1.10 - Fallen Angel

Finally, another alien saga episode. They’re rare in the first season while Chris Carter and the writers were figuring out what audiences responded to and what the largest storyline surrounding Mulder and Scully would be. He talks about it on some of the quick little featurettes included on the Blu-ray, but they’re mostly not too in-depth. I have a book coming that dives into the creation of the first four seasons so you may see me adding little asides here and there once I read about each episode/season.

Colonel Calvin Henderson shows up early on to absolutely chomp on every word he’s tasked with saying. Marshall Bell plays him and is someone I usually find believable. He’s normally only asked to be tough, determined, and/or weird (see the 1990 Total Recall for…more than one of those). Here he delivers his dialog like a dedicated but unimaginative filing cabinet would.

When one of his subordinates reports an unidentified bogey on the radar he quickly tells them it was instrument malfunction. Afterward he makes a clandestine call to inform someone of a “fallen angel” and to activate Operation Falcon. ‘Cause it wasn’t instrument malfunction! Citizens are evacuated from Townsend, Wisconsin due to a fictionalized train wreck spilling fictional toxic waste, similar to how the government evacuated the areas surrounding Devil’s Tower in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

One of the cooler reveals comes from Deep Throat when he tells Mulder about the continental United States’s electronic fence that reaches 15,000 miles into space. Ostensibly it’s used to monitor all the things that orbit the Earth, but turns out it’s also pretty neat at tracking UFOs, and especially when they crash.

I dig how they edited the conversation between Mulder and Deep Throat, hopping back and forth in time to great effect between Mulder’s clandestine mission prep and his meeting in the past: it’s quick and informative, gets the story humming along. Mulder’s goal is to sneak into the recovery zone and see what the hell is actually up, which he does with relative ease. What he finds is a massive area of wreckage, a piece of what looks like metal jutting up, and silver-clad workers spraying jets of fog, like fire extinguishers.

Any doubts you maybe had about him getting to this area easily are addressed quickly when a soldier shows up and makes Mulder kiss the stock of his assault rifle. Colonel Henderson jaws out some explanations for what’s going on and why Mulder is FUBAR. Doesn’t matter though.

This episode’s brightest spot is Max Fenig, from the fictional National Investigative Committee of Aerial Phenomenon (NICAP). He briefly mentions MUFON and CUFOS so everyone can get a little giggle over all the acronyms, but after that it’s right into his interesting character. Partly he’s so great because Mulder finally has a mirror.

Scully shows up to rescue Mulder from the holding cell, which is really just some chain-link fence. They argue and it seems a little more angry than normal, but soon afterward they’re back to their old selves. Mulder makes a solid The Last Detail reference and then Max Fenig appears again. When he mentions that NICAP has been following Mulder’s cases thanks to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA - a great resource that’s given us great journalism), they say Mulder’s heart grew three sizes that day. I’m surprised he didn’t sprout epaulets and a captain’s hat.

By the time Max mentions the article Mulder wrote for Omni under the name M.F. Luder the love affair is complete.

“I didn’t think anyone was paying attention,” Mulder says.
“Someone’s always paying attention,” Max responds, the first hint of what really lies inside of him, and yet another mirror for Mulder.

They both have a goofy, childish side to them hiding their single-minded obsession, the thing driving and defining them. All jokes and witticisms fade when they find even the smallest moment prove how dedicated they are. Both are prone to mission statements and pronouncements.

It’s unfortunate the alien’s interaction with humans — as bright, flashing white lights — undermines the suspense by being comical.

Scully lends her brilliance as a medical doctor to the understaffed hospital, there’s even a sort of hint at romantic possibilities with Dr. Oppenheim (totally being clever by not calling him Oppenheimer, guys). This episode is short on Scully content overall though.

I like the scene where Mulder explains to Scully that Max doesn’t believe he was abducted by aliens, but in fact Mulder does. At the beginning she’s got it all figured out; Max is taking powerful anti-psychotics so just cut it with the alien stuff, because oooobviously the dude is prone to seeing and hearing shit. The second Mulder tells her it’s his own belief we see Scully drop her armor and offer Mulder the grace she denied Max. It’s simultaneously endearing and somewhat sad.

While Mulder is trying to comfort Max during his mental struggle with the extraterrestrial implant (alleged) you see a flash of glee on Mulder’s face. It falls in line with what we’ve seen and heard from him before, specifically that line about throwing away an opportunity to see paranormal phenomena.

Not a lot of answers here, which makes sense, it’s barely the halfway point through the season. A lot of setup for the forthcoming alien saga episodes and the finale. Max’s story is unfinished, and the slow roll of the threatened X-Files shutdown continues.

“How can I disprove lies that are stamped with an official seal?” Mulder’s strongest line of the episode, and practically thrown up with double-middle fingers.

Deep Throat shows up again and is revealed to have made sure Mulder didn’t get canned over his insubordination and bonkers antics. He also says it’s more dangerous to have Mulder exposed to the wrong people than it is to have Mulder around shouting about aliens, and even says “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Plus he throws a nice uppercut when he says “What Mulder knows…heh…what he thinks he knows…”.

This one needed a stronger middle to bridge the solid opening and this great ending.