Per Manum: Off the Top of My Head (SPOILERS) (February 18, 2001) There is no spoiler for next week's ep this time around. PER MANUM (8ABX08): In a nutshell: Suspenseful story of women having what appear to be alien babies, and how it affects Scully -- but just don't ask the big questions. Great Mulder/Scully interaction in flashbacks. Fine jobs from GA, DD, RP, and MP. What I liked: - The teaser. Suitably creepy with the feel of "how do you know *your* doctors aren't really evil"? - The segues to the flashbacks were nicely done using doors. - "At this part I'm a pro." God, I've missed Mulder. :) - I loved *all* the Mulder/Scully scenes. GA and DD really do shine when they're on screen together. I thought it was a bit strange that saying, "yes, I'll be your sperm donor" means you get a hug and then you scoot out the door, but I suppose I can live with that. - Good understated annoyance from Doggett. He knew he was being jerked around, and made it clear he was pissed without being nasty. Kudos to Robert Patrick for his work here. - And I can't leave out MP. He didn't have much to say, but what he did say was powerful and well-delivered. - Lies on top of lies on top of lies -- from Haskell to Dr. Parenti to the hospital to Doggett's "friend" Noel -- and it was all a set-up to get Mary Hendershot's baby. This is the complicated-yet-simple X-Files plotting that I love. BUT... I can't figure out why Scully needed to be part of the puzzle. Couldn't Mary have just been kidnapped and killed (like they killed Mrs. Haskell) if they wanted her baby? Did they want something from Scully? If so, what did they get from her besides ultrasounds and amnios, which they could have gotten via Dr. Parenti? What am I missing here? Did they do something to her while she was unconscious? But what could they have done that Dr. Parenti couldn't have done at some point? Now all they've done is make Scully incredibly paranoid and suspicious. At least, I *hope* that from now on she'll be incredibly paranoid and suspicious... - Have I mentioned that I really loved the M/S interaction? I hate the whole IVF idea, but man do those two have chemistry. What I didn't like: - That there is a HUGE, basic question not answered here (and I don't expect it ever will be): why did Scully try to have a baby in the first place? Between the enemies she and Mulder had, the chip in her neck that could control her actions, and the fact that the bad guys had had her ova and had done who-knows-what to it... well, if I were Scully, no matter how much I wanted a child, I wouldn't do it under those circumstances. I just can't get away from the feeling that it was selfish of her to try to have a child; I wonder how she explained her request to Mulder and whether he tried to talk her out of it. - More lack of timeline continuity. The date on that video tape that Scully pulled out of the VCR was (IIRC) 11/23/00, implying that it was *after* that date that Scully was having her ultrasound done, with her being 14 weeks pregnant. Hmm, Mulder disappeared in May... you know, I got fed up with the business of no one looking for Mulder and stopped bitching about it, but 1013 screwing up this very basic, very important part of the plot... it continues to irk me. If they'd screwed it up once and then made everything else consistent, I'd let it go, but to continually ignore common sense in their plotting... - Why in the world did Scully go to an ARMY HOSPITAL?!? Umm, Scully... government? The same one that was involved in both your abductions? That was involved in Mulder's brain surgery? That was involved in all the Cassandra Spender stuff? Hello? - "I said we'd find him." Umm, okay. You might find him faster if you actually *looked* for him. One weekend trip in 6 months (assuming this ep takes place late November, which is the earliest it could be based on the date on the videotape) from Doggett and nothing from Scully post-W/W doesn't indicate a lot of trying. (So much for me saying that I stopped bitching about them not looking for Mulder. But hey, Doggett brought it up!) What's got me puzzled: - In the teaser, why did they lock the door after Haskell left if he was one of the bad guys? Just to fool us, I guess? - Why didn't the issue of Kat (or Mary) having a chip come up? And what was the "procedure" that was mentioned that took place when women were abducted that cured cancer? That's the first time I've ever heard of that, unless it somehow alludes to the events of "En Ami." It sure didn't happen to the Allentown women. - Umm, why did Scully tell Mulder that she was barren when he already knew that? If that was just exposition for the newer viewers, couldn't that have been handled in a better way: "Mulder, we both have known for a couple years now that..." etc.? - Why did Scully ask for a second opinion on the viability of the ova that Mulder had found? No, scratch that, I understand why she asked for a second opinion. But if Mulder had been told that they *weren't* viable, why did she think they were still around so that she could *get* a second opinion... - ... but they *were* still around. Why on Earth did Mulder keep non-viable ova? Does that mean that he kept that green liquid he found in "Emily," too? He never struck me as being a pack rat (except perhaps for that shot of his pre-cleaned-up bedroom in "Dreamland")... - Why was Scully at home during the middle of a work day when Mulder came to tell her the answer was "yes"? Mulder was dressed too nicely for it to have been a weekend. - Why did Scully and Skinner drag Doggett to that diner in the middle of the night? Couldn't Skinner have just told Doggett the next day that Scully had gone on a leave of absence? Why did Scully request a leave anyway? Did she expect to be away for a long time? For what -- to protect Mary and/or her baby if the baby turned out to be alien? To protect herself if *her* fetus turned out to be alien? Why not wait until she knew what she was dealing with to tell Doggett that it was a leave? - And why did Scully and Skinner leave Mary sitting outside in the car by herself? The bad guys could have driven up and nabbed her before those two could have gotten outside the diner doors. - How did Doggett and his Agent friend Joe get those fingerprints of Haskell's? - And for that matter, if it was all a set-up from the start, why did Noel tell Doggett about Haskell and a connection to pregnant women? (I'm assuming Doggett got his info from Noel, who had told him during the day that he would have more info for him that night, and it was about 8:30 p.m. when Doggett went to Skinner's office.) That *was* Noel who met Scully and Mary, right? I didn't imagine that? So why did Noel give Doggett info that might have helped him get to Scully in time to save Mary? Somebody help me make sense of all this... - Will Scully try to do DNA testing on the baby that is allegedly Mary's to prove her theory that the babies were switched? (My prediction: it will never come up again.) Etc.: - Well. I hate the whole IVF idea (both for logical and stop-teasing-us-already-CC-I'm-sick-of-it reasons), and I was annoyed by lousy writing that had Scully telling Mulder she couldn't conceive, and it irritated me to no end that Scully went to a government hospital, and I have questions about *why* the events of this ep took place, yet... I liked it (I think). I wasn't bored, I was pleased with the acting, I *loved* the M/S scenes (oh, have I mentioned that already?), Doggett didn't annoy me , Scully was doin' a lot of thinkin' about Mulder , and we got some movement forward in the pregnancy plot inasmuch as we got confirmation that the bad guys are involved (OK, we all knew that would happen, but at least we saw it on screen ). Oh, and Doggett knows now. That's progress. Probably part of the reason that I'm satisfied, though, is that I was expecting something absolutely dreadful, and it wasn't. Of course, it's not a good sign for the show in general that I'm happy that an ep didn't suck, but I'll take what I can get at this point. - Next week's ep: I'm spoiled, and I'm not gonna say a damn thing. BTW, there probably won't be an "Off the Top of My Head" next week as I'll be out of town and without computer access on Sunday night.