Badlaa

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PLOT: An unusual death of an obese salesman leads Scully and Doggett into the mystic cultures of India.

Admittedly, the X-Files leads itself into bizarre territory that sometimes cannot logically be explained. Yet, there are those times where an episode is such a mess that no amount of logic could ever explain how it ever got made to begin with. "Badlaa" seems to fit that bill pretty well.

There were *so* many questions left unanswered in this one. For the most part, I don't understand how a little legless, filthy man could ever be considered a threat to anyone no matter what kind of "tricks" he may have. Why would he travel all the way to the U.S. from India? So he could get that big career job as a school janitor? If he can "disguise" himself as an ordinary man with two legs or become "invisible" to the naked eye, then why would he need to "stowaway" in someone's body to begin with? I may be able to understand that he would need to use someone to travel to other countries, but once he reached his destination, what was his goal or purpose?

Scully and Doggett never figured out *why* he was committing the murders. There was no real pattern in regards to the victims he chose. There was the mention of a chemical plant killing some 118 people in India, but how are Trevor's and Quinton's family related to that incident? It's not as though "munchkin man" needed the bodies for any kind of sustenance a la Tooms. Basically, the whole motive part was vastly weak. What motivates him? Why does he do the things he does? Why did he decide to pick a school to find his next victims? In other words, what was the point to the whole episode?

The most interesting part of the episode dealt with Scully's struggles within herself throughout the case. She is trying to keep "an open mind" as her partner, Doggett, is not. It's definitely not her fault that the case is totally confusing and illogical. Blame that on the writer, John Shiban. It is bad enough that the "monster" is about as compelling as watching paint dry, but when so many plot holes are obvious to even the casual viewer, the story collapses before it starts.

What is this? The 10th episode already? Yet, the partnership between Scully and Doggett has been so uneven. The first two episodes, "Within" and "Without," were standouts because the focus was on Mulder while Scully was coping with his loss. The fans were pulled into her emotional trauma and shocked by what Mulder was experiencing. While Doggett looked and sounded interesting. Even in the weak "Patience," their partnership had a very tenuous uneasiness and lack of trust to make it very compelling. Yet, in subsequent episodes, there have been times when they act like two strangers working together for the first time, or as in this episode, Scully getting peeved every time Doggett doesn't believe her explanations. Oh, and Doggett acts like a jackass to boot.

It was great to see Chuck Burks again. Has it been "Hollywood A.D." since we last saw him? I'm afraid so. It's obvious that he saw a wonderful chemistry between Mulder and Scully that is sorely lacking between Doggett and Scully. Even if Doggett does not believe the "dabbling" that Chuck Burks does, at the very least he should respect his views. At least Scully would demand to know why Mulder or any of his co-horts believe in the things they do. In essence, she tried to understand their strange but brilliant mind sets, particularly Mulder's. And Scully certainly did not leave every time Mulder came up with his outlandish theories. Doggett does at a drop of a hat in this episode.

I've read other fan's comments that Scully is trying to be too much like Mulder. Even she realizes that she's lacking in the openness to believe rather than doubt herself as Scully does near the end of the episode. As I've mentioned before, she is trying to keep Mulder close to her by allowing his open-minded awareness of any possibility imaginable to be a part of her thinking as well. Her experience shows that many of their cases cannot be solved strictly through normal investigative or scientific techniques. Since Doggett is not willing to go beyond his own investigative experiences, Scully has to provide that alternative thinking that Mulder did so naturally.

One thing that is so obvious with many of the weak episodes this season (and there are admittedly far too many already) is the lack of any compelling interaction between Scully and Doggett. Remember some of the worst episodes of the past few seasons? "Teso Dos Bichos," "El Mundo Gira," "Agua Mala," "First Person Shooter"? Many of these episodes had incredibly weak plots like "Badlaa," but there was the charming chemistry between Mulder and Scully that made it tolerable to watch. Though I certainly don't pop in my copies of these episodes very often, I still find myself watching when I see them in syndication.

The other night, I saw an E! Special on that 80s TV series of pure southern abandonment called "The Dukes of Hazzard." Though I was never a fan of that series, I remember how much they promoted the car, "The General Lee," as the star of the show. Even one of the actors of the show was shocked to hear that the producers admitted that the car was the star not the actors. Well, Chris Carter better get his head out of his ass and realize that the main "star" of "The X-Files" is character interaction, and not the latest lame "MOTW" episode. Remember when he said the show still had "more interesting stories" to tell? Ten-Thirteen must be running out of them if they still allow the weakest writer of the bunch, John Shiban, to pen this drivel and *air* it. Sheesh!

Has February arrived yet?

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