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juushikaThe hilarity of shapeshifter monster-of-the-weeks (I'm watching The X-Files 4.20 "Small Potatoes") is that as someone with moderate face blindness this is how I feel all the time. Swear to [noun], every time Devon cuts his hair I have a week of intense discomfort: his hair is the means by which I recognized him—you know, that guy I've been dating for a decade—and when it changes, I have to relearn my visual indicators of his identity, and it's deeply disorientating. Face blindness (and my general problems with visualization) means that any face could always be a lie, and I have to take it on faith that people are who they say they are. It's a background fear because it's ultimately baseless, but I always worry that everyone around me is really someone else.
Wow! says The X-Files and Supernatural and almost every supernatural-themed TV show, Wouldn't it be scary if you couldn't trust that someone's appearance verified their identity?
HAHAHAHAha fuck you.
I took an extended break between season 3 and 4 of X-Files because I was beginning to burn out on its repetitive tropes: the part in the episode with the unnecessary chase/action scene, the part in the episode where Mulder says something crazy and Scully says dude that's crazy, the part in the episode where Scully beings to question her incredulity, the part in the episode where Mulder and Scully are conveniently separated and then Mulder alone directly witnesses a supernatural event; the third instance in a season of Scully being kidnapped/victimized (Mulder gets beat up a lot too, but the trend is usually: Mulder gets himself into trouble on account of being an idiot; Scully is targeted/attacked—active versus passive entry into danger).
My biggest problem with the show is its certainty. Aliens! says Mulder. Well it was a bit weird but, dude, it wasn't aliens, says Scully. Says the viewer: I just saw like a dozen aliens walk across the screen, they were right there being, you know, aliens, and I don't really see any need for tension or debate. Oh no do you think there is a secret government conspira—YES I JUST SAW THAT PART TOO. I can never fully sympathize with the leads because I as viewer see too much: I share none of their doubt or hope, and doubt and hope are what should drive the show. On the basis of a single episode, this is no big deal; taking the series as a whole, the surfeit of certainty breeds frustration and the tropes—the weekly monster and/or overarching government conspiracy, explored by the constant questions of what if; not possibly; YES OBVIOUSLY—grow repetitive.
That said, season 4 is a remarkable improvement. Part of the improvement is the writing, in particular less of a reliance on that same handful of tropes; much of the improvement is Scully. The contrast between Mulder and Scully is understood, and now referenced with a nod and a wry lift of Gillian Anderson's eyebrows—and with that contrast established, the show is free to move on and explore other aspects of their relationship and personalities. Scully comes into her own, and while the Mulder-centric episodes can be shaky—Duchovny brings an intense physicality to Mulder which stands at contrast to his view beyond, and distraction from, human need and limitation, making him a man who sleeps on couches and eats sunflower seeds, human and fragile while trying to see and live beyond the human; but what Duchovny sells in body and nuance he can't always sell overtly, see: 4.5 "The Field Where I Died," which feels unexpectedly hollow—Gillian Anderson can act, motherfuckers. The writing isn't always smooth but she's no longer being kidnapped and there's more focus on her reaction to events which directly effect her, and Anderson she brings intense conflict to Scully in season 4: the subtly of her doubt, the war between her physical and therefore mental vulnerability and intense personal strength, and on the whole an increasing unwillingness to be only Mulder's foil.
I have a difficult time angsting over the is it platonic?!?!! of a male/female relationship, and the shows internal mythos is a bit hilarious (do powerful white men insidiously and successfully dictate how we view the world? well, duh, of course they do), but when this show gets it—when the relationship between Scully and Mulder is unstated, a converse kinship littered with rolled eyes and yet perfect agreement; when Mulder discovers something more concrete, and when the viewer sees a little less and doesn't know for sure what is in that bag, and doubt and hope become a progress rather than a stalemate—it gets it.
And then there's silly episodes like this one.
Wow! says The X-Files and Supernatural and almost every supernatural-themed TV show, Wouldn't it be scary if you couldn't trust that someone's appearance verified their identity?
HAHAHAHAha fuck you.
I took an extended break between season 3 and 4 of X-Files because I was beginning to burn out on its repetitive tropes: the part in the episode with the unnecessary chase/action scene, the part in the episode where Mulder says something crazy and Scully says dude that's crazy, the part in the episode where Scully beings to question her incredulity, the part in the episode where Mulder and Scully are conveniently separated and then Mulder alone directly witnesses a supernatural event; the third instance in a season of Scully being kidnapped/victimized (Mulder gets beat up a lot too, but the trend is usually: Mulder gets himself into trouble on account of being an idiot; Scully is targeted/attacked—active versus passive entry into danger).
My biggest problem with the show is its certainty. Aliens! says Mulder. Well it was a bit weird but, dude, it wasn't aliens, says Scully. Says the viewer: I just saw like a dozen aliens walk across the screen, they were right there being, you know, aliens, and I don't really see any need for tension or debate. Oh no do you think there is a secret government conspira—YES I JUST SAW THAT PART TOO. I can never fully sympathize with the leads because I as viewer see too much: I share none of their doubt or hope, and doubt and hope are what should drive the show. On the basis of a single episode, this is no big deal; taking the series as a whole, the surfeit of certainty breeds frustration and the tropes—the weekly monster and/or overarching government conspiracy, explored by the constant questions of what if; not possibly; YES OBVIOUSLY—grow repetitive.
That said, season 4 is a remarkable improvement. Part of the improvement is the writing, in particular less of a reliance on that same handful of tropes; much of the improvement is Scully. The contrast between Mulder and Scully is understood, and now referenced with a nod and a wry lift of Gillian Anderson's eyebrows—and with that contrast established, the show is free to move on and explore other aspects of their relationship and personalities. Scully comes into her own, and while the Mulder-centric episodes can be shaky—Duchovny brings an intense physicality to Mulder which stands at contrast to his view beyond, and distraction from, human need and limitation, making him a man who sleeps on couches and eats sunflower seeds, human and fragile while trying to see and live beyond the human; but what Duchovny sells in body and nuance he can't always sell overtly, see: 4.5 "The Field Where I Died," which feels unexpectedly hollow—Gillian Anderson can act, motherfuckers. The writing isn't always smooth but she's no longer being kidnapped and there's more focus on her reaction to events which directly effect her, and Anderson she brings intense conflict to Scully in season 4: the subtly of her doubt, the war between her physical and therefore mental vulnerability and intense personal strength, and on the whole an increasing unwillingness to be only Mulder's foil.
I have a difficult time angsting over the is it platonic?!?!! of a male/female relationship, and the shows internal mythos is a bit hilarious (do powerful white men insidiously and successfully dictate how we view the world? well, duh, of course they do), but when this show gets it—when the relationship between Scully and Mulder is unstated, a converse kinship littered with rolled eyes and yet perfect agreement; when Mulder discovers something more concrete, and when the viewer sees a little less and doesn't know for sure what is in that bag, and doubt and hope become a progress rather than a stalemate—it gets it.
And then there's silly episodes like this one.
