REVIEWED BY: Jennifer J. Chen ON: April 3, 1999
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: November 15, 1998
I've gotta say, the episode sure impressed me a heck of a lot more than the previews of it led me to expect. But then, most X-Files episodes are like that, as with most quality material—if one can glean the entire feeling with just a few clips, what's the point of watching the show? Along those lines, I just want to say that I saw a movie this weekend that did the same thing—sparse preview (you can't tell anything of what the movie is about), kick-ass entertainment. That movie is The Matrix. You just wanted to bask in its coolness. And The X-Files makes you want to do the same thing.
You can always expect some quality entertainment when you see that an episode is written by Vince Gilligan. The tightly woven script of Drive would be a solid addition to almost any writer's repertoire, perhaps even a stand out. Unfortunately for Vince, in this respect he is his own worst enemy—any current work that he does gets compared to what he's done before. If he hadn't already exhibited his genius in episodes like Pusher, Bad Blood, Small Potatoes, Paper Hearts, and Unusual Suspects, this most recent episode would have been a solid showing. I don't mean to rip on the episode, which was quite good. But it is a little like watching Kitsunegari after watching Pusher--while Kitsunegari is good, you remember what came before, and think about what could have been.
But let's get on to what was great about the episode—how about Mulder's interaction with Crump, for one? He handled Crump like any responsible FBI agent and human being would. That is prime Gilligan fare—quality human interaction, with outstanding characterization of all primary characters involved. Crump is obviously not a man that one can love straight off, but Mulder is a person who almost always identifies with the victim, no matter how off-putting they are. From his obvious distaste of Crump to trying to save his life to feeling badly when Crump dies, Mulder shows us humanity.
And how about Scully and her Mulder-esque performance? Instead of formulating a theory based on the facts, she makes Mulder leaps of logic and makes the facts fit the conclusion she has drawn. She shows incredible faith in Mulder and the decisions he makes, showing once again why their partnership works. Such a plain way to describe the magic of their relationship, but what words really can? They argue with each other—mainly as a way of feeling out all the possible angles to a case, but they almost never take sides against each other with other people. They are a team—exclusive and territorial. Scully may rag on Mulder and his bizarre theories a lot, but if anyone else tries to diss him, she shows her claws.
I absolutely LOVED Mulder's uncharacteristic anger when Crump tosses Mulder's cell phone out the car window. Mulder doesn't get pissed off too easily—at least, not usually with victims of a situation, but his cell phone is his link to Scully, and that is not a loss he can tolerate with good grace. I said it in my review of Grotesque as well as in Tithonus, their cell phones are their lifelines to each other—without it, they have lost that symbolic connection, and usually angst ensues. Luckily, Mulder gets a replacement, admitting that he is "suffering from terminal cell phone withdrawal," without much angst involved.
The question of Mulder's ethnicity arose again (last time witnessed in Kaddish), and I have read several reviews in which the reviewer was incensed that it was not finally resolved—why tease us with it and not provide any satisfactory conclusion? For my part, I don't really see that it matters. Whatever ethnicity he is doesn't change my view of who I see Mulder is as a human being. Even if he were Jewish, it's pretty obvious that he's not devout. And I am personally of the opinion that they did answer this question conclusively without making it tedious—Mulder's utter surprise at Crump's question pretty much gave away that no, he is not. If he was, there would be no reason to be so taken aback. Since religion is obviously not a big part of his life, even if we were to find that Mulder is Jewish, how would that change how we saw him? Now, on the other hand, if we remember Mulder's wedding ring from Travelers, that would be significant information to find out if he had been previously married. Because that would have been a big part of his life—and something that he would have had to confide to Scully on his own (so the fact that he hasn't kind of shakes the foundation of their relationship, in my opinion), whereas ethnicity is not something that Mulder would have to tell Scully about within our hearing, and we can assume that she already knows. But marriage is a personal decision and defines someone's personality, their history, their emotions, their mental and emotional processes—and yet a standard institution that had Mulder ever told Scully he had been married before, it would have been mentioned once or twice. Yet it is never addressed, so we have to assume that they have never discussed it, and as far as we know, Mulder has never been married. Luckily, we can dismiss it as an actor's whim—more DD than Fox Mulder, and can be tossed in the bin along with the information from The Field Where I Died that Scully is to be Mulder's sidekick throughout eternity, never his love.
All in all, it was a truly enjoyable episode, tightly written and absorbing. Really liked the realistic "newsflash" in the beginning, and the view of the beautiful Pacific Ocean in the end.
I even liked Kersh as he treated Mulder and Scully like recalcitrant children. It gave Scully an excuse to defend Mulder (which Kersh notes is something he's noticed she's prone to do a lot) while he sulks like a little boy talking back to his teacher, and display her loyalty to both her partner and their work.
Whereas other writers use their differences as an opportunity to create some unpleasant tension between Mulder and Scully, Vince Gilligan is always able to make their partnership loyally bonded, without giving up any UST or excitement. In other writers' episodes, Mulder and Scully's differences grate on each other's nerves; in Gilligan's episodes, their differences make each other complete.
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1999 by Jennifer J. Chen