X-Files 6.18 "Milagro" & 6.19 "The Unnatural": it's TWO, TWO, TWO reviews in ONE!!! :D

Hey everybody. Yes, I got really behind in my reviews. I've been
working long hours. I have one more week and then I'm "on hiatus" which is a
cool way to say I'm unemployed! Or how about "between projects." Yeah,
that's good--and actually maybe true, as I may be working on another game show
that the Producers of Ben Stein are trying to bring over from England.
So, if they get the go ahead to produce some test shows, I'll be working on
that. Keep your fingers crossed.

I'll start by saying this about tonight's episode: I know what I want
for my next birthday: some battling practice with Mulder. Hubba hubba, David
should always direct if he's gonna insist on looking so good. I was
prepared to be let down by this episode, and even though I felt the
direction was a little too showy for my tastes (which is actor/director
syndrome, if you ask me: they have to do all kinds of stuff with the
camera and transistions etc.) I just really liked the episode and thought it was
sweet.

That's basically my review. I liked it, it was really sweet. I thought
the characters were really interesting, so much so that I didn't mind
mulder and Scully not being in it much. I adored the scenes between
Mulder and Scully, and found it interesting that this is how David sees their
relationship: playful. I found it hard to believe that Scully had never
swung a bat before (didn't she have PE in high School? Didn't she have
brothers? We know she was a tomboy. But hey, maybe Dana was just
working the whole "little-ol-me" thing to get Mulder's arms around her, and more
power to her, I say. And, if THAT wasn't flirting, I don't know what is.

Last week's episode was more problematic. i like elements of it, but
like too many episodes this year, I was left wondering : "so....did
that...happen?" I don't think it did. I think the whole epiode after
Scully gets off the elevator was that guy's imagination.
i say this because Scully was just not scully to me. Well, let me back
up: If it is so easy to hear what's going on in Mulder's apartment, why
didn't Cancer man just live next door with a glass to the wall instead of
bothering with high tech surveilance? ALthough, Mulder did say he just
moved in, so maybe it was previously occupied by the now defunct
conspiracy, who knows.

If the Zodiac killer has taught us anything, isn't it not to make out in
cars at lover's lane's in the woods?
I liked Scully's initial reaction to this "soulful" "deep"
writer/stalker, how put-off and violated she feels in the church. By the way, I'd never heard that "sacred heart" story before, and am assuming it's from an
apocryphal book: if anyone knows for sure, please tell me. I mean, this
is a show that had Mulder quote from a chapter of Revelations that isn't
actually IN the Bible so...you know, they don't have a very devoted
research staff :D

I liked the guy's observations, and how hurt Scully felt, how exposed
she was. i want Scully to be happy, At this point, I wanted her to have a
heart to heart with her MOM, who hasn't been on all season, by the way,
and that irritates me, but that's beside the point. I really hated this guy
Padgett, and I think Chris wanted me to like him. this is where the
whole thing tanked for me: Scully, rather than being totally creeped out by
the guy, gets this weird attraction to him, like he's just so insightful and
honest and "deep" man. This guy admits to stalking her and she sits on
the bed to hear him talk about "fate" or whatever--I mean, Scully, you need
to get out more if this feels like something Promising, and when you've got
ME giving you dating tips, you're really in trouble. Padgett was a class A
loser drip to me, and I know Carter and Co. thought he was cool, because they
are all dweeby writers and they think they could get scullly to sit on their
beds and defend them if they revealed to her how much insight they had into
her soul. If some guy told me all that stuff about me, i'd tell him he was
an arrogant, presumptious little creep and then i'd drive to city hall to
get me a restraining order. At first i thought she thought he did it, so she
was just kinda playing him, and after all, she was armed, but then she
defends him to Mulder.

And what's with Mulder. Unlike his wonderful "batting practice" gambit
of this week, he does his childish over-protective thing, berating her and
refering to sex as "the naked pretzel." There's a reason a guy that
smart, witty and good looking stays at home with his pornography collection.
When Padgett says Scully's already in love, i was reminded of little Gibson in
last years finale, telling Mulder and Diana and Scully that mulder had
feelings for one of them, or whatever: mindreaders can be soooo
embarrasing. scully tries to get Mulder's attention, she needs him, but he's a fool
as usual and in full-on "gotta solve the mysteries of the on-known" mode. i
liked the tearful end (two epiodes in a row that end with them in
each others arms) but i didn't get it--I mean, did that happen? She's
covered in blood from this guy psychically ripping her heart out? Is
that right? But it didn't quite take? SO how does she explain the blood with
no puncure wound? SO I think this just didn't happen, but please feel
free to enlighten me, if you understood this more than I , and if you liked it
more than I . I also thought Padgett's writing was just really bad.
Overly written, like he was using the thesarus on his computer to turn
every word into a three-dollar one, you know? I made this observation
last year: I think it was the premiere, or maybe Scully Christmas. Chris
Carter's narration is just over the top, too self-imporatnt and "poetic."

