The X-Files Virgin’s Diary – Everybody wants what Mulder has

(Season 3, Episodes 21-24)

Less on the aliens and more on the government cover-up side of things as the third season winds to a close. Weirdly, the finale didn’t leave me as much on the edge of my seat as I expected, though I’m glad that I only have to wait a week to find out what happens.

Can you believe it’s been three years already? It feels like we just started this project over the summer. Oh how far our little agents have come, as well as the technology they use. It’s still beepers and giant cell phones, but they’re getting there.

3.21 – “Avatar”
(Original Air Date: April 26, 1996) It was nice to finally get inside the man we know as Skinner. I’m not surprised that he failed at marriage, considering how secretive he is, as well as being prone to bursts of anger. Kind of the way he treated Mulder and Scully, despite the fact that they were trying to keep him from going down for a murder he didn’t commit.

I’m a little disappointed that this episode left as many questions as it did. Was the succubus anything more than Skinner’s imagination? Who was the man who tried to kill his wife? Was the plot just a scheme to get Skinner fired so that who ever is behind everything has a better shot of dismantling the x-files?

As a stand-alone exploration of Walter Skinner, this was a very good episode. As a chapter in the larger conspiracy storylines, I was left a little disappointed. It did seem like it was trying to be a bit of both.

3.22 – “Quagmire”
(Original Air Date: May 3, 1996) Tyler Labine repeats his amazing performance as “Stoner,” again being all stoned and stuff. This time about a Loch Ness Monster kind of creature that may or may not be in the lake our story brings Agents Mulder and Scully to.

There were some genuinely funny moments in this episode. The fake dinosaur footprints, never fully explored what he was up to though we can imagine it was to perpetuate the hoax of “Big Blue.” Even more so, though, was Scully and Mulder being “trapped” on that rock on the middle of the night, despite shore being only several feet away.

Ultimately, I think the point of this episode was to cruelly kill Scully’s dog Queequeg. And the dog was only there so Scully could realize Mulder was Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick. And yet it was just an alligator all along. Except, there’s Big Blue. Look, everyone! Look!

You’re too late. As always.

3.23 – “Wetwired” [MythArc]
(Original Air Date: May 10, 1996) I remember when television violence begetting real violence was all the rage and paranoia in the ’90s, so it’s fun to think that this episode came out around that time making fun of the whole thing.

It’s not the television shows themselves, it’s the subliminal messages someone is intentionally feeding you. Only the color blind will be spared! That saved Mulder, but Scully succumbed to her own paranoia and blamed Mulder for everything that’s happened to her over the course of the series.

We also started to gain a greater distrust for the mysterious X. He set Mulder on this trail so that he would kill the men responsible, because X didn’t want to. But he had to anyway. And now he’s meeting with the Smoking Man?

3.20 – “Talitha Cumi” [MythArc] – SEASON FINALE!
(Original Air Date: May 17, 1996) Man, there was a lot going on in this episode. We had the Smoking Man screaming at Mulder’s mother, only later to be screamed at by the dead face of Deep Throat. This Jeremiah Smith, however many of him there are, is an interesting fellow.

So’s the shapeshifter pretending to be him, or are they all shapeshifters? One is the Bounty Hunter characters. That makes a nice connection to the weapon Mulder’s mother was protecting that he found. Why does Smoking Man want it so badly? And who all is the Bounty Hunter here to kill?

Cliffhanger!?

Loved the knock-down throwdown between Mulder and X. Mulder seemed to be getting his ass handed to him pretty thoroughly until they pulled their guns on one another. Does this mean they won’t be sending one another letters over the summer from camp?

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Sep 25, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT