope if you enjoyed this episode, you won't be TOO
annoyed with me. Feel free to write me off as the geek that I am, but I maintain
that this was not only done before, it was done better.

Next week: Mulder and Scully have to pose as a married couple. I hereby
declare a one-week moratorium on complaining about the show's distressing
lightness of tone this year, and even if it does wind up like some really
lame fan-fiction, I suspect i will enjoy it.

Have a great week....haven't i said that before????? :D Christine!