'The X-Files' Season 11, Episode 10: 'My Struggle IV"

Alright, it's been long enough.  It's time to finally wrap this up and close the book on "The X-Files".  Up until now, the "My Struggle" episodes have all been bad.  When I brought up the idea of a fourth entry, I was largely kidding, yet here we are.

Credit where it's due, this is the best of the bunch.  It's not god-awful like its predecessors.  There aren't any mind-bogglingly stupid plot twists (well, one, but I'll get to that).  While the "end of the world" aspect is brought up again, the episode is largely a race to find William.  It's simplicity works in the episode's favor.  Unfortunately, the fact that the ongoing story has been largely ignored means that any sense of tension is gone.  To be fair, the stand alones have been quite solid, so it worked for the season as a whole, but it doesn't stop the fact that this whole thing feels rushed and underdeveloped.

Unlike "The Truth", this episode doesn't spend a lot of time just summarizing and explaining the plot of the show.  It does, however, recycle some elements.  This isn't unsurprising as they are both series finales of sorts.  Once again, the X-Files are closed and once again Smoking Man is killed.  Normally, three gunshots to the chest of an old man would be fatal, but we did see him take a sidewinder to the face and come back unscathed, so I'm guessing the finality of this death depends on whether the show comes back or not.  Same goes for the closing of the agents' branch.  It's been done before, but given that this is supposed to wrap things up, it really can't be avoided.

Oddly enough, it does leave some loose ends.  Skinner's fate is never determined and the last shot of the episode shows that things may not be as in the clear as one would have hoped.  Honestly, I could have done without that.  If you're going to wrap things up, do it.  That sequel hook was kind of pointless.

Before that, though we have to talk about the ending.  Long story short, William lets himself get offed by Smoking Man to stop the impending apocalypse (I'm pretty sure spoilers are no longer an issue at this point, yes?)  While the character was underdeveloped, it did let him die a noble and somewhat sad death.  Even the two agents are rather devastated.  Unlike the season opener, actual effort is put into making this a sad scene.  Credit especially goes to Anderson, she was acting her ass off here.

Sadly, it's undercut the the aforementioned stupid plot development.  The two agents are reeling from not only the death of their son, but the revelation that he wasn't theirs.  Smoking Man cooked him up in a lab and used Scully as a surrogate of sorts.

It's now, seconds after William's death that Scully decides to reveal that she is really pregnant with their actual child.    This is just stupid on so many levels.  Sure it gives the two agents a more uplifting note to go out on, but really?

Overall, this episode was...adequate?  It had some structural problems, but the last few minutes are really the only cringe-worthy parts.  Some of the dialogue is clunky, but again, it's been much worse.

One last thing, and this is something of a nitpick, but don't the agents know Reyes?  They worked with her a while back, right?  She doesn't do much here, but when she does contact them to give them a warning/lead, they talk as if they have no idea who she is.  I feel like this is another thing that the show did before, but I might be remembering it wrong.  Maybe it was a meta-jab at the character, nobody remembers her because she really hasn't done anything important as of late.  It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's still strange.

I'm kind of hoping that this is it.  The relaunch did ultimately validate it's own existence, but I'd hate to see the show try to wrap itself up for a third time.  Let's just call it a job done (or a case closed, eh?) and move on to other things.

Click here to become a Swagbucks member


Click here to join our Patreon campaign

'Castle Rock' Episode 7: 'The Queen'

The last episode had Ruth Deaver reveal that she (at least believes) that she has become disconnected from linear time.   This episode brings the idea to central focus, as she takes center stage, bringing us with her on a journey through time.  This allows the episode to revisit certain scenes and put them in a slightly different context, but it also allows us to get a better look at events that had only been discussed in episodes prior.

I had mentioned my theory that her condition was akin to Picard's in "All Good Things.." This turns out to partially be the case, but there's also  shades of "A Christmas Carol".  We see two Ruth's, with one largely invisible (though she does seem to be able to see herself) in several scenes as she places her chess pieces around.  I get that they indicate that she's not in her time, but I'm not sure how that helps her "get back".  The jumps seem to happen at random and she has no control over when they happen.  Maybe it's a focus thing? I don't know.

