ALONE

AIR DATE: May 6 , 2001
Written by Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Frank Spotnitz

        "Alone" was neither good nor bad it was an episode of those that was trying to be tongue in cheek and serious at the same time. It was tongue in cheek in the eager beaver Agent Harrison who processed too many X-Files purchasing orders and serious in the scenes between Doggett and Scully with Scully going on maternal leave. Ultimately there wasn’t much to this episode except trying to set it up for Scully, hence Gillian Anderson, to leave the show and if she does leave to take care of the baby at least it will make more sense than the mess that was Mulder going missing. I want to write a deep analysis of this episode, but I’m stuck on what to write since "Alone" seems to be in a holding pattern till we get to the good stuff in the next two episodes. Basically, we see Scully packing up her things from her desk and she gives the birthday present Mulder gave her of the Apollo 11 key chain to symbolize how she sees Doggett as being her partner. This scene unfortunately gives us one of the most painful lines I’ve ever heard when Scully tells Doggett she wouldn’t be here (i.e. the X-Files) if it wasn’t for him. The line would have worked if only they had any real chemistry together that Scully and Mulder had, but for me I never felt there was a bond of trust between them. The rest of the episode had Doggett and his eager beaver new partner going after lizard man and Mulder coming to the rescue. The thing of putting Doggett and Harrison in danger is we know they aren’t in any danger except Harrison, but I always felt it was remote so there wasn’t any real suspense to any of it. What of the next time Doggett says it isn’t possible after he saw a man having the ability to turn into a giant lizard. It will just make it unbelievable.

        Comments on "Alone":

• I would like to meet this doctor Scully trusts with her pregnancy since every other doctor we have seen dealing with her health has always been a part of the conspiracy.

• It was good seeing Agent Harrison trying to be Scully by having that big pocketbook just like Scully had in the first X-Files episode. Also, how much detail did Scully and Mulder put in their reimbursement reports that Harrison would have every case memorized. Oh yeah, was she supposed to be us, the fans, and how we would react if we were put in an actual X-Files. Would we keep on mentioning old cases and just not be able to deal with it?

• We did get the best scene in a long time in this episode when ultimate X-Files fan Agent Harrison asked Scully and Mulder how they got out of Antarctica when they had no way out. Something X-Files fans have been wondering for a longtime and we get some nice banter between Scully and Mulder about whether there was a space ship or not that left Antarctica.

• I want to know who reported finding the body of the old man, Arien Sacks. It sure couldn’t have been Herman Stites since it would be in his best interest for the police to not come out on his land. Why weren’t the police questioning Stites or searching around his house since the murder took place on his property? It’s no wonder they couldn’t find Doggett since they couldn’t find that big house in the woods.

• I see Doggett has gone to the Scully and Mulder school of no search warrant when he just walks into Stites house. Good thing he didn’t find any evidence because I’m fairly sure any decent lawyer could get the evidence thrown out of court as evidence gathered during an illegal search.

• So how long was Doggett unconscious in the old wine cellar after he fell into it. He had to be out for a long time for the other police officers to notice him missing and to get a search party going. If Doggett was down there for a long time why didn’t lizard man take care of him sooner.

• Once again Doggett went to the Scully and Mulder school of always being prepared when he took out his flashlight.

• I think we should have a moratorium of any shots of Doggett looking over his shoulder. I think in this episode alone we got 5 or 6.

• It is kind of scary the only time Doggett can shoot straight is when he is nearly blind.

• It was good to see Mulder hasn’t change completely when he leaves Scully hanging when he goes after Doggett and Harrison without telling Scully what he is up to.

• Things you ponder when you get bored. What happened to Stites’ clothes when he changed over to lizard man. I will admit it never occurred to me Stites would be the lizard man. I thought he would be the other type of Mad Scientist who created a lizard man who he kept trapped in the wine cellar not the Mad Scientist who does the experiment on himself.

        "Alone" seems to be telling us even though Scully considers Doggett her partner it will never be the same as it was with Mulder. Mulder and Scully had something a Doggett and Scully partnership cannot have and that is the problem. We need to feel that same level of trust and until we do it will always be hard to believe either Doggett or Scully when they go on about their partnership.

Claudia

E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

05/08/01

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