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.

X-Files Episode Guide: Salvage

Written by Jeffrey Bell

Directed by Rod Hardy

The good news is, this episode is better than Surekill. Unfortunately, the improvement is only the barest of minimums.

So far, the majority of the monster of the weeks (and sadly, that's all we've been getting) have been only marginal improvements over the ones we were getting in Season 7. The main reason we can at least say there has been some slight improvement is mainly from a character based standpoint. If these episodes would barely pass muster with the presence of Mulder, at least Doggett has the ability to give the story a fresh perspective. Sometimes that's barely enough to make them watchable (witness Patience and Invocation), sometimes its given the series fresh life (most notably with Via Negativa). But even at their best, they haven't been able to do much to make us forget Mulder (although Scully sure seems to by this point) What we have is a series trying to entertain us and try to make us forget that David Duchovny has disappeared.

Now, however, the series seems determined to reinvent itself by telling us piss-poor monster of the week stories that would've been hard to stand way back at Season 1 And this week, our ringmaster happens to be Jeffrey Bell, a writer who has barely managed to make tenable comedies, and now seems to be handling dramas. This has a better premise than Surekill in that tries to give both the monster and the man behind it some kind of character. Ray Pearce is given the picture of being a victim of some horrible crime, and has returned from beyond the grave to wreak revenge. Howard Gordon, frankly, did this a lot better, and Bell's big invention is to try and make Harris a man who is slowly turning into metal. So he goes on a killing spree to try and find the people responsible. (Wait a minute, he was a Gulf War veteran. You don't suppose this is where the idea for the supersoldier... No, that would be giving the writers way too much credit.

The killers are a little more inventive than usual, but really only technically. They don't have much more imagination or purpose than what we've seen dozens of times before. The only real originality in this episode is the fact that, for once, though he's killing up the chain, no one person seems to be to blame for what happened to him. Its an accounting consideration, nothing more. But that just somehow seems to makes this whole thing worse. It means that not only what happens to Pearce was really meaningless, it also means that all the deaths were meaningless, too, and if that isn't a metaphor for how big a waste of time this episode is, I can't think of a better one.

An even bigger waste of time is the fact, that for the third time in four episodes, Scully and Doggett are given practically nothing to do. Sure, they manage to make some deduction as to what actually happened to Ray Pearce. And their investigation is a lot more purposeful than it was last week - Doggett's character as a cop and a Marine seems to be coming a bit more into focus. But it is seems a bit more useless, because against the metal man that is Pearce, they know that they are practically ineffective. How exactly would they stop a man made of metal. And the fact is, they don't. God knows by this point in the series were used to cases remaining unsolved, but this one just seems to be something that is purely handled by a lack of psychology, rather than police. (And on a side note, I really hated Doggett's line about men being made of metal only showing up in the movies. Darin Morgan or Vince Gilligan might be able to get away with that joke, but even then they'd be more subtle than this.)

Like I said, Salvage is marginally better than Surekill. At least, there is an effort to give the characters reasons for their actions, and there is a little bit more dimension to them than what we got last time out. I approve an attempt effort over laziness, but the effort has to be one that has a reason for is story. As it is, everything that we get in Salvage is just like its villain - mechanical. And unlike the metal that provides the purpose for the story, its anything but smart.

My score: 1.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Surekill

Written by Greg Walker

Directed by Terrence O'Hara

Oh my, this episode is awful.     Not because the effects are bad, or because the idea is weak, it's mainly because the writing is so godawful lazy. It's the kind of excuse you could expect from a first time writer for this series - God knows we've had more than our fair share of those in the past - but at least those writers were attempting to come up with something different or original in the past. Surekill is an episode that reads like a writer whose saying: "The X-Files isn't going to be around much longer, let me try and get a screen credit here for a better, newer show." And that's what Greg Walker seems to be doing here - this is the TV equivalent of a resume. Except its hard to imagine what kind of series would hire a writer based on this.

The teaser is at least intriguing, in that it seems to set up a killing inside a police station that seems tense and has energy, even if its the equivalent of a locked room mystery. But from then on, its straight downhill. We learn that the murders are being committed by a man who has the power to see through walls. X-ray vision is such a laughable idea that even Scully seems embarrassed to be suggesting it, and Doggett openly mocks it, and then the idea is quick to dismiss the whole concept. Even that gimmick might have some imagination if given the proper X-Files spin, but Walker doesn't even try.  The only power he seems to have is the ability to see through walls. And what does our X-File do with it? He uses it to shoot drug dealers and spy on this woman who he has a crush on. DC Comics should be embarrassed that this is what they used to come up with it.

No, what the writer seems interested in doing is trying to use this concept to come up with a traditional crime procedural. That would be forgivable, except he uses even less imagination to figure out how to use the characters. The people behind this are the Cooper brothers, both previous criminals. The brother who actually has the  power to see through walls barely utters a word of dialogue throughout the entire episode. The other brother is played by Michael Bowen, and if you saw the villains he would play in other series like Lost and Breaking Bad, then really there's nothing else I need to say about him.  Walker's idea of giving him a personality quirk is making him legally blind, which doesn't even begin to explain how he manages to do half the things his character does in this episode. The only remaining character with any dialogue worth a damn is the secretary, who naturally turns out to be the woman who has been stealing from the company, who one brother has been sleeping with, and the other brother has a crush on. She's a cliché of every femme fatale we've seen in a better TV series, except there's nothing about her that's worthy of killing or being killed for. When Dwight is ultimately murdered because his brother loves Tammi, it's the most thudding anticlimax the show could come up with. It seems to hearken back to characters that we saw in the first season that were just there to be devices of the plot. We're in the eighth season, boys; there's absolutely no excuse for this kind of thing now.

This entire episode just makes us wonder what the hell the show is trying to do. The series was supposed about to search for the Mulder, we're now a third of the way through the season, and nary a job has been done. And if this is the kind of MOTW were going to be getting now, the kind of episode that even last year would've had less of an excuse for being created, then really this is a cry for help.  Doggett and Scully are given practically nothing to do within this entire episode, and really the dialogue's so bad, you wish they wouldn't try and say it. Doggett's line where he says that Randall could maybe see into  her heart is something you'd expect of a 70s soap opera, not this show, not now.  The eighth season has been erratic, but at least with Doggett's arrival, there have been occasionally jolts and shocks to the system. Surekill takes all that energy and drives it into a ditch. Where it will remain for much of the next few episodes.

My score: 1 star.