Strike "Career of Evil" Part 2 Review

                                               
As Strike (Tom Burke) once again is questioned, he does the police job for them, picking out all the obvious points as to why that newspaper pic was doctored, including the girl wearing the vest and he casually looked up at that moment and why would she go into a coffee shop to buy water?  As he begins to strike a light(!) he'll risk the fine and DS Ekwensi (Ann Akin) telling him she's got asthma.  Of course they can't tell him anything about the three men he gave them info on.  Robin (Holliday Grainger) is being followed again still and he tells her to be careful and stay in public places.  She tried to find an address for Brockbank (Andrew Brooke) and he suggested a meeting in Shoreditch but nothing more.  She is determined to get him and put him away.

She has dinner with her mother, Linda (Suzanne Burden) who asks if she still wants to get married and gives her £500 for a deposit on a flat or for a pair of wedding shoes.  Of course she gives it to Strike for rent otherwise they won't be running a business and he replies at the rate they're going he won't have any business, as he doesn't have any clients.  Strike looks at the photo in the paper where Laing is shown and works out it's the Strata (aka 'razor or electric razor) building in Elephant & Castle, from there, Robin finds out which flats he might be living in.  Which is followed up by Strike.  Yeah know that area very well, well know all of London obviously!! ha.  He goes door to door, until he finds Laing coming out of a flat.  He appears to be "more crippled than I am"  Strike tells Robin.  He tells Laing he's following up on the jewellery stolen from the old lady and he says he doesn't have it.  Adding that he's not a very good investigator.  Knew that was a put on cos he was really overdoing the dragging movements.

Strike also follows up on the strip club in search of Brockbank but he doesn't find him.  Though he does score a date with a Swedish stripper, which he falls asleep and manages to miss.  Matt (Kerr Logan) apologizes for his indiscretion when he was only 21 and in a bad space.  He made a mistake and leaves the ring on the counter if she does want to marry him, otherwise he'll leave.  As Strike thinks of his mother, Leda (Kierston Wareing) and she kisses him telling him she loves him and he'll have a love of his own too one day.  Robin snuggles up to Matt.  Next day Strike checks out the back door of the flat and tells her it needs a padlock which he didn't exactly put on there.  he also notices the ring and doesn't mention about it or the on again wedding.  Yes they had chemistry but obviously being in business together, they can't pursue that and not so since she wants to be with Matt, even though she had her doubts.

Robin is attacked in Catford and after buying Whittaker's (Matt King) girlfriend breakfast.  She tells her nothing and Whittaker shows up.  She tells him she thought she looked beat up and was only helping.  She tells Strike Whittaker had a gig with his band so it wasn't him.  The knife attacker manages to cut Robin's arm, but her self defence classes paid off.  Matt isn't happy with her working for Strike; who gets angry and fires her.  Matt blocks his number from her phone.

So of course the security lights are smashed and the intruder leaves a severed finger in the kettle for Matt to find.  As Robin is in Yorkshire at her parents to make wedding dress arrangements and fittings.  She calls around asking nurseries in the area if they have Zahara's correct address and finds an address for her.  She turns up there with Shankar (Ben Crompton) and tries to convince his girlfriend about the paedophile that Brockbank is.  But she refuses to listen until her daughter tells her he did those things to her.  As he returns, Shankar breaks down the door and gives chase but loses him.

Strike also manages to talk with Kelsey's sister whose boyfriend doesn't want her to speak with him.  Yeah the dodgy boyfriend see!  Especially since he did the same thing here that he did when he was with the other woman, thus showing that he is really Laing, as he loses the limp when he leaves the house later on.  Also Strike takes photos of the pics she has and searches Kelsey's room when feigning use of the loo. As he sees a fire certificate for a Ray Williams, who was the old woman's son.  After some checking he finds Ray Williams retired from the fire service.  So he heads back to Laing's flat again where he attacks him.  All on the basis that when he was in Wales he saw sea holly in the photo which doesn't flower until June, that Strike got from his uncle Ted as he left some at his mother's grave.  Thus the photo gave Laing away.

Brockbank is found and picked up and Strike tells his daughter, Brittany (Megan Parkinson) he'll be facing charges and when he's released he'll be put on the sexual offenders register for life.  She thanks him and mostly Robin for solving this even though it wasn't his case.  As he heads to Robin's wedding in Yorkshire, driven by Shankar.  He says he was invited and manages to make an entrance showing her and everyone that he's arrived!