Matt Deaver, her husband and Henry's adopted father benefits the most from this as we get a better look at what life was like in the Deaver household all those years ago.  It turns out that the preacher was more than a little unbalanced.  He doesn't do anything directly, but his dialogue (as well as the actor's delivery) shows us what a disturbed individual he really was.

Ruth herself also shines.  Spacek had a lot of weight to pull and she did a great job of it.  You can see her fear, disorientation, concern, and joy throughout the episode.  Had she not done such a good job, the episode might have fallen flat, but as it is, it stands as likely the best episode of the season.  I kind of feel bad for the next episode as this set the bar quite high.

The time jumps can be a bit confusing at first, but the episode is still very well constructed.  You can tell that a lot of effort was put into making this work and it paid off.

We also get some strong hints as to the identity of "the kid".  Ruth herself is convinced that it's Matt back from the dead.  Whether intentionally or unintentionally, he seems to go out of his way to confirm this. Given his lines of dialogue, you can see why Ruth jumps to the conclusion that she does.  He knows a lot about her and about their history.  While I knew it was all a red herring (again, I spoiled myself on this big reveal,) there is one line here that pretty much tells you who he is.  Not much is made of it now, but it'll probably be elaborated on later.

As with many episodes prior, this one ends with a bang...literally.  Ruth accidentally shoots Alan.  Had I been keeping up, I'd probably be more concerned with dropping a major spoiler, but at this point, I don't think we need to worry.

That scene gives us the plot based wham moment that makes for good binge watching, but the following scene where Ruth is transported to Alan first showing up on her doorstep is what really made the ending work.  The look on Spacek's face just sells the weight of the scene and it'd be hard not to mark yourself as being hit hard in the feels after that.  I mean, damn. 

So yeah, if you couldn't figure it out by now.  This episode was amazing, a fantastic hour of television if ever there was one.  Hopefully, the remaining episodes can keep it going, because the show is really starting to shine.

Click here to join our Patreon campaign



Click here to become a Swagbucks member

'Jessica Jones' Season 2, Episode 6: 'AKA Facetime'

I noted before that the last episode's "cliffhanger" tried to make a big deal out of something that wasn't.  It turns out that I was, more or less, correct.  While we do see people fleeing the aquarium, the only real effect of the implied tsunami is that Jessica's phone is messed up, preventing her from taking a photo of the car as her targets make their getaway.  Even that is quickly dealt with via the old "bag of rice" trick.

From there, the episode proceeds to move onto several other issues.  The most prominent is Trish's addiction to Simpson's drug.  When we first see her, she's just itching for a fight; but once she's cut off, she starts to show the standard symptoms.  You'd think Jess or especially Malcolm would start to notice that something's up, but both remain oblivious.

Jess does get to show off her loyal, kind-hearted side.  Not only does she offer a shoulder/sounding board for Trish to vent about her romantic woes, but she even offers to act as nurse when Trish falls ill.

This seems to have positive ramifications as her romance with the landlord takes a step forward.  It seems his hangups about things moving too fast are no longer a concern.  Not only do the two hookup, but he paints her while she sleeps.  A little creepy, not going to lie.  I'm sure he meant it to be romantic, but some better judgment could have been used there.

On the flip side, she also relapses in regards to giving into darker impulses.  You see this mostly in terms of her investigation.  She breaks into a country club to pump a guy for information and when that doesn't work, she accosts his son.  She does acknowledge it via a voice over, but it seems her desire to be better has been put on hold. 

Said investigation does yield some results.  She manages to obtain the name of the IGH scientist responsible for the experiments: Karl Malus.  It's quite close to the name of the big bad on "Legends of Tomorrow".  Were these not two completely separate and independent shared universes from rival comic book companies, I'd say a crossover might happen, but I doubt it.  Would be interesting to see, though.

The other big development comes in the episode's last five seconds as the killer's identity is finally revealed.  It turns out that the woman is Jessica's mother.  It explains the parallels quite well and does add a more personal stake in the established conflict.  You'd think that this would come off as eye-roll worthy, having the villain be related to the hero is a rather old trope at this point, but it seemed to work here.  I think that Jessica's shocked reaction being what reveals it helps a little.  Normally, it's the antagonist who makes the declaration. 

