The Pfefferman clan is back in a very short teaser for the second season of the beloved Transparent.

Tammy and Sarah are getting hitched in a very Modern Family-esque photo, and the gang’s all here. The teaser almost reassures us that all of the characters are going to be returning as they pose for a wedding photographer’s picture. When the photographer speaks to Maura, he uses the wrong pronoun, and Jeffrey Tambor has a rather strong reaction.

Transparent will return on Friday, December 11th—just in time for us to go through an emotional roller coaster while we prepare for the holiday season. Anjelica Huston and Cherry Jones are set to guest star on the award-winning series for the sophomore season.

It’s a nice day for a white wedding—and some good television.

Tithonus

Season 6, Episode 10
Director: Michael W. Watkins
Writer: Vince Gilligan

The X-Files “Tithonus,” the latest entry in the Vince Gilligan canon, obtains its name from Greek myth. Tithonus was beloved by the Titan goddess Eos who kidnapped him and asked Zeus to make him immortal. Overcome with love for Tithonus, Eos forgot to ask for eternal youth in addition to immortality. As a result, Tithonus continued to age but would not die despite praying for it constantly. Thy myth clearly featured heavily in the writing of “Tithonus” as its main character, Alfred Fellig (the great character actor Geoffrey Lewis), has the ability to foresee the death of those around him but cannot die himself. This internal conflict drives the central story of the episode, and it’s even more compelling that Scully, who was nearly dead multiple times and has escaped death so often as to be rumored to be immortal, shepherds Fellig into the great beyond.

“Tithonus” begins with Fellig stalking a young mail clerk. He is apparently waiting for something to happen to her, but his persistent presence creeps her out. When they see each other again in an elevator, Fellig sees the inhabitants of the elevator car in greyscale reflection. After Fellig exits the elevator, its cables snap, and it plummets to the ground below, killing all aboard. Fellig is there, however, to capture their final moments. Flash forward to D.C. where Scully is assigned by A.D. Kersh to assist another FBI agent in investigating oddities with crime scene photos taken by Fellig. The new agent is convinced that Fellig is a murderer as many of the photos have incorrect times captured within the print, indicating that perhaps Fellig had murdered his subjects and snapped pictures of them before calling the police. Fellig continues his exploration of potential deaths, capturing the final moments of multiple individuals but never intervening. He’s even stabbed at one point when he captures a murder, and the murder returns to obtain the evidence.

Scully and the agent stake out Fellig’s apartment, but, when Scully tires of Fellig taking pictures of her, she approaches him directly. He asks her to join him on a ride, and he shows her what he can do, predicting the death of a prostitute that Scully attempts to help. Later, Fellig explains his condition to Scully – he’s nearly 150 years old – with the simple explanation that death took someone else by mistake. As such, he can neither be hurt nor can he die even though those he loves have long passed. When he realizes that Scully will soon die, Fellig warns her to make peace with her life just as the FBI agent enter Fellig’s darkroom where they were talking and shoots Scully through Fellig. Fellig appears unharmed, but Scully is at death’s door. Fellig asks her to close her eyes and look away from death, and, as she does, Fellig passes away – death finally taking him after his long struggle.

Gilligan’s creation of Tithonus is widely praised for its allusion to Greek mythology, its digging into New York history (Fellig fell ill from a massive yellow fever outbreak), and additional allusions to the real-life Arthur Fellig who was famous for his stark black and white crime scene photography. The character of Alfred Fellig is one of the more memorable and sympathetic “villains” within The X-Files.  Scully accuses him of letting people die when he knows their fate, and, to an extent, she’s right. But Fellig claims fate will win in the end, setting up the interesting question of fate versus free will. Gilligan, through his settling of the episode, comes down on the side of fate with two notable exceptions – the two instances in which Death did not take its intended victim, first Fellig then Scully. Additionally, Fellig is a wonderfully drawn tragic figure who is long numb to the sight and presence of death. He actively pities those who have died around him because he can’t experience the same eternal sleep. His closing scene with Scully is some of the best work Gilligan has done for the series, and it foreshadows the complex writing he would later accomplish on Breaking Bad.

