X-Files 8.1 "Within"

OK.

Let me begin by saying, there's no point in lamenting the show I wished
they'd made a few years ago--cut Mulder and Scully off from the Bureau,
spending some time on the run, encountering weird happenings on the
way...and, yes, maybe falling in love. There's just no profit in it. We
must deal with reality, and leave the what ifs and could have beens to the
Internet fan fic writers. I'm not a fan of Scully's pregnancy but it's
there and I have to deal with it. That, and the fact that we don't know
who the father is (such an irritating point to go soap opera on us, who's
the father? But would they give us Mulder and Scully have a relationship
(with each other or with someone else)? Noooooo, too soapy.) I just did
parenthesis within a parenthesis. Scully's not freaking out, so,
presumably it's not an alien baby though I can't for the life of me figure
out how she COULD be sure of such a thing. It continues to gall me that
Carter feels this is none of my business. I maintain that an off-screen
consummation of the mulder scully relationship is a slap and damned lousy
story-telling. I watched much of last season over the summer and though
there was a flirtatious undercurrent to some of the shows, there was
nothing to indicate that the earth had slipped of it's axis, Mulder and
Scully's beautiful platonic love had become physical. But any other
alternative seems almost worse: another guy? Who? Aliens? Yeee! But, I
must come to terms with my frustration and deal. This is the X-Files.
Season Eight. Clearly, they couldn't go on with the old formula, so, change
was necessary.

I'm intrigued, but wary. How's that? Is it possible to view this episode
without baggage? Doubtful. Let us begin....

Scully has a vision of Mulder's torture--is this a dream? Or some sort of
psychic connection? If she were having psychic visions, she wouldn't tell
us, would she? Flashbacks to her own abduction experience maybe? For
those new to these reviews, or perhaps even new to the show, get used to a
lot of rhetorical questions from me. If Chris Carter doesn't see fit to
give me any, I'll be damned if I give any to you. I'm petty that way. Not
that I watch this show for answers, but I feel like Carter crippled himself
when he excised the conspiracy a while back but I'm jumping ahead of
myself.

The new opening was sooooooooo lame. I mean, I get needing to tweak it a
little, because the show is no longer about Mulder and Scully and their
avenging flashlights of truth, but...to replace the "remington Steele"-like
floating body and eye with Mulder's body and Scully's eye was sooooooooo
stupid. It was like they were acting like they always envisioned being
here at season 8 with a missing Mulder and a searching Scully instead of
making this up last spring when they realized "Ooops, Fox is giving us
another garbage truck full of dough, better think of something fast..."

Last season, Mulder seemed really at peace, like "Yay, I'm being abducted!
At long last!" And all the other abductees were all mellow and cool, like
"Hey man, glad you could make the 6pm abduction." now he's being sliced
and probed and poked and stretched. Bet he feels mighty stupid. Though,
Jen pointed out to me that when Scully was on the bridge a few years ago,
when all the abductees were waiting for the mothership and they got fried?
They were all happy too, so maybe, Jen postulated, the aliens do something
to you--use a sense-of-well-being ray on you so you don't run away.

The Music continues to be completely out of control. Can we fire Mark snow
and just use the old music? It just tries to hard. And this one was
(prepare to lose all respect for me as I make this reference) especially
over-done--this woman wailing mystical earthmother crap. How pregnant is
Scully? They won't even tell us that. Scully's got morning sickness does
that tell us anything? I'm asking. Oh, the shameful reference: It
sounded like the music they use(d) on Xena: Warrior Princess when someone
dies and they have Lucy Lawless sing this old-world ancient dirge while
they all stand around the funeral pyre. If there's a Xena Warrior Princess
drinking game? That'd get you drunk: Xena sings over the burning body of
a dead comrade, take a drink. So anyway, Music: bad.

Dug Scully's first outfit, the brown-orange shirt? A winner.

So...Season TWO: Scully gets abducted in the woods, the only witness, her
partner who sees what's either a helicopter or a spaceship flying away and
Duane Barry who Krycek kills right quick. She is classified an X-File, and
Mulder puts her file away along with her glasses and her gold cross and
goes to L.A. to shag vampires. Mulder gets abducted, the only witness,
Skinner. Same thing, bright light. Scully will devote her LIFE TO YOU
MULDER!!!! SHe will wander the earth, win a trip to MIR space station on
some cheesy game show, ANYTHING! FOR YOU! Worthless jerk. Mulder gets a
whole task force looking for him--Scully? Zip. Figures.

Just me? Or was Skinner's concern for Scully's pregnancy a
little...paternal? Just stirring the pot a bit. Say, a Skinner/Scully
pairing puts a whole new spin on the last scene last year, in the hospital?
When she says "I'm not...sure how...' or whatever? SKinner: "You told me
that those secret governmental tests had rendered you sterile!!" Scully:
"Walter, you know that no method of birth control is 100% effective..."

Anyone else notice that for all this "Now Scully's the believer" crap, she
didn't say what she believed? I mean, does she really believe in aliens?
I thought it was the government that got her, that was doing all the tests.
Now she seems to be down with the alien thing (my impression, anyway), but
what's changed? Mulder's been "dead" before, missing before. The
characters seem to be aware of Duchovny's contract status a little, you
know?

Liked Robert Patrick. It's refreshing to have a male lead who'd glad to be
on the show ;) Liked him trying to play Scully--DE NIED! She gives her
best Joan Collins as she throws water in his face. What DO the other
agents think of Scully, I wonder? "She had a promising career, but all
those years in that basement with that a$$&@*^ drove her NUTS." She's
truly Mrs. Spooky now (season 1 Squeeze). Thought Scully's snooping on her
computer was a nice was to do the exposition on Doggett (nypd, marine corps
etc.). I wonder if she could really pull up a personnel file from her
personal computer, however. Nice to hear Mama Scully's voice if only for a
moment. Liked "fragile Scully. I thought she had a ground floor apartment
in previous episodes. Hated "stupid Scully" leaving the door open so some
one could steal her computer.

