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Revisiting The X Files Episode 19 · Death by Multimedia

0:46
Hi everyone and welcome back for episode 19 of Revisiting The
0:51
X-Files where each episode I will be working my way through
0:55
the 11 series, 2 movies and several books that make up The
1:00
X-Files. For those of you who have
1:02
returned, thanks once again for your company and if you're new
1:06
to this then thanks for dropping by to check out what is on offer
1:09
and hopefully you'll find something that you like.
1:13
Before we start today's episode, I always like to recap on any
1:16
feedback I've had via the interweb, by messages or on
1:20
social media platforms and today we have one of our regulars
1:24
getting back in contact. Michael from Melbourne offers us
1:27
2 updates on the Blue Sky as he tries to catch up on episodes of
1:31
this podcast, probably due to some unfortunate occurrences on
1:34
the home front. Firstly, he says of episode 15
1:39
starting to catch up on Bill's excellent revisiting of The
1:41
X-Files. The start to series 3 really was
1:44
jam packed full of great episodes and agree with your
1:47
ratings here. Bill Clyde Bruckman's final
1:49
repose was one of the best ever episodes.
1:53
Indeed it was and is. He then gives us an update on
1:57
episode 16 where he says still catching up.
2:01
It was always going to be hard for episodes 6 to 10 to match
2:04
episodes 1:00 to 5:00. Still a decent run of stories
2:07
and really enjoyed Nicey. Nicey.
2:09
I don't even know if I ever pronounced that correctly.
2:12
Nicaea or whatever. Anyway, and 7:31 to continue the
2:17
alien conspiracy arc. So yes, thanks Michael for your
2:21
thoughts. And of course, people will know
2:23
that Michael put his best 10 episodes forward for us earlier
2:27
on this podcast. So if you'd like to get involved
2:30
yourself, I'll give you the contacts at the end of the
2:33
episode, and I'll also put them in the show notes for you to
2:35
follow. Anyway, with that, let's head
2:38
back into the conclusion of Season 3 of The X-Files.
2:49
So let's talk about episode 21 of Season 3, which is titled
2:54
Avatar with a story devised by David Duchovny and Howard
2:58
Gordon. And Howard Gordon of course, did
3:00
the teleplay and it's directed by James Charleston.
3:04
And it's here that we are treated to a Skinner heavy
3:07
episode, because he is the protagonist of the story and the
3:12
one of whom the events of the episodes circle around.
3:15
It's interesting that that Duchovny was the one who
3:18
suggested an episode that concentrated more on Skinner's
3:21
character. Not only did he think the
3:23
character needed more emphasis, it seems likely that he was also
3:28
looking for a break from his own character.
3:30
Though in the long run that didn't occur, and Mold appeared
3:33
here about as much as he normally would, it continued to
3:37
add to the growing importance of Skinner's character to The
3:41
X-Files. Vince Gilligan, the terrific
3:44
writer, once said in an interview that Skinner was
3:46
originally supposed to be a villain when first introduced,
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something that you can see when you watch those first scenes of
3:54
Skinner in the show. But because Mitch Pileggi was so
3:57
good in the role and able to play the character with an
4:00
impartiality that worked, he was never, I mean, he was never on a
4:04
side. He was in fact an FBI director
4:08
and that was his focus. He wasn't being one of the good
4:11
guys or the bad guys. And because he played that so
4:13
well, it was decided to not only retain him in the show, but see
4:17
him side as an ally for Mulder and Scully.
4:21
And that focus is returned in this episode as Mulder and
4:24
Scully's loyalty to him and what he had done for them leads them
4:28
to pursue the line of questioning about Skinner's
4:31
purported actions in this episode and indeed chase the
4:35
truth. Skinner, of course, is on the
4:37
verge of a divorce at the start of this episode that he doesn't
4:40
particularly want, and then a one night stand goes wrong when
4:44
he wakes up with the woman who has her head twisted in the
4:48
opposite direction. Skinner, though, has been having
4:51
dreams and visions of an old woman, one that as the episode
4:54
moves on, we discover he's acting as a warning of events
4:58
that are occurring around him. It is Mulder who comes to the
5:01
possibility that she is a succubus, a spirit that is
5:04
protective rather than malevolent, while Scully chooses
5:10
to stay on the side of science, whose suspicions remain that
5:13
Skinner is in fact guilty of the crime that he's accused of.
5:19
The entrance of Sharon Skinner seems to complicate things.
