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Reviews
The X Files: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (1995)
a classic
May Peter Boyle rest in peace! I may be stating the obvious but this is truly a legendary and classic episode of the X Files. He deserved the Emmy for his performance as the psychic who could foresee death. I remember watching this episode repeatedly after it first aired; my old tape from the original airing is now of horrible and degraded quality but serves as a testament as to how much I loved this one. My absolute favorite moment was when Mulder asked Clyde who the envelope was from and he put it to his head and said very sarcastically, "The KILLER!" I also enjoyed his revelations with each of the agents as they guard him in his hotel room. The episode is chock full of classic lines and quotes. If you haven't seen it yet, or if you are new to the X Files it could make you a fan.
The X Files: All Things (2000)
Not my favorite
This episode tries to be very serious, with Scully narrating and trying to figure out why some things happen and other things don't. The whole episode is about how she almost ended up spending her life with some guy. First of all, I find it out of character for Scully to have had an affair with someone who was not only her professor from medical school, but was married! It is hard to swallow, given that she spent 7 years up to that point in a close working relationship with her single, attractive partner, which was never anything more than platonic. I really disliked that aspect of her history, since I think that kind of thing is repugnant. Second of all, the guy was creepy and at least 20 years older than her. They had ZERO chemistry together. Then, equally maddening was the implication that Mulder and Scully slept together for the first time in this episode, which I say did not happen. The episode is shot out of sequence, with Scully getting dressed in the morning and leaving Mulder's apartment in the beginning; in the end, which was the night before, he tucks her to sleep on the sofa and leaves the room. One could speculate all day, but it was there just to tease the shipper fans. Aside from that, it is hard for me to find fault or even to be objective when commenting on any episode of the X Files because I love it so much. I still watched this episode attentively, and I found it to be visually stunning. The Moby music set the mood nicely (as it did in Closure), and I did like the somber narration, and the fact that Gillian wrote and directed this episode. Watching this one makes me sad because it is not long afterward that the fans lose Mulder and have to endure a traumatizing upheaval of the X-Files. Anyway, that's my take on it.
The X Files: Teso dos Bichos (1996)
A stinker
I love the X Files but I really hated Teso Dos Bichos. It was contrived and just plain pitiful. Those cats were sad and crazy. I'm supposed to believe a federal agent packing heat can get mauled by a few rabid house cats? I dusted off some tapes from years ago and started watching the old episodes and the only thing I had remembered about this one was that it was forgettable. I cringed when I watched it again, and I did not finish it. This was laughably bad, although I am sure there were good intentions behind it. The only reason I give it a 3 is because the mere presence of Mulder and Scully saved it from the gutter. I'm sorry but I just have to say I absolutely hated it. I could live without sitting through this embarrassment ever again and be fine.
The X Files: Paper Hearts (1996)
Unforgettable
I agree with muldernscully, and I think this was X-Files perfection from start to finish. The music was haunting and eerie, probably one of my favorite scores of all of the series. Seeing Mulder have those dreams and being manipulated by the pedophile was extremely spooky, but equally endearing was how Scully had his back and empathized with him throughout the ordeal as he tried to reconcile his sister's abduction with the activities of the pedophile during that same time. On a completely superficial note, I loved when Mulder sank the basketball in the prison gym, further serving to emphasize him as the hero in contrast to the scumbag child killer. This is classic X Files, before the movie and before they moved to L.A.; it is one of the best and one of my favorites from season 5. The ending was definitely suspenseful, and it's one I wouldn't mind seeing again.
The X Files: Bad Blood (1998)
Very cute and funny
I thought this episode was very funny, and I was cracking up when Mulder came to after being drugged and started singing "Shaft". I enjoyed how Mulder and Scully each exaggerate the events from their own point of view, painting their partner in a less than flattering light. Also funny was when Mulder tried to arrest the vampire while he was in his coffin but he was being less than cooperative. This episode had some unexpected surprises, and it is one that will not disappoint. Seeing Scully drool over Luke Wilson and throw intestines into the scale was a departure from her normally serious character, and was a nice change, especially after we saw her go through her ordeal with cancer and losing a child. I would've given this episode a 10 but I didn't really understand the ending and why the agents' lives were spared. Either way, I love it, and you should watch it.
The X Files: Audrey Pauley (2002)
heart wrenching
It is episodes like this that make me appreciate agents Doggett and Reyes. Much like Scully, I pine for Mulder in this episode (and the entire 9th season, which I am still watching for the first time), and to some extent I miss Scully as well, who we hardly see in 'Audrey Pauley', but Reyes and Doggett come close to making up for the void by the displaying the strength of their bond and loyalty to each other. The blackish-greenish, dark, scary, vast space of the unknown was haunting and I felt sad for Monica when she realized that she had to cast herself into it. I won't give away any more but the performance of Tracey Ellis as Audrey was especially poignant as the illiterate patient aid who didn't realize just how much she was capable of. Seeing her again evoked memories of her portrayal of a half-way house resident in another X-Files episode, 'Oubliette'. This would have been a nice Mulder and Scully story line, one without all that alien conspiracy confusion, in a perfect world, but Reyes and Doggett filled their shoes quite effectively in this one. I have never been able to say "Mulder, who?" but I definitely rate 'Audrey Pauley' as but one of the best Mulder-free and Scully-lite X-Files chapters.
