Chimera
Mulder is assigned
to investigate the disappearance of a woman, which seems to be related to the
presence of a raven.
Ravens and mirrors are both so deeply associated with the black arts,
superstition and embodiments of evil that an episode centred around them has a
lot of potential to produce a dark, evocative, mythic plot. Instead, we had the
"Arcadia meets Shapes" hybrid (there's a chimera pun
there somewhere…) of Chimera - which wasn't bad, but wasn't as good as
I'd hoped.
The teaser would have been more effective if Michelle had actually been
attacked by the raven, or if the bird had at least done something more than sit
there squawking. I can understand the child running away, but her fear later in
the teaser was too far out of proportion - what's so terrifying about a bird
and an unflattering shot of a classmate's mother? As it was, the scariest things
in the teaser were those sinister Easter bunnies in the background.
Seeing Mulder and Scully performing interminably dull surveillance work
made a nice change, reminding us that work at the FBI - even on the X Files -
isn't all glamour, guns and car chases. I especially enjoyed Scully's scenes
after she'd been left (to her entertaining dismay) alone, as she became
increasingly bored and frustrated - and then suddenly attentive when the van
returned. Despite the boredom, she had a job to do and was going to do it
properly, and at least prevent all that time being wasted. The parallels
between the two "seamy underbellies" - one obvious to the whole of
society, the other hidden beneath layers of red wine, roast pork and Easter egg
hunts - could, I thought, have been drawn a little more subtly. It was obvious
enough without Mulder hauling the viewers' attention to it, and I think this blatancy
may be one of the reasons I wasn't overly impressed with the episode. Mulder
and Scully's phone conversations sparkled though, with Mulder's covering of how
well he was being treated ("What a crazy caper") being particularly
amusing. And the fact that Scully's case turned out to be utterly
non-supernatural was a nice reminder that a lot of so-called X Files must come
to nothing and, by implication, that Scully's rational explanations must
sometimes be correct.
The idea of repressed aspects of an individual's personality somehow
embodying themselves and acting independently is interesting, but I thought we
needed some more interesting reasons as to why Ellen had so much anger to
repress in the first place. The old "her husband was having an
affair" explanation isn't terribly original. Something else, maybe some
guilt on her part, some other reason why she'd harbour anger towards that
perfect little town, even some kind of history of violent crime in her family
which she was desperately trying not to repeat, would have been more intriguing
and, if done sensitively enough, could even have evoked some sympathy (or any
feeling) for Ellen. In the end, I didn't feel sorry for her, nor did I feel
anger/hatred because of her actions. There's got to be something wrong there.
Jenny was a reasonably convincing decoy - with The X Files,
you're sometimes shown the villain immediately and sometimes you have to wait,
so there wasn't a formula to follow to decide whether or not she was a red
herring. Once her criminal record was revealed, though, she seemed like too
obvious a culprit. But I think I'd worry about a Sheriff deciding a suspect was
innocent because he doesn't "get that vibe."
Martha's body was nice and disgusting. And you can order birth control
pills over the internet?!
Chimera is just one of those episodes that there isn't too much to say about.
It was alright, not edge-of-your-seat-don't-look-away stuff, but still
reasonably engaging. Before I finish, there's just one exchange I want to
mention as a stand-out:
Ellen: Do you have a significant other?
Mulder: Not in the widely understood definition of that term.
One of the most understated, succinct and accurate descriptions of
Mulder and Scully's relationship for a long time. Beautiful.
Best Lines
Scully: I hope you realize that there's no evidence whatsoever that
this mystery woman of yours has even committed a crime. Although her wardrobe
comes close.
Scully: Mulder, when you find me dead, my desiccated corpse propped up,
staring lifelessly though the telescope at drunken frat boys peeing and
vomiting into the gutter, just know that my last thoughts were of you - and how
I'd like to kill you.
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