Trevor

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PLOT: As punishment, a convicted killer is forced to endure a tornadic storm in a prison courtyard where he is thought to have been killed. Shortly after, dead bodies are found horribly disfigured.

"Trevor" is very reminiscent of Season 1 episodes where there is a villain with obvious superhuman powers causing deadly havoc to literally everyone he touches, while Mulder and Scully show us how excellent they are as investigators to be able to think beyond what is shown right in front of them. Does "Squeeze" come to mind?

Comparisons aside, this episode was probably one of the more under-rated of a season that has been inundated with more surreal plots involving the closeness of Mulder and Scully. Yet, that certainly doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the episode as it was definitely one compelling hour. Even though our two heroes were not central to the action and plot of the episode, they were not used as decoration either. Their lively banter with each other was highly flirtatious and *funny* at times. The morgue scene at the beginning was a prime example ("Dear Diary: My heart leapt when Agent Scully suggested spontaneous human combusion"). That is just another factor that harks back to classic Season 1 episodes.

Though the plot was definitely not that original, the circumstances and the origin of the killer's newly developed "talents" definitely were. A storm that causes an electrostatic charge enough to totally "rewire" a human being's DNA to do what Pinker Rawls can do. In that vain, it is a similar plotpoint to Season two's "D.P.O." The idea of such a power is almost inconceivable. Instead of being able to make his body crawl through tiny spaces ala Victor Eugene Tooms, Rawls is able to just walk right *through* them! Bullets, knifes, handcuffs...nothing can hold him or stop him and people that he touches literally melt away to the point that even Mulder gets sick. And that is rare!

What is interesting about Rawls (deftly played by "Miami Vice" alumni, John Diehl) is that he is not truly malevolent. That's not to say that he would stop from killing a man for staring at him the wrong way, but he broke out of jail and maintained his actions for a *paternal* reason, not revenge. He knew that he had a son and wanted him to know his father just like any parent would. His "powers" to basically dematerialize through solid objects was an advantage that he used to gain that objective. Any person that happened to be in his way was eliminated. Kind of shows what one person can do when he really puts his mind to it.

Though Mulder figured out Rawls weakness:glass, he still needed input from Scully to fully entertain the idea that Rawls does have limitations. Though I found it interesting that there was this one glaring vulnerability, Rawls must have some kind of control over when he can go through solid objects or let them go through him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to stand on a floor or even have clothes stay on his body. That is something that wasn't explained in the episode. But aside from that, the effects of him walking through walls or other solid objects were definitely eerie. Seeing Rawls come down slowly from the ceiling was a chiller and that was basically low-tech.

Thus, this episode perpetuated one excellent aspect of the show in that showing less is more. The way Diehl showed Rawls as on the edge of being totally dangerous and how his rather charming behavior to people he happened along his search for his son made him far more dangerous that what was truly shown. His desperate need to find his son just so he could be a father to him was rather touching but the way he went about it certainly wasn't.

The rest of the episode seemed like part soap opera and part Nightmare on Elm Street. Some significant points about the last part of the show. Mulder knew exactly what would work against Rawls and asking for the riot gun was brilliant. Even though Scully had her doubts as usual when it came to Mulder's theories, she trusted him implicitly when it came to her life and the little boy, Trevor, by going into a *glass* phone booth to avoid a naked Rawls from harming them. The rather grisly way that Rawls died by literally having his guts splattered all over June's windshield was highly effective in grossing us out. Yuck! And even after all that, Mulder, as usual, figured out what Rawls might have been in search of: a second chance.

Overall, a very straight-forward episode that was very watchable. Diehl effectively showed the evil inherent in Rawls even though his murderous actions were not totally malevolent. While Duchovny and Anderson show that there is plenty of investigative and flirtatious magic between Mulder and Scully after all these years even though they have seen practically *everything*. Though this episode will end up being mostly overlooked because of the similar plotlines to classic earlier episodes, it is still worth being watched and admired for being a very solid X-File episode.

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