Homicide Episode Guide: Ghost of a Chance

Written by Noel Behn

Directed by Martin Campbell

            In television shows, just as in life there are seminal events for characters---things that will change them forever. Few moments on television have helped define a character as the murder of Adena Watson would to Tim Bayliss. From the teaser where he circles the corpse looking for something that he had missed to the end sequence where he stands over Adena’s body at her funeral, we see a man who is trying to lead a coherent and successful hunt for her murderer while not being overwhelmed by the  bosses, by the media, but mostly by the tragedy of the  girls death. He can’t quite manage the latter, and it affects his ability to do the former.

            Kyle Secor dominates the episode as he would dominate most of the shows first season. He does not overact; on the contrary he understates everything. He is clearly tormented by the image of this dead girl, but his frustration almost never emerges.  For histrionics, Secor was the equal of Andre Braugher  but he never got the recognition that he deserved. This is because of his brilliance at not playing the high notes.

            Yet Tim Bayliss is not the entire show. We only got the bare essence of Lieutenant Giardello’s character in the Pilot; now we get to see more of how he will work.  He gently and tactfully leads Bayliss through the investigation without usurping his authority. We also see how he will defend his detectives against the brass; when the higher-ups demand that he be replaced with a more experienced detective, he defends him and expresses confidence. At the same time, we see that there is a fierceness and anger to the man. In one of the episode’s high points, Giardello tries to tell Bayliss to get the lead out, to which Bayliss, clearly gasping for air, yells he doesn’t have a desk. In one swift motion, Giardello sweeps  the papers and piles off another detectives workstation with the simple phrase: “There’s your desk.”  Giardello isn’t like many of the bosses we see on police shows, and this episode demonstrates how.

            We also see more insight into some of the other detectives. We see Stanley Bolander angrily defending a man’s death as neglect to a Medical Examiner and then trying to find the courage to ask her out.. We learn about the dogged determination that Kay Howard has towards finding justice. It is not enough for her to arrest the guilty parties; they must also go to prison (as we learn, the two terms are not exclusive) we also see her superstitious nature. We see Beau Felton’s crude behavior matched with some genuine sweetness and detective work. And there is Frank Pembleton. More than the bosses, he is critical of how the Watson case is being handled and whatever chances of success that this case be closed seem to be diminishing by the hour.  There is a certain amount of condescension to the rookie Bayliss that will be present throughout their relationship.

            In addition to the major characters, several minor characters whose importance to the series will be critical appear. These characters fall into  four groups.

            First, there are the non-detectives who are trying  to help with the investigations. These include the patrolmen  like Chris Thormann who answer complaints and the  medical examiners . Because of the nature of the job, a medical examiner will be appearing on almost every episode. We also visit the morgue for the first time and are introduced to the first M.E., Carol Blythe. Some of the M.E’s will be brilliant, some merely capable but everyone hangs on their every word.

            Then there are ‘the bosses’, represented by Colonel  Granger and Captain Barnfather. In public, they will back their detectives; in private they will criticize them. They will also depend ‘demonstrations of force’,  such as (in this episode) having a  bus of police go every inch of the three blocks around the crime scene, things that don’t help the investigative process but look good on TV. We will also see how they will become known for craven and selfish leadership while being condescending to the rank and file. It’s small wonder that those  in  power at the Baltimore P.D, didn’t like Homicide; this is not a flattering picture.

            Then there is the law, represented by Ed Danvers. Danvers is the complete antithesis of the take-no-prisoners attitude of other TV attorneys such as Ben Stone and Jack McCoy on Law and Order  or Helen Gamble on The Practice. Rather then being eager to go into a courtroom, Danvers and his like will be more likely to work out pleas and cut deals. Danvers will appear in almost a quarter of the shows episodes yet we would see him in a courtroom less than a dozen times. Danvers is also not fiery like many attorneys, he seems worn down and depressed by his job--- which is how many  big city prosecutors must feel at times. Zeljko Ivanek is good at playing the everyman (he had not yet gone into the villainous side of his career) and Danvers would be the key example of it.

Finally, there is the media. We meet the first of a series of newspeople  descending on the case  like they do all sensational or important crimes. We will eventually see three of them, but their presence will play a vital part in almost every investigation

            The character development and introductions alone would make this a great episode. But we get much more. We see how the detectives in Homicide investigated ‘red balls’ (the classification for important cases); they are focusing all their energy on it; but death doesn’t stop; other cases like those of Thomas Doohen and Agnes Saunders play a part as well. This is vastly different from other cop shows where the entire squad would investigate a single case. The investigation process is also extremely close to the Latonya Wallace murder  that formed the backbone of Simon’s book, from a  mistake in the moving of the body, to the dead girls stomach contents to the  investigation of the suspect.

who turns out to be a false lead. And for all the death in this episode, ‘Ghost of a  Chance’ is very funny at times. Part of the humor comes from Bolander’s pathetic attempts to woo Dr. Blythe or Howard’s belief that the ghost of Agnes Saunders told her where the murder weapon was. But a lot of it comes from the crimes themselves. The marriage of the Doohen’s seems to be a  big joke (with Mrs. Doohen’s explanation as to why they didn’t divorce as the punch line) and the fact that they are called twice to the same address for the same murder.  Crosetti and Lewis’ reaction to Howard’s superstition. Add to this Bolander’s sexual complaints and Munch’s intervention and you have comedy about love and death in ways you wouldn’t expect.

            Finally,  for all the self-contained storylines that the average episode of Homicide included, ‘Ghost of A Chance’ would serve as a fine introduction to the series if you had missed the first episode.  By the time, it’s over you feel like you know all the characters, and, like Tim Bayliss, are haunted by some of the things you have seen.

Fan Ranking: 10^th.

Score: 5 stars       

X-Files Episode Guide: Fresh Bones

Written by Howard Gordon

Directed by Rob Bowman

Until the last quarter of the episode, Fresh Bones seems little more than a traditional Howard Gordon episode. Yes, it's another supernatural revenge story--- but what makes this story above average is the fact that we are misled as to who is seeking the revenge, and why.

For those who pay attention to such things, this episode originally aired a few week after a coup in Haiti. The X-Files doesn't usually try to rip its stories so obviously from the headlines, but I'm guessing the combination of time and setting was too much for Gordon to resist. With the added military element, it also meant that Gordon could point what might be an actual government conspiracy for a change, but it's rendered a bit stodgy by the fact that he can't seem to do much original with the voodoo element of the story.

At this point, the storyline of the zombie has been done (to make an appropriate pun) to death on both movies and TV, so it's interesting that Gordon chose to put Mulder and Scully face with what seems to be a very alive looking zombie when McAlpin comes back from the dead. There are interesting elements to the script--- the story of the toxin in the blood makes it seem a bit more realistic than some of the others. But eventually he gets tired of it, and finds himself setting back to cliché--- blood appearing in Col. Wharton's breakfast, Scully get poked with a voodoo charm (you gotta learn not take those "I'm fine's" so literally Mulder), and a corpse being found in the bathtub. Not even the surprise arrival of X nearly halfway through the episodes leads us to think that this story is particularly special.

