Sometimes there are episodes with interesting concepts and promising setups that turn into outstanding pieces of entertainment. And sometimes there are episodes that are 'Fight Club'.
This started out so well. The premise was intriguing, the alternate Mulder and Scully were rather amusing (and it even took me a minute to realise they weren't actually David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) and the idea that these identical women were inadvertently following each other around simply because they both had the same interests and desires and abilities.
I even expected the dual nature of Kansas City to play a role in the episode and kept looking for hints that parts of it took place on opposite sides of the river, but no, no such luck.
And then there was the aspect of this that reminded me of 'Syzygy', only not as good, which is a shame, because I didn't really like that episode, either.
But there was nothing else here. Just two women who happened to lead basically the same life. Also no resolution. Seriously, we got to the end, there was a huge brawl, and suddenly Mulder and Scully were back at the FBI having ... what, beaten the crap out of each other? I don't get it. Were their alternates there, too? No, they couldn't have been, they were in the hospital in extremely bad shape at the beginning of the episode. So were two armed FBI agents simply extremely badly hurt in the fight? I don't get it.
And what was the point of the wrestling being part of the story? Just more violence? Who the hell has to pay to enter the ring? Isn't that the opposite of how it's supposed to work? You fight, then you get paid? Why would anyone pay to be thrown around a wrestling ring?
OK, more random questions. What the hell did Mulder do all day in the sewer? It can't have taken him that long to find his way out, so did he just explore a bit? I mean, what the hell, that was random! Was the show trying to imply he wasn't merely sucked down into the sewer but actually transported around town and didn't regain control until several hours later? I just don't know.
I think the one thing I did like was the use of the copy shop as Lulu's and Betty's chosen place of employment. Maybe it wasn't that subtle, but it was probably the most interesting thing about the episode after the cold open.
I simply couldn't get into Bert Zupanic's story or the 'wacky' hijinks that came from the fact that he was too stupid to realise there was at least something bizarre happening, even if he couldn't get to the idea that there were two identical women and both desired him. Like, that would be weird and unexpected, so I can see how he wouldn't make that leap. But maybe stop doing what you're doing once you're aware that something is out of the ordinary?
Also, unless Saperstein is a total idiot, he's going to know the money he's been given is badly counterfeited. If Betty and/or Lulu had been smart about it, they'd have at least mixed in some real money for 'texture'. But this episode was already so far gone, I hardly think that matters.
But I think that's another thing I didn't like about this episode. Everyone is so mind-bogglingly incompetent and it's kind of painful to watch at times.
Oh, plus, not really much of an X-File. And not one they could really do a whole lot about, either.
Yeah. I'm done. Better to forget about this one and watch whatever's next. I'd say it can't be worse than this, but I remember 'Teso dos Bichos' and 'Agua Mala'.
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