The X-Files
Third Season Episode Reviews

by Mary Ruth Keller

Review Categories

For the purposes of this rating, I'll assume 1 is a low rating, and 5 a high. This way I can use zero and negative numbers for certain episodes. I'm going to give rank each episode on four separate scales, only three of which will usually apply to any given Third Season episode, unfortunately.

1. Advancement of the Continuing story(Conspiracy, Samantha, Scully's abduction, etc.)

A 1 means the episode, however much action-oriented, fails to advance the Meta-story of the X-Files, either by being repetitive, or inexplicably contradictory of the stories that have preceded it. A 5 means that the episode builds up the mythology of the X-Files, taking it to a new and higher level, without abandoning the rest. A prime example of a 5 would be "The Erlenmeyer Flask", from the First Season, where the lurking government forces opposing Mulder and Scully began to come into focus, and we lost Deep Throat. We had examples of both in the Third Season.

2. Depiction of the Paranormal

Here, I'm including your various Monsters of the Week, Aliens, unexplained phenomena, etc. An episode will always get a five from me in this category if it is written in an "is it or isn't it" paranormal approach, with equal weight thrown to both sides of the question. Several First Season stories were written like this, as well as usually being very exciting.

If the paranormal must exist for the story to work, then I'll be ranking it based on the "good Science Fiction" criterion, which one can probably find in Asimov or Heinlein or somewhere. In a metaphorical nutshell, it's the "suspension of reality" card. This card entitles the writers to break with plausibility and/or scientific accuracy, if and only if, (a) Those various breaks with reality are kept to an absolute minimum. (b) Those breaks are utterly essential to the story being told. (c) Once played, the story proceeds with this card in place, and we see the various ramifications of this break carried to logical ends. The card cannot be picked up and laid down again, simply at the writer's convenience. I know I'll probably hear about the limitations of television script writing with this one, but I don't care. Quality is quality, schlock is schlock. We had both this season.

A subrule to (c) is that if the monster being used in the story is one created in an earlier episode of the X-Files, or is lifted from outside, then it should behave as it did before, or as it does outside the X-Files. If we see a monster that is, a werewolf, say, then it should behave as a werewolf always has in legend and folklore. It should not suddenly sprout wings and fly away because the script writers can't think of any way better to extricate it before our heroes kill it at the end. I would rank an episode with a 1 in this category if it breaks rules (a) through (c) repeatedly and needlessly. I would give an episode a 5 if it adheres to all three rules, and managed to scare my socks off. A prime example of a 5 in this category would be the First Season episodes "Squeeze" and "Tooms". Eugene Victor Tooms was an original, building on the concept of a monster who must kill because he needs some vital part of humans to survive himself. Once his need for five livers so he could hibernate for 30 years was established, that drove the entirety of the two episodes devoted to him. He didn't suddenly require fingernails and eyelashes, or video games, or some such foolishness.

3. Character development or realism

Since, in the Third Season, we began to develop the secondary characters of Skinner, the Cigarette-Smoking Man, and Mister X, as well as Mulder and Scully, I see this criterion as separate from one devoted to the Mulder- Scully relationship. I would rank a story as 1 if all or most of the characters begin to behave in a manner dissonant with their past, for no discernable or plausible reason. I would give the story a 5 if we see some great insight or believable past developed for the main or secondary characters, or if we have an especially moving portrayal of a majority of the characters under difficult circumstances. A prime example of a 5 on this scale is the Second Season episode "One Breath". In it, we see nearly every continuing character in the series growing in one way or another.

4. Portrayal of the Mulder-Scully partnership

In the Second Season, the M-S partnership, with the break-up of the X-Files, Scully's abduction and its effects on Mulder, then their reunion, turned into a separate thread all by itself. Whether one is a rabid Relationshipper, or a pure Partnershipper, or would be perfectly delighted if Mulder and Scully pulled out their guns and shot each other in the heads, it cannot be denied that how Mulder and Scully interact with each other in a given episode is a vital part of what makes the X-Files the series it is. My rankings in this category are similar to those in category 3: an episode gets a 1 if the portrayal rings untrue, or is downright unbelievable for reasons inexplicable, a 3 if it just shows them running on autopilot with each other, and a 5 if it reveals the depth of their personal bond with each other, whatever one considers that bond to be. An example of a 5 would be the Second Season episode "Irresistible". Mulder is so very gentle with Scully throughout, as she struggles to hold up her end of the partnership, in the face of her overwhelming emotions. She finally admits how much she depends on him, as he, midway through, does his reliance on her. We also have an inkling that, at least in the Second Season, they did friends-type socializing together outside of work (the football game).

