Empedocles: Off the Top of My Head (SPOILERS)
(April 22, 2001)

Caution: spoiler for next week's ep (based on the trailer) is in
the "Etc." section.

EMPEDOCLES (8ABX17):

In a nutshell:  Scully's in the hospital.  Mulder, for some
reason I still can't grasp, is NOT at her side the whole time. 
Doggett's in denial.  Reyes is a pain in the ass.  I hate what
has happened to this show.


What I liked:
-  The teaser was suitably creepy.  Hope I never have to let
anybody go from their job.
-  RP did a good job with Doggett's rage against Mulder for
looking into his son's death -- but how did Doggett find out? 
Somebody told Doggett, but who would that have been?  But at
least RP got some dialogue to bite into.
-  GA does good "druggy." :)
-  DD did a great job having Mulder put up with Reyes. :)  His
comebacks were priceless, especially the one about seeing Elvis
in a potato chip.  You go, Mulder! :)
-  LOVE Mulder getting Doggett out of Scully's room, and then
standing in front of her door with arms crossed.  That's the
Mulder I know and love. :)  (I just wish he had been there the
entire ep!)


What I didn't like:
-  Reyes, the "expert" at the New Orleans crime scene, makes the
great leap that a "stressor" triggered the killings.  Wow, what
an impressive conclusion. :-PPP
-  So Reyes has visions.  Oh, wait, so does Doggett!  Does
anybody on this show NOT have visions?
-  Gee, I'm glad the Mulder was able to talk about his mother
being dead (and Scully to react to his comment) like they were
talking about the weather.
-  Actually, that whole scene with Mulder and Scully seemed
forced to me.  It was wonderful to see them together -- their
moments together were, by far, the best thing about the whole ep
-- but their usual spark wasn't there in that scene.  I don't
think it was DD and GA, though -- they shined at other points in
the ep -- but rather I think the writing was off.
-  Jeb tearing his face off to reveal flames underneath -- nice
idea, but it looked cheesy on screen.
-  Can I just say how much I despise Monica Reyes?  And let me
be clear that I'm talking about the character -- I don't know a
thing about Annabeth Gish or her previous work.  So I'm assuming
that what I don't like is the character and the writing, not the
acting.  So let's see:
    *  Highly insensitive remark about the last time she saw
Mulder.  Ooops, sorry Agent Mulder, I forgot you were dead then.
 Never mind.
    *  "That was the hardest case I ever had."  Gee, Agent
Reyes, could you look like you give a damn when you talk about
Doggett's dead son?
    *  "It would point to who's responsible if only I let it." 
At that point I wrote in my notes:  "Scratch my eyes out!"
    *  I also wrote in my notes that the nurse who told Doggett,
"Immediate family only.  You fellas just don't listen!" had more
personality than Reyes.
    *  Reyes and Mulder in the basement:  "Is that why you won't
help him?"  "This office needs at least one person with an open
mind."  I loved Mulder's, "You'll say anything, won't you?" 
Kick her ass, Mulder!
    *  Have I mentioned that I hate Reyes?  She strikes me as
thinking that she's smarter and more in tune than those around
her -- and she's not even a good investigator.  She didn't have
anyone keep an eye on Katha Dukes' house.  She turned her back
on Katha at the end of the ep, even though she had reason to
suspect that whatever evil was in Jeb would have tried to enter
someone else when Jeb died.  I cringe when she's on screen, even
more than I did with Fowley.  I didn't think that was possible.
-  Doggett, GET THE HELL OUT OF SCULLY'S ROOM!  She's in the
hospital for herself and for her unborn child, not to be some
kind of Temple of Visions for you to visit.  (I wrote "get out
of her room!" or some variation thereon four times in my notes.)
-  "Who's we?"  I'm not sure if I didn't like that because
Scully said it, or because Scully HAD to say it.
-  I was ready to give Mulder credit for not being at the
hospital every second, because he did tell acknowledge to Reyes
(twice) that he had to be at the hospital.  But, that said...
WHY DID MULDER GO TO SOUTH CAROLINA?  Hello?  When Scully's in
the hospital and at that point they weren't sure what was wrong?
 Hello?  Oh, wait, I know.  It was because the plot required
that *somebody* play mediator between Doggett and Reyes, right? 
You know, I hate when the writers have Mulder or Scully do
something stupid and out of character just to advance the story.
 I *really* hate it.  Attention 1013:  Mulder would not have
left Scully's side.  Period.
-  "Where've you been?"  This time I know why I don't like it --
because Scully had to say it to Mulder.  Because he should have
been there.  Doggett was there more than Mulder was. :-PPP
-  Let's see now.  A killer is on the loose.  You know the guy
has a sister.  The sister said that they're very close.  The
sister gets a suspicious phone call.  Don't you think SOMEONE
SHOULD HAVE BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON THAT HOUSE?
-  Mulder gave Scully *courage*?  Like she didn't have that
before?  At first I was just puzzled, but then the screen
dissolved into Doggett's face... and presumably Scully's comment
about "passing it on" was supposed to allude to her passing it
on to Doggett.  Um, okay, whatever.  It just seemed to me like a
cheesy set-up to give Doggett a big dramatic finish.  Bleh.


