Release: Off the Top of My Head (SPOILERS)
(May 5, 2002)

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

RELEASE (9ABX16):

In a nutshell:  Well-acted story of Doggett's search for his
son's killer.  Too bad the plot itself is half-baked.


What I liked:
-  Robert Patrick gave a wonderful, understated performance as a
tormented father.  He made me believe that Doggett, usually the
first to doubt and to question, would try to get Super!Profiler
Cadet Hayes' help in finding his son's killer.
-  I was afraid that Doggett was going to fall *too* fast for
what Hayes was telling him, so I was pleased when Doggett told
Hayes that he's nuts if he hears the pictures on the wall
talking to him. *g*
-  The actor who played Hayes was also very good.  I believed
that he was both mentally ill and had a sincere (if obsessive)
desire to help Doggett.
-  Continuity!  Did I spot some continuity?  From "Empedocles"
from last year -- the reference to Bob Harvey, the guy suspected
of grabbing Luke, having been killed last year in a car
accident.  (But see my complaint about this below.)
-  Barbara Patrick (yes, Robert's wife) did a nice job as
Barbara Doggett.


What I didn't like:
-  The teaser music was much too obtrusive.  I found it very
distracting.  If I *notice* the music, something's wrong, IMO.
-  Why oh why can't we get plots that are cohesive?  This could
have been a good ep.  A very good ep.  I can't fault the acting,
but some of the other aspects...
-  Didn't anyone in the FBI think that Hayes' behavior was
bizarre enough to warrant some, er, investigation?  The guy was
uncanny in what he was able to figure out.  He told Doggett and
Reyes "I see things."  And nobody thought that comment is weird? 
All that Monica could say about that was, "Kind of annoying,
isn't he"?  Doggett didn't think it was freaky that the guy had
all those graphic photos -- it looked like HUNDREDS -- of
unsolved murders on his wall?  (I guess I'll give 1013 a nod for
NOT making Luke Doggett's photos bloody.  And that even shows
continuity, since what we've seen in the past of Luke's crime
scene wasn't bloody.)
-  And while I'm on the topic of Hayes:  umm, how did Hayes get
into the Academy with a phony background?  Aren't there thorough
background checks done on prospective cadets?  If so, how did
Follmer find out what the background check didn't?  From the
interrogation scene with Hayes towards the end, it sounded like
Doggett/Reyes/Scully had verified what Follmer had said, so it
wasn't part of Follmer's cover-up.
-  The reference to Bob Harvey.  As I said above, that was nice
continuity, but whatever happened to the "demon possession" or
whatever it was with that guy that we heard about in
"Empedocles" last year?  Are we supposed to assume that Harvey
"liked little boys" (more on that in a bit) because he was
possessed by demons?!  ::rolls eyes::  That's just insulting to
anyone who has ever been molested.
-  Barbara Doggett to Scully: "He and Monica could have
something together; he just won't let her in."  Huh?  That
seemed forced, a strange thing for an ex-wife to say.  And how
would Barbara know about Doggett and Reyes's relationship
(whatever it is)?  Unless Doggett has been in close contact with
his ex-wife, what would she know about Monica except that she
had worked on their son's death back in 1993?
-  So Hayes was studying Doggett back when he was living on Long
Island?  Did that make any sense to anyone?  And even though
it's been 9 years, and Barbara Doggett "won't remember why" she
recognizes Hayes, she does?  (::snort:: Nice way to avoid having
to come up with a sensible, realistic reason for this plot
twist, guys.  "This happened, no one knows why, just accept it." 
Feh.)
-  "Why we won't see or hear about Brad Follmer ever again": 
Brad Follmer was on the take?  And Monica saw this three years
ago and didn't say a word to anyone?  Isn't she going to get in
trouble for that?  That sounds like the sort of thing that could
end someone's career.  And why did Follmer think that Rigati
would give him an honest answer about being involved in Luke
Doggett's death?  Is it just me, or was this an idiotic plot
twist?  Is this the show's way of getting rid of this character? 
Wouldn't it be a HUGE scandal for it to be revealed that an FBI
assistant director had taken cash to get rid of an indictment? 
Why did he take the cash, anyway?  I mean, was he in incredible
debt or something?  And then WHY did Follmer shoot Rigati?  If
he had been following Rigati (if he wasn't, how did he know
where he was?) he certainly must have known that Doggett was in
there with the guy.  There's no way he could say he shot the guy
in self defense, so shooting him in broad daylight was just
idiotic.  And what about the tape that Rigati said would get
sent to the Washington Post if anything happened to him?  I
guess we're supposed to assume that Follmer is now going to go
to jail and that's why we'll never see or hear about him again. 
Did his character serve any purpose whatsoever this year? 
Honestly, at this moment I feel bad for Cary Elwes for having
this role.
-  Gratuitous gore pic of Rigati with a bullet through his eye. 
And the splattering on Follmer.  Icky touch.  ::sigh::
-  I suppose the point of this ep was for Doggett to get
"release" about the death of his son, but was that really
accomplished?  I know that life isn't always pretty, but the
story that Rigati told Doggett (Luke was being molested by Bob
Harvey; some businessman (who was supposed to be Rigati himself,
or was Rigati just a hired hit man?) walked in on them, and Luke
was killed so he couldn't ID the businessman) was just
disgusting.  That might be the most heinous thing they've ever
done to a child on this show.  In any case, Doggett and his
ex-wife STILL don't really know what happened to Luke.  I mean,
why should they believe what Rigati told Doggett?  Or was the
idea that they just concluded that Harvey and Rigati were the
ones involved, and since they're both now dead there's nothing
more for them to do?  But in that case, what about Hayes'
involvement?  Won't they want to know how Hayes knew that Harvey
and Rigati were responsible?  Was there really closure for them?
-  That Doggett/Reyes hug at the end.  What was up with that? 
In another setting I could understand it, but are those two
really supposed to be so close that Reyes had any business being
there when Luke's ashes were scattered?  There didn't seem to be
anyone else there, so it wasn't like there was some kind of
ceremony for the scattering that anyone could attend.  So
Reyes's attendance, and the hug, seemed forced, like Barbara
Doggett's earlier comment to Scully.  So are we supposed to
conclude that Doggett and Reyes are going to get together now? 
That they'll live happily ever after together after the show is
over?  ::shrug::  If so, I didn't buy it.  It all just seemed
too contrived.
-  I know that we had no reason to expect anything better, but
I'm pissed off anyway: last week Scully gave her son up for
adoption.  This week... you'd never know it.


