Review of BRAND X for PAXFL website

This week's installment will be brief because 1) this ep doesn't warrant
much of a review, IMHO, and 2) my VCR didn't work, so I don't have the ep
on tape! *sigh*  Thus I am basing these musings on one viewing, sans close
captioning, at a friends' house...

What worked: 
Scully!angst. She gripped Mulder's hands, she got teary-eyed, she was at
his bedside as he languished, she was supportive, she came up w/ the
solution (shocking, as it wasn't a medically-approved one; that's two weeks
in a row, if you count "All things"), she checked in on him at the end, she
was concerned about his possible smoking habit (was anyone thinking, Uh oh,
is CSM going to get involved at this point???). Oh, and no real gratuitous
Scully!cleavage this week. Thank you.

Mulder!angst. He looked positively puzzled at his first coughing attempt.
He was appropriately deadpan prior to that. (He also looked *damn* fine,
right up to his final coughing attack and after he got back from the
hospital and was at work, two weeks later.) Granted, he couldn't speak (and
this isn't the first time...plus I loved the line about feeling like he'd
been sucked up...damn tape! No quotes!), but he grunted nicely. :)

Skinner's appearance. Finally! I am not sure exactly why he was all over
this ep (Contracturally obligated? Mulder was laid up so you needed someone
to shoot Weaver while Scully was w/ Mulder?), but it was nice for him to be
back. Since I missed the first couple of minutes, I am not sure if there
was a reason given, aside from him taking care of them for the Federal
Witness Protection Program (and thus, why would the FBI be in charge of
that? The whistle blower wasn't Mafia, for example.), but still, nice to
know Skinner is still alive (and loved when he called Mulder "Agent." Made
me pine for the old days.

Weaver. An effective villain. We got a pretty good idea of who he was and
why he did what he did. I kept expecting *him* to be the one who caused the
deaths, but in fact he turned out to be a victim, too. He was creeeeeeeeeepy.

What didn't work:
Most of the rest of the ep. This felt both recycled and heavy handed to me.
"Hey, kids, it's bad to smoke! The tobacco companies are e-vil! Let's write
an X-File about it! Who will live and who will die?" That was about it for
suspense. It was obvious from the start that the doctor was involved
(though I was surprised he didn't die) and the only question was how long
it would take the FBI to find a cure and stop the Morley Corporation. We
have already had icky bugs and DNA genetic engineering (War of the
Coprahages), but that ep was written w/ a great deal more humor. This one
felt, as I've already read in a couple of reviews, like a throw away ep, to
be discarded as quickly as an empty cigarette carton. Less taste, less
filling. No wonder they called it Brand X. Very generic.

What was infuriating:
That CSM wasn't involved. Hello? Cancer Man has been an intregal part of
the mytharc since the PILOT, when he first puffed on his Morley. How the
HELL can you have an ep about smoking, cancer, and esp. the Morley Tobacco
Company, for whom CSM was a poster child (remember when CSM wrote his
address on a wrapper and left it for Mulder?), and not even *mention* it?
Why wasn't he mentioned? Remember, back a whole three weeks ago, a little
brilliant (IMHO) ep called EN AMI, in which CSM held the cure to cancer and
all diseases? Why was there no reference to that ep? What the *heck* is up?

In conclusion, this ep is one that gets filed w/ the "been there, done
that" eps and thank goodness for Mulder's brush w/ bugs, or there would
have been *no* reason to watch this one at all. If this is what future eps
hold in store, then please, give the series the final rest it deserves
after May. OTOH, the previews for Hollywood A.D. look *hysterical*. Not a
lite ep, a comic one, and I can't wait. Let DD and GA write the eps from
now on. I wouldn't complain.

Bring it on, David!  Hit another homer, baby.