X-Files Episode Guide: Vienen

Written by Steven Maeda

Directed by Rod Hardy

Admittedly, its a little telling that after all these years of dealing with the black oil, we've never had an episode which really tried to deal where it came from. But that's really about the only truly ambitious thing about Vienen, which arguably is one of the most confusing episode we've had in quite some time.

And there's a very good reason for that. Considering that the mythology has been moving, if not in the most constructive direction plot-wise, at least  a more emotional and energetic one. To go back to the black oil, something which the X-Files hasn't even tried to deal with in more than three years, seems more than a little ridiculous. It's telling when Doggett tells the story of what he thinks the black oil's purpose was, that he can barely manage to contain  his skepticism; at this point, he might as well be the casual viewer thinking how absurd the storyline has really been.  And having Mulder trying to bring this story to the attention of the FBI seems more like the series laboring to get back to the 'heyday' of the mythos, when in fact that was one of the least interesting and coherent things about the backstory.

Admittedly, this may not be Vienen's purpose. What the story seems to be trying to do is bring Mulder and Doggett to work together towards a common goal. This would make a certain amount of sense if the series were planning to have the two of them on the series full time, but we know that's not going to be the case. (We'll get to the problems this leads to in a minute.) We already know that the two of them have been at loggerheads since Mulder came back from the dead; to have them to rely only on each other would be an interesting point, if it didn't carry all the necessary baggage from the mytharc behind it. And there's so little of the black oil story that makes any real sense when connected to the mythology that one wonders why Maeda's doing it in the first place.

 Apparently all of the people working on the oil rig that has tapped into the black oil reserve have been infected with the exception of two mixed Mexican workers who somehow are immune to infection. Now apparently, the virus, which has never shown any evidence before, can't infect certain people. And the members of the oil rig are trying to use the radio in order to get in touch with the alien mothership. Yeah. Even the most loyal fan of the series has to wonder what's going on. So when the episode reaches its climax with everybody on the rig trying to break into the radio room, Mulder then smashes the radio to make sure they can't make contact with the aliens. And we don't even have time to deal with that before all these alien-possessed workers decide to blow the rig. Which makes even less sense than them trying to phone home in the first place.

All of this would be hard enough to deal with on its own, but by this point, we've given up on any possibility of the mythology making sense. What makes it just even harder to tolerate is the fact that the entire plot is basically a smokescreen.  The writers (and one has to assume that Carter had something to do with it, considering that Maeda would never deal with the mythos again) know that they have to find a way to write Mulder off the show. So they create Vienen as a way to get him kicked out of the FBI for good. They have Mulder violate protocol with some kind of kerfuffle with an oil executive, they have him hitch a rid on to the oil rig along with Doggett, they have him put Scully and Skinner in peril with Kersh, because they seem to be following his lead. But Mulder's done so much worse things in the past, that this barely would rate as a blip on the radar. The idea that somehow this case being handled in such a way is so inexcusable is practically laughable.  And its even more ridiculous that Mulder would decide to take the fall for all this, under the heading that Doggett is now a far more credible source for the X-Files than Mulder is at this point. Which would be believable except that Doggett will never believe in aliens for his entire tenure on the show, and that none of the mythology will ever resemble this kind of story again. Considering that Carter has more than a season to figure out how to write Duchovny out of the series, this may be the weakest possible exit he could've managed. (And considering that we still have three episodes of Season 8 to go, its not even handled that well, considering that no one yet knew whether there would even be a Season 9.)

So basically Vienen's purpose is to take the X-Files with Mulder handing it over to Doggett in the final minute.  Which is hard enough to believe, given what we see in Vienen. They spend almost the entire episode in complete disagreement, there's no evidence that they've come to some kind of understanding, about the only thing they do that has any connection is that they jump off an exploding oil rig together, a la Butch and Sundance.  That this is supposed to be part of some symbolic moment doesn't fly at all. That it comes on top of a mythology that we really hoped the series left behind is even harder to tolerate. Considering the breath of fresh air that Robert Patrick has breathed into the series, you'd think that he - and the viewer - would be entitled to something better.

My score: 2 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Empodecles

Written by Greg Walker

Directed by Barry K. Thomas

Tonally, Empodecles may be the oddest episode of all of Season 8 - and considering what has been the haphazard manner of this entire year, that's saying something. It's hard to figure out exactly what is wrong with the episode - it's definitely nowhere near as bad as the series has been at times, it just seems, now that the X-Files has all four of its major leads in one place, its having a real difficult time trying to find something that justifies it.

What makes it strangest of all is that every permutation of our leads seem to have its advantages except  the one that we are the most used to. Now that Mulder and Scully are back in the same place, they seem utterly incapable of dealing with the elephant in the room. I realize the desire to have ambiguity over Scully's pregnancy, but this is becoming ridiculous, considering how much the series will wallow in it, often to great disadvantage ,in its final full year. As a result Mulder and Scully's banter seems to be particularly forced, as if the writers are determined to drain every drop out of it before the kid finally pops out. We're almost relieved when Scully is hospitalized with abdominal pains - one more pizza man joke, and I'd have shot myself.

So even though Mulder realizes he's now got one foot out of the door at the Bureau, there's a certain symbolism that he, however reluctantly, ditches Scully one last time to help the newly arrived Monica Reyes. Given how hostile he was towards Doggett in the last episode, we can see that he's even more reluctant to find himself wanting to help him, even given the severity of what may be in play. We've been getting bits and pieces of Doggett's son throughout Season 8, but its telling that its Reyes who finally has to reveal what has been at the center of so much of his pain. Doggett isn't like Mulder, he doesn't where the pain of his loss on his sleeve, and his reaction when he learns that someone is looking at Luke's death is as angry as we've seen him get all season. But there's a level of emotion to it that reveals that this crime has never been solved, and that this particular wound has never healed.

The Mulder- Reyes relationship is one of the more interesting ones, because its never dealt with again throughout the rest of the series. Mulder has spent his entire career at the Bureau, looking for someone who is willing to believe in extreme possibilities, and now that he finally has met someone, he seems more hostile towards not only her, but to the possibilities that she is suggesting. It's paradoxical that, now that his career at the Bureau is in what he thinks is its dying fall, he seems to have closed his mind to the ideas that there are more connections to what he really thinks is happening. Perhaps it is out of his concern for Scully, or perhaps it is his reluctance to want to help a man he still considers a foe, but only occasionally - such as when Reyes zings him with the idea that the X-Files 'needs someone with an open mind - does he show any spark towards the investigation.

Then again, perhaps its because we're never entirely sure what is going on in the middle of this investigation. When Jeb Dukes is the witness to a car crash, something seems to come out of the fire and invade him, causing him to kill his boss, and go on a cross-country spree of extreme violence. There are some neat effects with fire, and there are some increasingly interesting ideas connected with the string of violence, but how any of this seems to have any links to anything we've seen before on this series, besides its apparent links to a suspect in Luke's death is hard to fathom. In appearance, it bears a passing resemblance to Conduit, with all of the bizarre links between a current crime and the abduction of Samantha Mulder, but that was a little more bearable because the X-Files was finding its sea legs. And stripped away of that, the idea that there might be some kind of chain of evil linking from Bob Harvey to Dukes to his sister, plays rather badly compared to some of the simpler ideas of what the series has done about evil. Irresistible played particularly well because of the idea of the banality of evil, and its among the best cards the series has always kept in its back pocket. This idea plays a lot closer to last season's Orison and it doesn't particular balance well.