5:23
She seems caring and concerned, not someone who seems upset
5:27
about the impending divorce or the fact that he was found in
5:31
bed with a dead woman. It's revealed that Skinner has
5:34
been having dreams about this old woman for some time and has
5:37
been seeking counselling for it and losing sleep, which has
5:41
added to his distant demeanor and LED to the decision for
5:45
divorce. After she meets him at his home
5:48
and he's frozen out again, Skinner falls asleep, but he's
5:52
woken by the woman once again to find that Sharon has been run
5:55
off the road and she is in a coma in hospital and he is the
5:59
number one suspect again. Meanwhile, our intrepid
6:03
investigators are closing in on suspects as they all seem to be
6:07
mysteriously being shut down. Shadowy figures seem to be
6:11
behind this. Skinner, despite not being
6:14
charged with any crime due to a lack of evidence, is brought
6:17
before a subcommittee of the FBI who suspend him from his
6:20
position, something that Mulder believes is mostly due to his
6:24
association and support of The X-Files.
6:28
He believes they are trying to destroy the effectiveness of The
6:31
X-Files and their work, and that Skinner is a part of that.
6:36
These forces have tried to kill him once, of course, and failed
6:39
as we saw in an earlier episode, and now they cannot risk another
6:42
attempt on his life for fear of being exposed.
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So they've gone down this route of framing him for murder and
6:48
attempted murder and then covering up their tracks.
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Mulder and Skinner have a scene in the police interview room
6:55
that offers the best story pieces of the episode.
6:59
The conversation moves back to Skinner's days in Vietnam where
7:03
he believes he had an out of body experience afterlife or
7:06
sorry out of body afterlife experience.
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And he tells Mulder he saw the old woman there.
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And Mulder tells him his belief that it is in fact a succubus,
7:17
perhaps sent to warn him rather than harm him.
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I wish she. The CT scan showed a subdural
7:30
hematoma. She's in surgery right now to
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relieve pressure on her brain. Scully's trying to get more.
7:35
Information. Relax, Sierra.
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Can't do that, Sir. Why not?
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They said I wasn't being charged.
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Not yet, but they're building a pretty convincing case.
7:45
You think I did this? To Sharon.
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No, I don't, but I'm in the minority.
7:49
What about exists, Scully? What about the old woman in your
8:23
dream? Who is she?
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It's going to come out. Look, if you don't start
8:33
trusting someone, you don't stand a chance.
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A few months ago I started seeing her again.
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Again. I told you once what?
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What happened to me in Vietnam? I was caught in an ambush and.
9:03
You were the sole survivor. You also described what sounded
9:07
like a near death experience. There was nothing near about it,
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Agent Mulder. I was a dead man.
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That was when you first saw her. I saw lots of things over there.
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I didn't get much creedence to any of them.
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Oh my man, I got through that experience like most 18 year
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olds. My numbing myself with whatever
9:34
was around. I was no choir boy.
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I I inhaled. So you just dismissed her as
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another hallucination? I tried.
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But you couldn't. She was there with me, watching
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me as I was watching myself dying, my blood spilling from
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100 different places until she lifted me up and carried me back
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away from my wife. Or maybe she was trying to
10:09
protect you. Maybe she's trying to protect
10:12
you now. don't have a clue.
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Skinner visits his wife in hospital and is again visited by
10:36
his apparition, who grabs him in the form of Sharon's body and
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who then whispers something to him, some information that he
10:44
apparently needs to know. With all of their leads falling
10:48
apart, Mulder and Scully set up a sting to trap the person
10:51
responsible for trying to set up Skinner and kill off everyone
10:55
around him. Except of course, they are
10:57
witnessed by this person setting it up.
11:00
So they do the switcheroo, not showing up at the mooting place,
11:04
but going after Scully and their informant Judy instead.
11:09
And once again, Scully gets knocked out again in a
11:12
confrontation. Nice work Scully, it really is
11:16
time to invest in a bodyguard. Thankfully it is Skinner who
11:20
shows up and puts the bad guy on ice to save the day.
11:24
It's a good thing he's on the case, but how did he know to get
11:28
there? There's something about this
11:31
episode that just doesn't work for me.
11:33
Most of it is in the acting, as it turns out.
11:36
The delivery of lines between the characters and even the main
11:39
characters. It's off.
11:42
It doesn't connect the way it usually does.
11:45
There is a woodenness about the way each character is acting
11:48
around those around them, and there to me, is a fakeness about
11:52
the lines they deliver and the reactions to them.
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It doesn't feel real. I guess in places it comes
12:01
across as a poorly acted play. The one place where it feels
12:05
real is in the police interview room where Skinner tells Mulder
12:08
about the woman and they discuss his recollection, recollections
12:12
of his time in Vietnam as they had on previous episodes.
12:16
That scene and conversation felt like it was the true X-Files.
12:22
But the scenes where Mulder and Scully are talking to the
12:24
police, when Skinner and his wife are talking together at the
12:28
hearing, for Skinner, it was all not the best work.
12:33
Even the concluding scene in Skinner's office when he has
12:36
been reinstated and Mulder wants to know how he knew to be there
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to save Scully and Judy and Skinner refuses.
12:45
None of that acting. All the reactions gelled at all
12:49
or came across on screen as dramatic.