This ep just seemed to flow routinely didn't it, with some bits and pieces thrown in, but it all seemed to fit into place to finally nail it down to one of the three suspects.  Just something about this part 2 which seemed too clinical.  Especially since as said the suspect pool wasn't that large and all of them had some sort of grudge against Strike.  There wasn't much intrigue as the other episodes had in series one.  Although Kelsey did have clippings on her wall and one of them was of Lula Landry, the model from series 1 episode 1 Cuckoo's Calling.  Which was the connection to Strike and her knowing who he was, but not vice versa.  As Strike later tells DI Eric Wardle (Killian Scott) Kelsey had a crush on him.
Funny part, Matt telling Strike he's a sociopath, er, no mate that's Sherlock! ha

Once Upon A Time 7.11 "Secret Garden" Review

                                              
Once returned for its final 12 ep run and here Regina (Lana Parilla) and Zelena (Rebecca Mader) find out how to save Lucy (Alison Fernando) and bring her back.  Regina telling Henry (Andrew J West) she knows he's a believer and Zelena knowing it's hard for Reggie to know who he is and not be able to tell him.  Zelena tells her about mother Gothal (Emma Booth) and how she will help Lucy if they give her the resurrection amulet, which they don't know the whereabouts of.  As Dr Sage (Nisreen Slim) asks for blood donors and checking compatibility, Henry also volunteers on the off chance he might be able to help, especially after glancing at the Once Upon A Time book on the bed! Hopefully acting on Reggie's words of wisdom about believing.  As Zelena  and Reggie set out to find the amulet, Zelena thinks it will be "Wicked and Evil working together", Reggie corrects her by adding, "as sisters!"

Storybrooke Years Ago

Where they celebrate the birth of Henry and Ella's (Dania Ramiriz) baby and Zelena comes to rave at Reggie for making Robin (Tiera Skovbye) independent and telling her it's okay to experiment with magic by giving her the book, after breaking up the witche's coven, well no, they're only Robin's friends, but she's angry since she's the parent and has to teach her what she wants, not the lax aunt with no rules.  She tells her Gothel's taken Robin and Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) is livid when he hears that, not being able to find his own daughter either.  He wants to go with Zelena to exact his revenge on her, but Zelena would rather go alone than take Nook with her!  Yeah her new name for him!  He knows where the secret witch's lair is and even a pirate's map isn't obvious on directions, but he manages to find the invisible lair.  Where Gothel plans with Madame Leota (Suzy Joachim).  Robin wants to stay here and magically places the door back so they can leave.  Zelena refuses as she finds out that Robin is going to be sacrificed in the witch's pentagramic circle and Zelena says to take her instead.  However Robin fires an arrow and threatens Gothel with it.  As they leave Robin wonders why she even thought of magic when she's better with a bow and arrow and her father was Robin Hood after all.

Back at Hyperion heights Zelena doesn't like what Reggie's done with the bar since it was meant to be a dive and she's cleaned it up.  In the backroom, Zelena finds the sign and breaks it to Reggie's shock.  It contains the amulet.  Victoria (Gabrielle Anwar) manages to get out of the well using her trusty Louboutin's to aim at the pulley at the top of the well.  After having more words with Ivy (Adelaide Kane).  Of course Victoria would turn up as soon as they found the amulet and takes it from them.  She wants to be the one to get Lucy back and then people will think more of her.  As Reggie managed to change.  But she wasn't evil in that sense.  Forgetting that the amulet and magic requires a sacrifice. 

Victoria wants Ivy to work with her but only to save Anastasia and Ivy mentions how she always has to be involved.  However she doesn't manage to get back Anastasia as Gothel uses her magic to fill the amulet.  Using Ivy as a sacrifice to bring Lucy out of her coma, that it requires the sacrifice of a human life for another.  Victoria takes Ivy's place and Gothel kills her, as Lucy wakes, wondering what they're all staring at.  Ivy and Victoria manage to make up and especially after Ivy tells her that she was the one who thought of the lanterns to guide her home and not Anastasia (Yael Yurman).  That they love each other after all and all Victoria wanted was to reunite them as a family.  Obviously, since Anastasia is too naive and trusting.  Hook and Rumples (Robert Carlyle) arrive but they're too late.  Seems Rapunzel met a gruesome-ish end after all, now who'd have thunk that?  So as one 'baddie' dies, it's all going to focus on Gothel now and her secret coven plans.

Rumples also telling Hook about the cult that Victoria is a part of and how dangerous they are.  That Eloise is the real problem and as Hook went to see her at her apartment, he noticed that Gothel had cereal and a banana set at the table.  As Anastasia hid out in the closet and Gothel stops Hook from checking it out by dropping a cup on the floor.  Heck I mean hate that she knows who he is and he doesn't as he's just led up the garden path even further.  As all Rumples even tells him is that they are evil and especially Eloise.

As the doctor finds out who is really Lucy's father, she is killed by someone wearing black leather gloves.  Another mystery possibly for the remainder of the season.  Apparently someone is killing off witches according to Edward Kitsis. 

The X Files 11.7 "Rm9sbG93ZXJz" Review

                                             
An X Files with a difference still 'bigly' on the current political hype and that's not a bad thing.  Yet delving into what the future may involve for us with the rise of AI.  It was funny and thought provoking also showing how eventually machines will take over.  It all started with Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) on a date eating out in a Japanese restaurant, oddly though they're not actually speaking with each other and as the order process is mechanical and automated, seems so was their conversation being stuck to their phones!  Scully can't help but snigger at Mulder's order, possibly the resemblance between him and the fat fish!  Face-wise of course as she happily scoffs her sushi.  As well as taking a selfie with him and the fish. Yuk not a fan of sushi!  He wants to complain but the robots send him out of the kitchen quick smart and eeww but who wants to eat mechanical food, you don't know what's in it.  Or should I say mechanically prepared food! 

