2X25 - Anasazi [REVISITED]

Summary

Bar none, this is the best season ender in all of TXF history. (I, of course, didn't see the series ender, but nothing that I read/heard about it would make me doubt the accuracy of my previous statement.) For the fact that this hour marked my first exposure to TXF, I saw a lot of weird stuff that I couldn't possibly have understood at the time, but it was all so intriguing that I was hooked. (And luckily, I saw it in the fall of 1995 — just before the opening of the third season.) As with One Breath, this was a multi-layered episode in which there was a lot going on at a frenetic pace, but it all came together smoothly. As you might expect, this episode is a selection from my top ten page and is covered in depth there.

Father and son bonding before a shocking assassination

If I could give this one any higher of a rating, I would, because on this recent viewing, I still couldn't believe how much relevancy to the whole X-Files saga it managed to touch on, within the span of — what is it officially — forty-three minutes? Before we even catch a glimpse of Scully, we have The Thinker achieving what he thought was impossible, resulting in multiple conversations in at least three different languages across the UN. Then we get the Lone Gunmen providing their piece of the puzzle just before a strange murder occurs in Mulder's building. And we see that Mulder isn't quite himself, even as he attends a meeting to get this highly classified MJ data from this person who wants "those rat bastards" to answer to the people. Wow.

Sorry to see Papa Mulder introduced and offed all in the space of half a season. His character's relationship with his son and the conspiracy players could have offered quite a few more entertaining stories, in my humble opinion. And did you catch the hug that he gave Fox this time around? At least — if he had to die — he made his amends with his son.

About that ending, though. CSM's people very quickly establish that Mulder is not in the boxcar. (Way too quickly given that it was full of bodies.) Obviously, CSM's final words were to mean that he assumed that Mulder was in the boxcar. So he was finally willing to kill him at this point? What about that "one man's crusade" thing?

Some of the impressions that I recall from the first time that I saw this episode include thinking that the lead actor was attractive in a somewhat offbeat way, wondering why anyone would name their kid "Fox", and being impressed by the show's ambitious production values (particularly the faux New Mexico landscape). For a new viewer who had no history with the show, this episode gave me enough backstory that I couldn't help but care. And I think that's the operative word when it comes to watching any TV show or movie... if the audience doesn't care one way or the other about the characters depicted, there is no hope of success. I haven't mentioned the Mulder/Scully dynamic in this one, but it seemed obvious to me even at first glance back then that these two people had a strong relationship that could withstand a lot, a lot. Hell, she shot him just to save him! (Never mind the super human strength she must have had to pack him into a car and drive him across the country afterwards.)

Picayune Peculiarities

Great teaser again. But I question why the kid would actually take the trouble to drag a body out of that boxcar, wrap it up in his blanket and take it home with him... other than to provide us with a great teaser.

Unless it was the police who were tailing our "Three Stooges", it was just insane that they would show up at Mulder's apartment building literally seconds after the gunshot rang out. I mean, they would have had to have been in the elevator for such speed! And, yet — no such attention when Scully was almost killed later in the episode... hmm, how's that for a conspiracy?

I know that CC likes the dark, but on many occasions in this series, the need to shoot in darkness results in time frames that don't make sense. Here we have Mulder extremely upset over Scully taking off with his gun, but he obediently stays at her apartment until nightfall. It is totally dark when he gets out of the cab (guess he didn't drive himself to Scully's?) back at his place and spots Krycek skulking around. Meanwhile, Scully has not gone home in all this time and has actually been inside Mulder's building since before it was dark. (It was daytime when she retrieved the slug and spotted the water service vehicle outside.) Whatever the case, luckily they were all there in the same place at the right time.

Best or Worst Moment

The only moment I haven't alluded to in my various discussions of this episode is the Krycek/Mulder encounter. Gotta be classic, even though these two have many memorable clashes later in the series. It's incredible how Nick Lea and DD always give something extra in their scenes together. (And those of us who have heard NL describe the action during filming know how "inadvertently real" some of the pain was.)

Original Rating: * * * *
Revised Rating: * * * *