Oubliette

Well, since I have baseball on the brain, let me just say that Amy really "threw me a curve" this morning when I popped on to her "What's New" Page and saw that "Nisei" was today's CtP. Talk about a panic face! More on that in just a minute.

Baseball playoffs? What baseball playoffs? I have baseball on the brain because I saw "The UnNatural" three times this weekend in syndication. And it just kept gettin' better every single time I saw it. As I noted in my "Very Special TOTM" from the weekend, the batting cage seduction should have been as close to a sure thing as you can get. If Scully didn't go for this, she's got more than a wall around her heart; she's got a bleeping fortress (with moat). She shouldn't be "The Ice Queen," she should be "The Glacier Gal." When he said, "Get over here, Scully," I'm telling you that was the Holy Flaming Cow moment of the series!

Anyway, back to my panic face. I was feeling quite pleased that I had the TOTM for "Oubliette" all finished-for once, I was ahead! Then, of course, I learned that I'm behind. (This, I might add, is pretty much the story of my life.)

Bottom line for the few who give a darn-here is the TOTM for "Oubliette." Since Amy was unable to have CtP images, I guess this synopsis will be a *true* test of the theatre of the mind, as you will have to envision the whole thing without the benefit of screen grabs. Well, now that I've set this TOTM up for failure, there you go.

So I'm off to work on "Nisei." Again, for the few who give a darn, you might get it tonight, you might not. You'll get it eventually (a threat, not a promise). Just bear with me if I'm a day or so behind Amy; I'll catch up eventually. (And that's saying a lot, a lot, a lot cause Amy is sooooo far ahead of me in soooo many ways that catching up to her takes a lot of effort!) 'Kay, for the few who got this far. Here's *one* of tonight's TOTMs.