Despite all that, Empodecles works a lot better than it should for a couple of very valid reasons. The fact that we're seeing this through Doggett's eyes plays a lot better than it would for Mulder, as we see him as he's at his most human, particularly in the scenes that he shares with Reyes. The fact that he uses on of the key catchphrases of this series in connection with his son has a certain poignancy because we can see the kind of truth he wants to find. And the scene near the end where he has a conversation with Mulder about evil and what happened into his son works because its so awkward, and because Mulder has never been particularly good at giving this kind of aid and comfort particularly when it comes to belief.

Empodecles is not exactly the  best when it comes to its investigation, but when it comes to being a character study, particularly leading off the work of Patrick and Annabeth Gish, its definitely spot on. The fact that ultimately has nothing to do with the  ultimate solution of Luke Doggett's murder is actually not a hindrance, as we are not trying to solve Doggett's murder, but rather come to some kind of realization as to what makes a couple of our characters tick. As a look at the past, its slightly awkward, but it has more promise when it comes to the future of the series - maybe.

My score: 3.75 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Three Words

Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Tony Wharmby

The X-File in play in this episode is as close to the definition of a MacGuffin as the series has trafficked in. And the fact that after three consecutive episodes of new life being sparked in the mythology after God knows how long, that we seem to be taking such a big step backward - meeting with shadowy informants that cannot be trusted, characters trying to bring about knowledge of the end of the world, and our old friends the Lone Gunmen trying to bring Mulder back through a mysterious government facility. All of which is now being tapped off by a man trying to leap the fence of the White House. (Be honest: when we first saw what Howard Salt was trying to get to the President, didn't you really think someone was trying to slip W. a pirated DVD of the X-Files movie?)

However, what makes Three Words work - and I mean work - is the fact that, for once everything seems to be very off-kilter. And that's because of what Mulder doesn't seem willing to admit to anyone.  He may be miraculously cured of all his ailments (including that brain cancer that was 'killing' him, and there was a way for Carter to write himself out of a corner), but the fact of the matter is, Mulder can't deny the fact that he was dead for three months. Not near death in a boxcar in New Mexico. Not supposedly dead from a shotgun suicide. Dead and in a coffin. It would be easy for Carter and Spotnitz to try and have Mulder back to his old self after everything that they have put the fans through during Season 8. But in a rare moment of character triumphing over plotline, they decide to make Mulder's utter discomfort front and center of the story, rather than some hunt for the truth.

Mulder is back, but he now finds himself in the world that Carter and company have been forced to build based on his absence. Scully is now visibly pregnant, and Mulder seems very reluctant to ask what has led to that moment. There's a new person working on the X-Files. A partner that has earned Scully and Skinner's trust, and by extension the audience. And now, after years of  effort in trying to push him out, the powers that be have a legitimate reason to take Mulder out of the Bureau for good. (It's difficult to believe that Doggett has managed to put up a decent arrest record on the X-Files given what we've seen, but considering they've bee trying to use that argument as far back as Tooms, we'll let it go.) That Mulder's career at the Bureau is now going to end not with a bang but a whimper is something that he can't accept, and so he finds himself throwing himself into the new conspiracy with a desperation that, frankly, we've never seen before. He can't make sense of the world that has emerged in his absence, so he finds himself hunting for the familiarity of a government conspiracy. And when the rest of the world pushes back against him, Mulder seems a lot meaner then he's been when faced with adversity. He treats Scully as if he's dancing on eggshells, he doesn't completely view the Gunmen as trustworthy any more, and his reaction to Doggett's open hand is to slam him against a wall. We've seen Mulder angry before, but now there's a lot more recklessness and cruelty in it. One is reminded of how the Cigarette-Smoking Man reacted to the rest of the Syndicate when he returned after his assassination. (Speaking of which, where is CSM? Mulder could really use his help right now.)

David Duchovny seizes on his return with a freshness and vitality that has been missing from Mulder for nearly a year and a half. Considering how pissed he is at the world, it seems like he is trying to avenge his own murder, even at the cost of the subtle approaches he has been trying for the last seven seasons. There's a spark an energy to it that is seized on by the rest of the cast. Anderson, who has spent most of season 8 hoping and praying for Mulder's return, now finds herself at an utter loss when the partner that she has spent all season searching for is no longer himself, and seems utterly uninterested in listening to her. In a way, Scully now seems to be taking the role of the X-Files fan who has been patient enough to wait for Duchovny's returns, and is now upset that he just isn't as fun as he used to be. Robert Patrick's Doggett continues to demonstrate the integrity that his character has shown all season - it would be easy for him to walk away now that Mulder has been found, but now he's desperate to find a rationale for what's happening among being taken hostage, and that seems to be leading him to trust the wrong people.

Admittedly, there's difficulties with much of the story that seems to be going on around us.  The plot is more of a runaround than anything else we've seen throughout Season 8, but because we're seeing through new eyes it actually manages to play rather well. And there's the sad fact that everything that's being done by Absalom and later, through Knowle Rohrer is the kind of destructiveness that will deliver the final blow to the mythology of the series ever having a logical progression - something that even Carter seems willing to acknowledge now. But the series seems to have a recharged energy that actually entertains in a way even the most steadfast viewer has given up on in the mythos. It's a shame that Duchovny's decision to leave would undo it - this path could have demonstrated a new direction for the X-Files to take - one that might have given it a longer life.

My score: 5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Colors

Written by Tom Fontana

Directed by Peter Medak

                           Homicide was a divergent show because it would frequently and with great power deal with the subject of race in America today. There have been some pretty powerful moments on this show and there would be many more to come. But perhaps the most provocative one was ‘Colors’ which may be the most frightening portrayal of race problems on television today. And the reason for that is because of a very disturbing scene that occurs near the end of the show.

                           In that scene a Baltimore grand jury has just elected  not to charge Jim Bayliss, a white Baltimore homeowner for killing Hikmet Gersel, a Turkish exchange student.  When Ed Danvers reads that no charges will be filed  the courtroom erupts into applause and cheers. As Frank, the man who was primary on this case, puts in  these good, law-abiding citizens  applauded the death of a child. He wonders what the reaction would be if Gersel had been white.  He indicts Jim Bayliss--- and by extension everyone in the courtroom--- of having a racism so  ingrained they’re not even aware of it.

This  is  a frightening indictment of today’s society and it lingers long after the episode is over.

                           Even if ‘Colors’ didn’t have that scene, it would still rank as a very powerful episode mainly because of the fact that the  killer, (in brilliant work by David Morse) as you can assume from the name, is Detective Tim Bayliss’ cousin. Normally, not only on TV but also in real life, it would not be uncommon for  a detectives partner to go easy on a friend or a relative. But the primary is Frank Pembleton, perhaps the only detective in all of television who could probably remain impartial when investigating someone.

                           It also becomes clear that there is room for doubt in what happened to Gersel that night. Jim claims that he thought that Gersel, who was on his way to a heavy metal rock party and was decked out in leather and KISS makeup, was a burglar who made repeated attempts to enter his home and that he shot him only in self-defense. The first time that Jim recounts the incident to Pembleton and Bolander (in a decolorized flashback reminiscent of the shows first season) he seems absolutely shattered by the fact that he has taken another man’s life. However, after  Jim’s wife Shannon and the teenager who  was driving Gersel to the party, tell subtly different stories about the level of tension and the threat posed. Then we learn that Jim was once arrested  for attacking an Arab. This convinces Pembleton that the killing seemed racially motivated.

                           You could probably go either way on this--- until Tim takes Jim back to his home and sees Gersel’s blood on his front porch. Jim turns to his cousin and says: “Who’d have thought their guts would be the same color as ours? “ without any flinching at all. Than when Jim is brought before a grand jury, he seems genuinely repentant and willing to go to jail for his crime. He believes he was justified but he wishes that it hadn’t happened. As is usually the case with Fontana’s work the world is never painted it shades of black and white.