Nice in-joke from the Fox prop depatment: when they sweep past the
tombstones at the cemetary, we see a grave stone for Diana Gordan
Salinger and Nicholas Charles Salinger. Those of us who watch "Party of Five"
(yeah, I watch Party of Five, you want to make something of it??)
recognize it was the Salinger kid's parents' tombstone, seen earlier this
season. SO that was cute. Next week looks funny, and I guess I'm just
gonna have to say "uncle" and just enjoy the funny ones and deal with it.

But I love the Lone gunmen, and loved the episode last year that focused
on them. I especially felt for Byers (the nice one) and his love for this
stranger who asks for his help and am excited about her return as well.
Okay, I've rambled long enough, have a great week!!

Chrisitne :D

X-Files 6.17 "Trevor"

Hey, I actually liked this one!!!! :D Amazing. I watched the re-run
last week, "Drive," the one with the high speed chase, and I think that's the
best one of the year.

I liked this one, for really simple reasons: It was actually an X-file
and it was actually creepy.
We had Scully doing an autopsy and mulder making inappropriate jokes.
It was like the old days, and when I saw the writers credit, and saw two
unfamiliar names, I thought: "AHA." I think this episode was written by
two guys that wrote an episode of the X-Files based on what that USED to
be. They weren't "bored" with the successful formula that the shows
veteran writing team seem determined to subvert. The humor in this episode was
EXACTLY what I was to referring to in my critique of that wretched storm
episode (speaking of which, I'm in LA and it's been raining for the last
12 hours--I think Chris Carter brought the Vancouver dreariness with him.)
They were able to make Mulder snarky and Scully bemused without it
seeming as though they were indifferent to the horror around them. In other
words, like all good cop shows, we are able to see Mulder's wise-cracking as a
coping mechanism. I loved the "dear diary line, and Scully's defensive
"Mulder, shut up."

I really liked the actors in this show, particularly the killer, who was
able to engender genuine sympathy, I thought. Having just watched "The
Shawshank redemption" on either TNT or TBS (I'm never really sure...),
Mulder's putting his finger through that wall was very familiar, but I
thought the story shaped up rather originally, and it made sense to me:
The weather causes this freak mutation (ala spiderman, et al) and the guy
just goes with it. I liked the fact that he was after his son and not money:
I didn't see that coming and at the end, I felt kinda sorry for the guy: He
wanted to be a better man, perhaps, but he didn't have it in him. The
scene with his face coming through the wall was VERY creepy and cool, I
thought. I really cared about the supporting players in this episode,
june and Jackie seemed like real people doing the best that they can, and
failing. June found the money, and, like Rawls with his newfound powers,
uses it to do what seems like the best thing FOR HER. Both figure they
are owed. June is sorry to be found out, but makes no real apology for
trying to build good life on top of lies and ill-gotten gain. I thought June
kinda sucked for leading Rawls to her sister and kid, but liked the scene
where Rawls thanks Jackie for raising his son. Again, everyone had real
dignity. I loved Scully's phone booth idea, and the way she and Jackie
were both obviously willing to die for Trevor. Is it just me, or does
Scully now only wear black?? She used to wear many colored suits, but
now it's always W.I.B. Scully. No complaints, here. Next week looks
intriguing, although the guy seems a little weasely to get Scully to
swoon--she usually goes for big lurpy guys but whatever, I'm there.

Have a great week :D Christine

X-Files 6.16 "Alpha"

Red Glowing eyes?

Sorry for being so late, but I've been busy. Now, I've been busy in the
past, and yet managed to write my reviews, so obviously, my enthusiasm is
waning. Most of my shows are letting my down this year, and I'm taking
solace in the promise of a Star Wars sequel, and a new Thomas Harris book
all in the same summer.

I liked the rental car Mulder and Scully drove in this episode, it was
nifty. It was nice to see mulder jazzed for an x-file, and it was REALLY
nice to be watching an episode that actually WAS an X-file, and one that
wasn't played for laughs. But the Mulder-Scully banter seemed forced and
by-the-numbers.

Worse, I feel that the show ISN'T working at a very fundamental level.
They've gotten rid of the conspiracy: so now what? WHy is Mulder still
investigating killer dogs? WHat access does this get him? WHy is he
still dealing with the feds instead of just looking for his sister full time?
In the beginning, the quest for bizarre truth strengthend his resolve to
find Samantha. Every time the impossible proved possible, Mulder's faith that
he would reunite with his sister grew more powerful. It was intoxicating to
see him defy anything and everyone to chase these windmills, his
reputation be damned. I don't feel that they are the FBI jokes anymore. How is it
they got reassigned anyway? How does it benefit the Bureau? In the
past, Cancerman pulled the strings that got BOTH Mulder and Scully down in the
basement. He's underground--why would Kersh put them back on these
cases?

