X-Files Episode Guide: Talitha Cumi

Teleplay by Chris Carter; Story by David Duchovny & Chris Carter

Directed by R.W. Goodwin

And so we've come to the end of an extraordinary season of TV, which does however, leave us with a bit of mystery when it comes to evaluating the final episode of the season. Considering how masterful they've been this year, and how exceptional the previous two season finales were, one can't tell whether anything that was produced would come as a disappointment. And indeed, trying to figure out whether or not Talitha Cumi works pretty much depends on your opinion of the series and when you watched it. When Entertainment Weekly did an episode guide for the series in November 1996, they gave it an A. But looked upon far later down the road in other episode guides, it was referred to as one of the weakest episodes ever. The truth, like so much of The X-Files, lies somewhere between the two. Let's try to figure it out.

Let's start with the things that don't work, and in this episode there's a giant steaming pile. That would be the interrogation sequence between Jeremiah Smith and CSM. Let's say you followed the series and knew what Chris Carter was trying to do--- riff on a passage of The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. According to him, it's modeled after the Grand Inquisitor sequence in that novel where the Inquisitor corners Christ in a cell, and they have a long speech on religion and God. Now I've never had the energy to read that particular novel, and I don't want to think if there were many fans of the series who had. But even if you did know what Carter was trying to do, I still don't see how anyone could like this sequence. It's full of the purple prose that we've come to expect of Carter, and it doesn't seem appropriate for Smith and CSM to be talking about it when serious things are afoot. And with the passage of time, it's worthy and inconsequential. And just when you're breathing a sigh of relief that it's all over---- they come back into the room and start doing all over it again!

Then there's the inconsistency with some of the characters, most notably X. Considering the way Mulder left him just last week, one would think he'd be far more careful around him. Which is why it's such a surprise to see him at Mulder's summer house, taking pictures of Mulder's mother and the Smoking Man's meeting, then telling Mulder in such a mellow and calm mood that seems utterly inconsistent with the man we've seen over the past two seasons. (Even the writers admitted they never got this sequence right). But even if X had met Mulder in a tenser mood earlier in the episode, it still doesn't explain his edginess in the garage, followed by his coming into a brutal brawl with Mulder over the weapon he recovered. Then again, maybe as some writers have suggested, maybe X knew saw the wolves circling him.

It's a shame that Carter decided to waste five minutes of the episode not talking about anything, because there are some interesting ideas afoot. The character of Jeremiah Smith is one of the more promising ones that Carter has created--- so far, aliens have seemed either vague and indistinct or menacing killers, so it's refreshing to finally have created someone who seems to want to help human beings.  Roy Thinnes does a pretty good job of making a benevolent and calm presence as the mysterious Jeremiah in the teaser, and seems even less threatening when we meet him afterwards. I just wish Carter had had the balls to follow up this part of the storyline more closely, but then a lot of things about the mythology make you want to throw up at this point.

Which brings us perhaps to the most unsettling part of the episode--- when the Smoking Man encounters Mrs. Mulder in the Mulder summer house. He's always loomed in the background as a menace; its far more unsettling to find out that he was close enough to Bill Mulder's wife to insinuate into her life.  From this point on, however, we have to completely reassess everything we know about the man. What no one wants to contemplate, even though the series won't make it clear until after both Mulder and Smoking Man are gone, is that Smoking Man could be Mulder's father. This is another one of those maddening obstacles that Carter, once dealing with it, never tried to resolve, which is yet another reason to shiver when watching this episode.

Then there's the fact that the cliffhanger, by comparison  to Anasazi, is really something of an anti-climax---- seeing the Alien Bounty Hunter reappear, hell-bent on removing Jeremiah Smith does resonate well with previous or even future X-Files season enders, mainly because we've barely had time to deal with it. (On a private matter, I feel sorry of Brian Thompson. He's playing this critical role on the series and in each episode, he gets less and less dialogue. Probably not what he signed up for when he joined the series.

While all of these flaws hurt the episode, I don't think its as bad as some people would make it out to be. For once, we seem to be dealing with emotional issues, and seeing Mulder in agony as his only remaining relative (as far as he knows) lies near death, leading him rather not to mourn, but, as he did  while in One Breath, trying to find answers and when it comes to CSM acting out in rage. (Did CSM not leave you a forwarding address when you went back to the apartment he was in last time?). Meanwhile, Scully's given far less to do, which may be another flaw, but considering how they rectified it during the season 4 opener, one can't argue that much.\ The series always did better when it dealt more with emotions than conspiracies. Unfortunately, Carter is going to start forgetting it soon.

Talitha Cumi is only a disappointing finish in comparison with Erlenmeyer Flask and Anasazi. Considering how much stronger overall Season 3 was, and how well both the humor and the mythology resonated with so many people, one can almost forgive the writers for slacking off just a little near the end. Later seasons, will not be nearly as forgiving.

My score: 3.5 stars.

Average Score: 3.77 stars.