“Tithonus” isn’t a perfect episode as it never achieves the right balance between villain and additional characters. The episode is largely a 2-person show between Scully and Fellig, which is fine. Mulder appears in a handful of scenes as comic foil, reduced to performing the menial task of background checks. Yet, he phones in a few vital clues as if Scully wasn’t able, blocked by her stubborn scientific-minded persona, to work the case on her own. Call it “phoned-in mansplaining.” Still, the elegance and quiet dignity of the final scene is well handled and is enough for me to call “Tithonus” a minor X-Files gem.

Your opinion of Aziz Ansari might determine whether you’re going to tune into his new Netflix series, Master of None. For the record, I am a big Ansari fan, but I was wondering how he was going to lead an entirely new program that he had such a dominant hand in creating. Watching a guy be funny on a Netflix special is one thing, but creating an entire sitcom is another animal. Master, the brainchild of Ansari and Alan Yang, succeeds due to its easygoing pace, and, yes, Ansari’s maturing performance.

Aziz Ansari somehow manages to be the least douchey heterosexual young male comic working right now. I don’t mean that as a knock. His pointed delivery in his standup is my favorite thing about him, and him screaming in his routines is one of the things that will always make me laugh. He’s not very threatening in the best way. If Ansari’s persona on stage was more bro-tastic, the show might not work as well as it does.

In Master, he plays Dev, an actor living in Manhattan who seems to have everything together, and he’s simply taking life as it comes his way. The entire series starts with him in bed with a hookup, but the condom breaks halfway through, prompting a rather frank discussion about sex that can only be had in this Snapchat generation. Dev and his partner, played by Noël Wells, immediately go to a pharmacy and insists that he pays for the Plan B. “It’s on me,” Dev nervously explains.

It appeared that the entire show was going to become a Netflix Knocked Up, but the second episode shifts gears entirely. With the second episode, “Parents,” Dev and his friends realize that they have never appreciated their parents and the sacrifices they made when they came to America. Dev seems disturbed by his lack of participation in his father’s life, and he and his friend, Kevin, try to thank them—or at least make time in their busy schedules for them.

All of the episodes are more like mini movies with a common thread throughout with the same characters. They don’t feel strung along like a “traditional” sitcom, but they all inhabit the same space and people. Some episodes are a lot lighter (“Hot Ticket” is looser and features Dev trying to secure a date for a concert), but “Indians on TV” might be one of the better written pieces. After Dev refuses to use an Indian accent in an audition, he’s accidentally included on a network executive’s private emails that make some racist comments about him and another Indian actor up for the same part. The executive is overly apologetic and tries to make it up to him, but the topic of casual racism is handled well and with some very funny commentary. It manages to be one of the very few shows that meets the topic of racism in the entertainment industry head on.

Indians

Ansari is an easy draw for a series like this. Dev is easygoing and fun, and even though it doesn’t seem that he has any real struggles (he seems financially secure and happy with his family), he embodies the ever-relatable quality in all of us where we want everything to be perfect in our personal lives. He has an charming chemistry with Wells, and his circle of friends (played by Lena Waithe, Kelvin Yu, and Eric Wareheim) aren’t flashy, although they could be a bit more present and fleshed out. Claire Danes even shows up as a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage who goes aggressively after Dev. Tony-winning actress Nina Arianda should be considered for a Guest Actress Emmy as a crazy date for Ansari.

Master of None continues the winning streak for Netflix. It’s an easily watchable series that kind of turns the concept of the romantic comedy around by having a mess up of a man in the lead. It doesn’t go out of its way to be edgy or overly comedic, but it manages to make you laugh at the same.

S.R. 819

Season 6, Episode 9
Director: Daniel Sackheim
Writer: John Shiban

Mulder and Scully’s ties to the X-Files and to A.D. Walter Skinner are becoming more and more tentative as Season Six progresses. In some ways, that’s a good thing as it frees up the dynamic duo to work farther outside the system as they continue investigating esoteric cases. But their connections to such X-Files powerhouses like Skinner are more problematic as Skinner is no longer their direct superior. They’re missing that helpful inside connection that Skinner provided. With “S.R. 819,” his life is jeopardized thanks to a mysterious poison, and Mulder and Scully make every attempt to save him. Yet, their authority in such situations comes into question as they are no longer assigned to him nor are they dealing with X-Files cases. In the end, “S.R. 819” is an entertaining episode, but Mulder and Scully don’t really have much to do within the central plot itself. They circle the periphery – Mulder running around chasing an unseen bad guy and Scully performing advanced lab work – while Skinner’s condition resolves itself without their help. Skinner’s condition is resolved, but not by their hands. And the resolution isn’t all that satisfying anyway.

The beginning of the episode shows a greatly afflicted Skinner suffering from some severe, mysterious disorder that causes his veins to swell. He eventually flatlines, and the attending physician calls time of death. The episode then flashes back 24 hours, giving a timeline to Skinner’s supposed death. After passing out in a boxing ring, he is examined at the hospital and given a clean bill of health, despite a mysterious bruise on his rib cage. Alarmed, Mulder and Scully question Skinner on the events of his day and eventually settle on an encounter with physicist who is involved with a Senate ethics and new technology committee. Believing the encounter resulted in a transfer of poison, Mulder visits the physician’s home only to discover he was being held at gunpoint and is eventually lost to his captors, later to die from the same illness that is killing Skinner.

Scully determines that Skinner’s blood is full of rapidly multiplying carbon designed to cut off blood flow to the heart. If they don’t act fast, then Skinner will most certainly die. There are ties to a formerly friendly senator and additional gunshots and car chases that juice up the proceedings given its heavy dialogue-driven nature. In the end, a mysterious bearded man, revealed to be Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), is controlling Skinner’s illness and, after he flatlines, allows the “poison” – actually nanotechnology controlled by something resembling an old Apple Newton – to recede, saving Skinner’s life. Later, Krycek approaches Skinner and confirms he let him leave. The why comes later…

“S.R. 819” is technically a mythology episode, but it is treated as a more stand-alone episode. It is self-contained in its plot resolution, focusing the action squarely on the race to save Skinner’s life. It’s a nice touch changing the timing of the episode to count down until he flatlines, heightening the intensity of the hour. Mulder and Scully chase leads left and right, but ultimately, it all boils down to Alex Krycek and his continued partnership with the Syndicate. Clearly, they want to shake Skinner to his core by convincing him they can kill him at any time. Also, there was some business about a bill that Krycek may or may not have caused to be withdrawn from a vote. The actions are somewhat resolved in the episode, but none of it is clear. We’re missing the “why.” And that’s likely by design, but it doesn’t make “S.R. 819” a great stand-alone episode. Sure, it’s entertaining, but we’re missing vital pieces of information that, for my money, go a long way toward making it more enjoyable.

Silly me. Sometimes, I like some details and explanations. So sue me.

CastleGrey’s AnatomyThe SimpsonsSaturday Night LiveSouth Park.

These are but a handful of the shows Megan, Joey, and Clarence discuss on the latest Water Cooler Podcast – the “Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em” Edition. We discuss the merits (or demerits) of certain long-running television series, why they seem to endure, and whether or not the series should endure (“Love ’em”) or if it’s time to shoot Ol’ Yeller (“Leave ’em”). We’ll also jump forward 10 years and make some predictions as to what, if any, current television shows will still be kicking around.

Join us on the latest Water Cooler Podcast and let us know what long-running series you continue to “Love” and what you’d just as soon “Leave.”

