Theatre of the Mind ~ The Red and the Black

1. Wow! Wherever this is, it must snow 400 inches a day here!

2. I guess no email out here in the great white boonies.

3. Do you think this stuff about the Navajo story, twin war gods coming to their father, seeking magic and weapons, yada, yada, yada, is important at all?

4. "Your Loving Father" comma? How was he gonna sign that? "Dad"?

5. Well, we know at least SNOW shall not keep this courier from his appointed rounds. (BTW, the young messenger is played by Jack Finn, son of XF producer J.P. Finn.)

6. All those burned bodies at Ruskin Dam! That's where Scully was! Oh, no!

7. I've never seen Quiet Willy more quiet.

8. TWC1: Slo-Mo Walkin' Mulder, strolling to the beat of the movie score. Woo-hoo!

9. Great range of emotions from DD, from finding with relief that the body bag with the red hair sticking out is not her, to the sweet little slightest touch of the real thing's hair, looking for signs of life.

10. Is the Consortium gang keeping lispy Marita in a coma? Cause nobody else infected by the oilien was in a coma.

11. The Consortium really has a state-of-the-art facility, huh? Check out that observation deck! Is all this in one building?

12. TWC2: Aww, gently pushing back that lock of hair. Wake up, sleepyhead.

13. Hmm, for just a split second, Scully looks like she's worried about what might have happened last night . . . why did she oversleep and why is Mulder staring down at her? Tee-hee!

14. She's got quite a case of bedhead, too.

15. "I'm just very happy to be standing here talking to you, that's all." How sweet.

16. No memory of all that happened on the bridge . . . wow, that's a surprise.

17. I don't know why all you shippers think you never get any overt displays of affection. How 'bout that big thumbs up, huh?

18. I bet Jeffrey and Mulder are gonna wind up bosom brothers . . . er, I mean buddies.

19. Poor Ratboy. But he should look at the bright side. None of his orifices have been sewn up yet. Well, at least none we can see.

20. Marita double-crossed Krycek and the Consortium, and was trying to hand Dimitri over to Mulder, so does that mean she was actually a good lispy girl? Perhaps we'll never know.

21. So the Russians have a vaccine that works and we don't. Guess they learned a thing or two from that whole space race thing.

22. It looks like WMM and Krycek are now gonna be best buds.

23. Those aliens sure are pretty bad pilots. Well, these have no eyes, so I'll cut them a break.

24. MSRM: Yeah, there's a couple of nice hand-holds in this ep, but to me, the Conversation in the Hospital between M&S best typifies their relationship. Mulder talks about the chip and the truth and his distrust of his memories. Scully tells him how she followed him on blind faith even though she didn't believe, but that she can't do that any longer. She has to find her own path and her own proof. And is that what he really wants-to be proven wrong . . . or right? We can see he's not sure.

25. TWC3: And oh yeah. Let's not forget that nice shot of Mulder's butt as he looks out the window!

26. Those are some smart rebel aliens . . . sort of like cutting off your face to spite your oiliens.

27. So WMM is a good guy in the Consortium? He believes that resistance is possible? That we can fight the future? (Pretty good catchphrase-feel free to use it!)

28. No such place as Silver Springs. That should be Silver Spring.

29. Can you tell from Mulder's body language that he's not too keen on this hypnosis idea?

30. Gosh, somebody remembered that Scully had been hypnotized once!

31. Great overhead camera work as Scully starts to relax into a deep, dark void.

32. That other hypnotist Melissa recommended must have been a quack. Dr. Werber has Scully under in no time at all.

33. You want memories, Scully. You got 'em.

34. TWC4: It's really nice how she reaches out for him and he takes her hand to ground her during her journey to the night place. And he looks fantastic, too.

35. I still say one of those faceless guys looks just like the ABH . . . with no face, of course.

36. So if the spaceship incinerated the faceless men who were incinerating those that were gathered, then who burned Scully and the rest of the people there?

37. We're now ready for the spotlight abduction . . . Cassandra Spender! Come on down! (And in addition to Cassandra, the aliens get lots of lint.)

38. Cassandra's abduction is a very cool effect, however. And all the faithful worshippers with their hands in the air as she is "risen." That's spooky.