What's got me puzzled:
-  Why doesn't Scully keep the chain on her door latched?
-  How does a single pizza wind up being $29.08?  What the hell
did Scully order on it, a lobster?
-  Why was Doggett having his visions in Scully's hospital room?
-  Scully likes Reyes?  Since when?  To my recollection they
sure didn't seem to be best friends a few eps ago.
-  Mulder's little Scully-tummy-touch.  He did it like he's done
it before.  (Teasing?  1013?  Never!)
-  Umm, does Jeb's sister have a husband?  Did anybody else
think it was kinda creepy that she displayed a photo of herself,
her daughter, and her brother as though the brother were her
husband?
-  So Doggett and Reyes have a little heart-to-heart and
suddenly Doggett believes that Jeb Dukes has some connection to
his son's death?  I really think I missed something there.  In
any case... sorry, 1013.  I don't care about Doggett's son.  I
mean, I'm sorry he's dead, but really, is he going to stay dead?
 Or will we find out next year that he's really starlight?  Or
something else?  Or that it wasn't really Doggett's son?  They
were switched at birth and Doggett's son is really Gibson
Praise?  Or the reincarnation of Samantha?  Ho hum.
-  So, did Doggett learn anything from this ep?  I couldn't
tell.  (Isn't that a bad sign?)
-  Did Mulder ever change his shirt during the entire ep?  How
many days did it cover, and wasn't he wearing the same blue
shirt the whole time he was in a suit...?
-  A doll, huh?  Is that just another tease... that we're
supposed to think that Mulder and Scully know that the baby is a
girl?  (I assume we're supposed to think that that doll had
belonged to Samantha...?)
-  The guy that was in the car wreck at the beginning (I can't
recall his name -- Bob something?).  So, we're supposed to
believe that he was carrying around some evil force, which is
presumably why he was being chased by the cops.  So what's he
been doing for the last few years since Luke Doggett was killed?
 (I'm getting the "few years" from Reyes reference to Doggett
trying to convince himself for the last few years that he didn't
see his son's body as ashes.)  Has he done anything else bad? 
(It didn't take Jeb too long to find somebody else to kill.)  If
he is supposed to be tied to Luke Doggett's murder, then how is
it that Doggett said that they decided he wasn't the guy?  The
story just didn't seem to make sense to me.  Did/will anyone
work backwards to try to figure out who passed the "evil" on to
Bob?  Does anybody on the show care?


Etc.:
-  Was anybody else waiting for Mulder to give the pizza guy
$29.25 and tell him to keep the change? ;)
-  Did I mention that I hate Reyes?  I did?  Well, let me say it
again.  The character is *awful*.  I am *so* scared for the
future of TXF with just Doggett and Reyes.  Please, FOX, cancel
this show.  I'm begging you.
-  Next week's ep: The black oil returns.  (Which version, I
wonder -- 8.3?  We must be that high up by now.)  Looks like it
could be action-packed.  Also looks Scully-lite.  And... loved
the "David Duchovny stars!" voiceover.  Tell me FOX doesn't know
what one of their big draws is. ;)