It's not until the episode nearly over that Gordon turns the energy up to 11. It is revealed that the voodoo priest is not the Haitian who's been imprisoned for most of the episode, but the bald and rather menacing Colonel who's been abusing the prisoner, and apparently his soldiers. We find that he's trying to seal Bauvais off, Scully has a voodoo monster appear out of a wound inside her own hand (that moment gave me chills) and both agents are saved closer to blind luck and other forces than anything that they manage to do for themselves. Wharton is killed by Bauvais, who then appears to be still dead, and we finally learn that the really creepy Haitian kid Chester who seemed so friendly to our fellow FBI agents has actually been dead for six weeks. It doesn't explain how the people in the facility saw him, or why Private Dunham was so shocked to see him later than an episode. It's a little moment of frission that would be enough to end the episode on... but it doesn't.

These are such effective spooks and thrills that you don't realize until the episode over--- until you know the real fate of poor Colonel Wharton, of course--- that a lot of the plot twists don't make a heckuva lot of sense. There's the part about Chester, there's the reason that McAlpin came back from the dead, if Bauvais was a rival voodoo practioner, why was he not more prepared for Wharton--- frankly all of them make the episode, more than a little confusing. What basically helps save the episode beside the overall mood is the solid work from the guest cast, especially Daniel Benzali (who has made something of a career of playing menacing authority figures) and Matt Hill's work as the spooked Harry Dunham. It's also a note to see some very early performances in the careers of Callum Keith Rennie and Roger Cross in bit parts that don't add much to the story, but help establish the mood a little better.

It's not a great episode, and by this time, we're so used to Gordon's manipulations of story over character, that we almost seem used to the fact that plot has been sacrificed for cheap thrills. But it's a far better job than we usually get from Gordon, and the detail that he demonstrates, along with one hell of a kicker (done over the closing credits, no less) make this another well done episode in the string.

My score:3.25 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Die Hand Die Verlezt

Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong

Directed by Kim Manners

There are two different ways to watch and enjoy this episode that was , at the time, intended to be Morgan & Wong's farewell to the X-Files. Each is equally valid, but one will give you more fun.

You can view this episode as a straight horror story with Mulder and Scully finally delving into a genuine occult story after so many rumors of it in the last year and a half. And just to back it up, you have genuine darkness for most of the episode, with some of the more frightening horror elements the show would ever produce, culminating with a confrontation with an acolyte of the devil himself---- or herself, as it is finally revealed to take the form of a substitute teacher from hell. There are some genuinely scary moments in the story to back it--- almost everything Miss Paddock does is genuinely  frightening, there's just something about her face, and then there's the most horrifying scene arguably in the entire season, when a giant python slithers down a darkened basement, and basically swallows one of the Satanists whole. Of course, if you view it that way, you'd come to the conclusion that Mulder and Scully don't particularly come off very well, being outmaneuvered by the school board, and completely manipulated by Miss Paddock, ultimately saved by the devil herself, and puzzled by that message on the blackboard at the end.

The more enjoyable way--- and frankly, the way I have come to relish it--- is as one of the blackest comedies the X-Files will ever indulge in. Fans of the show might recoil in horror at the idea, but considering that this is the kind of trick that Glen's brother Darin will begin engaging in not that long from now, one can hardly complain or even be that surprised that his brother has this kind of talent for it. The episodes starts out with one of the funniest teasers in years, with the School Board rejected 'Jesus Christ Superstar' as a high school production not because they think its too controversial, but because they're Satanists themselves, and we can tell from the teaser, they're not very good at it. The episode than lays on satiric bit immediately afterwards, by having nobody in the town of Milford Haven be particularly devoted to the idea of devil worship (the teenagers trying to get laid clearly have no idea what they've wandered into) and yet are constantly amazed at all of the darkness that seems around them. Even Scully seems to be startled out of her skeptical self when toads fall from the sky and water flows down the drain counterclockwise.

Indeed, one of the more telling jokes the episode makes is one against the fickleness of religion, arguing that if the rituals we are devoted are to have any meaning, we must take them seriously, and if you happen to worship Satan, you'd better stick to it. When Ausbury finally confesses his participation in the level of devil worship that he has forced his younger daughter into, his argument of religious persecution and lack of faith, could stand for anything. Mulder's remark asking "Did you think you could call up the devil and ask him to behave?" plays comically because that's exactly what they've done, but there's a certain darker truth, because the consequences are just as telling.

Of course, there's also the fact that this is a joke on our fellow agents as well as they are completely lead by the nose by Miss Paddock and practically everybody else in the town. This includes one of the blackest jokes in series history when Mulder and Scully listen to Ausbury's stepdaughter explain the repressed memories that have led her to flee her schoolroom in hysterics. It starts out seemingly seriously enough, but reaches heights of ludicrous proportion when she tells them that she's given birth to three children, sired by her stepfather, who have all been ritually sacrificed as babies. At a moment that cries out for the skepticism that Scully brings to everything else in the entire world, she just sits there with Mulder and doesn't even raise an eyebrow. The satirizing of how utterly silly our agents can be at this will be expressed to perfection in the works of Darin Morgan (and later, Vince Gilligan) but coming for the first time here, its a pleasant and very funny shock.

For all the other brilliant touches that this episode has, it would also be significant as being the first episode directed by the late Kim Manners, soon become one of the more prolific directors in X-Files history. If he had any objections to the bizarre mix he was handed, he sure didn't show it--- the episode has some of the more memorable bits (just about everything Miss Paddock does, the layout of the school board whenever they are called together, the way that lightning strikes every time Paddock's name seems to be mentioned) and it is more than adequately helmed at every moment.

Now the more nitpicking fans of the show might say that , even viewed under this method, Mulder and Scully don't come off pretty well, but since that's kind of the point, you've really got to be stodgy to make it. The message of "Goodbye, it's been nice working with you"  is clearly a little message from Morgan & Wong to us for having deconstructing the format they have spent the last two seasons perfecting. Had this been their final statement for The X-Files (or for Ten-Thirteen, for that matter) it would have been a superb farewell. As it is, Die Hand Die Verletzt stands as one of the landmark productions for the series, one that many others would try to match--- and wonderfully enough, even exceed.

My score: 5 Stars

X-Files Episode Guide: Irresistible

Written by Chris Carter

Directed by David Nutter

If Aubrey was an episode that, with a few minor changes, could've run in any police procedural, this episode seems to go even further by being the first real one that has no supernatural earmarks at all. What makes it so effective --- and very unsettling---- is that the villain is one of the truly most ordinary, and therefore more frightening than a lot of the so-called thriller X-Files.

After years of police procedurals like Special Victims Unit or Criminal Minds, where the most horrid of serial  killers is just another day's work for the agents in charge, its almost refreshing to see someone disturbed about some of the horrors that they're witnessing. It's even more refreshing to see it almost regarded as a joke when Mulder and Scully are, for once, called in on something because the agent in charge thinks its paranormal in origin--- and then get told that it's something far more 'mundane'. Indeed, mundane is almost too polite a word to describe Donnie Pfaster, a man who looks completely ordinary when we see him in the funeral of the teaser, who we never see kill anyone, who never seems to so much as raise his voice, even at the episode's climax. Carter originally wrote Pfaster as a necrophiliac, but Fox forced him to change the character to make him more palatable, and this may be one of the rare occasions I'm grateful for standards and practice's meddling. There's something more unsettling about what Pfaster is doing, and we can understand why Scully is so revolted by it.

