Summary
Dreams are answers to questions that we haven't yet learned how to ask. It's funny how that comment has stuck with me all these years, making Aubrey one of those odd episodes of which I remember very specific details. Things like Mulder's confession of curiosity regarding a woman named "BJ". Things like BJ's simple drawing that Mulder later manages to connect to the World's Fair when he sees a similar shape in a photograph. And things like Scully's discovery of BJ's secret while in the washroom with her. While the story itself was flawed (but sufficiently engaging), this one works for me due to the human emotion behind the story. It wasn't difficult to see BJ as a real person. The fact that her personal struggle continued beyond the confines of this hour made me wonder about her as the credits rolled.
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| Another scene of Mulder & Scully having a "meal" together! |
For a new writer to the series, I thought that Sara Charno did a great job at capturing the M&S dynamic. I've heard that she had help with the script but whatever the case, it was a success where our heroes were concerned. (And I've written at least a couple of stories around Mulder's "dreams" quote.)
Picayune Peculiarities
TXF takes its trademark "dark" appeal way too literally sometimes. I can't count how often I've actually seen my own reflection on the TV screen more clearly than the action that I'm supposed to be watching. In this episode, the lighting in BJ's bathroom was crazy dark. Yeah, I know that it was just to keep us from seeing the reason for all that blood until the last second, but bathroom lights usually give off more than just a candlelight glow.
This hour also featured more of that amazingly awesome, stupendously superior software that I first mentioned in my review of Ascension. Here it's on display deciphering letters on rib bones. (Should the razor even have gone down that far? I'll say no more on that one.) Furthermore, I doubt Aubrey, Missouri (a fictional place) is anything other than a small town and yet it had a digital scanner capable of providing the images of those bones that were "modemed" to Quantico for this analysis. Great technology all around!
Two other things that had me wondering as re-watched: 1) it's lucky that those locations (Aubrey, Gainesville, Edmond) are conveniently close to each other and easy to get to quickly; and 2) do essentially good writers have trouble with math? The whole "only 50 years have passed, but BJ is Cokely's granddaughter" timeline didn't add up for me. With guest star Deborah Strang definitely looking older than 35, what does that say about the sexual prowess of her father, Mrs. Thibodeaux's 50-year-old "baby"?
Best or Worst Moment
One of my all-time favourite TXF Mulder/Scully moments is in this episode. As they're driving out (to see Cokely?), Mulder tells Scully that she's putting forth a rather "extreme hunch". When she basically accuses him of doing that on a regular basis (well, okay, the actual line was something like "I seem to recall you having some pretty extreme hunches"), Mulder gives her his best "who me?" smile and replies, "I have not."
Original Rating: * * *
Revised Rating: * * *
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