Roadrunner

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PLOT: Scully goes off to Utah by herself to investigate a murder, leaving Doggett behind to contemplate what to do.

When I review an episode and use words like "reminiscent" or "harks back to" or "can easily fit in the middle of Season (1,2,3,4,etc.)," it usually is a compliment for the most part. When it is an episode written by Vince Gilligan, I am usually gushing with awe and wonder at the latest work that the "master" has treated us. So my expectations for "Roadrunner" were somewhat above average even though he had no Mulder/Scully interaction to work with. Though he has proven to me that he can definitely write interesting stories without necessarily dwelling on Mulder and Scully. For instance, I enjoyed his Lone Gunmen-centric episodes, because he dwelled deeper into the characters than just show us a filler story so that David and Gillian can have some time off. Yet, I'm not really sure what to make of this one.

You would think that Scully didn't like Mulder ditching her back in the days of Season 3 when she seemed to be left behind to cover his butt. Those kind of frustrating experiences would definitely stick in most people's minds. Yet, Scully does exactly what Mulder did with her new partner as Doggett is left behind in D.C. trying to understand why she went off to Utah to investigate an X-File without him. This partnership may already be doomed before it really gets going.

Even though we were prepared to endure half of the season without David's charm as Mulder, it is difficult to watch a mediocre MOTW episode without him. Even though the monster may have been illogically silly, like last week's "bat-man," Mulder would have treated it with his indelible charm and enthusiasm that only he can bring. We can only hope that the majority of stories without him would have some kind of redeeming or original value that would make it worthwhile to watch. As far as I love Gilligan's work, this one just doesn't fit the bill for me. Has he even *watched* any of the previous episodes to make sure he didn't come across as ignorant?

Let's start off with the fact that Scully showed in the very last episode that she appreciated Doggett backing her up. Yet, right off the bat, she decides to take off on a "consult" by herself without ever informing Doggett of her whereabouts. Heaven knows how Mulder felt her wrath when he did that to her early in their partnership. The fact that it is a murder case also makes Scully seem rather foolish. Her experience with X-File murders should remind her that it is not wise to traipse off in the middle of nowhere without back-up ("Tooms," "Irresistible," "2Shy," "Unruhe," "Never Again," just to name a few).

Then, there's the "monster" itself. Yes, the grisly, graphic, gross factor was highly evident in this episode, but wasn't it a bit like a rehash of "Ice"? Heck, Scully even cut it out of poor Hank's body. She, along with Gilligan, obviously forgot that when she did the same thing in "Ice," the host died. That was taking a bit of a gamble on someone's life. Yet, since Scully was going to be infected with the same little worm herself, there wouldn't be any way to get it out of her, and we wouldn't know that Doggett likes to carry a knife as a back-up weapon. At least Gillian gets to show off her very svelte shape and how she's one of the few actresses in the world who can look good with sweat.

It was hard to digest the inadequecies of "Roadrunner." So many questions were left unanswered. How did this "thing" find its way to these poor souls? Where did it come from? Why did these people become fanatical in their belief that it was some sort of diety? For that matter, why did it have to infest a stranger rather than one of the townspeople? Suffice it to say, this episode was lacking in any kind of neat packaged conclusion. On top of which, since Gilligan shows that he doesn't seem comfortable yet in showing his take on the chemistry between Scully and Doggett, there's no true character development for either of them. Having Scully apologize to Dogget doesn't count. She made a mistake. She's bound to make lots of them along the way, because a part of her is missing: the one with Mulder at the heart of it. Hence, Scully will not really be acting like herself for most of this season, since she has to champion Mulder's interests and beliefs in this new partnership.

Doggett does come off as one very concerned partner. Even though he must have been ticked that his partner did ditch him, he knows enough about human nature to understand that Scully needs to do things her way, whether they be totally silly or not to the average person, as a form of "therapy" to allow herself to grieve for Mulder's loss. To his credit, Gilligan shows that Doggett does not come off as just a stereotypical ex-New York cop who has about enough sympathy for someone as a hungry rattlesnake does to a scared mouse. He makes sure that Scully understand that he was upset for being ditched by saying she was wrong. Ironically, Scully admits it! How often does she do that?

As the season progresses, we'll see how much Scully has truly learned about herself as a person minus Mulder. We also will see how much tolerance Doggett has left for her erratic behavior. Hopefully, Gilligan's next episode will be a vast improvement over this mess.

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