The X-Files: Chimera Rewatch
July 31, 2020 8:42 PM - Season 7, Episode 16 - Subscribe
Skinner sends Mulder to Bethany, Vermont, after the daughter of a federal judge disappears from her home and the only clues are a broken mirror and four deep claw marks on a mantelpiece. Meanwhile Scully toughs it out on an uncomfortable stakeout and tries to figure out the connection between six missing prostitutes and a mystery blond woman who is seen entering clubs, but never leaving them.
I get an extra little bit of enjoyment out of this episode because my name is Bethany, and it makes me laugh when Sheriff Adderly tells Mulder, "Welcome to Bethany!"
Bethany also means "house of poverty", which is kind of apt for this episode (and for me as well, alack and alas), as both Martha and Ellen's homes, that look like they've come straight out of a decorating magazine (and in Martha's case, her house has), are actually a picture perfect front for betrayal and misery.
I'm not sure where Jenny gets off sneering at Ellen that she thinks she's so much better than everyone else when she's banging her husband. That woman had a cartoonishly large chip on her shoulder. She is a bit of a cartoonish version of a blue collar single mom. It pissed me off when she was talking to her kid on the phone, who from the way she was talking to them sounds too young to be left home alone, especially over night.
It's such a stretch that Phil Adderly would be running around with both Jenny and his wife's best friend. How does he even have time? Why would they put up with such a sleazy situation? I was about to make a comment about how it's like he wants to be caught, and then realized that he probably does. The guy doesn't want to be married to Ellen, and if he behaves spectacularly badly maybe Ellen will decide she doesn't want to stay married to him after all.
Ellen is one deeply repressed person. Good grief, woman, go read The Feminine Mystique! But while I think this is a pretty solid episode, I agree with The AV Club's take that Ellen's character/backstory could have done with more development.
I do admire Raven Lady, who is one of the best monsters this show ever created. She's just as terrifying in her way as Fluke Man. And strong too -- she tossed Mulder around like a doll.
Mulder: So you were having an affair with both Jenny and Martha Crittendon? I got to hand it to you, Sheriff. You put the service back into "protect and serve."
Ellen Adderly: Do you have a ... a significant other?
Mulder: Um, not in the widely understood definition of that term.
posted by orange swan at 4:15 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Bethany also means "house of poverty", which is kind of apt for this episode (and for me as well, alack and alas), as both Martha and Ellen's homes, that look like they've come straight out of a decorating magazine (and in Martha's case, her house has), are actually a picture perfect front for betrayal and misery.
I'm not sure where Jenny gets off sneering at Ellen that she thinks she's so much better than everyone else when she's banging her husband. That woman had a cartoonishly large chip on her shoulder. She is a bit of a cartoonish version of a blue collar single mom. It pissed me off when she was talking to her kid on the phone, who from the way she was talking to them sounds too young to be left home alone, especially over night.
It's such a stretch that Phil Adderly would be running around with both Jenny and his wife's best friend. How does he even have time? Why would they put up with such a sleazy situation? I was about to make a comment about how it's like he wants to be caught, and then realized that he probably does. The guy doesn't want to be married to Ellen, and if he behaves spectacularly badly maybe Ellen will decide she doesn't want to stay married to him after all.
Ellen is one deeply repressed person. Good grief, woman, go read The Feminine Mystique! But while I think this is a pretty solid episode, I agree with The AV Club's take that Ellen's character/backstory could have done with more development.
I do admire Raven Lady, who is one of the best monsters this show ever created. She's just as terrifying in her way as Fluke Man. And strong too -- she tossed Mulder around like a doll.
Mulder: So you were having an affair with both Jenny and Martha Crittendon? I got to hand it to you, Sheriff. You put the service back into "protect and serve."
Ellen Adderly: Do you have a ... a significant other?
Mulder: Um, not in the widely understood definition of that term.
posted by orange swan at 4:15 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
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Creepy tense episode. I wonder how they did the shattering glass effect?
Some of that good ol' 1990's transphobia again. Good times. /s To be fair, it was relatively mild.
The promise from some of the good non-mytharc, non-callback, general-audience approachable episodes like this probably teased enough to get the next couple of seasons funded.
posted by porpoise at 6:29 PM on August 1, 2020