X-Files 7.10 "Sein und Zeit"

Whoa! That was pretty danged good, at least from an emotional
stand-point.

I don't really "get" the supernatural angle, you know, were those
ghosts? Or just delusions? Delusions that know how to give good
directions. Highway 74--I thought 74 was a reference to the year Samantha
was kidnapped--or was it 73? I think it was 74. I'll have to research that.

Re: The intro: First, let me give a shout out to my parents and thank
them for teaching me the Lord's prayer instead of that freaky "should I die
before wake" scary prayer that's always used in TV and movies because
it's SCARY. The show Mr. LaPierre was watching was Harsh Realm, Chris
Carter's latest series that latest three weeks before Fox yanked it. I thought it
was pretty childish and out of place to make the reference at all,
particularly to throw a little tantrum about a TV show while trying to
make us care about the disappearance of a small child. My credibility with
this complaint went out the window though when we came back from commercial
and my first reaction was to swoon and say "Leather Jacket Mulder!" Chris
and I are both shallow, in different ways. The case takes them to what I
like to refer to as the better part of the state, Northern California.
Sacramento. Sac Town. My sister, who lives there, says they were
advertising the episode as "the Sacramento" episode, so maybe they filmed
some of it up there--it certainly looked like NorCal to me--the trees and
all. I love obsessed Mulder--no objectivity Mulder. Scully's concerned
at Mulder's mental state--he is at once moody and yet energized. Kim Darby,
the imprisoned mother, will ALWAYS remind me of "Don't be a Afraid of the
dark," a 1970's scary movie she starred in about goblins that I saw when
I was a kid and warped me for life--this was in the days when they ran scary
movies at 3:30 in the afternoon--do they still do that?

I thought it was kinda sloppy to have Mulder watching the news and
showing the Susan Smith and Jon-Benet clips. It was like they didn't trust us to
see the parallels they were drawing and story points they were borrowing
like the bizarre ransom note, so they had to MAKE IT REALLY OBVIOUS.
Plus, we have had so many tragic kidnappings in Northern California, it seems a
more local case would lend credibility to the news story--remember, Susan
Smith and Jon-benet Ramsey only made national news when bodies were
found--murdered children. But a disappearance? Sadly, it's too
commonplace to garner national attention. A local station would probably
focus on Polly Klaas or myriad others.

Liked Scully's obvious contempt for Darby's "murderer" mom. Scully is so
right-wing-throw-the-switch-fry-em-all. You can just tell. I liked
Darby's attempt to explain 'No one shoots at Santa Claus." Maybe she can
explain that Backstreet boys Song: "I want it that way." I don't get it.

Does he want her to say I want it that way, or not? I can't tell. Kids
today, with their boybands and their Pokemon...Anyway. I'm glad I grew
up in the 70's and 80's. I thought Scully's long coat was cool, but a
little too...Stevie Nicks for being on duty (Can't you see her spinning around
in the rain in that coat? It's not a "let's visit a prison and write
reports" coat.) I thought the image of Mulder's mom burning her children's
pictures (so they wouldn't have to watch?) was particularly chilling.

Skinner makes reference to "the twinkie Defense" coined in San Francisco
when Dan White got only seven years for assassinating mayor Moscone and
Supervisor Harvey Milk, due in part to a defense that explained his
actions on a deteriorating mental state brought on by, among other things, a
junk-food diet. I bring this up because, after Dan White was released,
he committed suicide by asphyxiation in his garage, which is similar to how
Mulder's mom chose to end her life. Interesting. All those empty frames
on the wall, the tape on the door--very effective, I thought. Mulder's
realistic denial and paranoia, Scully's compassion and strength. All
very moving.

The whole "walk-ins" element, old souls looking for new homes. I'm going
to write it off as a new age thing I don't wanna know more about, but
they might talk about it on the official X-Files website go to http://www.fox.com/ if
you're interested. they have research notes about every episode--you
know, real life inspiration for stories--even the ones I claim they don't
research at all!) But, if you remember, in second season's "red Museum"
the idea of walk-ins was the red-herring story. This the episode where
those teenagers get "He is one" drawn on their backs? had to do with the
government putting alien something into meat and it turning the kids bad?

ANYWAY, mulder talks a bit about "walk ins" in that one because their
first suspect in these kid abductions is this cult leader who subscribes to
this theory. Similarly, in this episode, it doesn't seem to have any real
bearing on the story, does it?

the Santa's village thing was creepy--is that one on the map for real?
the one I went to as a kid was near Santa Cruz. Scary but true: pedophiles
work where the kids are, no doubt about it.

Mulder laying his head on the phone to listen to his dead mother's voice
was very sad and I cried, OK? I loved how wrecked he was, and how
Scully's honesty hits him like betrayal at first, as he lashes out, then falls
apart:--it doesn't get any better than grieved Mulder and protective
Scully. Who needs a kiss when you can have him fall apart in her arms
and then have her take care of him all night? When Scully tells him that his
mother wanted him to Stop looking for Samantha, I was reminded of another
case where Mulder lost his objectivity: First season's Conduit, when that
little boy is taken up the space ship. Scully says "Mulder stop! Stop
looking for your sister!" It has been a long road, hasn't it?

When Skinner comes by and tells her they're going to Sacramento, you'd
think he'd have already booked her a seat--don't you think he'd want her
along to help hold Mulder together? Scully's annoyance at Skinner's
keeping Mulder involved in the case is interesting--you can tell she
thinks he needs time away, yet Scully worked through the death of her own
father (and lost her objectivity in a big way, I may add) in First
Season's "Beyond the sea." Her father also came to her in a vision after his
death and tried to tell her something, but she couldn't hear the words. She
then puts herself in some jeopardy as she begins to believe that a mass
murderer can put her in touch with her dead dad to find out what he wanted to say
(let's hope next week's episode isn't as big of a rip-off of that episode
as it (gulp)looks!)

Anyway, Scully also heard from her dead sister, so she's used to figuring
out what ghosts are trying to say-- who needs ya, Hayley Joel Osment?
The shot of all those graves was terrifying, all in all a good episode, and
hopefully next week is more original than it looks! Have a great week
everybody :D Christine>