1.20 - Darkness Falls

My analysis is already starting to pay off. Two minutes and 12 seconds for this cold open and it’s not particularly cool. Two factors affected this cold open, two of the oldest linchpins of the televised arts: acting and dialog. Neither are impressive or memorable, which means along with bland acting and bland dialog we have a nasty triumvirate, because the visuals ain’t thrilling.

Mulder and Scully show up in the forest to investigate some missing loggers, greeted by Gruff Goodlooker, also known as Larry Moore. He’s played by Jason Beghe who is a childhood friend of Duchovny’s, their chemistry obvious, but also Beghe just has an undeniable charisma on top of being a hot dude; even landed himself a role on Duchovny’s show Californication due to all those factors.

All the reading I’ve done on this episode mostly talks about how hard it was to film. Shot in British Columbia, about 95% exteriors while it’s raining 100% of the time, with VFX shots and a LOT to plan for.

Titus Welliver shows up playing Doug Spinney, an eco-terrorist who bumps up the handsome factor by another 30-40% at least. He carries a lot of the emotional weight, despite the writers giving a lot of anger to Steve Humphreys, played by Tom O’Rourke, who mostly comes across as forced. He’s an exasperated, doubting Thomas so of course he has to die, and the viewer’s rejoice.

I like this episode somewhat, but the pacing is slow and the ending is just about enough to kill it completely. It’s noteworthy in one other way and I only bring it up because it leads directly into how the show handles season 02 — Gillian Anderson is pregnant. It wasn’t noticeable on my first watch, although there was a part of my brain that said “Good lord they put Scully in a baggy denim shirt” and then I forgot about it until Chris Carter mentioned it in the special features of the Blu-ray. He talks about how you can tell in the season 01 finale that her body has visibly changed. Again, it is only noteworthy due to how it leads directly into story choices made in season 02.

This ending is a demonstration of the show’s worst impulses for resolving a story. Mulder, Scully, and Larry Moore are swarmed by the ancient mites inside a Jeep, found the next morning by the HAZMAT team Mulder managed to contact when he had the radio working briefly. Why they’re not dead and are instead all three sleeping soundly under the gauzy cobwebs, we never know. Scully’s head moves slowly, but that’s the only sign it’s going to be okay.

They’re taken to a “High Containment Facility.” Mulder limps into a clean room, everything white including his funny little surgical cap. He and Scully and Moore all have rashes, they all have oxygen cannulas. Mulder’s the only one talking so you get to find out that the government is going to keep this ancient bug in the woods by contained burns, plus some pesticides.

“They will be successful,” the really knowledgeable and helpful doctor says.

“And if they’re not?” Mulder asks.

“That is not an option Mr. Mulder.”

It’s a super weak ending, rushed and not pleasingly mysterious. Scully is still unconscious so viewers wouldn’t be crazy to expect a “To be continued…” to appear. It doesn’t, all the more confusingly when the next episode premiers and has no mention of these bugs, Mulder and Scully are fine, and Larry Moore has waltzed out of our lives forever.