X-Files 4/7/02 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Yet another breather episode marking time as we wind down the X-Files franchise on TV.
Burt Reynolds was his charming self as something akin to a force of nature when it comes to games of chance.
The dialog between FBI agents sounded like something out of plays with a bit of iambic pentameter tossed in. Doggett ruined that scene, though.
Reyes and her numerology theory breaks a serial killer case, and the rest of the episode is played for subtle laughs as Reyes and Scully are stuck in a garage with Reynolds, playing checkers.
Too bad they didn't explain the motivation as to why there would be 9 murders, or why the pattern was blonde, brunette, redhead. Was the serial killer compelled based on some equation that guided his action? The episode tried to convey that numerous times, but it sort of fell flat.
But, it was a pleasant episode to watch, as the agents became more and more puzzled by Reyes's magic number tricks.
Oh, I did enjoy the music on the show.

 

[Scooter]

I thought that Burt was playing the devil.

 

[Steven K]

This episode actually wasn't too bad! I kinda enjoyed it; it was an original idea, which at this point, is enough for me.

The humor wasn't what I expected it to be, but not bad nonetheless.

 

[Mike Broadman]

What was the point of showing Burt Reynolds lip-synching in French while playing 3-card Monty; and the two old guys at the end?

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I don't think they explained their numerology concept well enough for the episode to really work, but I did get a kick out of the music and that "montage of threes" bit. Burt Reynolds was charming, and Ellen Greene, Audrey from "Little Shop of Horrors", was good (if underused) as the numerologist.

 

[David Paymer]

I thought that Burt was playing G-d.
Weird episode, liked it. Kind of Lynch-ish. I agree with you, Patrick, good delivery of the snappy dialogue by all but Doggett. I was initially turned off by the odd music but after a while, it began to appeal to me and fit perfectly with this odd episode. Chris can still throw out a decent bit of entertainment when he wants to. I had completely forgotten about Alias last night.

 

[Jason Seaver]

(1) Hard to believe Burt Reynolds has fallen all the way from "A-List movie star" to, apparently, "guy you call when Dennis Farina isn't available".

(2) Chris Carter writing is bad enough - with no-one higher up in the food chain to tell him he's writing crap, he pushes out a lot of barely-plotted nonsense. Let him direct, though, and it becomes so completely incoherent and full of artifice that it becomes difficult for the audience to pay attention, since doing so reaps no obvious benefit story-wise. He becomes a low-rent David Lynch, in the bad way; a guy who has some ideas and some skill with setting up a scene but no idea of how to use the latter to communicate the former.

This is about as bad as "The X-Files" gets, trying to survive wholly on strageness and chemistry because there's just no story present.

 

[Chad R]

Well, aside from the trend lately of not fully developing ideas (even for X-Files standards) any moment when Burt was on screen was just a joy.

And in a small blurb in the local paper Burt did indeed say he played God.

 

[Mike Graham]

By far the most thought provoking episode in a year or more.

This episode was a cross between one of Carter's previous episodes, "Syzygy", from Season Three and David Duchovny's "Hollywood A.D." from Season Seven.

As the series continues on, Carter's getting better and better in the director's chair, while its becoming obvious his skills as a writer seem to be dwindling.

Many things seemed to played for humour in this installment, like Reyes' different take on the world, but this was unintentionally being played for laughs throughout Season Nine already.

Burt Reynolds was superb in his role, and every second he's on screen was a pleasure. Speaking of acting, this was Gillian Anderson's best episode since the middle of Season Eight, in that she didn't have to scream, fill her eyes with tears or mourn for Mulder. She seemed just as annoyed as the viewer can be with Reyes or the odd situation she was in the middle of. Also, the ending involving her kissing William good night was more touching then anything ever done before with the pregnany/William plot because it was nicely underplayed - not every scene with her kid should involve the fate of the world and what not.

Great score by Mark Snow as well. The funky ethnic music he chose fit the quirkiness of the episode perfectly, while the standard X-Files score was just as supportive of the disturbing side of the episode involving the murders.

Overall, I'd give it a very generous 7/10, which ties it with "John Doe" (the episode where Doggett lost his memory in Mexico) as the best episode of Season 9 so far. Here's hoping things only get better.

 

[Ted Lee]

not a bad episode at all. i was grinning throughout most of it - that's a change!

i liked the music as well...even the part where they ripped off the jetta commercial was pretty neat.

it was just cool to see burt reynolds...that helped a lot!

 

[Brian Bunn]

The X Files isn't what it used to be (which was, IMO, one of the best TV shows of all time), but it is still a very entertaining TV series. And still better than most of what is on the tube these days. I kind of get tired of reading everyone bash the X Files these days. Sure it isn't as good as it used to be in its heyday. How could they possibly keep that kind of pace up? The episodes are more hit and miss these days, but I still get a kick out of watching most of them every week.

I say it is still a very well done TV series...just not up to the excellent standards it set for itself in the years preceding.

Sundays episode was pretty good stuff. It will be a sad day for me when the final episode is over. I for one will miss The X Files. It has been a great run.

 

[Scooter]

even the part where they ripped off the jetta commercial was pretty neat.

I thought that TOO! I half expected the couple in the car to make a cameo appearance!!!!

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Arrgh! I missed the first 20 minutes of this episode, so I was a bit confused on some of the things. I started watching just as all the FBI agents were discussing the seventh victim, at her murder scene.

Can someone give a synopsis of what happened before that? Is there anything that explains what the final scene of the two old guys singing has anything to do with?

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Arrgh! I missed the first 20 minutes of this episode, so I was a bit confused on some of the things...Can someone give a synopsis of what happened before that? Is there anything that explains what the final scene of the two old guys singing has anything to do with?

Very little additional insight is provided by what you missed. The episode was a collection of interesting scenes, ideas, and characters, but they were not hung on a sturdy enough story framework to gel.

It is interesting to see how Carter has progressed as a writer director when comparing the "non-mythology" episodes. Looking at a season three episode like "The List", it has a little directorial flair and a fairly tightly constructed plot. The supernatural phenomenon is presented with certain rules that are understood and followed. Last Sunday's episode has almost nothing but directorial flair and barely a wisp of a plot.

I think a lot of my problems with some of the recent episodes are with the Reyes character. Her "Intuitiveness" and "Psychic sensitivity" are handled so broadly that it is used to get in and out of almost any flimsy premise they can conceive. They would occasionally do this with Mulder (I'm thinking of his first scenes in the X-Files movie), but they really have been stretching it with Reyes without exploring its origins and limitations very much.

Regards,

 

[MickeS]

This episode was sort of fun, but I didn't understand it (if there was something to understand). What was up with the lip-synching and the singing Italians?

/Mike