On "Kitten"
Feb. 13th, 2018 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
discordantwordsI wasn't able to watch this one live, but I finally had a chance to sit down and catch up last night. All in all, I thought it was solid (if sort of unremarkable.) It felt a LOT like watching an older episode of the show, more so than anything else this season.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this to be only the third(?) XF episode in history to be directed by a woman. So it had that going for it, too. (I'm unfamiliar with Carol Banker's other directorial work, but I thought she did a fine job capturing that delightful shrouded-in-fog mystery that's such a staple of the older MOTW episodes.)
So. The part where I said this felt a LOT like watching an older episode of the show? This episode is pretty much a rehash of "Blood" with some Skinner Vietnam backstory thrown in. But-- I don't know, maybe this is just a sign of how low my expectations have been for this season, but I thought it worked. I mean, "Blood" was pretty cool. The whole idea was creepy then, and it's just as creepy this time around.
Kersh (!!!) summons Mulder and Scully to his office to talk about Skinner. He tells them Skinner has gone missing, and implies that they should be the ones to track him down. He also heavily insinuates that they're the reason Skinner's career has stalled. This triggers some conflicted feelings of regret in M&S, I think, because they've been so mistrustful of Skinner this season. (I honestly don't know why. I think it has something to do with events in the premiere episode that I refuse to acknowledge or think about.)
Anyway, we see Skinner's apartment. I think it looks just about the same as it did when Krycek was dangling off of his balcony all those years ago, which was a nice touch. I haven't gone back to compare the sets, though. Just going off of my overall impression.
Mulder and Scully track Skinner to the town of Mud Lick, which seems to have a disproportionate amount of unwell veterans milling about. There's some stuff about a monster in the woods, and missing teeth. There's a sheriff who could have easily been a caricature but instead wound up being incredibly reasonable and passionate about his job (even though his actions put him at odds with Mulder and Scully), in a turn that felt... really fresh for this show, which often goes for the easy shot at folks sometimes. I watched the episode with my mom and my husband, and we all commented on it.
Anyway, signs point to Skinner being a crazed murderer. We know he's not, Mulder and Scully know he's not, but the sheriff isn't convinced. Everything ties back to one of Skinner's old platoon mates (Haley Joel Osment! In a dual role!) and a hallucinogenic gas they were exposed to in Vietnam. We even get a reference to the story Skinner told Mulder all the way back in Season 2's "One Breath" which... holy shit, that's impressive for a show that never seemed to care all that much about consistency.
Other highlights:
Mulder falls down a hole. Skinner falls down a hole. Scully does not fall down a hole.
Mulder totally ditches Scully with his totally Mulder-typical lack of communication. I didn't realize that was something I was nostalgic for until it happened.
The Vancouver woods and the fog and the creepy sets really made me nostalgic for the show's heyday.
The not-so-good:
I don't have much bad to say about this one, really, other than much of the "government is maybe possibly mind-controlling us with pesticides and sprayed gasses" angle already having been done.
It was a little gory, but I think that's just the way television is these days.
All in all, this was a solid episode! I don't think it's likely to ever make anyone's favorite list, but I'll take it.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this to be only the third(?) XF episode in history to be directed by a woman. So it had that going for it, too. (I'm unfamiliar with Carol Banker's other directorial work, but I thought she did a fine job capturing that delightful shrouded-in-fog mystery that's such a staple of the older MOTW episodes.)
So. The part where I said this felt a LOT like watching an older episode of the show? This episode is pretty much a rehash of "Blood" with some Skinner Vietnam backstory thrown in. But-- I don't know, maybe this is just a sign of how low my expectations have been for this season, but I thought it worked. I mean, "Blood" was pretty cool. The whole idea was creepy then, and it's just as creepy this time around.
Kersh (!!!) summons Mulder and Scully to his office to talk about Skinner. He tells them Skinner has gone missing, and implies that they should be the ones to track him down. He also heavily insinuates that they're the reason Skinner's career has stalled. This triggers some conflicted feelings of regret in M&S, I think, because they've been so mistrustful of Skinner this season. (I honestly don't know why. I think it has something to do with events in the premiere episode that I refuse to acknowledge or think about.)
Anyway, we see Skinner's apartment. I think it looks just about the same as it did when Krycek was dangling off of his balcony all those years ago, which was a nice touch. I haven't gone back to compare the sets, though. Just going off of my overall impression.
Mulder and Scully track Skinner to the town of Mud Lick, which seems to have a disproportionate amount of unwell veterans milling about. There's some stuff about a monster in the woods, and missing teeth. There's a sheriff who could have easily been a caricature but instead wound up being incredibly reasonable and passionate about his job (even though his actions put him at odds with Mulder and Scully), in a turn that felt... really fresh for this show, which often goes for the easy shot at folks sometimes. I watched the episode with my mom and my husband, and we all commented on it.
Anyway, signs point to Skinner being a crazed murderer. We know he's not, Mulder and Scully know he's not, but the sheriff isn't convinced. Everything ties back to one of Skinner's old platoon mates (Haley Joel Osment! In a dual role!) and a hallucinogenic gas they were exposed to in Vietnam. We even get a reference to the story Skinner told Mulder all the way back in Season 2's "One Breath" which... holy shit, that's impressive for a show that never seemed to care all that much about consistency.
Other highlights:
Mulder falls down a hole. Skinner falls down a hole. Scully does not fall down a hole.
Mulder totally ditches Scully with his totally Mulder-typical lack of communication. I didn't realize that was something I was nostalgic for until it happened.
The Vancouver woods and the fog and the creepy sets really made me nostalgic for the show's heyday.
The not-so-good:
I don't have much bad to say about this one, really, other than much of the "government is maybe possibly mind-controlling us with pesticides and sprayed gasses" angle already having been done.
It was a little gory, but I think that's just the way television is these days.
All in all, this was a solid episode! I don't think it's likely to ever make anyone's favorite list, but I'll take it.
