X-Files--"Detour"

The best thing I can say about “Detour” is that I like it in spite of itself. The story is quite weak, with an implausible premise that appears to just be thrown in there along with a preachy message about the encroachment of civilization. I get the impression the writing was so rushed as to not be well thought out because Fight the Future was wrapping up production at the time. What saves the episode is the humor. It is padded with so much classic banter between Mulder and Scully, it is easy to forget the episode itself is pretty bad.

The two agents are on their way to a team building conference in Florida with two other incredibly dull agents. Why they are driving instead of flying is one of the first dumb aspects of the episode. It is a necessary element in order to get Mulder distracted by a police roadblock which is part of a missing persons hunt. Bored out of his mind, Mulder joins the case, dragging Scully along.

Conveniently, it is an X-File type case. Those twop are like weirdo magnets, no? Some sort of creature has been grabbing and hauling off with people entering in or living near the forest. We only catch hints of the creature (s) through early CGI camouflage with the forest background. I immediately thought of it as a predator homage. Then I thought, “Geez, how unoriginal.”

The two wildlife/police/whatever they were searching the woods with her heroes are picked off by the invisible creatures. Lost in the wooods, the two have to camp out. Shipper alert--there is lots of sexual innuendo about snuggling naked in order to stay warm during the night. As a city boy, albeit a small, Southern one, I must confess such a happenstance is the only virtue I find in camping out. I have never had occasion to go camping with anyone I wanted to snuggle with naked, however. Maybe one day.

In the morning, Scully randomly falls into the burrow of the creatures and finds all the missing people alive. Mulder falls in, too, of course, but both are discovered by the other two FBI agents they were traveling with before anything else bad happens. Mulder wraps up the case by claiming the creatures were Ponce de Leon and his mwen, having found the fountain of youth, protecting it from encroaching real estate developers. Yes, really. One of the other agents suggests Mulder is joking so he can write off the motal room to the FBI. Lord, I hope so. That makes for an awful wrap up.

“Detour’ is saved by a barrage of jokes. Mulder jabs Scully with sexual innuendo. She snaps back with the silliness of his theories over the creatures. She belts out a terrible rendition of Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World.” They discuss the virtues of Wilma v. Betty. (Scully identifies with Betty. I bet she chooses Betty over Veronica, in that debate, too.)) There is a running gag about a team building exercise using office supplies to build a tower that Mulder snickers in reference to throughtout the episode, but he and Scully wind up piling the bodies in the burrow in order to get enough height to climb out. Morbid, but funny.

The episode itself is trite, but funny. I am still going to give it a decent score because it is enjoyable to watch, but it is certainly not the full package. As a bonus, someone made a compilation video of Scully singing the first few lines of “Joy to the World,” then using the original version for some lighthearted clips from the whole series. It is a nest videoRating: *** (out of 5)