12:53
There are a couple of a couple of zingers from Mulder along the
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way. The best one being when he and
12:57
Scully visit the Madam of the call girls and Scully looks
13:01
around at her place and says business must be booming.
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To which Mulder replies I think you mean banging beautiful.
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I like the idea of the episode and an episode where Skinner is
13:13
more prominent and the episode is still fine to watch, but the
13:18
moments of average acting in scenes is what annoys me the
13:22
most and the fact that I am tearing this apart in that way
13:25
is what annoys me. And why the secrecy from Skinner
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about how he found Scully. I understand he would prefer not
13:33
to acknowledge that it had happened the way it did and that
13:37
he got the information the way he did, but it isn't as if
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Mulder isn't going to not believe him.
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You know, it just it seemed like it was unnecessary for him not
13:47
to explain to Mulder what had happened.
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Anyway, a good idea that didn't quite come to fruition in a
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great way. And for me, I've gone with 3 1/2
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out of 5 for this episode. On to episode 22 of season 3 and
14:08
we are about to get a little bit wet as we get into the episode
14:12
titled Quagmire which was written by Kim Newton and
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directed by Kim Manners. So today it's a Kim fest.
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Now even given this, it is important to note that story
14:25
editor Darren Morgan did cast his eye over this script and
14:29
heavily edited and adapted it from the original and this is
14:33
obvious once you see his fingerprints all over it.
14:37
We have the return of the dog from Clyde Bruckman's final
14:40
repose and War of the Coprophages that Scully has
14:43
adopted, and we finally get a name for the dog in this
14:47
episode, which is Queequeg. Queequeg was the harpooner in
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the story Moby Dick, which is also heavily referenced in this
14:56
episode. Also, both of the Stoner kids
14:59
who survived the episode War of the Coprophagies when their mate
15:03
decided to razor blade himself to death both appear here again.
15:08
And the humor aspects that we have come to know from Darren's
15:11
work do make an appearance here as well.
15:14
So it's not a dry episode, which is a good thing because if
15:17
you're going to do an episode that has a creature in it that
15:20
very similarly mirrors that of the Loch Ness Monster, then you
15:24
are going to have to offer up some cynicism in the form of
15:27
humor to get through it. So this is where this whole
15:32
episode goes, but it really isn't as you would expect in the
15:36
long run. Throughout the whole story, we
15:38
see a number of incidents occur, all of which remain mostly
15:42
unexplained, but with Mulder and Scully taking opposite sides of
15:46
the argument. Mulder of course, believes that
15:48
there is a huge mythical creature hiding out in the lake
15:51
who is the perpetrator for the missing persons that have been
15:54
reported, while Scully continues to suggest that there is a
15:58
logical explanation. The agents speak to different
16:01
people in the Township. Doctor Faraday, who is trying to
16:05
help the decreasing frog population of the lake, offers
16:08
Molar this quote as to his belief of a mythological
16:11
creature. Yeah, I believed as a kid, then
16:15
I grew up. Which nicely puts both sides of
16:19
the argument in place. They speak to the proprietor of
16:22
the bait and tackle shop, who is happy to push the myth as long
16:26
as it brings in paying customers.
16:28
We later see him making fake monster footprints through the
16:31
swampland in order to push this, but he's then dragged off and
16:36
killed by an unknown entity. At the same time, the half eaten
16:41
body of a missing scout leader is also discovered.
16:44
And then Quee Quee runs off and discovers the missing boot as
16:48
well. Good little camper.
16:51
However, the victims keep dropping like flies.
16:55
Three in a day, one after the other, this Big Blue shore can
16:59
move quickly. The authorities finally close
17:02
the lake while Mulder and Scully are searching for evidence.
17:06
And then faithful dog owner Scully takes Quee Quee out for a
17:09
walk and the dog is gone. Nice one, Scully.
17:15
I wonder if Clyde Bruckman saw that happening.
17:18
So Mulder and Scully hire a boat, which of course Scully can
17:21
drive because of her father. And then they are rammed by a
17:24
mysterious moving object and the boat sinks and the pair are
17:28
trapped on a rock in the middle of the lake, surrounded by fog,
17:32
unable to see and not knowing what is out there trying to get
17:35
them. And it becomes one of the best
17:38
scenes of the series as they both let down their guard a
17:41
little and dissect their thoughts on each other's psyche.
17:48
Do you think you could ever cannibalize someone?
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I mean, if you really had to. Well, much is the very idea as a
17:56
board to me, I suppose. Under certain conditions a
18:00
living entity is practically conditioned to perform whatever
18:04
extreme measures are necessary to ensure it's survival.
18:07
I suppose I'm no different. You've lost some weight
18:11
recently, haven't you? Yeah, actually I have.
18:14
Thanks. But it is amazing what some
18:20
animals will do to guarantee the continuation of the species,
18:23
isn't it? I mean, a creature of 1 of this
18:25
size must have adapted its behavior over the years to
18:28
minimize its chances of being seen by its only predator, us.
