X-Files Episode Guide: Within

Written by Chris Carter

Directed by Kim Manners

The X-Files has made a lot of transitions over its run, but most of them were due more to tone than plot. The fact that the show may not have planned to be so much about laughs rather than scares, particularly during to its transition to Hollywood, was not necessarily a bad thing, as it produced many moments of great imagination. The fact that what was originally the biggest part of it - the mythology - eventually turned out to be its Achilles heel may not have been much of an overriding weakness. When the series finally tried to handle the overarching questions - most notably with Samantha Mulder - they basically failed because they had run out of steam.

So now, the series was faced with its most devastating transition yet, only unlike the others, this one has been thrust upon it. Its how you continue your show when your leading man has gone on walkabout. One could make the argument that the most sensible decision would be not to continue the series at all. But since everybody has decided that the X-Files has to go forward, forward it shall go. And it decides to do so, not by shoving the disappearance to the back, but by putting it front and center, by having the disappearance of Mulder put right in the middle of the opening credits that we as fans have started to consider a safe haven. Whether or not this was a smart decision given the middle third of the season is another difficult one, particularly as this whole trick only works if Duchovny's disappearance is seen as a temporary problem. But considering that at this point, the X-Files has been flying blind when it comes to everything important, why not the disappearance of its male protagonist?

 And to be honest, there are some bits of it that work, and work well. The major point that works is the introduction of John Doggett. Admittedly, the introduction of new characters has never been this series strong suit  - the last really strong character was X, and that was nearly six years ago. All the other characters that have been introduced since than have either been forced to play on ambiguity, which was later abandoned when we saw which side they were on, or were ultimately so untrustworthy that was basically everything we associated with them. Doggett plays off that more his opening scenes, trying to read things in a rational matter. But because he seems to have a genuine desire to find Mulder, and doesn't seem to hold with these conspiracies that every other character has come to embrace that his solidity is actually his great strength. Robert Patrick fine performance will give Doggett more reality than  just about any other character than we've seen in quite some time. There will many flaws in the last two seasons of the X-Files. Doggett is not one of them.

Also a growing source of strength is the performances of Anderson and Mitch Pileggi. Absent Mulder, and now coming to grips with some of the reality that this manhunt is just another smokescreen, they find themselves forced to accept the reality of what may be happening. It seems a little more realistic for Scully - given everything she's seen the last seven years, it is becoming easier for her to accept Mulder's position.  One would expect it would be harder for Skinner, but considering how the scales dropped from his eyes at the end of Requiem, there's a genuine sense that he's finally - if too late - try to be the ally that the agents have needed all this time.

 As for Mulder, the bits that work best are the ones Duchovny's not on screen for. Its very disappointing that the only scenes we really get with Mulder are the ones where he's being horrendously tortured on an ancient ship. What makes the episode work is the idea that Mulder might somehow be manipulating the world in order to try and find some kind of truth. It's almost impossible to believe that Mulder could've hidden the fact that he was dying from Scully for nearly a year (hell, he was in the hospital four different times last season; even Scully would've checked his medical records), and its a bit of resolution the story makes to discard when it isn't necessary any more. But the idea that Mulder could somehow be doing this in order to serve as some kind of threat is intriguing. It shouldn't work, given everything we know about him, but by the time the episode ends we're almost prepared to accept it.

So when Within looks ahead, it actually isn't too bad. Where it stumbles when it tries to look back. I understand the necessity of bringing a new antagonist at the FBI, now that Skinner has to be cast as an ally, but did they have to go back to Kersh? James Pickens, Jr. is a much better actor than he got a chance to show on X-Files (it wasn't until Grey's Anatomy that he found his true role of a lifetime) but to cast him as the ultimate bureaucrat, trying to cover the FBI's ass seems a real step backwards for the series. It's a little harder to understand the reason for bringing Gibson Praise out of left field to be the target of the search, particular since the show gave up on him nearly two years ago as well. He actually seemed more interesting than as a cute chess prodigy; now he just seems like a stodgy thirteen year old?

And while I've had nothing but praise for Mark Snow's musical stylings for the last seven years, can I just say how much I loathe this new 'Scully's Theme' that he's developed? It's blaring, its tuneless, it crawls down your spine, and its only reason for being seem to be as a musical cue for Gillian Anderson to start angsting out. She's had no problem doing that on her own; she doesn't need music doing it now.

For all that, Within remains one of the better season openers the X-Files has had in quite some time, mainly because it has a purpose. The series has a new mission statement, for better or worse. One just wishes they had stuck with the better.

My score: 3.5 stars.