He then asks for the cheque but refuses the tip so that's where the troubles start, after he doesn't let Scully pay.  You think Scully would've left a tip.  They get locked in after he repeatedly hits the machine after his credit card gets stuck and the red robotic eyes stare at him, either in Terminator fashion of even the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica.  Scully manages to break them out and finds a Whipz car waiting for her!  Yeah whip you home in half the time by speeding!  Mulder can't get the Prince song he wants and also ends up back at the restaurant with the message on his phone "A good tip is good karma" and having 4 hours to do so.  So he uses an old fashioned map and manages to get home.

As he calls the "Bigly Credit" company on his phone and is kept on hold, now there's no need to spell out why it was called 'Bigly'.  He can't access his laptop either since he enters an incorrect password.  Which we know isn't the case.  Heck the dude couldn't even get to watch an ep of The Six Million Dollar Man.   Then finds he's been watched by a drone.  So when it returns a second time he takes his baseball bat to it.  Cue invasion of the red eye drones: red eyes signifying bad, which come to take the mashed drone back.

Scully isn't having any luck either.  She drops some bath salts in the bathroom and gets a Roomba-esque delivered by RoboEpress, aka another drone delivery.  Once it's cleaned up it can't stop, even finding her vibrator, I mean massager under the bed.  Which is now available in different colours and she can order them!  Infact order anything even if you don't need it, which is partly the message in this culture consumer obsessed generation.   As she wraps it up, and waits on hold, she is directed to an Indian call centre to which I would've said, ah go get your accent fixed!  And the muzak plays to increased volume which she can't turn down, this time the 'Roomba' (other versions are available!) gets out and begins breaking things to clean up.  She leaves it outside and the car looks like it's gearing for an attack.

As Mulder tries to get through, the phone repeats his name "Fox Mulder" several times over and multi-coloured drones enter his house.  Lots of tiny, little drones, it's robotic drones in place of The Birds!  He leaves and is followed by them.  Scully is locked in and she can smell gas as the house explodes, just as Mulder arrives and she manages to smash a window.  They're followed by the drones and Mulder suggests they ditch anything they can be tracked with, including her massager which he gives her a funny look over, as if to say, 'am I not enough for ya?!'  Ha!

Ending up at a warehouse the bots still continue their menacing and threatening behaviour and yes those creepy dog drones also appear.  Okay I shouldn't have called them that, they're not so much creepy as in ugly.  Even been fired at by 3D printer bullets.  Finally a bot enters with the message he still has time to pay a tip to the workers, which he finally does.
They end up at a normal cafe for breakfast, using cash and taking their time, as Scully holds Mulder's hand and puts her head on his shoulder!

Episodes this one is reminiscent of include Kill Switch but I couldn't also help think a little Ghost In the Machine too.  Written by Shannon Hamblin and Kristen Kloke, Glen Morgan's wife, who also appeared in X-Files ep, The Field Where I Died, managed to create an ep where words weren't necessary and indeed on point as in this social media, tech age, more communication is done electronically than face to face, in person.  Not the way to have a date, but the end one seemed more relaxed when no words were said in a little cafe/diner, than the beginning where it all seemed so clinical and artificial (no pun!)

The opening was much the same, with the voiceover of how humans have come to rely on AI and how they learn from humans, leading Mulder at the end to add, sarcastically in many ways, that humans have to be better teachers.   Even with the seriousness, plenty of laughs were still had with Scully's red hair cream and does she want to order more.  As well as Mulder asking why her house is nicer than his.  The X-Files still managed to pack a punch and though some eps haven't been as interesting as they could have been, at least this one kept the series fresh and not only being able to produce an exceptional stand-alone ep, but showing how versatile Gillian and David can still be in their roles which fit them perfectly as gloves still!  Other shows should take note!

Apparently the title is Basecode 64 which means "foloowers."  Thsi is also shown in the opening creds where VGhlIFRydXRoIGlzIE91dCBUaGVyZQ appears and actucally means "the truth is out there."   

Paranormal Lockdown 3.1 "Old Sweet Springs Resort" Review

Paranormal Lockdown returned for season 3 and through some sort of twist of fate, the UK actually got to see this before the rest of the world thanks to Quest Red TV.  Since we're always the last to get shows no matter what they entail.  Great to see Nick, Katrina and Rob back on our screens.  This one was at Old Sweet Springs Resort. Virginia; situated near the Alleghenies, where there was once again plenty of activity.  (Allegheny seems to be a common name!  Re Trans Allegheny Asylum.) Again with ancient spirits of Native Americans and having their land taken from them, leading to much bloodshed.  The new owner, Ashby bought the resort in the hopes of restoring it and wanted some answers as to who or what is haunting the place.  Aside from the numerous bats they encountered, it was enough to drive anyone batty.  Let alone any spirits there.

