Another super solid entry in the catalog of X-Files episodes. This episode brings us the return of Darin Morgan's iconic comedy episodes. What started with Humbug has become one of the more beloved style's of episode for many. I love that the teaser brings back the stoner kids from Quagmire and War of the Coprophages to be the ones who are witness to the were-monster attack after inhaling an instense amount of spray paint.(?) Dude...
A quick synopsis of the episode. Mulder starts out with a sense of mid life crisis and wondering if he's spent his entire life believing in hoaxes and children's stories and is convinced that there are no such thing as monsters. Scully is worried about him and through out the episode makes several comments about how happy she is to see him back in his element even if she doesn't agree with his theory. They are brought to find a lizard man who appears to be attacking people and biting their necks. The investigations bring them to one Guy Mann, played by Rhys Darby. At first he exhibits some truly strange behavior and Mulder is convinced that he is behind the attacks as a were-lizard. But he tells a different story. One in which a man who is a sociopath has bitten him, an unsuspecting lizard man, in the neck, and since then every day he turns into a human and finds himself engaging in terribly monstrous acts of menial human life such as going to work and waking up to an alarm clock and wearing a neck tie. I really like the play on the typical were-monster story here where the monster is the man and the fictional "monster" is the victim who now turns into a man due to being bitten.
There are some great moments in this episode both comedic and nostalgic. Some of my favorites are Mulder's reaction to discovering the hotel has secret peepholes into each room, a la Psycho. I love when Guy is yelling at his alarm clock and tells it "you'll never wake me up again" and tosses it across the room. Also the wonderful explanation of the latest phone model which contains 3000 gigberts of pixelbits and its shape is somewhat rectangular. The typical blah blah blah of technogibber haha. I also have to say that for someone who had been thinking that Gillian Anderson was looking old, she's still got it. Dang! Did anyone else's heart beat speed up when she said "I wanna make you say cheese"? And finally when the real killer starts explaining why he is the way he is as if he's reciting a profiling text book lol.
I was also surprisingly moved more than I would have normally expected when I realized the name on the gravestone that Mulder puts the flowers was that of Kim Manners. Kim was one of the major directors on throughout the original series and was also one of the main directors for the show Supernatural until he passed away in 2009. It was a great tribute to a man who brought us some wonderful stories and obviously had a significant impact on the people he worked with.
All in all a great solid episode. Thanks Darin Morgan!
A quick synopsis of the episode. Mulder starts out with a sense of mid life crisis and wondering if he's spent his entire life believing in hoaxes and children's stories and is convinced that there are no such thing as monsters. Scully is worried about him and through out the episode makes several comments about how happy she is to see him back in his element even if she doesn't agree with his theory. They are brought to find a lizard man who appears to be attacking people and biting their necks. The investigations bring them to one Guy Mann, played by Rhys Darby. At first he exhibits some truly strange behavior and Mulder is convinced that he is behind the attacks as a were-lizard. But he tells a different story. One in which a man who is a sociopath has bitten him, an unsuspecting lizard man, in the neck, and since then every day he turns into a human and finds himself engaging in terribly monstrous acts of menial human life such as going to work and waking up to an alarm clock and wearing a neck tie. I really like the play on the typical were-monster story here where the monster is the man and the fictional "monster" is the victim who now turns into a man due to being bitten.
There are some great moments in this episode both comedic and nostalgic. Some of my favorites are Mulder's reaction to discovering the hotel has secret peepholes into each room, a la Psycho. I love when Guy is yelling at his alarm clock and tells it "you'll never wake me up again" and tosses it across the room. Also the wonderful explanation of the latest phone model which contains 3000 gigberts of pixelbits and its shape is somewhat rectangular. The typical blah blah blah of technogibber haha. I also have to say that for someone who had been thinking that Gillian Anderson was looking old, she's still got it. Dang! Did anyone else's heart beat speed up when she said "I wanna make you say cheese"? And finally when the real killer starts explaining why he is the way he is as if he's reciting a profiling text book lol.
I was also surprisingly moved more than I would have normally expected when I realized the name on the gravestone that Mulder puts the flowers was that of Kim Manners. Kim was one of the major directors on throughout the original series and was also one of the main directors for the show Supernatural until he passed away in 2009. It was a great tribute to a man who brought us some wonderful stories and obviously had a significant impact on the people he worked with.
All in all a great solid episode. Thanks Darin Morgan!