The X-Files: D.P.O.   Rewatch 
April 18, 2020 8:27 PM - Season 3, Episode 3 - Subscribe

Mulder and Scully go to Connerville, Oklahoma, to investigate a statistically improbable spate of deaths by lightning strike.
posted by orange swan (3 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've liked a lot of Giovanni Ribisi's work, especially lately in 'Sneaky Pete.' He does menacing non-neurotypical well here. I wasn't paying attention, but was DPO's major cranial scar explained?

A young Jack Black. Karen Lorre, a playboy centerfold. A lot of competent running in heels.

Not sure how/ whether-or-not DPO could be kept from using his ability for nefarious purposes?

If DPO could manipulate ions/ electrons from a distance, it's very plausible that it could be done to call down lightning/ evoke an atmospheric electrical discharge. It's done in lightning research by launching a conductive wire into thunderclouds with dramatic effect. Sufficiently powerful lasers could achieve similar results.

Cute end title card (? 'Executive Producer Chris Carter') flourish.

Also kind of "cute" is the non-alien-sourced animal mutilations.

I remember how awesome 'Virtua Fighter' was, introducing a quasi 3D element to the Fighting Game genre.
posted by porpoise at 9:36 PM on April 18, 2020 [1 favorite]


Darren is a nasty, vindictive piece of work who uses his special ability to hurt people who've pissed him off and to wreak havoc for no reason, but I kept wondering whether it was even possible for him to use his control of lightning/electricity in a productive, positive way, or if he would have the intelligence/education to figure that out. Zero's best suggestion was that they go to Vegas and fuck things up for the people there.

DARREN: You were the only person that was ever nice to me. You know that? I mean .. Hey, you remember that first day in class when you wore that green dress with the yellow flowers on it? And when you stood in front of the window you could almost see through it?

Yep, good times, Darren. Yeah, yeah, he had a horrible mother, apparently no father, and he probably has undiagnosed issues, but you'd think he'd have a little more sense than he does.

I am not at all convinced that the authorities could manage to keep Darren safely locked up, but okay.

Speaking of Darren starting up the Taurus that was probably Mulder and Scully's car, I always get a little kick out of the fact that they so often drive a Ford Taurus in this show. My parents bought one in 1987 and it was our family car for about ten years after that, so it's a nostalgia thing for me. Sometimes they even drive one that's the same silvery blue as ours was, and looks just like it, though theirs would be a later model.
posted by orange swan at 12:52 PM on April 20, 2020 [1 favorite]


Having schooled with some people with various levels of autism, I'm not sure that Darren was born as a "bad egg" but rather that his anti-sociability is perhaps a response to being chronically mistreated.

His being super-creepy seems to be consistent with my observed behaviour from people on the spectrum who interpret expressions of toxic masculinity (and the prevalence of such behaviour being "rewarded") and who then adopt similar behaviour with even less discrimination/ introspection/ empathy in search of that "reward."

To disasterous results.

Still, the writing/ acting shows that he's fundamentally un-empathetic despite/ on-top-of cognitive (dis)abilities to understand social cues.

But, hey, 1995 and writers are people who were living in 1995.

Ah, the Ford Taurus. Objectively a model "car of the early-90s" (that's not an endorsement - so many things were wrong with car design/ decisions until the late 90's ate up the dinosaurs) so of course the US gov would prop it up.
posted by porpoise at 10:29 PM on April 21, 2020


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