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The X-Files |
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hen last we left our intrepid alien hunters, FBI Agent Fox Mulder (Duchovny) had apparently been abducted by aliens, Agent Dana Scully (Anderson) revealed that she was pregnant and Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Pileggi) had borne witness to Mulder's UFO abduction.
"Within," The X-Files season 8 premiere, and its conclusion, "Without," pick up the story the next day. Newly promoted Deputy Director Alvin Kersh (James Pickens Jr.) has assigned Agent John Doggett (Patrick) to spearhead the manhunt for the missing Mulder. Scully and Skinner are relegated to the status of witnesses--and are warned not to mention aliens or UFOs if they want to keep their jobs.
Doggett tries to inveigle information about Mulder from an unwitting Scully. When she discovers his subterfuge, she throws a cup of water in his face. Skinner wants to come clean about what he saw, but Scully--distrustful of Doggett and the FBI--advises against it.
Someone, meanwhile, is using Mulder's ID card to steal files relating to Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka), the boy Mulder suspected of being an alien-human hybrid. Skinner consults The Lone Gunmen, who tap into government satellites and suggest that the UFO that took Mulder has been active in Arizona. In the meantime, Doggett doesn't let Scully's distrust dissuade him from his mission.
"How well did you really know him? How far would he go?" he asks Scully.
"How far would he go for what?" she replies.
"The truth."
Is it possible Mulder faked his own abduction to bolster his claim that aliens exist? But Scully realizes that Praise holds the key--and he was last seen in Arizona. Find him, and they may find the link to Mulder. When someone mysteriously slips Doggett Praise's file, he comes to the same conclusion, and the race is on.
"We don't know who to trust now."
The first two episodes of The X-Files' eighth season mark a return to form for creator Chris Carter and his crew, after a season of COPS parodies, Garry Shandling guest shots and off-screen contract disputes.
"Within" is a melancholy meditation, centering on Scully and her palpable grief at Mulder's absence while she deals with the unexpected miracle of her pregnancy.
"Without" returns us to the sun-blasted desertscape of The X-Files movie, replete with morphing bounty hunters and helicopter chases, culminating, as always, in a frustrating lack of resolution.
In between, Carter et al manage the neat trick of insinuating a brand new character into the proceedings in a way that sets up ample conflicts for episodes to come. Robert Patrick's gung-ho Agent Doggett is sharply sketched--former U.S. Marine, New York cop and by-the-book investigator who finds himself over his head for perhaps the first time in his career. He spars with Anderson's Scully in a series of salty exchanges that bode well for their future relationship.
Pileggi's Skinner, meanwhile, has been given a lot more to do, filling part of the role of the anxious believer left by Mulder.
But the heart of the show clearly belongs to Anderson. Her Scully remains one of the most intriguing and fully realized characters on TV. No longer the rote skeptic, she is now the one with deep secrets and deeper doubts, challenging the status quo and wandering around in the desert in the dead of night. As Doggett tells her at one point, "You know, Agent Scully, you're starting to remind me a lot of Agent Mulder yourself."
In these promising episodes, The X-Files seems to have remembered that its central themes are paranoia, distrust and hidden agendas. Except that Scully and Skinner are now the outsiders and Kersh and Doggett are the establishment. Oh, and Mulder? He's here too, but not much--and that's fine. -- Patrick
Also in this issue: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula and Freedom "Alpha Dogs"
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