Sorry about the delay- the wonderous world of computers turned against me.

We haven't had a Mulder and Scully bottle episode in a while, have we? Was Detour the last one? Drive, from earlier this season, was a GREAT bottle ep, but it was all Mulder and the guy. Our favourite special agents have been paired up again stuck in some little hole with no way to escape the big bad monster AGAIN! And, this time, they were joined by a MOST amusing cast- the well-meaning but incompitant man, his very, very pregnant girlfirend (who was in labor for about a minute!), who had a very sharp with (X-Files doesn't see enough of those characters), and the looter ("I'll put it back.") Though the characters were perhaps the strongest point of this episode, it was very frightning, as bottle eps tend to be. Think back to Fallen Darkness.

The begininning was panicked, frighting, and reasonably well done. The mother and the son working together in desperation was very well done. But it was almost cliche- they are not fast enough, and it is too late for the victims who we have not even been introduced to.

We go from Mulder's answering machine to the trailor in the hurricane to the roads and rain and condos. A bit of building up and Mulder and Scully are stranded. The plot becomes a bit predictible at this point. How much variation can you have in a bottle episode? They are defined as episodes in which there is no way of escape but then suddenly Mulder and Scully save themselves/ are saved anyway. (This is Aniad's rough translation.) We know that it is not going to end here. They will survive.

The characters are introduced, including the one I forgot to mention in the beginning- the crazy man!!!! Mulder is stung, and very suddenly, the episode becomes just like Ice- Mulder is shoved outside by the crazy man, who is really an insane pragmatist. He expects to save his own skin. There would be a partner trust-loyalty issue at that moment, did a certain baby not decide to be born. Scully really does not have a choice this time. She is the only one who can help the woman and her baby now.

The ending was weak, but with a twist. Mulder comes face to face with the cat, while Scully holds a baby. But the thing is killed at the last moment and Mulder saves himself.

The last scene, in a quirk that gave Mulder the short end, gave Scully more than her share of praise. This happens SO rarely- usually she has been whisked away from her Magic Fingers bed and out to do an autopsey or save Mulder. But the ending was happy. The episode, as an episode, was not strong, but its flavor was so unique that it will stick out in the minds of philes. Drive, and Detour from last season, might have been better, but when else has Scully delivered a baby?

And does next weeks episode not look GREAT????

And do write back- contrary to popular belief, I do NOT get enough response!!!

Aniad :~)
XFAF Wembistress

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