Now, some of the episodes I will rank highly I was not comfortable watching, and didn't enjoy then, nor do I want to watch again now. Similarly, some I just adored, and watch over and over, are diamonds in the rough, sad to say. But, these are my criteria, so I must give them their due.

Season Three Overall Rankings

		Categories
Episode Number	Episode Title	1	2	3	4	Overall Ranking
3X01	"The Blessing Way"	5	5	5	5	5
3X02	"Paperclip"	4.9	1	5	4.9	4.2
3X03	"D.P.O."	N/A	4.5	3	3.5	3.7
3X04	"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"	N/A	5+	5	5+	5+
3X05	"The List"	N/A	4.5	5	2	3.8
3X06	"2Shy"	N/A	3	1.5	2.5	2.3
3X07	"The Walk"	N/A	3	2	3	2.7
3X08	"Oubliette"	N/A	1	2	1	1.3
3X09	"Nisei"	3	3	3	1.5	2.6
3X10	"731"	3	3	3	1.5	2.6
3X11	"Revelations"	N/A	1	1	2	1.3
3X12	"War of the Coprophages"	N/A	5+	5+	4.9	5+
3X13	"Syzygy"	N/A	1-	1-	1-	1-
3X14	"Grotesque"	3	5	5	3	4
3X15	"Piper Maru"	1	4	3	3	2.8
3X16	"Apocrypha"	3	4	1	4	3
3X17	"Pusher"	N/A	5++	4.9	5+	5+
3X18	"Teso dos Bichos"	N/A	1-	1-	2	1.1
3X19	"Hell Money"	N/A	1	3	3.2	2.4
3X20	"Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"	N/A	5+	5+	5+	5+
3X21	"Avatar"	N/A	3	5	3	3.7
3X22	"Quagmire"	N/A	1	1	3	1.7
3X23	"Wet-wired"	3	1-	3	5	3
3X24	"Talitha Cumi"	1-	1---	2	3	1.8

Return Home

3X01: "The Blessing Way"

1. Continuing story: I'll give this one a 5, because we meet the Consortium members for the first time, learn more about Bill Mulder's past, think the digital tape is lost, find out about Scully's implant, and all without stepping on what went before in the first two seasons.
2. Paranormal: I have to give CC credit, he actually did research into Native American ceremonies and legends. Then, he recreated an authentic healing ritual and the near-death experience Mulder undergoes by sticking to the facts as we know them. A big fat 5 for this one.
3. Character development: Again, a 5 for the insights into Bill Mulder, Mrs. Mulder, Melissa Scully, Frohike (We see his as sympathetic, not as a lunatic, for the first time), Skinner, and all the members of the Consortium, minus Mister X, for some reason.
4. M-S partnership: Again, a 5, because even though Scully believes Mulder to be dead, she's still as doggedly loyal to him as if he were alive, attempting to retrieve the digital tape (although taping it to the underside of his desktop is hardly concealment), pursuing his killers, etc. Mulder is too busy recovering from near-death to worry too much about Scully, yet.

Overall Rank: 5

Back To Rankings

3X02: "Paperclip"

1. Continuing Story: For continuity, I'm giving this a 4.9, not a 5, because we see different birthdates for Fox and Samantha Mulder (and a different middle initial for Sam) from those given in "Conduit", for no good reason. Otherwise, what can I say. We have the revelation of Bill Mulder's choice, the loss of the digital tape to Alex Krycek, Melissa Scully's death, Skinner turning into a true ally, the developments with the Cigarette-Smoking Man losing face before the other members of the Consortium, the records in the Strughold Mine, etc.
2. Monsters: Little Greys cooped up in the Strughold Mine until Mulder and Scully arrive to look at records, when the Mothership magically appears to spirit them away. What did they live on all those years? Air? Where were their keepers? Why didn't they leave out the back-door to hide in the woods sooner? As much as I love this episode, it gets a 1 in this category. CC could have left these kids in prosthetics out altogether and not detracted one wit from an otherwise superior mythology story.
3. Character development: A 5 here. Everything rings true with the secondary characters, from Skinner and the three-way standoff at the beginning to the devoted Maggie Scully sleeping in the chair in the hospital.
4. M-S Partnership: A 4.9 here. Mulder and Scully work together like two halves of a whole, as a fully re-united investigating team, arguing the facts without tearing at each other in Klemper's Greenhouse. He's gently sympathetic about Melissa's injury and subsequent death throughout, going along with Scully's decision to turn over the digital tape; she's anxious about Mulder's relationship with his dead Father. The loss of 0.1 points is for CC not letting them hug outside the elevator. If my closest colleague and friend had just reappeared when I thought he was dead, then took my side in a questionable stand-off with our superior, you'd better believe he would have gotten a hug out of me! (And it would have had nothing to do with sex, either. Got that, CC?)