18:32
It's coming closer to shore for its prey.
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Must be an act of desperation on its part.
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Poor. Queequig.
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Why did you name it Dog? Queequig it.
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Was the name of the harpoonist and Moby Dick.
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My father used to read to me from Moby Dick when I was a
18:51
little girl, and I called him Ahab and he called me Starbuck.
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So I named my dog Queequeg. It's funny, I just realized
19:02
something. It's a bizarre name for a dog,
19:04
huh? No how much you're like Ahab.
19:10
You're so consumed by your personal vengeance against life,
19:14
whether it be its inherent cruelties or its mysteries, that
19:18
everything takes on a a a warp significance to fit your
19:22
megalomaniacal cosmology. Scotty, are you coming around to
19:26
me? It's just the truth.
19:28
Or a white whale. What difference does it make?
19:32
I mean both. Both obsessions are impossible
19:35
to capture and and trying to do so will only leave you dead
19:38
along with everyone else you bring with you.
19:40
You know, Mulder, you are Ahab. You know, it's interesting you
19:46
should say that because I've always wanted a peg leg.
19:49
It's a boyhood thing I never grew out of.
19:51
Now, not being flippant, I mean, I've given this a lot of
19:54
thought. If if you have a peg leg or
19:56
hooks for hands, you know, maybe it's enough to simply carry on
19:59
living, you know, bravely facing life with your disability.
20:02
It's heroic just to survive. But if without these things,
20:05
you're actually expected to make something of your life, achieve
20:07
something, or to raise, wear a necktie.
20:10
So so so. If anything, I'm actually the
20:12
antithesis of Ahab, because if I did have a peg leg, I'd quite
20:15
possibly be more happy and more content, not feel the need to
20:18
chase after these creatures of the unknown.
20:21
And that's not flippant. No no, Flippant is my favorite
20:27
line from Moby Dick. Hell is an idea first born on an
20:30
undigested apple. Dope.
20:34
This is a wonderfully, humorously overplayed bit when
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Doctor Faraday walks up to them and informs them that they are a
20:41
few meters from shore, saying I heard you're talking.
20:45
He again Pooh poohs Mulder's thoughts on a lake creature
20:49
until he is attacked and almost dragged away himself.
20:53
Mulder chases the creature into the swamp, but then finds
20:56
himself being stalked and running for his own life and
21:00
then unloading his whole clip into what lunges at him.
21:05
And it's just an alligator, albeit a pretty huge one, and
21:10
the whole episode has its strings drawn together.
21:13
It was a rogue alligator who had attacked all the missing people.
21:17
It wasn't a mythical like creature.
21:19
And although Mulder feels sheepish, Scully not only
21:23
mentions you've slayed your big white whale Ahab, but then says
21:28
that they came up here to discover what was happening and
21:31
that he had solved the mystery and kill the creature.
21:35
And that's the episode. Except that as they walk away,
21:40
the final shot of the episode is of the lake and a strange
21:44
looking blue creature appearing on the surface before going back
21:48
under the water. So this episode tackles A
21:53
mythological creature, and it could have been a rather dull
21:56
episode. We know these things don't
21:58
exist, don't we? But the danger was that it could
22:02
come across as silly, and that no matter what they ended up
22:06
having as the conclusion, it would feel like a cheapened
22:09
storyline. But in the long run, the episode
22:12
runs terrifically well. Mulder and Scully remain on
22:16
either side of the fence about the creature's viability and
22:18
believability, though both are shown to be rightly scared of
22:22
the consequences that it holds if they aren't careful.
22:26
The constant attacking and killing of townsfolk shows that
22:29
there is something out there, but what?
22:33
And it leaves the possibility open all the way to the end,
22:36
until Molder unloads frightened fury into the alligator and its
22:40
discovery, then solving the mystery without the mythical
22:44
creature. The only possible downside here
22:48
is the actual showing of the creature in the last shot.
22:52
If they had just shown water rippling across the lake and
22:54
perhaps a blue hump rising and disappearing quickly, that would
22:59
have been a more effective ending than showcasing the
23:01
creature in Hull. Beyond that, the suspense of the
23:05
episode dealt with the subject matter terrifically well.
23:09
The fact that Big Blue is not responsible for anything that
23:12
occurs in the episode is terrific.
23:15
The use of metaphors from Moby Dick to Molder's obsession is
23:19
crafted excellently, and the open and honest conversation
23:23
between he and Scully on the matter is just as enjoyable.
23:27
Scully naming her dog Quee Queeg to match is a nice touch.
23:31
And yes, Darren Morgan manages to tie up all of his loose ends
23:36
before his departure from the series.
23:39
I've already watched this twice now in recent times, once for
23:42
this episode and also for the episode I did with Michael for
23:45
his ten favorite episodes, and I've been pleasantly surprised
23:49
with it on both occasions. I don't think it's a 5 out of
23:53
five episode for various factors, but for writing, the
23:57
acting, the insights we get into Mulder and Scully.
