![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsThe X-Files 3x20: Jose Chung's 'from outer space'
If I was doing some sort of rating system as I watched through this series, I clearly would have to give this one a very high score. I enjoyed it, in spite of not seeing it in 20 years it was still memorable, it’s well written, has good ideas, sharp dialog, it’s kind of perfect.
But I’m not sure I actually like it that much. It’s so much better than the last couple episodes, no question, I totally wish more episodes were like this. But that’s kind of the problem. This episode belongs in a better version of this show, where we really know what’s going on most of the time but then we get a twist on the story that raises questions. This episode kind of would have been better back in s1, when at least the intended focus being on alien abduction stories was still more prominent; and yet it needs the extra time to have built up familiarity with the show so that it stands out when it’s different.
I guess it’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s that I want to love it and I don’t think I do. But that’s not exactly the fault of this episode specifically either, so I feel a little bad judging it on that basis.
Part of the problem with this one is that I don’t think anyone knows the truth of what happened in this case. I can accept that no one in story has all the pieces and often their pieces don’t fit together, because part of the point is to be confused by the pieces we have; but I want to feel like the writer knows what happened, and I don’t get that feeling. I think that’s probably part of why this episode on its own is so standout, especially when I was just getting into the show; I didn’t know the rules or structure of this show so an episode that kind of reveled in that confusing space of partial understanding was kind of perfect. But where I’m sitting now, I want to have this kind of fun with a show that has rules and structure, not this free-floating mess that is TXF.
Also, considering the whole focus on this episode is how memory can be distorted and what people say may not even be the truth, can we even believe Scully’s account? A lot of it is being told secondhand, months after the fact, from already questionable memories. Also, I think she and Mulder totally hooked up and she quickly amended the story so he was sleeping in the chair (just because I’m now really on the Scully/Skinner ship doesn’t mean I don’t still have my old ship to think about).
Timing-wise this episode is also weird. When did the main events of this story happen? Chung mentions he spent three months in Klass and that has to have been some time after it happened to have come to his attention. Then we follow the book through to publication in the coda, this has to span six months minimum. And this is one of the few times when we actually see how Mulder and Scully get called in to investigate cases and it doesn’t really track with the normal flow of episodes; they’re not called in immediately, first round of questioning has already happened, someone has filed a report about the supposed abduction part of events and that brings them to Mulder. All of this makes sense as how it should work, it just isn’t using the show’s average structure as it’s making fun of such things.
In fact, I’m of two minds about how much this episode is making fun of the show in general with this outing. It is funny, I’m not taking that away from it. I’m just not sure it works the way I wish it did. Largely what I was talking about earlier; this is a very effective satire of what the show often thinks it is but never commits to being, but it’s not about mocking the series for what it actually fails to do with its ‘main’ storylines, nor mocking the cases we so often actually get. It lands just a little off, and I find that frustrating. And probably the best laughs I got were when it did directly mock what the show is (the open/unresolved stories, DD’s acting, etc.), so I kind of want more of that sort of thing.
And all credit to this episode, apparently Mulder does have a bedroom and will at some point do his bedtime TV watching there.
Previous status
Have seen before, super memorable even though only saw once
When are we?
I have no bleeping idea, especially with the multiple time frames
Are we saying it’s aliens?
...sometimes, though it seems to come down more on the side of the military and memory modification. I think...
Who’s driving?
I only saw Mulder driving, but who knows what really happened.
Is it rapey?
Yes, to what degree depends on what really happened. Somewhere between explicitly so and mind-rapey. The boy doesn’t get convicted of rape though, so they must believe something else happened.
Who gets abducted?
It seems pretty clear that somebody got abducted and their memory messed with by someone. Who and when and by who, who knows?
Break-ins
Somebody might have broken into Scully’s hotel room, either the goon squad or Mulder wanted to watch her sleep. Or maybe neither of those things happened.
Are they in love?
The actors are clearly having fun, and that translates to the characters seeming to have a lot of fun together. And I did think they might have hooked up, so there’s that. But on the whole I kind of don’t think so; we’re not really with them on this so I’m not reading into that, but there’s no real reason to say they are.
Pretentious voiceovers
If the tone wasn’t so serious, I’d call the closing monolog almost a parody of TXF’s tendency to monolog. As is, it skirts the line so I think be fine and not too pretentious.
Can DD act?
They are definitely mocking the fact that he can’t. He’s actually perfectly serviceable in this one, but I really thought the joke about it was funny.
How crazy does Mulder sound?
He’s a nut-bar, as he usually is on alien cases, and here we’re largely seeing it from the outside so we know (as well as we can) that he seems like a nut-bar. It was questionable enough that the local cops were involving polygraphs, then Mulder has to go for hypnosis – repeatedly – even though the script calls out how that’s a problem. He believes to greater and lesser degrees everything they’re told, even the stuff that contradicts other stuff, I have no idea what he’s trying to figure out even (admittedly in this case we’re not in our usual position to judge). He’s just so random.
People allowed to call Mulder Fox
Chung does name the Mulder equivalent Reynard, as in Reynard the fox I assume. Also, was Scully ‘Diane’ or ‘Diana’? Either way, that borders on iffy in hindsight.
Wow that’s uncomfortable in hindsight
Probably should get that nose bleed looked at. Also there are a lot of possibilities introduced here that are going to turn out to be in play down the line.
