So what the heck does the title of this episode supposed to mean? The X-Files did this a lot, especially in the Third Season with weird names like 'Oubliette', 'Nisei' and 'Syzygy'. The explanation actually details what this story is all about. In Greek mythology, Tithonus was a Prince of Troy, son of Laomedon and a lover of the Greek Goddess of Dawn Eos. Eos obtained immortality for Tithonus, but in her request to Zeus, forgot to ask for eternal youth. Tithonus grew older very slowly, and when he became incapacitated by age, Eos felt sorry for him and turned him into a grasshopper (or cricket, depending on who's telling the story). Consequently, Tithonus begged for death to overcome him.
Knowing that, you now have pretty much the synopsis of this story. I've seen Geoffrey Lewis in any number of movies, mostly in Westerns, but I don't think I've ever seen him as effective as he was in his role here as crime scene photographer Alfred Fellig. Fellig is the 'Tithonus' of the story, having been around for a century and a half using various names, in a never ending pursuit to capture the image of 'Death' so he can finally come to rest. I liked the way he described his mission to Scully, stating that he always knew when a person was going to die, but that the 'how' was always a surprise.
To my thinking, I was somewhat surprised that Scully didn't experience some personal angst over the death of the hooker in the alley when she went to her rescue from the mugger, Malcolm Wiggins (Thomas Rosales Jr.). Obviously, Scully saved her from the attack, but in the 'how' of Fellig's experience, she wound up getting hit by a passing truck and dying. One could reasonably argue that if Scully hadn't intervened, she would still be alive. So there's that to think about.
What it appears that Scully WAS thinking about was her own mortality, and the cancer that almost claimed her before a cure came along. It was telling that while Fellig sought death for himself, Scully's perspective was "How can you have too much life?" I thought that was an interesting exploration of opposites that the episode conveyed, one that makes you think about growing old and facing infirmities that take away one's humanity.
It's Mulder who takes a back seat in this episode, handing off information to Scully as he digs into Fellig's past and comes up with his multiple identities. The thing I wonder about, and this was only a couple decades ago when these shows were filmed, was how can it be that at the FBI of all places, there wasn't more security installed or available to prevent Mulder from intercepting Agent Peyton Ritter's (Richard Ruccolo) field reports to Assistant Director Kersh (James Picken Jr.)? Mulder did stuff like this rather routinely, and one would think that after the first time, the FBI would have learned their lesson and tightened things up a bit.
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