                           Tim is understandably upset that his cousin is being  charged, doubly so when he knows Frank is the primary. He is adamant that his cousin is a good man an  not a street killer and the idea that this is false  is almost as wrenching to him as the killing itself. He and Frank have had their differences before but never have we seen him quite so raw. In one of the more memorable scenes Frank begins to press Jim while Tim watches behind the one-way mirror. Every time Frank starts going over the line, Tim starts hammering on the glass--- eventually completely shattering it. We also get considerable insight into Tim’s characters—and not all of it’s pretty. When Gee  decides to back Pembleton in pursuing his investigation, Tim accuses them of this being ‘part of the brotherhood’. The when Frank talks to Danvers about prosecuting the crime, he is bitterly sarcastic at the fact that Frank has found  ‘another racially motivated crime’ These glimpses are brief but they are troubling as we realize that Tim, like most people has his prejudices and they color his judgment.  These prosecution puts a rift between Bayliss and Pembleton--- one that may never fully heal. They don’t bring it up again--- but some wounds are best never talked about.

                           And yet despite his shield at work, Frank does feel for Jim Bayliss as a homeowner and a husband. During the episode he has a discussion with Mary about security and protecting himself. As the episode shows in a montage near the end, in many Ways Frank and Jim are two sides of the same coin.

                           The episode’s themes are discussed even when they aren’t being dealt with by Frank AND Tim.. There are various discussions of color throughout the episode--- from Bolander’s opening monologue about perception of green to the discussion of color on the TV screen. Even  the jokes that Lewis and Munch make about the chef at the Waterfront have a vaguely offensive tone.

                           There are no easy answers to the questions poised by ‘colors’—if indeed there are answers at all. This is difficult to watch, but when you do you can barely look  from it. If ‘Homicide’ had  done only this episode on racism, it would be enough  to call it groundbreaking. The amazing thing, these episodes are just another days work for Tom Fontana.  That is almost as remarkable as the  episode itself.

My score: 5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: In Search of Crimes Past

Written by Jane Smiley; story by Henry Bromell and Julie Martin

Directed by Ken Fink.

                           During its run, Homicide let a lot of reasonably well known directors like John McNaughton, Gary Fleder and Kathryn Bigelow take turns behind the camera. However, they almost never let any guest writers take turns for the show. This is hardly surprising because most TV producer with very  few exceptions  (Michael Crichton for ‘ER’ is the most obvious one) its very difficult for a famous screenwriter or a novelist to write for a show with its own style. So its strange that the show as a ratings stunt would hire a famous writer.

                           It’s even stranger when the famous writer is Jane Smiley. Though admittedly a brilliant writer, none of her most famous books (including Moo, Separate Keys and the Pulitzer Prize winning A Thousand Acres) have anything to with violence or crime, certainly not ‘homicide’ It would have made far more sense to invite someone  like Patricia Cromwell or P.D. James.

                           But it soon becomes very clear that Smiley knew the characters and plots of ‘Homicide’ very well. Indeed her script is so reminiscent of the old school  show that its pretty hard to believe that Tom Fontana or James Yoshimura didn’t have anything to do with.

                           It’s true that we have what seems like a trumped up situation when the daughter of a man on death-row takes Colonel Barnfather hostage and demands that the investigating detective--- Bolander--- reopen the case and find her fathers evidence. But it is done very much in the shows style. For one thing, we never see Barnfather held hostage or inside the room itself. For another, normal police work doesn’t screech to a halt as it did in the ‘white glove murders’ or the police shooting. Bayliss and Pembleton are still out investigating a suspicious death and Lewis is investigating a suicide. And third, though the detectives are concerned, they aren’t moved or paralyzed by grief. This is especially clear when they start joking about  Barnfather’s nerve or whether it would have been better for Granger to have been taken hostage.

                           Furthermore, the crisis of the episode is resolved before the show is half over.  Even before we learn that the clock is ticking on an innocent man, the detectives have gotten the evidence of innocence and a judicial stay in only a few hours.

                            More important then the man on death row  is the man who put him there. Ned Beatty goes through a very well done performance--- one which in many ways is as good as the previous episode. First Stan is absolutely sure that he put the right man in jail, and it comes as a great shock to him when Meldrick shows up with a confession by another man for the same murder. In a typical show of thoroughness, after the wrong man is set free he spends the next half of the episode trying to figure out how the real killer knew the victim. He then finds out a motive that the murderer would have and we he confronts a witness about this, he is put in the place when the witness replies that he didn’t ask the right question. This is a sad truth that sets the detective back. One wonders if this investigation might have been a brick in the wall that led to Stan Bolander retiring --- but that’s another story.

                           Bayliss and Pembleton  in the meantime catch a murder case that is  even more bizarre than the usual one. For one thing ,it seems to involve the accidental drowning of a seventy-four year old woman.  It would seem to be one to write off but Bayliss think that there’s more to this case. Indeed, it turns out that this a crime of passion--- very old passion. When he was in high school Sam O’Donnell was involved with a woman named Isabella Kunkel. But with the coming of World War II, he left her behind. Eventually, he married a woman and was faithful to hear for 50 years. But he still loved Isabel and when she comes back into his life, he finds that his marriage didn’t mean as much as he thought. Because the case involves a really old love triangle, there is a kind of bittersweet tone  to everything. When Tim learns that Mrs. O’Donnell was murdered, he and Frank are very reluctant to take the killer in. We mourn not for the life that has been lost, but the relationship that could never be. About the only wrong note that Smiley hits is that Tim and Frank are far  more companionable than usual. They  even talk about their first loves--- something that I can’t see the tough Pembleton doing willingly. Of course, the mood is shattered when Frank points out to Tim the last time he made a fool of himself over a woman, but still is seems a little false.(This is particularly ironic considering what will happen in the next episode.)

                           The show also has a lot of the quirky humor that ‘Homicide possessed. We have a suicide victim giving away his shoes to a homeless man before turning the gun on himself, we have the jokes over the hostage situation and most evidently we see Munch’s futile attempts to improve the bar by hiring quite possibly the most incompetent bartender in Baltimore. His attempts to improve the Waterfront end with their bar wrecked and  a huge loss of  money. It is especially funny because this particular bartender has perfectionist standards that he is absolutely is unable  to meet. Jerry Stiller continues the ‘Homicide’ tradition of having comedians making potent appearances (though this is more comic than serious)

                           Jane Smiley has never written another teleplay, certainly not another ‘Homicide’. It’s a great pity. This unlikely author understood how the show (with the exception of the major relationship) really worked. That is the gift of a great writer--- that he or she can raise brilliance out of a medium that he or she has no real experience in.

My Score: 4.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Deadalive

Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Tony Wharmby

This episode requires the viewer to take two enormous - and that's even by the standards of the X-Files - leaps of faith. First, you have to accept that the FBI would be so unsettled by Mulder's return that they would bury the body and not do an autopsy. Even allowing for his faith and Scully's wishes, that's a pretty big jump. The second comes near of the episode, when we learn that after being infected with the alien virus that has been the basis of the series for six seasons, that it can somehow be treated not with the vaccine that we've heard about, but simply with a course of anti-virals, they can knock it out as if were nothing more than a bad case of strep throat. (Granted, this is the mythology, which Carter has repeatedly demonstrated that he seems to be making it up as he goes.)