The investigation was eventful with Nick and Katina not feeling any negativity on the first night but felt they were being watched, a feeling of being stalked as Nick described it!  And not just by the bats!  They did capture some EVPs, one warning them the pool was "not safe."  But of course Nick would investigate this; part of the entire purpose of being there, which they did on night 2.  With Nick actually taking the plunge and going shirtless!!  ha.  Being shallow (no pun!) but someone had to bare the waters.  Wonder how that felt and I don't mean that he got his energy drained when he was in there, but in terms of the mineral hot springs under it and earlier on Katrina saw something swimming in there, which I spotted too.  It must have been an animal or something.

That's Nick about to come out of the pool, nice capture I thought! 

That's Nick on the left via the thermal camera. 

Also the amazing EVP Katrina caught with the hydrophone, a gadget from Maryland Paranormal Research.  Whose name was mentioned in credits at the end, along with Elizabeth Saint's Ghostly Gadgets.  Anyway, the EVP was a girl saying "stay with me."  More like in a sing(y) voice.  That was caught when he was coming out of the pool and so most likely the girl may have drained his energy.  As opposed to having a revitalizing effect from the water.  As Katina said there were reports of a girl drowning there.  As well as people hearing voices there.  Nick also saying that the pool was the heart of this property, in more ways than one!

Left arrow shows where Nick is, the other arrow shows the figure.  And next one is zoomed in.

Amazingly I don't think it's a coincidence but taking some pics for this blog, I managed this one of Nick in the water and then I decided to zoom in and screen shot that image on the right that so very much looks like a figure and a girl at that!  No response on Twitter about it, but it does look so solid too.  I have no idea why I decided to take this particular one at this time.

Day 2 Katrina woke before Nick which made a change and on the third day they kinda woke up at the same time.  But Nick really seemed to be out of it when sleeping in the basement on the first night, still having feelings of being watched.  Whilst Katrina slept on the third floor which also had reports of activity.  Seems like they just heard noises and a wheelchair being dragged, rather than anything else throughout most of the investigation.

On the third night when they went inside, they felt a different energy and presence, like everything had changed.  Not becoming more sinister, but perhaps Nick's venture into the pool and being there for three nights probably led to more activity, maybe even curiousness on the part of any spirits there.  Katrina also caught a voice there when asking if they were alright.  I actually heard the "help me" the first time round, before it was enhanced.  If you listen carefully you can hear it with your ears.  That was played for Ashby and he said it sounded like his father's voice; as his father was also here.  So they thought it was most likely validation for him buying the property and being there giving him his support from beyond.  As Katrina said it's perhaps showing that he's really there and giving him his approval and how there is some sort of  presence of 'life' on the other side.

Nick also used a new gadget the PolterCom in place of the other gadgets, but nothing came through on that.  Though hopefully they did use it again and did manage to capture something in their other investigations, as I would love to see it in action.  The Poltercom is like a spirit/ghost box but allows the motorized sweeping of radio frequencies.  A hand-held version is available for the public.

Strike 3.1 "Career of Evil" Review

                                                 
Another series which had it all going on.  Problems, did anyone say problems.  Robin (Holliday Grainger) finds out Matthew (Kerr Logan) was unfaithful to her with Sarah (Antonia Kinlay) of all people.  After she receives a severed leg which is addressed to her, but obviously meant for Strike (Tom Burke).  As she just stands there staring at it and bumping into furniture.  It's a leg, at least not an ear or any other body part.  Ears are more gruesome!  The game's foot, er should I say that cos I really wanted to.  They call the police but miss the note underneath which Strike recognizes the lyrics to Blue Oyster Cult's ??  Mistress of the Salmon Salt.  After Robin says he turned white as he recalled the lyrics from when his mother was murdered by Jeff Whittaker (Matt King).  They were tattooed on her.

As we opened with Strike heading to meet a potential client and Robin having dinner with Matthew and his friends, including the dreaded Sarah.  A girl also ventures out and ends up in the same building as Strike after he already enters it.  He makes a call as no client shows up.  Strike recalls Niall Brockbank (Andrew Brook) whom he arrested after claims of sexual assault were made by his daughter, Brittany (Megan Parkinson) but she withdrew them as being falsely made up.  Strike arrested him and he was about to hit him with a bottle so he punched him.  Apparently he was suffering from a rugby injury to his head and suffered epileptic fits afterwards.  But he knew he was guilty of assault, the army had no evidence to convict him.

Robin whimpers in her bed after suffering from nightmares and as she leaves Matthew she goes on a  boozy binge, ain't it always the way.  She doesn't turn up for work and is followed, as she follows a student for a case.  Strike leaves messges for her and shows up at the pub just as she's about to be menaced by a stranger who doesn't take no for an answer.  She tells Strike of how she was attacked after leaving a friend and her testimony put him away.  That's when Matthew slept with Sarah, the "most annoying woman;" so if he cheated with someone else it would've been okay?!

They go looking for Brockbank and Strike wants to meet his sister Holly (Jessica Gunning) but Robins says she'll drive him to Barrow In Furness and then buys clothes to disguise herself as a personal injury lawyer, telling Holly she can get them money from the army for his injuries.  She tells them he's in London.  Before leaving for Barrow, Strike is taken in for questioning as the police find the missing girl, Kelsey (Fern Deacon) was seen at the same building on the CCTV where Strike was meant to meet the client.

