Summary
Is this one of the great all-time TXF episodes? Despite the strong performances from all and the interesting plot, I couldn't answer yes and therefore I feel slightly guilty at giving this ep a "Good" when I was anticipating giving it an "Excellent". (Mind you, as a February sweeps mythology two-parter, we have seen worse, so I was very pleased with this outing.) Nothing like an episode like this to remind us that the X-Files — no matter what has developed over the past seven seasons — is still centered on the character of Fox Mulder and his personal journey. I've always been able to feel his pain, but that pain has never been brought so much to the forefront as in this ep, which held so much hope and yet contained so much despair. I'm not sure I understand why the creators felt that this ambiguous ending for Mrs. Mulder was necessary, but I certainly hope it's the last of the tragedies for Mulder in this series.
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| Lots and lots of graves |
I hate how this episode makes me feel. During a re-watch that takes place almost fourteen years after it originally aired, I am struck by the raw emotions I have about it. Not in the sense of "wow, what an achievement" but in the sense of "wow, you've wasted my bloody time". This is an episode highlighted by excellent performances all around and even by some great writing (as paradoxical as that might sound considering other comments that I am about to make), but the end result is just a shiny paint job on a lemon of a story.
First of all, harkening back to the "keep it real" concept that John Shiban talked about back in Pine Bluff Variant... does the FBI really operate this way? A kidnapping takes place in Sacramento, California and an Assistant Director in DC assembles a team of agents from DC to fly out and investigate? Then those agents commute back and forth as though they are taking a city bus? (Why does that matter to me? It just does. Because why the hell couldn't they have placed this story in Baltimore, or Annapolis, or in any number of places within driving distance of DC? It wouldn't have made a whit of difference and I wouldn't have wasted an entire paragraph complaining about it.) I mean, as "royally pissed" as Skinner was that he didn't receive his noon hour report, he decides to send Scully out to the west coast... perhaps to coax a report out of Mulder?
So what kind of a mother (or person) is Teena Mulder?
We have two plot points involving Mrs. Mulder: 1) she is touched by something in the story of Amber Lynn's kidnapping and decides to call her son (who, by his reaction to the phone call, doesn't hear from her that often), and 2) she has been diagnosed with a terminal case of Paget's Carcinoma, a disease which Scully describes as "horribly disfiguring". Well, a Google search comes up with this little item about the fact that this might well be a breast cancer. And not to dismiss breast cancer by any stretch of the imagination, but I can sit here and name any number of other diseases that might cause me to kill myself before that one.
Once again, it's sloppy story telling, because if you're going to kill a lead character's only remaining direct relative, you better have a good reason. It would have made more sense for Mrs. Mulder to get trampled by an invisible elephant.
Then there is the matter of her message to Fox: "I'd hoped you'd call upon your return"? Upon your return? Who talks like that? "There are so many emotions in me I wouldn't know where to start... so much that I've left unsaid for reasons I hope one day you'll understand." But if not, so sorry, you didn't call me back, so too late for you. I'm going to off myself now and you'll just have to suffer the consequences of not knowing WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH YOUR MOTHER for the rest of your life! Just another mystery you'll have to add to that pile of questions that you want answers for...
And of course, the thing that really burns me is that CC&FS probably didn't know what they wanted Ma Mulder to explain. So she didn't.
Child kidnappings and murders are horrendously difficult to process. Most of us cannot imagine the kind of human being that would be monstrous enough to do these horrible things. In the TXF world, of course Mulder tends to personalize such cases (as Scully accuses him of doing from hour one). But he demonstrates quite well in this episode — and this is where it is well written — that he has his wits about him all the time. Even when he dives into murky depths, he knows when it's time to resurface and when it's time to call it a day. He'll follow his amazing intuition but he knows when to pull back. As a story about Fox Mulder and what drives him and how he's grown over the years, this episode succeeds.
The bulk of this unfortunate tale of "what happened to Samantha" unfolds in the next part (Closure), but it is just more of the "souls are taken to protect them from harm and they are now physically dead but in a better place". Like I said at the top, it's actually a little less believable than the alien theory. It also leaves behind a whole lot of messy loose ends from literally years of many people encountering versions of Samantha at various ages who hadn't been taken and put into starlight.
Picayune Peculiarities
Is it just me or were those kids running from the car to the Santa Claus Village a little too thrilled? They looked much too old to be excited about Santa.
Skinner is outrun by a fat "Santa Claus"? Really? (Although it looked like Mitch was running with "baby steps" whereas when DD runs, he looks like he's galloping.) Of course, it was all for the purpose of gathering our crime fighters to what looks like a disturbing (and disturbingly obvious) burial ground.
Best or Worst Moment
I was totally "spoiled" for that now infamous "SUZ breakdown scene" and I must say that it played out exactly like I thought it would. (And it was marvelously done.) But I think I'll pick the "morning after" scene to be my best moment. I really don't think Skinner has any misconceptions about what might or might not be going on between these two. At some point at the end of all of this, I think he'd be one of the surprised ones if these two don't get together.
Original Rating: * * *
Revised Rating: * *
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