Review of En Ami by Sue Brody

I remember asking WBD at the Boston X-Files eXpo if he would ever do an
episode w/ Gillian Anderson. He said he wouldn't mind doing it but had no
idea and had had little interaction w/ GA. And now, in our last season
(please, God), he has...

I found this an amazingly powerful, eerie episode, and yet it felt sad to
me, b/c it screamed out to me that the end is near, not only b/c of the
things CSM said but b/c of the way Scully acted. Mind you, I think the end
*should* be nigh, but still...the mystery, the serious tone, Mark Snow's
score, CSM *and* Skinner *and* yet another mysterious guy (the unnamed
Shooter, though I wish it had been Krycek!), not to mention CSM's black
gloves...this was an X-Files ep, through and through. Hurrah.

What surprised me most:

That this time it was Scully and not Mulder who was taken in by the "con."

That Scully didn't blink when CSM used the word extraterrestrial when
talking about the cure.

That CSM saved Scully (although the look he gave her in the restaurant was
perhaps a give away of his affection for her...perhaps even a longing).

Most of all, that CSM threw the disk w/ the powerful scientific cures into
the water. I *never* expected that.

This episode was incredibly fraught w/ meaning if you've been keeping track
of The X-Files for several years. If not, you were probably pretty
confused. But it seemed as if every exchange between Scully and CSM was
incredibly significant, and I continually questioned just how sincere CSM
was being, which is just as Bill Davis would want it. And I guess the
answer is that as usual, there was nothing black or white about CSM. He was
as impossible to read as ever, from the beginning of the episode until the
very end.

In the teaser, when Jason saw the "bright light," I thought that was going
to be the Samanthas. i.e., whatever the spirits of the young children are
called (brain blank). Imagine my surprise when it was the Men in Black!
Then I thought Jason was going to be abducted; again, a huge surprise to
see that he was cured but w/out any alien testing or probing. Of course,
those who are left in the Syndicate don't need to do that anymore, and the
rest of them have gone.

Scully is really dressing in...well, more provocative clothing this year, I
guess I would say. It's not your mother's Scully, that's for sure.

I was glad to see M&S's office back, if only for a moment (along w/ the "I
want to believe" poster). You knew this was going to be a serious ep when
Mulder didn't quip about Scully's knowledge of Jason. Maybe it's b/c it had
to do w/ the fact that she, too, was cured of cancer and thus it's too
serious for him to joke about. Or maybe it's b/c WD doesn't do much
quippiness.

After Scully says, "Well, Spontaneous remission, Mulder, isn't entirely
unheard of," I wanted to scream out, 'No kidding, Scully, that's what
happened to you!!! Don't you remember Redux II???' I was glad CSM mentioned
it a bit later on.

First favorite line, after discussing Jason and "angels":
Mulder:  "I've just got to know whether it was Roma Dowling or Della
Reese." LOL!

I am glad not too much was made of the McPecks...this case wasn't about
"God's work," and I didn't want this to turn out to be a religious ep.
Thankfully, Jason was just there as an example of CSM's handiwork (re: the
chip in his neck).

Great movie music when Scully first sees CSM in her car. I found it
interesting that CSM compared his work to Scully's as a medical doctor,
something that hasn't come up that much. We have a running theme of CSM's
sincerity, and how much Scully will actually learn. Another parallel is of
Mulder in Redux II, when he trusts CSM enough to let him "see his sister"
(who we now know obviously wasn't), in an attempt to bring him over to his
side (and to not implicate Chief Blevins, I suspect) and Scully in this ep,
w/ CSM using his curing Scully's cancer (through the chip) to get her to go
along w/ him so he can get the chip but to not tell Mulder. He is more
successful in this instance, though Scully continues to be skeptical
throughout. And she has had a lot less contact w/ CSM, so I would expect
her to be more naive. I still wish she had consulted Mulder, however, and
not just in attempting to send him the tape while on the trip. There was a
trust she put in CSM that she didn't put in Mulder and it surprised me.

This ep did remind me a lot of Amor Fati, when CSM looks over the ruins of
the world (aka hell), and now talks about how he's killed the ones he
loves. Still, he just can't get himself to take the final step...he is
willing to go to his grave (assuming he *does* die from the AF brain
surgery) rather than be the world's savior.

