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“This” is what we’ve been waiting for.
I am by no means any form of a writer. The fact that I can string together comprehensible sentences is a miracle. Let’s just say my brain seems to work faster than my hands or mouth and therefore I will squirrel all over these reviews.
If you still want to read the rantings of a self-proclaimed Phile (the biggest I personally know…ok I only know me…), then please read, review, critique, repost.
S11 Ep 2 – “This”
“This” is what we’ve been waiting for.
1, 2, 3, 4…. And we are back. Back to a more sensible feel of The X-Files. While last week’s “My Struggle III” did struggle, it still gave us our daring duo, albeit separated for 90% of the episode. Bless Glen Morgan and his comprehension of Mulder and Scully. Their complexities, their dynamics, their banter and love for each other (no matter what CC says).
Quick Thoughts
The good: Mulder and Scully. Their banter. The action. The bad guys. The Easter eggs.
The not so good: Continuity. Difficulty understanding some of the conversations (mumbled words). Plotline/Timeline. Bye-bye Ringo.
Let’s break this down
So, what did I get from this episode? Everything! Everything I was missing from last week.
Let’s face it, Mulder and Scully do so much better together (handcuffed even…more on that later) but even David and Gillian; they are symbiotic. They just seem to know what the other is doing. And for both the actors and characters, that is special. But that is also what 25 years together brings. And Glen sees that and knows to let it play out. This episode brought the action, though we never really got this big into action in our previous seasons, it’s entertaining, it’s exciting, it’s badass.
Like many, I did catch the opening preview a day before, but instead of spoiling or ruining anything for me, it just made me want Wednesday to come that much faster. I cannot say how many times I watched it on repeat, and I can only imagine iTunes would show a spike in the purchase of “California Sun” by The Ramones. (I’m admitted playing some of their biggest hits on replay as I attempt to type this up.)
We find our daring duo sleeping on the sofa, probably after a long night of trying to find the truth in the files (as mentioned by Scully from what I guess is at least two weeks ago in MSIII), unbeknownst to them a hit crew is coming to their isolated paradise. Muder’s phone starts glitching and it’s Langly, one of our loveable guys from the Lone Gunman (RIP…. or are they?). He asks if he’s dead and if he is, they know that he knows? Knows what? No time for questions, as creaking porches and slow opening doors send Mulder and Scully into action mode. A cool slide from Scully with perfect shots to take out one of the bad guys, and Mulder pops out from the bedroom taking down another, leaving only one to escape. It was an intense 3 minutes to which we cut to credits and another new opening tag line “Accuse Your Enemies of That Which You Are Guilty.” That’s a mouthful, and what are we accusing or who?
We come back to our duo who are now in “What the hell was this?” mode. Better call it in, so Scully gets on the landline and reports that there was an attack at Agent Mulder’s house, but they are fine (damn right they are). Mulder tossing pencils at Scully is couple goals. He hides his phone first in the oven mitt, but we need that to pick up our evidence. Moves it to a non-conspicuous place, the oven, like we all do when we try to hide things. Very quickly the FBI has shown up, but that was a little too quick and it’s instead some weird sounding dude in a Humvee threatening Mulder and Scully to come out. Best to just call dad, I mean Skinner, and ask what’s going on.
Skinman of course knows and just tells them to turn themselves over quietly. Whose side are you on? Our duo is taken down and handcuffed while they search for Mulder’s phone. If the Russian accents don’t give them away, his gold chain will later. They took out two of their best. Really? Those guys were their best? I mean, Mulder and Scully should technically be retired FBI agents who never had that much combat training. Mulder and Scully get handcuffed together for some reason and are babysat by some incompetent soldiers it would seem because some quick fight skills and they are off and running and diving (cuffed together) through the creepy X-Files woods. When they run into dad…I mean Skinner. I wondered if him wearing his hat that read FBI was just a little on the nose and not very good for being covert, but then I was thinking, maybe they had a big group meeting, so he was identifying himself, hence knowing all these details. Dad rescues them and gives them their weekly allowance, so they can get to Arlington Cemetery where they buried our Lone Gunman.
