The bestX-Filesepisodes this season are the weirdest.
Last weeks Rm9sbG93ZXJz imagined that normal life in 2018 is a never-ending X-file.
Neither episode was perfect, but I loved them, loved their cockeyed-yet-mythic view of Scully and Mulder.
Credit: Shane Harvey/FOX
Impressively, both episodesalsolanded on sweet, poignant, romantic-if-you-want moments of quiet grace.
Awkward attempts toward serialization have felt inconsequential.
But maybe you thinkX-Files appeal requires the mixture of serious and silly.
Wednesdays Familiar implies that the show can still do straight-faced, clever procedural storytelling.
But only up to a point.
Straight-faced is the wrong word.
But Familiar starts with a mutilated kid-corpse and ends with a death parade.
Along the way, it takes big swings, exploring the historyandtopicality of American hysteria.
In a small town in Connecticut, a police officers child dies.
The local PD suspects an animal, coyote or wolf or maybe even a coywolf.
Mulders suspicions are more fantastic.
This is witch country.
Theres always the possibility of a hellhound.
Scully brushes aside Mulders fantasies of phony witch history.
As weve discussed before, Scully says, patiently, People dont just spontaneously combust.
But their investigationdoesspontaneously combust, the violence spiraling in unexpected directions.
The best part of the episode is also the most explicitly thematic.
Rumors of a child-murderer lead the dead boys father to a local sex offenders house.
The mans nowhere to be seen, but an angry mob gathers.
This guy hasnochance, says Mulder.
Why defend a convicted sex offender?
Because of due process.
This rush to judgment, Mulder decries.
What happened to the precious presumption of innocence?
Quoting two different beleaguered presidents, Mulder says, This is a witch hunt.
This American experience of ours.
Dont give writer Benjamin Van Allen points for poetry, butX-Filescan be fun when its blunt.
So the sex offender arrives, is brutally attacked by the policeman.
And then the mob positivelystoneshim.
This is thoughtful stuff.
The episode guest stars Roger Cross, one of TVs best familiar-face character actors.
Cross is probably best known as Curtis from24, the solid dude-liest ally Jack Bauer ever had.
(The show went downhill, immediately and forever, when Curtis died.)
Cross also happens to be black, which doesnt necessarily have to matter in this episode.
But theres provocative material being played with here.
The language nods toward the contemporary conversation about police brutality and unarmed-suspect fatalities.
But the hysterical circumstances make the provocation feel defanged.
And Cross character fades when he should come to the forefront.
So the fuddy-duddy side of theX-Filesrevival is very much on display here.
But Familiar works in a way no other serious episodes have lately.
Theres no incoherent William drama, no awkward struggle to incorporate fan-service cameos.
The town itself is called Eastwood, named for one of Americans true icons of manhood.
And the towns witch-killing history reflects a national original sin of anti-femininity.
Is there hope for the future?
Almost everyone man, woman, child winds up dead.
So Mulder and Scully do the one thing they can.
They leave, looking for anywhere better.