The Rain King

Season 6, Episode 8
Director: Kim Manners
Writer: Jeffrey Bell

The X-Files‘s “The Rain King” is a bizarre episode that really travels all over the map tonally. Clearly intended to be light and comic, it focuses on love within a small Kansas town and its association/impact on the local weather. It’s a very low-key entry into The X-Files canon, featuring some nice cinematography and visual effects now and then but ultimately amounting to very little. It’s a nice, fluffy, cotton candy episode that evaporates as soon as it’s over.

“The Rain King” introduces Sheila Fontaine (SNL‘s Victoria Jackson) as fiancee to Daryl Mootz (Clayton Rohner). On Valentine’s Day, Sheila published their tentative engagement in the local paper, but Daryl wanted to keep it a secret because the recent droughts have made business tough. Angry, Daryl speeds away from her house and downs a 6-pack until a freak heart-shaped hail storm (and the beer) help him crash into a tree. Six months later, Mulder and Scully are called to investigate Mootz’s new opportunity, his title as “The Rain King” under which he sells his ability to generate rain for the drought-plagued area. The local weatherman, Holman Hardt (David Manis), seems to be a believer.

Skeptical, Mulder and Scully attend one of Mootz’s rain-making ceremonies, which is really just an opportunity for Mootz to act like an ass. However, after Mootz wildly gyrates and gesticulates, it begins to rain. Later that night, a freak tornado tosses a nearby cow into Mulder’s room. Escaping relatively unscathed, Mulder interviews a grief-stricken Sheila who believes her actions are causing the strange weather. Checking in on Mulder, Holman overhears someone say that Mootz was drunk the night he crashed his car and lost his leg. Suddenly, Mootz’s ability to control the weather disappears.

Mulder eventually figures out that it is Holman who is controlling the weather, and the recent bad luck in weather trends is a result of his unrequited love for Sheila. Mulder convinces Holman to share his feelings, but Sheila reveals she is instead in love with Mulder, putting the entire town in danger from Holman’s wrath. In the end, Sheila understands Holman’s power and the range of emotions he experiences with her in mind. The two kiss at a high school class reunion, and all returns to normal. The couple have a baby one year later, and the drought is now long gone.

So, it may sound like I didn’t care for “The Rain King,” and that’s not entirely true. There is a certain sweetness that runs through the episode that eventually smacks you over the head with its endearing qualities. The variations in weather are also well rendered and interesting. I also positively reacted to the potential deepening relationship between Mulder and Scully where the trend of everyone around them realizes they have feelings for one another but they fail to acknowledge it. But, ultimately, it’s a very, very silly episode structured around (and I’m going to be as nice as I can here) the thought that multiple men would throw themselves on Victoria Jackson. Maybe if the role had been cast with someone less completely annoying then the central love affair would have been more heart-warming. Instead, by the end, I had grown weary of her unbalanced performance and was glad for the peace and quiet of the closing shot of a beautiful rainbow.

After weeks of controversy, Donald Trump finally hosted Saturday Night Live. This wasn’t his first hosting gig; he hosted once before back in 2004 when he wasn’t running for the highest political office in the country. Yet, he seemed to have learned nothing from that prior experience. His performance last night was uncomfortable to watch, ill-fitting his skill set and certainly not funny.

That’s not just my opinion either. A cursory look across the Internet shows even Trump supporters blamed SNL’s writers for his bad performance (although there are certainly those deluded hundreds lost in a Trump-induced fantasia who think his performance was great). And perhaps there’s truth to the “blame the writers” theory – SNL hasn’t bad particularly good this year despite several capable hosts. It certainly wasn’t going to excel with one who has no business hosting a comedy show.

The great concern over “equal time” for a presidential candidate apparently whittled down his on-screen time to just under 12 minutes, although it certainly felt like a great deal more. By comparison, season opener host Miley Cyrus had over 21 minutes of screen time. In the end, having Donald Trump as a host seemed to be nothing more than a shameless grab for ratings and attention. He clearly didn’t belong and clearly has no comedy chops on which to rest. The studio audience didn’t help matters either as they were largely silent through the tortured evening, especially when Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, made a cameo. Crickets.

