Be Careful What You Wish For: Vintage Vince Gilligan. So if youre following along in the program, you may have noticed my delight in discovering that The X-Files entire run is loaded onto Netflix. I have most interest in a handful of these episodes, and I was rewarded by watching again for the first time in years the Vince Gilligan written and directed “Je Souhaite. (Season 7, Episode 21, originally aired May 2000) Its a delicious fable concocted out Gilligans years steeped in DC comics and browsing among volumes of forgotten lore at his grandfathers Richmond Book Company on Broad Street. One of the elements of this genre is that wonderful ability to build a story around, What if? In this case, what if an actual jinniyah -- a genie -- showed up in a self-storage facility, rolled up in a carpet, and recovered by a schmo who cannot think beyond his next shave? And of course, something goes weirdly wrong that causes the involvement of our Holmes and Watson of the supernatural. The program is interesting for what it presages and because Im reading Helene Weckers excellent (and VCU Cabell First Novel honoree) The Golem and The Jinni. Gilligans blended brand of whimsy and seriousness is here, as are two characters seated in self-propelled transport; one is an annoying blustering boss and the other, the younger and dumber of a pair of sad sack brothers. Hes confined to a motorized chair due to injury sustained while in the course of hooliganism. This ringing any, um, Breaking Bad bells? (Ding! Ding!). Oh, but theres more: reference to strange chemicals, meth production, and a massive explosion. Growing up around Chester, too, and near the JayDee Turnpike and the trailer parks of his (and my) youth, I can see where Gilligans setting and characters came from, though in this show, we are not in Virginia, any more, but an anonymous fly-over St. Louis. It could be just about anywhere. The Seinfeld Effect is also present here, as on at least two occasions when reading through a document the characters skip over knotty parts with, Yadda yadda yadda. Theres a kind of spring forward to Duchovnys Californication, when he explains the death of one man due to his extreme pirapism. Finally, I was reminded of the actor Paula Sorge, who plays Jeannie, as Mulder dubs her. Sorge is reminiscent of a Michelle Forbes type. Forbes became beloved in geek quarters as Ensign Ro in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and then respected/detested as the martinet battlestar Pegasus commander from Battlestar Galactica. (She was also in that Kalifornia movie with Duchovny) But mostly what Sorge does here is slouch around insouciant and unhappy in leather and sunglasses and short dark hair, a real goth genie. When she gives her one good speech, describing how she got this way, I thought about Lauren Grahams inflections as that Gilmore woman. Still, shes good in the role. And why Vince could you not have her flourish the year, Im from 1425, anno domino, France. 15th century clanks as impersonal in an intimate story. I hesitate to explain much more about this episode because if youve not seen it, treat yourself, and if not in a while, you might be surprised by the effective but slender story. Suffice to say, Dana gets kind of punked by a dead invisible man. What can you say? Its The X-Files. Happy viewing, and, The Truth Is Out There.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 19:21:20 +0000
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