The Amazing Maleeni

Member Comments

"I think it was Addison who wrote "The Artifices of Tragedy" in which he told of how "artifices" are used to enhance a play. His basic theory was that an artifice, when used too often to achieve the goals that a character or dialogue should achieve becomes ridiculous and tiresome. On the other hand, if used as aids or assistance to the poet (or in this case episode) then they were to be lauded. This holds true for this weeks episode, The Amazing Maleeni. Initially I was worried that it would be all gimmick and no plot. We all love to watch magic, but I was afraid that the episode would be supported only by cute magic tricks. Happily though, the actual magic tricks only helped enhance the mystery and intrigue surrounding the case. The two magicians were great guest characters. They brought back the wonderful arrogance and cockiness of characters we haven't seen since season two's Dr. Blockhead in Humbug. The scheming of the two magicians was very cleverly written and my only problem was the whodunit ending. I would have preferred a bit more action or a bit more red-handedness. And I know that someday Mulder is going to do the "I have a theory" thing and some bad guy is going to look at him, say "right on the nose" and shoot him dead to keep him quiet. It boggles the mind how Mulder feels comfortable telling these ragamuffins what they're going to do and how. If I were Mulder, I'd keep it to myself. Nice interaction between Mulder and Scully, very cute and comfortable. Although I am getting tired of Scully's "what are we doing here Mulder?" speech. If she hasn't figured it out by now you gotta wonder what she's been doing these past seven years."
-Eileen A.-

"Observe the X-Files, a high quality original television program-now you see it...now you don't. This magic trick is made possible not by slight of hand but by writing that goes for magical and winds up a pointless excercise in Holmsian crime plot whimsy. I couldn't care less about Maleeni, his protege, or his gambling debts and how he uses his magic to escape them. To me it's all Ho hum hocus pocus. Most of the X-Files episodes are about Mulder and Scully and things that concern them, their own safety or good people who they and we care about and their safety. In this episode the story revolves around Maleeni's magical endevours, what he's really after and how he accomplishes it. This is boring police work. The viewer cares about Mulder and Scully and when innocent lives are being destoyed by your basic X-Files evil entity. Switching the focus of the show to the villains machinations in this case doesn't work because the episode is neither humourous enough nor strange enough to captivate on that basis, and the real killer is that the villian is basically just an insignificant weasel."
-Michael B.-

"This ep was a cute one alright,but I...It was like I was waiting for something to happen,but it didn't.It's hard to explain.I guess it wasn't 'X-Filey' enough or something.Don't get me wrong,I liked it...I thought there was enough twists and turns to keep me thinking,and the humor was a cool laid back type of humor,which was sweet...It just seemed to be missing something to me.."
-Crystal B.-

"This was a clever episode, it was fun to follow the plan the magicians had devised with it's twists and surprises, and I really appreciated the humor."
-Jelila M.-

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