In this episode, we have another in the Evil Government
Conspiracy series. In many ways this felt to me like a return to the first
several seasons; I was reminded of "Fallen Angel" or "The
Erlenmyer Flask" or even the later two parter, "Neisi/731."
We were given much of what fans
love about this show-- surprise twists, danger, and an atmosphere of utter
paranoia concerning not just any government but our own.
Mulder and Scully were at their most heroic, defending the poor unsuspecting
American public from a group of terrorists trying to overthrow the government,
which is how I love them. You could almost hear the wheels in Scully's head
turn as she piece together first what the terrorist group with whom Mulder
was undercover is up to, and then as she tracks down her endangered partner
(even if she did pick up a ticket stub with a lethal biotoxin up with only
latex gloves.) I
throughly enjoyed Cranky!Scully as she told Skinner, Mulder and some poor
hotel guy off all in one episode ("Are you his wife?: " Not even
close!"). I loved her jumping out of the van to Mulder's aid as she
watched him on the TV. I also felt quite vindicated to hear her say, "What
about my life?" before she started in on Skinner about putting her
best friend's life in danger. Anderson's delivery and presence were perfect
in all these scenes, but I especially love the moment when she realizes
that the man Skinner was working with "knew the whole time."
Mulder's character seemed strengthened quite a lot to me in a season I feared
had weakened it by allowing him to wallow in his pain without learning from
it or healing or moving on. He is clearly fighting here for what he has
always been fighting for-- justice. I was relieved. Duchovny was quite believable
in several key scenes. My fingers still hurt for him thanks to that interrogation."
I loved his combination of anger and fear that served to make him seem neither
overly macho or a complete whimp (did I miss something or did he backhand
the Nazi gimp
across the room?). He also managed to convey quite a bit of grim, calm fear
when he was about to be executed. His reaction when Bremmer shot the gimp
and not him was wonderful as he demanded, "Who are you?"
That said, I was disappointed by the lack of tension when there could have
been some in the bank robbery scene when he is undercover. He is ordered
to kill a man lying on the floor; Mulder obviously is NOT going to do this.
There should have been more of an inner struggle, more fear, as he tried
to think his way out of this one. I was also a little disappointed in the
scene where Mulder is asked if he is "a believer." He replies,
"I have my beliefs." He is then asked if he would die for them.
We know from watching him in the past that he would. He has chosen to do
so before and been saved (usually by Scully). I felt it should have been
a more significant moment when he replied, "I'd prefer it didn't come
to that." Granted, things could have turned out rather
badly if he had simply said yes <g>, but I still wanted more from
the scene.
The highlight of nearly any episode for me are the scenes which Mulder and
Scully are together. I loved that little moment Mulder and Scully share
when he returns with a broken hand. Dr. Scully, of course, gets him some
ice, demanding, "What did they do to you?" and and he good naturedly
complains about her hurting his hand "pulling it around like that"
(which is all the farther I care to speculate about that line). However,
many things could have made this a much better hour than it
was, though I enjoyed myself throughly. For one thing, the supposed tension
between Mulder and Scully due to his supposed turing to the dark side fizzled
quickly. It could have been interesting to explore if he had thought he
was doing the right thing. But I think she suspected him for, what, three
or four minutes. Those first scenes in which he is trying to do some combination
of blowing her off and lying were awkward; no one (meaning Duchovny or Shiban)
seemed to know exactly what he was really thinking or feeling at that point.
The plot seemed to be king here, which I rarely find as satisfying or as
suspenseful as an episode more focused on character. The script also seemed
to give away some potentially fascinating themes. How thin a line does Mulder
walk between activism and anarchy? What makes the
difference? Who decides? "What do you want? Laws against those men
or laws protecting them?...to bring down the federal government?" Interesting
questions that a better script could have focus on more (though this one
was not bad, exactly). And certain lines just felt too
much like other military suspense movies for me to be completely impressed.
"Tell the gimp to back off" and "it went down" (referring
to the terrorist group's heist) seemed cliche, as did the gimp breaking
Mulder's finger for the hell if it anyway and then Haley, the group's other
leader, saying "I believe you." Wasn't that in James Bond somewhere?
I don't want to be too hard on the writers, but they can do better. It's
actually a compliment to them that we expect more.
For Cranky!Scully, for strengthening Mulder again, for the Return of Government
Paranoia, and for some considerable Mulder-in-Jeopardy tension, yet considering
the flaws, I give this one eight tic tacs outta ten.
Main