Anderson's performance is one of the best she has given so far. Scully has prided herself on being someone who doesn't back away from the darkness, so its fascinating to see her disturbed by what she's witnessing almost from the outset, and have to physically pull herself up each time a worsening crime accelerates the process. Indeed, she is so bothered that she does something we never see her to: call for help by seeing an FBI therapist. Karen Koseff  is one of the more intriguing characters in the series--- calm, listening, gently guiding Scully to safety. She makes such am impression in her brief scene, I sincerely wish the writers had used her more often. God knows Scully could've used her help a lot over the years.

There are two complaints that inevitably get made about this episode. First, there is the fact this is yet another episode where Scully gets taken prisoner. However, this is one of the  rare episodes where the abduction is necessary, as much of this is coming to terms with what happened to her during her disappearance earlier this season. There is something powerful about watching her fight back from the man whose actions have revolted her since the episode started. Then, there's the fact that Pfaster's morphing into various form--- ending in that of a demon--- seems a superfluous action to make this case into an X-Files. However, for once the effects serve a story purpose to make sure that we see how truly monstrous Pfaster is. (Given how both effects would be terribly abused when the show eventually caught up with him later on, one can see the point--- but one can't blame Carter for that.)

Admittedly, this is an episode which starts a rather unfortunate pattern trying to establish Scully's stoicism after even the most horrible events. One can almost make a drinking game based on how frequently we hear her say 'I'm fine' when, like when she uses it after she's been saved, she is clearly anything but. But this episode is exceptional, because this time, even she's willing to admit she's not fine. Who would be after going through something as horrific as this?

This is one of the high points of Season Two, as every element seems to work perfectly. Carter's script seems to have the usual amount of purple prose during the voiceover, but he more than makes up for it with one of his best villains, and some of the more memorable supporting characters. I really wish we'd seen more of Moe Bocks, as he's the rare agent who seems like Mulder's type of guy, and who seems to  respect him all the way through the episode. Bruce Weitz gives a great example of how good a lawman he could be without quirks. The direction is well done, and the cinematography is top notch, particularly in the scenes in holding.

Irresistible demonstrates how well the show could play when it dared to strip away the paranormal and look into the face of evil. For much of the remainder of the series, at least once a season Mulder and Scully would leave the world of the paranormal, and take a look at some of the darkness within the human spirit. (The sequel would not be one of those episode, alas, but what can you do?) The closing shots of Pfaster as a child are somehow more terrifying than the ones of him morphing, because it reflects how evil can seem utterly banal, and more terrifying than any liver eating mutant or alien conspiracy.

 My Score: 5 stars

X-Files Episode Guide: Aubrey

Written by Sara B. Charno

Directed by Rob Bowman

In tone and principal this story is not that far removed from several stories from Season One, most obviously Born Again. In that story, a nine year girl turned out to be the genetic reincarnation of a murdered cop, whereas in this episode, the central series of murders are being committed by the granddaughter of the killer. What makes Aubrey work far better than that one is more stylistic matters than anything out of the plot. However, the changes are mostly for the better.

This time, the woman at the center of the X-File is Missouri Detective B.J. Morrow. Like the girl at the center of the murders in Born Again, Morrow. has no idea what's happening. What the writer does far more ably is give Morrow a far more interest plot and female makeup. As one of the few episodes of the series that would be composed by a female writer, this script has a rare female perspective that so many of the stories lack. It does so by, perhaps not coincidentally, giving Scully a more upfront approach to the case. Mulder comes up with the major insights---- that the killer is the child of the original murder, and figures out who the potential victim is. But it's Scully who comes up with the equally advanced leaps that B.J. is having an affair with a boss, and that B.J. is  pregnant as a result. It's a bit of feminine intuition that Scully will begin to develop and will become more pronounced as the series progresses.

It also helps matter that the crime itself is more intriguing than we've had for awhile. Linking an X-File back to an old FBI case is a trick the series has tried before, but it works a lot better because of the imagery. We 'see' the murders of the FBI agents in the 40's, we see the crime scenes as they emerge both past and present, and let's be honest---  having the word 'sister' carved into your chest is a far better visual than having 'He is One' written on your back in magic marker. Some of the story's revelations would seem cliché if they'd been done in another episode, but seeing them done here is painful because Morrow is such a sympathetic character, we don't want her to be a victim of the story. As frightening as it when Morrow goes after Mrs. Thibedaux and Cokely with the same kind of weapon her father used, its frightening, but we're a little resentful of the story emphasizing plot over character.

The guest cast is far more able than they've been in awhile. Deborah Strang's performance as Morrow is one of the high points of Season 2, as she undergoes a complete and utter breakdown from an untenable position at work that quickly unfolds into a literally nightmarish insanity. Also extremely good is Morgan Woodward as the man who committed the series of murders half a century earlier, and who still seems to be a threat even chained to an oxygen tank. Future Emmy winner Terry O'Quinn demonstrates his talent by giving his most understated performance for Ten-Thirteen (and the simplest)

This isn't a perfect episode by any means. The genetic predisposition that Morrow has is supposedly turned on by her pregnancy never explains how she started committing this new set of murders without anybody noticing them, and the two women who've been killed get particularly short shrift by the murders half a century earlier. And Tilman seems a lot less of a character and something of a plot device--- something that Morrow can react of.  (It gives him a little more dimension than most of the cops Mulder and Scully end up dealing with, but not much more. But it has an eerie, hazy quality that make it far more engaging than the last few episodes we've seen. It's a shame that Charno would only write one more script for the series--- she seemed to have a better grasp of what X-Files then some of the other writers would.

My Score: 4 Stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Excelsius Dei

Written by Paul Brown

Directed by Stephen Surjik

The good news after the muddled mess of the last episode, this one is a lot simpler. Unfortunately, simpler doesn't mean better.

In some ways, I agreed with some of the points of Gung, the Asian orderly who as it the crux of this story: Americans tend to treat their elderly with disdain and lack of sympathy. And in a nation where Alzheimer's is one of the most prevalent diseases, I feel much more needs to be done. It is therefore demeaning they are used in such a wretched script as the one we have here, one that puts everything into the most Crayola type terms--- old people good, medical staff bad.. The staff is so loathsome and uninteresting in the care of their patients that the viewer is almost inclined to root for the orderly to be thrown out a window, or, in what is arguably the most ridiculous stunt that X-Files has tried so far, trap Mulder and a truly loathsome nurse in a room that floods.

There are also some worthy idea about government treatment for the elderly. Unfortunately, I am using the term 'worthy' in the weakest sense of the word. All of the medicine that's supposedly being used to treat the patient in the study is no match for the 'ancient Chinese secret' that gives these old people their grooves back. Unfortunately, Brown clearly has no more ideas as to make the patients and more interesting than the staff, with the exception of one becoming a magnificent artist. (How he managed to get that mural painted in the space of a few hours with nobody noticed is one of the bigger plot holes that the story just leaves hanging.)

