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PLOT: Reyes discovers that recent murders that do not appear related
are all tied to one serial killer, who is linked to a mysterious person.
*ANOTHER* comedy episode written by Chris Carter? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I really wasn't sure what to expect in this episode. Chris Carter is not known
to be so witty as to executive produce and write sitcoms. Yet, he seems to
persist with his brainchild and tries to be *funny* at least once a season.
Fortunately, he doesn't try to be totally outlandish in this episode as he did
in Season 7's "Fight Club," which was one big mess. Though the premise was
initially good, I wasn't sure where Carter wanted to take it with the whole
numerology issue and the casting of Burt Reynolds in a rather innocuous role. Oh,
what was that music?!?!?
The teaser was interesting. We see one unnamed man at a casino receive a bad hand
and angrily leaves the table. Then, we see an attractive blonde who is very much
engaged in losing all her money in a slot machine. In the nearby bar, we see another
man (suspiciously looking like Burt Reynolds) playing with cards and ordering "7&7 and a
pack of Morleys". The first man sits down next to him and (surprise, surprise) orders
the same exact thing. He is eyeing the pretty blonde, who is clearly frustrated, and
"Burt" (lacking a better name since none was given) notices his gaze. Minutes later, the
man follows the blonde into the restroom and...
Well, I'm not going to reiterate the episode, but you get the gist. It seems that
Burt is somehow linked to this murderer, but how? No real explanation was ever shown or
given. The murderer, himself, wondered why Burt seemed to be around almost everywhere he
was. There is no indication by the plot that Burt is directly involved with the murders,
but it's obvious that they affect him. One interesting comment he made was when the
murderer told him to "Go to Hell," and Burt replied, "Is the reservation in your name?"
That one comment is the closest to even indicate that Burt may be something otherworldly.
However, we are never really sure.
I admit that the murder plot itself was not that interesting. The most interesting aspect
of the episode was the clear befuddlement of Doggett and Scully to Reyes' apparent ramblings
about numerology being the key to the murders. I found it a bit too convenient that Reyes'
explanation that numerology had something to do with the murders, and then it seemed as though
*every* unexplained murder in the past few months was related to it. Reyes was never that
sure why numerology seemed to be linked to it and never got a clear answer before her
numerology expert was murdered.
In one respect, it reminded me somewhat of "The Goldberg Variation" where each incident seemed
to affect another incident and the whole ball of wax just tumbles along. Carter seemed to hint
at this when he showed Burt lining up rows of dominoes and having the rows knock each other down
while the murderer sat across from him, and Doggett happened to be walking up next to them.
From what it appeared, I don't think even the murderer knew why he killed or why he chose the
victims. It wasn't as though he was counting his fingers and figuring it out as Monica ludicrously
did in the beginning of the episode.
So the two find themselves trapped in a parking garage...with Burt. What exactly was his function again?
I certainly would find it highly suspicious to find someone just sitting in a car in a parking garage with
no ID. I must admit that it was humorous to see the ladies find themselves in such a position and then
being somewhat forced to play Checkers with a ringer. The astonished looks on both Monica's and Scully's
faces when he literally cleaned them out was priceless and probably one of the few redeeming values of this
episode. Another one was seeing Scully so desperate as to try to escape by firing her gun at a combination
door lock. That was clearly troubling with this episode. It was difficult to tell if it was supposed to be
a serious episodes with humorous incidents or a humorous episode with serious incidents?
Somehow, Monica figures out that the killer's next victims would be a redhead and a brunette. How is this
fact somehow conveyed when no clue was ever hinted at earlier in the episode? Could it be that Chris Carter
has no idea what irony means? I'm just a bit disappointed to see Monica make such a leap of faith when the
audience doesn't even have a chance to understand why she had to. Then seeing Burt dance and prance around as
the women are playing was a bit disconcerting, since I would have figured Scully would want to shoot him on the
spot!
Doggett's absence through much of the episode was strange even though he was supposed to be a backup
to Reyes. And what was the reason for bringing in another FBI supervisor? Doggett and Reyes have a perfect one
in A.D. Skinner, so why wasn't he around? It's difficult to imagine that something that seemed as high profile
as this murder case would not attract the attention of the X-Files' supervisor. I guess Carter was trying to
convey how crazy Monica sounded through a total stranger's point of view. At least Skinner would have given a rye
smile and a shake of his head before walking away chuckling to himself. He wouldn't just tell her that it was
unacceptable. In any case, it wasn't set up properly.
I did like the last segment where it showed Scully tending to William and then calling Monica about the whole
numerology issue. It was a nice little touch between friends and shows that Monica is a very trusted friend in
Scully's mind. In one respect, it was a nice reminder of the cameraderie between Mulder and Scully in their hey day.
It's a shame that Doggett isn't included in this small circle of friends as easily with Scully.
The one good thing about the series coming to a close is that we don't have to suffer anymore with Carter's take
on what's funny. Carter does best when he involves his characters in epic dramatic plots with plenty of character
interaction and mind-boggling explanations. When it comes to comedy, he needs more training. "Improbable" was "okay"
in the most lenient definition of the term, but nothing to laugh at.
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I'm not exactly sure how Monica and Scully were teamed up to find themselves trapped in a parking
garage, but again, it seemed too convenient that the murderer happened to be in the same elevator as
them. If it wasn't for the HUGE ring he was wearing, neither of them would have suspected him to be
anything but an unpleasant looking man. Monica didn't even notice anything as she was totally
engrossed in the paperwork that they picked up at the numerologist's office. I certainly would be
startled if I saw my friend just turn around and point a gun at a total stranger for no apparent reason.
After all, Scully was only going by circumstantial evidence, right?
