8ABX11 - The Gift

Summary

Halfway through this episode when I finally began to make head and tail out of it, I thought to myself, well, here we go again — ST did this better in The Empath and For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (even though the latter is definitely not one of my favourites). So what might have been the situation behind the scenes for CC here? "Duchovny's back and is willing to say a few lines, Frank, how about you write him a story that addresses something that Mulder fans might remember from the last time they watched this show?" I have to reiterate that I absolutely hate the contrived melodrama of the "Mulder was dying all last year" storyline, if for no other reason than that it has been so successfully kept secret. We're talking about a world in which someone knows how many squares of two-ply are used every time these people spend more than a few minutes in the bathroom. How would it have been possible for him to have so easily hidden his condition from everyone? Especially from one particular agent who was missing from this episode but was apparently his partner in crime in falsifying field report documents. In the end result, I guess I should be thankful that Mulder's character wasn't assassinated. His actions were entirely Mulder-like. I liked Skinner's involvement here too, although if he persists in spouting that "abduction" stuff, his career isn't too far from the toilet either. I liked how Doggett thought to stop and feed Mulder's fish. (Although what's the situation with that — does he share that job with Scully or does she not even do that anymore?) What specifically didn't I like? The unnecessary establishment of May as being the timeframe for Mulder's disappearance. (Anything else — including keeping it ambiguous — would have been preferable to May, but then what the hell do I know?) And what was the point of Mulder hiding his gun under the sink? I saw that as just setup for Doggett to rip through his apartment (and it's arguable that after such an activity, John Doggett may now know Fox Mulder better than Dana Scully does). The cold-blooded shooting of a federal agent was also a bit much to take; violence in small town America is scary. Not to mention, where was Skinner when all this was happening? Oh, and here's a final, random thought. If Mulder was convinced that he was dying all last year and kept it from everyone, what does that really say about his feelings for Scully?

Best or Worst Moment

There was something touching about that final scene before the credits rolled, which is my pick for best moment. The fact that Doggett could see Mulder standing there, almost telling him that he had "done good", was oddly comforting. Agent Dogbert — did Langly really call him that?? — seemed understandably shell-shocked, but he did a good job at getting into Mulder's head. Kudos to him for achieving something that not many have managed to do.

Original Rating: * *