In the midst of all these problems, there's the fact that this episode doesn't give much for Mulder and Scully to do. It's a novel approach that Scully is the one more interested in the case at first, and seems more sympathetic and engaged in the episode that Mulder does. But our heroes don't seem to do much to help this particular story along. Mulder has no great insight into the case until the stories more than two-thirds of the way over, and then he gives no explanation as to how all of the magic mushrooms are somehow causing the spirits of this nursing home to go apeshit. Scully has some insights into the medical aspects, but when the attacks come, she literally just stands and watches as one orderly is thrown out a window, runs around ineffectually when Mulder is trapped in a room that's flooding, and then stops what she's doing to tell one of the doctors that one of the elderly patients is having a seizure. There's also no explanation as to how the minute the seizure stops, all the ghosts disappear --- but since the episode doesn't seem that interested in any plot, we hardly care by now.

After the general high quality of the second season, Excelsius Dei is the first episode that plays like a holdover from Season One. This isn't a compliment. It might be forgivable if the series was still finding its sea legs, and after all, this is a MOTW by a writer who had only written for the series once before  (and perhaps understandably, never again.) There's little pretentious dialogue or engaging characters or, for the most part, interesting set pieces. It just seems... confused, like Brown had some interesting ideas and they either tossed out in the process , or he just plain didn't care. What we are left with is an episode that doesn't seem particularly imaginative, and is clearly lacking in the banter to make this story palatable. We've now had three episodes like this in a row, which would be a troubling sign, if we didn't know we were finally about to hit pay dirt again soon.

My Score: 1.5 stars

Better Late Than Never: Grace & Frankie Season 2

Netflix has been one of the most consistent performers when it comes to entertaining materials when it comes to dramatic and comedic series. Though the term 'binge-watching' was essentially created because of them and their original series, it is surprising how many of them hold up when watched by an episode by episode basis. This is not only true for several of their dramas, but also their sitcoms. And in that sense, I have found more than a bit of latitude for one of their more maligned series: 'Grace and Frankie', now in its second season. The majority of the critics who watched it dislike, but after viewing more than a season and a half I can't see why.

Part of the problem may be, in comparison with some of the better players like 'Master of None' and 'Kimmy Schmidt', these sitcoms have a level of hipness. Where as this series is comparatively lower key. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin play the title roles, two seventy-ish women, who are still reeling with the fallout of their husbands Sol and Robert (Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen) revelation that they've been having an affair for the last twenty years. In the second season, Robert suffered a heart attack, which thwarted Sol's revelation that he'd slept with Frankie the day before their wedding, a fact that now everyone in the immediate family knows except Robert.

As fascinating as it is to watch Sheen and Waterston do comedy, much of the attention is still focused on the two women and their attempt to build new lives in the fallout of what has happened. Part of this deals with the problems of dating - Grace has just ended a relationship, and is now trying to reconnect with a man she considering leaving her husband for years ago. Frankie, in the meantime, is trying to grow a life that she basically abandoned over the last several decades - she's trying to earn her own living by selling all-natural feminine hygiene products, she's spent two episodes trying to renew her driver's license, and also gradually find her way back into the path of romance. It's obvious that Tomlin is far better at the comedy stuff than Fonda (her Emmy nomination actually is deserved), but surprisingly Fonda does a more than credible job trying to get back into the fish out of water face of her life.

I realize that the comedy is as rapier witty or socially meaningful as some of the other comedies even based from the limited field of the series on Netflix, but there's something to be said for a series that doesn't try to be high concept and is merely funny. I have laughed longer and harder at some of the jokes on this series than I have on 'Kimmy Schmidt', and there is something to be said for any series on any network having a cast that many deals with septuagenarians as its leads. Plus I am in favor of any series that gives great actors a home, and this show more than delivers; this season, we've had as guest stars Ernie Hudson, Craig T. Nelson, Rita Moreno, Swoosie Kurtz and Marsha Mason (and I'm only up to Episode 5!). Granted, the majority of the jokes on this series could be seen on any network, but if Netflix is the only series willing to give all these senior giants a home of their own, that's more than enough to be in its favor.

It's still not a perfect comedy, and it still strains at times to be different, but its enjoyable, and its makes me laugh, and I'm not anywhere near its target audience. I'm not surprised that it's been successful, and that it's already been renewed for Season 3; lest we forget, senior citizens watch TV to.

My score: 3.75 stars.

Homicide Retrospective: Gone for Goode

Writer: Paul Attanasio

Director: Barry Levenson

The Pilot episode for any television show must accomplish several things.

It must establish characters that we have never met before. It must explain what these characters are going to do. It must set a tone for how the show will take things--- serious, humorous or otherwise. It must establish the atmosphere of the series—particularly in place and time. And it must establish the basic stories the show will be telling. This is difficult depending on the number of characters that you are introducing, more so if you intend to tell more than one story at once. And it is very difficult depending on the tone that you take.

The pilot for Homicide succeeds at all of these in spectacular fashion. The series has to introduce nine distinct characters and what they do. It isn’t perfect

(we don’t get a real sense of Detective Howard or Lewis and  Lieutenant Giardello, for example.) but it’s close.  They make the job easier by splitting the detectives up into pairs, but we get an idea of how each pairing works too. Detectives Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito) have a kind of comically abusive relationship; Lewis is continuously mocking Crosetti’s philosophy and his heritage while Crosetti thinks deeply about things that often come out as nonsequiteurs (his line about the difference between men and women when  going to the bathroom is the best example of this). Detectives Kay Howard(Melissa Leo) and Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin ) hold a partnership  where they are well a balanced despite the fact that she is a much better detective then him. Detectives Stanley Bolander (Ned Beatty) and John Munch (Richard Belzer) have the feel of a veteran influencing a younger cop (a bit odd considering that they are close to each other in age) Finally there is the mercurial lone wolf Detective Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher)  and the rookie Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor). This might have a veteran-rookie relationship if it wasn’t for the fact that Pembleton has absolutely no desire to mentor this detective or anybody else. Supervising them is Lieutenant Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) who has a blasé attitude as well.

            Then there is our introduction to the squad, which in its own way is as much a character as any of the detectives. There are the detective’s desks with a phone whose rings would become one of the shows trademarks.  There is the interrogation room (or ‘the box’ ) where some of the shows greatest drama will occurs. And there is ‘the board’ listing open and closed investigations. This is so important that the show focuses on it at least a dozen times in this hour alone.

And though we don’t see many examples of it, the fact that we are in Baltimore seems to resonate a certain way.

            A bigger difference in this show is how crime and criminals are displayed. Even in good police dramas like Law and Order and NYPD Blue criminals are mostly portrayed as intelligent and shifty. They are lying but they are clever about it. Here the criminals have a great naiveté and  foolishness. The murder of Henry Biddle for example.  The killer is so idiotic that he calls his own house when the police arrive. And then when the cops ask him to come in for questioning, he does. This would be unbelievable, but it has been directly lifted from Simon’s book.  Just as astonishing is the killer Munch and Bolander are questioning in the first act. His story is so badly shuffled that it’s no wonder that Munch gets ballistic. The intelligence (or lack of It) would be the rule rather then the exception. As Pembleton puts it so succinctly, “Crime makes you stupid.” We also get to see what would be a staple of the show; the interrogation. We see the way that police illicit a confession without violence. As Pembleton puts it, it is more a job of salesmanship than anything else. It also involves manipulation of the facts and the truth. Though the scene is not particularly dramatic, we do get a glimpse of just how dramatic and suspenseful a simple conversation can be.

