X-Files Episode Guide: Sanguinarium

Written  by Valerie Mayhew and Vivian Mayhew

Directed by Kim Manners

Ewww.

A few weeks ago, we visited the extreme grotesquerie of Home, and I thought that its darkness and gore made it one of the more powerful episodes of the series. Now, we have Sanguinarium (and oh, if you know your Latin, you know just what this title implies) examining the extreme bloodbaths of a plastic surgery ward, and while the level of gore isn't that much greater, the effect is somewhat more revolting--- and more to the point, less effective dramatically. (I don't why Home was taken out of syndication, and this one never has. Maybe it's because incest trumps liposuctions).

Maybe the other reason is the authors are far less experienced at trying to make comparison. Morgan & Wong in Home were taking on some of the more virulent strains of  American values, but they'd been doing this so long and so well, that the satiric tone seemed to play better. One would be hard pressed to argue that vanity and personal appearance have now become the more advanced American values, but the Mayhew sisters don't seem to be interested in following those same tangent. So they try to cover their basis by throwing this under the idea of demonic possession, with a side of witchcraft thrown in. What they seem to be more interesting in dealing with is gory set-pieces, and while the teaser is shockingly effective, the more we see of it, the less effective it becomes. By the time Dr. Franklyn is peeling his own face of with a scalpel, its all but become a running  gag (emphasis on 'gag')

There's also the more important fact that Mulder and Scully are practically useless in this episode. It's ironic that the staff of this surgery clinic worries about how the FBI's appears will bring ruination upon the hospital, in actually, they can do  nothing to stop the blood rituals that Dr. Franklyn has invoked. They basically go from death to death trying to catch up, and they never accomplish anything. At this point, its probably ridiculous to blame X-Files for having episodes where our heroes accomplish nothing----- but for them to figure out who is behind the deaths, stop him at what appears to be the final moments, only to have him slaughter one last victim who just happens to have the same birthday as Halloween, seems too big of a coincidence to let go. (And if that death was the one he had in mind, why did he carve Dr. Shannon's name into the pentagram with the other victims? This is the kind of flaw in the  writing Morgan & Wong would have been able to spot in advanced. Once you've foiled the villain, there isn't much point to seeing that he gets away with it anyway.

At this point, the more obvious flaw comes from the writers--- the Mayhew sisters were writing their first and only script for the series--- and clearly they had only the vaguest of ideas as to how the series worked. (A couple of years, they would have a completely different view as to witchcraft when they helped create the hit series Charmed.) They have the ideas of what the crimes involve and there's definitely some interesting set pieces---- the idea that the practicing witch in the story is actually on the good side is an interesting quest, but since her craft takes the form  of the clichés we have come to expect that, its hard to see her as much of a hero. It's also never explained how exactly Dr. Franklyn managed to make her choke up hundreds of pins when she was trying to tell Mulder and Scully whose behind this. Both Richard Beymer and O-Lan Jones give very good performances, but neither is allowed to act much out of the caricatures they are being forced to play in.

Admittedly, there are some good bits on display here---- Mulder pointed to the broomstick on Nurse Waite's porch, and saying 'probable cause?'  And the way that Mulder finds himself reconsidering his own vanity on the surgery ward shows that he seems to still be considering this place for a nose job. But unlike the laughs we got in Home, which were more a need for relief from the horrors that were on display--- the few we gets seem to be even more out of touch than usual. They feel like jokes for the sake of jokes, and these writers don't have the same track record as some of the better comic writers.

Ultimately, Sanguinarium is just a messy episode that seems to be trading on the series penchant for darker and more unsettling set pieces we've getting this season. Only like quite a few episodes this seasons, the setpieces don't hold up very well for an actual story. The overall effect is one of just  bloody confusion that provides few scares and fewer laughs.

My score: 2.5 stars.