24:00
Again, it certainly sits as a 4 1/2 out of five episode and I
24:05
believe well worth checking out again if you're of a mind to do
24:09
so. We're about to take a walk on
24:18
the wild side as we approach the end of Season 3 and we explore
24:22
episode 23 titled Wet Wired, written by series debutant Matt
24:28
Beck and directed by Rob Bowman. Beck was actually the visual
24:32
effects supervisor for The X-Files, so his contribution as
24:36
a one off is a beauty. The opening scene set in motion
24:41
what is occurring, at least from the first protagonist's point of
24:44
view. We know he's bumped off a few
24:46
people in a state of paranoid delusion, where he continues to
24:50
see the same face on every person who approaches him, and
24:54
so he kills them. Mulder gets handed this by an
24:57
anonymous informant who claims more will die unless you follow
25:01
up on this case. Good news for Mulder there.
25:05
He and Scully visit the psych ward that this guy has been
25:08
taken to and watch as he goes into a state of fear as a news
25:12
story about a Bosnian criminal comes on the TV.
25:16
The agents search his home and find he has hundreds of
25:19
videotapes, all of the same show.
25:22
Mulder sees a cable guide disconnecting something up the
25:25
power pole outside this house. Mulder and Scully go to their
25:29
hotel and separately watch the tapes, and Scully puts together
25:34
that on the same nights he committed the crimes, which
25:36
shows on the same Bosnian criminal that he had set him
25:40
that had set him off in the psych ward.
25:42
Great stuff Scully, you've earned your paycheck this week.
25:47
However, all of this TV watching seems to have affected her, and
25:51
when she goes out to get ice and a drink, she then sees Mulder in
25:55
a car with the Smoking Man, laughing and giving him one of
26:00
the tapes. She's immediately troubled and
26:03
even scared about this. The next morning they get called
26:06
to another murder with the same MO.
26:09
Scully checks the car and finds no butts in the ashtray, but
26:12
it's still uneasy and untrusting.
26:16
At the murder scene, Mulder sees the same cable guy as from the
26:19
first house disconnecting this house as well.
26:22
He finds a different device in the box on the pole, and while
26:26
he says he'll take it to the FBI lab to Scully, who is very much
26:30
off her game by this stage, he instead decides to take it to
26:34
our friendly neighborhood lone gunman for their take it.
26:40
Looks a lot like a standard video trap for blocking premium
26:43
cable channels. What does this one block?
26:45
Amazingly, it doesn't seem to block anything and.
26:47
What does it do? Glad you asked, but all you guys
26:51
were officers in the Audio Visual Club in high school, huh?
26:57
This is the straight feed off our bars and tone generator.
27:02
And here are the bars and tone as attenuated through the
27:04
device. Looks the same.
27:06
Oh, that's what you'd think. We couldn't discern any
27:08
difference between the feeds, not until we compared them on
27:11
the osiluscone. It still looks the same.
27:16
Hold on to your head dude. We have touchdown so they're
27:28
different. So they're different.
27:32
You know, the way television works.
27:34
Yeah, you click it on, you got a picture.
27:36
It's a rapid series of still pictures fired against the tube.
27:40
There's something non standard here in the vertical blanking
27:43
interval information that's being added into the spaces
27:45
between the still pictures. What kind of information?
27:48
We don't know. This is as far as we can get
27:50
with this equipment. But can you take it apart?
27:53
Not without destroying it completely.
27:54
That's by design. An amazingly sophisticated
27:57
design, but all we can say for sure is.
27:59
This device is emitting a signal.
28:06
Meanwhile, Scully's going a little Cray Cray.
28:09
She has devolved to full on paranoia.
28:12
She believes Mulder is a part of the whole conspiracy and that he
28:15
wants to kill her and that someone's listening in on her
28:18
phone. And she's quickly done a runner,
28:23
so Mulder has to fall back and contact X to help him out
28:27
because in her current state, Skinner advises she may be taken
28:31
down on site unless he finds her first.
28:34
Still, he also returns to the Gunman, who have more
28:37
information for him. Here's the tape Scully was
28:42
reviewing last night. We scanned samples of the tape
28:45
onto discs. Digitized it.
28:46
Using some interpolating freeware, we pulled that off the
28:49
net and we were able to blank out the visible frames.
28:53
What am I looking at? Well, this is the actual signal
28:56
your cable trap device was emitting.
28:58
Of course, we slowed it down significantly.
29:00
It's designed to cycle at 15 flashes per second to induce
29:03
what's known as the photic driving response.
29:05
Bring it home, boys. This device is stimulating
29:08
electrical activity in the brain.
29:10
Studies. Into subliminal influence have
29:11
shown a correlation between heightened suggestibility and
29:14
the manipulation. Of this response mind control.
29:18
57 channels of it. Tekistoscopic.