Scully lying to Mulder about her family emergency reminding me of The Pine
Bluff Variant, when Mulder lied to Scully, although in that case he was
working for the government and in this case she was working individually.
One thing CSM chose NOT to do was to have Scully make him a "respectable"
person. I suppose he's accepted his legacy; perhaps he is not capable of
true empathy. He cannot help but be arrogant; he might feel as if he has a
"special affection" for Scully ("I held my life in your hands") but it's
always tainted by power. It's never unconditional. And his seeking her
trust...well, I was a bit surprised by how far Scully would go w/ him, as
she could have been killed anytime along the way (and nearly was in the
water, except for, ironically, CSM killing the gunman). Perhaps it was b/c
Scully wanted the have the opportunity to use CSM's power for good rather
than for evil, and she thought she might have the chance. In this way, she
was being entirely altruistic, but it still surprised me that she *was*
willing to trust CSM, *especially* if he was the one who had caused (or
helped to cause) her cancer in the first place, and considering all of the
people he had killed, or nearly killed (including Mulder). I am still
wrapping my head around this.

I was glad to see how concerned Mulder was about Scully (and I *loved*
seeing the basketball). I was also relieved that Scully called Mulder on
Skinner's private line.

Here is the dialogue that really drew me in:

"You're drawn to powerful men but you fear their power. You keep your guard
up, a wall around your heart. How else do you explain that fearless
devotion to a man obsessed, and yet, a life alone? You'd die for Mulder but
you won't allow yourself to love him."

Scully dismisses CSM as a pop psychologist, but I believe she takes this to
heart, as did I, and she continues to follow him b/c he has more insight
than she might like. And then when she meets Marjorie, 118 years old, she
continues to be drawn to him (b/c she sees the scar on the back of her neck).

Pretty revealing shot of Scully fixing her wire. Remember the mosquito
bites in the Pilot? And Skinner was certainly not used much in this ep,
which I found rather disappointing.

Mulder in gray t-shirt. Very nice. And ye gads, the LGM looked heesterical
as the "masters of disguise." CSM looks strange as a domesticated man.

I had such flashbacks when Scully is given the choice of leaving or staying
after she thinks she has been drugged, just as Mulder had the choice of
killing CSM in Anasazi, I think, but didn't, b/c then he would never have
learned of his sister's abduction (or so he thinks at the time, and so do we).

Second favorite line: 
Frohicke to Skinner in his office: "Don't get testy, G-Man." Woah. Very
ballsy!!

Scully looks beautiful in the restaurant (what a dress CSM chooses for
her). When he calls her Dana and tells her that the disk is the "holiest of
grails, the final frontier," and is largely extraterrestrial, she is in,
hook, line, and sinker (no pun intended, and I wondered when *that* would
actully happen!). When CSM says he is a lonely man, and that is the reason
he won't use the disk to cure himself, that may be the only lie he hasn't
told (aside from the information about the actual disk itself), and her
heart goes out to him. Perhaps she is thinking of herself there. It also
makes sense that while he won't give Scully the disk, he also won't, or
can't, kill her.

When Scully goes out to meet Cobra, the boat in the water was so
reminiscent of Beyond the Sea to me (the shot of it initially bobbing, for
example)...my, how far we've come, and yet how interconnected this all is.
Kudos to Bill Davis, and perhaps some other members of 1013 could learn
something about continuity from him...

I liked the idea of CSM and Cobra corresponding through Scully's email
(nice Y2K plot device) and found it tragic that Cobra dies having realized
he hadn't been corresponding w/ her all that time and that he may have died
for nothing. I wonder what they corresponded about...telling line in,
"You're certainly as you described yourself. Maybe more so at dinner." And
the killing of the unanonymous gunman was wonderfully filmed (gave my heart
a jolt, b/c I thought she was going to get shot, though clearly not killed).

I am not too sharp, so many episodes into the series, b/c I didn't get that
CSM was switching tapes w/ Scully. I should have guessed it but didn't,
though I certainly felt her agony at being deceived, and then her her utter
frustration at finding out she'd been used. "You saw what you needed to see
to make you believe," Mulder says, and nothing could be truer, only this
time, Mulder and Scully have switched places. The only thing that Mulder
was wrong about is that he used Scully as a way to save himself.  And
Scully is right in that CSM did display a longing for something he could
never have (love), hence his disposing of the disk.

So, at least for  me, this episode worked on a number of levels (in that it
gave us more insight into both CSM and Scully, perhaps wrapped up a
storyline, and was suspenseful and sad), and I can only say that 1013 needs
to continue using writers other than John Gillnitz, b/c clearly there is
life left in The X-Files, and it is, IMHO, writers outside of the immediate
circle who are giving the series its life (Theef notwithstanding).

Bravo to William B. Davis. Long may you act *and* write.