1X13 - Genderbender [REVISITED]

Summary

I like to call this one "Aliens meet the Amish". But I don't think that these aliens have anything whatsoever to do with the various aliens that later dot the TXF landscape. Too bad, because these guys seemed a bit more interesting, if you get my meaning. At least you could attribute some sort of "fun" motivation for their ways, whereas aliens in TXF's later seasons seem to exist for the mere pleasure of being mean to earthlings. I liked the sequence of Scully almost falling prey to Brother Andrew and her subsequent rescue by Mulder. (Along with the requisite clever dialogue, of course.) In the end, this is a bit of a strange episode, however, in that while the individual component parts of it are somewhat intriguing, it doesn't stand up (or out) in an overall sense.

"I'll be back... as Krycek"

Another good reason not to go clubbing. It's not just the drugs or the alcohol, it can be the mere touch of a "kind 3" stranger that gets you into trouble... have sex and you're dead. So these Kindred guys were "different". Well, yes, of course they were. My question would be, if you were aliens who could be anyone you wanted to be on earth, why would you choose to be part of some cult-like society living like the Amish? What was the point of their mission? To settle in quietly for a few decades, make some pottery, live sparingly and apart from mainstream culture and then go back home? And what about that whole "gender bending" thing...?

I liked how Scully was completely susceptible in this outing, as a result of a little thumb rub. From her first encounter with Brother Andrew out on the street to her almost doing the "wild thing" with him later on, Mulder just couldn't figure out why his logical, scientific partner seemed so unable to take control. It was a bit of a role reversal in terms of how things usually affect these two.

Picayune Peculiarities

Of course, when you re-watch an episode that's clearly not the best that TXF has to offer, you end up being a little nit-picky. I was interested in why the shop owner needed to reframe his other photos... they (the frames) looked perfectly fine to me. And his explanation — "I'm having them reframed" — doesn't exactly jive with the fact that the photos themselves are sitting under the counter. That was all just to set up Mulder being able to remember seeing some of the people with whom he later dines?

Best or Worst Moment

Not that they could have foreseen the phenomenon that this show would become in a little over a year's time, but the guest casting was a bit unfortunate, don't you think? Mulder's photographic memory must have had a lapse when Krycek extended his hand in Season Two's Sleepless... "Hey, I know you — aren't you the guy who made out with the guy you thought was a girl?"

M&S get knocked around a bit during this ep. I actually liked the denouement of this one, from the part where Mulder and Scully burst into the hotel room, to each of them getting beat on by the genderbender alien in the saggy underwear, to the inevitable they won't find any trace of them back at the farm.

Original Rating: * *
Revised Rating: * *