I checked on the meaning of the title of this episode, and while the word Død means 'dead' or 'death' in Norwegian, apparently Kalm doesn't mean anything. Either the writers screwed up, or they made the title nonsensical intentionally because English-speaking viewers would have even less of an idea of what it meant had it been linguistically accurate.
Either way, there's an episode in here, and it's called 'Død Kalm'. Which means nothing at all.
In case I haven't mentioned it enough, I love stories that take place in a confined space. Everyone is a suspect, and no one is safe. And in case the show hasn't mentioned it enough, trust no one.
I've seen quite a bit of criticism of the ageing effects on Mulder especially, but I thought they were reasonably well done, at least at first, when they were only supposed to look a little older. Later, I agree with the critics. Mulder looks like his face is melting off. Scully just looks old, which, OK. That's what they were going for, so good job!
When I saw Vladimir Kulich's name in the guest credits, my thoughts immediately turned to Angel, where he later appeared as The Beast. I also realised that since he was in such heavy makeup and prosthetics on that show that I wouldn't likely recognise him here, except possibly from the fact that he's very, very tall. (Remind me to do a Friday Feature on actor spotting at some point.)
I also think that some of the best episodes on this show - and again, I know I may be getting a bit redundant here, too - are those in which Scully and Mulder themselves are in danger. When they're just investigating a disconnected case, it's easier to feel detached from it. Immersion requires the danger to feel real, and well, there are only two main characters in this show. As soon as Mulder went to wake Scully, I could tell from the way she was lying and the angle from which she was filmed that she would lift her head and we would see she had 'aged'. Still a good reveal, though.
Though I obviously didn't expect they would die at the end, it's set up very well to make the viewer wonder how the hell they will survive, and how they can recover from their condition.
I'm amused that the American sailor who moved to Norway just happens to be named Trondheim. I mean, really? The guy's Norwegian anyway? That was silly, writers. And in his Han Solo-esque scene with Scully and Mulder, I really was expecting some kind of Star Wars reference. Maybe a Kessel Run joke or something.
The villain misdirects aren't really that subtle in this one, but there's only so much red herringing you can do with four people, two of whom are your protagonists. But we get a great claustrophobic scene within a claustrophobic episode when Trondheim locks himself in the sewage hold and is subsequently drowned when the hull is breached. I believe that would be a pretty awful way to die, but I suppose ageing/dehydrating rapidly over the course of a couple of days would be no picnic, either.
Mulder gets one last (well, not last, but he believes it is) chance to be sarcastic and kind of silly, talking about going on a cruise when he got older, and I'm glad Scully got the chance to tell Mulder a little more of her unconscious experience from 'One Breath'. I was kind of afraid at first that those moments would lead to some other awkward confessions, but I'm glad they didn't. Even if Sculder (?) becomes a reality at some point, I would have hated for them to develop it by having the characters assume they were dying and let each other know how they felt - that would be, um, what's the word? Oh, right, absurdly contrived. (Not that it hasn't been done in fiction before, but with 7 seasons and change remaining in The X-Files, this certainly wasn't the time.)
In the end, this was a decent episode, and we're now into the home stretch of season 2, and I'm excited for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment