AIR DATE:  May 9, 1999
Teleplay by Vince Gilligan and John Shiban
Story by Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Kim Manners

	"Field Trip" would have been a decent episode expect for the fact
that it was another in a long line of episodes from this season where 90%
of what we see on the screen didn't really happen.  This would have been
fine if we hadn't had so many like it this season and I couldn't help
thinking how "Field Trip" would have been a good 4th or 5th season
episode.  Can't the writers and producers think of any new ideas beyond
"it didn't really happen" episodes though it shouldn't surprise me since
they did the old alien popping out of the stomach and secretly invading
Earth routine (I sometimes wonder what makes us so special that every
alien race wants to take us over?) Why are they afraid to move the story
and relationship along?  I can't help feeling from this episode that they
don't know which direction to go in the show. 

	What was the point of the episode?  If it was to show us how
Scully and Mulder would react to each other in different situations then
it failed because it was never made clear who was controlling the actual
imagination.  Was it the plant thing putting all these things in their
minds from their deep subconscious or was it just using recent things they
said to each other?  Also, to top it off it was never made clear whether
the last scene was real or whether Scully and Mulder were still
halucinating.  By some miracle Skinner and a search team happened to be
searching for them wearing face masks and Scully and Mulder are put into
an ambulance without a paramedic going with them or even having anyone
really look them over.  It seemed as if writers Vince Gilligan and John
Shiban didn't know how to end the episode so they just ended it without
any follow-up.  Compare "Field Trip"  to 1st season X-Files episode
"Darkness Falls" where I kept wondering how they were going to get out of
the forest and it ends with Scully and Mulder barely making it out alive
and we had a nice follow-up scene of Mulder and Scully in the hospital
where we see Mulder's regret for taking Scully into the woods.  This sure
would have been nice to have in "Field Trip" because I was wondering
throughout, such as I did in "Darkness Falls", how they were going to get
out and the ending seemed a bit of a cop-out. 

	Now a few comments on "Field Trip" though it is hard to comment on
something when most of it didn't happen: 

- Always good seeing the old slide projector make an appearance and it was
a nice touch having Mulder realize he doesn't have a screen anymore so he
is stuck using the wall.  As a matter of fact, this was the best part of
the episode because it appeared to really happen and there was a sense of
excitement in Mulder's voice and reaction to the case.  Mulder finally
said what we have been waiting for when he tells Scully when has he ever
been wrong and Scully tells him don't aliens have anything else better to
do then to buzz the same mountain for over 700 years.  The only problem is
that this is something Mulder should have said 2 or 3 seasons ago.  After
his little speech in "Fight the Future" where he tells Scully it was her
constant scientific reasoning that helped save him then it is hard to
believe he would be asking Scully to give him some slack.  Of course, who
knows if even this scene in Mulder's office was real and the plant thing
was using something Mulder's been wanting to say to Scully for years.  One
of those things you think but never would say.

- One would think Mulder would know better by now not to go sticking his
bare hands into green gooey stuff because it only leads to trouble.  Why
hasn't Scully taught him yet of the importance of having a handy pair of
latex gloves on you?  At least he didn't forget to have his trusty
flashlight with him when we see him take one out of his back pocket before
entering the cave.

- This will teach Scully and Mulder not to destroy Mother Nature when they
both trashed a few mushrooms.  One might say it is nature's revenge to
human destruction of their habitat when it decides to eat Scully and
Mulder.  I have to say those had to be some powerful spores the mushrooms
throw out into the air since Mulder ran it over with his car and it
appeared the spores had already dissipated by the time he got out of the
car. 

- At least they gave Scully and Mulder some brains in this episode when
the plant thing couldn't trick them for too long because the plant thing
would always get it slightly wrong from having Mulder finding a gray alien
who told him everything to everyone believing Mulder was killed in a
ritual way.  The best scene was when Mulder shot Skinner 3 times and we
see green goo come out of him.  What better way to prove none of it is
real then to shoot your boss.


	In the end none of this matters because none of it happened so why
should we care if in one incident Mulder abducts an alien or is found dead
and we see how Scully deals with it.  The reason why none of it matters is
because in order for either Scully or Mulder to figure out none of this is
real one of them has to act slightly out of character so the other can
pick up on it so hence we don't get a true reaction to imagine scenery. 


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

5/11/99

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