The funniest moment of the evening came from Larry David, twice actually. First, his brilliant turn as Bernie Sanders was, yet again, another highlight of the episode. Given the right amount of screen time through the upcoming year, his impersonation could approach the same legendary status as Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. I do smell a Guest Actor Comedy Emmy nomination in the works for David. Second, he yelled “Trump is a racist” during Trump’s opening monologue, a direct reference to a group offering $5,000 to anyone who would yell it on the air. It was most likely a scripted moment – SNL isn’t about spontaneity these days – but it felt daring and subversive given the look of glee on Larry David’s face. Reportedly, he’ll receive that $5,000.

After all is said and done, SNL emerged as the big loser last night. It was a no-win situation for them anyway. There was no way to make Trump funny, but the talented cast seemed ill-at-ease and tentative in their comedy. Trump’s supporters and detractors would likely come away with their pre-disposed notions of him firmly in tact, and, while the ratings may be higher than normal, Trump’s appearance was unlikely to win the long-running comedy series any new fans. It’s fine to feature political candidates on the show as guest stars, but dedicating an entire show to a single active candidate (no matter your political persuasion) is ultimately a bad decision to make.

No matter how Trump performed, all of this attention (even from yours truly) is free publicity for a presidential candidate – a presidential candidate who excels at spinning his every move into self-perceived excellence. Although, honestly, I’m not even sure Donald Trump himself could spin last night’s weak performance into anything more than what it was – shameless self-promotion aided by a toothless comedy institution.

Terms of Endearment

Season 6, Episode 7
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: David Amann

It’s kind of amazing it took so long for The X-Files to incorporate the great cult actor Bruce Campbell into the series, here in “Terms of Endearment.” Coincidentally, I’ve often wondered what the series would have become had Campbell been cast as Fox Mulder instead of David Duchovny. Chances are, it wouldn’t have worked well as most of Campbell’s line readings would have come through with his sardonic wit, undercutting the moments that required the significant sincerity Duchovny’s deadpan style delivers. As cool as it would have been, ultimately I’m afraid that Campbell’s past success in The Evil Dead franchise would have created too much baggage for him to successfully disappear into the role of Fox Mulder. Instead, we’re given just this one appearance in the series as Wayne Weinsider, an actual demon masquerading as a human being in search of a normal offspring. Campbell’s fun performance is definitely the highlight of what is ultimately a decent, if forgettable, episode.

Using the title “Terms of Endearment” cannot help but conjure allusions to the Oscar-winning 1983 film of the same name, yet the connection appears only surface deep. The themes of the story bear no resemblance to that family melodrama. The episode begins with Wayne (Campbell) and his wife Laura (Lisa Jane Persky) attending a late-term ultrasound of their baby. The ultrasound reveals abnormalities with the fetus, much to the distress and disappointment of Wayne. Later that night, Laura awakens to find a demon at the foot of her bed with burning flames illuminating him. The demon pulls Laura to the foot of the bed and delivers a demonic baby. Laura screams and is awakened by Wayne, the experience appearing to be nothing but a dream until they realize she is covered in blood and the baby is one from her stomach. Laura’s brother, a deputy sheriff, takes the case directly to Agent Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens) who now runs the X-Files unit at the FBI. Spender agrees to investigate but shreds the report.