If I was doing some sort of rating system as I watched through this series, I clearly would have to give this one a very high score. I enjoyed it, in spite of not seeing it in 20 years it was still memorable, it’s well written, has good ideas, sharp dialog, it’s kind of perfect.
But I’m not sure I actually like it that much. It’s so much better than the last couple episodes, no question, I totally wish more episodes were like this. But that’s kind of the problem. This episode belongs in a better version of this show, where we really know what’s going on most of the time but then we get a twist on the story that raises questions. This episode kind of would have been better back in s1, when at least the intended focus being on alien abduction stories was still more prominent; and yet it needs the extra time to have built up familiarity with the show so that it stands out when it’s different.
I guess it’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s that I want to love it and I don’t think I do. But that’s not exactly the fault of this episode specifically either, so I feel a little bad judging it on that basis.
Part of the problem with this one is that I don’t think anyone knows the truth of what happened in this case. I can accept that no one in story has all the pieces and often their pieces don’t fit together, because part of the point is to be confused by the pieces we have; but I want to feel like the writer knows what happened, and I don’t get that feeling. I think that’s probably part of why this episode on its own is so standout, especially when I was just getting into the show; I didn’t know the rules or structure of this show so an episode that kind of reveled in that confusing space of partial understanding was kind of perfect. But where I’m sitting now, I want to have this kind of fun with a show that has rules and structure, not this free-floating mess that is TXF.
Also, considering the whole focus on this episode is how memory can be distorted and what people say may not even be the truth, can we even believe Scully’s account? A lot of it is being told secondhand, months after the fact, from already questionable memories. Also, I think she and Mulder totally hooked up and she quickly amended the story so he was sleeping in the chair (just because I’m now really on the Scully/Skinner ship doesn’t mean I don’t still have my old ship to think about).
Timing-wise this episode is also weird. When did the main events of this story happen? Chung mentions he spent three months in Klass and that has to have been some time after it happened to have come to his attention. Then we follow the book through to publication in the coda, this has to span six months minimum. And this is one of the few times when we actually see how Mulder and Scully get called in to investigate cases and it doesn’t really track with the normal flow of episodes; they’re not called in immediately, first round of questioning has already happened, someone has filed a report about the supposed abduction part of events and that brings them to Mulder. All of this makes sense as how it should work, it just isn’t using the show’s average structure as it’s making fun of such things.
In fact, I’m of two minds about how much this episode is making fun of the show in general with this outing. It is funny, I’m not taking that away from it. I’m just not sure it works the way I wish it did. Largely what I was talking about earlier; this is a very effective satire of what the show often thinks it is but never commits to being, but it’s not about mocking the series for what it actually fails to do with its ‘main’ storylines, nor mocking the cases we so often actually get. It lands just a little off, and I find that frustrating. And probably the best laughs I got were when it did directly mock what the show is (the open/unresolved stories, DD’s acting, etc.), so I kind of want more of that sort of thing.
And all credit to this episode, apparently Mulder does have a bedroom and will at some point do his bedtime TV watching there.
Previous status
Have seen before, super memorable even though only saw once
When are we?
I have no bleeping idea, especially with the multiple time frames
Are we saying it’s aliens?
...sometimes, though it seems to come down more on the side of the military and memory modification. I think...
Who’s driving?
I only saw Mulder driving, but who knows what really happened.
Is it rapey?
Yes, to what degree depends on what really happened. Somewhere between explicitly so and mind-rapey. The boy doesn’t get convicted of rape though, so they must believe something else happened.
Who gets abducted?
It seems pretty clear that somebody got abducted and their memory messed with by someone. Who and when and by who, who knows?
Break-ins
Somebody might have broken into Scully’s hotel room, either the goon squad or Mulder wanted to watch her sleep. Or maybe neither of those things happened.
Are they in love?
The actors are clearly having fun, and that translates to the characters seeming to have a lot of fun together. And I did think they might have hooked up, so there’s that. But on the whole I kind of don’t think so; we’re not really with them on this so I’m not reading into that, but there’s no real reason to say they are.
Pretentious voiceovers
If the tone wasn’t so serious, I’d call the closing monolog almost a parody of TXF’s tendency to monolog. As is, it skirts the line so I think be fine and not too pretentious.
Can DD act?
They are definitely mocking the fact that he can’t. He’s actually perfectly serviceable in this one, but I really thought the joke about it was funny.
How crazy does Mulder sound?
He’s a nut-bar, as he usually is on alien cases, and here we’re largely seeing it from the outside so we know (as well as we can) that he seems like a nut-bar. It was questionable enough that the local cops were involving polygraphs, then Mulder has to go for hypnosis – repeatedly – even though the script calls out how that’s a problem. He believes to greater and lesser degrees everything they’re told, even the stuff that contradicts other stuff, I have no idea what he’s trying to figure out even (admittedly in this case we’re not in our usual position to judge). He’s just so random.
People allowed to call Mulder Fox
Chung does name the Mulder equivalent Reynard, as in Reynard the fox I assume. Also, was Scully ‘Diane’ or ‘Diana’? Either way, that borders on iffy in hindsight.
Wow that’s uncomfortable in hindsight
Probably should get that nose bleed looked at. Also there are a lot of possibilities introduced here that are going to turn out to be in play down the line.
