X-Files--"Herrenvolk"

We have reached the premiere of the fourth and excellent season. As I said yesterday, there are an unusually large number of highly rated episodes in the fourth season. While I am not ready to declare an absolute favorite season just yet, the four is a definite contender. The mythology episodes are some of the most compelling, while the monster of the week installments balance well between terrifying and humorous. The best part is the Mulder and Scully dynamic of the first couple seasons is back. Good riddance to the hostility between them throughout most of the third.

“Herrenvolk’ (German for “Master Race,” referring to the clones or the colonists/Syndicate? Fifteen tears later, still have no clue) is a very entertaining hour of The X-Files in spite of not offering up any new pieces to the overall mythology. We already new about cloning experiments, the creation of hybrids for future colonization, the alien bounty hunter, Samantha Mulder’s abduction is a vital part, and the small pox inoculation is a cover for national cataloguing. Chris Carter is able to get away without revealing anything new by making “Herrenvolk’ an often heart wrenching story of human drama.

The X-Files has thus far featured the concepts of sacrifice and martyrdom as much as the paranormal. Mulder has lost his sister, father, and Deep Throat, while Scully has lost her sister, all in the pursuit all in pursuit of unraveling an immense, dangerous conspiracy neither of them of them have any idea how to resolve even if smoking gun evidence came into their possession. There is a sense of hopeless idealism within the whole story. Our heroes are never going to win, but are compelled to play the game anyway for the tiniest hope of answers.

The desperation of their quest comes to a head in “Herrenvolk.” Mulder in particular is nearly come undone. From the very beginning, he is desperate to save Jeremiah Smith from the alien bounty hunter for the sole purpose of healing his dying mother. He must abandon his goal when smith insists there is something he must see in Canada--a farm which is managed by numerous clones of an unknown boy and Samantha, still eight years old. Before we get any answers, the alien bounty hunter catches up with them, presumably killing Smith and Samantha while Mulder is unconscious. All he can do is go to Rhode island and collapse by his dying mother’s bedside.

Scully’s desperation is much more subtle and will not come to a head until the middle of the season when the cancerous aftermath of her abduction emerges full blown, but she is fast losing her comfortable role as the skeptic sent to debunk Mulder’s work. She is not a true believer yet, but as she gathers together several government heads in order to reveal her findings about the human cataloguing behind the small pox inoculations, she is presenting solid facts to support an extraordinary claim--one that, as quipped by a government poobah in attendance, sounds like it would have come from “Spooky” Mulder. Mulder and Scully are striking the right combination of faith versus reason to solve real problems. I am speaking as a man who posseses a reasoned faith. Your mileage may vary.

It would all be in vain if not for the final decision of the Cigarette Smoking Man to convince the aliens to heal Mulder’s mother. To let her die would be to destroy everything Mulder has. A man with nothing to lose is the most dangerous enemy one can have it is that one hope I talked about above that keeps everyone continuing the struggle.

Continue our heroes do. While it has been building up for a long time, The x-Files is not much of an episodic monster of the week series with two disagreeing FBI agents any longer as much as it is a entire cast of characters intertwined in an epic conflict in which each has enough of a personal stake, one wonders how they slept at night under the pressure, much less run off to investigate paranormal cases involving strangers. Eventually, the powers that be at The X-Files realized that meant stepping up the monster of the week stories or alternating their tone to contrast the mood of the mythology episodes. For the most part, it worked, but I must confess it is difficult to see how when the mythology has been so costly to the characters personally.

I like “Herrenvolk.” It is a highly personal story that feels epic. There are not any revelations, in fact, but still a vital part of the mythology for its personal moments: Mulder’s increasing anguish as everything he loves is being taken away from him, Scully losing her objectivity, Mr. X paying the price for betraying the Syndicate and using his last act to leave a clue for Mulder written in his own blood, and the Cigarette Smoking Man offering Mulder a shred of hope by sparing his mother. Small incidents that say big things in the grand scheme of things.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but Jeremiah Smith is played as a meek, messianic healer perfectly by Roy Thiennes. Thiennes was the star of the ’60’s series The Invaders. on the series, he played the only man who was aware of the impending invasion of Earth by an alien race. His would be a fun bit of casting for that fact alone, but his portrayal of Smith is spot on perfect. Consider that a compliment retroactive to yesterday’s review as well.

Rating: **** (out of 5)