Liked Scully sleeping in Mulder's bed. It was sad and sweet, her smelling
his shirt.....sigh......Okay, they got me there. I'll admit it.

Glad to see the gunmen, but wonder if they can pull off their own show.
Like how Skinner's becoming the real UFO nut.

Liked the Doggett/Kersh interplay. Like the symmetry. Doggett, like
Scully before him, is chosen for his ambition and seriousness, but the
baddies underestimate both of their integrity. Something about the way
Doggett walked into the room made me wonder...what if Robert Patrick had
gone on "Spin City" and we got Charlie Sheen.....

Liked the Dog and Dana banter in the bedroom. Scully used the "feeding the
fish" line to explain her presence in Mulder's apartment back in season
two, when he went AWOL to Puerto Rico.

"I've seen things I can't explain." Scully continues to be chickens***
about her beliefs. She'd make a good politician--you can't nail down how
she feels about anything. I laughed when he asked if she'd seen an alien,
we should have had this montage of tall the things we've seen her see and
then explain away, then she shrugs and says to Dog, "I dunno, maybe."

It's kind of embarrassing to see Skinner treated like such a flunkie, like
watching one of your parents getting yelled at by their boss or something.

Liked the whole angle that the government is trying to make Mulder look
suicidal and crazy, but wonder what took them so long? Is it cancerman's
absence that makes Mulder suddenly expendable? Who's in charge of the
conspiracy now? Who's Kersh answering too? Carter shouldn't have cleaned
them all out--I liked that whole element, and yeah, it was confusing--but
in a good way.

The Mulders' being buried in Virginia made no sense to me AT ALL. Weren't
they Rhode Island/Massachusetts folk? That didn't track with me. And why
was Mulder going to Maine? Doctors? family bodies? Did I miss something?
Mulder was confronted with Scully's headstone back in season two's One
Breath, after Mom tells him the story about Dana killing the snake and
feeling bad? that's where we find out she TWO brothers too. Scully seemed
awfully quick to accept the medical records as plausible, like paper
records aren't hard to fake. But her doubt, even in her own experience, is
one of the more consistently Scully traits so, I guess I shouldn't
complain.

Mulder, with his pierced wrists and head surrounded by pins like a crown of
thorns--subtle, Chris, subtle. Mulder, the Christ figure. Scully is
Peter? Or Thomas perhaps as she is tempted to believe that Mulder faked
the whole thing to make himself SEEM true and noble. She's all discouraged
and unable to get excited about Skinner and the gunmen (other disciples?)
and their "mulder sighting" on satellite 9a stretch, I know.) the FBI
theory of Mulder's stealing his files reminded me off the theory that
Jesus' disciples stole His body to fake his resurrection. Skinner might be
Peter, especially if his "I won't sell Mulder out," line is a foreshadowing
of future weakness.

Scully's "Why don't people believe in aliens after all the accounts..."
speech was painful. Like I said earlier, why is she so gung-ho alien
rather than government conspiracy? It's be need if she went back to the
Iowa pine forest of "Conduit" and looked up those alien abducted people
that she scoffed at, if she really is a believer. And, it wasn't very well
done anyway. Dialogue isn't really Carter's forte is it?

That annoying music seemed to be trying to conjure up a spiritual element
that feels missing to me--Mulder's search was always very spiritual. Why
is Scully pregnant? What possible purpose is there for this? I hope it's
not stupid. Not the kid, the story.

Not to be mean, but puberty has not made Gibson Praise less strange. How'd
he get away from the face ripping alien of some years back?

The Mulder torture was a bit over the top--the gore implies we don't have
imaginations, Chris. We do. We need them to fill in all the blanks so we
can follow your show.

Scully didn't mention her own abduction--seems like it would come up,
but...maybe next week?

So, duh, is that the shape shifter pretending to Mulder? He looked all
bloated and uncute. Robert Patrick isn't saying "sexy" to me yet, so I
guess I'm stuck with Skinner. I read in TV Guide where Carter said this
year doesn't lend itself to comedy as much as the last few years--THANK
GOODNESS!!!!!

So...I'm intrigued, but wary. By the time I write my next review, we will
have elected a new president, or be plunged in a Constitutional
crisis--let's dump the electoral college regardless. It's stupid. Seems
everyone's nervous, on both sides, but, remember, our system is really
designed so that nothing much changes. It's not (despite what you may have
heard) a battle between the fascists and the communists like in other
countries. Our lives won't change that much either way. But, oh
Republican friends, if Bush is elected, and I don't get my unemployment
when I'm on hiatus? I'm mooching off you. It's the least you can do.

FEARLESS PREDICTION: The 43rd President of the United States will be: A
total cheeseball with zero charisma and poor speechmaking ability.

I think some of my Republican friend's might be under the impression that
Dubya HAS charisma (that's so cute!), so they might think I'm saying Gore
will win, so let me explain that the above statement refers to both
candidates ;) Love Ya!

EVERYONE VOTE!!!! *Battle Hymn of the Republic playing* It's an honor and
a privilege and your civic duty. And Republican friends, I can only cancel
out one my sisters, the rest of your votes actually COUNT!

Have a great week, no rioting, no matter what happens. Go see 'Charley's
Angels" I thought it was great fun. Christine :D (feels so good to be
ranting again...)