Theatre of the Mind ~ Oubliette

1. Oubliette - derived from the French root "to forget," also referring to a forgotten place or, according to the dictionary, a concealed dungeon having a trap door in the ceiling as its only opening.
2. I can tell this is going to be a terror-filled episode already, and that's only based on the fact that they're taking school pictures. What frightening memories *that* evokes!
3. The photographer's assistant seems to be a bit creepy. Maybe I'm judging too hastily.
4. Hmmm. I used to do that same picture cutting thing with me and Starsky and Hutch. Perhaps I should be worried about that.
5. But I never took pictures of my cut-outs later. Maybe I'm okay after all. And what I said about the photographer's assistant? I'm a pretty good judge of character.
6. A teenager in bed at 10:05 p.m.? This just proves that going to bed early is highly overrated.
7. Those are regular size drink glasses? Where is this restaurant?
8. The classic X-Files nosebleed: something akin to striking oil; it's a gusher!
9. Same words the kidnapper . . . er abductor (po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to) was uttering. Spooky.
10. Biggest X-File so far: how come this didn't take place at 10:13?
11. Next X-File: Where's Scully?
12. Young girl abducted with sibling in the room. I can tell already, this ain't gonna be pretty.
13. "Who could take somebody who wasn't theirs?" Break out the hankies now.
14. "I'm sorry . . . but how could you really know how I feel?" Double D's reaction here is exactly why he won't win an Emmy for his performances. So quiet, so understated, shot from the side/back; he barely moves a muscle yet you can just see him trying to pull himself back together and regain some semblance of composure, balance. and professionalism following this mother's comment. Wow!
15. TWC1: But through all the angst, he's looking pretty good.
16. Profiling!Mulder already knows they're looking for the wrong guy.
17. This must be an important case. Mulder has crossed a continent and arrived while the cops/Feds are still on the crime scene. He was in such a hurry that he forgot not only his cell phone but Scully as well.
18. While I was looking up glossolalia (which does mean fabricated and nonmeaningful speech, especially speech associated with a trance state or certain schizophrenic syndromes), I also learned that glossitis is inflammation of the tongue. Just in case your tongue ever gets inflamed, you'll now know what to tell your primary care physician.
19. S: "Well, that's spooky." M: "That's my name, isn't it?" (nice grin). So sweet.
20. Lucy was abducted when she was *eight* years old? This is getting worse by the minute.
21. TWC2: M&S together after Lucy goes into the bathroom. Scully's got a nice suit and these two just look awesome.
22. Having never been there, I can't say, but maybe all of Vancouver looks the same. The spot where Wade's got a flat looks like the exact spot where Duane Barry got pulled over by the trooper.
23. That's good, Wade. Threatening a guy with a tire iron is just the way to stay incognito.
24. Psychic!Scully at work again, figures out that Lucy had two blood types on her clothes.
25. I don't think I've ever seen Scully in a hat, but Mulder obviously has since he's always telling Scully to keep something under it or to hold onto it.
26. Lucy has the same wounds as Amy. This *is* spooky.
27. TWC3: Shirtsleeves Five-O'Clock Shadow Mulder. Nuff said.
28. Lucy expands on the X-Files "I don't know" moments: "I don't know. I don't care. I'm not interested."
29. Again, that quiet sense of urgency and frustration from Double D. Fine job.
30. Kudos to the young actress playing Amy, too, who does an excellent job of showing us her terror during the scene where Wade snaps photos in the dark. (As an interesting side note, FOX was quite concerned that this eppy bore a resemblance to the Polly Klaas case and wanted Amy to look older and for there not to be as much emphasis on Amy's terror at the hands of her abductor.)
31. TWC4: Mulder watching the video of Lucy as a child. Though you can't see much of it, I love how he has his foot up on the desk or whatever he's sitting on.
32. It's apparent that while Mulder has been focusing solely on Lucy as his link to solving this case, Scully has been out gathering evidence and building a case the old fashioned way.
33. Amy proves she's not going down without a fight. Go Amy!
34. More spookiness with the mirror chase scenes. What *is* happening to Lucy?
35. Sensitive!Mulder turning the photo over so she doesn't have to look at it anymore. Wonderful.
36. TWC5: This is a wonderful scene between Mulder and Lucy in the halfway house. Not just because he looks so darn great, but because of the way he talks to Lucy and treats her, show's that he understands what she's going through. Again, understated and quiet. Great acting from both parties.
37. A thought struck me in watching this episode. How nice it must be to have someone actually believe you, on face value, when something of such an unusual or "spooky" nature is happening to you. Here is a person who accepts what you're saying and doesn't care that others think *he* might be a nutcase as well. I never really thought about Mulder's role in that context before, but I think it's kind of nice.
38. Scully's back to believing the evidence again, but I think that's cause she thinks Mulder's objectivity has been compromised. I'll forgive her this time.
39. Guess the legend of Spooky Mulder hasn't gotten all the way to Seattle yet. Agent Eubanks is just a bit skeptical that Lucy "bled Amy Jacobs' blood."
40. S: "I hate to say this, Mulder, but I think you just ran out of credibility." Scully, you're supposed to stick up for him!
41. M&S have their usual yin and yang spat, but Mulder is getting frustrated with Scully now. She thinks this case reminds him of his sister and he can only see Lucy as a victim, like Samantha. It hurts him that Scully once again thinks Mulder's feelings about his sister are clouding his judgment.
42. "You don't think I've thought of that? I have. And not everything I do and say and think and feel goes back to my sister. You of all people should realize that sometimes motivations for behavior can be more complex and mysterious than tracing them back to one single childhood experience." I just love these lines from Mulder. Certainly your sister getting abducted is a major, life-altering event. But Mulder's words here remind us that even a moment as defining as that one is still just one moment in a lifetime. He has been shaped by more than just the loss of his sister. And Scully, who knows him better than any other, should know that.
43. The F.B.I. arrives in Easton unannounced-could they BE any more obvious?
44. TWC6: Mulder in the car outside the photography shop. Woo hoo!
45. TWC7: Had to mention here that I have noticed that Mulder is one of those people who goes down ladders forward (at least 99% of the time) rather than backwards. For some reason, probably because I would fall flat on my face if I tried to do that, I am enamored of this trait. I think the way you go down a ladder is sort of like the way you park your car: you're either a puller-inner or a backer-inner. With ladders, you're either forward or backward. If that isn't worthless commentary, I don't know what is.
46. Love how Mulder looks up at Scully while he's comforting Lucy with that fearful look on his face: for an instant, he is thinking Scully was right after all.
47. TWC8: Tonight's Holy Flaming Cow Moment: Mulder, with arms folded, as Eubanks questions Lucy.
48. Kudos on a great performance to Tracey Ellis as Lucy. Ellis fills Lucy with enough bitterness, anger, and self-pity to make her believably defensive and hostile, yet gives her enough fighting spirit and courage for us to feel sympathetic toward her.
49. Lucy finally decides to help, and Leaping!Mulder makes the not-so-far-fetched leap that if Amy is cold and wet she's in the water.
50. Psychic!Scully adds to her already famous ability of knowing how to select the right outfit for the action required by choosing just the right footwear to go running through the forest.
51. More spookiness as Lucy can't breath while Amy is being held underwater.
52. Mulder bites his lip and takes aim. That ending was too good for you, Wade. I wanted justice for these two girls, and somehow that involved stringing you up by certain pieces of your anatomy.
53. Dr. Scully, it's a good thing you're a pathologist. Even *I* know you don't give up on CPR that quickly, especially on a victim who's been under water.
54. But if you did it just so you could put your hands on Mulder's shoulders and he could swat them away, I forgive you. (LOL)
55. No thanks to Dr. Scully, Amy is resuscitated.
56. Again, Double D says so much when he says nothing at all: the quiet panic on his face and in his eyes when he hears that they have called the EMTs for Lucy. He knows already what he'll find.
57. As Mulder touches Lucy's face, sees the water run out of her mouth, and then cries by her side, we learn an awful lot about Fox Mulder. He is truly a gentle man, one who can show compassion, be tender and protective. His kindness and persistence were what finally broke through the walls that Lucy created around herself, and now he feels responsible for Lucy's death.
58. Mulder looks so young in the final scene when he's looking up at Scully. And then the little smile when he learns that Lucy drowned.
59. I've always felt in this scene Scully is showing that side of her that wants to mother Mulder when he needs it. She speaks to him almost as a mother would speak to her son.
60. So sad that the only way Lucy could escape the torment caused by Wade, the only way "to forget," was in death.
61. Brief snatch of music heard over the closing scene is the hymn "Kyrie Eleison," a dirge for the dead.
62. The best X-Files are the ones that are personal, and while this episode isn't on the same level of "personal" as "Beyond the Sea," or "One Breath," or "End Game/Colony" (and others), it's still personal to Mulder because of the circumstances and to Scully because of the effect it is having on Mulder. As I believe I've mentioned to CC before via these diatribes, the X-Files has played the personal card many times before. Don't back off now.
63. "Oubliette" is one of my all-time favorites so I hope I've managed to do it justice. I did learn one new thing about this episode in preparing this TOTM . . . I've been spelling its title wrong for all these years. Now I gotta go back and relabel my tapes. (Anal retentive? Moi? It's official-I am a horse's a**. {The "UnNatural" again; spooky!}) I know that secretly you all just read these things and shake your heads, murmuring Poor Polly. "It's amazing she's gotten anywhere in life."
64. "Well, by most yardsticks, she hasn't."

Apologies to all that I'm a big behind. Maybe I'll see ya later tonight. (nst-I'm thinking of you!)

Polly