Once at the Cemetery they locate the graves, very quickly, they start noticing their birthdates and Langly’s is wrong. Apparently, he and Mulder share a birthday, October 13. Google Scully kicks in and recognizes that all the dates are related to President’s dates of death. Mulder is probably both turned on and…. just turned on. They locate the breadcrumbs and it somehow leads them to Deep Throat’s gravestone. And 24 years later, Mulder just KNOWS this is his, because??? Ok, that just one little inconsistency I will ignore. We learn Deep Throat’s name was Ronald Pakula (which I believe we also heard in Musing’s of a Cigarette Smoking Man). A late night grave digger notices Mulder and Scully, but wait, he’s the creepy hair dude who reminds me of CSM, one of their best. He starts shooting at our duo, but somehow in all his skills, he still gets outnumbered and they easily take him down, with a little help from Deep Throat.
Thanks to dad, Mulder and Scully are now going to be opening X-Files on alien butt muffins, and I’m all for it. She’s picking food off his plate!!! Friends…. I’d cut my friends if they touch my plate. This memory medallion leads them to the Titanpointe building. Something thanks to Edward Snowden’s leaks. But how will they get access to the files on this building in their office. Better go back to dad, have him help us. Scully tells Skinner they need his help, they can’t go back to “OUR” home, and I died. They are still not trusting of him, and part of me understands. He’s always stood on the line, either to help himself or help his agents, but I believe he’s always done what he’s done to help them (and I believe we will get more of this explanation in the Skinner centric episode). Turns out after Mulder and Scully went on the run, instead of keeping the X-Files closed, they got them scanned digitally so the information can be shared with all who have clearance (and maybe hackers like Snowden) so Mulder’s theories wouldn’t just be “spooky” but everyone could see the bigger picture. While dad takes a call, the kids start looking at the database. No records of Titanpointe or Langly anywhere, he has been completely wiped from the system, but Frohike and Byers are still there. Frohike’ s larger file folder points them to a Spank Bank v3 of Scully, oh Frohike you horn dog you. Where they thankfully only come across a photo of Dr. Khara Hamby who they must find. Another breadcrumb left by Langly. One must ask, what are on v1 & v2 of the Frohike Spank Bank folder and does Mulder know of them?
So, this if Langly’s girlfriend I guess, though we never heard of them having any relationships (except Byers and Suzanne), the good Dr. and Richard wanted to be together forever, even in the digital world. This throw back to “Kill Switch” is awesome. Maybe Langly got the idea from Esther when she hacked back into their computer after her own final upload? You can clearly see when she speaks of being together forever, Mulder and Scully have a quick glance and they feel her pain. Me too, me too! Why Langly chooses Mulder, well clearly like the rest of us, he dreams of him in his sleep. Creepy long hair CSM shows up and kills Khara but Scully’s expert shooting skills take him out. Her shooting game is on point, and this leads me to think Mulder has been giving her some private lessons like he did with baseball…ok my brain is imaging this and let me have it.
Off we go to a run-down diner where in his downtime Mulder has apparently taking up learning coding and mathematical equations, while an “adorbs” Scully is curled up sleeping, until the bartender wakes her to which she quickly reaches for the Glock. Mulder’s in love, so are we! Gillian is saying we are at Chili’s and ordering fajitas and we are all dead. This is the X-Files we want! Mulder’s technical skills work and Langly comes through on the Dr.’s phone, he recognizes Scully’s name and we all get a little choked up. He’s in heaven, hot dogs and donuts (yes, my childish brain went there), the Ramones are always playing, Steve Jobs and Michael Chricton are there too (though somehow, he knows they are dead because….) and the Patriots NEVER win the Superbowl. But he wants them to shut it down, this isn’t Heaven, it was a lie and they are suffering. Our duo must kill the system, to save them all.
We’ve now taken a quick bus ride up to get into the Titanpointe building. How will they get in looking how they do? No worries for Scully, she’s always looking good. Cut to Mulder being brought in by Scully to the FBI because the Titanpointe folks want to interrogate him. Maybe this green agent can help them, and a little wink from Scully is all it takes. I’m with Mulder, gag me with a spoon. A great reference to Gillian’s time on the show “Hannibal” saying Mulder is Lecter style crazy, that little noise from Mulder was just perfect. Awkward flirting by this agent and Scully lead to another “Well they are clearly a couple” thought, she’s “Married to the bureau”, e.g. Mulder, and they have disposed of him easily. How are they going to get up to the server if they will be waiting for them? Why cardio, of course Scully. Clearly Mulder forgets she does this in 3” heels.