Before heading back Strike finds out Douglas Laing is also here, another nasty piece of work he put away and may bare a grudge against him and he meets with his former girlfriend.  He suffered from a condition and isn't here anymore.  Though he beat up an old lady for pocket change and claimed to have raised money for charity, a measly £40 which they laugh over.  Strike tells the detective about Laing too.  When Strike spoke of Laing chaining his wife and she dislocated her shoulder attempting to free herself, reminded me of that scene from Gerald's Game that many people found so gory.  You know that handcuff scene, if you've seen this Stephen King Netflix adaptation.

They meet with Strike again as they show him the dead Kelsey's photo and the newspaper photos showing them together, but he's never met her.  Another frame up job a la Sherlock.  And speak of the devil, Whittaker calls Strike "Sherlock f*8king Holmes" too.  As Strike beats him up as he brags about his mother and how she would "do" him.  Sorry if that sounds crude.

Robin finds out that Brockbank is in London and wants to meet him but he doesn't give her a home address and is very menacing and threatening towards her on the phone.  Appears we're getting a lot of cases aimed at Strike and his other life during his stint in the army.  As he's now targeted for the past and his past actions.  But who's after Robin, is it the rapist she put away?  As Strike loses clients from the negative press reports.  In contrast to Sherlock whose popularity soared from press articles!

How could some reviews claim you struggled to keep up, heaven save us from such absurdity, cos yeah it was really difficult to follow, I say sarcastically of course!!  The key appears to be Whitechapel, but is that just a red herring to throw us off the scent?  Since it's an old haunt for Strike.  Whitechapel obviously relating to Jack the Riper too and no coincidence that the main suspects in this are all women haters and physical abusers.

The X Files 11.6 "Kitten" Review

                                                
War Is Never Over

This ep focusing on Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) begins with his time in Vietnam during the war and how green poisonous gas was released when they come under attack in a village.  Leading to the survivors seeing a 'monster.'  However Skinner didn't get the major brunt of it.  He now goes AWOL from the FBI and Kersh (James Pickens Jr) calls in Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) practically accusing them of being instrumental in Skinner not getting a promotion in over 35 years of service.  Of course he blames them now as well for his disappearing since their return.  They go in search of Skinner and Mulder breaks into his apartment where they find the interiors sparse and no mementos around either! 

Scully finds an envelope addressed to Lance Corporal Skinner and inside it are clippings and Mulder unwraps a human ear!  With an 'eww' as he drops it back down.  Kinda reminded me of him in The Simpsons ep with his naked pic on his ID, well don't ask me why I thought of that!! ha.  This leads them to the town of 'Mud Lick' with Scully giving Mulder a look and especially when the note inside the envelope mentioned 'monster'.  Now this is his kind of investigation.

Arriving there the local sheriff Stenzler (Brendan Patrick Connor) shows them the man with the severed ear and says it was a hunting accident.  All the Vietnam vets have nicknames like the one called Trigger outside the police station.  They're taken to the woods and here they find the pit of spikes the man fell into, an intentional trap.  As well as a deer cam, now you don't see that everyday.  Th sheriff also talks of people getting missing teeth unexpectedly.  On the footage they see Skinner standing over the pit and assure the policeman he's not responsible and he's not a murderer.  With Scully adding he wouldn't have been so sloppy if he had killed someone.

Skinner shows up at Kitten's (Haley Joe Osment) cabin and flips through the photo album.  He then has a flashback to the war and how he saved his men from a suicide bomber in the village by shooting him.  Also meets his son, Davy (Haley Joel Osment) who said his father called Skinner a 'baby killer' and they kept him at the mental asylum.  With the government doing secret experiments on him and others.  Skinner says he tried to look for him after his court martial  but he didn't find him and he wants to put this right.  He couldn't speak up for him since he had rules and orders to follow.

Mulder and Scully also turn up there as Skinner falls into the trap set by Davy and is speared by a spike in the chest.  Davy then throws in his father's DB on top of him.  There's no service in the hole so he can't call for help.  Davy takes them inside saying he hasn't heard of Skinner and he puts on a loud record.  Mulder snoops around and comes across the album which contains photos of Skinner.  He then leaves abruptly with Scully in tow, as he gets out of the car and searches for Skinner, she leaves him to get phone reception.  He goes inside and the music finally stops allowing him to hear Skinner's cries for help.  Narrowly missing Davy in the closet disguised as the 'monster.'  Yeah strange things always taking up residence it the closet!

He throws Mulder into the pit with Skinner and then attempts to set the alight, but Scully shoots him before Skinner can fire of a shot.  Why leave Skinner with the gun which means he could've shot Davy at any time.  Scully asks Skinner about what Kersh said to them but it's not the case, he would've done the same for them and no one but them would be here right now for him.  As he leaves he pulls out a loose tooth from his mouth.  As men bring in more gas to be tested and crop spray with a plane.  With Davy's narration talking of how the government is conducting experiments on its own people. 