If you can get through those gaping plot-holes, the fact of the matter is Deadalive actually has a lot to offer. By having Mulder buried in the episode's tease, it seems to be putting a pin in everything we've been led to believe over most of the season, that Duchovny's supposed return is nothing than another deception. What makes it work is the way that there is a real sign of the passage of time. We cut to three months in the future: Scully is now obviously pregnant, and Kersh is offering Doggett a transfer off the X-Files. Doggett's is clearly torn: its been clear since he started working that he just can't get his mind around some of the larger concepts at work here, but he knows enough that when Scully finally goes on maternity leave, the X-Files can finally be closed down without any fuss. He can't be forced away from it, even though he thinks the digging up of Mulder's body is a huge mistake.

The return of Billy Miles, somehow apparently dead and alive simultaneously leads us to Mulder, and back to the endless hospital sequence. What makes this one feel less perfunctory is the condition of Mulder. One can't help but the draw the parallels to Scully's return way back in One Breath. And even more telling is the fact that it now seems that death is no longer the worst fate that can await Mulder. The scene where Billy Miles takes a shower and his skin literally falls off may be the goriest sequence the X-Files does all season, and seeing what may await Mulder if something is not done is somehow even more frightening to conceive. (Of course, we don't how the series is planning to handle it, but the appearance is bloody enough to make us fear for our hero.)

Deadalive is a crossroads episode for the series, and as a result, there are two conflicting approaches to the story, one of which is extraordinarily effective, the other seems like series runaround. The strongest part, as is the case for most of Season 8, is the fine work of Robert Patrick as Doggett. Given a chance to walk away from the X-Files, he finds himself going into depths that the series has not yet tried. His reaction to Skinner unearthing Mulder's body, isn't one based in denial, but rather to try and spare his partner pain. Even after seeing what has happened to Billy Miles, and his story, he can't bring himself to accept that what may be happening is somehow extraterrestrial. He nevertheless finds himself taking a huge leap in seeing Absalom, to try and find an answer to questions he doesn't want to ask. And the sequence where he encounters Krycek, and comes to battle with is a highpoint. All of this magnificent work, coupled with the driving irony that despite the fact he decides to stay on the X-Files is highlighted with the final scene - he's finally found Mulder, but now that he's back, he will be the odd man out in the unit.

On the contrasting end come the scenes between Skinner and Krycek as they try to negotiate a way to cure Mulder. Now don't get me wrong. After more than two years of having those pesky nanobots nesting in Skinner's blood with no consequence, I'm glad to see that Chekhov's gun is finally being fired. Its the return of Krycek that makes things so confused. Krycek's loyalties stopped making any logical sense around Season 5, and with the Syndicate gone, he now just seems like a loose end the series doesn't seem willing to tie up. We have no idea where he's getting his knowledge any more, and in true X-Files tradition, no one seems willing just to ask what will happen if Scully's pregnancy, which likewise has been ignored until now, comes to term. We can guess how he managed to get the vaccine, but given everything he's done to Mulder over the past seven season, why in God's name would he want to save him?

But you know something? It works in the end, and that because the series is finally willing to take risks. Only the X-Files would spend an entire season teasing Mulder's return, and then decide the most charitable thing to do would be to take him off life support. Only now would that decision turn out to be the right one to make, that somehow ends up saving his life. And the final scene, where Mulder somehow manages to return from the dead with the trademark Mulder wit still intact, almost makes everything we've had to go through in Season 8 worth it  There's no purple prose, no stupid narration, just a simple five line exchange between Mulder and Scully. Its perfect.

Deadalive is a messy episode, and I don't just mean the bloody horror that comes from watching so much of the hospital sequences. There are confusing moments that defy the corkscrew logic the X-Files has been running on for awhile. But there's more of the genuine feeling that has been present in the last couple of episodes than we've been getting for awhile. Its rather sad that now Carter and Spotnitz have finally managed to get the perfect merging of mythology pain and human emotion right - right when they're going to be forced to whisk it away again.

My score: 4.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: This is Not Happening

Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Kim Manners

In retrospect, one of the more bizarre things about The X-Files,  is how few actual 'events' there were. It became something comic, if very frustratingly so, how many of the promos we got (especially for the mythology episodes) that said every few weeks, the next episode "will change everything" And in fact, all we got was stasis, a series that refused to change. Contemporary series that were more conventional procedurals - ER and Homicide, for example - would have more game-changing episodes than the X-Files ever did, while later series would learn from X-Files mistakes, and actually deliver on their promises. By the time the series did  offer revelatory episodes - the end of the Syndicate, or the revelation of Samantha Mulder's final fate - so much time had elapsed that by now the average viewer of the series could only consider the endings either contrived or disappointing.

Which is why now, with the series in what could be considered its dying fall, that the X-Files actually delivered on one of its promises - 'The Search for Mulder is Over!" scream the promos. And it is. And in an equal rarity for the series, what we get is actually is worthy of our time, and far more powerful than you'd think, considering we've spent the better part of Season 8 pretty much ignoring that same search. What makes it far more effective is the fact that even though we should be celebrating the fact that we're going to finally find Mulder, almost from the beginning of the episode, there is a very grim air to the proceedings. When Teresa Hoese is found in a hospital bed, barely clinging to life, we finally seem to realize what the end of the search may entail, and damn the fact that David Duchovny is going to appear in the next six episodes. Scully finally admits what she has to have been considering for months - that Mulder is probably going to be found dead. It almost would be better not to find him at all, if that's how its going to be. We get a sense of this when we find the body of Gary, the young UFO explorer that was captured in Requiem. We can see the interior grief that Scully is going through when his friend Richie comes in to ID the body, and then he disappears, his job done. Now it seems clear that  there's a very real possibility that Mulder could be found dead in some field.

And that's the tragedy of the episode - that is exactly what happens. Scully has spent the better part of a season trying to take on the mantle of Mulder. It's a job that she finally admitted in the closing minutes of Badlaa that she is ill-suited for. She tries her very best throughout the episode to see things in the same way her partner did, but at the last possible moment, finding Jeremiah Smith in UFO cults camp, she stumbles, and the final cost is Mulder's life. The X-Files has played on so many emotional moments that is almost started to seem camp, but when Scully finally comes across Mulder's body, the pain is so wrenching and real, that it almost completely justifies everything we've had to go through in this often frustrating season.

Paradoxically, by this point in  the series, the mythology episodes are starting to coalesce better than they have earlier on. The purple and stilted prose that made so many of them unbearable, and the long and ponderous voiceovers are gone. What we are finally getting is something far more emotional - and real- than we have for years on this show. Even the moments that shouldn't work - Scully tearfully relating to Skinner a conversation she had with Mulder about starlight, or the scene where Scully 'sees' Mulder in her motel room  - manage to resonate because they are finally stripped away and deal with things we care about far more.  Its because the X-Files doesn't seem to be concerned with a bunch of old man sitting around in rooms, smoking, but rather the fates of individual people, that the show finally seems to be finding a mission statement that it has all but lost over the last few years. Jeremiah Smith now no longer seems like a pawn between two rival elements, but a man trying to do good work, that the character now seems fully realized. And yes, in just a few episodes the series is going to relapse very badly, but that doesn't change the fact that its finally starting to sing again.

This is Not Happening works in a way that some of the best episodes of the series have managed to succeed. Yes, there are parts that really seem to be going around in circles - do we really need to reintroduce a whole new group of characters now that we're finally free of the Syndicate? And though Annabeth Gish's initial characterization of Monica Reyes plays with a far more flaky appearance, the fact that she actually seems to be more of a human being (particularly in her connection with Doggett's dead son, a bit of characterization finally given voice to) means that ironically, the series is starting to finally get a handle on introducing new regular characters. This episode works because it is willing to finally take risks in a way that the X-Files just hasn't been willing to do; its promises the return of Mulder, and brings David Duchovny back without uttering a word of dialogue. It finally brings about an episode that deals with the realism of dashed hopes, and the pain and consequences that come as a result.

