Redrum

Theatre of the Mind ~ Redrum

1. Itsy bitsy spider spinning web with grace, and the guy from "Speed" with a gash upon his face; taken from his cell where he's subsequently slain, and the itsy bitsy spider is all alone again.
2. "Redrum" is, of course, "murder" spelled backwards, and is probably best known as a phrase from Stephen King's book (and the subsequent movie), "The Shining." Speaking of which ... Heeeeeeeere's Johnny, the Manly Man, just a split second too late!
3. Wow, Scully hasn't forgotten she's a doctor in a long time!
4. PSC1: Apparently, she doesn't remember she's pregnant either. If she found out she was pregnant in May, and this is December 8, shouldn't she be showing by now?
5. Martin Wells' assassination scene was filmed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in the Hotel's pantry following his victory speech after the California primary election in 1968. The hotel was the home of the infamous nightclub, The Coconut Grove, which was the site of many of the early Academy Award ceremonies. The Ambassador is no longer a working hotel, but has become one of the most popular sites in L.A. for on-location filming. Since 1995, over 200 productions have been filmed there, including "Forrest Gump" and "Pretty Woman."
6. What a lovely wristwatch. Perhaps a gift from a certain G-man?
7. If I could turn back time, if I could find a way ...
8. TWC1: Timber, I'm "falling" in love. Holy Flaming Cow, he just keeps looking better and better in the credits, doesn't he? I think I'm going through serious Mulder Withdrawal.
9. Itsy bitsy spider crawls up the prison bed, "Speed" guy awakes and finds he isn't dead; Manly Man and Dana walkin' through the door, hey itsy bitsy spider - it's now the day before.
10. TWC2: Scully looks quite fetching in her turtleneck and long coat; she doesn't look pregnant, but she looks quite fetching.
11. Realistically, why would Scully and Doggett have the key card evidence except to set us up for later scenes? They certainly wouldn't be involved in this case.
12. Whoa, Manly Man, did somebody piss in your corn flakes this morning? Or at the very least singe your Pop Tart? Get a grip!
13. PSC2: If I'm ever accused of murder I sure hope I have a friend like Doggett on my side ... sheesh!
14. "This is not happening!" That's pretty catchy. Write that down for later.
15. It's Baltimore in December. Folks might want to wear a coat.
16. PSC3: 10:12 a.m. No 1013 reference? Perhaps it's an omen slightly off, just like the rest of this season.
17. TWC3: Some of you will understand this and some of you won't - who knew the sight of an orange jumpsuit could be so exciting?
18. It's yesterday? When all my troubles seemed so far away?
19. Martin Wells is named for H.G. Wells, the late 1800s novelist who wrote "The Time Machine" and "The War of the Worlds."
20. Wells' Case Number, 8ABX03, is the number of this episode. It was shown out of order.
21. All my best memories come back clearly to me, some can even make me cry, just like before ... it's yesterday once more ...
22. I think the Manly Man not only scorched his Pop Tart, he must have also burned his tongue! Chill!
23. You'd think that even if you believed in good police work that if someone was your friend you would open yourself to extreme possibilities just a teeny tiny bit ...
24. Itsy bitsy spider has finished all her work, too bad her cellmate had to go beserk; pulls down her web and stomps her on the floor, now the itsy bitsy spider isn't spinning anymore.
25. Oh, kids, your dad loves you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow ...
26. Time and tide wait for no man. Smile! You're on Nannycam Camera!
27. Itsy bitsy spider has risen from the dead, that surely means that we're now a day ahead; Martin appears to be sagging from the strain, and the itsy bitsy spider sets off to work again.
28. Martin's lawyer, Janet Wilson, is the name of writer Steve Maeda's wife.
29. Wednesday? Thursday? Friday? Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?
30. PSC4: Backwards ... everything's going backwards ... Haven't I seen an episode like this before? Something about the same day repeating over and over? Well, I could be mistaken. I *did* do a lot of drinking in college ...
31. It's Penal P.E.! This killin' time is killin' me ...
32. Martin remembers the crimes but not the people.
33. Pepsi caps in the garbage disposal? Well, it is for those who think young.
34. A whole new meaning to webbed hands.
35. Martin's pretty calm about this whole time going backwards thing. I guess if I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do, is to save every day 'til eternity passes away, just to spend them with you ...
36. PSC5: It seems like Doggett not only burned his Pop Tart and his tongue, but his Manly Man Truck must have gotten a flat.
37. Today is yesterday and yesterday is tomorrow and tomorrow is the day before today. Like if your sister is your aunt and your mother marries your uncle, you'd be your own grandpa.
38. ACM: Doggett walks out, but Scully pulls up a chair and lends an understanding ear ... just like Mulder would have.
39. Is this happening for a reason? Well, you know, some Freudians believe the deja vu phenomenon to be repressed memories escaping the unconscious. That it represents a desire to have a second chance to set things right. (Wow - that is so strange! That ACM *really* made me think of Mulder.)
40. TWC4: It made me think of wet, yellow pajama bottoms ... bare chest ... bare feet ... um, I've gotta go check out something; I'll be back soon.
41. TWC5: I'm back! Oh yeah, this episode is *nothing* like that other one! It's completely different. I watched it like three times just to be certain. I think that one was called Yadnom. Okay, back to work.
42. I'm beginning to wonder if Mulder was given the right message from his benefactors all those years ago: "The truth is out there"? Maybe the original message from Deep Throat should have been "The truth is going to keep you in here and make you somebody's bitch."
43. If you're lost you can look and you will find me, time after time. If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting, time after time ...
44. Mother Goose Moment: Good Martin Wells sits in his cell, trying to save his own life, sees webbed hands like a spider - the face gash provider - and now knows who murdered his wife.