As for nicknames, Mulder figures out "Eagle" must refer to Skinner as in 'Bald' Eagle!  Also Scully's line to Mulder about Mulder getting "his juices flowing" when he hears monsters maybe involved.  Sheesh that couldn't have been a double innuendo meaning could it?  Skinner mentioned his shooting a 10 year old boy and how this affected him ever since in 2.8 One Breath.  Also how he enlisted in the Marines but Kitten was drafted and he had to watch out for him cos he was always scared. 
His quote to Mulder from this ep:  "when I was eighteen, I went to Vietnam, I wasn’t drafted, Mulder, I enlisted in the Marine Corps the day of my eighteenth birthday. I did it on a blind faith." 
Adding he enlisted as it was the right thing to do and he still had his faith, at least back then.  That perhaps he still had his faith back then and he's not cynical.  Kinda changes in this episode though with wanting to go further and find the truth.  He mention an experience where he felt he was out of his body when he had a near death experience during the War.  How he felt at peace and not frightened.  How "I'm afraid to look any further beyond that experience" he tells Mulder but that Mulder isn't.  He's not afraid to look into the unexplained.  A great moment between the two of them and explaining why he's such a staunch supporter of them both. 

Also as a aside to Mulder and Scully looking out for them all those years.  How instead of dealing with "faceless puppeteers" he'd deal with Mulder and Scully all the time.  Though as for CSM not sure where his loyalties lie but it's better to be on side with him to see what he's up to than to actually side with him.  What was also amazing about One Breath was that in Mulder and Skinner's interaction he tells Skinner how he puts his life on the line with CSM to help them and Skinner replies, "every life, everyday is in danger.  That's just life."   Giving Skinner a presence on the show which reinforced his humanity.  Another reason why in last ep he kinda berated Mulder for not knowing where he is until he gets reports about him.  One Breath again showed why he puts up with Mulder's subordination. 

Wow another Skinner centric ep and without a glimpse of his tighty whities either!! 

The X-Files 11.4 "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" Review

                                           
An supposed ep of The Twilight Zone plays and the man in the mirror reflection reveals himself to be an alien, or whatever.  Mulder (David Duchovny) returns from wanting to be one with nature and says he's been looking for Sasquatch, what dressed as Big Foot himself!!  Is he really Big Foot, well one could've surmized that considering this ep was all about the truth; what is perceived as real but could be all twisted, manipulated to suit or even all bitter and twisted.  After he leaves his customary 'X' in the window, he's contacted by a Man who tells him later his name is 'Reggie Something' (Brian Huskey) and telling him that episode doesn't exist and 'They' are out to get him.  As men show up he runs away.

Mulder looks for that episode and Scully (Gillian Anderson) shows up for dinner but he can't eat until he finds his video of that episode. As Scully leaves she's contacted by Reggie who gives her a box telling her his prints her on it.  Th box being a pack of Jelly which had to be made into layers.  Scully gets nostalgic as she recalls her mother used to make it and it reminds her of home.  As Mulder places the 'X' in his window again, they wait for Reggie to show up and Scully hardly calls that being romantic.  Well neither was hanging up on Mulder when he was telling her about his 35 year old Sasquatch story!  Which she's heard many times.

Reggie tells them about going back to that nostalgia shop and finding the man dead.  Since he was moving house for his mother and he found some things she kept of his, including his high school year book in which he doesn't exist.  As well as the Dr Wuzzel book he used to read.  He recalled the name was spelled with a double 'S.'  He shows them a letter which shows he was there when they invaded Grenada and the stamp was a UFO one which the president commissioned to raise funds for UFO investigation.  Then going into 'They' are after him again.  Mulder wants him to explain himself and who 'They' are.  As Reggie talks about Dr They and how he examined an alien from a downed UFO, before the government took him away.

Reggie says that it's not the Mandela Effect as Mulder explained to Scully where people believed that Nelson Mandela died in prison in the '80's instead of in 2013, so they made up memes all over the Internet.  Reggie tells him it's the Mingler effect.  Mulder then coming with the theory it's an alternate universe but some of it slipping into their reality, which Scully disagrees with as does Reggie.  He says the Mingler effect is being used more seriously and misquotes George Orwell, as Mulder corrects him, not Welles, "who controls the past, controls the future." 

Reggie finally reveals he was Mulder's partner and original member of the x-Files, as we get clips from other eps interposed with Reggie appearing with them, such as with Eugene Toombs, Josie Chung amongst others and as Scully enters Mulder's office for the first time he tells "sugar boobs" she can't be here cos it's men only!  Oh and I neglected to mention the hilarious scene with Mulder when he recalls his 8 year old self watching that Twilight Zone ep, small body but Mulder's current big head!! ha.  Reggie says the government wants them to think all conspiracy theorist are nuts and Mulder says well he's a nut too. 