Having dug through Spender’s garbage, Mulder finds the shredded report and begins to investigate himself. The investigation uncovers the body of her aborted baby in a backyard furnace, and Wayne convinces his wife that she aborted the baby herself in a trace. Laura takes full responsibility and is arrested for the illegal abortion of a late-term fetus. Balancing between Laura and Betsy Monroe (another pregnant wife of his), Wayne visits Laura in prison where she uncovers evidence that he is indeed a demon. Wayne sucks out her soul, but she is revived by EMT and is sent to the hospital in a coma. Mulder digs deeply enough to uncover Wayne’s true demonic nature and begins to torment him. When Wayne discovers that his baby with Betsy is similarly afflicted with demonic traits, he attempts to abort that baby using the same mechanisms as with Laura. However, Betsy wakes up and stops him, later fleeing the scene and running into Mulder and Scully covered in blood.

In the end, Mulder and Scully arrives at Betsy’s house and find Wayne digging frantically in the backyard. He begins to reveal a secret about Betsy but is shot three times in the chest by Laura’s brother. Before dying in the hospital, Wayne returns a soul to Laura, effectively saving her life. Mulder and Scully discover the skeletons of four normal babies in Betsy’s backyard, and it is apparent that Betsy, herself a demon, had killed normal children because she was only interested in having a demonic baby. She drives away in the closing scene with a demonic baby in a car seat.

“Terms of Endearment” is one of those “fun” throwaway episodes that unfortunately relies on real-life human trauma for kicks. Yes, it’s an entertainment for sure – the writing is light and breezy, the performance by Campbell is campy and engaging, and the twist at the end is amusing enough. Yet, there’s something unsettling about the casual murder of babies (demonic or otherwise) that I suspect has impacted the critical and popular reception of the episode. It’s not unique to “Terms,” but somehow, here, it feels increasingly disturbing beyond a campy good time episode of The X-Files. Again, it’s not something they haven’t done before (all those alien fetuses killed over six years), but the trauma of losing a child at the end of a long pregnancy isn’t something that I personally feel belongs in a supernatural thriller. Perhaps that’s just my hang-up.

Otherwise,”Terms of Endearment” is a fine episode if you’re able to push the abortion baggage aside. Campbell’s performance dominates the proceedings, and he never over-camps the role of the demon trying to go straight. Additionally, I enjoyed the twist at the end, only because it explained what was shaping up to be The Most Understanding Wife in Television History. Thankfully, there were two examples of expectant mothers on display in the episode. Otherwise, we could have tip-toed into the “women are secretly baby-hungry demons who just want men’s seed” territory. That’s not a place I think anyone wants to go.

Ghosts

Season 6, Episode 6
Director: Chris Carter
Writer: Chris Carter

Originally airing on December 13, 1998, “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” was The X-Files sixth season attempt at a Christmas episode as only they could do. Last year, my cohorts and I collected our favorite episodes of Christmas television, and, had I seen The X-Files at that point, this episode would have made it near the top of the list. Filled with spectacular haunted house tricks and treats as well as two stellar performances from beloved veteran actors, “Christmas” is a macabre holiday treat that people should visit year after year. I’m not kidding.

The episode begins in more of a Halloween mindset than a Christmas one. Mulder calls Scully to an abandoned home late on Christmas Eve. The home was reported the scene of a 1917 murder/suicide pact between “star-crossed lovers” who could not live without each other. Legend has it that the couple – Maurice (Ed Asner) and Lyda (Lily Tomlin) – traps lovers within their house and convinces them to follow through with the same plan, taking advantage of their holiday-tinged loneliness. Scully is extremely reluctant but agrees to follow Mulder into the house, especially since he has taken her car keys. In the house, many strange things begin to happen. They glimpse ghostly figures in corners of the room. They hear thuds above and below. They find corpses under the floorboard that are dressed identically to Mulder and Scully.

After finding themselves trapped in a loop in the house’s library, Mulder and Scully are eventually separated, each having an encounter with the ghosts of the house. Each ghost tries to convince Mulder and Scully they are lonely souls and that each could kill the other. The ghosts use illusions and tricks to convince Scully that Mulder has shot her and vice versa. In the end, Mulder and Scully, believing themselves to be bleeding to death, attempt to crawl out of the house, but they discover their wounds are imaginary – all tricks orchestrated by the ghoulishly determined ghosts of the house. They run from the house and drive away, leaving the ghosts to blissfully lament about they “almost had them.” In Mulder’s apartment, Scully and Mulder exchange Christmas gifts even though they had agreed not to.

