Summary
In a season where change is a good thing, it was a relief to get something like this, a throwback to Darin Morgan's off-beat treatments with a satirical bent and snappy writing. DD even knows how to write bad stuff "well"! I know that this one isn't going to get the mass approval that The Unnatural may have gotten, but I'm glad that I was able to enjoy this. (I read a comment from someone who stated that DD must have had a lot of "help" in writing TU because this one was so far off the mark. Well, I don't see how one can miss the same sharp dialogue that pervades both episodes. Whether or not one likes both is, of course, determined by personal taste, but to me, the consistency of the writing behind them is indisputable.) As in TU, I love how distinctly the other characters are fleshed out — when they speak, you know what individual inflections to expect; the dialogue is not interchangeable the way it is sometimes in a lesser writer's hands. By the way, I think it's funny how some fans are so expert at knowing M&S and Skinner that they claim they were "out of character" in the hilarious bathtub scene. None of these three would ever be able to enjoy a simple human pleasure like taking a bubble bath in a ritzy hotel, right? They're professional and business-like ALL THE TIME, right? I think it's safe to say that we have not ever received a lot of background into what these people do off-duty to make any sort of assumptions as to what is or is not in character for them. Oh well. I've already read some vitriolic comments regarding "worst ep ever". This was so intentionally tongue-in-cheek, that for anyone to take it so seriously that they seem to be frothing at the mouth about it makes me want to laugh even more... and I'm already laughed out.
Best or Worst Moment
Before I forget, thank you, David, for restoring my faith in the Mulder/Scully relationship. I thought it was dead in the water a few weeks ago, but now I think that I can go back to considering that she might just love the guy after all. Best moment? The Shandling/Mulder exchange regarding which side he dresses on, because I was so engrossed in their conversation that I completely missed the "Scully running" demonstration in the background! A close second would have to be Mulder's follow-up to Skinner's "It's still me, Mulder" when he couldn't get the phone line to switch properly. Rather than being the least bit embarrassed or horrified or whatever, he merely reconnected to Scully properly and repeated his original line.
Original Rating: * * * *
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