(Season 3, Episodes 17-20)
These episodes were almost more fun than they had any right to be. No mythology and I didn’t care a whit. Instead, I got to see a lighter side of The X-Files with an incredibly playful storytelling technique.
The Pusher is one of the best characters they’ve come up with. Even though I never watched the series, I had friends who did, and sometimes I’d be at their house when it was on, though I was usually reading, writing or otherwise occupied. And yet, somehow, segments from “Pusher” stuck with me through the years.
3.17 – “Pusher”
(Original Air Date: February 23, 1996) “Cerulean blue is a gentle breeze.”
Such a good, good episode of The X-Files. Robert “Pusher” Modell is on of the most genuinely creepy individuals we’ve come across so far. His ability is so subtle and yet so powerful.
I enjoyed the struggle to catch him, including the clues he kept leaving. It was like reading a classic Batman comic book with The Riddler leaving hints for Batman. Of course he wanted to be caught. He wanted to be notorious and more important he wanted to be noticed.
Brain tumors are a funny thing. Modell gained the ability to push people into doing what he wanted. Eli Stone gained prophetic visions of the future. Maybe we need to develop a superhero team of people with brain tumors. They could have all kinds of abilities.
3.18 – “Teso Dos Bichos”
(Original Air Date: March 8, 1996) I have three cats. Now I’m worried that they’re going to come after me when I least expect it. Maybe invite all their friends over into the basement and lay a trap for me.
I’m not sure this episode really came together quite the way they wanted it to. The idea of disturbing mystical buried remains is all too common, but the deaths were a little haphazard, and what was with all the rats? Didn’t seem to fit a jaguar spirit.
I think they maybe had the kernel of a solid, cohesive idea. It just never came together completely.
3.19 – “Hell Money”
(Original Air Date: March 29, 1996) Poor Detective Chao. What a hot way to go. Speaking of hot, how about 20-something year old Lucy Liu? Even sick, she was beautiful.
The mystical element was almost completely irrelevant in this episode; instead it was a corrupt Chinese lottery-type game that the Agents had to break up. The game was interesting, and I think I saw just about every prominent Asian actor of the time in this one, but as an x-file, it felt a bit ordinary.
3.20 – “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”
(Original Air Date: April 12, 1996) This episode, on the other hand, was classic X-Files. Alien abductions and government cover-ups. What elevated it to amazing, though, was the way in which it was told.
The scenes of the events we were presented with were dramatic interpretations of stories the different characters were telling. Which means we got the same scene a couple of times, only with people acting differently.
We even got Scully accused of being a man, and Mulder an android. I loved how they both threatened to kill the kid if he ever told.
But the highlights of the episode had to be the wacky guest stars. The late Charles Nelson Reilly was perfect as the eccentric writer, but even more inspired was the casting of Jesse Ventura as one of the men in black. The other one was described as looking a lot like game show host Alex Trebek, and was in fact played by the Jeopardy host. Love it!
I even recognized a much younger looking William Lucking (Piney from Sons of Anarchy) in this one.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Sep 19, 2009 @ 15:37 EST5EDT
