The big problem with this episode is not only that the 'villain' wasn't defeated in the end, but that there's absolutely no help for him or his mother. They just leave town. No chance to adapt or try to fit in, all summed up in a very very chilling message she gave to him before they left.
And it gets worse when you consider the metaphor for adolescence and high school, because really, when the message is, "Nope, you're never going to fit in, you're just different and you always will be," I think that kind of runs counter to what we want to feel in high school and eventually realise as adults: despite our differences in background, personal style, interests, and so on, we can really all find ways to fit in and contribute and be accepted. That's not the case here, and it kind of muddles what they seemed to be setting out to do at the beginning.
Maybe subversion was the point. But as someone who never really fit in when I was in school - even high school, when I attended a magnet school and was already among a larger percentage of misfits than I otherwise would have been - that subversion kind of bothers me. Shouldn't fiction encourage people to embrace their differences and not be shamed for them?
Not only that, but could we maybe have an explanation for this family's condition? Are they just bug people? Is there any science here at all? Anything for Scully to do now?
Much of the insect plot reminded me of 'Darkness Falls', way back from season one, especially seeing the people cocooned in the car. Holy crap that was freaky. It was freak then and it was freaky now, but the difference is 'Darkness Falls' was a really good episode, and 'Lord of the Flies' was not. Even the effects were better eight years earlier. Those green iridescent bugs were far creepier than the flies in this one, and they didn't even represent something real.
I guess some part of it is that flies just aren't scary. Flies are pests, but most people deal with them. Remember 'War of the Coprophages'? Cockroaches are freaky. So are bees, as we've seen in so many episodes. But flies really aren't scary or even that dangerous. Sure, some species can carry disease, but that's not how they killed in this episode anyway. So it's a little hard to take it seriously when the biggest threat is just a whole lot of flies. Especially because the first victim was kind of asking to win a Darwin Award in the first place.
As much as I've talked before about the nightmare fuelish episodes, I actually do like those. When it's real and pervasive, that's when the show is doing something right. 'Field Trip' scared the hell out of me, and it was a fantastic episode. 'Lord of the Flies' just made me hope the next episode is
Even from the beginning of the episode, my thought was, "What the hell am I watching?" because it didn't feel like an X-Files episode. In fact, for a minute, I thought maybe I'd hit the wrong button on Netflix and was watching something else entirely. Sadly, no, the Dumbass show really was part of The X-Files.
Also, I'd say another big problem was not just that all the 'high school students' looked like they were 24, but none of them seemed to be particularly into their roles. It was almost as if they were simply reading their lines. I think the writing is more to blame in this case, because it just wasn't an interesting episode, but I think there are times when a decent actor can at least salvage bad writing - I'm pretty sure that's the source of the occasional gems within mediocre and bad X-Files episodes. Every now and then, there'll be a clunker with a great Mulder/Scully scene.
Except not any more, because Mulder is gone and Scully is barely around.
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