Overall Rank: 4.2

Back To Rankings

3X03: "D.P.O."

1. Continuing Story: N/A
2. Monster: A 4.5 out of 5. Lightning Boy adheres to all the rules I laid out, and he behaves as an out of control teenager will, but, he just didn't scare me. Don't mess with his video gaming, and he'll leave you alone.
3. Character development: This was a Mulder and Scully in the Heartlands MOTW, so all we can have is the interaction between Scully and the Sheriff, reminding her that she has moved away from the purely rational. Interesting, but not much more than that. A 3.
4. Partnership: A 3.5 here. They weren't exactly on autopilot, but they were struggling to keep up the closeness we saw in "Paperclip".

Overall Rank: 3.7

Back To Rankings

3X04: "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"

1. Continuing story: N/A
2. Monster: What can I say. The entirety of the plot revolves around the slow discovery of the strengths and limitations of Bruckman's gift, and of the Bellhop killer's. Once their natures are revealed, they remain true to their characters, and I genuinely feared the Bellhop would kill CB in the hotel room. Can I say a 6?
3. Character development: No continuing characters here, but DM is such a deft writer, the detectives, the Stupendous Yappi, everyone, is handled just right. Again, a 5.
4. M-S partnership: From the banter to the way each is concerned for the other, to Scully saving Mulder's butt in the kitchen, another 6 for DM here. This one is especially bittersweet, given the long slide downhill for the partnership to "Nisei"/"731".

Overall Rank: 5+

Back To Rankings

3X05: "The List"

1. Continuing story: N/A
2. Monster: I'm giving this a 4.5. Neech Manley comes back from the dead, pursues the men on the List, and when the job is done, as far as we know, disappears into the Great Beyond. The tension in the story comes from attempting to find out who is on the list, and from wondering whether Mulder and Scully would be injured in the effort to work the case. No big scare factor for me (I'm not on the List), but it was at least consistent throughout. It didn't ask me to disbelieve anything more than that someone can return from the dead.
3. Character development: A 5 for the accuracy of the portrayal of life in a decaying, overcrowded prison.
4. M-S partnership: A 2 here, that would be a 4, except for the ending. Even though they disagree, neither goes into a snit, but both continue to investigate the case. Mulder is paying attention to Scully when she asks to leave after her confrontation with Parmelly, and follows her lead. Mulder's later interrogation of Sammon Roque reveals that they talked about her confrontation, worked the situation out. This is exactly how a well-connected, well-functioning partnership should operate.

   However, the ending shows the two beginning to tear at each other, over what I must assume, since no other reason is supplied, is this insignificant case. Scully refuses to admit that there might be something to Mulder's belief. Mulder appears resentful and angry at her understandable discomfort as a vulnerable, tiny woman, surrounded by dangerous men. I see this as the beginning of the Rift, that CC refused to admit existed.

Overall Rank: 3.8

Back To Rankings

3X06: "2Shy"

1. Continuing story: N/A
2. Paranormal: Virgil Incanto is a long way down from Tooms. A fat-sucking guy who dates overweight women, then smothers them with goo, to consume them later like some human spider? Please. Why doesn't he just move to Hollywood and Vine, and live out of the dumpsters behind the liposuction clinics on every blessed streetcorner? While the plot of the episode is at least driven by and consistent with the monster's nature, that very nature is the story's weakness for me. Unbelievable, and hence, not scary. A 3, at best.
3. Character development: Between menacing the little helpless blind Jesse Landis, and the fat woman, Ellen Kaminsky, angsting endlessly over whether or not to go on a date with Incanto, this plot could be from any detective series on the air, and the supporting characters are cartoons. A 1.5 for the detective Alan Cross and the police bull-pen scenes, no more.
4. M-S Partnership: More sniping between Mulder and Scully, with two little moments of redemption: First, when Mulder proposes his fat-sucking theory, he looks desperately to Scully for some reaction. Second, when Mulder and Scully manage to go in to Ellen's apartment together, Mulder doesn't leave to chase the fleeing burglar until Scully gives the all-clear. At some level, they're still attempting to connect. A 2.5.

