Reviews > Season 8 > Within
by Mark Tinsley (xfilesuk.com)

My review of "Within"

As many readers from the UK will know, it is almost impossible to be surprised by The X Files these days. In between checking the haven and fandom daily, almost no episode goes unspoiled. Sure, we may try and stay "spoiler-free", but these internal promises made to ourselves and sometimes to others rarely ring true. Who could possibly wait months for the episode to air, when transcripts, videos and reviews are just a click away? Well, I spoiled "Within" for myself, but guess what? I was still surprised - and in a good way.

I'm a firm believer in not judging something until I've seen it for myself. Not pre-empting my opinion based solely on the assumptions of a third party, and waiting until I see an actors performance before commenting on their ability. This season, The X-Files has changed dramatically - David Duchovny's Mulder is AWOL, Robert Patrick enters as Agent John Doggett and Gillian Anderson portrays Scully as the reluctant believer. Despite the chances of failure, this change was sorely needed to boost a lagging franchise, devoid of new ideas and in my opinion, running on empty. As Carter says, this season is all about threatening the "paradigm", re-working the formula that for the last seven years made The X Files the defining show of the 90's. If "Within" is a representation of how season 8 will progress, then this year should be an interesting one.

Several scenes stood out for me in this episode, most notably the initial meeting of Doggett and Scully, the sparing taking place inside Mulder's apartment and Mitch Pileggi's excellent portrayal of Assistant Director Walter Skinner. Both the verbal interchanges between the two agents, and the sight of an overprotective boss finally willing to believe were especially enjoyable. Anderson and Patrick do work well together, and their respective performances speak volumes about how this wary relationship will progress. The image of Scully trying to desperately explain why she was sleeping in Mulder's bed whilst Doggett spars her back and forth with baiting questions was great to watch, and Doggett comes across as very focused and determined, which I hope is explored further. My fear is that this could de-generate into an "always gets his man" blue-collar cop stereotype. However, there was a hopeful sign in the sharing of the car rental receipts and medical records, with Doggett giving her access to them simply because he "just wants to find Mulder". This almost becomes a mantra, repeated again when Scully has to reel A.D. Skinner in, after his abduction outburst.

However, Carter does shoot himself in the foot plot-wise during this episode. His ridiculous attempt to re-write X-File history with Mulder's "clear record of decline" had better be a red herring as there were *no* indications of this during the seventh season. In particular his actions in "Je Souhaite" and "Hollywood A.D." demonstrated no illness whatsoever. If Carter hasn't the balls to show the audience what they deserve on screen, then he shouldn't insist on using retrospective storytelling just to cover up his own plot-holes. Staying with this subject, why the heck would the ABH be stealing Scully's computer if he has access to the whole FBI? And why does 1013 think it is clever to remember certain key points of the story when it suits them? Gibson praise is missing, presumed skewered since season 5, yet a few fax's later, the aliens, the feds and helicopter!doggett all have him located. Yeah right.

This aspect of storytelling aside, hardly anything actually occurred in the episode. The return of Kersh as the boss from hell was great to watch, as was the re-appearance of The Lone Gunmen. However, as is par for the course with the mytharc these days, at the end the story was advanced very little. At times it felt that the other characters were used as a buffer, simply to give Doggett a better introduction. Yes, Patrick is excellent, with an intensity that you just have to watch, but I care more about Scully than I do about him.

Mark Snow deserves a thumbs up for his score in this episode. Although a little overused, his haunting theme that resonated throughout the episode certainly enhanced Scully's loneliness, and her detachment from her "constant" and "touchstone". And this is what made the episode work for me - it *was* "the search for Mulder", and although the introduction of Doggett played a big part, it still felt like the X-Files, just one going in a new direction.

Quote of the ep: "Nice to meet you, Agent Doggett"

(c) 2001 xfilesuk.com. You can link to, or re-produce this as long as you say I wrote it :)