It’s often difficult to pay attention, especially in something as densely written as a script by Darin Morgan. Morgan has long been an X-Files legend, having written two of the episodes that aren’t just great for the X-Files, but TV in general.
“Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” stands out to me as the X-Files episode I always think of as a show that just nails every element, between that and “Jose Chung's From Outer Space”, Morgan had a high bar to clear. Last night, Morgan took on both duties as writer and director, a first, in the episode “Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster”.
We begin with Mulder sitting in the FBI offices thinking aloud to himself; that an older Mulder is more skeptical and wouldn’t have wasted all of his time on stupid monster cases that dominated his younger self.
Then, a case springs up which seems to indicate a monster — and Mulder & Scully investigate with both of them being the cynic.
It’s hard to live up to something as well respected as “Bruckman”, but Morgan definitely gives it a shot in an episode chock full of lines that will stick. So, a brief breakdown.
Yeah, this is how I like my Mulder.
And by that I mean Bat-Crap Crazy, to quote Scully, who delivers the one two punch with aplomb. X-Files is often at it’s best when it embraces humor while telling a story, and “Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster” was chock full of big laughs as well as philosophical thought on what it actually means to be a human.
Mulder The Guy Who Doesn’t Get Technology
Long gone are the days of the X-Files where Mulder would say “if only we had a camera” — if only there was a way to catch what was happening! Now, everyone has a camera on their cell phones, even Mulder. Problem: he doesn’t have any idea of how to use the thing. In a sequence that pokes fun at the fact technology has changed one of the ongoing X-Files storylines, Mulder bobbles around and screws up his camera phone. This sequence keeps the trope of not having a camera while poking fun of the entire setup. Morgan captures the zany nature of why fans love the writing he puts into an X-Files episode.
Scully As the Aggressor
Morgan understands fantasy fulfillment and played with it in such a way to make the entire sequence so over the top that you knew at the beginning it was the daydream of a now human former lizard being. How often do you get to say that in a paragraph? As he recounts his tryst with Scully, it continues to escalate as though it is something badly written and posted to an internet forum and Mulder, agitated, quickly calls BS.
Suddenly Being Human Sucks.
“Suddenly I had an urge” …. To go get a job, figure out a mortgage, my life was miserable. Our were-monster recounts the horror of his newfound existence, bitten by a human and suddenly infected by the idea that he needed to start saving for his retirement. The entire sequence in the cemetery will go down in X-Files lore as one of the hilarious sequences ever to air on the X-Files. The problem: while we laugh at the odd contrast, my wife can turn to me and say: damn, that is how life works, isn’t it.
Yep.
Wait, you were expecting something else? Everyone needs a mental health break now and again.