Overall rank: 2.3

Back To Rankings

3X07: "The Walk"

1. Continuing story: N/A
2. Monster: Astral projection by a quadruple amputee. Whoopee! At least, as I remember it, it didn't break any of the Suspension of Reality rules. But, being so similar to "Excelsis Dei", without the heart-wrenching subcontext of abandoned elderly, I just wasn't moved. If one wasn't involved in the plot against the crippled veterans, one wasn't in danger. A 3.
3. Character development: Cartoons again. A 2.
4. M-S Partnership: More or less autopilot. 3.

Overall rank: 2.7

Back To Rankings

3X08: "Oubliette"

1. Continuing story: N/A
2. Monster: Empathic Transference? You got me. I never figured the paranormal aspects of this story, even while rereading the synopsis in the Third Season Official Guide. This was the first of the X-Files episodes where histrionics overrode plot coherence, or in-character writing for the lead actor not in the spotlight. A 1.
3. Character development: Something was being said about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in this episode, but I don't know what. The character of Lucy Householder is a least semi-realistic in this. A 2.
4. M-S Partnership: It's bye-bye here, gang. Mulder leaves Scully to perform all the actual investigative work, while he angsts over Lucy Householder. Scully is written way out of character, so the episode is supposed to be carried by DD's acting abilities. He portrays a Mulder doing the Samantha fixation two-step, big-time. He cries prettily, I'll give him that. But, the anger over Scully not accepting that this hurts for him, and the tears at the end, were used far more successfully overall, for the story, in "Conduit" and "Colony"/"Endgame". Here, it's just 'I'm David Duchovny, Star of the show' behavior. A 1.

Overall score: 1.3

Back To Rankings

3X09: "Nisei"

1. Continuing story: Much sound and fury in this one, signifying exactly what the Bard said it does. We begin to uncover evidence that the Japanese are continuing their Axis agenda, and attempting to pull their efforts out of the US. We knew this, from the opening sequence of "Anasazi". No advancement of the continuing story, but at least it isn't in contradiction to it, either. Scully discovers that other women have had implants removed, and some are dying of cancer as a result. We meet Pendrell, who discovers that the implant is a chip like Duane Barry's, then it is destroyed. How convenient. Ho hum. A 3.
2. Monster: The thing in the boxcar looks like the bodies we saw in "Anasazi". Scully finds more things at the leper camp. While not inconsistent with the bodies bearing smallpox scars in the boxcar in "Anasazi", it doesn't really advance the story beyond what we knew at the end of "Paperclip". Again, a 3.
3. Character development: Skinner tells Mulder in his apartment to watch out for his partner, and that he can't back him up on this one. At least someone has noticed the Rift. Mister X warns Scully about the train ActionMulder is about to leap onto. Nothing new here, either. Another 3.
4. M-S Partnership: After some welcome banter in the beginning of the episode, Mulder ditches his partner to jump off ships in Norfolk, without so much as a cel phone call. He ignores her fears, belittles her findings. A 1.5, for the banter, no more.

Overall score: 2.6

Back To Rankings

3X10: "731"

1. Continuing story: More of "Nisei", Scully realizes she was worked on by human doctors, one of them being Ishimaru/Zama. Mulder sits in a boxcar in mountainous Iowa, with an assassin, and what he thinks is an alien-human hybrid, but looks just like Scully's buddies at the Leper Colony. We're still no further ahead than we were at the end of "Paperclip". A 3.
2. Monster: See under "Nisei".
3. Character development: X does Mulder a good deed. A 3.
4. M-S Partnership: Scully does her level best to rescue her partner, only to have to depend on X to save him. They yell about humans versus aliens at the end. A 1.5 for devoted Scully.

Overall score: 2.6

Back To Rankings

3X11: "Revelations"

1. Continuing story: N/A.
2. Monster: Stigmatics. Here is where we begin to violate the Rules big time. I'll give them the Stigmatic Kevin as an actual religious paranormal phenomenon, not just hysterical psychosomatic manifestations from a ca-ca Daddy filling Kevin's little head with stories. I'll even throw in the non-decaying body of Saint Owen, since it sticks true to Catholic Saint mythology. But, stigmatics couldn't be in two places at once; it was a separate miraculous occurrence. Nor could Christian holy people throw themselves off tall heights without hurting themselves. Not even the big JC tried that one, even after the Devil tempted him. Simon Gates was just loony tunes. If he was possessed by Satan, then his actions made no sense, since the Devil tempted Saints to sin, he didn't throw them in paper shredders. Was I scared? I'm not Catholic, nor a stigmatic. What do I have to fear? A 1.
3. Character development: More cartoons. Kenneth Welsh was positively evil as Wyndam Earle in "Twin Peaks", here, he just needs to go on another vacation, preferably to the Ross Ice Shelf. A 1.
4. M-S Partnership: What? Partners? Who, her? Who, him? Another case of "Star" writing. GA shines, DD and Mulder take a hike. Why is no reason presented for Mulder's skepticism? Why should DS believe this story of all the ones we've heard? In "Beyond the Sea", we had a good reason for her to be emotionally unsettled, FM was removed from the scene for reasons integral to the plot, and we had something of a resolution at the end. Not so here. The only redeeming exchanges were "You never draw my bath." and Scully giving Mulder hell for chasing lights in the sky. A 2.

Overall score: 1.3

Back To Rankings

3X12: "War of the Coprophages"

1. Continuing story: The return of Queequeg! I'll give this a 5, then not count it in the final scoring.
2. Monster: None. It's all in Mulder's head. The cockroaches are Scully's new people-attracted species, so enjoy the character interaction. I sure did. 5+
3. Character development: Another 5+. Bambi the bug doctor, the insomniac Doctor Eckerle, Doctor Ivanov, the exterminator, the stoner kids, stop me, please!
4. M-S Partnership: This story was a blessed relief from all the sniping and swatting. When CC and 1013 embarked on the pointless Rift, they really should have asked themselves why colleagues, who aren't in love, are fighting like an old married couple. I don't know how DM got this delight snuck in, but I'm so glad he did.

   But what the hey, even if it's out of character for FM & DS at this point in the Third Season, I'll treasure this one forever. Mulder depends on Scully utterly to solve this case. He listens to her, checks the victims like she asks, and when she's right, is man enough to say to. Scully waits by the phone, fretting over him, worried when he breaks into the facility.

   Better than that, they really seem to like each other! They talk to each other on weekends to argue like old buddies! Mulder calls Scully to chase the nightmares away! The only slight downer was the "You stink" comment at the end, when the Rift returns. A 4.9.

Overall score: 5+

Back To Rankings

3X13: "Syzygy"

1. Continuing story: N/A.
2. Monster: A total mishmash of Astrology and New Age philosophy, with nothing coherent from one part of the story to the next. A suggestion that mass hysteria might be responsible, a slight attempt to tie the actions of the townsfolk to the McMartin Case. Rating: 1.
3. Character development: None. The teenaged stoners in WotC were so much better developed than the cheerleaders from Hell. Rating: 1.
4. M-S Partnership: Mulder and Scully prevent no murders, and their actions have no effect on the townspeople's behaviors, which all magically return to normal once the clock strikes midnight. There was no point in them being in Comity, at all.

   This is supposed to be the big "out of character" story. Well, it looks suspiciously like everything we've seen since "The List", (except for WotC) and not "out of character" for FM & DS at this low point in their partnership.

   Besides, they aren't a couple, just colleagues. This semi-romantic "hidden emotions exposed" plotline only works as humor if Mulder and Scully are secretly in love with each other, but don't want to admit it. Otherwise, it's just two very bruised and battered people rending each other's underbellies like rabid dogs. Now do you get it, CC? A 1-.

Overall Rating: 1 (barely)

Back To Rankings

3X14: "Grotesque"

1. Continuing story: Not in the typical sense, just seeing some of Mulder's life in Behavioral Sciences. I wish an effort had been made to tie it back to Reggie Purdue and Jerry Lamana, so I have to say a 3.
2. Monster: Demon or insanity? A toss-up, as far as I can tell. One of the old-fashioned "is it or isn't it" First Season X-Files, with plenty of evidence either way. I give it a 5, since we don't necessarily have to suspend disbelief for the story to work.
3. Character development: This is a tremendously realistic portrayal of the toll profiling takes on the profiler, both on Mulder and Patterson. With Bill Patterson, we see Mulder's continuing attraction to abusive Father-figures. A 5.
4. M-S Partnership: I can look at this story one of two ways. As a stand-alone, separate from the rest of the season, it's very good as showing how Mulder's past haunts him, and how much better his life is in the X-Files with Scully. Without her to ground him, he descends far too easily into darkness. This is another Mulder- focused episode, to be sure, but here, unlike "Oubliette", the story works. It took me a while to see the episode this way, and I'm glad I've thought it through.

