X-Files--"Avatar"

Stargate SG=1 fans should brace for mixed emotions regarding “Avatar.” Yes, Amanda Tapping follows Don S. Davis as the second main cast member from that series to appear on The X-Files. She plays a prostitute who spends the night with Skinner, for those of you who get excited over such things. Unfortunately, she is killed by having her neck broken by the end of the teaser, so she spends the remainder of the episode as a corpse autopsied by Scully. Not the most illustrious of science fiction debuts, but Tapping made it out okay in the long run.

Onm a related note, we meet Skinner’s wife for the only time in the series. She is played by Jennifer Hetrick, most famous to science fiction fans as Vash on Star Trek: the Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She is currently doing commercials for Tylenol and ThermaCare, so draw your own conclusions as to whether she has made out as well as Tapping. Or evaluate Skinner’s taste in women, whichever floats your boat.

Generally speaking, The X-Files does episodes centering on secondary characters very well. A couple have become favorites of the entire series But I have to sadly admit ’Avatar” disappoints. It is not that it is a bad episode, but that it does not explore Skinner’s character as much as one would hope. He is a good character overall, but he has had a hard, tough guy exterior with very little inclination to open up so the audience can see what makes him tick. “Avatar” should have given him the opportunity to expose more of his inner self, but he still carried on the tough, inpenetrable exterior even through what has to be one of the most traumatic times in his life.

Skinner is in the midst of a divorce from his wife of seventeen years, but he refuses to sign divorce papers. He storms out of his lawyer’s office into a hotel bar where he meets a woman with whom he spends the night.. When she wakes up beside her the next morning after a nightmare involving an old woman, she is dead of a broken neck. Skinner is naturally the only suspect.

Mulder and scully take it upon themselves to investigate. They feel they owe Skinner for as many times as he has gone to bat for them. However, all evidence points to Skinner having committed not only that murder, but having later used his car to run his wife off the road in an attempt to kill her, too. Mulder gived skinner a big benefit of the doubrt. He believes some forensic evidence found on the dead woman’s body plus Skinner’s continuing visions of an old woman are evidence of a spirit visiting him and causing these incidents.

For which I have to pick a nit. A avatar is from the Sanskrit. It means the physical manifestation of a diety. This old woman does not fit the position of a diety in any way. She is more likely a banshee, imp, or even a Syren, all of which would seem more appropriate. How could a guy like mulder blow this one so badly?

While skinner is experiencing the illusions of an old woman, it is the manifestation of his fears of growing old alone. The woman has nothing to do with the murders. Mulder discovers the truth when the FBI crime lab can (extraordinarily) reconstruct a face from whoever got hit with the airbag when Skinner’s car was used to force his wife off the road. The perpetrator is also the guy who hired the prostitute using Skinner’s credit card and eventuallt kills her madame to make it appear Skinner is covering his murderous tracks. It is all a plot by the Syndicate to get rid of Skinner for his protection of Mulder and Scully. He kills the assassin himself. In television, that clears up everything. Naturally, the divorce is called off, too.

Like I said above, “Avatar” does not explore Skinner’s character like one would hope. The only time we really get inside his head is when he is at his wife’s hospital bedside confessing why he cannot sign divorce papers. Maybe the scene resonates with others, but it had no where near the emotion of the similar Mulder/Scully scene from “One Breath“ and those two have not been married for nearly twenty years. I do not think it is asking too much to expect Skinner to appear at least as hurt as Mulder did over Scully under the circumstances. Instead, skinner resolves all his problems in the expected way--he kills the guy ruining his life. Now we are all back to normal. It is all quite underwhelming, as is the idea the Assistant Director of the FBI can be found in bed with a dead woman and not have it become a national scandal. A spirit committing murder is more plausible than that. Happening.

Rating: ** (out of 5)