Theef
A doctor's family
is systematically attacked, apparently as a result of hexcraft
Although I've enjoyed Season 7 so far, a lot of that
enjoyment has come either from funny or light-hearted episodes, or from
episodes which have resembled low-budget horror movies. Theef, on the
other hand, was a good old-fashioned X File, with its fair share of tension,
nasty effects and creepy plot.
The Mulder-Scully exchange at the beginning was amusing
(but believable), sending up the predictability of the conversations they
usually have at that point in the episode (Mulder: "It's [insert weird
sounding paranormal phenomenon of your choice]", Scully: "That has no
basis in science, I'm sure there's a rational explanation." Or something
like that anyway J). I liked the degree of open-mindedness they let Scully
show in this episode - she accepted hexcraft as the "intent"
immediately, which, while it surprised Mulder, was perfectly reasonable; after
all, she wasn't saying that any magic had actually been performed, just that
the perpetrator had wanted it to. Also, she never actually said that there wasn’t
magic going on. She obviously disapproved of Mulder disclosing his entire
witchcraft theory to the disbelieving (and bereaved) Wieder, most likely
because he came over as a bit of a nutcase. And she seemed very sceptical in
the magic shop. I'd guess that was because the shop owner seemed fairly similar
to a lot of the other paranormal believers she's encountered, and even if she
was beginning to accept the possibility of black magic, things can seem a lot
less likely when you're confronted with the reality that they're "practiced"
by a load of slightly odd people who dress like witches in fairy tales. I'm
still not sure how far Scully actually believed in the hexcraft theory. I couldn't
decipher her look at Mulder right at the end when he asked her "You're
wondering if maybe Peattie could have saved her life?" She could have been
saying yes, that maybe Peattie's magic could have saved his daughter. She could
have meant that he should have been able to see his daughter, and she him,
before she died, or simply that it wasn't Wieder's right to decide when Lynette
should die. Scully left me, like Mulder, guessing.
Why do villains on The X Files so often look and
behave so oddly? Peattie was the latest in a long line of creepy-looking
criminals. We don't need to identify the culprit by his unusual hair and heavy
accent. To be fair, though, The X Files has also produced some fairly
normal-looking villains. Peattie, though, was an interesting character - a
person, not a monster, who killed not for survival, but who had a clear motive
for doing so. I think I felt sympathetic towards him for a couple of seconds
(after all, his daughter had died), but that was outweighed by the small fact
of him murdering innocent people.
Seeing Peattie performing his hexes in the Wieders' house
was creepy, and there was real tension as he prepared the Scully doll. I
actually winced as he pushed the nails in, and Scully's white eyes were fairly
horrible. There's one thing I'd like to point out to Scully about that scene
though - at the end, when Mulder showed her the doll, and she was looking at
it, she perhaps should have remembered that, although the doll was interesting,
there was a man who could have been dying just up the stairs. Prioritise,
woman.
I was a little surprised that Wieder was put in charge of
his wife's case at the hospital, but maybe they'd do that, I don't know. Turning
the scanner into a microwave was simple (it gives out radiation, we use
radiation to cook food, let's cook someone in a scanner - hardly ingenious) but
very effective, and really horrible. I hope, though, that if something goes
wrong with one of those machines, they do something more constructive than
flashing "malfunction" at the operator - although maybe that was
itself abnormal since Wieder later said there was no malfunction.
I really don't know why, but Peattie's taking the head and
leaving the rest of Lynette's corpse amused me. It made me think of adverts:
"DIY hexcraft - the essential accessory: the skeleton with detachable
head. No more conspicuous carrying around of a large, bulky and rather
inconvenient magic tool - simply take just the skull to practice the Dark Arts
any time, anywhere. Perform hexes on holiday, curses in your car or spells at
the supermarket. Jinx your enemies from miles away, and get away with it. Mail
order only, terms and conditions apply."
Moving on, before the dark recesses of my mind embarrass themselves
any more. The computer not finding anything for a Lynette Peattie treated by
Wieder might have had something to do with the fact that they spelt his name
wrong. I usually don't nitpick things like this, but after four years of German
teachers obsessing over getting i's and e's the right way round ,you notice
these things.
A final thought to end on: "Stinky's good."
Indeed.
Best Lines
Mulder: What do you think it refers to? Who's the thief?
Scully: Well, that's certainly one question. I've got many.
Mulder: "Mulder, why are we here?"
Scully: To be fair, I might have used the words
"Mulder, how is this and X File?"
Mulder: You see that, Scully, you always keep me guessing.
Wieder: So modern medicine, and all it encompasses -
artificial hearts, laser surgery, gene therapy, to name a few - all of that
arrayed against a pile of magic dirt, and you tell me I'll lose?
Wieder: I took maybe the last 20 minutes of her life.
Seemed like a fair trade to make for the pain.
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