29:20
Images like they used to sell popcorn at the movies.
29:23
Both Russian and American scientists have been working
29:25
with them for decades. Not to mention Madison Ave.
29:27
It's a naked lady in the ice cube.
29:30
One of my personal favorites. Why wasn't I affected?
29:34
That's the one thing we haven't figured out yet.
29:38
This subliminal signal. Could color be a factor in it?
29:44
Maybe. I'm red green color blind.
29:47
His inability to perceive the colour red could render him
29:50
immune to the psychotropic effects.
29:52
But why design A colour dependent signal?
29:54
Why not red Green colour blind molder?
29:56
Only a small percentage of the male population.
29:58
Which still leaves the vast majority of.
30:01
Molder tracks Scully Dan to her mother's house and this scene is
30:05
another Ripper in the series. Scully is wide eyed and bushy
30:09
tailed and says Mulder is here to kill her and that she's going
30:13
to take him down 1st and she's got her gun out, cocked and
30:16
loaded and pointing right at him.
30:19
Mulder won't back down, refusing to believe that she will shoot
30:23
him and trying to calmly talk her around.
30:26
But it is Scully's mother Margaret who takes the lead,
30:30
standing between Scully and Mulder and not allowing her to
30:33
shoot him, all the while asking her daughter to trust her.
30:38
Eventually, Scully breaks and is taken to the hospital where she
30:41
is brought back to reality. Mulder is now on a mission and
30:47
through events tracks down the two who now appear to be a part
30:50
of the conspiracy. Dr. Stroman, who was at the
30:53
psych ward, and the cable Guy both have met up in an abandoned
30:58
house to meet someone, and as Mulder circles, he hears
31:02
gunshots breaking in. He finds he's too late.
31:06
Surprise, surprise, they're dead and at the hands of X who stands
31:12
there with the smoking gun and Mulder is enraged, telling X he
31:18
won't be his laptop doing his dirty work and then have him
31:21
come in and clean up the mess for him.
31:24
Indeed, he uses the word coward to his face that he has this
31:29
information but won't act on it himself.
31:33
So once again we are left with the tense standoff between
31:36
Mulder and X and again unresolved.
31:41
And yet we are left at the end of the episode with Mulder
31:44
giving his report to Skinner and when questioned as to who the
31:48
source is that told him about this, he replies that source
31:52
remains unknown. And then we have the sight of X
31:56
getting into the car with the cigarette smoking man and
32:01
telling him that the situation has been sorted.
32:04
But then when the Smoking Man asks him what has come become of
32:09
the source, X says that source remains unknown.
32:16
Gillian Anderson once again is at her finest acting during this
32:20
episode. She portrays the character of
32:22
Scully slowly being dragged into the nightmare beautifully.
32:27
Her fear and belief of deception, the paranoia slowly
32:31
growing in her, all of that was just brilliantly portrayed.
32:35
You truly believed she had been drawn in by the same madness as
32:39
the others in the episode. It also showcases Mulder's
32:43
concern at her spiralling mental state and how to try and rest
32:47
her back in the gentlest possible way.
32:51
Again, it showcases the closeness of their relationship
32:54
and their working relationship and the care that is apparently
32:58
within it. Although Wet Wide is not a full
33:01
mythology episode, it contains important connective tissue.
33:07
The Cigarette Smoking Man's involvement is subtle but
33:09
significant. The technology used to
33:12
manipulate the victims appears to be part of a larger
33:15
experiment, one that fits neatly into the show's overarching
33:19
narrative about control, surveillance, and psychological
33:23
warfare. What is this experiment about
33:27
and just what is the end game with its abilities?
33:30
It suggests further stories down the track about what it's part
33:34
of the overall conspiracy is going to be.
33:38
And the continued friction and fraction between Ex and Modal's
33:41
relationship is explored again, while also introducing the risks
33:45
X is apparently taking as we discover his relationship with
33:49
the cigarette smoking man. That three-way play doesn't seem
33:54
as though it's going to end well.
33:56
And another great part of this episode was the return of
33:59
Mulder's obsession with sunflower seeds.
34:03
It's been a while since we've seen them, but their return here
34:06
with a great big pile is a great callback.
34:09
So yes, this is a great episode full of excellent everything.
34:15
Conspiracy reigns supreme. It's not really a monster of the
34:19
week episode, nor is it the alien mythology, but instead a
34:22
government conspiracy episode that speaks of other things to
34:26
come in the future. On this rewatching, I feel that
34:31
I have enjoyed it more than at any other time I've actually
34:34
watched this episode. And for me now on this viewing
34:38
in this situation, I really do believe it's a 5 out of five
34:42
episode. And so we come to the concluding
34:50
chapter of Season 3 with episode 24, titled Talitha Kumi, with a
34:56
story provided by David Duchovny and Chris Carter and the
35:00
teleplay by Carter himself and directed by RW Goodwin.
