The X-Files: Without (Part 2/2) Rewatch
August 8, 2020 8:55 PM - Season 8, Episode 2 - Subscribe
While searching for Gibson Praise, Scully, Skinner, and Doggett encounter the Alien Bounty Hunter.
special alien stiletto
Plam. It's called a plam.
posted by acrasis at 10:27 AM on August 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Plam. It's called a plam.
posted by acrasis at 10:27 AM on August 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Wait, you don't need a special alien stiletto and a bullet will do?
Yes, I think it's always been that way. The back of the neck just needs to be deeply pierced, and it doesn't matter by what.
I commented in the last episode thread that Duchovny gave good mean face, but I really am impressed with his performance of ABH-as-Mulder. He really gives the impression of someone completely alien to Mulder (see what I did there) with just his face: someone ruthless, off-putting, and unattractive.
That dislocated arm of ABH-as-Mulder was a particularly convincing special effect.
Doggett may not be at all a replacement for Mulder, but he does bring something of his own to the show. It's all in the names: the Fox and the Dog. Doggett doesn't have Mulder's agile intelligence or his fine education or his long experience with searching for the truth in a bizarre underground subset of reality. He's a cop, and while he's seen some shit it was all normal, regular-type shit. But he's also an honest, conscientious, determined person who cares about truth and justice and when he sees things he can't explain his reaction is to say, "What the fuck was that," and then to set to work using his considerable procedural skills trying to find out exactly what the fuck that was.
It was a good thing after all that Skinner insisted on going to Gibson Praise's hidey hole with Scully. He could carry Gibson with ease, something I don't think Scully could have managed on her own.
Man, did I hate seeing Scully hurtle through the air and hitting that glass wall.
posted by orange swan at 5:46 PM on August 10, 2020
Yes, I think it's always been that way. The back of the neck just needs to be deeply pierced, and it doesn't matter by what.
I commented in the last episode thread that Duchovny gave good mean face, but I really am impressed with his performance of ABH-as-Mulder. He really gives the impression of someone completely alien to Mulder (see what I did there) with just his face: someone ruthless, off-putting, and unattractive.
That dislocated arm of ABH-as-Mulder was a particularly convincing special effect.
Doggett may not be at all a replacement for Mulder, but he does bring something of his own to the show. It's all in the names: the Fox and the Dog. Doggett doesn't have Mulder's agile intelligence or his fine education or his long experience with searching for the truth in a bizarre underground subset of reality. He's a cop, and while he's seen some shit it was all normal, regular-type shit. But he's also an honest, conscientious, determined person who cares about truth and justice and when he sees things he can't explain his reaction is to say, "What the fuck was that," and then to set to work using his considerable procedural skills trying to find out exactly what the fuck that was.
It was a good thing after all that Skinner insisted on going to Gibson Praise's hidey hole with Scully. He could carry Gibson with ease, something I don't think Scully could have managed on her own.
Man, did I hate seeing Scully hurtle through the air and hitting that glass wall.
posted by orange swan at 5:46 PM on August 10, 2020
Huh, ok. I always thought that there was something special about the alloy that the stiletto was made from, but whatevs. The design of the stiletto has always been stupid. The physical nature of the "week spot" is never disclosed, so "optimal weapons design" is limited to seeing what is/ is not effective.
Depending on how miniaturized the aliens could get their antigrav tech, the most effective weapon would be a mini ufo, like, usb-drive sized, that you move around like a reusable bullet.
But even limited to low tech assassination-style weapons, the design of the alien stiletto is dumb.
Duchovny's face - yeah, doing the thing with the eyes (squinting) and especially the jaw (jutting, both forward and to the sides) to evoke Brian Thompson's physical looks was spot on.
I never could tell if the dislocated/ broken arm effect was a physical-as-in-'The Amazing Maleeni,' a physical prop, or a CG effect.
As noted next thread, I like Robert Patrick in the role and he absolutely sells the smart thinks-for-himself boyscout. He knows that he's intellectually and physically competent, and acknowledges the limitations of his abilities and doesn't need to "flex" or engage in toxic behaviour.
He's kind of like a young Scully but instead of relying on Science, he relies on integrity and "gut." A lot of "I trust my gut" lacks that integrity component.
I hate that Gibson was drawn back into the whole conspiracy thing. Looked like he had a best-of-a-crappy-situation with a possible girlfriend and hiding out with people who don't have a compulsion to babble and might have deeper inner lives due to not being able to just babble.
posted by porpoise at 6:48 PM on August 10, 2020
Depending on how miniaturized the aliens could get their antigrav tech, the most effective weapon would be a mini ufo, like, usb-drive sized, that you move around like a reusable bullet.
But even limited to low tech assassination-style weapons, the design of the alien stiletto is dumb.
