The X-Files: Soft Light Rewatch
April 13, 2020 8:45 PM - Season 2, Episode 23 - Subscribe
A series of mysterious disappearances leads Mulder and Scully to a man whose shadow vaporizes people.
Three things I loved and one thing I hated:
1. Tony Shaloub! Tortured Tony Shaloub.
2. Literally tortured Tony Shaloub—that ending of him stuck in the testing lab was so bleak and unsettling. So many stories about people with super powers evoke the trope "if people find out what you can do, scientists will turn you into a lab rat!" This was the most creepy and visceral response to that I've seen.
3. The whole thing of the shadow making it seem like people are falling through the floor. Such a cool visualization for being so understated and uncanny, so much better than some fancy and expensive particle effects showing them dissolve as they scream or whatever.
4. A shadow does not extend into a room through the space under the door!! I'm fine with a shadow vaporizing people, but that shadow has to behave according to the laws of shadows!! I am not a crackpot.
posted by ejs at 5:19 PM on April 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
1. Tony Shaloub! Tortured Tony Shaloub.
2. Literally tortured Tony Shaloub—that ending of him stuck in the testing lab was so bleak and unsettling. So many stories about people with super powers evoke the trope "if people find out what you can do, scientists will turn you into a lab rat!" This was the most creepy and visceral response to that I've seen.
3. The whole thing of the shadow making it seem like people are falling through the floor. Such a cool visualization for being so understated and uncanny, so much better than some fancy and expensive particle effects showing them dissolve as they scream or whatever.
4. A shadow does not extend into a room through the space under the door!! I'm fine with a shadow vaporizing people, but that shadow has to behave according to the laws of shadows!! I am not a crackpot.
posted by ejs at 5:19 PM on April 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
I liked the Tooms reference Mulder and Scully made when Scully asks about the air vent in the hotel room. Of course their experience with past cases will become part of their frame of reference when assessing new cases, and it was nice to have that acknowledged.
Morley Tobacco seems to have a really terrible corporate culture.
Tony Shalhoub was terrific, as he always is. But why would his character hang out in a bus station? Surely he's safer at home by himself.
I always find it a bit strange when X appears in non-mythology arc episode. Exactly how many pies does the guy have his finger in?
posted by orange swan at 5:38 PM on April 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
Morley Tobacco seems to have a really terrible corporate culture.
Tony Shalhoub was terrific, as he always is. But why would his character hang out in a bus station? Surely he's safer at home by himself.
I always find it a bit strange when X appears in non-mythology arc episode. Exactly how many pies does the guy have his finger in?
posted by orange swan at 5:38 PM on April 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
But why would his character hang out in a bus station?
My feel was that he didn't want to hang out at home/ family - because he'll inevitably fry people he cares about. As for self-quarantine-ing, well, look at how people are dealing with that under secondary/ tertiary implications.
The "train station" was clearly 'Waterfront Station' in Vancouver (with maybe a shot or two of the CPR Station) - it was never ever that empty (except, perhaps now with the Covid lockdown, since 1995). It's a nexus downtown between a skytrain (light rail) line, the seabus (ferry line), the West Coast Express (a high speed rail line), and a number of trolley and traditional buses (single and articulated - they've been experimenting with double deckers, too, recently).
Surprisingly, not changed so much. iirc, there was a shot of the 'Marine Building' and that exterior has not changed at all for 50-70 years.
--
My take on CSM in the early seasons - he has his fingers in pretty much every pie, and it's because he was involved in making them pies instead of failed bakery projects.
I figure this was what people thought "deep state" referred to, rather than the Donald Trump re-invention that there is a deeply flawed/ stupid idea that "deep state" that what is trying to keep the Cheeto from doing harm to the world.
posted by porpoise at 9:32 PM on April 14, 2020
My feel was that he didn't want to hang out at home/ family - because he'll inevitably fry people he cares about. As for self-quarantine-ing, well, look at how people are dealing with that under secondary/ tertiary implications.
The "train station" was clearly 'Waterfront Station' in Vancouver (with maybe a shot or two of the CPR Station) - it was never ever that empty (except, perhaps now with the Covid lockdown, since 1995). It's a nexus downtown between a skytrain (light rail) line, the seabus (ferry line), the West Coast Express (a high speed rail line), and a number of trolley and traditional buses (single and articulated - they've been experimenting with double deckers, too, recently).
Surprisingly, not changed so much. iirc, there was a shot of the 'Marine Building' and that exterior has not changed at all for 50-70 years.
--
My take on CSM in the early seasons - he has his fingers in pretty much every pie, and it's because he was involved in making them pies instead of failed bakery projects.
I figure this was what people thought "deep state" referred to, rather than the Donald Trump re-invention that there is a deeply flawed/ stupid idea that "deep state" that what is trying to keep the Cheeto from doing harm to the world.
posted by porpoise at 9:32 PM on April 14, 2020
My feel was that he didn't want to hang out at home/ family - because he'll inevitably fry people he cares about.
I did think of that, but the thing was, there was absolutely no mention of any partner/family at any point in the episode, and he definitely had the vibe of a guy who lived for his work.
posted by orange swan at 10:26 AM on April 16, 2020
I did think of that, but the thing was, there was absolutely no mention of any partner/family at any point in the episode, and he definitely had the vibe of a guy who lived for his work.
posted by orange swan at 10:26 AM on April 16, 2020
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It (sunglass styles) Gets Better.
I don't know why extraterrestrial life and unexplained psychic abilities don't bother me, but when they start using non-science fantasy to explain a phenomena it feels like it cheapens the show.
Scully Running in Heals (SRiH)
posted by porpoise at 10:02 AM on April 14, 2020 [1 favorite]