Mulder meets Dr They who's not afraid to admit that conspiracy isn't the same anymore, these days anyone can say anything.  That he can post and call the news fake news.  Even Mulder's ready to throw in the towel, "the world has become too crazy for my conspiratorial powers."  All an allusion to the crazy world we are currently living in with the muddied waters of news, conspiracy and lies.  To an extent the point of this episode.  It's all going to pot!  As Reggie is taken away in a strait jacket, Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) turns up and notices it's Reggie!!  As well as Scully finding a whole dossier on who Reggie really was.  Mulder watches the episode on his video tape and tells her it wasn't The Twilight Zone but a whole other show. Even the tape gets stuck in the video and unravels as he ejects it.  Oh and Scully stops from eating the jelly she made in Mulder's Big Foot mould as she wants to remember how it was!  Oh and that birdy drinking the drink in the nostalgia shop, used to have those.  They used to have mercury in them and would bop up and down, they cracked!!  Like this ep in many ways!! Ha.

The X-Files 11.5 "Ghouli" Review

                                           

New tagline: "You see what I want you to see."

Scully (Gillian Anderson) has a dream which she puts down to sleep paralysis when she explains it to Mulder (David Duchovny) or rather he comes up with that, since she uses more scientific names for it.  Where she's in a big house and a stranger in black watches over her.  She manages to each for her gun and chase after him and he disappears through the door.  Scully finds a snowglobe with a ferry inside it.  Two girls potentially stab each other in an abandoned ferry and claim they saw a monster attacking them.  Recounting their own versions to each of the agents, the two girls,Sarah (Madeleine Arthur) and Briana (Sarah Jeffrey) were both seeing a boy named Jackson Van de Kamp (Miles Robbins).  Referring to the monster as a 'Ghoulie.'  Which Scully looks up in a cafe and where Mulder orders his coffee under the name of 'Bob' cos no one will get 'Fox' in this town and he doesn't want to explain it.  Also he kinda yawns at the thought of investigating a monster given credence by the Internet.

Later they hear gunshots at Jackson's house and his parents too as Scully recalls this is the same house from her dream.  Detective Costa (Louis Ferreira) thinks Jackson killed his parents and then himself.  But Scully notices the back door is open so he didn't necessarily do the shooting or kill himself.  In the hospital, she takes a lock of Jackson's hair and opens her heart to him saying she didn't want to give him up, but it was for his own protection.  She wishes she could have known him and he could've known her.  They are hindered by the DOD in their investigation and were followed the entire time to the town.

Talking with Jackson's doctor, Scully recounts what he used to talk about.  The pandemic where a specific drug needed to be made using alien hybrid DNA and ending with a UFO on the 34th Street bridge, but the doctor isn't able to tell her anything more.  At the hospital, Jackson's DB disappears as he wakes up and leaves through the open window.  Scully has another dream and this time finds a snowglobe with a windmill in the hospital room.  Telling Mulder who asks her if she took it.  As she leaves the hospital she runs into an oriental man, who makes her drop the snowglobe and asks if she likes windmills.  Oh no Scully didn't get the 'William' connection here as he's her son.  That much was obvious.  Getting into her dreams and giving her clues as to where they will meet. They investigate Jackson's room and find a book by a writer with references to Malcolm X.  Mulder also finds a memory stick which has redacted info on it and some DOD files.  He needs another computer to access the stick which Scully finds under the bed.  Plugging into the 'teen girls have secrets too' line.

Here he finds several files on the DOD again and as they hone in on them with a warrant, Mulder accidentally on purpose spills the so ad onto the computer in a, 'oops shouldn't have that near a computer' kind of way.  Jackson is reported at the hospital by Sarah as he says goodbye to Brianna since he needs to go away and kisses her.  She's sorry she did it and as Scully and Mulder arrive, the DOD agents are already there.  As they try to get to Jackson, he causes the agents to shoot each other after shape shifting himself as Scully.  He then hides behind the nurse's station when they say they only want to talk with him.  Seems he's not ready for this and he disguises himself as a nurse who runs out.

Mulder tells Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) to come down who wants Mulder to report in cos he's been getting nothing but complaints about him from the agencies and that's the only way he finds out what he's up to.  There's CSM (William B Davis) sitting in his office lighting up as always.  Skinner meets Mulder at the ferry and Mulder tells him about William.  He's sorry to hear that and gives Mulder a heads up and Mulder mentions Project Crossroads too. 

As they leave Scully sees the windmill and stops for gas.  Here she sees the man again and she asks him if he's a doctor.  He didn't even finish high school, perhaps a reference to Jackson/William himself.  He says he would have liked to have known her, again she didn't get that since she said the same to William at the hospital.  As well as saying that "if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."  Mulder tells her that's a Malcolm X quote.  But it's too late, he's already gone and she thinks he was the man who wrote the book. On the station's CCTV they can see Jackson/William on the recording! 

This one brings together the clues, so to speak from My Struggle II which was where William shared his visions about the apocalypse and the pandemic virus.  Still hard to stomach that CSM is William's father for a lot of fans and how hard it is for Scully to carry on without having more contact with William as his mother.  However William is the one who can stop the Spartan virus mentioned earlier on this season. 

Lots of funny lines this ep to steer away from the tension including Mulder saying that William's set up a false reality for himself, especially following hot on the heels of last ep.  With Scully quipping, "it's an alternate reality, Fox Mulder doesn't exist in coffee shops."  Nah he doesn't text either ordinarily!!  Yet it's a whole new world and reality this season!  At the half way point of season 11 now.

