The Fractal Hall Journal

“John Doe” is a pretty interesting episode where Doggett’s memory gets wiped, and he’s lost in a mob-run town in Mexico. It’s filmed in a gritty, washed-out fashion, more in keeping with The Unit, say, than the X-Files, and it really does show how long the programme’s been running. I mean, the difference in production quality between this episode and the pilot is enormous. It’s a good episode for Robert Patrick, giving him a lot to do, including a devestating scene where Reyes has to tell the amnesiac Doggett that his son is dead, meaning he gets to go through the most traumatising event any parent can be faced with twice. If there’s a weakness here, it’s that the episode is (like “4-D” and “Daemonicus”) tries to subvert the status-quo. Sure, this is something the X-Files was known for in the latter half of the run, with mixed success, but it strikes me as a little daft at the point because we don’t really know what the status-quo is at this point.

“Hellbound” is the usual religious hokum the show is so fond of, this time centred around Reyes. Slowly, we’re just about learning what the character’s about, but there’s still too much angst and crying, this time due to the possibility that she’s doomed to repeat the mistakes of her previous lives over and over. Again, what made Mulder and Scully so interesting was the way that it was the bloke who was usually the impulsive, emotional wreck, with Scully being the level headed one. Sliding back to cliched gender norms is not helping this series. Oh, also, continuity error- we’ve already established that reincarnation in the X-Universe occurs at the moment of conception, not birth. Stick that in your wok and stir it, programme from six years ago.

I’m not sure exactly what, if anything, really happened in the two parter “Providence/Provenance”. Yet another UFO cult turns up, someone else wants to kill William, etc., etc. Fucking Jim Robinson from Neighbours turns up. My God, who decided that he should get a big time Hollywood career? 24, Star Trek, Lost, it’s like I can’t switch the telly on without seeing his fucking face. And his American accent stinks.

Hold on, where was I?

Right, UFO cult. Apparently, there’s a prophecy that says William is going to be a super-powerful messiah that will stop the invasion, but only if Mulder’s still alive. A rogue FBI agent thinks Mulder’s dead, so wants to kill William because now the UFO cult will kidnap the child and raise him to be on the alien’s side. Then he gets killed. And they kidnap William. But then the buried UFO the cult has dug up takes off, and burns up all the baddies but leaving William alive. Making the whole two parter pointless and incomprehensible. Dear Scully, losing your child but having it all turn out OK anyway is not a valid care plan.

“Audrey Pauley” is the first Reyes episode I really enjoyed, with some great work from Gish and Doggett. It’s a little odd the way they’re hinting that the two are attracted to one another (in “Daemonicus” it was hinted that Doggett was attracted to Scully, and that wasn’t that long ago. Maybe Doggett’s just a hound dog), in that the subtext was present in “4-D” but has been ignored in every episode since, but from this episode on, it is at least addressed. “Underneath” is mediocre and notable only in that, for once, Doggett is the believer. It’s a new take on the Scully/Mulder Skeptic/Believer reversal that used to happen whenever religion came into it, but in S9 takes the form of Reyes believing any old shit except when it comes to murder cases her partner was involved with in the past. Which is a bit prickish on her part, actually. The writers really don’t want anyone to warm to her, it seems.