Unlike last episode, this ending has more umph.  The conversation between the two should be interesting, to say the least.  Where things go from there remains to be seen.

It'll also be interesting to see what comes of the Malcolm/Trish...fling?  The idea that Malcolm has been pining for Trish does come out of left field.  The two just came off as good friends.  Yeah, Trish is gorgeous, so I can understand some degree of attraction, but the idea that he's been in love with her this whole time raised an eyebrow.  It does give Trish something to manipulate once she gets her drug fix in.  It also puts a whole new spin on the term "crack pairing".  At the very least, it adds a more literal element to it. 

All in all, this episode was OK.  Pacing was an issue; I did find myself checking the remaining time more than once.  Still, there were seeds planted that could lead to interesting plot development down the road.   

Click here to join our Patreon campaign


Click here to become a Swagbucks member

'Castle Rock' Episode 6: 'Filter'

The season moves into its second half.  We get some answers, but, not surprisingly, even more questions.

Up until now, the show has been somewhat grounded.  The Kid really being the sole oddity in an otherwise "real" world.  That gets thrown out the window here as the episode introduces the possibility of a multiverse, a character becoming disjointed from time (I imagine it's something akin to what Picard went through in "All Good Things", but that's speculation on my end) and even a "voice of God" or the sound of a universe trying to correct itself.  For the most part, it all fits, but it can still feel like a bit of a curve ball in many respects.

The latter is most pertinent as it ties to Henry's tinnitus, which seems to be anything but.  It leads him to attempt to retrace his steps and find out what really happened out in the woods back when he was a kid.  I'm kind of surprised it took him this long to do this.  Seems like something that should have happened a few episodes ago, but it works well enough being placed where it is.  I think having the "Schisma" talk back in episode 3 would have been a lot for the viewer to take in that early.  Was still a fantastic scene, though.  It stands as one of the episode's highlights.

I'd also cite Ruth's reveal about her disconnection from time as one (Spacek did a great job with only a handful of lines there) and Molly revealing to Henry that she killed his dad.  The latter is especially impressive, as it was revealed to us a while back.  It speaks to both the writing and the acting that the scene packs the punch that it does.

As said before, the answers just raise more questions.  I suppose it's not that surprising, seeing as J.J. Abrams had his hand in this, but it does lead to things being vague for the sole purpose of not providing an answer.  It's another reason why it seems like this episode should have been placed earlier.  It's still compelling and more than a little intriguing, but with only four episodes remaining, one has to wonder how well they'll juggle everything that's being tossed out there. 

With all the complexity that this episode brings to the table, the Kid is given something of a motive.  After breaking out of Juniper Hill, he pays a visit to Ruth Deaver and voices his intent to "build a monument to those who imprisoned him".  So yeah, he wants revenge; at least, that's what I gather.  It's logical, can't really blame the guy, but it is surprisingly straight forward, maybe a little too straight forward.  Of course, even if the motive is obvious, it still doesn't explain his abilities. 

Having browsed TvTropes and Wikipedia, I kind of spoiled myself and now know the answer (well, some of them anyway,) but I'll leave discussion of what's going on until after I've watched the episodes and have full context.

Did anyone else get Slenderman vibes from this episode?  Between the camcorder POV shots, the frequent visits to the woods, and that one guy standing outside Molly's house; I felt like there were a few nods to the popular internet monstrosity.  Not sure if anything will come of it, but it's something to keep an eye on to say the least.   

All in all, this show's still going strong.  I'm looking forward to see what comes next as we move into the season's final four episodes.

Click here to join our Patreon campaign


Click here to become a Swagbucks member

'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 3, Episode 7: 'Welcome to the Jungle'

With Sara still out of commission, the team takes it upon themselves to go and take care of an anachronism.

Said anachronism happens to be in Vietnam circa 1967.  Not the most ideal of time periods.  Even Mick doesn't want to go, though he has his own personal reasons for wanting to avoid it. Conversely, Amaya is more than willing.  It was a nice callback to her origins as something of a soldier, though the others do point out that this war was very different than the one in which Amaya fought.

