The X-Files Season 7, Episode 7: Orison

'Irresistible', part two. And just as creepy and tense and disturbing as it was the first time around.

Usually when this show does followup episodes to its non-mythology stories, they turn out pretty well. There was 'Squeeze', followed by the equally creepy 'Tooms', and 'Kitsunegari', the followup to 'Pusher', which may not have been quite as good, but still gave us a seriously tense scene where Mulder almost shot Scully. 'Unusual Suspects' led to 'Three of a Kind', and both were excellent.

Interestingly, in all these cases, the first episode of the two was very good, as opposed to say, 'Travelers' and 'Agua Mala', where the only real connection was Arthur Dales, and neither episode was very compelling.

'Orison' was a really good and disturbing episode. And while it contained a little more of the supernatural than the entirely natural 'Irresistible', it was the human element that really made it interesting.

And of course, that human element went right after Scully. Because of course it did. Actually, I suppose it's not some random and bizarre coincidence in this case. She was responsible for tracking Pfaster down the last time and putting him away, and she was, as she said, also responsible for the mercy it took to spare him the death penalty, though I'm pretty sure he didn't really see it that way.

There was also a fairly strong religious component, as there is in many episodes, especially those that focus on Scully.

But that's what bothers Scully so much about shooting him. It's not just that she didn't need to, but you won't find me shedding any tears over Donnie Pfaster, who is by far one of the creepiest villains this show has had. He and Tooms would get along well. That is, if either of them was socially well-adjusted enough to relate to another person at all. Or, you know, still living. But that's beside the point.

And it's not just her 'goodness' as a person. We already knew Scully was a good person and sees herself as a good person. She always strives to do the right thing, so the fact that she shot an unarmed man who had previously threatened her clearly shakes her. Her mental state at the end isn't just a result of being attacked in her own home.

The real kicker is her religious doubt at the end about who made her pull the trigger. Her fear - "What if it wasn't [god]?" - is kind of scary to hear, even for a nonbeliever like myself. Because to someone like Scully, that's a real fear, and it's probably the most terrifying thing possible. She's worried there's real evil in her now. That she's one step closer to hell.

Given the nature of the show, I don't think it'll really be brought up again, but it's certainly an important aspect of Scully's character, and while we've seen her lose emotional control and scream at Luther Boggs in 'Beyond the Sea', this display of violence came from a place of extreme rage. I don't fault her at all for it. Because again, Pfaster fucking deserved it.

The fight scenes between him and Scully were incredibly well filmed, and I applaud Scully's quick thinking and creativity in using everything at her disposal to try to incapacitate him. Really, I'm kind of surprised he escaped the shelves so easily.

I'm also kind of surprised, but kind of not, that despite getting out of prison, instead of embracing his freedom and trying to start over, immediately returned to his old ways. I'm surprised because it seems like he would have known better, given that he got caught and locked up the first time. But I'm not surprised because he's clearly a sick individual whose delusions and obsessions trump all other possible rational thought.

There's also the other part of this episode, from which the title is derived, which is Reverend Orison's involement. This part was kind of fascinating to me, since I'm pretty sure most religions, especially Christianity, reserve judgement for their god, not for man. And yet, Orison believed he was doing god's work, but Scully and Mulder were right, he was just a murderer. A very Dexter-like murderer, but like Scully said, the law doesn't allow for vengeance, even if religion does.