Duchovny's face - yeah, doing the thing with the eyes (squinting) and especially the jaw (jutting, both forward and to the sides) to evoke Brian Thompson's physical looks was spot on.
I never could tell if the dislocated/ broken arm effect was a physical-as-in-'The Amazing Maleeni,' a physical prop, or a CG effect.
As noted next thread, I like Robert Patrick in the role and he absolutely sells the smart thinks-for-himself boyscout. He knows that he's intellectually and physically competent, and acknowledges the limitations of his abilities and doesn't need to "flex" or engage in toxic behaviour.
He's kind of like a young Scully but instead of relying on Science, he relies on integrity and "gut." A lot of "I trust my gut" lacks that integrity component.
I hate that Gibson was drawn back into the whole conspiracy thing. Looked like he had a best-of-a-crappy-situation with a possible girlfriend and hiding out with people who don't have a compulsion to babble and might have deeper inner lives due to not being able to just babble.
posted by porpoise at 6:48 PM on August 10, 2020
He's kind of like a young Scully
Yes, when Doggett seeks an explanation for something, he relies on police work in the same way as Scully relies on her medical training. And he's not intellectually lazy or careless. If a theory doesn't fit the facts, he keeps looking for answers. I'm afraid that in my comment above I may have left the impression that I think Doggett is less intelligent than Mulder. I don't think that -- I just think he has a different kind of intelligence. Doggett's intelligence is a more straightforward kind than Mulders, but not in a facile way.
I was also noticing at the end after Scully's been thrown against the wall, when he lifts and holds Scully, it's not at all in the caring, intimate way Mulder would have done it. It's impersonal and professional. One can easily imagine him behaving exactly the same way to a wounded male agent.
posted by orange swan at 8:02 PM on August 10, 2020
Yes, when Doggett seeks an explanation for something, he relies on police work in the same way as Scully relies on her medical training. And he's not intellectually lazy or careless. If a theory doesn't fit the facts, he keeps looking for answers. I'm afraid that in my comment above I may have left the impression that I think Doggett is less intelligent than Mulder. I don't think that -- I just think he has a different kind of intelligence. Doggett's intelligence is a more straightforward kind than Mulders, but not in a facile way.
I was also noticing at the end after Scully's been thrown against the wall, when he lifts and holds Scully, it's not at all in the caring, intimate way Mulder would have done it. It's impersonal and professional. One can easily imagine him behaving exactly the same way to a wounded male agent.
posted by orange swan at 8:02 PM on August 10, 2020
No such impression made, it was purely my own experiences with people who looked like that in similar positions of authority.
I'm just a little amazed that Patrick managed to convey that Doggett is actually a decent dude - and will continue to be - so quickly and so authoritatively and without being unbelievable/ silly/ cheesy. And that he's dissimilar enough to Mulder and isn't remotely remotely ever taking over the role (because Scully just took it).
Apparently Anderson did a lot of the fight stunts in 'Paper Hearts' where she was thrown around lots by the almost 2m tall Tom Noonan (but she didn't sound like she particularly enjoyed it). I wonder if it was Anderson or her double/ stunt, here? Arlene Pileggi is Anderson's stand in, there must be a bunch of other stunt doubles.
Details like that, yeah totally. Doggett is treating Scully like any other member of a fireteam, and will expect the same sentiment back from them.
In this day and age, someone in a position that Doggett is in, who does trust his lying eyes - shit - that's topical as hell.
I have no problems with the character. But his pushups counting later, probably has a strong influence on my fondness for him.
posted by porpoise at 9:14 PM on August 10, 2020
I'm just a little amazed that Patrick managed to convey that Doggett is actually a decent dude - and will continue to be - so quickly and so authoritatively and without being unbelievable/ silly/ cheesy. And that he's dissimilar enough to Mulder and isn't remotely remotely ever taking over the role (because Scully just took it).
Apparently Anderson did a lot of the fight stunts in 'Paper Hearts' where she was thrown around lots by the almost 2m tall Tom Noonan (but she didn't sound like she particularly enjoyed it). I wonder if it was Anderson or her double/ stunt, here? Arlene Pileggi is Anderson's stand in, there must be a bunch of other stunt doubles.
Details like that, yeah totally. Doggett is treating Scully like any other member of a fireteam, and will expect the same sentiment back from them.
In this day and age, someone in a position that Doggett is in, who does trust his lying eyes - shit - that's topical as hell.
I have no problems with the character. But his pushups counting later, probably has a strong influence on my fondness for him.
posted by porpoise at 9:14 PM on August 10, 2020
And I'm an ACAB, but Doggett comes across as being fair - on both the letter and spirit of laws.
posted by porpoise at 9:18 PM on August 10, 2020
posted by porpoise at 9:18 PM on August 10, 2020
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Wait, you don't need a special alien stiletto and a bullet will do?
posted by porpoise at 12:27 AM on August 9, 2020