   I'm only disappointed that Scully is given no useful investigative role in the story. Our G-woman is used simply to divert attention from Patterson and make it look like Mulder is a potential suspect, driven to madness by his past or the Demon.

   On the other hand, it sits right after "Nisei"/"731" in the Third Season (I'm being kind and not counting "Syzygy", since that's supposed the be the Cosmos working, not the Rift.), when they were both tremendously at odds with each other, so Mulder's somewhat adrift as it is. After an initial period of frostiness, Scully sees how truly lost Mulder is, and does her best to stick by him. She had to beg him to let her in, but he does, so you get the feeling, at the end, that these two are on the way back up. A rising 3.

Overall rating: 4

Back To Rankings

3X15: "Piper Maru"

"Story editor Frank Sponitz was assigned the idea by Chris Carter based on some images he had conceived of and wanted to connect within the episode. 'He just knew he wanted a guy in a cockpit of a World War II airplane banging against the glass', explains Sponitz, who first struggled with writing the script. 'He didn't know how he got there, was this guy alive or dead, was it an illusion. Then he wanted a flashback to WWII aboard a submarine. I was stuck on this story for weeks. I had no idea how I was going to connect those, or when that image was going to come.'"

Well, there you have it. They're making it up as they go along. No long-term plan, no clue. It shows, guys, believe me, it shows.

1. Continuing story: We get a new batch of aliens, the oiliens, who hitch rides in human beings, and use radiation to defend themselves from attack. The investigation into Melissa Scully's death is terminated, and Skinner is shot in the gut for attempting to pursue the matter. We find out where Krycek's been: in Hong Kong, selling the secrets off the digital tape that the X-team couldn't print out or copy, and needed a code-talker to decipher. The Mythology enters its present tailspin with these two stories. A 1.
2. Monsters: The above-mentioned oiliens. For these two stories, all we need to accept is that these buggers exist, that they pass from person to person in the motor oil, and that they use a radiation burst to defend themselves. OK, play the suspension card, ignore the fact we aren't at the Galactic Center. A 4.
3. Character development: Skinner's backing up the X-team at tremendous personal cost is a great advance on the Trilogy. But the stuff with Krycek as spymaster in Hong Kong (when he couldn't even manage to shoot the right Scully in "The Blessing Way") is too out there for me to accept. A 3.
4. M-S Partnership: It's rebuilding, slowly and painfully. Scully won't share the news about Melissa's murder investigation, but gives Mulder the back-hoe lecture instead, then goes with him to investigate the French submarine mystery. We initiate a new Mulder-Scully phone cliche: the quip by Mulder before he ditches her that's supposed to represent meaningful communication. Oh, well, I suppose. I should be happy that at least they aren't throwing rocks at each other anymore.

   Scully goes all dewy-eyed over the visit to the military housing, Mulder gets close and personal with his favorite Ratboy. The X- team members are just going to develop along separate tracks for the rest of the season, with one glorious exception. Sigh. A 3.

Overall rank: 2.8

Back To Rankings

3X16: "Apocrypha"

1. Continuing story: We see a flashback to 1953, when Bill Mulder and the CSM interrogate a victim of the oiliens, with possibly Deep Throat or the Well-Manicured Man as the third man. The Consortium is worried about a leak, and puts the CSM on the spot. Doesn't contradict the Trilogy, doesn't advance it. We're still stuck in neutral, guys. The really sad part comes at the end, when the CSM collects Mulder and Scully from the silo, Mulder yells about "You can't bury the Truth!", then the CSM deposits our heroes, not a pretty hair mussed, back at their apartments in DC (or wherever). It seems to me that this would have been the perfect time to do our heros in. Nor do we know what ultimately became of the digital tape. I presume the CSM has it. This is the overarching Global Conspiracy that's supposed to be running the World from the back-room? A 3.
2. Monster: The oiliens. Oh-kay, fine. A 4.
3. Character development: The Conspiracy is devolving into a bunch of bumbling idiots who can't even ice two troublesome FBI agents when they have them in their control. But, they do manage to eliminate the Hispanic Man while he's in prison. I know! This is how the X-Team wins in the end! The bad guys all kill each other! Krycek pours the oilien out of his eyes back into its spaceship, then pounds hopelessly on the silo door at the end. Powerful images, no substance. Keep these pictures in mind when you think of "Tunguska"/"Terma". A 1.
4. M-S Partnership: Tottering on shaky feet, but recovering. Scully is there for Mulder in the hospital (even though his first words are "I know I'm not dead yet.", spoken with a grimace.); Mulder thanks Skinner for helping Scully. She goes with him to the silo; he lays flowers on Melissa's grave with her. A 4.

