Without
After apparently
locating Mulder, Doggett finds that the case gets more and more mysterious.
The alien bounty hunter is always a good device - nothing breeds
paranoia, for both the characters and the audience, quite as effectively as the
knowledge that people may not be who they appear to be. It must be a dilemma
for the writers to decide whether or not to let the audience know who's
"real" and who's the bounty hunter, as either approach has its
merits. For me, being shown which Scully was real and which was alien reduced
the drama a little - but only a little. It was still very tense, and there's
always the possibility that the bounty hunter Scully could do something which
leads to trouble for the real Scully. The Scully-Skinner stand-off was quite
effective, although I never quite believed either that they would hurt each
other or that either of them was the bounty hunter. There was one thing I found
unconvincing though - how is it that the bounty hunter can morph not only his
face, but his entire body, into anyone he wishes, conjure up a new set of
clothes and take on their voice and mannerisms, but he can't get the blood off
his hand?
Although I didn't think the dialogue was particularly well written, two
stand-out scenes more than compensated for it. The first of these was the
beautiful shots of Scully walking through the night-time desert, accompanied
once again by that haunting music. Her whispered "Oh my God" was
delivered perfectly, and the convergence of the lights from the two craft to
illuminate her was very striking. The ship appearing just as Scully and Doggett
left in the helicopter would normally have seemed like one of those
"Scully just misses the paranormal event and so can maintain her scepticism"
moments, but given everything that Scully has at stake here, it was too tragic
for that. Gillian Anderson was as wonderful in Without as she was in Within.
The second scene I particularly enjoyed came close to the end, after
Scully had been attacked by "Skinner." It seemed totally natural that
this would be the final straw and she would break down and begin to cry, and
also that she would refuse to cry on Doggett's shoulder, instead covering her
face with her hand. This scene was also important for Doggett - his shielding
her from the other agents, and his careful support, did a lot to endear him to
me. I think, now, I do like him. It's clear now that he's not out to harm the X
Files or Scully, and if he does so, it will be through other people's
manipulation of him. He's not afraid to stand up for himself, as we saw when he
challenged Kersh ("That's what you expected when you assigned me to the
case"), yet he doesn't come across as overly confrontational. I wonder,
though, why Kersh chose him. Why not somebody less talented? I understand that
a skilled investigator was required to find Mulder, but why not simply close
the file, assign Doggett elsewhere and give Scully a new, useless,
never-going-to-get-anywhere-in-the-Bureau partner? Not that I'm complaining,
I'm looking forward to seeing how they work together.
For some reason I found Doggett's line "Let him go or I will be
compelled to use my weapon" quite amusing.
My first thought on seeing the lights in the sky above the desert was
"That's a cheap effect, they just look like helicopters." My second
though? "Oh."
Another short review for another great episode. Can't wait for the rest
of the season.
Best Lines
Doggett: You've painted me a picture, now put it in a frame.
Skinner: I don't like pointing guns at pregnant women any more than I
like them pointing guns at me.
Scully: For someone who claims he's not following me, you sure have a
knack.
Doggett: Hey, you're where the action is.
Scully: What does that tell you - that I'm crazy or that I'm right?
Doggett: Wandering around in the desert in the dead of night - you call
it.
Kersh: This reads like a piece of pot-boiled science-fiction.
Doggett: You mean it reads like an X File.
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