My score: 5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Per Manum

13. Per Manum

Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Kim Manners

If making Scully pregnancy part of Season 8 was a shaky idea, the idea of making the possibility of her baby somehow being extraterrestrial was probably the worst possible path Carter and company could've chosen, both in theory and in realization. Especially considering what happened when Scully actually had a child back in Season 5 - but then again, the series seems to have completely forgotten that storyline. However, given the nature of Season 8 so far, and that the series has all but ignored, with a few subtle references what has been going on with Scully, one can't hope but feel that Per Manum gives the X-Files a boost it hasn't had in quite some time.

In typical fashion, what we've been getting as far as the mythos going around is something around. We meet this never before seen characters who's apparently been writing Mulder about alien abductions, and who tells a story so implausible not even the newly open-minded Scully is willing to believe it. The fact that what we see in the opening sequence is truly terrifying doesn't seem to give us much encouragement as for what's actually happening. And quick as a wink, we find out that the woman  Haskell mentions seems to have a link to her new doctor, and that he actually is part of conspiracy. And after nearly three years of going without one, we get a new informant, this one linked to Doggett. (I wonder how many fan conventions Adam Baldwin goes to where he gets ragged on for this) And all of this has to with a link to Scully's baby, which has a level of incredulity that we really could've done without at this stage of this series.

All of this is enough to make you wonder why the series wants to go down this particular rabbit hole. What makes the episode work - and for that matter, work extremely well - are the flashbacks. For the first time all year, David Duchovny is actually made proper use of, as we finally find ourselves deal with the core of how Scully could become pregnant, and the story of Scully's ova, in what seemed like a throwaway story all the way back in Memento Mori. By far the most effective view of Scully's problem is seen, not through the eyes of her doctors or her boss, but from her best friend. The scene where Mulder comes into Scully's apartment to awkwardly discuss what she wants him to do, is one of the best scenes in all of Season 8. Both of them are fairly coy around each other, Scully somehow sure that Mulder will deny her, and Mulder's fumbling around as he finally manages to say yes. Its discomfiting, its leaves our heroes unusually tongue tied, and its surprising moving, as well as the humorous moments, in which Mulder finally acknowledges one of the benefits of his rarely mentioned porn problem. A lot of fans were irritated that, after all of the shippers that the series was still dealing with ambiguity when it came to Mulder's role in Scully's pregnancy. Myself, I would've been much more satisfied if this had been the real truth behind what had happened. And the final scene where Scully comes back from the doctor absolutely shocked that the insemination process hasn't taken is quietly moving in a way that so many of the mawkish scene we got between our heroes during so many similar medical crises just weren't.

 The episode also works in a way that it finally links Mulder and Doggett in  a way that none of the scenes in The Gift did. Here Mulder is shown as someone who will share the deepest secrets he has with her, willing to do anything for the person he cares about the most, and is willing to comfort her in ways that finally are starting to seem appropriate for a woman that he's known for nearly seven years. Doggett, despite his steadfast soldier persona, still seems to be struggling to earn Scully's trust, and for the first time, he finally balks at being given the runaround. The genuine outrage and anger he shows throughout the second half of the episode features some of the best work yet by Robert Patrick. Ultimately, this comes to a perfect balance in the scene in Scully's hospital room, where he finally learns about his partner's pregnancy, and how much it has cost her. His quiet compassion mirrors Mulder's in a way his investigatory process didn't in The Gift, and it reveals that he Scully has finally found a level of trust in him, as well as a renewal to try and find a way to find Mulder.

Per Manum isn't a perfect episode - there's a bit too much of the running around in hospitals that made the latter half of Season 4 such a downer. And frankly, given that we seemed to finally be dealing with a new approach to the mythology in the season opener, it probably was a bad decision to start trying to do an entirely new mythos now. But we're finally getting a reason as to why all of the subterfuge and sneaking around has been for, and giving the storylines, which have been flat for most of the season, a real sense of purpose that the show has been lacking. It may lead to dangerous places, but for the first time in a long time, we seem to be heading in the right direction.

My score: 4.5 stars.

Hap & Leonard Season 2 Review

The Sundance Channel may be falling apart as one of the few sites for indepenent films, but as a source for original programming, it keeps improving. Importing a fair amount of its broadcasts - the Italian crime series Gomorrah and the wry British comedy The A Word, one of  its returning series couldn't be more American: the Texas set series Hap & Leonard.

Based on a series of well-crafted mystery novels by the veteran fiction writer Joe R. Lansdale (the series is subtitled Mucho Mojo, the next novel in the series) the title characters are two poor Texas, ex-Vietnam vets way south of the poverty line in the 1980s: Hap Arnold (British actor James Purefoy), white and dirt-poor in every sense of the word, and Leonard Pine (Michael K. Williams, in another one of those roles you can't imagine anyone else playing) a black, gay man in one of the worst places to be both. Recovering from the adventures in the first season, in which Hap's ex-wife ended up dying, Leonard is currently living in his late Uncle Chester's house, where he literally trips over trouble, when he finds the corpse of a boy in his floor.

As is their want, trying to do the right thing just gets them in trouble with the law again, where they are saved by a beauteous lawyer, Florida (Tiffany Mack) who happens to be the relative of neighbor. But as always seems to be the way with them, things quickly spiral out of control, when Leonard ends up in prison because of his behavior towards one of his neighbors. (He pissed on a drug dealer's head. The guy had it coming.) Leonard spends the better part of his weekend being wailed upon by the cops, and escapes further incarceration only by some none-too-subtle nudging by Hap towards the judge who he really has cause to loathe. All they have to do is stay out of trouble. Then they find out that Chester's oldest friend knew about the dead boy, and also may have known just how deep the secrets go. Unfortunately, he ends up driving into the river by the end of last night's episode.

Admittedly, Hap & Leonard  could be considered guilty of some egregious padding as the average length of one of their mysteries is just under 250 pages. And considering how many characters keep migrating to the front of the series, you wonder sometimes whether its going to pay off. (It's only halfway through episode two that we find out just why Brian Dennehy is on the cast list.) But the atmosphere is so well done, and often incredibly, morbidly funny that you realize just what a gem this series can be at times. It's definitely an acquired taste, but like chicken-fried steak, it has its own appeal. And considering that Landsale has written six other novels in the series, this show could be around for awhile. I really hope it is.

My score: 3.75 stars.

American Crime Season 3 Review

I'm not a hundred percent sure that the people running ABC are entirely sure of what they're doing. Though several of their comedies are at the level of the peak comedies in the 1990s, the rest of their programs are scattershot. Building their network on reality TV is a slippery slope, and they seem to have surrendered most of their original drama space to Shonda Rhimes.

But you know something? It's almost worth it. Because building up that ratings base allows to them to periodically experiment in brilliant stuff. And there are few things more brilliant on TV than American Crime, now in the middle of Season 3, and once again choosing a subject that could not be more relevant to the current Zeitgeist: human trafficking.

Changing settings yet again, Season 3 takes place in North Carolina among the migrant farms that surround the fields. As always, its hard to tell what the exact crime is that will be the wellspring for the action, but we've got a lot of fascinating characters playing around.  In a particularly good move, Regina King, winner of two consecutive Emmys for Supporting Actress moves to a lead role playing Kimara Walters, a social worker trying to help sex workers caught in the system, and who have little to no interest in being helped. Her latest project is Shae, a teenager caught, who is in no mood to be rescued even though she is pregnant, an irony not lost on Kimara, who has been trying for longer than she cares to think to have a child herself. Felicity Huffman, who in the previous two incarnations has been playing largely unsympathetic women, now takes on the role of Jeanette, the wife of  a man whose mother (newcomer to the series Cherry Jones) runs a migrant farm which usually traffics in illegal immigrant and where fifteen workers were killed in a fire, and is horrified by it. A lot of the action takes place on the farms where the hopeless are recruited in hopes of easy money. But right now, it seems like the critical character this season is Luis Salazar (Benito Martinez), a middle-aged man who crossed the border illegally, traveled a long way to North Carolina, and only in last nights episode revealed that he was in search of his son.

