REVIEWED BY: JJC ON: February 2, 2000
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: December 12, 1999
This episode reminded me a lot of the great MOTW eps that we got last season (which I really miss, by the way) -- lots of flirty banter and salacious looks. Light-heartedness that has been sadly lacking this season. Don't get me wrong; I love angst. Give me more eps like Amor Fati and Pusher, and less like Orison and Young At Heart. Okay, so they wanted to go back to their "scary" roots. They wanted to return to the dark, spooky feel that the show had started with. The catch is, because of The X-Files, it takes a lot to scare me these days. The Blair Witch Project was kids' games, as are movies like the Scream trilogy. The last movie to really make me jump in my seat was The Sixth Sense. But even The X-Files can't live up to its own scary billing anymore. The last time an episode frightened me was...let's see...probably Kaddish, from season four. Maybe they haven't been trying to scare us as much, or maybe I've grown immune to it, who knows. All I know is, I haven't been scared this season.
But that's okay!! Who says we can't have another season six?? I, personally, would adore it. And Goldberg would have fit nicely into that agenda.
It was just so cute -- and dare I say romantic? -- for him to have greeted her the way he did. Mulder put more flirtation and innuendo into that one word "around" than most men can with fifty words. Are these two happy to see each other or what? Next, they're both on the platform, descending underground...hmm, wonder what they're doing? That's probably a good seven seconds they could use to do some groping. (And from their behavior in this episode, I wouldn't be surprised if they did a lot more than that. *g*)
But that's not all we get, no! We were the lucky ones in this episode! Their banter continues. Scully makes fun of Mulder's preposterous theory by suggesting that who they're really looking for is Wile E. Coyote. Then Scully suggests, not knowing exactly how right she is, that perhaps the guy just got lucky. And Mulder makes fun of her theory, saying, "What if he got really, really lucky? That's your big scientific explanation, Scully?" It may not be scientific but it was correct, wasn't it?
Who cares that it's completely unbelievable for Henry Weems (finely acted by Willie Garson) to be afraid of Cutrona and his thugs? If he's the luckiest guy on the planet and bad things happen to other people from his good fortune, wouldn't he have realized a lot sooner than he did that they have more to fear from him than he does of them? But, let's move on. The Mulder/Scully banter was the star in this ep, and dwelling on plot inconsistencies doesn't interest me much here.
I suppose some mention must be made of the Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions found throughout the episode, and the idea of cause and effect. It's not a complex idea, nor one that is new to anyone, I'm sure. I do have to say that I've always been fascinated by cause-and-effect machines like the ones shown in this episode...but like Mulder, I find that it's ultimately only fascinating if there's a point. A can gets opened, fish food gets dumped into the fish tank, a piece of trash is tossed into a waste basket, etc. The greatest entertainment value is in the utility of these machines...but that's not what Weems built.
As toys, or as works of art, they are not without value. It obviously thrilled little Richie, and delighted Scully when a miniature basketball was shot into a miniature hoop. Ah, the sports discussion. Can't forget that. She asks what his favorite sport is, and Richie replies that since the Bulls now suck, he supposed it was baseball. Scully returns quietly, "I like baseball, too." Of course, she could just be placating a child -- a child she's trying to get information out of, no less -- but gee, Scully's not a good liar, and she sounded pretty darn sincere there. Could it have anything to do with a starry night, an empty baseball field, and a nice, warm, heavenly-smelling man pressed up close behind her, who possessed the loving, low voice of her partner as he taught her how to swing a bat? You're right, probably had nothing to do with it. (But a big hug for Jeffrey Bell, who seems to be following the example of Vince Gilligan in the MSR as well as the show's continuity in general.)
And, of course, it is very cool to see the cause and effect principle in action in this episode, that the smallest incidents have the greatest impacts on the end result. Even the fact that Scully "beat" Weems at cards was really only part of a larger effect in Weems' favor. Had it only involved a harmless game of cards, Scully would not have drawn a higher card. But that time, she had to, so that Mulder would think that Weems' luck had changed (when in fact, I don't believe that Weems ever lost his good luck), running out of the hospital, and startling Weems' would-be assassin from succeeding in his task.