The X-Files 11.3 "Plus One" Review

                                            
The X-Files returns to its best when it's doing one off  'monster of the week' stories instead of the arcs.  Here people kill themselves after their doubles/doppelgangers appear to them, reinforcing the theory or belief that if someone sees their doppelganger they are going to die.  The case begins with Arkie (Jared Ager-Foster) who says his double saved him from driving into a tree.  However Scully (Gillian Anderson) remains sceptical, as always, good to see nothing's changed there then and puts it down to some form of medical illness.  Bounding about medical jargon which Mulder (David Duchovny) doesn't get and isn't really interested in hearing.  Well okay I said that since 11 seasons later, we see Scully return to her scepticism after going through so much and yet for her it all boils down to science once again; having all the answers.

Including her explanation on ghosts and why people see shadows from the corner of their eyes, I'd repeat it here but.. long exposition like that is more entertaining when viewed.  Mulder thinks it's more of an evil presence and she again says she doesn't believe in evil or the devil.  Mulder's added quip of  Scully's Catholic schooling not helping her much in the way of believing.  Though she does answer she did think of the devil and believe in him once.  Oh no, so what were all those past eps about and oh I can't fathom how they could have written this ep and have her return to being 'early' Scully when the show started.  Well I can, as I know they have to have someone to challenge Mulder in his beliefs and theories; but this just reverted back to the beginning as if there were no other seasons in between to make her think differently at least for the moment.

As Arkie is moved to his cell to be transferred, he is killed and authorities believe it's suicide, which Scully explains is possible even if he was handcuffed.  His lawyer Dean (Ben Wilkinson) explains Arkie didn't want to die and he's going to make someone pay.  As Mulder notices the trustee who found Arkie, someone by the name of Chucky: a bigtime hoarder.  Mulder and Scully question Judy and her game of hangman, where Mulder finds a hanged man with Arkie's name written under it.  Her psych room wall is littered with such hanged men pictures with names under them.  She says there's another one of her on the chair, an evil version of her, also saying she's an actress.  Well being an actress she could easily feign another darker version of herself, any mental illness aside.  As Scully also experiences her darker version, later the good Judy tells her the nurses give her pills and they tell her they're just bread pills, but they take them too just incase.  Which stops Scully from throwing them away.

As Mulder speaks with Chucky he finds he also has hanged men pictures and Judy is his sister.  Apparently their parents hanged themselves, that was no coincidence; also showing they were behind the killings.  Dean sees himself too and rushes over to see Mulder and Scully who tells him not to panic and to go home, Mulder agreeing with her.  Scully notices her double too after they find Dean has 'lost' his head and was also killed.  But she doesn't tell Mulder.  Instead she goes to his room when she sees her double again; wanting him to hold her and they have a conversation about her getting old, wanting another child and who she would have this with.  What if Mulder met a younger model and left her, and he asks the same, before they finally 'get it on.'  Really you'd think that's all this ep was leading too and formed the basis of it, instead of the case, especially those times she turned around to see Mulder lurking there by her bed.  Ha. Scully saying she sleeps with her back to the door to keep the devil away.  SO Mulder was her devil.  The crafty devil!  Ha.

As their game hots up, Judy and Chucky that is, not Mulder and Scully, they each try to guess the other's hanged man, with Judy going for Scully and Chucky going for Mulder, accusing the other of cheating.  As Mulder's also seen his double in the bathroom mirror, where most ghosts usually show themselves, they head to their respective suspects.  With Mulder having to fight off his double, and Scully telling her double in the car that she doesn't believe she's real and is just "a manifestation of latent hostility."  Yes but whose hostility?  Chucky and Judy both end up dead by their doubles, of course and Mulder finds two hanged man pictures with 'MOM and 'DAD' written under them.  Thus they killed their parents.

Back at the motel Mulder tells Scully if she needs anything to just call and he's getting some shut eye, that being the furthest thing from her mind and as she opens the adjoining door, she finds Mulder waiting behind it! Yeah we know where that title was heading in more ways than one!  As for Mulder's 'shut eye' comment, it just opens up the conclusion that they have indeed been at this more than once and his comment about her having "more scoot in your boot" is not just a throwaway comment or an attempt at reassuring her she's not over the hill, in more ways than one!

Also Mulder is the one who hones in on Judy in the psych ward as being behind it, what led him to her.  Surely something must've pointed him in this direction.  As for Scully taking the pills to avoid the violence her double would ensue on her - what she didn't give any to Mulder and he told her about seeing his own double!  This reinforces that everything she just spoke about to him is not really what she believes and perhaps she is just being cautious in this uncertainty and improbability, but it was funny to see her going back on what she just told him to save herself, mostly. 
But there's more on the FBI being disbanded and what they'll do if they lose their jobs and the world is going to hell" as Scully says and they're the only ones who can save it.  But what will the world do without them?  Sans wheelchair or not?!

Karin Konoval plays both Judy and Chucky which gives this ep a bit of  a twist, reinforcing her line of being just an actress in real life too!  However season 7.20 Fight Club also involved twins so a bit of a harkback there in many ways particularly with the violence aspect.