What's got me puzzled:
-  I understand that Doggett was in that building to follow a
tip.  But shouldn't he have had someone with him?  Do FBI agents
routinely follow up on anonymous tips alone?  (What was the tip
about, anyway -- did that get mentioned?)
-  Why was that severed arm that Hayes was looking at lying in
that field?  That seemed to be there more for the gross-out
factor (especially the maggots) than to give us further insight
into Hayes' abilities or to spur the conversation he had with
Doggett and Reyes.
-  Did I miss something?  Where Doggett and Reyes they get those
photos of Nicholas Rigali?  Did they follow Hayes' advice and
find the name of every parolee in the area from out-of-state?
-  So how did Hayes get all those pictures of unsolved murder
victims to put on his wall?  That's not the sort of thing you
can just buy on e-bay, is it?
-  And then why did he take the pictures down later?  Was that
the last "message" that he got?
-  When Doggett went to see Follmer... it sounded to me like
Follmer had worked on the case of Luke Doggett's murder.  Have
we been told that before?  I don't recall it.
-  Why doesn't Monica think that it's important that Rigali
gassed his car up two miles from Doggett's house on the day Luke
was taken?  That sounds like exactly the kind of lead that
qualifies as good, solid investigative work.
-  Why did Doggett have his wife look at a lineup?  Why should
she remember seeing one of those guys -- there wasn't anything
in the story that Doggett told Hayes that mentioned Barbara
seeing someone the day Luke was taken.  In fact, I thought he
said that she hadn't seen anyone that day.
-  Is anybody going to ask how Hayes was able to know about
those other murders?  How did he know about the woman left in
that tenement?  How did he know about it in time to call Doggett
and give him the tip?  Was it because the photo of Luke
Doggett's crime scene "spoke" to him?


Etc.:
-  Hayes made a comment about the chipped nail polish on the
victim that Scully was using for her class.  However, since they
thought that she had tried to dig her way out of that plastered
wall, couldn't she have chipped the polish that way?  Why didn't
anyone call him on that?  Instead they just all stood around and
soaked up his words like he was the Great and Powerful Oz.
-  Is it just me, or did Hayes look like he had pointy Vulcan
ears? *g*
-  Anybody besides me think that the divorce was Barbara
Doggett's idea?  I just got that feeling from conversations
(Doggett told he she looked great; she told him not to come by
without calling first; she told Scully that Doggett and Reyes
could have something --  as though she *wants* Doggett to find
someone else).
-  Doggett was all teary when scattering the ashes, and his
ex-wife's eyes seemed to be dry.  Was that supposed to
underscore the depth of Doggett's pain over his son's death?
-  Next week's ep:  A Brady Bunch episode?  It's either going to
a hoot, or a train wreck.  I fear for the latter.  But in either
case, that's not the sort of ep that we should be seeing in the
second to last XF ep ever.  Unless this ep is planning to tie up
some of the show's loose ends, like how Scully got pregnant, or
what's up with the chip in her neck, or what happened to
Jeremiah Smith, or where Mulder is, or...

***