I think I lied at the beginning of this commentary. I said that The X-Files didn't scare me anymore. But that's not strictly true. Richie's yellow eyes and blue lips kind of frightened me. Poor boy. And though cheesy, I still thought it was cool when the hospital name turned from "R.I. CHILDES" to "RICHIE" before Scully's bewildered eyes.
Must be fate.
"Maybe everything does happen for a reason...whether we see it or not."
Please feel free to
"Hey, Mulder, it's me. What now?"
"Are you in Chicago?"
"Yes, I'm in Chicago. I'm on the northeast corner of 7th and
Hunter just like you asked. Only you're not here. So where are you?"
"Oh...around."
Jeffrey Bell is quickly working his way into my good graces. In a season that has not quite lived up to my expectations (considering that it should be the final one, and the promise of the wonderful mytharc pair that started things off), I must say that this episode was a nugget of gold. I didn't get to watch Goldberg until very recently, and though this circumstance greatly aggravated me when the episode first aired, I can only say that the fates had foresight, and was actually helping me in the long run. Since this episode, we've been shown others ranging from cute to okay to plain bad. What a lovely surprise it was to be able to watch this episode after I'd been exposed to the recently not-so-great episodes!
The opening banter between Mulder and Scully has to go onto my list of all-time favorite opening scenes of one of their investigations. Typically, Scully has arrived where Mulder told her to meet him, with no idea what any of it is about. Who cares? Mulder told her to meet him on the corner of 7th and Hunter in Chicago; what's there to think about? Yet he isn't there; what's a girl to do? Bust out her cell phone, click one button, and call him, that's what. Oh...and there he is, sporting a sexy, teasing, affectionate tone, a big grin, his cell phone, and a really bad suit (it's okay -- he ruins it later, anyway).
And could Mulder be more in love with her, the silly dope? She cracks one little missing-eye joke ("Maybe he can't see his way to the door"), and he smiles at her like she's just told the funniest joke in the world. He's so delighted by her comment and her good humor that he lights up like a Christmas tree. So cute to watch. But he doesn't know what he's doing; all he knows is innuendo. So, that's exactly what he follows with. "Come on, Scully. I'm feeling lucky." Smile more at her like you just did, and I can guarantee you won't believe your luck, Mulder.
Now we all know why Mulder really turned to psychology and the FBI. He can't do anything else for beans. He doesn't even know what clockwise means. But oh, wasn't it so cute the way Scully was trying to contain her laughter? Kind of like when a wife is embarrassed for her husband...but what am I saying? They're nothing like husband and wife. Um, yeah. Nothing. Luckily for Mulder, he looks adorable drenched. And aren't we all glad for his short haircut now? He would have looked like such a drowned rat with a longer cut. *g* I think I'm the only person on the planet who actually loves his hair all short and hedgehog-like. "My ass broke the fall." Instant classic Mulderism.
David Duchovny was determined to play his most endearing Mulder in this episode, and he succeeded. The scene where Weems sticks his prosthetic eye back into its socket, with Mulder alternately fascinated and disgusted, is just so Mulder. Most recently, well, prior to this episode, we saw that in Hungry with the "brain matter" -- aka ground beef. And the way he immediately looks to Scully, like, "did you see that?" is much like a little boy who's just witnessed his first circus. Kid!Mulder appears again when he spots one of Henry's cause-and-effect machines.
We should just thank our lucky stars that neither Mulder nor Scully were too adversely affected by the "side effects" of Weems' good luck. They're both still alive, aren't they? Though of course, Mulder had to get injured. What's an episode without Injured!Mulder? Not that he appeared to be in much pain. Maybe it was the drugs. Maybe it caused him to blurt out things to Scully...again. *g*
When we talk about luck, or cause and effect, it indirectly has to do with the concept of fate. We've often played with that theme a little on The X-Files, (Monday and The Field Where I Died come to mind) and once again, events occur that proves further the idea that there is a force, a force we call fate, at work. This episode wasn't about Mulder and Scully and how their lives are fated -- rather, it was about how they contributed to other peoples' lives. Yet we can't help but think that if all the things suggested in this episode are true, then think of all the "thousands of variables [that] would have to convene in just the right mixture" for Mulder and Scully to be where they are today. Together for seven years, having seen some of the wildest, most horrific things, been through the most wrenching kind of pain, all the angst, all the tears, all the love...and yet, there they still are. Together.
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2000 by JJC