Not that it matters as the group has a third party antagonist to deal with.  Said antagonist is revealed to be a time displaced Gorilla Grodd.  It's been a while since we've seen him.  His episodes were always a season highlight back on "The Flash", so it was nice to see him show up here.  Unlike Thawne, this isn't a rogue that any of the Legends have dealt with before, so they're just as thrown off by the development as anybody else.  They get caught up pretty quickly, but it was an interesting twist to throw in.

David Sobolov continues to do a great job of voicing Grodd.  He presents the character with menace in spades, but also captures the more sympathetic elements rather well. 

Villains having layers is a recurring theme with this episode.  Grodd's nature initially throws Amaya for a loop, but it also gives her a new point of view in regards to Kuasa. 

It also becomes a factor for Mick, who runs into his father.  While Mick is often used for comic relief with some awesome moments in fight scenes, it was nice to see the character have some more serious material to work with.  Purcell took to it quite well and it made for some of the episode's highlights.

One other thing to note is that this is yet another instance this season of an anachronism being tied to the Legends or their family.  It's such a common time travel trope that I really hadn't thought that much of it, but they are right to point out how slim the odds are of it happening even once, let alone multiple times.  Maybe there's more to the anachronisms than meets the eye? We'll see.

Oddly enough, this episode doesn't really touch on Mallus, though the sequel hook does have Darkh recruiting Grodd to his new team.  Even stranger is the fact that there is no mention of the upcoming crossover.  They did a good job of it last year, but I guess they wanted to mix it up a bit.

The episode isn't without its flaws, unfortunately.  Evan Jones' depiction of Mick's dad, Dick Rory (rhyming names? really?) comes off as very forced.  He tries to do a raspy growl, but it doesn't sound natural.  The bonding scenes between the two still work, but it is a very noticeable weak spot.

The depiction of Lyndon Johnson is also a bit on the strange side.  Admittedly, I don't know what Johnson was like in real life....but I wouldn't have pictured him like that. 

Jax does get to show his heroic chops by saving him from a minefield.  It was nice to show Jax grow as a hero without Firestorm, but at the same time, the two rarely fuse nowadays anyway, so the change might not be as drastic as you'd originally think. 

The episode may not be one of the season highlights, but it did have some solid character arcs.  It also gave a fan favorite villain a return appearance and laid the groundwork for more appearances in the future. 

Click here to become a Swagbucks member

Click here to join our Patreon campaign

'The X-Files' Season 11, Episode 9: 'Nothing Lasts Forever'

The season (series?) reaches its penultimate episode and it's...an odd one.  It tries to throw a lot in.  A good chunk of it works, but there's still some shortcomings to be found.

You'd think that the episode would fall into the trap of trying too hard to tie up loose ends, but as this is a stand alone, it (surprisingly) doesn't.

Instead, we have a plot that features an organ harvesting ring that serves a cult that worships an over the hill actress who feeds on the organs/cultists in pursuit of eternal youth.  There's also a devoutly religious vigilante who is targeting the cult for her own reasons.  It all connects decently enough, but it still feels like a bit much and some elements seem needlessly over-convoluted.

Aspects also come off as undeveloped.  I don't know if this plot warranted a two-parter, but at the same time, it would have been nice to get more details about both the cult and the vigilante.

To its credit, it does manage to provide a nice balance of genuinely funny and creepy moments.  The banter between the two agents is on point and Fiona Vroom looks like she's having fun in the role of the aforementioned actress.

I also got a kick out of Mulder's trolling tactic of using his reputation and knowledge of the abnormal to get the other FBI agents to leave.

Between the heavy focus on religion, celebrity, and appearance; I get the impression that the episode had some kind of intended message.  For the life of me, I can't figure out what it is.  With the celebrity obsessed culture, the episode certainly has relevance, but I don't know if there is a core takeaway to be had.  Of course, that helps keep the episode from becoming too preachy or heavy-handed, so that's a plus, I suppose.

I don't know if this will go down as one of the more memorable episodes of the season, but it will pass the time well enough.  As mentioned, parts of it do work and do work well, but it does come off a bit jumbled. 

