I watched Fire and Eve over the weekend. A few more people bit the big one (I'll give an update later on my body count). Just some random thoughts on the episodes.
Eve
I don't know how those little girls were loved so much in Eve. They didn't smile in their pictures! They must've been a joy to raise. You would think that at 8 years old the parents would be thinking, "hmmm, she doesn't like either one of us." Also, I like the fact that Eve 6 named their band after this episode.
Fire
When Mulder busts in on Phoebe and the Dad, I was thinking,"Mulder, how did you ever like that skank?" Phoebe says, "Forgive me for what happened 10 years ago." And then she goes and does something like that! That's probably exactly what happened ten years ago, except Mulder probably walked in on the horizontal hokey-pokey. Phoebe Green, good riddance. I like Cecil's (Bob's) American accent. Pretty good.
Beyond the Sea
I just watched Beyond the Sea last night. After having watched it, I am sorry to have allowed it to be eliminated from the Fall of the Famous. What an excellent episode. Brad Dourif's performance as Luther Boggs was amazing! This is the first episode were Mulder is seen as the sceptic and Scully is the believer, although she doesn't want to believe. I love how Boggs assisted Scully even though she couldn't get a stay; only because she tried.
Scully: "Luther, if you really were psychic —"
Luther Boggs: "I'd have known you lied. That there never was a deal. I know you tried."
And then at the end, Scully tries to talk herself out of believing.
Mulder: "Dana, after all you've seen, after all the evidence, why can't you believe?"
Scully: "I'm afraid. I'm afraid to believe."
Mulder: "You couldn't face that fear? Even if it meant never knowing what your father wanted to tell you?"
Scully: "But I do know."
Mulder: "How?"
Scully: "He was my father."
Powerful, powerful episode.
GenderBender
When you put the english subtitles on for this ep, Nic Lea's name is spelled Michael, the traditional way. However, in the credits, his name is spelled Michel. Interesting, but not at all important. It's nice to see that Michel's experience with the GenderBender traumatized him so much that he changed his name to Alex Krycek, hooked up with the Syndicate, joined the FBI and was promoted to special agent in less than a year! From club scene to FBI. Impressive! All kidding aside, it was an all right episode. Obviously Marty's friend, Andrew, was affected by the magazines as well. He wanted to experience what Marty was doing, so he started on Scully. I'm just glad he didn't go for Mulder. EWWWW! That episode reminds me of the main reason why it would suck to film in Vancouver. All episode long, M&S were running through big puddles of water, and it was always raining. That's enough to give them colds. I'm a bit confused on the pheromones though. With Marty, he made the victims wanting and willing to jump in the sack. With Andrew and Scully, she was just out of it, in a daze. Did the writers just not want to show Scully being sleezy, or is Andrew not as good as Marty?
Lazarus
This show emphasized my one pet peeve with the x-files, Scully's bullheadedness. Mulder shows her all the evidence with the birthday card and his signature and Scully still refuses to believe. Sometimes I felt Scully's disbelief unbelievable at times. Chris Allport gives a good performance of Jack Willis. However, when an FBI agent mutilates a corpse, he's just given a physical and psychological evaluation and then put back on active duty? Hardly. Isn't corpse mutilation a crime? Lula reveals that she set Dupre up, but she doesn't give a reason why. I would like to know why she did it. Willis still had a little bit of himself in him, but Dupre wins out by shooting Lula. Scully's attempts are in vain.
Young at Heart
I liked it. It's funny to see how many of the early episodes involved criminals from Mulder's days in the Violent Crimes Unit. I guess they had to get them from somewhere. John Barnett makes a good villian. I like his laugh. Dr. Ridley's pretty stupid to let Barnett get a hold of the only copy of his research.
EBE
Great episode! Long live the Lone Gunmen! Oh, wait, forget that. I love these lines.
Langly: "Is this your sceptical partner?"
Frohike: "She's hot."
Byers: "You don't believe that the CIA, threatened by a loss of power and funding, because of the collapse of the cold war, wouldn't dream of having the old enemy back?"
Scully: "I think you give the government too much credit. I mean, the government can't control the deficit or manage crime. What makes you think they can plan and execute such an elaborate conspiracy?"
