by Adam Silva
Well, they did again. Another "Lone Gunmen" episode of "The X-Files," just as great ast he first. Written by Vince Gilligan and with John Shiban this time, they give us a great plot (I like how the boys actually succeed against their conspiracy as opposed to another conspiracy theorist we know...) and continuation of "Unusual Suspects." And, of course, the boys and Signy do their best as always. It certainly is a worthy sequel.
This episode also stands out because of the interesting direction by Bryan Spicer, who would later become the staple director in "The Lone Gunmen" series. The dream sequence was beautiful and interesting and having shot on location in Las Vegas also helped. Spicer gives the episode a light mood that "Unusual Suspects" did not have. Don't get me wrong, Rob Bowman is a great director, but he directed "Unusual Suspects" with the seriousness and dark lighting of any of "The X-Files" regular episodes (which he also did with the pilot for "The Lone Gunmen," but to a lesser degree), though I'd also say Vince Gilligan also didn't know how light to make it at the time.
While "Unusual Suspects" had a very interesting use of Mulder, he appears only in the form of a contructed voice message here and it's Scully who gets a break from her usually monotone and non-cheerful self. This works mostly because of Gillian's perfect performance when Scully gets turned into a complete bimbo by the mind control injection. It's absolutely hilarious.
Also, Michael McKean has a brief apperance as Morris Fletcher here, reprising his role from earlier in the season. Of course, he would appear again on "The Lone Gunmen" and later in the third and final "X-Files" Gunmen episode, "Jump the Shark." Michael McKean is always brilliant and he works well with the other guys. I got to hand it to them, using Morris Fletcher as the Gunmen's main nemesis was pretty brilliant. And, of course, this episode also contains the first use of Jim Fyfe, as Jimmy the Geek (who gets killed) and who plays his twin, Kimmy the Geek in "The Lone Gunmen" series. Nice, guys. Nice.