35:05
The title Talitha Kumi is, is Aramaic.
35:09
I think I've got that right, Aramaic.
35:10
Let's get all these things right, Bill, while you're going.
35:13
And it's for it's Aramaic for little girl.
35:15
Get up and it alludes to the biblical story of the raising of
35:20
Juraeus, daughter from death. This episode sees the arrival of
35:25
one of those important and memorable characters from the
35:28
mythos of The X-Files in Jeremiah Smith, who,
35:31
unfortunately for him, is sitting in Kay Brothers
35:34
Hamburgers on the day that a guy decides to go bark raving mad
35:38
and wants to shoot up the place. Yeah, not the place to be.
35:42
There's a bit going on here, Jeremiah tries to talk old mate
35:46
down but it goes pear shaped and he takes down some of the
35:50
customers and then gets taken down himself by the arriving
35:53
police as well. However, the next thing you know
35:57
is that the shot people had been healed and the perpetrator of
36:00
this has made a seamless escape. Amazing.
36:05
But how could it happen? Mulder and Scully on watching
36:08
footage discovered that one moment he is there and the next
36:12
he isn't. But there is a guy who is
36:14
wearing the exact same clothing. OK, this needs more
36:19
investigation. Meanwhile, Tina Mulder, Mulder's
36:23
mother, obviously returns to her summer home to find the
36:27
Cigarette Smoking Man waiting for her.
36:29
Your little beauty, he's back again.
36:31
These two are being photographed by an unknown person from a
36:34
distance. And then after that
36:37
confrontation, she's admitted to hospital after a stroke.
36:42
MMM, dirty walk afoot here. When Mulder arrives, he finds X,
36:48
who has been the person taking photos.
36:51
And this is the scene where our favorite antagonist is finally
36:56
called by a different name, one that would stick with watches of
36:59
The X-Files for the remainder of the run of the show.
37:03
Not the cigarette smoking Man, It's the Cancer Man, and thank
37:07
goodness, because it is exhausting calling him Cigarette
37:11
Smoking Man every time he comes on screen, so Cancer Man it is.
37:16
Anyway, no one knows what he wants, so Mulder visits his
37:20
mother to try and discern the truth, to which she eventually
37:23
gives him the clue. Palm Mulder insects the summer
37:28
house until he realizes that the stroke has rewired his mother's
37:32
motor skills and that she meant to write Lamp.
37:36
And here he discovers the method to kill the alien hybrids.
37:40
The big long stabby metal thing. Does it have a name?
37:44
I don't know, but I'm going with the big long stabby metal thing.
37:48
Along the way, the newly christened cancer man has
37:50
discovered Jeremiah Smith, bagged him up and taken him to a
37:54
cell in an undisclosed location. But at the same time, Jeremiah
37:59
Smith has turned himself into the FBI, been asked some
38:03
questions and then walked away. Now how could this be?
38:08
We soon discover that Cancer Man has the Jeremiah Smith from the
38:12
hamburger joint, while the one who has visited the FBI is in
38:16
fact the Bountyhana who is also looking for him.
38:21
Cancer Man has been interrogating his Jeremiah
38:23
Smith, but it isn't going well. It's only a matter of time now.
38:31
You put me in a cage within a cage.
38:39
Why are you so afraid of me? I'm not.
38:42
Yes, you are. You live in fear.
38:46
That's your whole life. You.
38:48
Don't know anything about me. I know everything about you.
38:53
You think the miracles I perform are the extent of my power.
38:58
You think you're God? You're a drone.
39:03
A catalog. What you're afraid of is they'll
39:11
believe I am God. Well, it doesn't matter.
39:14
Most of them have ceased to believe in God.
39:17
Why? Because God presents them with
39:20
no miracles during their faith. You think when man ceases to
39:24
believe in miracles? He rejects God, of course.
39:28
You rule over them in God's name.
39:32
They don't believe in him, but they still fear him.
39:36
They're afraid not to because they're afraid of freedom.
39:40
And you give them happiness. We appease their conscience.
39:46
Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom
39:49
away from him. And if you can't appease their
39:56
conscience, you kill them. But you can't kill them all.
40:01
You can't kill their love, which is what makes them who they are.
40:07
Makes them better than us, better than you.
40:10
You talk. I'm not one of you.
40:14
No. All you want is to be a part of
40:18
it, is to be one of the commandments when the process
40:22
begins. So there we go.
40:59
He was turning into Deep Throat and in the next scene he turns
41:02
into Bill Moeller. And both of these characters,
41:05
even in this form, have come to bookend the season, appearing in
41:09
the opening episode and now the closing episode of season 3.
41:15
The most telling part here is that Smith tells Cancer Man that
41:18
he is indeed dying of lung cancer.
41:22
The Bountyheart arrives to take care of Smith, but when he
41:25
arrives, the cell is empty. Cancer Man has problems of his
41:29
own, and his freedom has come as a result of that.