            This is one of the reasons that the show is funny. There are also any number of humorous moments. Pembleton’s refusal to go back upstairs when he can’t find the right car. And the  sequence in the bar where Crosetti takes his revenge on Lewis’ mockery of him . They sound like how real cops behave or at least the cops in  Simon’s book.

            We also have the idea that some stories are not going to be resolved, not right away and possibly ever. We get started with the investigation into the ‘Black Widow’, a woman who has been murdering her husband for the insurance money but the story just seems to run aground halfway through. But the writers haven’t forgotten this; they are just waiting for the right time. And the little murdered girl that we see. Many shows would have just gone from this murder to a little while after. Homicide not only dealt with it, it would become the backbone of the first season, if not the entire show.

            Also notable is the cynicism that envelops these detectives. In a fine moment near the end, Munch, Lewis and Crosetti are discussing getting out of the homicide business. Then they notice that they are being cased by a young thief. Munch walks up to him, takes out his badge and says: “We’re murder police; go rob somebody else.” No taking the would- be criminal in for questioning; no lecture. Just a plea to get out.

            This cynicism is also critical in the  idea of justice. After Pembleton elicits the confession, he gives a great speech on what will probably happen to the killer he has just coerced. There is no real justice; there is only what you can find.

This comes as a great shock to Bayliss who is still flushed with idealism about how homicide works. We will soon see how quickly he loses this. Though Kyle Secor doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, he will come to be the most understated actor on the show. In the final scene, as we see a little girl lying dead in the rain, he emerges from a small crowd, holds up his badge and says ‘Homicide’. In that one word, Secor carries more anguish and emotion then any dialogue could. For most of the shows run, Bayliss would be our window to the Homicide unit mainly because of his sensitivity and empathy.

            Very few pilots have done so much in a single episode at creating memorable characters  and atmosphere. There’s a lot we don’t know but we have a basic understanding of the characters and how they approach the business of murder. Even after the series was over, fans of the show as well as the creator would rank it as the best episode of the series. It is certainly one of the best pilots that any TV show (with the possible exception of The West Wing  and Buffy) at setting the tone and describing the characters. This is the first of many great moments in TV that this show would provide and there would be quite a few. There are a few nits to pick (one doesn’t understand how the cases are being numbered, for example,)  but this is  brilliant on almost  every level.

Rank by fans: 1st

My score: 5 stars.

Life and Death In Charm City: Intro, Part 2

Because Homicide  was very different from any police procedural that had come before. For one thing, there was the quality of the acting. It wasn’t the kind of show that relied on famous faces, though a few would show up. Most of them were character actors who would become famous later. (The few exceptions were often comedians, which we will deal with as well.)And keeping in with the fact that Baltimore is one of the blackest cities in America, many of them were black. In an industry which is known for featuring white actors and for a white audience, this was exceptional. The show would also quite frequently deal with race  without being obvious, something which few shows even attempt, let alone successfully pull off

            The show was also notable in its camerawork. Even the casual fan of the show would note it’s effective use of jump-cuts and camera movement, often imitated but rarely as effectively. Equally notable  (especially in the early years) was the bleached out look of the show. Some shows like The X-Files are notable for being ’dark’; Homicide looked pale.  The show would also in its later seasons , be noted for its use of songs as background music. This too been done in other shows, but rarely to the same effect.

            Just as important was the use of  recollection. Most TV shows feature characters who don’t remember things that happened in the previous episode, let alone later. Homicide had a long memory .Events that happened in the squad would have reverberations that people would remember not just over the season but for years afterward. These memories and experiences would help shape the character, and in a medium when any change in characters is consider bad, this was exceptional.

            The show also had something that very few police shows have: a sense of humor.  Perhaps it was because the detectives dealt with death every day that needed some kind of defense, but the show had a dry wit. And frequently the wit would come from the crime and the criminals themselves. This infusion of comedy into drama was rather daring, though later shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer  and The West Wing would turn it into an art. Comedians would be used frequently over the show’s run, often to surprising dramatic effect.

            The show was also adult, but not for the usual reasons. There wasn’t a lot of sex and what there was almost never went into the bedrooms of the detectives.

Unlike NYPD Blue, a contemporary show, detectives did not become involved with other detectives (at least not until near the shows conclusion). Most of the romance (what there was of it)happened off-screen. There was also very little on-screen violence; it became clear very early in the shows run that the detectives would  rarely pull their guns much less fire them. The show was for mature audiences because it dealt with mature issues. The most obvious one was murder but they  also included racism, sexual assault, child abuse, loyalty (particularly loyalty to  fellow policemen.) And the drug market. Baltimore is mired very deep in the world of heroin trafficking. Most crimes in Baltimore involve drugs in some form. They are the cause and effect of most murders. Simon would be drawn to this world of drugs and eventually write another book and create another TV series based on the war on drugs. In this series, however, stories about drugs were frequently and subtly told. And unlike many police dramas, the messages would not be telegraphed but subtly written.

            Finally, there were the portrayals of the detectives themselves. These were not heroes or invincible warriors. No, these were flawed (sometimes deeply) human beings who sometimes would have to bend the rules in order to close the case. They didn’t  believe in the integrity of the criminal justice system because they knew how it worked.  This is not a world where every crime has the same value. Even though when were dead were all the same, sometimes how we die is more important. These are hard lessons and we learned them a lot. And the men who were in charge of these squads were undeserving of their position and how they used rank to the detriment of some of the characters

            All  of the moral issues that Homicide would deal with made it a great drama. Combined with the high quality of the direction, acting and writing and you had a TV show that may have been the best program of the 1990’s.

During the course of these reviews, we will examine some of the investigations that the show would deal with along with how the characters were affected. We will see how closely to the parameters of the book Fontana and Yoshimura and the rest would stay--- and when they began to stray from it. We will see how the characters would evolve--- and how they stayed the same.

Life and Death in Charm City: A Homicide Retrospective, Intro

You watch television differently when you’re a teenager. You care more for entertainment and something that fits your philosophies. When you’re an adult you watch some TV shows differently. And sometimes there are television shows that help you make a transition from one phase of your viewing to another.

            Up until I was fifteen years Old, my parameters for watching TV were not the same as I would later have. Most of my viewings were children’s shows and cartoon related television like The Simpsons. Three very different shows that I watched would  play a vital role of me growing as a viewer. The first was Picket Fences, David E. Kelley’s quirky drama. While it would contain scenarios that were far-fetched and bizarre, the overall dramatic entertainment combined with the fine quality of the acting would establish a fond place in my memory and would cause me to follow Kelley into several other  well-written shows. It was the first one-hour drama that I watched regularly.

