X-Files Episode Guide: Patience

Written & Directed by Chris Carter

Considering that the X-Files had demonstrated that it had clearly had a direction after the opening two-parter, it therefore can only be viewed as a major step backward given how the series proceeded from here on out. It doesn't help matters that many of the Monster of the Week that we would get would be among the more pedestrian that the series would ever deal with.

Patience isn't the worst one of the bunch, but it does suffer from some of the most lackluster plotting and ideas that the X-Files has tried to do in quite some time. Even the monsters of the last couple of seasons had some interesting ideas among, even if they weren't well executed. This one just seems remarkably sloppy. We see from the first point on  what the creature is that is responsible for the slayings that call in Scully and Doggett. It appears to be... a bat-man. Seriously. Now if Mulder were here, there could probably be some kind of literal reason how some creature like this could come into existence. Here, the closest we get is when the man who has been in hiding from it for more than forty years tells us that a bat is evolutionary very close to the ape, and therefore it is possible that it could evolve the same way that a man could. I'm not sure that even Duchovny would be able to sell that particular explanation.

It doesn't help matters that the reason for the killings are among the most lazy and moronic that the series has dealt with. Here is Ernie, a man who spent more than forty years hiding from this horrible creature because it had his scent on it. Apparently, this creature, despite being one of the most capable killing machines imaginable couldn't find its prey, even though it was literally under its nose. One could argue that this would make it the most idiotic monster that we've ever seen on this series, except it turns out that  the whole reason it manages to land on its prey again is because Ernie's wife died, and he burnt it before dumping it in the lake so that she could be buried on consecrated land. I want to be sympathetic, but really the amount of sheer idiocy in the middle of all this wouldn't make a lot of sense in the most pedestrian comedy episode. Admittedly, the change in tone back to serious isn't a bad idea - considering how bland several of the comedy episodes had been becoming, a return to scares would be welcome. But if you're going to be scary, at least make an effort to make the plot worthy of it. Its rather shocking that so many critics seems to find this particular monster one of the most frightening that the X-Files had produced ; the makeup is admittedly striking, but its not particularly original compared to some of the best creatures the series has had in its heyday.

Were this an episode that dealt with Mulder and Scully, Patience would hardly be worth the viewer's time. Where it manages to succeed, and work a lot better, is having Doggett around. Scully is now, for better or worse, the voice of the believer, and what makes this episode work is the fact that she is not at all comfortable in this role. One can see her try to fill that void in the opening sequence, telling Doggett that this is Mulder's office, and attempting a presentation, complete with slides. But despite her best efforts, its clear that Scully is not at all secure in the idea of trying to play Mulder. She doesn't want to show Doggett up, and its clear, despite her attitude towards the local law enforcement, that she is very doubtful about every guess that she makes.  She wants to be the one who can do the job, but its clear, even given her advances all through Season 7, that she still is comfortable as skeptic. Anderson does some very good work mining areas that, frankly, we haven't thought she was capable of.

If the episode then put Doggett back in the role of playing Scully, it would be a lot flatter than it could be. But as much as Doggett is a meat and potatoes man, its really clear that his mind is a lot more open than Scully's was way back at the beginning of the series. He may not necessarily believe in the supernatural, but he is more than willing to accede to his new partner's experience. And while straightforward police work has had little place on the X-Files, its telling that his approach does have advantages the neither Mulder nor Scully were willing to try during their earlier time.

So there are some good points to this episode. The problem is there few and further between. Watching the scenes where Scully and Doggett are berated by the local police are so cliched you figure Carter wrote the dialogue in his sleep.  And the fact that Scully spends much of the last act listening to Ernie tell her about how much one must sacrifice to keep someone safe is so clumsily put forth, you can practically see the word 'metaphor' - just like the even less subtle scene where Scully puts Mulder's nameplate in his desk and shuts the drawer. It's not remotely subtle at all, but that's the overall theme with so much of Patience.

As an introduction to the adventures of Scully and Doggett, this episode is serviceable. As a scary episode, it barely passes muster. And really, considering what we seemed to have been promised at the end of Without, it can only be viewed as a disappointment. Unfortunately, this is what we're going to get for more than half the season. You'd think Carter, of all people, would've known better.

My score:2.25 stars.