The acting in the series is almost always incredible. (I have not yet mentioned the arrival of Sandra Oh, as an attorney trying to help Kimara in her work) Huffman and King are their usual magnificent selves, but so far, it is Martinez (who was largely absent for Season 2), whose work is particularly impressive. He seems to be determined and is far more forceful as a man who is clearly the odd man out in this world. But there is a hidden strength that he finally lets rip against an unsuspecting farm boss that makes it seem hard to see how Emmy judges will be able to ignore it this year.  This is impressive stuff all around, and I await with anticipation the arrival of series regulars Timothy Hutton and Lil Taylor, who are scheduled to start their run in Episode 4.

American Crime, despite the fact that it is one of the most critically acclaimed series on any network, has always struggled with low ratings, even for the fragmented TV era. This is hardly surprising. It is a series that tries to deal with issues that most of would prefer not to see in our entertainment. It's even harder to deal with because it doesn't show clearly heroes and villains - only people stuck in the same broken system.  Which is all the more reason that this show should be deified. That a series this good could get made is wondrous; that its being made for broadcast TV is miraculous. It's as close to The Wire  as broadcast TV is likely to get in our lifetimes. Watch this show. I think we all need to.

My score: 5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Medusa

Written by Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Richard Compton

At this point in the season, its hard to figure out what the hell X-Files is trying to be. There has been some new energy injected into it with the character of Doggett, but for the most part, the series seems to be falling into a pattern of redirecting old storylines with Scully now doing Mulder's lines and Doggett getting the old Scully's. And rather than deal with any of the issues that seemed pertinent at the beginning of Season 8 (you'd think by this point Scully would be showing a little) we seem to be getting episodes that are retreads of older storylines.

Medusa seems to play into that trope all too easily. We have our agents in an enclosed location for almost the entire episode. Doggett and Scully are headed down into a Boston subway line where a man has died under suspicious circumstances with a team of strangers. They have to figure out what the cause is of what may be a killer or a contagion. Save for the fact that there is an artificial deadline, being stupidly enforced by a nose to the grindstone bureaucrat, this could be Ice or Darkness Falls. We even have a similar effect with electricity eating people like acid much in the same we saw the mites do way back in the first season episodes.

But Frank Spotnitz is not Morgan or Wong or Chris Carter. He's made some great strides forward in his writing, particularly during this season, but monsters of the week have not been one of his specialties, and what we get is a lot closer to Firewalker than either of the classic episodes. Spotnitz seems to be aware of this, and tries to add a few wrinkles, by keeping Scully on the sidelines for almost the entire episode, tethered electronically to her partner and the rest of her team as they delve deeper and deeper into the underbelly of Boston's underground. The idea of a government conspiracy is pretty tired by now, but at least its a little fresher by having it be a local conspiracy being handled by this bureaucrat who seems more interested in the trains running on time than the fact that people are dying in the subways. After years of dealing with all the machinations of shadow governments, its almost refreshing to have an episode where the problems are simply ones of municipalities.

Unfortunately, the word that is key in all this is 'almost'. Aside from these textual changes, this is as boilerplate as the X-Files can be at this point. The characters that join Scully and Doggett on this sojourn are little more than ciphers, which considering that they include such fine character actors as Penny Johnson as Dr. Lowe and Ken Jenkins as the Boston official whose sole purpose seems to be to keep reminding everybody that they're on a clock. (Really, you'd think by now the FBI would have some pull over whether or not a crisis supplements evening rush hour.)  The burns are interesting effects to watch the first couple of times, but by the time we get to the final act, they seem cheaper than we're used to by this point in the series. And while its slightly more interesting to have this creature come from the sea, there's so little done with the idea that you think they might as well have had it come from a volcano, because there's very little texture that's different from anything we've seen. The fact that there's a coverup when the episode comes to an end is almost ridiculous, we've heard it done so many times.

Medusa's best moments, like so many of the good ones that work throughout Season 8, belong to John Doggett. The fact that he's still not asking any questions about why his partner is refusing to go underground is a testament to his loyalty. He may not believe in the paranormal even now, but he's still prepared to approach this with an open mind. He is more than willing to put himself in harms way to try and save people's lives even when his own partner tells him to get the hell out. And the solution he comes up with to save the people on the subway shows a level of inspiration that we're not a hundred percent sure even Mulder could come up with. The fact that there is a level of trust built up between Scully and Doggett is rather remarkable,. Ironically, its finally starting to solidify when it will be scattered away in just a few episodes.

Medusa is a lot stronger than many of the episodes we've had so far, but the sad truth of the matter is, we've still seen it done before and far better. And based on what we were promised when Season 8 began, the impatience with even the casual fan of the series must have been even heavier than before. It would've been disappointing to follow this kind of episode even if Duchovny were still with the series. Now, with the season more than half over, its becoming less and less clear what the show is trying to do. This episode would've been a waste of time last year; it barely passes muster with Robert Patrick in it. Are we ever going to get back to what we've been promised?

My score: 2.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: The Gift

Written by Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Kim Manners

After almost half a season where 'the search for Mulder' has been put on the backburner in order to pursue manbats, killer slugs, and rolling mystics, it is refreshing to at least finally to have an episode where we are finally looking for Mulder. (The fact that the calendar for this search has become confusing because the writers can now no longer agree when he disappeared is just par for the course for the X-Files by now) That it chooses to do so by having us look not through alien abduction, but rather about a murder that Mulder might have committed, is actually rather intriguing, as well as the fact that it seems to finally be dealing with the mysterious brain ailment he seemed to be suffering from at the time of his departure. And maybe the fact that we are finally seeing Duchovny - albeit in flashbacks - may have been enough to sate the demand of the viewers who have stood by the series through this long and mostly disappointing slog.

The problem, its just not enough. There's the fact that Mulder is barely getting any traction in one of his rare appearances on the series, but considering we've basically gone without him for a third of the season makes it a little less irritating in retrospect. It's a little more bizarre not to have Anderson appear in the episode at all, save for flashbacks to Within, and even less explanation for that. But there's enough presence of Mulder throughout the episode to almost make the story work - had they stuck with it. Unfortunately, Spotnitz doesn't seem to have enough confidence in this to make the story work, so he tries to merge it with a monster-of-a-week episode. The monster is certainly disgusting enough to make it sound intriguing; however, its all spoiled by the fact that we learn that this hairy, deformed beast is actually the only character in the town of Squamash who seems to be doing things for the greater good. Its an interesting story, but rather than follow its obvious connection to Mulder - it appears that he chose not to add to its suffering, but rather attempt to end its pain. Noble, Mulder, but you couldn't have decided to tell anyone about it?

Now, I'll admit there are some decent ideas floating about, and the presence of Robert Patrick slowly trying to assemble them, almost makes it work. Doggett's determination to find the truth, and bring peace to this creature is noble, and Patrick gives a steady performance throughout putting the pieces together. But its filled with so many holes that it doesn't quite come together. The people of Squamash are clearly yet another example of the X-Files town with a secret they will kill to protect, and while for once its a good thing, it's really nothing we haven't seen before, and done better. It's a little more dramatic to have them actually shoot and kill Doggett - unfortunately, the series will be doing that a bit too often this season - but it seems a little extreme for it to be happening to a new character. And there's never any real idea how the soul eater could manage to somehow take Doggett's death away from him. You would think that the old woman who was protecting would've tried something like this before rather than have the FBI put three bullets in his chest.

