7ABX11 - Closure [REVISITED]

Summary

Again, I feel guilty about not elevating this rating to an "Excellent" because I really think that the performances and the writing and the whole production itself really deserves it. So what's holding me back? I didn't think this provided closure — for Mulder or for myself. If this episode and the previous could somehow exist on their own outside of the X-Files world as we know it, I would have no trouble saying that it was tremendously well done and deserving of the highest accolades (despite the spiritual bent which I constantly have trouble with, but then that's just me). Within the X-Files world, however, I feel cheated and misled by the creators after my years of loyalty. To me, this is not the end of the Samantha thing, but maybe that's all CC wants to give us. How unfortunate.

Is this "holding the proof"?

I recently read that CC thought that with the possibility of S7 being the end of the series, he needed the show to resolve the mystery of Samantha. And he wanted it to be done sooner rather than later (i.e. before the S7 finale). I have no qualms about that, but to me, SUZ/Closure is proof that CC didn't have a clear idea about how to wind up this VERY IMPORTANT PLOT THREAD from the start. It's obvious he made it up late in the game, and in my opinion — while the execution was somewhat stylish and his team definitely showed up to play for him — he fumbled it badly where it mattered. I have a hard time rating this, simply because it deserves a big fat zero as an ending for Samantha. But for its production and for the performances, I can't give it a zero. (Just to make it easy, I'm not going to change the rating.)

While Mulder was very Mulder-like in SUZ, I wasn't as sure of his character in this one... as in his reactions to and acceptance of what was presented. Then again, we can explain it by saying that these are the reactions of a very world-weary man who has suspected for a long time that his sister is probably dead and who is now reeling from his mother's unexpected suicide. He wants to believe. He admits that he wants "it" to be over. In the same way as he wanted to believe in Paper Hearts, maybe this resolution appealed to him on some strange level simply because this chase has exacted a toll on him that he no longer wants to pay. And I get that. Not sure that it will necessarily have a lasting effect, but for the moment, I get it.

And now for some things that I didn't get.

This Harold Piller guy — he comes on screen and tells us the story about the "walk ins" and subsequently leads our heroes in a séance in which he says, "they'll come to you if you're ready to see". You would think that all of this would make him out to be a "believer", and yet, at the end of the hour, he is pushing back harder than Scully that there's no way that his son is dead/with the walk ins/travelling in starlight. Why the disconnect between the theory that he so obviously understands and believes in, and his acceptance of it for his own son?

I found the CGBS connection extremely thin and contrived. First of all, who signs legal documents that way? Second of all, apparently no one (not even Mulder?) thought that burned out trash can was worth looking through before Scully found it? Third of all, how lucky was it for that particular piece not to be damaged among all of that completely charred stuff? Fourth of all, for what reason does it matter to Mr. Spender that M&S are looking for Samantha that he would show up at Scully's apartment to tell her to stop looking?

I could have done without the beyond the grave visitations by Ma Mulder. I don't get why she is portrayed as being so "helpful" in death. God help me, woman, why oh why did you have to kill yourself without telling your son what you needed to tell him??? (And again, it just fails from a story-telling standpoint... no one murdered her. She chose the time of her death. This two-parter just makes her seem cold and callous, and that is so unnecessary.)

So let me summarize the whole "walk ins, old souls looking for homes and starlight stuff"... someone has a vision/premonition of a child dead, but that turns out not to be the case, at least for a few more minutes, from what I can ascertain. The explanation this episode puts forward is that these walk ins (travelling around in starlight) grab these children to take them away from whatever it is that is about to make them dead. However — and here's the rub, as the saying goes — to those of us left behind in the corporeal world, these children are just as dead. Why are we supposed to believe that the original vision of the child being dead is somehow a premonition of a "worse" death? Dead is dead. Without a body, you would never be able to convince me that this child had a "more pleasant death"... if there is such a thing.

When the end of this episode rolled up, I was reminded of a scene from Poltergeist. Carol Anne has just buried her pet bird when she looks up at her mom, her face bright and enthusiastic, and asks, "Can I get a goldfish now?" I imagined Mulder turning to Scully and saying, "Hey, what say we come back out here next week to hunt a werewolf? [And do a guest shot on COPS?]"

Only on The X-Files does life "reset" like that...

Picayune Peculiarities

Just what is this April Air Force Base that is decommissioned and yet is so heavily guarded? And of course, you just know when someone tells you explicitly that there's nothing to see that there must be something to see...

Speaking of seeing, when the camera panned down at the sidewalk, I didn't see nice glowing lights around the place where Samantha and Jeffrey made their hand prints. And yet both Mulder and later Scully see it quite clearly in the dark without it being pointed out to them.

Lastly, we've seen Mulder several times circa 1989. At no time did he ever have such a bad "Ray Barone" haircut!

Best or Worst Moment

These two episodes (which I managed to see back to back due to my having been on vacation when they aired) have been a stupendous showcase for DD. I've marveled at how much he's continued to improve as an actor, with the result that any number of moments from these two eps could be highlighted as memorable. I have a soft spot for the coffee shop diary reading scene. He applied just the right amount of agonized control and GA responded magnificently in providing the same without benefit of too many lines. The result was one of the great all-time Mulder/Scully moments of the series.

I want to highlight Mulder's little moment with Samantha in the middle of that "ghost field". Very nicely performed by two people who have no history together.

If anyone is interested in how I think the Samantha Mulder story played out, check out The Sum of My Tomorrows.

Original Rating: * * *