25 floors later (not even winded?? I’m dead after climbing 2 floors) and our fearless duo are surrounded by three agents. No fear, Scully has been taking parkour and easily jumps the railing and escapes while Mulder distracts them to allow her to escape. Oh, hey it’s Sergei with his gold chain and incomprehensible accent. Mulder is brought before Erica Price, our mysterious syndicate woman from MSIII. Clearly this is a diversion tactic on Mulder’s part, but is she that oblivious that he would stall her to allow Scully to find the server, or is she not worried because the projects always continue? Mulder asks if he agrees to kill CSM (his father) can he be uploaded and Scully with him, because they can never be apart, in this life or the next. Cue the fanfics. Mulder is Langly’s 1 in 7 billion, nice reference.
Goldy McChainy then brings a handcuffed Mulder up to see the server for his scan, and once again their symbiosis allows him to know that’s clearly Scully’s shadow waiting to spring into action. Cuffed he kicks Chainy McDouchy’s butt. “Why do you operate so well with your hands cuffed behind your back?” “As if you didn’t know” …and cue every NC-17 fanfic story in 3…2…1 (and I expect some good ones ya’ll!).
While Scully goes to disable the server to free Langly and all the trapped minds, Mulder winds up in a battle with more Russian Krycek. “Bye bye Ringo”, Scully has managed to shut the entire server down, only for a knock on the door to startle her. It’s Mulder and he got his phone back (he could never survive without it) and then ALL the touching begins. Sadly, for our duo, Erica managed to clear out the building, but would we expect anything different.
Returning home, where clearly a clean up crew decided this is always how their home looks, Mulder and Scully start to clean, but let’s be honest, the couch is much better. We return to our opening scene of them starting to snuggle on the couch when Mulder’s phone comes back on and it’s Langly again, and he needs them to delete the back up, but not before he appears to be taken out and creepy spaghetti hair CSM appears, does his creepy finger twirl but then gets taken out himself? Dun dun dun….
Overall
All in all, I loved this episode. The right combination of humour, action, dialogue and touching. Another great song included but this time NOT ruined by Glen Morgan. This will be a repeatable watch for years to come, and right now I am curious how the next episodes will stand up to this one.
I give this 4.5 out of 5 adorbs Scully’s.
Fun facts I caught
I happened to notice several Easter eggs in this episode like many, but other things I noticed (in no order):
- Scully has a new badge number. XF-072161. Do they give you a new badge number when you’ve been away for years? Also nitpick…. when she takes Mulder to NYC building, her badge number is XF-071261 (either done by accident or intent)
- 3. This number is symbolic in this episode and comes up so many times.
o 33 church street
o There are 3 gunmen
o The Lone Gunman were 3
o The Presidents were 33, 34, 35
o 3 up and 3 across
o Frohike’s spank bank was v3
o Ramen Noodle hair dude fired 3 shots to kill Khara, Scully fired 3 to kill him
o It took Scully 3 hits to break the glass
- Where is Dagoo?? If this is there home, did Scully keep him, or did Mulder get rid of him? Or was that just a dream?
- It only took Mulder 8 minutes (from start of show, credits etc.) to lose his gun, this might be a new record for keeping it the longest before losing it!
- Did David have to run really slow for Gillian?
- The nice nod to the “Home” episode from S4, as it was the X-File seen on Skinner’s computer (and Karen Konoval will be in next week’s episode)
- And just like they did in “Home”, the word “This” was said in rapid successions (Sherriff Taylor said “home” too many times and now Erica Price said “this” too many as well).
Thanks for hearing out my take on this episode.
