The Unnatural

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PLOT: Mulder finds an old newswire photo circa 1947 with a legendary black baseball player, Arthur Dales and the alien bounty hunter.

Baseball is a game that easily transcends beyond just sports. It is a game that is not difficult to understand, watched by millions of people of all races and cultures around the world and is identified as American as apple pie. Ironically, one of my favorite baseball movies is "The Natural," with Robert Redford, set at at time in the 1930s when the game seemed innocent. There was no TV exposure, no huge salary or endorsement contracts and scandal, particularly for the superstars, was easily swept under the rug by the media.

Thus, the simplicity and joy of the game is what makes "The Unnatural" so appealing in itself. The idea that an alien would do something as "unneccesary" as hit a round ball with a round bat squarely every time he came up to the plate seems so *ludicrous*. Yet, taking away that simplicity to understand that the alien, Exley, *loved* doing it and feeling all the joyous emotions that is attached to the game is highly endearing. Humans for the most part take everything around them for granted more often than not. Exley wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. So he made himself a black player in the negro leagues, a rather embarrassing time in American history when segregation was an everyday occurrence as day turning into night. In that respect, he can play the game he fell in love with and not be the center of attention to the rest of the world. However, he played it so well that he was painting a big bullseye on himself with both the major leagues, who were scouting him, and the alien bounty hunter (Brian Thompson), who wanted to terminate him.

This episode already was getting a ton of exposure, because it was written and directed by David Duchovny. Remember that Mulder isn't the only one who happened to excel at a prestigious university. DD had an Ivy League education himself and was just one thesis short of becoming *Dr* DD in English Lit. I find it rather amazing that it even took this long for him to write an episode by himself. By the looks of this one, it was a match made in heaven.

Though this episode dealt with what possibly might be an embellished account of a negro leagues superstar, it still cleverly tied in to the whole X-Files mythos without showing any kind of strain on credibility. I especially liked the nice transitions between 1947 and present time, particularly with the TV scene shifting into the alien bounty hunter. Plus, there were a lot of in-jokes within the story itself such as the Roswell Grays (as in reticulan grey), the name Exley (x-ly, get it?), the year 1947 in regards to UFO lore and the humorous thought that the name "Arthur Dales" belongs to two brothers and a sister.

DD obviously has a handle on Mulder's passions pretty well, but what was rather surprising was how much he actually wrote Scully's character as so affectionately flirtatious and playful. Besides the fact that their scenes were rather short, it was what was shown in those brief scenes that revealed so much of what DD perceives of the entire Mulder/Scully dynamic: their relationship needs to be advanced to a higher level.

The opening scene between them showed Scully giggling. When was the last time that happened with both of them together in the same room? The chemistry between them was so electric throughout the scene that a casual viewer would believe them to already be an intimate romantic couple. I thought it was rather surprisingly sweet and really helped shift the story to the baseball theme.

It was to Duchovny's credit as an insightful writer to not end the episode on a down note with Exley's death. Instead, he ended it with a glimmer of love as Mulder wants to share his never-before-revealed love for baseball to the obvious love of his life: Scully. Their playfulness together at the earlier scene extends into this one as he shows her how to hit a baseball. The implied sexuality ("...hips before hands...") was so carefree and natural between them that it makes me wonder why Scully allowed Mulder to be so close this time yet *hated* it in "Arcadia" when he was constantly touchy-feely.

The episode really shines this season as a nice change-of-pace with a fresh premise and an even fresher outlook on our fave duo's relationship. DD definitely shined as both writer and director. He had a great supporting cast in Jesse L. Martin as the endearing alien, Josh Exley, and M. Emmett Walsh as the grouchy older and other brother, Arthur Dales. Though Brian Thompson gets very limited exposure everytime he is the alien bounty hunter, he always makes every scene he is in count significantly.

Hopefully, David has some more X-Files stored away in that literary head of his. He could give Vince and Chris a run for their money.

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