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AngelLysh
Reviews
The X Files: Triangle (1998)
Beyond the Sea Where I Died
Everyone has their favorite episode of The X-Files that isn't Bad Blood or something by Darin Morgan and Triangle is mine and it possibly exceeds all the others. The sixth season is the first season I watched live and Triangle is the first I fell in love with, so there's nostalgic reasons. Also, I love episodes that mention or deal with parts of news or history that make me want to research further. WWII and everything about the Bermuda Triangle did that for me. Also the sweeping continuous cinematography, the swing music, the present day characters playing different characters in the 1930s. It must have been as fun to make as it's fun to watch. Everyone is in it, from your shady CSM (alas the only Syndicate member) to Skinner and the Lone Gunman. This is another tale where something is happening to Mulder, the consequential story of another one of his pursuits (where he ditches Scully), but Scully is just as BA in the present as she in in the past. I'm still not completely sure if it all happened or if it was all in Mulder's head - the black eye suggests it was real - and you're either a Mulder or a Scully on where you stand in that matter. And my unashamed shipper heart sores every time I watch this episode. Season six is different; a little experimental and a little more humorous. And while I miss the Vancouver vibe, this episode will always be my special fave.
Iliza Shlesinger: War Paint (2013)
War Paint
Possible spoilers:
"War paint" is the make-up women wear when they go out into the battlefield (the club or bar) to pick up men.
If a man said this, it would be misogynist, but with a woman comedian it's okay? What about just plain wearing make-up because it makes you feel good about yourself? I know, we should leave our inner social justice warrior at the door when entering the comedy arena. Maybe I was just not into that type of stuff that day. But I could tell five minutes in that I wasn't going to be a fan.
She's good on timing and telling a story. And the animal sounds were funny for a little while (until they weren't). I actually really dug the pharmacist story. The delivery was spot on. But I just couldn't go with her ideals on women dating. Or something about being a loser in the dating world if you have a stump arm. I don't know, I turned it off at a while. She has potential, she looks good and has good timing, and some people can pull off being offensive and still be funny, but she couldn't win me over to watch the entire set.
The X Files: Terms of Endearment (1999)
Rosemary's Baby
In what started off as a strong season, we come back after the holidays with Terms of Endearment. It's the story of a demon who just wants to have a normal child and has knocked up two women in his attempt. The mother of the first demon child has a brother in law enforcement, who turns to the X-Files for help in this case. Spender, who I don't know what he's been doing with his time, throws the case away and Mulder takes it on. So this might even be the first official X-file of the season. Mulder quickly catches on, of course occasionally calling up Scully for her expertise, as he tries to find proof that this man is the devil.
I remember not liking this episode when it first aired on TV and hadn't watched it since. There's a lot of Bruce Campbell in this episode, who I probably knew from Jack of all Trades and he did very good in this episode. As always, I love Mulder's attempt at continuing paranormal investigations despite not being assigned to the X-files, as well as Scully's knowledge and that face she gets after one of Mulder's crazy ideas. It was an interesting episode. The effects were a little bad, but would be good for an episode in season 1, so it has this old episode feel to it a little bit. So I liked it better now, on my second viewing. It just isn't on the same scale as the previous episodes of this season.
The X Files: The Beginning (1998)
In the beginning, there was light.
I remember being 13 and deciding I was going to watch The X-Files and that would be my thing, so I watched re-runs during the summer and then I watched this with the rest of America and I was confused as heck. Now I'm going through a complete re-watch and it's nice to be an adult and back where I started again.
If you read IMDb user reviews, you get the sense from the last few episodes in season 5 that there's a pending doom for The X-Files: their move to Los Angeles. The episode starts out sunny and you can tell off the bat we're not in Kansas anymore. Even Mulder wears a short sleeve polo at one point and I thought this was Arcadia already. The story tries to tie the movie and The End together and it succeeds, but it's really grasping. There's the alien growing on the inside, the alien virus, and then the return of Gibson Praise. Diana Fowley is back and I love to hate her. I'm not even sure why...perhaps my inner Scully. And she's paired with Spender, who gets his own Luke/Vader moment with CSM. I love that The X-Files has been reopened but the FBI decides to not assign its two most eligible agents to the unit and instead puts Fowley and Spender in the basement. And I love that Mulder and Scully still try to work it anyways. Mostly Mulder, who is incredibly frustrated with Scully and her science most of the episode, but she's really trying believe and just fully can't without scientific evidence.
Overall, it's a great episode and a great open for the season. I was sure it would seem like it was all going downhill from here, and yes, it's not season 3 or 4 (imo the best seasons), but our favorite agents are still there and there's nothing wrong with a little sun.
The X Files: Chinga (1998)
I'm on vacation.
Mulder and Scully decide to take the weekend off and get away for a while and for Scully it means to actually get away, to Maine. I remember really liking this episode when I was younger and thrilled that it was co-written by Stephen King (even though I hadn't read any King yet back then). I watched it now and wasn't as impressed, but it was still a good episode. I read that in earlier drafts, in King's version of the script, Mulder and Scully's characters were way off. I wondered if he even watched the show. I'd love to read the early drafts, but thank goodness for Chris Carter. And while Scully pined for a relaxing vacation throughout the episode, I think she really was on vacation, at least mentally. She took a brief trip into Mulder-land, where the minds are open and the possibility of a doll making people kill themselves could actually be plausible. Mulder called Scully to offer statistics and facts, so very Scully of him. And this episode wasn't even about religion, where this role-reversal kind of phenomena usually takes place. So I guess the real winner of this episode is not so much the doll plot or the fact that it's written by the King of Horror, but our dynamic duo, their vacation from their own self, the beginning of throwing pencils in the ceiling, and their inability to truly be away from each other without some hilarious phone calls.