AIR DATE:  October 4, 1996
Written by Chris Carter
Directed by R.W. Goodwin

	Well, I'm a little late in writing this so I'm going to make this
short and not get too deep into the meaning of everything that went on in
"Herrenvolk".  Also, to tell you the truth I'm still trying to figure out
what the hell went on in the episode, and why do I feel we are back to
square one. 

	In last season's premiere we ended with Mulder and Scully in
Melissa Scully's hospital room trying to comfort and understand everything
they have just learned, and this season we end somewhat in Mrs. (no first
name) Mulder's hospital room where Scully and Mulder try to comfort and
understand everything they have just learned about the conspiracy.  "Paper
Clip" we find out that a secret organization has been keeping medical
records of people through their smallpox vaccinations while in
"Herrenvolk" we learn that a secret organization has tagged people via
their smallpox vaccinations.  Also, as a bonus, Mulder goes to the farm
with Smith and sees a few droids that look like his sister, but we don't
really learn anymore about the farm or what its purpose for existing is
other than that they seem to be developing a new form of killer bees.  I
think the alien bounty hunter was right when he told Mulder he gives you
pieces, but not the full picture, which is how it has been for us the past
4 years.  Chris Carter continues to gives us different pieces, but nothing
to really put it all together, and to tell you the truth sometimes it gets
a little old.  Give us something or at least have Mulder and Scully win
one against the Cancerman and his gang. 

	Okay, I think I've done my complaining about the episode because
otherwise I thought it was a pretty good episode though it didn't have the
impact of "Paper Clip" or the excitement of the 2nd season premiere
"Little Green Men".  "Herrenvolk" was good overall in the execution of the
story and the action did move along though the warehouse chasing scene did
last a little too long.  The episode was a good conspiracy episode and we
get to see Mulder suffer some more because of his father's misdeeds which
is always one of my favorite parts of the show to see Mulder suffer and
get beat up.  One of the more interesting aspects of the show is family
history and how decisions by one member can affect the rest of the family
forever.  It is obvious that Ma and Pa Mulder knew that there was more to
Samantha's disappearance, but yet they allowed their son to believe he was
at fault for her disappearance.  In "Herrenvolk", Mulder gets deeply
emotional about his sister and mother, and there is nothing that distracts
Mulder more than bringing up his sister as we saw in "Colony/End Game". 
This is what makes the X-Files an interesting show.  The scene with Mulder
in the SRSG (can't quite remember the full title) office I thought was
moving since it showed Mulder at his weakest and most vulnerable with
Duchovny pulling it off just right to get the point across. 

	Now it is time for random thoughts and musings:

- Thank you Mr. Carter for giving me a little nightmare about bees. 
Nothing I'm more afraid of than bees. For some reason bees scare the hell
out of me, and if I was that telephone guy with a bee buzzing around me I
would have gotten off the damn pole as fast as possible.  What was the
deal with the bee in the first place, was it out for an afternoon fly and
decided to test drive its stinger, or was it a part of the experiment. 
Once again it is one of these things thrown at us without a full
explanation though this being the X-Files at least I can hope that
somewhere in the next year or so it will be brought up again.  This the
one good part about X-Files - they don't always throw something at us then
forget it was ever mention again for the rest of the series. 

- Coolest scene:  seeing Mr. X crawling on the hallway floor dragging
blood behind him to Mulder's apartment.  Not only was it kinda gross, but
it was creepy to see him write his last words in his own blood. 

- You know you would think Mr. X would know by now to be more careful when
he gets near Mulder's apartment elevator.  In "End Game" he's beat up by
Skinner and now in "Herrenvolk" he's killed by someone in the elevator. 
If he was still alive I would tell him next time take the stairs. 

- Funniest scene was Mulder telling Smith to follow him in the warehouse
when they were getting chased by the Alien Bounty Hunter.  Did Mulder
study the layout of the warehouse before he got there so he knew where
everything lead, and shouldn't it have been pitch dark in the warehouse? 
Okay, I'll let the over abundance of light as being tv darkness (we have
to see the characters), but I kept waiting for Smith to say to Mulder "how
the hell do you know any better way to get out than me."  Also, can anyone
remind me why Mulder had them meet him there in the first place since the
warehouse didn't seem to play a major role in the episode other than be a
backdrop for a long drawn out chase scene. 

- Second funniest scene was Mulder coming out Rambo like to stick the
metal thing into the back of Alien Bounty Hunter's neck.  He's just lucky
the Alien Bounty Hunter didn't step on him. 

- Poor Scully she's beat up by the Alien Bounty Hunter once again, and
abandoned by Mulder as he goes off with Smith.  If Mulder thought the
Alien Bounty Hunter was dead than there was no reason for him to take off
on the boat with Smith, and if Smith told him he didn't think he killed
the Alien Bounty Hunter than he should have gone back to help Scully since
he knew he was leaving her behind with him.  Lucky for Mulder the show
needs Scully alive otherwise she would have been killed by the Alien
Bounty Hunter.  I just found it unrealistic that Mulder would have left
Scully behind in the first place, but to keep the plot going it happened
this way, otherwise we wouldn't have had Scully figuring the smallpox
deal. 

- Agent Pendall is back and still love struck for our Agent Scully.  Great
scene having him straighten his tie when Scully came in and asked if he
was busy.  Yeah, right, that'll be the day. 

- Only in a tv show can a person be thrown hard against a truck and not
have one single broken bone. 

- We really learn the conspiracy is international now that we know they
have some kind of thing going in Canada.  I guess with the vast country
out there they figure no one would notice all these ageless kids by
themselves. 

- The bad acting Italian conspiracy guy is back, though thankfully only
for a brief appearance.  Oh yeah, wasn't it just cute how Cancerman was
holding Mrs. Mulder's hand, and then his initial reaction of shock when
the Italian conspiracy guy suggested they leave Mrs. Mulder unprotected in
their hopes of finding out who's leaking information to Mulder. 

- I have to admit it would have worked better for me if it was just the
Alien Bounty Hunter who decided to save Mrs. Mulder instead of the
Cancerman.  I did like how the Alien Bounty Hunter's face was still
bruised from the bee stings. 

- What do we all think was Mrs. Mulder's first thought when she came out
of the coma to find Cancerman standing over her?  Oh god, I don't have you
to thank for my life do I? 


	"Herrenvolk" was a fine beginning for the fourth season.  Once
again we have more questions than answers though some of them seemed to
have been asked last year.  What everything will mean is anyone's guess
and I'm not going to get into it since I will most likely be wrong.  At
least X-Files hasn't lost it's touch of confusing us while keeping us
entertained. 


Claudia

E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

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