The X-Files: Medusa Rewatch

August 18, 2020 7:20 PM - Season 8, Episode 12

When an undercover transit cop is found on a subway car with more than a third of his body tissue eaten away, Doggett leads a team of professionals into the tunnel while Scully analyzes whatever evidence they gather in an concerted effort to find out who, or what, killed him.
posted by orange swan (2 comments total)

I remembered that this one involved something in the subway tunnels, but not what, and was kind of hoping for the mythological Medusa instead of... sea bacteria or whatever that was. The story makes no sense. How did the transit cop get infected when he was aboard the train? The guy who was attacking him didn't seem to be infected.

Why would a train running over a puddle of sea water with those organisms in it endanger the passengers? How would Doggett's shocking one puddle of the sea water get rid of all the sea creatures in all the puddles? What the hell was that kid doing in the subway tunnels?

I did like seeing that although Doggett had his reservations about Scully sending him into the tunnel while she remained in the control room, they have enough respect and trust built up between them that he just did as she asked, and stood by her when the other men on the team were huffing about having to take orders from a woman who didn't know what she was doing (it's a developing situation, jackasses, and as a doctor she knows more than you two).

But they're formal with each other -- it's "Agent Doggett" and "Agent Scully" -- and it's such a contrast to Mulder and Scully's relationship. This is what Scully's like when it's really just work for her.

Cute moment of an embarrassed Doggett backing his way through his hospital room in his hospital gown, and Scully primly averting her head.
posted by orange swan at 11:08 AM on August 19, 2020

Yep, a screwy MoTW. I'm not going to try coming up with apologia for this one unless it's some kind of distributed organism that exists simultaneously in cartesian and non-cartesian dimensions. The sweat thing is dumb when seawater is dripping everywhere.

Why do transit cops have submachine guns? I guess that was supposed to be the joke?

My feel is that Doggett's marine background and drive for professionalism and good manners manifests in his formal-ness, and Scully is reciprocating. I think the combat background also contributes to Doggett's lack of "fake" ego, adherence to chain of command, and OODA loop instinct.

"an idea, a notion, a wild guess"

Sounds almost like a Mulderism, but cursory googling suggests this is an original Scully.
posted by porpoise at 9:21 PM on August 19, 2020 [1 favorite]