Nessie
My Struggle III Review
Ok so I'm by no means any pro writer and this was just done a few days after seeing the episode (only once). My own personal musings. Like them or not. Oh, and this was something I had written as an email to someone hence the tenses and my narrative. I am admittedly one of the biggest X-Files fans that I know of in my personal group and I'm admittedly very obsessed about the show and tend to nitpick a lot. I am also a hard-core shipper, I have always been about Mulder and Scully being together and anytime CC is taking that away from us it leaves you in frustration but being a fan of the show also you stick with it. I approach season 11 much in the way I did with season 10, not huge expectations but no matter how good or bad I will stand by it. Overall I was actually pleased with the episode, from a general standpoint. You can clearly see that David and Gillian have fallen back into their characters much easier this time, we're finally getting more Skinner which, whether you like him or not is always a great thing. And the overall narrative of the episode flowed like somewhat of a newer X-Files episode. Where the fan part of me comes in and the nitpicking part is all the little slap in your face moments. We know that X-Files has never been strong on continuity, which as a fan you can except for the most part, however sometimes you just shake your head and wonder how drunk were you when you wrote that, that you'd forget a critical thing (think where is Scully's tattoo from "Never Again" S4). Let's start with Scully having seizures, and Skinner picking up on Morse code. This is the exact same plot line from the season six finale and season seven premiere, where Mulder, who would been infected by the alien technology, started having seizures and skinner picked up on the brain activity via Morse code. We can never explain the fact of how did cancer man survive. And I will use a fan theory that in the season seven episode "En Ami", that not only did he do the terrible thing that he's implying, but maybe that he took Scully's immortality that she had gotten from a season six episode "Tithonus". But really let's get down to the crux of all of this which is the comment made by CSM in the car to Skinner. Now, my initial reaction, like many people, was "that is rape". And after digesting all of the information, reading that BS article by Chris Carter in EW, where he says "no no it wasn't rape, it was just medical procedure against her will"; I started to use my shipper brain instead and figured that maybe what he (CSM) was saying, because we know he (CSM) loves to lie, and he also loves to hold power over Skinner, is that yes though he did undress her, which is still a violation, he somehow triggered the chip in her neck that allowed her to become impregnated by Mulder. They seem to forget the fact that Mulder and Scully apparently have alien DNA, which could easily explain how William has the powers he has. No, for Chris also in the article states that it has always been his intention to make this event happen since Wayback in 2000, I call BS. There are wonderful other friends out there who have found book references from other producers on the show, like Rob Bowman, who have explicitly stated that they knew Mulder would be William's father, they knew that the Gillian Anderson's season seven episode "all things" was the episode in which they conceived this child. Additionally, Chris Carter never wrote that episode in which CSM "violates" Scully, it was the actor himself William B Davis who wrote that, and from anything I've seen it was never been his intention to imply that he raped and impregnated Scully. He might have violated her with the undressing but that would be the extent. I always saw that episode as one of CSM's adoration for Scully, and not so much in the hard-core romantic sense, but in his respect for who she is and how she's the only person who can control Mulder better than he can. What is so frustrating as a fan when this episode happened, was that every person out there, except for Chris Carter, knows that Mulder and Scully are a couple. Even if you want to say they're just really good friends with benefits, he still plays it up like there just to total strangers. I really hope that this is not the final outcome where CSM actually is William's father because as I stated previously, it truly is a slap in the face to the fans, and proves you have never listened to your Fanbase and just for once given them a nice peaceful resolution. So all that to be said, I would still give this episode generally speaking a six out of ten. There are still certain inconsistencies which make it hard to enjoy but if you are just watching it on the basic fan level of having your two favourite characters back, it was a good start.
Spent my day off finishing up this #waffle #pattern #hat #knittersofinstagram #modelingmyownwork #pink #imgettingbetter
When you FINALLY reach the half way point on your shawl (that no one wants) #knitting #knittersofinstagram #shawl #knitproject #iknitformysanity #caroncakes #spicecake #intheround #whowantsthis
Just a little snack sized wine #cabernet #sauvignon #woodbridge #robertmondavi #wine #imalush #2014
Reliving my #teenyears watching #buffythevampireslayer #giles #willowfilter #1997
Excuse you I'm trying to #nap on this #lazysunday #catsofinstagram #tuxedocat #snugglebuddies
Whoever said #workingout was good for you didn't lie. First time back at a #gym in years #healthylife #fitness
#tbt to the day my #brother held my hand as I was leaving to get #baptized #80s #1985 #whitedress
#internationalwomensday #nevertheless #shepersisted #teeturtle #futureisfemale
#eatasnickers #myfavoritemurder #dahmer
When this #queen #splurges and gets a #kingsizebed #livinglarge #bedroom #sleepover
When #landmarkcinemas are #packed watching #legobatmanmovie #solomovienight (at Landmark Cinemas 24 Kanata)
#tbt to this sweet #ragdoll #80sfashion #whocutmyhair #iwassocute