            The second drama was The X-Files. Much has already been written about this show (I have written at length on it several times) so it is enough to say that this series got me into science-fiction on different levels (most of them related to government conspiracies)

            The third show aired at 10:00 pm on Fridays which was Picket Fences’ time slot until the fall of 1995. In order to fill this void, I watched mostly cable shows until January. Then (for reasons which have escaped me) I turned to NBC. And saw a program that I had watched once or twice before but never got involved in. I watched as several detectives in Baltimore tried to stop a serial killer using a sniper rifle and who appeared to be playing ‘Hangman’. For the next fifty five minutes, I was captivated in a way that had never happened to me before and has rarely happened since.  Homicide  had struck a chord with me that I still feel for.

            I would like to say that after this I became an immediate follower of the show, but such was not the case. This story was a two-parter, so I was back the next week. However, I still watched rather sporadically until March when I fell into a pattern of seeing it. I watched it from the Law and Order crossover until the stunning suddenness of Frank Pembleton’s stroke.  Over the summer, NBC reran many of the episodes from the first three seasons , including the Adena Watson case (which we will deal with in due course) By August I was hooked.

            For the next three years, I made sure that I was home Fridays at 10  P.M. NBC had recently coined the catchphrase ‘Must-See- TV’ and this show qualified in a big way. But more than that I began to watch TV drama’s in a way I hadn’t before. At first, it was through programs like Chicago Hope, Early Edition and The Pretender.  Then I began looking for TV series in syndication, the most obvious of which was Law and Order. By the end of my freshman year of college, I was enraptured by several TV dramas --- so many, in fact, that when Homicide  was cancelled it didn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would

I caught up on the reruns when Lifetime bought the syndication rights for the series.  Therefore, it wasn’t until April 1997 that I learned the series origins.

            As any loyal fan of the series could tell you,  Homicide evolved from David Simon’s Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets. Set in Baltimore in 1987, the show follows the Homicide unit through a typical year. One lieutenant, three sergeants and fifteen detectives are all given a certain amount of face time. Some are good detectives, others have misfortunes and bad luck and some are not capable. But Simon does a brilliant job of  describing nineteen men dealing with a city that averaged 250 murders a year (a rate which has skyrocketed over the past decade)

            Several of the cases that would form the backbone of Homicide’s first few seasons are related in this book. The  near fatal shooting of police officer Gene Cassidy. The  series of murders arranged by Miss Geraldine Parrish, the ‘Black Widow’ and possibly the dumbest criminal mastermind in Baltimore. The shooting of John Randolph Scott by  persons unknown--- quite possibly a policeman. And the investigation into the murder of eleven-year old Latonya Wallace, a tragic murder which remains unsolved to this day. Overseeing everyone’s actions is ‘the board’, a listing of the number of homicide investigations a detective has open and how many they have solved.

            Many of the characters on the show also sprang form the pages of Simon’s book.  Tom Pellagrini, a rookie police detective on the job three months was  mirrored in the character of Tim Bayliss. Donald Worden, the twenty-five year veteran on the job would help originate the character of Stanley Bolander. Lieutenant Gary D’Addario and his command over the squad would evolve into shift commander Al Giardello. And Harry Edgerton, the aloof loner with a brilliant mind  for police work would help originate the shows most enduring character, Frank Pembleton.

            For merely paying strict attention to the book helped  ESTABLISH a great mood for the show. But attention to detail only goes so far. What made Homicide an exceptional show was the high quality of the writers. This was due to the presence of the producers of the show Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana. Fontana was a brilliant writer who had already won recognition for his work on

St. Elsewhere. He helped assemble a superb writing staff, featuring Simon, James Yoshimura, Julie Martin and Henry Bromell. They also assembled one of the most exceptional casts on television, a mix of veteran actor and new stars, all the while maintaining a lineup which bore a striking resemblance to the Baltimore Homicide unit.

            All of this helped make Homicide  a brilliant show that received almost universal critical acclaim. But television is a strange beast, and while the show did have a  loyal following, it never delivered the audience that one would have expected of it. Furthermore, it never received  recognition from the Emmy’s. In its entire seven-year run, the show was never nominated for Best Drama. Part of this was due to its lackluster numbers but a lot of it was because NBC never seemed to appreciate what they had. They showed enormous patience (otherwise the show would never have lasted two years, let alone seven ) but they didn’t treat it with the  respect  that it deserved. And because of their cavalier treatment of the show, many actors and writers would leave the program not because they were unhappy with the work but because they didn’t know if they would be on the air from season to season.

X-Files Episode guide: Red Museum

Written by Chris Carter

Directed by Win Phelps

I want to give this episode more credit than it deserves because of an outside factor. At one point, Carter had a discussion with the producers of David E. Kelley's Picket Fences, his quirky and energetic hit set, like this episode, in a small town in Wisconsin. Since both series aired Friday nights (X-Files at 9, Picket Fences at 10) there was a certain logic to it. It might have caused programming conflicts, but Kelley would deal with similar issues with other series, and he probably could've gotten away it. And given the similar tones of the series, there might have been a way for the two episodes to tell one complete story. But CBS executives refused to budge, and the crossover never happened.

That, however, would require me giving this episode a lot more praise than I should. And Red Museum doesn't deserve it, because frankly its a mess. The teaser is confusing enough, with an element of a peeping tom that seems to have nothing to do with what happens next. Then we're off to Delta Glen, and we are dealing with what seems to be a cult of vegetarians who believe in some kind of new age mysticism. Then another kid disappears and we see a literal fight between vegetarians and cattle people. Then we have an old man taking Mulder and Scully on a detour that seems to deal with the possibility that all of the troubles in the town date back to some movement towards bovine growth hormones. Just as we try to take that in, a literal deux ex machina comes in the form of a plane, and it's revealed that the town doctor has something sinister going on with what's happening.

Have you followed all this so far? Too bad, because now the episodes about to turn into a conspiracy episode.  A man drives up to a cattle ranch, and shoots a worker dead just for saying hello to him. (He looks familiar, but because this series has the habit of bringing back the same actors for different roles, and because they don't bother to identify any of these characters, we're not sure what we're seeing.) Then we discover the peeping tom  (who is leaning as close  to pedophilia as network TV was willing to go at the time) is actually a good guy, who's been trying to warn people. Then the substance that the doctor was injecting people with is revealed to be 'purity control' and the man in town the same one who executed Deep Throat. And at this point, I just threw up my hands.

This episode probably stands as what many would consider the public perception of The X-Files. It appears simple at the start, then it gets more and more convoluted, there are a bunch of blind alleys, and by the time the episodes over, you have no idea what happen or why. It's bad enough that this kind of thing would eventually isolate the series fan base; to try and do it in the middle of an episode makes you wonder what the hell's going on. It also doesn't restore your faith that Carter is the one behind this episode, which makes you begin to wonder if he's heading away from the simplicity of The Host and Duane Barry and back towards the endless convolutions he demonstrated last season.

There are some interesting bits. The fact that the man who appears to be the villain of the piece is actually the one trying to help the authorities is a neat bit. And the fact that Crewcut man doesn't die at the hands of the conspiracy, but rather the grieving father of one of the victims is a novel approach to getting rid of the man who so casually dispatched Deep Throat last season. But the good bits are muddle in such a primordial mess that they're hard to pick out.   

