AIR DATE:  November 3, 1995
Written by Jeffrey Vlaming
Directed by David Nutter

	"2Shy" had to be one of the slowest moving X-Files in a longtime. 
It seemed to be moving at a snail's pace even though everything took place
within a two or three day period.  Maybe it was because it seemed as if we
had seen all this before and we were just waiting for the inevitable
conclusion where Scully and Mulder face the killer alone.  Once again it
was one of those episodes that was alright, but not exactly anything to
get too excited about.

	The basic premise of this episode is that Virgil Incanto has a
physical problem where he needs to eat body fat or he ends up looking like
a cooked lobster.  I usually don't care about the details of these things,
but with the Tooms episodes being repeated tonight it made me think how
uninteresting a villain Virgil was.  Tooms killed his victims because he
needed the liver's nutrients so that he could hibernate.  It was how Tooms
killed his victims that was scary and menacing, making him a fascinating
character since he got to his victims by squeezing through things a normal
person wouldn't be able to, and by doing so it created a sense of
helplessness on our part because it gives one the sense nasty things could
come out of the cracks.  Virgil on the other hand kept to himself, seduced
women via an online board and then he sucked their guts out.  HoHum,
nothing too menacing about that since it would be quite easy for people to
avoid him and it seemed like there had to be an easier way for him to find
his victims than the long process of chatting with women online.  Of
course, we could say he was lonely and needed companionship himself
through the net. 

	I had a bad feeling about this episode even before I watched it
when I first heard part of the plot was that the serial killer was
contacting these women via an online chatline.  Here we go again with the
internet and online communcation taking the heat where predators can come
out and get you though with "2shy" it was used more as a plot convenience
than showing it as a menace to society.  It most likely wouldn't have been
as bad if every other show hadn't been using these internet type plots in
their shows lately.  Oh well, I shouldn't really criticize them on this
since last year every other show it seemed had a nasty virus on them and
"F Emasculata" was one of my favorite episodes last year.

	Did anyone else out there laugh when you saw the blind girl who
happened to be the landlady's daughter who happened to be the woman who
was bugging Virgil to read her poetry?  When the landlady asked him if he
could read her poetry the first thing that came to my mind was plot
device.  Who didn't think she was road meat after Virgil told her to put
her poems under his door creating a reason for her to go into the
apartment?  The blind daughter saying she could smell her mother's perfume
in Virgil's room so she knew he was lying, yuck, another part of the plot
device to have her blind so she would have that extra ability to smell.  I
know this stuff is done all the time, but the blind girl really bugged me
as unnecessary.  The thing that came to my mind was the movie "M" where a
blind man was the one who was able to identify the child killer by
recognizing the song the killer would whistle before he killed his
victims.  "M" is an excellent creepy movie about a child killer the cops
can't locate and the city parents panicking over the safety of their
children. "2Shy" didn't even come close to "M"'s creepy, disturbing
feeling of vulnerability of being afraid of the stranger you might meet.

	What was the point of having Scully having to deal with sexism
suddenly from another police officer?  It seemed to be something that came
out of the blue, considering Scully has had to deal with hick sheriffs who
treated her with more respect than a seasoned police officer.  It can be
assumed that she had to deal with it in the past, but since we've never
seen it before it appeared so out of place.  Or was it used as a subplot
to show the irony that after Cross tells Scully he doesn't think women are
physically able to handle cases like this he is the one to be overpowered
and killed by Virgil.  A little message to show us to never assume that
only men can handle certain types of jobs.  Scully did handle herself
fairly well with Det. Cross and by having Cross be straight with Scully on
his problems with women cops it showed that he is conscious of his problem
and will try to not let it affect the case.  But let's just keep the
sexism inside police departments to the Prime Suspect series where it was
done much better and more realistically.
	
	Is it just me or did anyone else think there is no way Scully
would have been dumb enough to leave her gun behind on the floor even
though it appeared the suspect wasn't in the apartment?  It was great to
see Scully finally kick some butt when Virgil went after her, but it just
seemed contrived.  Also, it is hard to believe that Virgil could take down
Det. Cross or that Cross would have been so obvious when he saw Virgil
bandaged hand.  This gets down once again to the fact Virgil didn't seem
all that menacing or overpowering, and having the characters doing certain
actions just for plot convenience in order to put them in danger didn't
make Virgil seem any more dangerous. 

	The acting by the women didn't seem true to what their characters
were supposed to be feeling.  They were supposed to be acting with a lack
of self confidence, but their voices and body language didn't show the
lack of self confidence to make it completely believable.  The only female
who didn't seem this way was the first victim's roommate who we could see
that even though she was good looking she herself was lonely and looking
for the type of companionship that Virgil was offering.

	I don't want to make it seem that I'm completely criticizing this
episode because it did have it's moments.  Here are a few of the good
moments and general observations:

- Mulder half joking to Scully that this isn't going to be one of his
usually detailed insane theories when he explains to Scully he thinks the
killer is killing these women for their body fat.  Showing a
self-awareness on Mulder's part that even he knows he sometimes comes up
with crazy ideas. 

- Having Mulder think it was Virgil running away from Ellen's apartment
when in reality he was still in the apartment.  It had me think there at
first that it was Virgil until I remembered someone on the net mentioning
the shower scene, then I knew it couldn't be him.  It was a good logical
way to have Mulder leave Scully behind and in danger unlike certain
instances last season. 

- Once again the makers of X-Files are playing with the dates again. 
Let's see it was Sept. in "D.P.O." and now it's Aug. 29 in "2Shy".  I got
a feeling it is going to be near impossible to establish any type of time
line for this show.  It is just kind of funny how dates are throw around
without any thought on how they fit into previous episodes in this show
and other tv shows. 

- Where was Mulder's cellular phone?  Did he leave it behind in DC or did
props lose it?  It was weird when Mulder asked the roommate if he could
use her phone since we are so used to him taking out his cellular phone.
Maybe Mulder's been told his phone bill has been too high and he needs to
cut back or he will lose all use of the phone.

- The first victim's body melting away in the morgue with Scully finding
what remains of the body in a puddle of reddish goo.  Another one of those
things I didn't see coming. 

- Mulder getting the computer guy at the FBI office mad at him.  The best
part was when Mulder told him he needed the information sooner than the
computer guy said he could get it.  The look he gave Mulder and what he
said to Mulder basically told Mulder he'll get it "when I'm able to
retrieve the information and not any sooner so go off and chase your
aliens."  Most likely someone who knows old "Spooky" Mulder's reputation. 

	"2Shy" gets a grade of a C-, it didn't have the subtle humor of
"D.P.O" or the good interaction Scully and Mulder had in the "The List". 
What it did have was making Scully and Mulder a part of the action instead
of just observing as in other episodes, but it was still missing a
compelling and menacing villian in Virgil Incanto. 

	One good thing about Friday nights is whenever X-Files has a so-so
episode there is always "Homicide".  If anyone watched last night's
"Homicide" episode let me asked you this:  What is more frightening?  A
guy who sucks you to death or two teenagers who kill an old lady at a bus
stop then go home and get a kick out of watching the videotape they made
of it.


Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

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