Review of Theef by Sue Brody

"Oh, yeah, Mulder, win him over."

Well, another ep where something's written on the wall after a killing. Who
wants to name all the times THAT has happened on TXF? Last one I can
remember is Trevor ("I want what's mine"), but I also seem to remember
there being at least one this year. 

I thought this was a solid X-File, all in all. It didn't wow me, exactly,
but it kept me interested (wondering who would die, noticing the
juxtoposition between Peattie and Wieder, and wondering when Mulder and
Scully were going to be able to stop Peattie--almost seemed as if it should
have happened sooner). What was the biggest problem for me in this ep? That
Peattie wasn't as compelling or complex as I would have liked. He was
creepy, sure, but he wasn't as nuanced as I think he could have been. Sure,
I felt horribly for him with regard to his daughter's death, but he seemed
like a caricature of a backwoods hick, which bothered me (although I guess
that was sort of the point; like his daughter, he didn't seem important
enough to be taken seriously). I also wanted to see more of his passion, I
guess, and we didn't get that much, except in the scene w/ Dr. Wieder and
then in the last six or seven minutes of the ep. I want my MOTWs and
villains to be more interesting, more like Pusher, I suppose, though
Peattie did show *some* compassion by choosing *not* to try to kill the
daughter but instead the doctor himself. I also was interested in Wieder's
story, which helped, as you saw the affluent doctor grappling w/ both his
belief in modern medicine/lack of belief in "directed" folk magic and his
understanding that this Peattie character *was* exuding some sort of power
over his family (and you couldn't help but ache for him as he lost family
members: first his father, then his wife, and finally nearly his daughter
and his own life). And the fairly obvious parallels between Peattie and
Scully, modern, skeptical doctors, take an unexpected twist at the very end.

The first scene w/ Mulder and Scully is an interesting one, as the John
Gillnitz team tries to bring something different to their typical exchange,
where Scully goes logical, Mulder goes for the paranormal. 

M: Mulder, why are we we here?
S: Well, to be fair, I might have used the words, 'Mulder, how is this an
X-File?'
M: You see that, Scully, you always keep me guessing...

Didn't Mulder look bloody amused during this scene (no pun intended)? It's
almost as if he was saying, Yeah, there's some weird stuff going on here,
but we have to go along for the ride until I figure it out, and Scully,
you're going to be wrong, but thanks for trying to help me. And Scully
seemed to be saying, Yeah, I'm bored w/ always being the naysayer, I'll try
to look for the hidden meaning.

What was most satisfying? Scully saying to Mulder, "Hexcraft? I'll buy that
as the intent here... I'll always keep you guessing."

Why am I not surprised that Mulder guessed that someone was trying to get
at Wieder ("theef")? Again, I'm just surprised that it took them so long to
capture Peattie, but then again, Wieder should have brought him forward
sooner (after the office visit) and didn't, possibly out of guilt as well
as preoccupation w/ his wife.

How scary was that sequence where of becomes desperately ill? Wonderful
make up, and a great followup of Peattie doing his hex folk magic thang.

Did the innkeeper seem a bit extraneous to you? Perhaps it was to indicate
that Peattie could use his magic for good (to help her back) or evil (kill
people that had hurt him). And then, of course, she nearly finds out his
secret (we keep wondering if he'll hurt her, but that's not his intent),
and finally does find the skeleton of the daughter in the bed, proving once
again that Peattie might *seem* ignorant but isn't.

Again, after Scully finds the kuru that killed Wieder's father, Mulder
makes reference to her surprising him.  However, when Mulder says that he
was given the disease so that he would kill himself, she acknowledges the
possibility, which *is* really surprising. I guess 7 1/2 years with Mulder
has allowed Scully to become a tad more openminded.

Scully's hair was really flat this week. Mulder's is looking better each ep.

The scene in the "alternative health" store seemed right out of Buffy the
Vampire Slayer. I thought Mulder would have gotten his man about five
minutes later (since his theory was confirmed), but again, he had no real
way of finding the man. At least this showed him *how* to counteract
Peattie's power.

The doll getting nuked along w/ Nan was unbelievable and frightening! Nan
turned positively crispy. But how did Peattie learn how to use a microwave
so quickly? He was bewildered by the popcorn until the resident showed him
what to do. When I heard him say "Microwave. It's a true wonder," I
expected to see snakes come out out of the floorboards.

"All done," Peattie says after nuking the doll. (Bye bye, as Morgan and
Wong would add.)

I was glad to see it raining while Mulder and Scully search for Peattie's
daughter's body, especially in California. I half expected frogs to fall.
(And no, I'm not thinking Magnolia.)

During the news report about Nan's death, we hear and see, "Our own John
Gilnas is on the scene."` You go, 1013! LOL! I wondered why the time stamp
said 11:23, not 11:21, but this was far better!

The last scene in the forest is extremely effective. First, we have Scully
being infected by Peattie's hexcraft and not being able to see...wow.
Creepy. Her eyes looked extremely gross. Then her helplessness while
Peattie confronts Wieder and his confrontation: "Can't hurt the man who
ain't got nothing left." And we realize that it's not true--Wieder didn't
try to save her, but he's protecting his daughter as Peattie is trying to
defend his own. And then Scully shooting Peattie (She must be pretty
traumatized by now. First Orison, now this.) as Mulder comes in w/ the doll.

But the most interesting moment is when Scully first defends Wieder's
actions and then ponders if she might have acted differently. Mulder asks,
"You're wondering if maybe Peattie could have saved her life?" and Scully
doesn't answer him. We see a side of Scully we're rarely allowed to see,
and it surprises us as much as it surprises Mulder. It's nice to see that
the partners are still learning about one another, even at this late date,
and that they are still learning about themselves as well.