Detour ahead

When The X-Files is good, it is so very very good.

I finished the fourth episode of Season 5 today ("Detour"). It was the last episode on the disc so I wanted to get it watched so I could send it back to Netflix and get something else, so I made it my goal today to get it watched. (Yeah, watching TV is my goal today. Shut up.)

The X-Files frequently intrigues, sometimes scares, rarely bores, but is rather infrequently laugh-out-loud funny. "Detour" fell squarely into the comic category, despite a kind of scary premise. The writing was so on for this episode. It took advantage of the what I feel is very much a brother-sister type relationship between Mulder & Scully. Although some label that as sexual tension, I don't quite buy it. I'll admit that it's there a bit, but it's not at Moonlighting or Lois & Clark levels by any stretch. Anyway, I love it when Mulder and Scully bicker like brother and sister or an old married couple.

Take for example, this quote - it is classic Mulder/Scully banter:

Mulder: "Thirty years ago the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia was terrorized for over a year by something. Killing livestock, terrorizing the people. Witnesses described them as primitive looking men with piercing red eyes. Became known as the Moth Men. I got an X-File dated back to 1952 on it."
Scully: "What would that be filed next to? The Cockroach that ate Cincinnati?"
Mulder: "No, the Cockroach that ate Cincinnati is in the Cs. Moth Men is over in the Ms."

And that was just the beginning. We were treated to further witty gems such as:

[While lost in the forest at night]
Scully: "You were an Indian guide, help me out here." [Frustrated trying to light the fire]
Mulder: "Indian guide says maybe you should run to the store and get some matches."
Scully: "I would but I left my wallet in the car."

and:

[Scully tries to maneuver Mulder into her lap to keep him warm]
Mulder: "I don't want to wrestle."

and, pulling from the opening of the episode in which Scully and Mulder were en route to an motivational seminar:

Mulder: "Too bad we don't have any office furniture." [Piling bodies to gain enough height to reach the hole]
Scully: "I can see us now."
Mulder: "Go team! There's plenty more bodies. We may have won the honey-baked ham."

It is such a rare instance that we get to see Mulder and Scully do funny that it's almost jarring when they do. But it humanizes them and just makes me want to get the next disc. And here I was about ready to give in and get Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen from Netflix next. Guess I'll wait to kill a few brain cells.

An added bonus in the episode was an unexpected guest starring role for Rent star Anthony Rapp as a forest guide dude. He is starring in the touring version of Rent which is stopping in Des Moines next month which I really wanted to see but not enough to spend the $50-$75 it cost for tickets.


I love The X-Files. "Detour" was probably not quite as funny as "War of the Coprophages" but it still gets high marks from me. It's too bad that from what I hear, it's all downhill after this season.

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