Frohike: "She is hot."
Mulder: "Settle down Frohike."
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Byers: "That's why we like you, Mulder. You're ideas are weirder than ours."
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Scully: "Those were the most paranoid people I have ever met. I don't know how you could think that what they say is even remotely plausible."
Mulder: "I think it's remotely plausible that someone might think you're hot."
Good stuff
Miracle Man
It had been a while since I had seen this one. I liked it. It's much better the first time around when you don't know that Leonard Vance is the killer. I think it's a cool twist. The parts with Mulder's sister is weird though, because Mulder is a religious skeptic yet he asks Samuel about his sister. Later episodes were better when they settled on an actress for his sister so that we didn't have 5 different Samanthas in flashbacks.
Shapes
This was an all right episode. Nothing spectacular. It's another ep that shows that filming in B.C. could be very wet and miserable.
Darkness Falls
O.k. In doing my body count in the opening scene you see a scene with all the loggers. I counted 29 in that scene. After the credits, Mulder shows Scully a picture of the loggers. I count the men in the picture, 29. Yet Mulder and the Freddie both reference 30 men. Should I just assume 1 guy was off-camera in the opening shot and that one of the 30 was holding the camera for the picture? Also, like others have said, what's up with the insects attacking Spinney in front of the headlights? That makes no sense.
Although not as creepy as Squeeze, Tooms has its good moments. I like the cinematography used in the episode. Specifically I mean when they are showing Tooms POV. The people he targets are highlighted with blue clothing and everything around them turns to black and white. I like that. Tooms death-by-escalator appeared to be unecessary. Scully pulls Mulder out. Tooms is still at the bottom of the shaft and Mulder reaches over and starts the escalator. However, Scully had a gun on her that she could've used if needed. I suppose they used the escalator for dramatic effect. But Scully had time to draw a gun on Tooms.
Born Again
Average Episode. I don't have a lot to say about it. Kind of silly, really.
I was able to catch one ep last night, Roland. I liked the episode. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it is the second episode in a row along with 'Born Again' where a dead person wants to act through a living person. Along with 'Shadows' and 'Lazarus', the dead communicating from beyond the grave became too common a theme in season 1. You really start to see GA's pregnancy in this ep. A nice little gross moment is when Roland freezes Dr. Surnow, his head shatters, and Roland steps on the ear. *CRUNCH* I can't believe Arthur would want Roland to kill Tracy. Why? She can't expose Arthur. Arthur was going a little bit overboard with his homicidal ambitions. It's a good thing Roland resisted that urge.
I watched The Erlenmeyer Flask on Friday. I completed season 1 in about two months time. This was an enjoyable episode; very exciting. But this episode has one glaring discrepancy. Mulder gets kidnapped by the bad guys. Scully and Deep Throat converse thus:
DEEP THROAT: They won't kill him.
SCULLY: How do you know that?
DEEP THROAT: He's become too high-profile and you've got evidence that could expose them.
Then later they talk again after Scully retrieves the alien fetus.
SCULLY: So why give it back to them?
DEEP THROAT: To save Mulder's life.
Excuse me, but if they won't kill Mulder because he's become to high-profile, why does DT say they have to do this to save Mulder's life. It doesn't gel with me.
Little Green Men
This is a terribly fun episode, though a bit inconsistent. The long-standing rule is that you're not supposed to kill Fox Mulder but these troops have been authorized to display terminal force. Mulder gets dropped off by a local at the gate. He sees the gate is locked with a chain and proceeds to go around it and into the ravine. He then comes up to the door of the building, also locked with a chain, and whips out his bolt cutters! Why didn't he use the bolt cutters on the gate? It was fun to see Skinner kick CSM out of his office. Go Skinner!
The Host
This was an all right episode. It's cool to hear X's voice for the first time. "Success in this case is imperative!" It gets good marks for having some grossness in it. That guy brushing his teeth and puking the fluke. Disgusting!
Blood
This was discussed on another thread, and after having just viewed it, I stick with what I said. The digitial displays were not altered by the government. The drug these people ingested specifically caused them to have hallucinations related to digital displays. There is no way the government could alter all of these electronics and know exactly where the person was going to be at any given time. The message at the end on Mulder's watch? I maintain that he was under the influence of the drug, they just never encouraged Mulder to harm anyone.
