by Chelsea Dee, Editor-at-Large

It was brought to my attention that some of my notes about this show are actually funny. Yes I have something open while I watch so I can type my immediate thoughts or if a part stands out to me. Because of that it mostly is just questions and a lot of keysmashing. I’m going to put it at the very end of my review, and you’ll have to guess what parts I’m talking about (it’s pretty obvious). In The X-Files, this is our first Monster of the Week case. The first one was about aliens, the second about government conspiracies surrounding aliens, and voila, now a mutant. I appreciate they seem to know what they want to cover, or at least enough of the genre/themes that they’re setting these up early. If it was all aliens for a season and then suddenly a mutant, I’d be confused. But now it’s clear this show is paranormal focused in general, which opens a lot more doors, so huzzah.

There’s this mutant guy who comes out of hibernation every thirty years and pulls out five people’s livers and eats them. I mean I could do the roundabout way of getting to that fact, but there’s the punchline. We see the guy hunting someone in an office and he seems to get through vents. He leaves behind a fingerprint, which becomes a plot point when Mulder finds it later. Mulder and Scully are put on the case because one of Scully’s friends needs the help. He makes it clear they all think Mulder is creepy and that no one respects his work. Scully decides over the course of the episode that she’s on Mulder’s side; it will not be good for her career and lose her some friends, but she’s on Team Mulder by the end of this. Or Team X-Files, really. She might be highly skeptical of the truth, but she’s willing to believe it may or may not be out there. I love Dana Scully.

So even Mulder rolls his eyes when she comes up with a theory about the serial killer’s pattern, and she turns out to be completely right. Unfortunately when they have him he passes a lie detector test and Mulder annoys everyone by putting in questions about the 1910s and 30s and 60s. Mulder, I love you, but you’re kind of dumb. You’re so focused on being right and proving you’re right that you don’t realize you could catch more flies with honey. Or just not alienate everyone you come across. They find a police officer who was on the same case thirty years before, and that leads them to an old house where the nest of the creature is. It’s made out of crushed up paper and gross stuff. Yuck. Scully loses her necklace and that leads the monster back to her house.

But whatever it’s Dana Scully, she’s better than  you, she fights him off until Mulder gets there and they take down the guy together. He’s put into a mental ward and starts building a nest again. Seriously they didn’t warn them about the fact he can slip through vents? Why wasn’t he put through a trial? Why am I asking silly logical questions that don’t need to apply in X-Files? Sorry, everyone, I promise to stop being so Scully-like. She’s amazing by the way and I love how she doesn’t take crap from the other men and she doesn’t take it from Mulder either. She is brilliant and competent, and I totally get why everyone loves this character. The thing is she has to question Mulder all the time, even if it seems unreasonable, because he might have a good gut feeling for things, but he’s clearly stupid about what he chooses to do with that information. He’s lucky to have someone keeping him in check, to be honest. How he’s stayed alive so far is beyond me. Not to say I dislike Mulder, I love him. He’s adorable. That was a great episode. Creepy, simple, a good introduction to the monster portion of the show, and a strengthening of their partnership.

Quotes from my notes: SOMETHING IS WATCHING FROM THE GUTTERS OH MY GOD PLEASE SAVE ME. IT’S “IT” IT’S “IT” ALL OVER AGAIN WHY. STOP STOP STOP. Oh that is such fake blood. And there’s the vent again. He’s a very precise monster. Mulder jokes around about being spooky. I love him. He’s so fun. He knows his nickname. So Mulder’s spider sense brought him to the vents during the crime scene. How did he know?  Ugh their chemistry is so great. It’s electric. Mulder shows up and mocks her and is like lol no they’re not here. LOL MULDER YOU ARE SO WRONG. The vents are making sounds and you’re like oh crap Scully was right. Lie detecting tests are stupid. Watch Lie to Me. Is Mulder psychic? I feel like he’s psychic. Good she went straight for the gun. That’s my girl. Okay that might haunt my dreams. SHOOT HIM IN THE FACE SCULLY. YES PUNCH HIM YES GO SCULLY EYE GOUGE. GOOD TEAM WORK YOU GUYS.

Rating: – With such a low budget and their first Monster of the Week episode, this was pretty great. They’re laying great foundation for the rest of the show.

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