AIR DATE:  November 23, 1997
Written by Frank Spotnitz
Directed by  Brett Dowler

	You would think by now Scully would know better than to follow
Mulder into the woods.  She gets a rifle butt in the face in the pilot
episode, she almost gets killed by a bunch of killer bugs in "Darkness
Falls", she almost gets killed by some volcano spurs in "Firewalker",
Queequeq gets killed in the woods of Georgia in "Quagmire" and now in
"Detour" she almost gets killed by a 450 year old Treeman (I don't know
what else to call them.  Dirtmen?  Mothmen? Tickmen?). It isn't any wonder
that Scully didn't seem too happy throughout the episode with the thought
of another trek into the woods with Mulder.  "Detour" is one of those
X-Files episodes where Scully and Mulder go out and chase a monster and
one of them gets beat up from said monster then in the end they are the
only ones left alive, and it almost appears as if they killed the monster. 
Remind me to never go into the woods with Scully and Mulder.  Actually
"Detour" was pretty good in this X-Files genre type episode though the
monster wasn't as memorable as Tooms and Flukeman were, but "Detour"
wasn't as dull as last season's "Teliko".

	"Detour" basically was about these 450 year old creatures who were
awakened from their slumber by a surveying crew who were surveying the
area for the latest Florida development.  Lucky for everyone Mulder and
Scully came by or else who knows what would have happened.  Actually it
was just Mulder who wanted to check it out since Scully didn't seem
enthusiastic about going on another one of Mulder's goose chases.  Also, I
don't think it would have mattered one way or another if Mulder or Scully
were there to stop the Treemen because I think eventually the Treemen
would have been found and killed.  So we have a story where Scully and
Mulder didn't really matter in catching the monster, but it did have its
moments.  The best part was how uninterested Scully was in all of this.  I
guess being stuck in the car with those two chirpy agents can wear you
down so that nothing seems exciting or she really wanted to go to the
conference for a change of pace and was slightly annoy that Mulder was
sticking his nose into something he shouldn't be.  The look on Scully's
face when Mulder got out of the car was "here we go again", but Scully
never once said anything to Mulder though she gave enough hints to say
they are wasting their time on this case, i.e., let the local authorities
handle it.  What loyalty she has towards Mulder.  At least he got hurt
this time (which always makes an episode for me if Mulder gets hurts) and
she got to show her wonderful singing voice to Mulder. 

	Some random comments on "Detour":

- Agent Kinsley and Stonecypher were evil opposites of Mulder and Scully. 
They were chirpy, happy and all around annoying whereas Mulder and Scully
are dark, don't exactly have a happy life and not annoying to us, but to
everyone else.  We got a brief look into how Mulder and Scully could be
together as agents if they didn't have all those bad happenings. Now this
is scary.  Oh yeah, I thought for sure Kinsley and Stonecypher had red
shirt written all over them.  Guess I picked the wrong people for that to
happen to. 

- Why were Kinsley and Stonecypher out there with the search and rescue
team?  Didn't they go off to the conference?  Were they heading back to
pick up Scully and Mulder and found out they hadn't reported in?  Boy,
that was sure one short conference.  It must have lasted one day.  Anyone
else get the feeling that Kinsley and Stonecypher did all the talking
during the trip while Scully and Mulder sat quietly in the back.  How did
Kinsley get Mulder to let him do the driving?  Now there is an X-File. 

- I'm still trying to figure exactly why Mulder went off to the Asekoff's
house.  Somehow I can't see Mrs. Asekoff having much information on the
recent housing project development going on in town.  It was late for
Mulder to be heading off to the Asekoff's house.  Hey, just because you
can't sleep ,Mulder, doesn't mean everyone else can't. 

- Those Treemen were sure smart people.  Even though they lived in the
woods for over 450 years they knew how to work a deadbolt.  Oh yeah, the
explanation Mulder gives for why the Treemen went after Louis Asekoff I
vote for as one of his lamest explanation for why things happened in an
episode.  Mulder's reasoning for this is the Treemen would go after anyone
who has been in the woods so does this include the whole search and rescue
team.  Isn't it more dangerous for the Treemen to go out and expose
themselves by going to the Asekoff's house?  All I could think of was
writer Frank Spotnitz thinking he would have to give some kind of
explanation for the Treemen doing this so we internet nuts don't spend the
next week arguing why.  Heck, I think that the whole point of Mulder
explaining everything to Agent Kinsley at the end was to try and keep us
quiet on the plot inconsistencies. 

- The local citizens must be working hard to keep any cellular towers out
of their town since Mulder and Scully couldn't conveniently use their
cellular phones in the woods.  I guess this was done to prevent the great
why didn't they take their cellular phones debates we had when "Darkness
Falls" was first broadcast.  Hey, now we know why they didn't light a fire
in "Darkness Falls".  They just didn't know how to light one out in the
woods.

- Scully and Mulder pack for everything.  Even though they were only going
to an F.B.I. conference they had packed hiking boots and the right kind of
clothes for their little hike into the woods. 

- Does anyone else find it hard to imagine Mulder and his father ever
going into the woods as Indian guides?  Somehow I never saw his father
ever doing anything with him.  Must have been pre-Samantha being taken. 

- I did like how Duchovny's hair occasionally went from being wet on the
top of his head to being nice and blow dried.  Check out the scene where
he is running toward Scully after Michele Fazekas (the search and rescue
woman) has disappeared.  While he is running it is wet but by the time he
gets to Scully it is dry.

- I should thank Scully for finally explaining to me why in the middle of
December my cat can come into the house with a tick attached to him. 

- Frank Spotnitz made a nice attempt to get Scully to talk to Mulder about
her near death from cancer, but it was done better by Howard Gordon and
Alex Gansa in the second season episode "Dod Kalm".  In "Dod Kalm" she
talks about how after her near death in "One Breath" she wasn't afraid of
death and Mulder said he never imagined he would die as he was about to
die.  Whereas in "Detour" she talks more about her anger toward it and
having to fight that anger to beat the cancer.  It was a good speech, but
didn't have the same impact as it did in "Dod Kalm".  Maybe this is
because in "Dod Kalm" they were closer to death than they were in "Detour" 
so without that immediate threat of death it lost its impact.

- My favorite line was Scully saying, "there has to be a scientific
explanation for this" after she sees who or what she had killed.  Even for
something this weird she never stops believing in science to explain it,
and I got a feeling Treeman will be determined to be a freak of nature.
Isn't it strange Mulder and Scully wouldn't hang around a little bit
longer to examine the body? 

- Agent Kinsley saying to Mulder that he can now work this case as if it
were an X-File so Mulder can get the bureau to pay for the motel stay was
so true as to how someone would think to get the company to foot the bill.
Also, this shows how Agent Kinsley saw Mulder as a regular F.B.I. agent
who happens to investigates strange cases that can't be solved though I
think Mulder would have prefer the type of agent who can't stand him so he
could mess with them during the trip. 

	"Detour" was one of those X-Files episodes where Scully and Mulder
get themselves into a situation where they are stuck somewhere in the
middle of nowhere with an unknown enemy.  It never gave me the thrills or
suspense as "Darkness Falls" and "Dod Kalm" did in making me wonder how
they are going to get out of their situation.  There were some good Scully
and Mulder moments in "Detour" though nothing much happens in the episode,
and to you the truth sometimes that isn't such a bad thing. 

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

11/24/97

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