> "SR819" by Caroline O'Connell
> 
> Spoilers!
> 
> "I've been expecting you to show up."
> 
> 
> Or maybe my opening quote should be from "The Red
> and
> the Black". - Oh My God.  Or to use an old football
> phrase
> (and I mean soccer, for our Transatlantic friends
> out there.) the boy done good.  Who'd have thought
> that the highlight of the season so far would be a
> John Shiban episode!  Not a mystical Spanish
> reference in sight.  Building on the promise of "The
> Pine Bluff Variant" Shiban gives us the X-Files take
> on DOA and Mitch Pileggi gets the opportunity to
> showcase his talents once more.  Sidelined for most
> of the season, and a bit part in the movie it was
> about time to have Skinner back in the frame.  But
> for how long?   With the X-Files, you know that
> anything's possible.  Characters have been killed
> off before, but rarely get their own episode in
> which to do it.  Was this to be his swan song?  
> 
> For all its hi-tech plot, SR819 was a good old
> fashioned race against time.  How to save Skinner's
> life in 24 hours or less, condensed for us into one
> hour.  Time flew and I was having fun!
> 
> After the hit and miss of the last few weeks and the
> one too many forays into X-Files Lite, I wasn't in a
> great rush to hurry back from the May Day Holiday
> weekend for, of all things, a John Shiban episode.
>  Now I'm trying to find the time to watch it again.
>  Tautly plotted, well acted and exciting - a couple
> of things that have been missing of late.
> 
> Duchovny and Anderson are solid as always -
> Anderson's scenes with a dying Skinner a particular
> highlight- racing to save the man they both describe
> as a friend.  ScientificGenius!Scully works for a
> cure as Mulder
> investigates how Skinner came to be poisoned in the
> first place and  his connection to Mulder's patron,
> Senator Matheson.  What everyone fails to notice,
> until it's too late is the Scraggy Haired Man aka
> Alex Krycek.  Oh for a great big Krycek showcase
> episode!  We love this man!  We love to hate him .
>  Some think he's just misunderstood.  But
> I digress.  This episode was about Skinner and Mitch
> Pileggi..  Poor old Skinner is not having a good
> day!  Poisoned, punched out, whapped up the side of
> the head, shot at, a potential addition to the one
> armed man club,
> about to die and having a really, really bad skin
> day.  The make up was terrific, but do we expect any
> less from the effects team.
> 
> The only small problems I had with this episode was
> the implausibility of not noticing Krycek in the
> photos.  Skinner had a reason not to acknowledge who
> the figure in the photos was, but Mulder and Scully
> have a habit of picking up on the most minute of
> details, yet fail to recognise the man who has
> caused them so much trouble just because
> he had longer hair?  But it's a small quibble in a
> scene that shows Skinner's true colours.  Previously
> he had confessed to not going out on a limb enough
> for his agents, a deathbed regret.  Yet 3 weeks
> later, after his miraculous recovery, we see that
> the only person Skinner will go out on a limb to
> protect is Skinner himself.
> 
> Triangle aside, which didn't really happen anyway,
> SR819 is the best of the season.  Mr Shiban, stand
> up and take a bow!  Leave The follies of the John
> Gilnitz collaborations behind and remain a solo
> artist.  (Mr Gilligan take note of that one too.)  I
> await your next effort.
> 
> 9/10
> 
> Random Stuff.
> 
> Eww Varicose!Skinner.  Not what you want to see
> after a late dinner!
> 
> Hello Mr Bicep (courtesy Phoebe Buffay.).  Oh Walter
> what big arms you've got.  I could be totally
> gratuitous and say he should have been topless!
> 
> Mulder flinging pencils at the ceiling.... Wait,
> hang on... continuity!  At last.  And at 11 o clock
> at night.  Truly this man has no life.
> 
> Hey Mulder, very Irish "St Catrine's".  Let me
> guess, the H is slient.
> 
> Seeing Skinner getting his ass kicked and losing his
> gun makes a change from it happening to Mulder.
> 
> So, let me get this.  Doctors wear Blue/Green
> Scrubs, nurses peachy scrubs and the visiting FBI
> Agent Doctor gets a set of Scarlet Scrubs to match
> her lipstick.  Well at least it got her out of the
> black suits.
> 
> Senator Matheson, he even made his parents call him
> Mulder!
> 
> Ah, it's the old abandoned Power plant scenario.
>  Question, how many abandoned power plants are there
> dotted around the States?
> 
> Never underestimate the power of Palm Pilot...
> doesn't quite have the same ring to it.  I have
> enough trouble getting one to acknowledge my
> handwriting, let alone control another human being.
> 
> Somebody give that young Nicholas Lea a great big
> starring role in something, anything!  He eats up
> the screen.  Waaay too cute to be a semi irregular
> bit player.
> 
> Cal
> 
> "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."