Overall rank: 3

Back To Rankings

3X17: "Pusher"

1. Continuing story: N/A.
2. Monster: The psychic brain tumor guy, Robert Patrick Modell, bends others to his will, either through hypnosis with his voice, or through psychic mind games, in classic "is it or isn't it" First Season mode. Play the suspension card once, or not at all, and enjoy the ride. By the hospital scene, I was chewing my nails, because Modell could grab anybody and sway them. A 5++ for creating a believable villain, then growing the story, in absolute consistency, around him.
3. Character development: Skinner's in support mode, but he really shouldn't get kicked in the gut so soon after recovering from a gunshot wound to there. Holly the helpless was perfect. A revisit from the actress who played Toom's lawyer in "Tooms" as Modell's lawyer here. A 4.9, losing 0.1 for unnecessary roughness on Skinner.
4. M-S Partnership: I wish all episodes had FM & DS like this (and I'm not talking about the tender bonding touches). He jokes, she jokes, they work the case out between them, using their different skills and perspectives to track their quarry. He admits she's right about Modell, not once, but twice. No Mulder lecturing Scully on things she ought to know, and vice versa. And a corker of an ending in the Russian Roulette scene. He can't handle Modell alone, but together with Scully, they can defeat anything. A 5+++

Overall rank: 5+

Back To Summary

3X18: "Teso dos Bichos"

1. Continuing story: N/A.
2. Monster: You got me here. The ghost of a female Shaman? Jaguar spirits? Yaje as a mind-altering substance? Killer kitties? They picked the suspension card up and put it down again so many times I lost count. A 1-.
3. Character development: None. A 1-.
4. M-S Partnership: DD and GA just hung on, knowing that, this too, shall pass. At least we saw the 'huddle in the corner and whisper' routine, gone for too long. A 2.

Overall rank: 1.1

Back To Rankings

3X19: "Hell Money"

1. Continuing story: N/A.
2. Monster: Is there one? Ghosts don't need to incinerate people. Was this magic, a secret ritual, or hallucination? A 1.
3. Character development: The portrayal of Chinese immigrants was well done, as was Det. Glen Chao's feeling caught between two worlds, but the subplot with the sick daughter could have been from any other detective show on TV. A 3.
4. M-S Partnership: A few cute quips, but otherwise, purely autopilot. With Chao required to translate for them constantly, one wondered what purpose the X-Team served in the investigation, until the very end. A 3.2.

Overall rank: 2.4

Back To Rankings

3X20: "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"

1. Continuing story: None, really, other than in humorous homage.
2. Monster: A classic "is it or isn't it", "it's all in how you look at it" story, with alot a truth about UFO abduction mania thrown in for good measure. A 5+.
3. Character development: Once again, classic DM. Jose Chung, Detective Manners, the MIB's, the kids, everything, as dead on as only Darin can do. A 5+.
4. M-S Partnership: Again, a sensitivity to their strengths and differences like only DM can write. Scully always covers for Mulder with others, even when she tells him he's nuts in private. Mulder worries about her being abducted again, even to the point of sleeping in the chair in her room. A 5+.

Overall rank: 5+

Back To Rankings

3X21: "Avatar"

1. Continuing story: None, really, just a few hints that the CSM is still good at pulling strings.
2. Monster: A 3 here. If they had pushed the succubus business, I would have given it a 1 for not adhering to outside folklore, but they didn't. The old woman spirit assumed the focus of the paranormal aspect. So, they were, in effect, creating a new monster, that was consistent, and to a certain extent, drove the story, but didn't really scare me. It was a personal thing for Skinner, so, fine.
3. Character development: I was intrigued by this view of Skinner as a conflicted man, struggling to hold onto his marriage. MP does good things with his chance to shine. A 5.
4. M-S Partnership: More or less autopilot. Mulder came running when Scully called for backup, but didn't seem too terribly concerned that she was unconscious on the bathroom floor. A 3.

