Friday, September 11, 2015

"SKumm’s Thoughts" - X-FILES - WEEK VI




"SKumm’s Thoughts"

X-FILES - WEEK VI
“The X Files” (FOX, 1993, 9 Seasons)

Hopefully, you’ve watched the first X-Files movie, THE X FILES (aka, FIGHT THE FUTURE).  Season six picks up shortly after where the film ended, riding high on the film’s momentum and success.  And on its big budgeted coattails, the sixth season is bigger, bolder, and louder than all the previous seasons.  The influence the film makes is obvious in the cinematography, the stories, and the musical score.  This is the season that will re-inspire your binging of The X-Files, just in case you were starting to get burned out…

SEASON 6

Episode 1: The Beginning
The X-Files have been reinstated, but guess who isn’t running them anymore?  Mulder and Scully don’t let that stop them, however, as they track one of the belly-aliens to the West, where it is killing people.  The psychic chess champion is back, as are all of the major players.  This episode looks like a movie, plays out like a movie, and ends as you fully expect it would.

Episode 2: Drive (The One With Bryan Cranston)
Before he was making meth in a camper, he lived in a trailer.  Cranston guest stars as “You Call Me Mister” Crump who has a condition that will kill him if he isn’t moving over seventy miles per hour.  And he’s got Mulder for a chauffeur.  Which is good, because we all know how Scully drives… (Digital Drawback: The Mullet)

Episode 3: Triangle
Mulder winds up on a British luxury liner which disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in 1939... and there are a bunch of Nazi’s on board.  Swell.  But the real story here is the breakneck “action” scene which has Scully going from office to office trying to obtain info that could help pinpoint Mulder’s last location.  Shot in a way that leaves little room for error, this “long-take” incorporates a few tricks to make it stretch the entire length of a segment between commercial breaks.  Anderson does a hell of a job keeping the pace, and even though you might be able to discern where the actual breaks in filming were, the choreography of the scene is a wonder to behold.  Oh, and: The Lone Gunmen.

Episodes 4 & 5: Dreamland/Dreamland II (The Ones With Lenny)
Mulder switches bodies with Michael McKean, a guy that works in Area 51.  Wasted opportunity, in that Mulder uncharacteristically doesn’t try to delve deeper into the mysteries there.  But totally awesome to see McKean and Duchovny act like other people.  Also important - McKean is reprising his role of Morris Fletcher for the revival airing next year.  (Digital Drawback: while the opposing reflections dance is kinda cool, they don’t quite match…)

Episode 6: How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (The One with Ed Asner and Lilly Tomlin)
Fun episode in which two ghosts screw with Mulder and Scully on Christmas Eve.  Not required viewing, but oh my stars and garters, how I want that study!

Episode 7: Terms of Endearment (The One with Bruce “Ash” Campbell)
Ash stars as a guy with two wives, trying to have the perfect babies.  Only he may not be an actual guy.  Good performances with a classic twist that totally leaves the ending wide open for future shenanigans.  Required viewing because HEY!  It’s Bruce "Freaking" Campbell.

Episodes 11 & 12: Two Fathers/One Son
Veronica Cartwright (from Season 5, episodes 13 & 14) is back after her abduction, and she isn’t quite the woman she used to be.  This arc includes The Mystery Train and the Eyes-Sewn-Shut Alien Brigade.  (Digital Drawback: Wait…when did the window on the van break in the opening scene?...) (D.D. #2: That is, quite possibly, the hairiest ear hole on the planet.  Seriously.)

Episode 13: Agua Mala
Arthur Dales, the guy that started the X-Files way back when is back, and living in Florida.  A hurricane stirs up a deep-sea nasty and he calls in the agents to investigate.  A fun MOTW episode, and the production value is reminiscent of earlier improved quality.

Episode 14: Monday
A woman keeps reliving the same day over and over again—the day her boyfriend robs a bank and kills everyone inside, including Mulder and Scully.  Another well-written MOTW, which seemed predominant this season.  Has nothing at all to do with the alien conspiracy but it is an edge-of-your-seat ride.

Episode 18: Milagro (The One With John Hawkes)
Hawkes guest stars as a writer living next to Mulder whose written creation comes to life (wish I knew how he did it—if I can figure it out, my room is going to be jam-packed with dirty bikini models and several loofas).  As has been hinted at since season five, we get more hints as to Mulder and Scully’s true feelings for each other.

Episode 19: The Unnatural
This time it’s Arthur Dales’ less famous brother telling Mulder a story of days gone by.  Mainly, about a baseball playing alien.  And racism.  And the alien bounty hunter is back.

Episode 21: Field Trip
MOTW, yes, but an excellent tale that again belies the humble beginnings of this show.  Makes you appreciate the influence the film had on this season.  The agents are investigating the sudden decomposition of a husband and wife on a mountainside.  And there are mushrooms.  Yummy.

Episode 22: Biogenesis
This is the episode that rocks Scully’s world and sees Mulder institutionalized.  If you’ve felt a sort of disconnect from Mulder lately, this one kind of seals the deal.  That feeling bleeds over into Season Seven—but hey, I’m getting ahead of myself.  This season finale deals with ancient Indian writings, a big-ass space ship, and religion. (Digital Drawback: why does the space ship keep disappearing?  And is that the same rock in the background?...)

T.S. Kummelman

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