The X-Files 4x06: Sanguinarium
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tori_reviewsThe X-Files 4x06: Sanguinarium
As much as I didn’t like the last episode, it was interesting in a variety of bad ways; an onion of bad ideas we could say. This on the other hand is just bland.
Between the blandness and my face-blindness I couldn’t keep any of the characters of the week straight. I’ve actually had several successes against the face-blindness recently, and then the end of this episode I did a double take because the interviewing doctor in LA had Scully’s hair style and even though I knew it couldn’t be her, I had to work to remember that. But I don’t even feel like I can talk about many of the guest characters since I don’t recall their names and I don’t remember who did what.
Except Dr. Franklin; and the most amusing thing to me in this episode is the idea of Dr. Cox (from Scrubs) being the same as Dr. Franklin (from B5); those two are very different people though neither would be down for witchcraft.
This is the kind of episode that makes me wonder if this show is why I have such an aversion to procedural shows most of the time. Yes, I am drawn to sci-fi and fantasy series, but not exclusively. But if I find as procedural case of the week style this bland in a genre I do enjoy, why would I seek out procedural elements in genres I don’t get the same enjoyment from?
This is a full Twilight Zone episode, not Twilight Zone Effect, which to be fair I’m still working to nail down my operating definitions for and differences between. There is basically nothing of the leads’ actual characters, they impact almost nothing (in fact the doctor at the end is saved because the other doctors ignore Scully instructions not to operate), they learn nothing that will ever matter again, and is just a generic story that happens to take place in the world of TXF.
It does raise some questions about that world though. Do people know that all this weird stuff exists, and only the audience (and sometimes Scully) doesn’t realize they’re not in our world? Because if an FBI investigator came around and said that ‘oh yeah, we think that lady’s a witch’ I would think they were full of shit, either about that conclusion or their credentials. There are people in the world that identify as witches of course, it’s another faith that’s out there; and there are ways someone being a ‘witch’ could impact the cause to investigate them for something, for and against, but that’s not what anyone is saying. ‘Oh yeah we think she’s a witch,’ is used to mean we think she’s casting spells that are killing people.
I guess in that regard I can appreciate that the one person who identifies as a witch, as in that being her faith and practice, is trying to protect people (she’s not doing a very good job) but this episode is so bland I might have zoned out on a lot of the details of the story.
I guess I’m just going to go short with this or I’ll just keep bringing up how bland it is; onto the questions.
Previous status
Never seen before
Bad investigation alert
Mulder draws a pentagram at the first crime scene (oh hey, five points can form a pentagram, congratulations Mulder, you understand basic geometry). And I don’t know what logic allows them to enter the nurse’s house; Mulder claims probable cause but that’s bullshit, which Scully points out right up until she goes along with him. At best (or worst) it’s akin to racial profiling when they see the star on the door. People decorate with stars, doesn’t make them all pentagrams (except in the literal sense). Mulder spends a lot of time doing nothing during this case, messing around on the computer and strolling down the hall in the middle of a crisis. And I repeat that the lady doctor survives because the other doctors ignore the advice of Team X-files.
How crazy does Mulder sound?
If going around claiming people are witches is as perfectly reasonable in this world as this episode claims, then maybe he sounds reasonable, to me he sounds like nutbar.
Are we saying it’s aliens?
Witchcraft and magic, I don’t think aliens
Scully’s convenient miss of the week
Does Mulder bring back the cut off face of Dr. Franklin? If not, Scully missed seeing that. Aside from that, the local doctors not listening to her conveniently saved someone’s life.
MSR check
How can there be anything about their relationship in this episode when I’m not even sure they’re in this episode or just cardboard characters that have the same names?
Wow that’s uncomfortable in hindsight
Mulder/DD, I’ve seen you in 20 years, stop messing with your face. Time isn’t overly kind to anyone in that regard, but this is an area where the longevity of the franchise does lurk in my mind.
As much as I didn’t like the last episode, it was interesting in a variety of bad ways; an onion of bad ideas we could say. This on the other hand is just bland.
Between the blandness and my face-blindness I couldn’t keep any of the characters of the week straight. I’ve actually had several successes against the face-blindness recently, and then the end of this episode I did a double take because the interviewing doctor in LA had Scully’s hair style and even though I knew it couldn’t be her, I had to work to remember that. But I don’t even feel like I can talk about many of the guest characters since I don’t recall their names and I don’t remember who did what.
Except Dr. Franklin; and the most amusing thing to me in this episode is the idea of Dr. Cox (from Scrubs) being the same as Dr. Franklin (from B5); those two are very different people though neither would be down for witchcraft.
This is the kind of episode that makes me wonder if this show is why I have such an aversion to procedural shows most of the time. Yes, I am drawn to sci-fi and fantasy series, but not exclusively. But if I find as procedural case of the week style this bland in a genre I do enjoy, why would I seek out procedural elements in genres I don’t get the same enjoyment from?
This is a full Twilight Zone episode, not Twilight Zone Effect, which to be fair I’m still working to nail down my operating definitions for and differences between. There is basically nothing of the leads’ actual characters, they impact almost nothing (in fact the doctor at the end is saved because the other doctors ignore Scully instructions not to operate), they learn nothing that will ever matter again, and is just a generic story that happens to take place in the world of TXF.
It does raise some questions about that world though. Do people know that all this weird stuff exists, and only the audience (and sometimes Scully) doesn’t realize they’re not in our world? Because if an FBI investigator came around and said that ‘oh yeah, we think that lady’s a witch’ I would think they were full of shit, either about that conclusion or their credentials. There are people in the world that identify as witches of course, it’s another faith that’s out there; and there are ways someone being a ‘witch’ could impact the cause to investigate them for something, for and against, but that’s not what anyone is saying. ‘Oh yeah we think she’s a witch,’ is used to mean we think she’s casting spells that are killing people.
I guess in that regard I can appreciate that the one person who identifies as a witch, as in that being her faith and practice, is trying to protect people (she’s not doing a very good job) but this episode is so bland I might have zoned out on a lot of the details of the story.
I guess I’m just going to go short with this or I’ll just keep bringing up how bland it is; onto the questions.
Previous status
Never seen before
Bad investigation alert
Mulder draws a pentagram at the first crime scene (oh hey, five points can form a pentagram, congratulations Mulder, you understand basic geometry). And I don’t know what logic allows them to enter the nurse’s house; Mulder claims probable cause but that’s bullshit, which Scully points out right up until she goes along with him. At best (or worst) it’s akin to racial profiling when they see the star on the door. People decorate with stars, doesn’t make them all pentagrams (except in the literal sense). Mulder spends a lot of time doing nothing during this case, messing around on the computer and strolling down the hall in the middle of a crisis. And I repeat that the lady doctor survives because the other doctors ignore the advice of Team X-files.
How crazy does Mulder sound?
If going around claiming people are witches is as perfectly reasonable in this world as this episode claims, then maybe he sounds reasonable, to me he sounds like nutbar.
Are we saying it’s aliens?
Witchcraft and magic, I don’t think aliens
Scully’s convenient miss of the week
Does Mulder bring back the cut off face of Dr. Franklin? If not, Scully missed seeing that. Aside from that, the local doctors not listening to her conveniently saved someone’s life.
MSR check
How can there be anything about their relationship in this episode when I’m not even sure they’re in this episode or just cardboard characters that have the same names?
Wow that’s uncomfortable in hindsight
Mulder/DD, I’ve seen you in 20 years, stop messing with your face. Time isn’t overly kind to anyone in that regard, but this is an area where the longevity of the franchise does lurk in my mind.