Oops, I forgot to include Sleepless
Sleepless
I like this episode. I agree with TB that they should not have had Krycek talking with CSM. It would've been cooler for his betrayel to be a surprise. The database they had for these 'Sleepless Soldiers' wasn't very good. Mulder says that Cole is the sole surviving member, then X gives him Salvatore's name who then gives Mulder and Krycek the name of an additional doctor.
Duane Barry
This is a really good episode. But the one thing that bugs me every time I watch it is the inconsistency of character Special Agent Lucy Kazdin played by CCH Pounder. She brings Mulder in because he has an "expertise" in alien abductions. DB needs someone to relate to. She tells Mulder to say anything about Aliens to keep him talking. 10 minutes later she's telling Mulder not to say he believes him and not to feed into DB's paranoia. So what do you want SA Kazdin? Do you want Mulder to relate to Duane Barry or not? It's very confusing. Relate to him, don't relate to him. She gets mad at Mulder for doing the exact thing she brought him in for.
Ascension
I loved Ascension. It's great to see Mulder stop at nothing to rescue Scully. The idiot even gets on top of a gondola, hundreds of feet in the air! Then Krycek almost kills him by starting the gondola again. Mulder sees Krycek talking to Duane Barry and takes him out of the room. DB then dies. What did Krycek say to DB, I wonder? Mulder suggests death by injection or ingestion by Krycek. DB wasn't fighting Krycek so it looks like he submitted willingly to whatever Krycek did to him. Why?
3
This episode was all right. It sucks that Mulder wants to get it on with a vampire chick so soon after losing Scully. I liked how the ep made you think Kristin was the unholy spirit until Mulder figured out she was running from the Son.
This was another cool episode. I like the introduction of Melissa. The arm breaking and subsequent execution by X down in the garage is very intense. I like how they did the execution with silhouettes of their shadows instead of actually showing them. I'd like to see Deep Throat try do do what X just did.
Man, I wish I could get 'Superstars of the Superbowls' as a gift.
Firewalker
I saw Firewalker yesterday. It was quite entertaining. Those bulging necks were quite gross. The special effect of the throats bulging was very good. It didn't look fake at all. The only fake looking part was when Tanaka was dead on the table and the thingy was sticking out of his neck. The makeup where the thingy meets the neck was kinda fake.
The only drawback to this episode for me was that it was remarkably similar to 'Ice'. Mulder and Scully in an isolated area with people who want to infect them with an unknown life form.
One more thing that doesn't jive is that O'Neil tried to infect Scully which is consistent with a parasite trying to find a host. However, Tanaka ran away from Mulder and Ludwig, which doesn't fit that profile. I think that's a plothole because Tanaka should've tried to infect those two.
Red Museum
This was a good job of misdirection. You're thinking the cult are the bad guys, and they pretty much end up having nothing to do with what's happening. Like Scully says, they were the control group. It was kind of a shame to have the crew cut man go down so quickly, like people have said. I don't really have any questions on this one, so yeah.
Excelsis Dei
Way too much water in the hallway! Even if the bathroom could fill up completely, no way that much water would be in the hallway after it spilled out of the window. I don't know if this is a plot hole or what but Dorothy sees Leo getting dragged away. Then we see him drawing again at the end of the ep. I guess the ghosts just wanted to play "Pull the old geezer around". This ep is kind of confusing. Did Hal Arden rape Michelle Charters or did the ghosts? Dorothy made it seem like the ghosts of the dead were causing all the mischief, not Hall and Stan.
Aubrey
I really liked this ep. I thought it was well-paced and very dramatic. There's an element of mystery, because you don't know how BJ is connected to Cokely. An that actor that plays Cokely is just plain creepy.
Now to the lighter parts. I like the pile of sunflower seeds in Mulder's room and him talking about he may be genetically disposed to liking sunflower seeds.
I love this dialogue:
MULDER: There are countless stories of twins separated at birth who end up in the same occupation, marrying the same kind of people, each naming their child Waldo.
SCULLY: Waldo?
If I rated episodes like Ravn or TB, I'd give this ep a 9. Very enjoyable.