What we get is the feeling that Carter, having kept our heroes away from The X-Files  for a third of the season, is now trying to get them to do way too much too fast. There might have been two or three decent episodes in this goulash, but the one we get is enough to give even a hardcore fan like me something of a headache

My score: 1.5 Stars

X-Files Episode Guide:Firewalker

Written by Howard Gordon

Directed by David Nutter

For the first third of the second season, with Mulder and Scully away from the X-Files, the series had been consistently better and more solid than it had been for Season 1. Now, however, with the X-Files reopened and our two heroes reunited (and in Scully's case, rapidly recovering from what seemed to be a near fatal illness) our heroes leave the conspiracy behind and return, unfortunately, to business as usual.

To give props to the team,  they try to go back to a classic bit, and try to redo Ice. Unfortunately, Howard Gordon is not up to the challenge, though we must give him credit for not leaping back immediately to 'supernatural revenge' But the fact of the matter, going out to the mountains to search and rescue a team of scientists with rampaging spores isn't the same as being stuck in the frozen north with parasitic worms or even being stranded in the forest with bugs that eat you as soon as it gets dark. It's also not nearly as much fun, and this episode plays more like a bad run through of 'Ten Little Indians'.

Gordon seems to know that you need more than a 'silicon based life-form' snuffing people out to make an episode work, so he tries to make everybody tremble in fear in front of a brilliant vulcanolagist. Which brings us to the second big problem with the episode: Daniel Trepkos. From the opening footage, he is made to seem like some kind of mad genius worthy of worship--- and he just isn't. Some would be inclined to blame Bradley Whitford (a full five years before The West Wing would shoot him to superstardom) for not being able to do justice to the part or his being simply miscast, and yes, it is part of the problem that Whitford, at this stage of his career, was simply not up to the challenge. But the sad truth is, no actor could do much with the character that Gordon has written.  All of this genius simply comes as pretentious, and the fact that he is revealed early in the episode as being bipolar just seems like another cliché. I find it very hard to believe that any scholar could be driven insane by learning that a silicon-based lifeform could exist, but then again, I'm not a genius.

There are elements that might be considered fresh--- it's certainly an interesting concept to have a lifeform that could exist as silicon based, but it doesn't really come across as much of a threat, and it certainly doesn't explain why this particular one has such different effect--- irritability and ferocity at first, and by the time it gets to Jesse, it's alert enough to use clever human tricks to try and infect Scully. But there's only so much that the effects team can do to make a fungus seem dangerous. (Maybe a few seasons later, when they had more of a budget.  And without anything more menacing than the shadow we get in the volcano in the teaser, there's really nothing to explain the trick that gets Mulder and Scully here in the first place. The fact that Mulder and Scully find themselves in a month-long quarantine after this episode and that every aspect of the research is being impounded by the CDC just makes it seem evident which episodes Gordon is trying to rip off

It's not altogether bad. Aside from Whitford who seems to channel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, the rest of the guest cast is pretty good, which is a shame, because with the exception of Shawnee Smith, no one is given much to work with. The direction, as is the case with many Nutter helmed episodes, is tight. But there isn't really much any of them can do with this twisted concept.

Any episode that followed after One Breath would almost inevitably suffer in comparison. So, perhaps, Firewalker's scheduling may have made it seem weaker than it is.  But it seems too flat and too simple (and coming after a mythology episode, that tells you something) and not interesting enough compared to what we've seen so far. We knew we were going to back to normal, except at this point, we had a new definition of what normal was.

My score: 2 stars

X-Files Episode Guide: One Breath

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X-Files Episode Guide: 3

Written by Chris Ruppenthal and Glen Morgan & James Wong

Directed by David Nutter

The episode opens extremely well, and showing Mulder walking among the dusty basement where the X-Files office is, changing the calendar six months forward, and putting Scully's file in the cabinet is powerful. Duchovny gives a very effective performance as a man hollowed out by the loss of his better half. The tone of mourning plays very effectively through the episode, especially in the scenes between Mulder and the coroner. For all those reasons, I really wish I could like this episode more. But the mystery that's at the center of the story, just isn't worth the trouble.

One wants to give the vampire story more credit, especially after a decade of Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse, of at least trying to make a vampire story where the undead are dangerous rather than sexy. Unfortunately, the episode just can't make up its mind whether the vampires are supposed to be real or not. Mulder starts the episode like he's trying to pursue serial killers and wannabes that think they're vampires, and he certainly spends the first half of the episode proceeding under that presumption. The idea of pursuing a delusional man who thinks vampires are real would certainly have been interesting. But then, the series remembers that its wheelhouse is the paranormal, so John (The Son) is locked into a cell with southern exposure, and burns into a pile of ashes. We never do get a real explanation as to how John managed to resurrect himself (but why should we; he's not that interested when we see him again), because the episode is on to its central problem ---- Kristen.

Even now, twenty years after the fact, I'm still completely unsure what the point of Kristen was. Yes, I realize that her job was to serve as the central focus for the vampires pursuing, and the actual reason for the series of killings that brought Mulder onto the scene in the first place. But her job also seems to be the serve as a literal femme fatale that somehow attracts the broken Mulder, and based on everything we know about him over the past year, he'd have to be psychological damaged to let a woman who may be a suspect in a series of murders shave him

. It's not that he and then girlfriend Perrey Reeves don't generate a certain amount of chemistry together; it's that the script can't determine why this Scully-less Mulder would go to so much trouble to protect her. Mulder has a habit of trying to save women who seemed trapped in these cases--- it'll be demonstrated far more effectively in later season---- but the series seems unable to determine whether he's too shaken to use his usual sense of self-preservation or that there's some part of him that genuinely doesn't care if he lives or dies anymore. That would lead to the kind of wrenching drama we've come to expect from Morgan & Wong scripts, and for once, the writers seem unworthy or unable to follow through on them.

I'll say this for 3. Its tries. Those have accused Mulder of walking through crime scenes  expressionlessly and without feeling would certainly be able to point to this script as their prime example. He seems to be sleepwalking through much of the episode. He seems unwilling to argue procedure with the LAPD, we casually hear him mention that he doesn't sleep anymore, and the few one-liners he does make seem like the shell of his wit. It's particularly painful to see him engage in scenes with the coroner, when we all know the only woman that he would trust with an autopsy. And he seems supremely off balance for the majority of the story, as if not having Scully has left him unable to even go through the motions. But it's just not enough to make this shell of a vampire story work--- Joss Whedon wouldn't haven't been able to do anything this po-faced for more than five minutes before injecting something into this static story.

3 does deserve credit --- a fair amount-- for painting an episode far more interesting than any of the ones we would get when Mulder was forcibly removed, but even hindsight can't make this one much better. At the end of the episode, Mulder is sitting alone looking out into the sky, looking miserable, and he should. He's wasted an hour trying to save a woman, and failed just as surely as he did when he tried to save Scully. He's wasted his time, and he's wasted ours. Our only real consolation is that we won't have to go through any more.

My score: 2 STARS

X-Files Episode guide: Ascension

Written by Paul Brown

Directed by Michael Lange

This episode can't escape the fact that it basically has a job to do, and that is  to remove Gillian Anderson from the scene so that she can have her child. (One wonders how different television history would have been if Anderson hadn't been pregnant during this season) As it is, and because it comes after such a brilliant show at Duane Barry, it tends to get less consideration then it does. This doesn't change the fact that even if Ascension is filler, it's damn good filler.

