JE' SOUHAITE

AIR DATE: May 14, 2000
Written by Vince Gilligan
Directed by Vince Gilligan

        "Je’ Souhaite" was pretty good when it was a "Twilight Zone" episode and it was even funnier when it was a movie called "Bedazzled". "Je’ Souhaite" has the problem of following two light episodes when what we really wanted was some DRAMA. With only 2 episodes left we are given another light episode. Gee, can’t these guys write anything serious (though when they tried to write drama this season they failed). This story is as old as the sun about someone’s wishes going awry so it would have been nice to have a new twist to it instead of a plot that is fairly predictable. Who didn’t guess Mulder’s last wish would be to give Jenn her freedom from having to grant wishes or that his first wish would go wrong. It would have been funnier and interesting if Mulder wished for something more original than "Peace on Earth" such as wishing something to do with the conspiracy. Imagine where the writers could have gone with that, heck the last half hour could have been Mulder finding out what a disaster this wish ended up being. But no, we go for the old cliché of world peace. Ho hum, at least in the movie "Bedazzled" we had unique twists to the wishes where Dudley Moore’s character makes a deal with the devil for his soul and he gets ,I believe, 7 wishes and each one goes wrong from being turned into a fly to becoming a nun. Now that’s funny.

        This isn’t to say "Je’ Souhaite" didn’t have its moments. The best was seeing the Genie having to deal with 500 years of stupid wishes made by people. Especially when she tries to tell the Stokes’ brothers they can wish Leslie Stokes the ability to walk again. Or when Anson gives his last wish to become invisible on command she looks in disdain as if she hadn’t heard that one before. Let’s face it, there is no way anyone can cover everything in a wish so there is no way a wish can’t get messed up. From Anson forgetting to say to make things he is wearing invisible, to Mulder getting peace on earth by having everyone disappear from the face of the earth. 500 years of this would make anyone jaded and make people pay for their wishes.

        Now some miscellaneous comments on "Je’ Souhaite":

-  Favorite comeback was the Storage Manager to Anson when Anson says a monkey could do his job and the Storage Manager comes back with, "What does that say about you?"

-  The way Anson found the body would be a good way for a murdered body on "Law and Order" to be found.

-  Good special effects on Storage Manager’s mouth after his surgery to reopen his mouth.

-  Favorite bit was Leslie Stokes acting nervous when Scully and Mulder came around asking questions. He really did act like one of those dumb crooks who gets caught because they can’t keep a straight face.

-  Old Jenn sure knew how to hit it on the button when she said Anson’s boat is a big waste of time.

-  Who didn’t guess Anson would be hit by a car the second he became invisible? Even though I shouldn’t have found this funny I sure did get a chuckle when that kid on the bike flipped over when he hit Anson’s dead invisible body.

-  Okay, explain to me why Scully was doing an autopsy on Anson’s body since no one knew who it was when the body was first brought in. Did the local P.D. hear Scully and Mulder were in town and thought this would be related to their case? How exactly did they I.D. the body since they couldn’t take x-rays of his invisible teeth? Maybe Scully was able to take a mold of his teeth. How much of that yellow powder did they have in that autopsy office?

-  Did we really need to see Jenn with Mussolini and Nixon? What are we to believe, that he wished those men to break into the Watergate building and then to cover it up? As always Mulder does some excellent research to find those pictures of Jenn with Mussolini and Nixon.

-  Wouldn’t a gas explosion like the one at the Stokes house have killed or injured Scully and Mulder and destroyed a few houses around it. The only reason I ask this is because this past week a physician in Massachusetts was doing a do-it-yourself job in his backyard with a backhoe and he cut a gas line and blew up his house. The fire department said if the houses near the physician’s house were closer they would have been major damage to them also.

-  I find it hard to believe Scully didn’t believe Jenn was a Genie though I guess it is one of those things you have to see to believe.

-  What was the point of that last scene with Scully watching "Caddyshack" with Mulder? It came out of nowhere and had nothing to do with the episode unless we are to believe he wished for her to come over, but we know that isn’t what he wished because the last scene is of Jenn in a coffee shop and no longer a Genie.

        "Je’ Souhaite" suffered from bad timing and lack of originality. There is one more episode left and instead of going out with a bang they are going out with a whimper. It makes me think back to "St. Elsewhere" where they wrapped up everything and built up to the finale episode via the previous episodes (hey, I’ll never forgive them for killing off Elliott and Dr. Auschlander). It’s too bad X-Files couldn’t have built up to its last episode.

Claudia

E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

05/16/00

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