“How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” works on multiple levels for me. First, it’s a fantastic haunted house setup. The first 10 or 15 minutes are genuinely creepy and unsettling with effective sound and beautiful set design. There’s a really good scare early on with a female ghost standing with her back to the camera as the lightning flashes. Not what you’d imagine from a Christmas episode, but it bears some resemblance to darker takes on Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Second, the ghosts are beautifully played by Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin. Asner’s perm-grimace so effectively used in Pixar’s Up is well employed here too. He growls at Mulder with a shaming air about him, effectively trying to dissect (and crush) Mulder’s spirit while maintaining a playful, twinkling light in his eye. Tomlin has that same playful demeanor too, and Carter uses her natural sarcasm and wit in the role, even if it is a little one-note and underwritten. Still, the performances are accomplished and tremendously fun.

Finally, the best X-Files focus on exploring the characters of Mulder and Scully, and this episode is able to do that – even if it’s through the twisted lens of two haunted ghosts. Much like Scrooge before them, their harrowing and puzzling experience leads them to spend a little personal time together, not romantically, mind you, but in a very close and personal manner. When they exchange gifts at the end of the episode, the thrills, blood, and mental anguish of the previous 40 or so minutes are wiped away by the beautiful Christmas scenery and spirit between Mulder and Scully. And, really, isn’t that what all great Christmas episodes of television do? Sure, it’s a little scary here and there, but it’s the end result that really matters. This Christmas, you can make mine macabre.

Dreamland

Season 6, Episode 5
Director: Michael Watkins
Writer: Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz

Completing the most recent The X-Files 2-parter, “Dreamland, Part Two” suffers from the same pointlessness that plagued its predecessor. After all the body switching / merging, you’re left wondering what the point to all of this really was. And, if there is no point, then that’s ok too. The broadly comic tone of the episodes – mostly mining comic gold from Michael McKean’s sexed-up take on David Duchovny – is only appealing for so long. After a while, we need something tangible to carry us through the 2-episode arc, and, frankly, that juicy something isn’t here at all.

The second half begins with “Fletcher” – Mulder in Morris Fletcher’s body – being taken away, screaming at Scully that he’s really Mulder. After being detained and questioned, “Fletcher” returns home to his wife, Joanne (Nora Dunn), and tells her he’s really Fox Mulder. She assumes he’s either crazy or undergoing a nasty midlife crisis. He convinces Scully to attend a dinner at his apartment, which “Mulder” completely redecorates into a swank bachelor pad, waterbed included. After dozens of innuendos and passes, Scully takes “Mulder” at gunpoint and Fletcher relents. In a somewhat complicated setup at a bar, there’s a lot of business around the flight recorder to the UFO and the mole that revealed its existence in the first place.

After discovering that the original warp that switched Mulder and Fletcher in the first place is now reversing, everyone who was body swapped – Mulder/Fletcher, the solider/Hopi Indian woman, necking tourists – all reconvene in the same area. When the warp occurs again, everything is restored to what it was when the original swap happened. When Scully and Mulder return to his apartment, however, it is still spotless and immaculately decorated, leaving Mulder and Scully puzzled.

“Dreamland, Part One” made me laugh a bit, but it left me wondering what the hell was going on with this out of the blue episode. The second half did not clarify it an ounce for me. And that’s completely fine. Apparently, I have a personal mental block with these two episodes. I fail to see their point or their ultimate value. As such, I don’t really have anything intriguing to say about them. They’re efficiently made in a shoulder-shruggingly banal way. They’re swiftly paced thanks to their generous proportions of good humor, but what’s left in the end? To me, nothing. And that’s all I have to say about that. Time to move on.

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