Perhaps the biggest mistake that the writer makes is turning Barry, who was such a vivid force in the last episode, into something of a ghost, and to turn him from a ticking bomb into a weapon ready to strike at the slightest provocation. In all fairness, in the hostage situation, he was pretty much the same . But Railsback, who was incredible in the last episode, comes off strangely diminished as a result, and when he finally in the episode, it doesn't seem as vivid as when he was shot in the last episode.

The episode is also criticized for being more action filled then the last one, where the action was mostly cerebral. As will become the case with many of the mythology episode, Mulder finds himself doing far too many death-defying stunts than a well-trained FBI agent should--- pushing a rickety tram up a wheel past it's speed, climbing out of it far above the ground, only to have it start moving again--- and this is a light episode on that front.

Duchovny manages to sell it. His performance isn't nearly as intense as it was in the last episode, but for once there's actually a legitimate reason--- he's operating on no sleep, and keeps pushing himself past him limits in a desperate attempt to find Scully. When he finally gets to Barry, and finds his former partner nowhere to be found, his rage is even more fascinating to watch, and poor Duane, who is still more sympathetic than most of the others, gets caught in the crossfire.

The episode also manages to work because of the superb performance of Nicholas Lea, arguably the best he would  do over his entire stint on the series, mainly because it's so simple. Even knowing since Sleepless how corrupt he was, and even after hearing him make an illicit phone call, it still comes as a hell of a shock when he kills the tram operator, and very nearly causes Mulder's death. And seeing him in the car with the Smoking Man, finally reduced to the stooge he is, is very well done--- almost well done enough to make you wish the writers had followed their original impulse and written him out after this episode.

Admittedly, it's a bit of a disappointment to see Mulder realize that Krycek is a front based solely on the cigarette that he finds in his car ashtray, and based on that giant leap Skinner decides to reopen the X-Files in order to force them out into the open. And one can't help feel the first of many disappointments to realize we're never going to find out exactly how Duane Barry found Scully. But at this point in the series, we're glad to see that there's some forward momentum at last---- the second season has been off to a great start, but we need to have some kind of purpose for the show to go forward. I almost wish Anderson hadn't been such a trooper and gone back to work as soon as she did --- it might have been interesting to see Mulder try to struggle forth now that Scully is no longer around. (It certainly would've been more fair than what we got when Mulder went missing... but that's a bone to pick much, much later)

Perhaps the most impressive work from any of the actors comes from the beginning and end when Sheila Larkin again reappears as Mrs. Scully, drawn to her daughter's apartment after her abduction by night terrors, and then coming around to comfort Mulder when he tries to present her with the cross that was the only proof of her still remaining in Duane Barry's car. Margaret Scully will be put through the ringer far more than any other character, but Larkin's subtlety manages to sell it, and make her a pillar of strength for both Mulder and her family.

Considering that it was written by someone new to the show (and whose only other script would demonstrate he had no understanding of how the series worked), and that it was supposed to be a bridge episode more than anything else, Ascension does a damn good job, and is far more satisfying than the majority of the two-parters we will get for The X-Files. Its other job is make the mythology personal for Mulder and Scully, and from this point on, there's no way to deny that.

MY score: 4 STARS.

X-Files Episode Guide: Duane Barry

Written & Directed by Chris Carter

This is one of the most critical episodes in the history of the series, the beginning of the two-parters, and the real start of the mythology. Given how important it was to the future of the show, it's probably one of the most important episodes in the history of television. And as an added bonus, it's one of the greatest episodes the series would ever put together. What makes Duane Barry particularly remarkable is that, in style and tone, it is one of the most atypical episodes the series would ever do.

Stripped down to it's essential , for three-quarters of the show, it could play like just about any episode of Law & Order --- with the alien trappings being regarded as just another sign that the man with the gun is just another wacko. Certainly everyone else taking part in the negotiations thinks that way. It's only Mulder who believes that Barry is telling the truth.  We will frequently see Mulder put his wellbeing on the line in the search of a higher truth, but rarely at such a basic and fundamental level as he does here.

The episode is also stripped down to a dialogue between Mulder and Barry. Duchovny gives one of his most toned down performances, and it matches the mood of the episode precisely. But while in many episodes he can act the guest star under the table, he has no chance of doing it here. From beginning to end, this is Steve Railsback's show. What makes it so brilliant is that even though the world regards him as a dangerous lunatic, he has our sympathies from the teaser on.  Tortured both psychologically---- and if the flashbacks are any indication, physically--- Barry seems far more of a victim than any of the people that he's holding hostage. Perhaps it's the way that he's always referring to himself in the third person that gets to me more than anything else---  his experiences with the aliens seem to have cost him everything else, and it's as if he keeps repeating his name to try and hold on to his identity. Considering how brilliant he is, and that the episode was nominating for Emmys for Best Writing and Best Guest Actress (CCH Pounder demonstrates the quiet authority and patience that she would do in countless other series from this point onward), perhaps the biggest mystery is how Railsback didn't earn one as well. It is certainly one of greatest performances the series will ever feature. Indeed, he's so utterly convincing and mesmerizing that the most telling moment of the episode comes in what is almost a throwaway. When he releases the female hostages, one of the women says before she exits that she believes him. It's a  wonderful moment, particularly ironic since we've just been given every reason to think his story is a lie.

What makes the show work as well as it does is because as long as Mulder follows his quest for the truth he is completely safe--- it's when Scully tells him it might be a lie that he's suddenly in danger.  It's the quintessential definition of Mulder's quest. When Mulder believes in alien abduction, government conspiracies, he advances. When Scully tries to bring the real world in, he is in danger. The thing of it is, when you stop believing it's then  proof might suggest itself.

For when the hostage is brought down--- and this is the rare encounter with local law enforcement where Mulder doesn't get his ass chewed own when the smoke  clears--- he finds out that there might be something to it after all. For when they examine Barry, they find implants, exactly where he told Mulder that they were placed in the course of his abductions. (And considering what we saw them do to his teeth, I don't want to think how much it might have hurt when the others went it.)  And once again, when Scully tries to rationalize it, she finds out that there's more to the story than she could think.

Two of the signature bits of the X-Files come in the final two scenes. First, in the supermarket, almost as an impulse, she swipes the implant through the supermarket scanner--- and is absolutely astounded to find out that it looks like there's some very small serial number somehow etched on it. Then she calls Mulder, and relays her experience to him, only to get his answering machine, and she therefore leaves her last statement to him on it--- along with the attack of Duane Barry, who has just escaped from the hospital. What makes this event even more shocking is that until now, Mulder's seemed to be the only one in danger from this quest---- and up until this point, even while he was shooting at people, we've never considered Barry much of a threat.

This is one of the series masterpieces, and what makes it even more remarkable is that was Chris Carter's first episode behind the camera. He would make great strides as a writer as the series progressed, but he would never direct quite as well again--- maybe because he would never reduce things to their most simple. And no matter what you may think of how the mythology progressed, this  episode demonstrated just how brilliant it could be when everything was clear.

My score: 5 stars