All right. This is the step in the
right direction. And considering how good Spotnitz was at making John Doggett
become the most prevalent character in Season 8, it makes a certain amount of
sense that he would try to do the same thing with Monica Reyes. Unfortunately,
he stumbles here, though that's not the
episode's biggest flaw.
So far, Reyes hasn't been the most
engaging of characters. There have been moments where she has seemed a more
believable person, but despite Annabeth Gish's best efforts, most of them have
failed. Daemonicus is an admirable attempt to try and open a window into her
that most of the efforts have - her
expertise in ritualistic killings would seem to be a way in. But there's
something way too convenient about the fact that just after being assigned to
the X-Files, she encounters a Satanic killing that actually seems to be the
work of the Devil. Spotnitz does his make the murders seem dark and evil, but
by this time, even the casual X-Files viewers has past the point where they can
be considered shocking, much less the work of the Devil himself. Frankly, one
finds himself agreeing with Doggett far more often then Reyes in this episode,
and that's surely a bad sign for a series that is supposed to be about the
supernatural.
The series has had more than its
share of success dealing with decidedly ordinary killers who find themselves
dealing with evil, but however improved Spotnitz's writing has become over the
last year, he is not Vince Gilligan or Howard Gordon. John Kobold presents as an interesting figure
at first (and there is a certain irony that James Remar would, just a few years
after this episode, spent the entire length of Dexter, playing the conscience of a serial killer), but the second he
gets put into a larger room, one can't help but think that Spotnitz has fallen
into the trap of trying to turn Kobold into a cut-rate Hannibal Lecter. And it
certainly doesn't help matters the way that he begins talking about Doggett as
being inferior to Agent Mulder as his job - Season 9 already has enough strikes
against it; it doesn't need the constant reminder to fans about Doggett's
inferiority to Mulder.
But then, this episode has larger
problems. Scully has now apparently transferred back to Quantico ,
this time teaching forensic science. But the image of her taking to a bored,
openly disdainful group of students about working on the X-Files is another
metaphor that the series really doesn't need right now. And the idea that she's
trying to convince people to argue her own line of thought, while taking what
is now Mulder's perspective in the investigation into these murders seems
brutally unfair. For one thing, now that Reyes is arguing the believers side,
Scully now seems the third wheel. For another, whenever she's there, it makes
Doggett outnumbered, which makes him even pricklier. Robert Patrick was by far the best thing
about Season 8, but by making him not merely skeptical but also being overrun
by Scully and Reyes, he becomes even more defensive, and that's not an
attractive characteristic on him.
And while all of these issues are
playing out, we have an episode that can't decide whether it wants to be viewed
as paranormal or as a straight manipulation of the agents by Kobold. Now, let's
be clear. Some of the killings have a very frightening feel to them - Spotnitz
the director does a far better job than Spotnitz the writer, and the teaser,
and several of the cutscenes are genuinely frightening. But as the writer,
Spotnitz keeps undercutting himself by trying to keep a certain level of
ambiguity to the nature of the killings. Now, the X-Files is more often than
not all about ambiguity. But at least in the old days, it would decide on one
path or the other. Here, in the denouement, it clearly seems like Kobold has
spent the entire episode outmaneuvering everybody involved - the way he seems
to have chosen the victims proves it. But after apparently proving it, Reyes
seems determined to argue that evil was involved in everything that happened,
and that Doggett somehow knows it.
This just seems to be another
strike against a series that's now trying to find its direction with its lead
actor gone and yet not gone. And on top
of everything else, it doesn't succeed at its primary objective, which is making
Monica Reyes more of a realistic character. It was established in Empodecles
that the most interesting thing about her was that this was someone who needed
to believe less. But right now, what
the X-Files seems more intent on doing is making her someone who out-Mulder's
Mulder. Even he wouldn't be crazy enough to ask the doctor of a mental
institution whether one of her patients was possessed by the devil. And all the predicate of her belief
seems to center around whether or not a ceiling fan at the original crime scene
was on or not. This does not seem to be a scenario that is believable even by
the standards of Mulder.
Daemonicus is definitely a positive
step forward, as far as the Season 9 opener goes. But in trying to prove a
working template as the series goes forward or as a Monster of the week in its
own right, it doesn't really succeed as either. Not a good sign for those
looking for one.
My score: 2 stars.
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