45. The itsy bitsy spider is probably quite the grouch. Her friend and her cell mate's asleep on someone's couch; spiders can't come here - the place is just too clean, the itsy bitsy spider knows the house of a marine.
46. TV Factoid: Channel 9 in Washington is not WKPZ, but WUSA.
47. PSC6: I see now why Doggett is so testy. His coffee maker is broken. He should start drinking tea.
48. TWC6: Doggett has a pretty nice house. These manly men and their leather couches. And a bike in the kitchen. Very manly. I guess Mulder spent all his salary on wardrobe. But it's just a tad too clean to be the home of a Manly Man, ex Marine or not. Where are all the pizza boxes and crushed beer cans? I hope Doggett isn't watching Martha Stewart when there's no NASCAR on the tube.
49. The killer's not arrested till tomorrow? It's been so long now, and it seems that it was only yesterday. Gee! Ain't it funny how time slips away?
50. Doggett is become skeptical ... but this is like good cop work so he's not in such a bad mood.
51. Oh, I get it now! They really are *skcabhsalf* now!
52. Kudos to you, J.D. Spotting the sun in the mirror *is* good police work!
53. I thought the nanny wasn't supposed to know about the cam.
54. Oooh, that's a Manly Man knock! I'll bet whoever's inside is cowering in fear right now! Covering the peephole, drawing his weapon ... I'm not sure I can stand all this testosterone!
55. A Manly Doggettism: "First thing you're supposed to say is, 'What nanny-cam?'"
56. MMM: You know what a sucker I am for door-kicking-in. Not quite the same effect as when Mulder does it, but it'll do in a pinch. And then subduing the Tattooed Spiderman quicker than you can say arachnophobia.
57. Suppressing evidence ... that's a no-no.
58. Found the killer but arrested anyway - If your time to you is worth savin', then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin'.
59. Itsy bitsy spider's still in the prison cell, Martin ain't there he's at the Strand Hotel; now it is Monday (no, not that episode), and the itsy bitsy spider's alone in his abode.
60. Glad to see that J.D. is true blue Marine/FBI all the way down to his skivvies.
61. "I haven't got time to explain it. You wouldn't believe it anyway." You can say that again.
62. You know the curse of the X-Files has a long reach when you're assigned to that division and bad things start happening to people that you haven't seen for three years.
63. Time don't run out on me, I've gotta get back to where we used to be ...
64. Everything happens for a reason. But you know, sometimes *nothing* happens for a reason.
65. TWC7: Nothing happens for a reason ... a second chance to change fate ... gee, for some reason I'm thinking of a rumpled bed, a nekkid leg, a dripping faucet, Stonehenge Rocks .... "sgniht lla." Um, be right back!
66. Okay, where were we? Oh, second chances, right ...
67. Four days to prepare and this is the best he can do?
68. Manly Man saves the day! He believed! It feels like the first time, feels like the very first time ...
69. I guess since the Manly Man chided Scully for ditching him in "Roadrunners" he's going to be very careful not to do the same to her. Which explains why he woke her up around 3 a.m. to join him in driving to Baltimore after someone he hasn't seen in three years appears on his doorstep with a cockamamie story. I'm sure she was thrilled.
70. PSC7: But at least she dressed well for the occasion. Doggett is still in the tee shirt he was sleeping in but Scully had time to don her suit with that lovely long coat. Does the woman even own a pair of blue jeans? (Unless, of course, Scully was just coming in at 3 a.m. because she had been out on her own time searching for Mulder. We've only seen her search for Mulder in the desert, so we really don't know what her "Search in the City" outfit looks like. Maybe this is it!)
71. TWC8: That lovely watch again. I'm sure there's an inscription ... To Honeybunch from Poopyhead.
72. PSC8: Isn't it enough that I already miss Mulder? You had to make this episode Sully and Doggett lite as well? You know things are bad when you even find yourself missing Doggett (well, just for a second).
73. MSRM: Once again, I think I'm the *only* one thinking about it in this episode. Oh well, I think about it enough for all of us. And when you add "time" to the equation, well - you must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh. The fundamental things apply, as time goes by. And when two lovers woo, they still say, "I love you." (Oh brother!) On that you can rely. No matter what the future brings, as time goes by ...
74. You know the X-Files have gone to hell when the guest stars are doing the voiceovers.
75. So the moral of the story is that time flies whether you're having fun or not; and that sometimes, you can struggle very hard to untangle yourself from one web, only to be caught in another of your own making. And when that happens and you get knocked down, you have to take a lesson from the itsy bitsy spider - wait for the sun to dry up all the rain, and then start making your way up the spout again. I wonder if you watch XF episodes backwards if they are completely different or send you some kind of subliminal message or something? I'll have to check that out. I'm always looking for new and different ways of watching all these episodes that I love so much. So you see, I did learn something from "Redrum." Time flies, Tiguf Supmet. Yup, that's the first one I'm going to watch. Followed by Xam. And then Straeh Repap. And Irom Otnemem ... Wow, I feel like this is a new beginning for me. And every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end ... gotta run. It's closing time.

Well, in writing this TOTM, I've had the time of my life, no I never felt like this before. Yes, I swear it's the truth. And I owe it all to you. Even though I did distinctly hear some of you say, "You're wasting our time." But I do send apologies to Cher, Patty Loveless, the Beatles, the Carpenters, the Spiral Staircase, Chicago, Clint Black, Jim Croce, Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Anne Murray, Foreigner, Semisonic, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and Herman Hupfeld (the man who knew what lovers do when they woo). (And if they all decide to get together and discuss my use of their works? "Make sure I skip that freaking meeting.")

So that's the MTOT. I know. "Not something you want to wake up to."

Yllop