Overall rank: 3.7

Back To Rankings

3X22: "Quagmire"

1. Continuing story: N/A.
2. Monster: They tried to do this one as a mystery, in "is it or isn't it" mode, but it didn't work. If the deaths were all due to the alligator, why didn't the alligator behave as they have done for millions of years? Why only one? Why didn't the locals (in the South, where they're common) have an inkling that one might be around? Why didn't the frog scientist have a clue? Why did it take the big bad FBI Agent from DC shooting the gator to reveal it? Every lead, but one (the Queequeg munch), that pointed to the gator, was a red herring or false, so the viewer couldn't figure the mystery out before the end. A 1.
3. Continuing characters: Again, a 1. Everyone in the South is either stupid or incompetent. Try again, Kim.
4. M-S Partnership: I'm giving this one a 3. Except for the Conversation on the Rock that was utterly brilliant (thank you for suggesting it, Darin Morgan), Mulder's in monster-hunting mode, and Scully's whining all the way through. I thought we were in for Rift II.

Overall rank: 1.7

Back To Rankings

3X23: "Wet-wired"

1. Conspiracy: Suggested government mind-control experiments, and we finally see where X falls in the scheme of things. A 3.
2. Monster: The little tubes on the cable converter. I hate to say this, but it doesn't work on two levels. (1) The technical stuff: Television receivers are designed to filter out any extraneous incoming signals, so just adding something on the cable line coming into the home would do nothing as far as mind control. Videotapes significantly deteriorate the images recorded, so anything subtle would have been lost prior to replay. The signal enhancement the Gunmen point out to Mulder is on the audio track, not the video track, so replaying in fast forward (the sound is always muted), or watching in real-time with the sound off, as Mulder and Scully did, would never have exposed her to the signal in the first place. (2) The psychological aspect: Mind control works on the uninitiated by playing up pre-existing fears. Scully was neither uninitiated (She knew there was something in the signals that led people to believe impossible things.), nor has she ever had any reason to believe that Mulder is in league with the CSM, as far as we viewers have seen. A 1-.
3. Character development: Skinner protects Mulder and Scully. No great revelations here. A 3.
4. M-S Partnership: Prior to the videotape incidents, FM & DS are clicking along nicely. We see how absolutely devastated Mulder is that something would make Scully distrust him, and the scene where he is afraid she is dead in the morgue is just spectacular. Scully is utterly distraught that she can't trust her own partner, after all she's been through. A 5.

Overall rank: A 3

Back To Rankings

3X24: "Talitha Cumi"

1. Continuing story: We meet another shape-shifter alien, Jeremiah Smith, who has somehow acquired the gift of healing people with a touch. We find out that Mrs. Mulder and the CSM knew each other in the past. Mrs. Mulder has hidden a retractable alien icepick in the family's summer home, and the CSM wants it back, I guess. After much running around, Jeremiah Smith is turned over to the CSM, and they have this little chat in some holding facility about a possible alien (?) invasion, along with some Brothers Karasmarov angsting. When the Bounty Hunter from "Colony"/ "Endgame" is brought in to ice Jeremiah Smith with his custom pick, he and the CSM, are gone. We discover that there are duplicate Jeremiah Smiths working in the federal government. Mrs. Mulder has a stroke, and is in a coma, providing DD with yet another opportunity to prove he can cry. There's more, but it's not worth the trouble to detail.

   This one's getting a big 1- for being both contradictory of "Colony"/"Endgame", and utterly uninformative. Alright, where do I start? (1) How did JS arrive on earth? Is he one of the supposedly all-dead Gregors in a different form? Do we get to see another space-ship land in the Arctic? Who cares? (2) So the CSM knew Mrs. Mulder. Since he knew and worked with Bill, it's no great deductive leap to figure this one out. Forget the CSM is Mulder's father angle. The show's not far enough in the dirt to trot this one out yet. Yet. (3) Why does it take the custom ice- pick to kill one of these aliens now, when a gunshot wound or a letter opener (recall the faux Samantha sneaking up on Skinner in "Colony") had done it before? (4) Invasion? Where did this come from? The last we saw, in "Colony"/"Endgame", the government was trying to blow the Bounty Hunter's spaceship up, not use him as a hired assassin.

2. Monster: The morphing aliens. An even bigger 1--- for trying to play the suspension card almost as many times as in "Teso dos Bichos". Groan. Morphing is not a transferrable quantity. Acquired characteristics is an evolutionary impossibility.
3. Character development: So Mrs. Mulder had a stroke. No effort has been expended to make her anything other than a cipher anyway. A 2 for the CSM interactions with Mrs. Mulder.
4. M-S Partnership: Some decent interactions, but basically autopilot. Mulder won't tell Scully where he's going when he leaves for the summer home, because, if he did, she wouldn't let him go. Let him go? Has that ever been a consideration for him in the past? A 3.

Overall rank: 1.8

Back To Rankings

Return Home