Written by David Amann
Directed by Robert Liberman
The X-Files has never been a series
that has done particularly well with teenagers at the center of its mystery.
Every year or so, usually from a writer new to the staff, they would experiment
by trying to compare the paranormal along with the teenage world, and usually
end up not doing right by either of them. Considering how many series that would follow in the X-Files footsteps involved
in youth-oriented supernatural series - Buffy,
Roswell
This is made particularly clear in
this episode, which takes about as pedestrian approach, which is very ironic
considering the subject matter. Mulder and Scully are called in after a
sheriff's deputy is apparently murder by a teenager, due to methods that can
only appear to be out of this world. The story centers around three teenagers, which
are as close to stock characters as we can possibly get, Max, the teenager
rebel who is (naturally) the son of the town sheriff; Tony, the new kid, who
seems drawn to him for reasons which boggle the mind, and Chastity, the love
interest who can't even bother to come with a reasonable excuse to be involved
with Max in the first place. All three
teenagers somehow find access to a source in a cave that provides all of them
with the ability to move ultra fast. It gives them all a big high, but it also
does major damage to their bodies. Amann couldn't be using a drug metaphor less
subtly if he tried, and he's already demonstrated that he's not the most
mannered writer.
And basically, that's all we get. Mulder and Scully do some
investigating, but they seem a little more useless than they normally do. Their
main interactions with the teenagers in this story seem to be to have the kids
tell our heroes how old they seem to be getting - and really, considering that
we're now in the seventh season, this is a metaphor the X-Files could really do
without - and try to keep up with the bloody mayhem that the teenagers are
reeking, with almost no success. Usually our agents seem able to do something
useful as the case unfolds, and while Mulder manages to fairly accurately
diagnose what is going on with these teenagers, he's at a complete loss as to
how or why. Now that's not necessarily a failing, but the episode doesn't
bother to do much more. When the episode is in the denouement stage, Mulder can
only glumly report that despite the governments thorough searching of the cave
that gave the teenagers their superpowers, they can find no real reason as to
what caused it. It's not like the series could do much to even hint at a
rational explanation, but they don't even bother to try, and the last word on
the subject is that the cave will be pumped full of concrete so that this can
never happen again. We're only in the fifth episode of the season, and its
already beginning to seem like the writers aren't even putting an effort in any
more.
This episode is so traditional it's
rather sad that there isn't much to recommend for other reasons. The effects
department doesn't seem to bother to do much with the novel idea of moving at
quicker than the eye speed, so there isn't much remarkable about any of the
deaths in the episode. The actors don't really have much td do with the writing
for the characters, so the performances are mostly flat and lifeless. (This is
particularly a crime because one of the better character actresses, Ann Dowd,
is given absolutely nothing to do with the thankless role of Tony's mother.)
And while it's always intriguing to see Bill Dow show up as Chuck Burks, he
doesn't exactly do much for this particular stint either, though the effects do
seem to point Mulder and Scully in the right direction. Even Mulder and
Scully's back and forth seems a little more forced; it's good to see that after
six seasons, Scully is finally starting
to see that her partner's approach is correct, but it's beginning to take some of
the joy of the series away from it.
Rush isn't by any means a terrible episode. Considering some of the stinkers we've had in the
past (and unfortunately, we'll begin to see a lot more of in the future), it's
got some good moments, and has some decent plot twists. But it has little
interesting to say about the paranormal, and even less interesting things to
see about growing up. When we finally see Tony recovering in his hospital bed,
registering the fact that he will forever be trapped in a normal world, we're
not sure whether it's supposed to be good or bad. That level of confusion
speaks more to the problem of the episode than anything it could have to say
about the story.
My score: 2 stars.
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