The Amazing Maleeni
When a
magician is found decapitated, Mulder and Scully investigate the apparently
impossible crime.
"He's up a creek," Mulder said of LaBonge at one point. That would be Jonathan Creek, would it? At first I wondered if that was a sly reference to the show which appeared to provide much of the inspiration for this episode, but I've since been told that Jonathan Creek isn't broadcast in the USA so it seems unlikely (although that doesn't mean none of the X Files staff have seen it). But I like Jonathan Creek, and since that show more or less did an X File in the episode The Omega Man (to be fair, the ending was non-X Filean and very JC), it seems only fair that TXF should do a Jonathan Creek. And anyway, everything has its influences, it's just that in this case they were very obvious and I'm reasonably familiar with the source material.
I may be making unfair comparisons and trying too hard to find similarities, but the JC Christmas special (not sure which year) dealt with a case of twin magicians, one of whom was dead, and mistaken identity. I think it was called Black Canary, if anyone's interested. But as I said, Jonathan Creek at its best is hugely enjoyable, ingenious and witty (at least the first time you see it). So I did enjoy The Amazing Maleeni. It may not have been as hysterically funny as, for instance, Bad Blood, but after last week's high drama and emotion it was a welcome slice of light relief.
I really enjoyed watching the illusions - for me, "magic" isn't interesting if you simply attribute what you're seeing to "powerful dark forces" or whatever. That's too easy. It is so much more fascinating to see (or try to work out) how it's done, and the idea that somebody thought of it in the first place is just mind-blowing. I've seen various Magic's Greatest Secrets type TV shows (including a few presented by Mitch Pileggi), and they're always so deviously simple, it's just fantastic. I assume Tony Randall ("Why are you talking like Tony Randall?") is a presenter of one such show, or possibly a TV magician - either way, Mulder's impersonation was pretty funny even without ever having seen Randall.
I'm pretty sure that Maleeni's head falling off was supposed to be funny. I thought it was, but with just enough of a dramatic touch to stop me laughing out loud. There was something oddly memorable about the shot of the body on the autopsy table with the head there but not attached. Not quite black humour, but I guess "comically macabre" just about describes it. I did laugh out loud at Scully claiming to be "stumped" by the headless body, but then maybe I just have a twisted mind.
Mulder's scepticism about "Albert" Pinchbeck's "bad Mexican car accident…in Mexico" was funny, especially when Pinchbeck rolled back to reveal his legs (or lack thereof). It was only on second viewing that I spotted the irony of Scully's throwaway line "He might try and run." Hmmm. I wondered if some of the jokes about Pinchbeck's disability bordered on the tasteless, but then I thought I was just getting too uptight about it. But Mulder would have to be pretty sure Pinchbeck was faking to show him that much disrespect ("Let's take a spin" or something), push him off against his will and then tip him out of the chair.
Scully looked kind of cute in that top hat J . I think it was the black jacket and white shirt with her bright hair that made her look like she could start tap-dancing to Let's Face The Music And Dance at any moment. Now that's a comic image. But I wouldn't want to wear anything on my head that had just had a pigeon sat in it. It was also fairly cute, if a little obviously intended that way, to have Scully call Mulder a sceptic.
A question - the guard fired blanks at LaBonge, but aren't blanks lethal if they hit you at close range?
If the plot was reminiscent of Jonathan Creek, the ending could almost have been written by David Renwick. Jonathan, sorry, I meant Mulder, explained how the crime was committed, with some help from Scully as Maddy and more aid from flashbacks. That's more or less what happens at the end of every Jonathan Creek episode - the main characters are assembled together and Jonathan and Maddy (mostly Jonathan) reveal how it was done, usually with several flashback sequences. The scene with Pinchbeck and LaBonge wasn't too bad, but the following scene with just Mulder and Scully was a little too "genius Mulder, impressed Scully" for my taste. I don't have a problem with Mulder being the one to figure it out - in fact, it probably makes more sense that it was him. He and Scully are both very smart people, but in different ways, and I think his mind may be better suited to this kind of problem than Scully's is. To quote another episode of Jonathan Creek (the title escapes me, but it was the one with Annette Crosbie and a gorilla), he has an "inside out way of looking at things." My problem was with Scully looking at him like he was a genius and she'd never be that intelligent - not unlike Maddy Magellan, in fact. But at least she got to mystify Mulder with the hand trick (her uncle was an amateur magician, of course).
Well, that's it. I think I've come across as more negative than I intended to - I did enjoy The Amazing Maleeni. I know this isn't one of the better reviews I've ever written, but hey, at least it's short. By the way, if you like Jonathan Creek (or think you might because you liked The Amazing Maleeni J ), check out The Jonathan Creek Homepage.
Best Lines
Maleeni: Young man, shall I come heckle you on your job? Make sure you count out the requisite number of McNuggets?
Scully: As far as I can tell, this body has been dead for over a month. I see signs of refrigeration.
Mulder: And yet he performed yesterday. What a trouper!
LaBonge: Let's say I help you out. What do I get in return?
Scully: The feeling of pride that comes from performing your civic duty?
Mulder: The great Muldeeni!
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