The X-Files: X-Cops Rewatch
July 27, 2020 8:16 PM - Season 7, Episode 12 - Subscribe
An officer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, accompanied by a crew from the reality series COPS, responds to a call about a monster attack, and encounters Mulder and Scully, who are investigating multiple reports of monsters in the area.
I thought this episode was fun and creative. I wouldn't want The X-Files to go all raw footage like this very often, but for just this once it was a good ride.
I've seen COPS exactly once, when I had to analyze an episode for a university assignment, but from what I can recall, the X-Files team really nailed the look and feel of it. But then they used some of the COPS crew to shoot this episode, so they had help.
Scully's ongoing annoyance with the COPS crew was enjoyable (i.e., hiding behind the ambulance door to avoid being on camera, refusing to let the camera crew ride in her and Mulder's car). Scully is routinely very curt and no-nonsense with people she doesn't know well, and especially with anyone she sees as wasting her time/getting in the way of her work. She is never that way with Mulder, or with a patient or anyone else who is in need of her compassion, so we see the "real" Scully and know how warm and personable she can be, and tend to think of that as her personality in general, but the reality is she's very closed off and prickly with most people.
[Mulder and Scully open a closet door to find two terrified, screaming camera crew hiding in it.]
Scully: [slams the closet door shut] Damn it. I hate you guys.
Some of the characters were really good. Sergeant Duthie was great, and Wetzel's awkward on-camera monologues were pitch perfect.
Wetzel: Well, when a fellow officer goes down in the line of duty or even if this... or even if it's not a fellow officer-- if it's just somebody working part-time with the department in a, uh, support, um... a-arti-artistic capacity, uh, like R... like Ricky, there-- we all feel it. Uh... Back there is every cop's worst nightmare... But that's when you got to cowboy up and give 150%... catch the bad guys.
I enjoyed Edy and Steve too. For me the love between them transcended Edy's campiness.
posted by orange swan at 8:46 AM on July 28, 2020
I've seen COPS exactly once, when I had to analyze an episode for a university assignment, but from what I can recall, the X-Files team really nailed the look and feel of it. But then they used some of the COPS crew to shoot this episode, so they had help.
Scully's ongoing annoyance with the COPS crew was enjoyable (i.e., hiding behind the ambulance door to avoid being on camera, refusing to let the camera crew ride in her and Mulder's car). Scully is routinely very curt and no-nonsense with people she doesn't know well, and especially with anyone she sees as wasting her time/getting in the way of her work. She is never that way with Mulder, or with a patient or anyone else who is in need of her compassion, so we see the "real" Scully and know how warm and personable she can be, and tend to think of that as her personality in general, but the reality is she's very closed off and prickly with most people.
[Mulder and Scully open a closet door to find two terrified, screaming camera crew hiding in it.]
Scully: [slams the closet door shut] Damn it. I hate you guys.
Some of the characters were really good. Sergeant Duthie was great, and Wetzel's awkward on-camera monologues were pitch perfect.
Wetzel: Well, when a fellow officer goes down in the line of duty or even if this... or even if it's not a fellow officer-- if it's just somebody working part-time with the department in a, uh, support, um... a-arti-artistic capacity, uh, like R... like Ricky, there-- we all feel it. Uh... Back there is every cop's worst nightmare... But that's when you got to cowboy up and give 150%... catch the bad guys.
I enjoyed Edy and Steve too. For me the love between them transcended Edy's campiness.
posted by orange swan at 8:46 AM on July 28, 2020
I enjoyed this episode when it was first broadcast. But looking back at it now, it's pretty clearly a late season gimmick. Interesting MOTW premises must have been pretty tapped out and the mytharc could only sustain so much new cruft per season I bet. Gotta use those gimmicks where they could find them.
posted by Fukiyama at 9:40 AM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Fukiyama at 9:40 AM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
This was amusing and less bad than I expected COPS would age in 2020; both were FOX properties so no surprise they managed to borrow some of the COPS crew.
Agreed, excellent supporting cast all around, this episode.
Also, the sketch artist drawings - I think imagining the artist's reaction is funnier than showing it.
I did enjoy how they made out Mulder - and especially Scully since the audience has become intimate with her character - as total and complete weirdos to "civilians."
In particular the coroner's assistant questioning why Scully is so above-and-beyond. And wow, was she hilarious (re: Hantavirus); I actually for reals lol-ed out loud. At first I thought she was Carla Jimenez (from the underappreciated 'The Mick') but it's a different actor.
There was a Hantavirus outbreak in the US in the first half of 1999 (episode airdate Feb 2000).
posted by porpoise at 1:54 PM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Agreed, excellent supporting cast all around, this episode.
Also, the sketch artist drawings - I think imagining the artist's reaction is funnier than showing it.
I did enjoy how they made out Mulder - and especially Scully since the audience has become intimate with her character - as total and complete weirdos to "civilians."
In particular the coroner's assistant questioning why Scully is so above-and-beyond. And wow, was she hilarious (re: Hantavirus); I actually for reals lol-ed out loud. At first I thought she was Carla Jimenez (from the underappreciated 'The Mick') but it's a different actor.
There was a Hantavirus outbreak in the US in the first half of 1999 (episode airdate Feb 2000).
posted by porpoise at 1:54 PM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ooooh, I just had a thought. Imagine, if you will, big brother Bill Scully's reaction to this episode when it airs on TV.
posted by orange swan at 4:06 PM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by orange swan at 4:06 PM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
i feel like the concept had to be at least somewhat inspired by kevin rubio's troops right? i can't be sure of my reaction of to this when it first aired but i think i probably wasn't a fan of it. i was much more into the syndicate arc stories than the monster-of-the-week stories at the time. of course now, i have completely flip-flopped on that
posted by entropicamericana at 9:10 AM on July 30, 2020
posted by entropicamericana at 9:10 AM on July 30, 2020
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posted by potrzebie at 12:16 AM on July 28, 2020 [3 favorites]