> "Tithonus" by Caroline O'Connell
> 
> Spoilers!
> 
> "You know I don't believe you." - Dana Scully
> "Yes you do." - Albert Fellig.
> 
> Following from last weeks excellent SR819, Tithonus
> breaks from the Season 6 trademark of being based on
> a film by basing it on an X-Files episode!  The
> comparisons with "Clyde Bruckman" are inevitable - A
> lonely man who foretells people's deaths, a curse
> rather than a blessing.  But whilst "Clyde..." had
> some delicious comic undertones, Tithonus retains a
> serious streak.  Albert Fellig is amoral.  He waits
> for and watches people die, never thinking that he
> may be able to help them.  He callously photographs
> a man suffering a heart attack, more concerned with
> catching Death in the act than saving a fellow human
> being.
> 
> Called in to investigate is Scully - Mulder having
> been deemed a lost cause.  Kersh makes it clear to
> her that this will advance her career from
> background check hell.  Paired with eager young
> agent Peyton Ritter, Scully assumes the role of
> senior agent.  Ritter sending reports of Scully's
> progress to Kersh in much the same manner that she
> did when first partnered with Mulder on the X-Files.
> 
> Through this comparison we see how much Scully has
> accepted that things may not always be as they seem.
>  She still believes everything has it's basis in
> science, but can tell Mulder that her case is an
> X-File.
> 
> The Man Vince gives us a more real version of Scully
> than Chris Carter has of late.  Gilligan's Scully
>  runs across traffic to arrest a guy twice her size,
> puts Ritter firmly in his place when he has a go at
>  her for blowing the surveillance.  She's strong and
> assertive when she needs to be, yet is allowed to
> panic when she discovers that Fellig sees her as
> Death's  next victim.  
> 
> Watching Gillian Anderson's scenes with Geoffrey
> Lewis in Fellig's dark room are as good as anything
> we've seen from her.  She want's to empathise with
> him, understand him.  Asking him how anyone could
> have too much life?  Yet all Fellig wants to do is
> die, jealous of anyone who succeeds.  Veteran
> Jeffrey Lewis brings a world weariness to Fellig.
>  Lacking the charm of Clyde Bruckman, it's hard to
> feel sorry for him, a man who has seen too much for
> too long and just wants to die.  He doesn't care
> about the victims he photographs so it's difficult
> to care about him.  Trading places with Scully, he
> finally succeeds but even this is a selfish gesture.
>  The important thing for Fellig is not for Scully to
> survive, but for him to die.  The potential death
> scene, was gory and unglamorous - Anderson's
>  lifeless stare is an image I won't soon forget.
> 
> In a final reference to Clyde Bruckman, now that
> Fellig has taken Scully's place in much the same way
> as the nurse took his, will Bruckman's prediction
> come true?
> 
> 8/10
> 
> Random Stuff
> 
> Wow !  Two for Two.  What have we done to deserve a
> break from the lite?
> 
> Eww (mark one).  Black and white arm, very red
> blood.
> 
> "Just you?"  Oh sorry, we forget that Mulder is (and
> I quote!) a narcissistic, over zealous, self
> righteous egomaniac.
> 
> "Hello, I'm Agent Youngerandcuterthanyou and I get
> to work with your partner...Fox."
> 
> (Sings) Fame!  I'm gonna live forever.  I'm gonna
> learn how to fly.
> 
> Eww (mark two).  Do they have to make those squelchy
> noises when removing the knife from Fellig's back.
> 
> I am Scully.  Hear me roar!
> 
> (Sings.) Girls on film, got your picture, girls on
> film.
> 
> 
> Cal
> "How can you have too much life?"