Roadrunners: Off the Top of My Head (SPOILERS) Caution: spoiler for next week's ep (based on the trailer) is in the "Etc." section. ***There is also a spoiler for 8x08 in this post.*** In a nutshell: Not a horrible plot for a MOTW, but far too gross. What I liked: - The continuity of Scully referring to Doggett having just gone through all the files. (Although, given the timing in "Patience," "just" was really at least two weeks earlier.) The evolving teamwork worked for me as well (as long as I suspend my disbelief about Scully not being more suspicious of Doggett, but I'm obviously never gonna get that ). - Scully getting pissed off about being kept in the town. I thought GA kept just the right combination of indignation and self-(and baby)-preservation. I'll give Vince points for the little hand-on-the-abdomen gesture. And I think Scully may have set a record for number of curse words in a single ep. - I also liked Scully prepared to stay up all night to protect herself, but finally giving in to sleep. Glad she jumped as soon as the knock came on the door, though. - Even Doggett had a good line: "He's got a gun, and he's not glad to see me." Maybe I liked it because it sounded like something Mulder would have said. What I didn't like: - I already mentioned the gross-out factor. Was it really necessary for this ep to be so graphic? Did we really need a monster to invade Scully? I'm annoyed enough that CC/1013 is going to hint in a later ep that Scully's baby is the result of some kind of medical rape. Was it necessary to have her body violated by this slug thing? To show us Doggett cutting it out of her neck? - Along the same lines, I can certainly understand why Scully was freaking out about having that thing put in her, but... having her screaming "I'm pregnant! I'm going to have a baby!" was just too melodramatic for me. OTOH, I can't figure out how I would have preferred GA to have done those lines. - If you're tired of me saying this, just skip to the next section. WHAT ABOUT LOOKING FOR MULDER? I know, I know -- out of sight, out of mind (at least for the viewing audience)? The appearance that Scully is doing nothing to search for Mulder bothers me so much that it colors my viewing of these MOTW eps. Why is it that 1013 can't devote 5 seconds to, for instance, having Scully say into her cellphone, "All right, Frohike. Keep looking and keep me posted," hang up, and give the Scully version of a heavy sigh? Is that too much to ask for? What's got me puzzled: - How did that kid get out in the middle of the desert in the first place? - Isn't there some FBI rule about agents handing over their weapons to other people? Particularly people with a recent history of grand mal seizures? I realize that, plot-wise, it was necessary for Scully to not have her gun to defend herself, but shouldn't there have been a better way to do it? - How did The Odd Couple get in the room after Scully climbed out the window? Didn't she lock it after she shut the door on them? (BTW, I liked how she shut the door in their faces. ) - When Doggett realized that Scully was missing, why didn't he try calling her on her cell phone? I know she had said the previous day that there was no service where she was, but that wasn't necessarily the case by the time he knew she was missing. Sure, it wasn't likely that she would answer, but trying to call her should have been step 1, IMO. (I will say that I'm glad that when he picked up the phone it was to trace the call he had received from Scully the previous day. I was afraid that his first action was going to be to hop on a plane to go after Scully. That would have pissed me off.) - I guess Doggett is as good a shot as Scully was with the ABH in "Without," since he got the slug. But one thing is bothering me -- wasn't he shooting in the direction of the bus's gas tank? - Why did Doggett pick up Scully and remove her from the bus without disarming the man with the glasses? That sounds to me like bad FBI work, too. Etc.: - When Scully mentioned mucus, did anybody else think "2Shy"? - I'm on the fence about the very end of the ep. If Scully was just on a consult (and she left on a weekend, right?), was it necessary for her to contact Doggett? Okay, I'll accept that she should have, and didn't. Was Doggett's dressing down of Scully appropriate? I don't know -- she's the senior agent, isn't she? Should the junior agent speak to the senior agent that way, even if she did screw up? I just got the feeling that this was another way for 1013 to position Doggett as the tough guy (and in a heavy-handed way). On that level, as a manner of manipulating the audience, it bugged me. In fact, I'd bet that CC wrote that ending, not Vince. Does anyone have information on that? - The ep started out too slow, I thought. I didn't mind the basic plot -- a bizarre cult out in the middle of the desert that was looking for a way to embody Christ forever (although I would have liked to have gotten that tidbit of info before the last 60 seconds of the ep). The slug thing, though, I thought was just silly (where did the slug come from? how did the cult find it? how did it affect the brains of its victims?), as well as gross. Surely there could have been a better vehicle for the cult to use? - Next week's ep: Once again, I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Umm... The Calusari, part 2? I hope not; it would make me very sad if the first 3 MOTW's reminded me strongly of eps from the first two seasons.