41:33
Now Cancer Man has turned up at Mulder's mother's hospital to
41:37
check up on her, and of course he's accosted by a furious
41:40
Mulder who demands answers or death, or perhaps both.
41:46
Unfortunately, neither of which is forthcoming.
41:50
The line from Cancer Man, where he intimates that he and his
41:53
mother have been very good friends since before Mulder was
41:56
born, is left in the air without any further expansion, offering
42:01
possibilities of future revelations that may well be
42:06
revelatory. Yes, that will do.
42:09
Scully has been doing some investigating of her own and
42:11
discovers numerous Jeremiah Smiths working in the same
42:14
government department in different cities, all of whom
42:17
are identical in looks and name. Are they all the same person, or
42:23
is something else afoot? Then comes another
42:27
confrontation, this one between Mulder and X Mulder wants more
42:31
information than X is willing to give, and X wants the item that
42:36
Mulder has discovered at the summer house, suggesting that
42:39
he's a dead man. When others discover that he has
42:41
it, Mulder asks, or more accurately states what we are
42:47
talking about is colonization. The date is set, isn't it?
42:52
Which has become the pinnacle piece of this episode that the
42:56
colonization is about to occur. But now, just for fun, let's
43:01
have a punch up for absolutely no reason.
43:05
Nice 1X. And of course it's a stalemate
43:07
once again. No matter how you look at it, X
43:11
is proving time and again that he is only in this for himself.
43:17
The original Jeremiah Smith comes to see Scully, suggesting
43:21
he has information she and Mulder need.
43:23
Mulder calls and they set up a meeting in an abandoned
43:26
warehouse district. This should work fine, no danger
43:30
of being followed here. Mulder only wants him to come
43:33
and see his mother and cure her like he did the people in the
43:36
restaurant. But as expected, yay Bounty
43:41
Hunter is here. And as everyone squares off
43:44
against each other, the episode and the season ends.
43:51
God damn it, everything about this episode works really well.
43:56
Mulder has got a lot going on, but in general his focus doesn't
44:00
change. Scully plays her part,
44:02
investigating through the episode and collecting the data
44:05
that her partner is currently not focusing on.
44:08
The introduction of Jeremiah Smith has put our friendly
44:11
neighborhood cancer man on edge, and the return of the bounty
44:14
hunter gives everyone a reason to be nervous.
44:18
The cliffhanger doesn't rate as emotionally disturbing as the
44:21
end of season 2, but it gave you plenty to think about over the
44:26
summer break before the return for season 4.
44:29
Would Jeremiah Smith survive the battle?
44:32
Would Tina Mulder? With so many family members of
44:35
Mulder and Scully having already met their maker over the course
44:38
of the first three seasons, there was no reason to believe
44:41
that Mulder's mother would not be the next in that long line to
44:44
complete her journey. As we are discovering, no one
44:48
was safe when it came to X-Files Law.
44:53
Once again, another terrific episode, one that deserves its
44:57
five out of five rating to hold us over until we meet up with
45:01
our favorite characters next season.
45:09
So that's all from me this episode, and we have come to the
45:12
end. We have completed three seasons,
45:16
not with his podcast, but certainly three seasons of The
45:19
X-Files. And it's only taken, what, 12
45:22
months to get there? To be honest, in some ways it
45:26
feels like it's been a fast process, and in others, though,
45:30
it feels very, very slow. But mostly for me, it has been
45:34
truly joyous. Not only watching this wonderful
45:36
show once again, but being able to then put out a podcast
45:40
episode about my thoughts along the way.
45:43
And of course, having you, dear listener, come along for the
45:46
ride. So thank you to all of you who
45:49
continue to be here and listen along.
45:51
And hopefully you're all enjoying these episodes and
45:54
getting something out of it. There's only four episodes, of
45:58
course, on this episode, but all of them are pretty good
46:01
considering. So thank you once again for
46:04
listening and for being a part of this.
46:06
If you'd like to get involved and give your thoughts on this
46:08
episode, there are a number of ways you can do it.
46:11
You can find me on X as metal Bill with the handle at Royal
46:15
Metal Kevin. I'm on Blue sky as metal Bill
46:18
under the at metal Kevin dot blue sky dot social.
46:22
You can leave a comment on the episode page on Spotify if
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you're listening to this podcast on that streaming service.
46:29
Or if you'd like to check out my Patreon page, you can find that
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46:43
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So you don't have to pay any money for it.
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But if you join as a free member, then you can see all of
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the podcasts there. Some are free and some are not.
47:00
They're the actual music ones that I do where where basically
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following along on Patreon about The X-Files, you just can join
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up as a free member. All right, that's enough for me.
47:18
Thanks for listening as always. And we will return soon with the
47:22
beginning of Season 4 of The X-Files with the very next
47:26
episode of Revisiting The X-Files, where the truth is out
47:31
there. Cheers everyone.