The X Files: How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (1998)
A metaphor
I think that this entire episode was a metaphor for how each agent fears the other thinks of him/her. The ghosts were in their minds of course. Maurice is Mulder's projection of how he believe Scully sees him, and Lyda is a personification of how Scully believes that Mulder sees her. When Mulder talks with Maurice he is actually arguing with his perception of how Scully sees him, and the same is true of when Scully speaks to Lyda. When Mulder interacts with Lyda he is really speaking to himself and when Scully interacts with Maurice, she is interacting with herself. I am not completely certain that this was the intention of the writers of this episode but it was something that dawned on me as I listened to what the ghosts and the agents were saying to each other. Examples: Maurice describes Mulder as narcissistic, over zealous, and a self-righteous egomaniac, things that Mulder probably suspects that Scully would label him as; Lyda tells Scully the only reason she followed Mulder to the house was because she gets a kick out of proving him wrong--something that Scully probably suspects that Mulder thinks of her reasons; then Maurice (Scully) produces her car keys, further emphasizing that she still suspected that Mulder took them from her to prevent her from leaving. Of course there are things that I can't explain, such as why Scully would believe that Mulder (notice it was Lyda) would shoot her, but maybe she thought he had gotten too involved with the legend of the murder/suicide,had gone off the deep end and was attempting to re-enact it. I am not sure why the two of them would both hallucinate in tandem after walking into that house, but perhaps it was actually a haunted house, even though the ghosts of Maurice and Lyda, in my opinion, were definitely figments of Mulder and Scully's imagination. Maybe the nature of the house itself caused them to concurrently imagine the things they did. I am sure the skeletons and the maze of the house itself were all imagined by Mulder and Scully, but in the world of the X Files, reality has to be suspended in order to not analyze every aspect of why things are. But their conversation in the end strengthened my belief that Lyda and Maurice were Mulder/Scully personifications because of the way Mulder and Scully picked up with each other where they left off in arguments that each had with Maurice and Lyda. Whether their perceptions of what the other thinks of him/her are true, they each seem worried of the other viewing him/her negatively, which reveals that they both want to be respected by the other. It is not the best episode, but it is definitely a departure from their normal conspiracy and monster of the week installments. I still enjoyed it because you can tell a lot of detail went into making it and I can appreciate it for that.
The X Files: Invocation (2000)
No monster of the week here
This episode was incredible. It was very suspenseful and very creepy. I still do not understand why the teenager kidnapped Billy in the first place; I also noticed how convenient it was that Billy's brother Josh was kidnapped so easily. And I wish I knew more about the real perpetrator, the guy in the trailer and how many other people he did that to. But aside from that I was enthralled for a solid hour. I love the role reversal with Agent Scully becoming more open minded and being on the other side of the convincing routine. I still miss Mulder and I think it would have made a much better X-File if it were the original agents. However, the quality of this episode was outstanding (in my opinion), especially for one without Mulder.
The X Files: Roadrunners (2000)
A real spine-chiller
I was not happy when Mulder left the show and I refused for a long time to watch any of the episodes with Agent Doggett. I finally decided to give him a chance. This is the first episode where I really appreciated him in his role, even though he is no Agent Mulder and could never take his place. He does not try to fill Mulder's shoes though, and he is a different and admittedly interesting character; I liked that the underlying thesis of this episode was more about Doggett winning Scully's trust than about the thing crawling around in her back. Nonetheless, I was absolutely horrified at her plight, and was on the edge of my seat in suspense. And I realize that the agents have often found themselves in a predicament where he or she needed to be rescued by his/her partner, but that is the nature of the show; they put themselves in harm's way and will inevitably become endangered. There are only so many new ideas out there and I always try to keep that in mind when I watch reruns of the X-Files and try not to dwell on the whole "they've already done this" routine. But overall this was an exciting and suspenseful episode and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The X Files: Revelations (1995)
Outstanding episode
This was one of my favorite episodes of season 3; they just re-aired it on The Sci Fi Channel. I had not seen it in years but I remembered every detail because I watched it over and over when I first saw it around a decade ago! It is not one I easily forgot, and it was definitely intriguing to see Agent Scully in a role where she plays not only the protector of the stigmatic child but also becomes the believer and Mulder is the skeptic, as mentioned in the previous comment. It is always interesting to see Scully show emotion of any kind, and also easy to see why Anderson won an Emmy for her role. This is classic X-Files, in my opinion. I remember years ago thinking that it was so convenient that she saw the recycle container and suddenly knew where to find Kevin, but now seeing it again I realize that those signs were meant for her to see because she was "chosen" to protect him, whereas otherwise she would not have made the connection.