Next episode will be what I assume is the last episode of the series.  Will it provide a satisfying conclusion to not only this "event", but the franchise as a whole?  Judging by the title, my hopes aren't high, but hope springs eternal. 

Click here to join our Patreon campaign



Click here to become a Swagbucks member

'Castle Rock' Episode 5: 'Harvest'

As we saw in this year's docket, there's quite a bit of backlog to go through.  The focus of 2019 Q1 will be to clear out a lot of these TV shows that really should have been done a long time ago. It's been awhile, so if you need a refresher on what's happening in this particular series, this might help jog your memory.

Honestly, though, this episode was still pretty easy to follow.  Even if your memory is a bit foggy, only a few references are made to specific events.  It allows the episode to act as a solid stand alone, which is weird because this episode probably has the most momentum in terms of plot that the show has seen in some time.

I said before that a part of me wanted to see Skarsgard get more screen time and this episode delivers it.  He still doesn't say a whole lot, and we learn only a little, but he is able to play a much larger role in the plot.

A lot of this is due to the fact that the warden at Shawshank has him released.  Funnily enough, even Henry (who had fought to get him released) seems uncomfortable with the idea of the Kid being out and about.

The episode tries to play with moral ambiguity by suggesting that the Kid is a victim.  It would have been an interesting angle if it wasn't already abundantly clear that something is up with him that is beyond the norm.  Even if he's not intentionally malevolent, he does pose a clear danger and bad things happen when he's around.  It seems that not even skin to skin contact is necessary as his presence outside of a suburban home results in a child's birthday party turning into a violent fiasco.

Even Warden Lacey admits in a flashback that he's not entirely sure if his faith has led him in the right direction.  Judging by what we've seen, it seems like it has.  In any event, it gives Terry O'Quinn more screen time, so I can hardly complain about that.

This episode also delivers when it comes to Stephen King nods.  The references to Dodd and Cujo are nice, though they've been done a couple times now.  Juniper Hill is mentioned, but I think the big one is the reveal that Jackie Torrance is the niece of one Jack Torrance.  She even admits that it isn't her real name and she took it out of spite.  It does explain the similarity, though I do hope that the show does something more with the connection.

In the meantime, there are plenty of strange goings-on to keep the viewer intrigued.  There are too many to list, but it does add a foreboding element given the Kid's release.  It does suggest that dark times are looming.  This is almost literal too, as the sky takes on a darker, more overcast tone in some of the key scenes featuring the mysterious figure.

Much like the last episode, this one really kicks into high gear in the final scenes.  There's no big shootout, but there is a tense standoff, as Pangborn confronts the kid and tries to demand answers.  We learn that how Pangborn knew about Lacey's imprisonment of the Kid and that he went along with it, despite some doubts.  Those doubts are laid to rest, however, as Pangborn reveals that the Kid hasn't aged a day.

It's weird, we pretty much knew that, but for some reason, the fact never clicked up until Pangborn said as much.  The revelation still carries some weight for a decent wham moment, even though it really had no right to.

The Kid does admit that he isn't the devil, though he is perplexed regarding the fact that Pangborn doesn't know what's going on in the town.  It's a nice cryptic line to end on.  Honestly, the fact that he offered to help Ruth seems like the bigger twist, but we'll see what comes of it.  Maybe he does have good intentions or maybe he's just trying to gain leverage, it's too soon to say.

Really, though, Pangborn should have known that the Kid isn't Satan. After all, the devil had already made his way to the town and set up a pawn shop.  I'm surprised that fact hasn't come up yet on the show, but I guess it's possible that that didn't happen in this continuity.

Either way, this was a strong outing for the show.  It moved things forward and provided an impetus for some major developments in the episodes to come.  The strong ending also stirs up that urge to binge watch, which is quite easy now that the whole season is out.  Hopefully, I'll be able to keep pace.  While I do want to progress for the sake of clearing out the back log, I am interested to see where the show goes from here.  My analysis may be out of date, but my curiosity is still very much intact.













Click here to join our Patreon campaign


Click here to become a Swagbucks member