X-Files--"Redux"

Rolling right along here, we have reached the fifth season premiere. Because Fight the Future was filmed simultaneously with part of the season, the fifth is cut short to twenty episodes. The limited episode count means the season is short and sweet. Bittersweet, in many places. Absurdly funny in others. This is also the season in which some famous authors who were fans, but not associated with the series, got a chance to pen episodes. Horror master Stephen King worked his black magic, as did cyberpunk guru William Gibson. Lots of good stuff to come is the point you should take away from this introduction.

Speaking of taking away, any tension built up over the question of whether Mulder committed suicide in the fourth season finale cliffhanger immediately dissipates as we learn Mulder kills a DOD emplyee spying on him from the apartment above, then creates a ruse with Scully to root out which members of the FBI brass they can trust. All events occurring within the first five minutes of the episode. Basically, the cliffhanger is resolved as quickly as possible so we can hurriedly get to the action.

As a side note, Mulder fires his gun in a full apartment building in the middle of the night, then carries the corpse downstairs to his apartment in order for it to be found and identified as him. Now, cast aside the absurdity of Mulder shooting the guy in the face, rendering him unidentifiable even before he concocted the plan to fake his death. Surely he would have shot him in the chest, or maybe just wounded him so he could still answer questions. The real oddity is no one was disturbed by the gunfire or noticed mulder carrying a corpse down the stairs. Washington was the murder capitol of the United States at the time--the NBA Washington Bullets changed their name to Wizards because of it--but surely Mulder’s neighbors are not jaded enough to not care?

To add another absurdity, when I said get to the action up above, I should have said get into the heavy exposition and voiceovers. There is a load of it here as Mulder and scully split up to pursue their half of the plan to uncover the conspirators. There are long stretches of no dialoguer at all in which Mulder, using the dead DOD’ guy’s identification, sneaks into the catacombs of the Pentagon while Scully works on comparing the cell sample from the faux alien with cancerous cells from herself while each explain their thoughts and motivations in voice over.

The point I really liked about this was the role reversal to the extreme. Yesterday, I wrote the two of them had been pushed to the edge of the respective roles as the True Believer and the Skeptic to the point of alienating 9no pun intended) one another. Now they have gone to the exact opposite directions. Mulder has lost all faith in the existence of aliens as he runs deeper into the Pentagon to discover elements of the of how the alien conspiracy was faked. He is only motivated now by finding a cure for Scully to make up for the damage his quest has caused her. Scully, on the other hand, is dedicated to proving a connection between the faux alien and her cancer which would prove a near global conspiracy she cannot believe exists. Mulder is not full of doubt, but Scully is ready to believe the extraordinary. Appreciate the moment.

If you can stay awake to appreciate said moment. Aside from the Mulder and Scully voiceovers, the theory that the government concocted an alien conspiracy during the Cold War to distract the public from the threat of nuclear annihilation is reiterated in excruciating detail complete with public domain archival footage of atomic blasts and iconic images of the Cuban revolution, Vietnam, etc. I thought it was a silly touch back in 1997, and it has not improved with age.

But the silliness there does not detract from the wham moments interspersed throughout the episode. The Cigarette Smoking Man enters Mulder’s apartment after he believes he is dead and mopes about, looking at old photographs and such with a deep sense of melancholy. We know now Mulder is not his son, but at the time, the scene helped strongly reinforce the theory. The end sequence which switches back and forth from Mulder discovering, along with the Lone Gunmen, that he has not stolen a cure for scully, but a vial of de-ionized water and scully collapsing at the FBI hearing before she can name Section Chief Scott Blevins for giving her the disease in the first place is a sharply painful duo on which to leave us hanging.

“Redux” has flaws, logical and technical, which make it a relatively weak season premiere that requires a stronger second part to improve the story. As I recall, it gets it. The episode’s heart is in the right place, but relies way to much on telling us what is going on rather than letting the action flow.

Rating: *** (out of 5)