Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The X-Files Season 4, Episode 1: Herrenvolk

Everything dies. Well, that's bleak.

And we start season 4 with the other half of 'Talitha Cumi'. To be continued, indeed. I actually watched this more or less immediately after finishing season 3, because there was no way I was going to let that cliffhanger keep me up all night wondering what was coming.

And bad things are coming. And there are bees. Lots and lots of bees.

And Mulder has come completely unhinged, because despite seeing several clones who look exactly like his sister, he fixates on one that he insists is Samantha and brings her along only to get her killed by the bounty hunter. Priorities, Mulder! Also, reality. Your sister is no longer a child, you should understand this! And you saw a whole bunch of girls who look like her, so what that one?

The bee analogy may have been a little heavy handed, but the idea that there are essentially people (or beings that look more or less human) who function the way worker bees do in a colony is really creepy anyway.

I don't entirely understand what the deal was with those bees, either. Were they special bees? How'd they kill the line worker? Was he just allergic? I'm not really sure. All I know is, bees.

I like that Scully is taking advantage of the FBI's trust that she still believes she can debunk Mulder's work to actually continue his work and try to uncover whatever it is the Jeremiah Smiths and the bounty hunters are trying to keep hidden. She's still coming at this from a scientific perspective, but her superiors haven't figured out that if Mulder is actually on to something, her investigation will actually lead her to many of the same conclusions.

She's using her scientific research to demonstrate that there is some kind of genetic testing and experimentation going on, even if it's not necessarily what Mulder thinks or any coverup of alien invasions or colonisation, even though we now know it is. She still has something she can present to the FBI higher-ups and not be thought of as particularly paranoid or delusional. At least Skinner seems to accept what she's saying.

And there's only so much day-saving X can do.

I guess since he had two full seasons of being cryptic and showing up at inopportune moments, or failing to show up when Mulder needed him, it was time for Mulder to gain access to a different contact and for X's betrayal of the Death Eaters to be discovered. So, how'd that whole keeping your distance thing work out for you? He lasted a season longer than Deep Throat, so there's that.

But I think in trying so hard to keep his distance, he essentially left himself open by being too shifty. Like I said probably about a season ago, the tape X on Mulder's window is easily compromised, and we know that plenty of people are spying on his apartment, and while they might not know that this guy is known to Mulder as X, they would surely deduce that Mulder was trying to make contact with someone and could just stake out the apartment until someone they recognised showed up.

And we never really saw X interact that much with Scully. In fact, the first time Scully encountered him, he pretended not to know anything or even who she was. At least he seemed to realise that she can be trusted. It's too bad he didn't realise he had been provided with specific information to leak to Mulder so that the Death Eaters would know he was the source. Oops!

I'm assuming the Special Representative to the Secretary General of the U.N. will somehow be the new X, which is fascinating, because as much as the viewers already knew there was a vast international conspiracy, this seems like the first time Mulder is aware that there's information available and relevant to more than just Americans. And also that there's someone in a more official capacity operating in the open who might have access to information. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

Also, ten gigabyte hard drives. Oh, nineties!

No comments:

Post a Comment