But the most troubling thing comes at the end of the episode. Doggett wants to write a report revealing what has actually happened, and Skinner convinces him to repress it, because telling the truth would stop the search for Mulder too long. (Hasn't been going anywhere for awhile, Walter, but let's put a pin in that.)  Considering that the mission statement for the X-Files for the last seven years has been tell the truth and shame the devil, its a little worrisome that now the message is we must lie to go forward. Scully is lying about her pregnancy, Skinner is lying about having seen the UFO that took Mulder, and now Doggett is being told to lie  about the last thing Mulder did before his abduction. It would be one thing if this subterfuge was being carried out in order to find Mulder, but both the FBI and the series no longer seem to consider that a priority. It's supposedly symbolic that Mulder makes this ghostly appearance in the X-Files to symbolize that Doggett has finally begun to get in Mulder's head; its seem to be like he's Marley's ghost trying to warn his successor that this is a dangerous ground he's towing. Unfortunately, neither the series nor its characters will take any notice of this.

The Gift works a lot better than some of the episode that we've been getting recently, but that seems to speak rather poorly for how the writers have been doing than any real strengths of the episode itself. The performances are a little stronger (though the Lone Gunmen really seem superfluous by this point), but basically it seems telling that it this point X-Files is depending more upon the hint of Mulder than any actual story. And considering what's coming quickly for the series, that's a really dangerous game for the show to play.

My score: 2.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Badlaa

Written by John Shiban

Directed by Tony Wharmby

It's a rather sad fact of where the series is these days that it now takes John Shiban to lift us into a slightly higher plain. Never the most coherent of writers for the X-Files, the fact is the episode at least opens with a level of imagination - and grotesquerie - that the series has been lacking. The opening sequences are rather disgusting, though not even by the standard of 20th century TV, but its nowhere near as bland or tepid as we've been getting the last couple of episodes.

Unfortunately, Badlaa, not content with the literally stomach bursting scenes, decides to go to fall back on some rather standard X-File tropes. The idea of a criminal literally sneaking into the country through a body is intriguing in away that has been sorely lacking. It's also imaginative to have the apparent killer being an Indian beggar, with no legs who doesn't speak a word for the entire episode. (Give credit to Deep Roy for being able to exude menace in a way very few actors can, by seeming completely harmless.) However, like so many of Shiban's scripts, he doesn't have the gall to follow through with it, and has the mystic also somehow have the power to, assume the images of other people, magically spirit himself into tight spaces, and create entirely false images of himself.. All of these are interesting ideas, but we've seen variations on them before way earlier in the series.

The idea of having this killer be the equivalent of an Indian fakir, who basically has the skills of a mystic who can do some of the most brilliant arts, is also interesting. However, like way too many episodes of the series at this point, it has the man who lives an entirely peaceful existence, whose tenets are based on living a life of peace in fact - and than has him committing - say it with me, folks - a series of supernatural revenge killings. If the explanation was good enough, it might at least be interesting. But Shiban barely makes an effort to come up with any reason why. He comes up with a vague explanation that the man's son might have been the victim of a chemical explosion, but since he doesn't even seem interested enough in the idea to give his killer the dignity of a name or a voice, its just as vague as everything else in the episode.. It's possible the mystic is systematically killing people he thinks are responsible, but why bother to kill their wives and families after the victim is dead? There's no logic or structure to it, the whole plot just seems to be a runaround. I never thought the day would come when I would be crying out for the Talking Killer cliché, but if this isn't an episode that warrants it, I don't know what would. John Doggett is right when, in the middle of the episode's third act, he says that there is no real pattern to the killings in this episode, and frankly I'm beginning to wonder why Scully didn't agree with him.

Yet, there is a moment near the end, where all of this chasing a monster seems to be worth it. Scully has just shot what appears to be to her eyes, a middle schooler but real was the mystic. Once it's over, she finally has an emotional breakdown that is partially due to what she has just had to do, and more importantly, its because she realized that this is something that Mulder would have done. After half a season of trying to play Mulder, she finally admits to herself that she just isn't up the task; she just doesn't have the faith to see things the way that Mulder can. She needs someone to push against her, and Doggett just doesn't have it in him to do it. It's a scene that has been a long time coming for Scully, and its one of the few times in Season 8, where the angst actually seems to merit the situation. Gillian Anderson finally has a moment where she is allowed to realize that as far as she has come on the X-Files in seven and a half years, she is not Mulder and never truly will be. (It's so powerful in fact, that you really wish Shiban hadn't popped in the last scene by having the mystic reappear at the airport in India, apparently about to start the whole thing all over again. It seems like a kicker for the sake of a kicker, and it just makes the whole episode seem quite a bit worthless.)

Badlaa is a confusing mess of an episode, sometimes literally, more often just figuratively. There are some scary scenes and some pretty gruesome ones, and its always good to see Bill Dow back as Chuck Burks, and its a little sad that its going to be for the last time. But minus the admittedly creepy sights and sound effects that we get involving our mystic, there isn't much here that we haven't seen before, and done better. If this is what the X-Files is going to be now (and considering that at this point, Anderson contract was supposed to end at Season 8's close), one wishes that it would at least try a little harder to make the MOTW's more interesting if searching for Mulder has basically become something that the FBI has forgotten. If it is, the series really doesn't seem to be justifying staying around with no Duchovny.

My score: 2 stars.

The Americans Season 5 Review

One of many, many signs that the Emmys is becoming more and more current came when it finally honored FX's The Americans with six nominations, including Best Drama, Best Actor for Matthew Rhys and Best Actress for Keri Russell. The leads have subsequently been nominated for Golden Globes and the series earned a Writers Guild Award as well.  The series has been one of the great dramas on TV for the last four seasons, and as the fifth season begins, it shows no signs of either abating in quality or becoming less relevant.

Last season was a bloody one for the series; three regulars died, and another was forced to go back in the USSR in order to avoid being snatched by the FBI. Considering the level of tension throughout the season, paradoxically, Philip and Elizabeth are now more in concert than they have been for almost any time in a series. They're working together on their first mission, playing a married pilot and stewardess, trying to get in deep with a Soviet expatriate whose every admonishment of their homeland strikes a blow to them internally.  They are now forced to deal with a mission they may depend on whether or not someone is poisoning the food the motherland imports, something that has raised the ire of the often reluctant Philip/

But there is more trouble close to home: Paige, who has been a source of danger ever since they revealed their true identities to her, has since been falling apart. She is still reeling from the sight of Elizabeth killing an attacker in front of her, and in the season finale, began dating Matthew, the son of next door neighbor, Stan Beamann (Noah Emmerich), the FBI agent, who is trying to hunt them down, and who is beginning to pick up signs that something is rotten next door. Both her parents are obviously concerned, but their patience with their daughter is starting to wear thin.

Stan is trying to go through his own level of exhaustion at his job. Still reeling from the firing and subsequent death of Frank Gad, he is still trying to lead an operation with the Soviet operative he has spent nearly two season cultivating a relationship with. When Oleg returned to the USSR last season, after divulging a secret involving biological warfare, he thought that was the end of the business. Now, however, Stan's new boss (Peter Jacobson) and the CIA are trying to squeeze him still further. Stan violates protocol and begins an operation that might end his career - if he doesn't realize who his neighbors are first.

The Americans remains one of the most daring series on TV, even this late into its run. In the premiere episode, they had a ten minute sequence entirely without dialogue where the lead characters just dug up a body  - a tour de force few shows would ever attempt. As the series approaches its final episodes (the creators have previously announced that this will be the penultimate season), the viewer is constantly forced to consider shifting allegiances. Even now, one is never entirely sure just where the Jennings' seem to be psychologically - not even their handlers. Sylvia (Margo Martindale) said "Nothing scares these two. Gabriel (Frank Langella) says: "Everything scares these two. Who is right? Is it possible they both are? With the hindsight of history, we know what might happen to the Soviet operation, but what will happen to the Jennings? Even at this date, I'm still unsure, and that will keep watching to the very end.

My score: 4.75 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: The Old and The Dead

Written by Randall Anderson; story by Henry Bromell and Jorge Zamacona

Directed by Michael Fields

                                  ‘Homicide’ may have handled the shooting of the three detectives in atypical fashion. But they handle the detectives return in a typical  TV way. Even although Stan Bolander took a bullet in the head and Kay Howard took one in the heart less than a week ago, yet here they are returning to work less than a week later.  Not only is this dramatically cheap, its misses a great opportunity to get drama out of the long recovery process. (Then again, maybe the writers hurried the detectives return because they didn’t know  if they would be back next year.)

           That complaint aside ‘The Old and the Dead’ is a very effective  episode of the series, mainly because it focuses the attention on  Ned Beatty in a Bolander centered episode, the first that we have had since ‘Crosetti’. Even though his recovery is fake, Bolander’s reactions to what has happened--- the shooting, the possible brain damage, his concerned that he can still function as a detective---- are genuine.  And though its hard to believe that the Baltimore P.D would let a detective go back to working cases as a primary their first day back (look what  Felton needed to go through in ‘Law and Disorder’ or what Howard has to go through in this episode) his concerns of being a good detective are very valid. At first, we see his shakiness---- at the crime scene, at the ME’s office with the victims son ----- but it soon becomes clear (especially in his  interrogation scene with the young killer) that his mind is still intact.

                                 The psychological effects are a different story. He still isn’t sleeping well and he reflecting on how his life has gone. When he turns up at Munch  apartment it is pretty clear that he has some philosophical problems. He is concerned about what will be left of him when he dies. That he doesn’t really have anything and there is going to be any sign that he existing when he dies. This troubles him.

                                 The other detectives shot are still managing to readjust themselves. Felton  is back on the job and is actually more on the ball than usual when he helps uncover a case of fraud with a man death. Howard is still pissed that she isn’t out on the street when Beau and Stan are. But she’s even more upset when she finds that her desk has been moved  She shows a superstitious attachment to it that seems a little childish. She then proceeds to show that she is still a good cop even behind a desk when she solves one of Pembleton’s case without leaving the office.

                                 Though the main focus of the episode is Bolander, something  central to the Homicide squad takes place. When the plumbing for  the  department goes down the toilet, it leads to what becomes a government scandal when Gee learns that Colonel Granger has been hiring his relatives to fix the plumbing and probably is getting kickbacks.  The scandal comes out because of Giardello and as a result Granger retires. Customarily the next man on the ladder moves up and Barnfather becomes  Colonel, a position he will hold until the series ends. But to his shock and dismay, Gee is promoted to captain despite his thirty years in the department. The promotion instead goes to Russert who only became a lieutenant six months ago. Now it turns out this game of the able man not getting the promotion is something that happens frequently in the police department But we wonder if there might not have been other reasons. Maybe the department knows what Gee did, and is not happy  for his helping create the story. Bad press bothers the bosses much more than actual wrongdoing. But did Gee piss off someone higher  up the food chain. We can’t say for certain but given what happens a year from now and what Gee finds out from the Commissioner when  he sees him, its not impossible.

                                 It is a real shame that Ned Beatty and Daniel Baldwin left the show after the season ended. This episode clearly shows that they  still had some real great moments still in them. As it is, ‘The Old and the Dead lingers as a rarety a great episode of Homicide without Andre Braugher or Kyle Secor at the center. There’s still good stuff left in these old pros.

My score: 4.5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Law & Disorder

Written by Bonnie Mark and Julie Martin; story by Henry Bromell and James Yoshimura

Directed by John McNaughton

            Technically speaking ‘Law and Disorder’ isn’t  part of the three episode arc involving the detectives shooting story line. The urgency of the previous episodes is gone and the overall tone is a lot more humorous than the previous three episodes. Yet the story is carried forward in a very meaningful way and some even more troubling issues are brought to the front.

            Gordon Pratt, the man accused of shooting Bolander, Felton and Howard was found murdered at the end of the previous episode. As you might expect, nobody is very shaken up about it. Lewis, Munch and Pembleton all basically shrug it off. Bayliss, however, is the primary and can not dismiss it easily. However the one person who might have been willing to help him, Giardello, basically leaves Bayliss to fend for himself and offers no real support whatsoever. Now a year and a half ago in ‘Black and Blue’ Gee was enraged at Frank Pembleton’s relentless pursuit of investigating his fellow police officers for murder. This time, when Bayliss  tells him he suspects police involvement Gee displays no emotion at all. In fact when Bayliss asks to me left off the case the lieutenant refuses.

            Even more surprising is the reaction of Pembleton. The man who has proclaimed that every life has meaning, even the criminal seems utterly uninterested in solving Pratt's murder. In fact, he goes out on a call rather than work on it leaving Bayliss stranded..

In their minds Pratt has transcended  being the usual Bad Guy. This is justice, even if it is vigilante justice.

            So who did kill Gordon Pratt? We have  no idea. Was it one of the detectives in the squad? The writers give us no clue. Years later, in the series last episode, Bayliss will reveal that he always suspected Munch of the murder, and he does go after him a ;little here.  But the timing never worked for me. In the last episode, he seemed to be at Bolander’s bedside at the time of the killing Who did it? The question matters but it will never be answered. The detectives have moved on to other things.

            Pembleton is back at work in full force. First, we see him in a very funny teaser picking up a fugitive  from a New York City detective---- Mike Logan  from ‘Law And Order’ and they engage in a contest of the superiority of New York City over Baltimore or vice versa. Then he goes out on a  call with someone who is nearly as disagreeable--- Meldrick Lewis. A  woman is killed  in the front of a supermarket from a gunshot which seemed to come from overhead. The two detectives vehemently disagree how to pursue the investigation. Frank wants to look on the poor section of a street; Meldrick wants to investigate the more affluent people on the other side of it Eventually, the find out that the shooting was an accident--- a girl from the rich section of town fired the gun in the air and the stray bullet killed her. The two of them never agree  even after they find the killer.

            Another man back is Beau Felton. The least seriously wounded of the three detectives, he has wheedled the superiors into going back to work. He is eager to get back into the saddle--- until he goes out on the street on a call. This leads to Gee giving Felton a royal chewing out about how unfit he was for the job BEFORE he was shot. Felton is feeling more stress than expected (but he recovers from that awfully quickly).

            But having a worse day by far is Detective Munch. Those of us who might have suspected that Munch was a member of the counterculture are proved correct when a nude photograph of Munch is prominent displayed in an art museum across the street from his squad. Everyone finds this hysterical except for Munch. It turns out that the artist Brigitta used to be one of Munch’s girlfriends and takes this opportunity to exact vengeance on him for breaking up with her. Things get even worse for Munch when she ‘alters’ the photograph only to have Munch’s name and face appear in the newspaper the next day--- something which upsets his partner a great deal.

            With a fine mixture of comedy and drama (including a very funny scene in which Frank and Meldrick stumble across a murderess while investigating a completely different case) fine acting (including a memorable cameo by John Waters) and some very troubling moments, ‘Law and Disorder’ is a fine way to wrap up what has been a very well written arc. Some questions we have will never be satisfactorily answered but that is how life on the street is sometimes.
My score: 4.25 stars.