by Chelsea Dee, Editor-at-Large

They are not wasting any time on this show. We’ve had aliens, monster of the week, government conspiracies, and now ghosts. I laugh at my question in the pilot about whether or not it would be about more than aliens. I know, I know, there’s no way they could have that many seasons over just some aliens. But I didn’t expect this much variation so quickly. I’m a big fan of it. I happen to like ghost stories, and I’m also a scaredy cat about them. For a show that doesn’t have a budget, they try their best to build tension without needing a lot of special effects. I appreciate their efforts that way. Sometimes you don’t need a lot to make it work.

Anyway getting to the episode! We’re introduced to our main character of the week, a pretty young woman named Lauren, who just lost her boss Howard. They were extremely close, weirdly close honestly, and she’s heartbroken he killed himself. She takes home this silly plaque he had on his desk, and she’s attacked on the way home by two random thugs. They’re found dead soon after by some teenagers. Mulder and Scully are actually called in for once, people actively want their help. I think they’re supposed to be the CIA. This is interesting, because as much as people mock Mulder, someone has to actually believe in what he’s doing if he’s getting funding and people know to go to him looking for information.

They say the bodies are still warm and moving even if they’re dead, and their throats were completely crushed. Mulder lies that he doesn’t have any X-Files on it and leaves. They warn him if he says anything about them they’ll give “full denial” and he wittily banters back “You people already suffer from full denial.” Nerd. I love you. Scully agrees without argument that this is an interesting case, and she’s in. As a doctor I’m not surprised she’s intrigued by these bodies, since they go against what her logic is saying.

So the other boss of the office is a creep. I thought he was hitting on her in this scene, and it’s super gross any way you slice it. Mulder managed to get a fingerprint from the body, he identifies the dead person as someone in a terrorist organization, and they go to Philly where they usually are located. This eventually leads them in a very roundabout way to Lauren, and I’m not sure I completely buy this, but whatever they need to get to the story. Mulder shows her a weird blur in the picture of her by the ATM. When they go to leave, the car gets locked and they almost die as it drives backwards. So this is Carrie and Christine, huh? Nice. Lauren is haunted by Howard that night and realizes he was murdered. She confronts the guy she thinks did it, and this is around the time Scully and Mulder see a reflection of Howard in Lauren’s bedroom. Scully thinks that means he faked his death, because that’s the logical explanation. We’re going to get a lot of this, I know, and I’m not mad at you yet for doubting.

She accuses the partner of murder straight out which is so dumb. Then she calls Mulder to come to her but doesn’t ask him where she is and just goes home. Hello, you are dumb. There are characters in movies that  I feel are too dumb to live, and she falls under this categories. Luckily Howard doesn’t think so and kills these two assassins after her. Mulder gets there just in time to see one of them getting strangled by nothing. Scully unfortunately doesn’t see this. Lauren refuses to talk to the police (UM WHAT WHY YOU CALLED THEM!) at first but then tells Mulder and Scully that they sold parts to the terrorist group, and she thinks Howard was killed for planning on telling the police. They crash the office, Howard shows them where the disk is with all the information they need, case closed. A win for Team X-Files.

It should be noted here that Scully brilliantly lies to Lauren and manipulates her to get the case done. Mulder’s surprised when Scully talks her into helping Howard’s ghost get closure, but she did it because it’s smart, dude. You don’t get that because you like to be too honest and make enemies instead of being smart and getting results. He whines that they could’ve kept investigating the ghost, and she rightfully points out they have a case to solve right now. Seriously Mulder, these are killers. They need to be brought to justice. You can’t just avoid it to play with ghosts. Eesh. Overall this was a good episode. The creepy elements worked pretty well for me, and I was into the story. I’d rate this higher than the last two, but like I said, I do like ghost stories.

Mulder: “Do you believe in an afterlife?”
Scully: “I’ll settle for a life in this one.”

Dana Scully for President.

Rating: – I really liked how they handled this episode and it was genuinely creepy at times. Plus I thought the acting was solid.

Keep watching ComicsOnline.com for more Dee Discusses, more TV reviews, and everything geek pop culture!