4X18 - Max [REVISITED]

Summary

The confusion continued for me at the beginning of this conclusion to Max Fenig's tale. The military involvement and the corresponding cover-up story was almost less interesting to me than the trailer park reality of Max's choice of lifestyle. As the episode played out, however, it had me on the edge of my seat as the pieces sorta fell into place. The airplane abduction sequence was great — very chilling and realistic. Seeing it play out again during Mulder's plane ride was — for me — one of the most exciting X-Files moments of all time. All in all, though, this episode was aptly named for its central character. We were originally presented with the concept of this weirdo who had to be a loner, a bit of a loser, and someone who might not be missed if he ever disappeared for real. But we saw in these revisitations that Max Fenig's world included people who cared about him. In Scully's words, he and Mulder seemed like "kindred spirits". Her line, "Men with Spartan lives. Simple in their creature comforts, if only to allow for the complexity of their passions," described Mulder totally.

"I just thought it was a pretty cool key chain..."

While this episode and the previous were grand examples of TXF being a cinematically superior production for series TV, I take issue with the plot and its resolution, so I demoted it by one star. Being able to see both parts together made the storyline less confusing this time around, but in accomplishing that, the contrived bits stuck out like too many sore thumbs. And the thing is, these two eps gave tremendous credence to the alien abduction theme that really doesn't form the basis of much of the mythology going forward (at least from where I'm sitting).

My main problem was that Garrett (dude with the 'stache who, as soon as I saw him in the debriefing room in Tempus Fugit, I knew him to be a baddie; as did you) was so onto the actions of our agents that he was probably one of the writers of this episode. (Yes, I found his particular plot thread to be that absurd.) It's handy when you have a central theme of a government conspiracy/cover-up to fall back on that you don't feel the need to explain how/why things are happening (Fight the Future anyone?), but that's unfair to the viewer. The easy assumption is that Mulder and Scully are being tailed during these episodes, but they are usually so very careful about the possibility of being tailed that things don't normally unravel as quickly as they did here. I mean, we are to believe that Garrett and his cronies are so efficient as to find their on-board accomplice among all the dead bodies of Flight 549 first, in order to mess up his fingerprints and his face and take away his gun and wristwatch? (Not everyone on the search and rescue team were "bad", right?) He then goes from attempting to kill Frish at a DC pub (getting himself shot in the process) to ending up on the same plane as Mulder in Syracuse, NY (still wearing the same pants as when he got shot)?? Let's examine the reality of the situation here: Mulder and Scully were separated during these events. Garrett had to know which agent was more important to keep tabs on at each of these very important junctures. So yes, he had to have been one of the writers...

Otherwise, I was amazed by the number of first hand alien encounters that Mulder got to experience during these two eps. The grey that he saw at the end of Tempus Fugit at the bottom of the lake seemed like a big deal to me when I originally saw this back in 1997. And of course, then you have the end of this episode, where you have to ask yourself: do the other passengers remember what happened? Did they see a man disappear? Or did the entire incident get wiped from their minds, in which case, why does Mulder seem to recall?

Picayune Peculiarities

This item is actually from Tempus Fugit. Mulder and Scully go back to the motel where they left Sharon Graffia and are accosted by the manager who claims that she (Sharon) trashed the room and left. What I couldn't believe was her comment that "I doubt insurance will cover it." Really?? What does hotel insurance cover? I have no experience in running a motel, but I'm pretty sure you can recover damages from customers as well as seek restitution through insurance. (Did Garrett write that perfectly unnecessary silly line?)

Best or Worst Moment

This is neither a best nor worst moment, just a classic Chris Carter moment. I liked how the agents parted company with Sharon Graffia in the next to final scene, but the ensuing Mulder and Scully "conversation" was a mishmash of something that tried hard to be sweet and touching but ended up being — in my humble opinion anyway — laughable, pompous and bombastic.

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