Scully is even more baffling. They've finally, in my mind, expended her
credibilty. Scully doesn't HAVE to be on the X-files anymore!!! In the
movie, she's ready to quit the Bureau, rather than be assigned apart from
Mulder. It seems clear that The X-Files are her misssion too. Yet now,
with all the momentum of the film diffused with the elimination of the
shadow conspiracy, Scully is back to her scoffing sceptical self, rolling
her eyes, as though she's annoyed to be doing the very thing we've seen
her fight to do all year, which is BE ON THE X-FILES! And her doubts don't
hold the same weight as they once did. She has seen so much. A Really
really really smart dog isn't out of the realm of possibility: It's
certainly not as weird as things she HAS experienced. Yet here she is,
playing it like this is first season.

Back to the episode, Whenever some animal person says something about
"murder is a human characteristic," I wonder if that means if we hunted
one another for food, if that would be OK. i also think about those National
Geographic articles with Jane Goodall and the Chimpanzees? I loved them
as a kid, but they scared me too. There were these three Chimps in the
community who stole babies from other chimps and killed them and ate
them: MURDER. They were ostracized from the community by the other chimps, and
they lived in the jungle but would sneak in peroidically to try to steal
more children. Human characteristic my butt. Animals murder but they
don't have lawyers.

Now, I feel that i am an intelligent viewer: I am obviously very
analytical. I take notes, for crying out loud!!! SO, when Scully told
Mulder that this woman had feelings for him, I was thrown for a complete
loop. Did ANYONE feel that AT ALL?? I mean, I thought wolf woman was an
odd-ball, and rather interesting, but all I saw was Mulder touching HER.
Her reaction didn't say "hubba hubba" to me: Nothing about her behavior
did. I felt like I had missed the first past of the story: The part
where we "get" why this woman likes Mulder, and why she's important to
us. Instead, we got dialouge that explained to us what we weren't seeing on
screen. I'm also sad to note that Scully's interest in protecting
Mulder didn't seem jealous, but merely...(gulp)...sisterly concern. Ouch, that
hurt.

Little thing that bugged me: the id's, you know, where they tell us
where they are? When they are in "Omaha" or "Chicago", I don't recall them
bouncing from suburb to suburb to tell us, but they enjoyed taking us
from Belleflower to Torrance to San Pedro, which only makes sense if you're
from here or have lived here. If I wasn't familiar with those cities, I might
imagine them travelling between Sacramento and Oakland, or Dallas and
Houston or whatever. And why did they do this? Becasue Chris Carter is
FROM belleflower and he went to High School in Torrance. Isn't that
cute? (The Pilot is set in Belle Fluer, Oregan--in other words, they've already
paid tribute).

The "plot point" (those are sarcastic quotation marks) about wolf woman
having (GET THIS!!!!) Lupus, you know the wolf disease? That was just a
sick pun. It wasn't explored or developed or explained, it was just
thrown out there "I lived among wolves, and I got Lupus, which derieves from the
Latin for wolf...isn't it ironic? Don't you think?" And that's it. I
liked Scully at the end, checking up on Mulder. It was sweet and
believable and genuine. BUT, again, he's stewing over this woman and
what she meant to him, and It felt like all those awful first season mulder
angst BS, when the writers weren't sure if giving him a sister abducted
by aliens was enough so they killed his old partner, and it was partly his
fault, they killed his old mentor and it was because of him, they gave
him a fear of fire and a broken heart from an old flame: One episode
angstfests never to be referenced again. The Poster is the same deal. The (by now
relentless) music swells, as mulder tacks up the poster, like somehow
this woman gave him his quest back, or YET ONE MORE reason to seek the
truth--but we're never going to think of this woman again and neither are
the writers and certainly not Mulder.

Next week actually looks creepy, and I really hope that it is. I'm of
the opinion that next year, Mulder and Scully should just be on the lam,
fugitives pursued by the government and the government within the
government and ratboy and the whole gang. Maybe Scully's blacksheep
brother Charley can help them! (Please...just go with me on this....).
I hope I'm wrong, but I honestly fear that there just aren't anymore fresh
ideas that involve them in those suits, poking around and arguing about
whether "IT" is a monster or a ghost or a demon. Time to shake the whole
thing up and go out with a bang (and yes, I think they should pursue a
romantic relationship in the final season.)
Thanks for "listening", I'd love to hear what you all think and what
suggestions YOU have.

Have a great week, Christine :D