39. But Doubting!Mulder won't be taken in again so easily as he was the first time.

40. TWC5: Hoo-boy! It was staged.

41. After all these years, Mulder's even got Skinner believing in little gray men.

42. Sorry, WMM. Time and the Consortium waits for no man or vaccine.

43. "Why are you here, Agent Spender?" That's what I'd like to know. M&S are having enough problems without you popping up to keep telling them to leave your mommy alone. (You little weasle.)

44. Did Mulder think his fish left that note on the floor? Letting your guard down. Tsk, tsk.

45. It's really nice of Krycek to turn into a good guy long enough to pretend to be Deep Throat and Explain It All: Planned invasion. Colonization. Alien lighthouses. One law: fight or die. One rule: Resist or serve. Resistance in our grasp. An alien rebellion. Don't let the alien rebel get turned over to the colonists. It's so simple!

46. MKRM: (The Mulder/Krycek Relationship Moment) Who knew that Krycek had such fuzzy feelings for Fox? (Of course, it could have just been a comrade-to-comrade kiss but who knows?)

47. And thanks a lot, Krycek. As if the boy didn't have enough on his mind, now you've got him worrying about his sexuality. (LOL!)

48. TWC6: But Holy Flaming Cow! That nice camera pull-back as he sits confused and dejected on his apartment floor. Very nice!

49. The real ABH! (I'm telling you, I think he played that other part as well!)

50. "Destiny. Fate. How to throw a curve ball. The inextricable relationships in our lives that are neither accidental nor somehow in our control either." All things happen for a reason.

51. Everybody has reconsidered, Scully is back to skeptic, Mulder is back to believer, God (or the Big Alien) is in His firmament, and all is right with the world. But perhaps after this experience, Scully won't be quite as scientifically rigorous, and Mulder won't be quite as gullible. Perhaps they'll meet more closely in the middle. Well, a girl can dream, can't she?

52. Maybe that kid that says "Agent Mul-dar" is Doggett's kid brother.

53. I love it when Mulder gets all paternal. "Why don't you go check on that, son."

54. Why does the Mighty Morphin' Bounty Hunter morph into Quiet Willie? Does that mean that Quiet Willie was perhaps a colonist planted in the Consortium? I just got some answers; I don't want more questions!

55. You just kinda knew Mulder would end up on the truck by himself, didn't you?

56. I guess the "pfffft" thing works on all aliens, regardless of race, creed, sex, or natural origin.

57. I think somebody wants their comrade back.

58. Not sure exactly what Mulder hoped to accomplish with his gun since that's never worked before, but it was a good try.

59. The vaccine seems to have worked so Marita will live to lisp another day. Just goes to show you what can be accomplished by kidnapping people, putting them in prison, and experimenting on them.

60. I think Mulder lost nine more minutes to add to his missing time collection.

61. Aww, but at least he's got the love of a good woman to comfort him in his time of need. Such a lovely little hand hold to give comfort and so she can look him in the eye.

62. TWC7: And if you can look good after you've lost nine minutes, that's the most important thing.

63. Of course Mulder has opened an X-File on Cassandra's abduction. I guess Scully is destined to add to her record for number of appearances in those fateful files too.

64. So it looks like Agent Spender is the recipient of the mysterious valentine from the teaser.

65. Now I guess we know why Agent Spender is aboard. He seems to be related to someone that we all know and love to hate.

66. CSM once said he had no family, yet he seems to have fathered everyone on this show except for maybe Skinner. But unfortunately, no one wants to send him a Father's Day card; he's looking for love in all the wrong places. You can't kill the devil, CC once said, and I guess he didn't, so give the devil his due. CSM is alive and well and sending letters not from the great beyond but from the great white north.

67. As usual, I think Elvis said it best: "Return to Sender."


I thought "Patient X" and "The Red and the Black" was a pretty good mythology two-parter. We did get some answers, and even more questions, but that's what the XF is all about. We got to see our two favorite agents swap skins for a little while and find out what it's like to walk in someone else's moccasins. We got a little more insight into the Consortium and a lot more insight into CSM and his past. And we know that Marita has another agenda though we know not what, and we know there is one law and one rule. And we now know that Krycek has kissed Mulder more times than Scully has, but the MSR is alive and well and M&S will live to kiss another day. Hmmm. Things are looking up.

"If those are my last words, I can do better."

Apologies, as always
Polly