AIR DATE:  February 15, 1998
Written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox
Directed by Rob Bowman

Trying is the first step to failure. - Homer J. Simpson

	I had a feeling that "Kill Switch" would either be another "Ghost
in the Machine" or "Johnny Mnemonic".  Oh, wait a minute they both stunk
so this didn't make me too hopeful about "Kill Switch".  Watching "Kill
Switch" the first time I didn't think it was too bad, but the second time
I thought it was ridiculously funny.  So what did we get in "Kill Switch"? 
We get both Bitch and Kickass Scully and super intuitive Mulder along with
Mulder getting beat up mentally.  Of course, any episode where Mulder gets
hurt in any way is always a plus to me.

	Otherwise, there wasn't really much to this episode.  It was
almost like we were watching a remake of "Ghost in the Machine".  We had
the computer genius nerd who is trying to kill his creation, a partner who
wants to go in a different direction than the computer genius nerd, an
Artificial Intelligence (AI) who has incredible abilities beyond what it
should have and we get the ending showing us the AI isn't truly dead. 
Gee, I wonder if the AI in "Kill Switch" will team up with COS from "Ghost
in the Machine" and we'll get a sequel called "Ghost in the Kill Switch" 
where AI and COS try to destroy the world such as the evil computer did in
the movie "Terminator".  It's not like X-Files hasn't reused ideas before
in some form or another.  Look how many times they have used the Mulder
and Scully are stuck in the middle of nowhere and everyone dies except
them thoughout the seasons. 

	Where did Bitch Scully come from?  I guess she was cranky from
being awakened at 1am by Mulder to see a bloody shootout scene.  Boy, she
wasn't tolerant of anyone until the end where she lightened up after
Esther Nairn (or Goth Chick as I like to think of her) broke down and
cried.  I thought it was a great touch of having Scully touch Nairn's
shoulder as a way to support her, but until then I'm surprised she didn't
smack Mulder in the head for taking her on what appeared to be another one
of his wild goose chases.  It was amusing to see Scully reading the Lone
Gunmen's paper while everyone else is busy trying to figure what in on
Donald Gelman's laptop, but it is hard to believe she would detach herself
this much from what is going on. One of the bigger questions in the
episode is why Mulder and Scully were there at the Metro Dinner where the
shootings happened in the first place.  What was Mulder listening on a
police scanner and heard the call made where for some reason the cops
mention the deceased people's names.  Or was having the two cops who were
killed being U.S. Marshalls used as a pretense to calling in Mulder and
Scully.  I guess the F.B.I. has their agents on call for any of these
emergency calls.  In the old days of X-Files they used to at least bother
to explain how Mulder and Scully got called into a case, but nowadays they
don't even bother.  Also, we get amazing Mulder in this episode where he
is able to figure out that Donald Gelman is the real target and the U.S. 
Marshall's are the last ones called by AI. 

	The above mentioned things are one of the many things that made
this episode unintentionally funny.  The funniest and best part of the
episode was seeing Mulder being imprisoned "Clockwork Orange" style by the
AI. Those hospital scenes were great, as if they were Mulder's greatest
fears of being trapped in a hospital and having his limbs cut off one by
one unless he talked. Though Mulder didn't mind when those nurses were
massaging him in the hospital bed.  But the kicker of all this was kickass
Scully coming in to rescue Mulder.  Too damn funny.  Now if only Mulder
and Scully could learn to fight like that when they lose their guns then
they would be better off. 

	Now some miscellaneous comments on "Kill Switch":

- Wouldn't the Drug Dealers and the cops have been smarter than to just go
into the Metro Diner without first checking it out.  This is especially
true of the cops who if they were acting smart instead of tv stupid
wouldn't have gone in without knowing what the situation was inside the
diner or even go in without any backup.  I'm still trying to believe that
the AI could possibly know that all these Drug Dealers were looking for
these certain people as a lure. Boy, the police are really thorough in
their reports that they put every little thing into a computer database
though Scully and Mulder had their paper police record on hand at the
shooting scene.  Why would the DC cops have brought those to the crime
scenes?

- They must have gotten the idea of having someone hiding out in a
shipping crate from the last episode of "Cracker" where the psycho
boyfriend puts his girlfriend in one.  Also, I'm hiding out in a shipping
crate and you know what I'll do to not get attention, that is play loud
music no one would think about checking out this crate if they hear music. 

- Mulder being Zapped by Nairn was a sign of things to come for Mulder, so
was Nairn saying "Bite Me." 

- Everytime I saw Nairn outside in her leather vest I was wondering how
cold that actress must be feeling. 

- If the AI was so smart why would it practically tell you it is about
ready to zap you from the sky.  I guess it would lose its dramatic effect
if it didn't and they would all be dead ending the episode.

- Next time Mulder should do the driving since security conscious Scully
was in full force when she locked the doors to the car when they were only
feet away from the shipping crate.

- Oh yeah, I'd like to see how Scully explained to her insurance company
why her car was all scratched up. 

- Scully has the best line in this episode when she compares Nairn to a
bass player as her role working with David Markham and Donald Gelman. 

- I liked how the wording "Optic Fiber Connection" looked brand new while
the metal box it was written on looks liked it has been there for years. 

- Where did Nairn get the gun to point on Scully?  Was it Scully's gun? 
If it was I can't believe Scully would have been stupid enough to leave
her gun hanging around.  Of course, I think it was mean to have left Nairn
standing up by the computer while Scully and the Lone Gunmen get some
sleep.

- When Mulder called Scully on her cellular phone he should have known
something was wrong with Scully when the first words out of her mouth
weren't, "Mulder, where are you?"

- I guess David Markham lives so far out in the country no one notices his
house has been blown apart.  Something like this wouldn't be in the local
news? 

- The jacket Nairn was wearing was a Lone Gunmen jacket.  Who knew they
had their own jackets made up. 

- Why did Mulder ring the doorbell to the trailer?  He knew he had been
spotted so if he was acting normally and wanted to get the person's
attention he would have banged on the door.  Why didn't he jimmie the door
instead of going underneath and unscrewing a floorboard?  At that time
Mulder didn't know what to find in the trailer so it wasn't any safer than
going through the front door.

- How did Mulder know what David Markham looked liked?  The only person
who knew how he looked was Scully, but I suppose with Mulder's amazing
ability to figure things out knew he it was Markham.

- Am I the only one who thought hey lets turn off the power that'll take
care of AI who was hanging out in the trailer? 

- It was good to see it snows in Vancouver as we see it is snowing in the
scene where Scully and Nairn are walking over to the trailer.  And we
wonder why Duchovny and Anderson want to leave Vancouver for sunny
California. 

- Where did the AI get its drug supply to knock out Mulder?  I guess David
Markham brought a supply for emergencies just like these.  The AI was
quite thorough with Mulder, not only was it able to get Mulder onto that
thing, but it was able to scotch tape those "Clockwork Orange" devices
onto Mulder's head.  As I was watching this a second time the AI made me
think of the Daleks from Dr. Who.  The Daleks are supposed to be these
ruthless machines and everyone is scared of them, yet, it is hard to take
them seriously when they don't have the ability to write on a piece of
paper or get around easily and look like a pepper shaker. 

- Also, I was wondering what the Department of Defense was thinking the
whole time the AI is using one of its weapons satellites to kill people on
the ground.  Are we to believe they wouldn't have noticed one of their
satellites was shooting things up on Earth? 

- Why were those kids playing football in the rain?  Did anyone else find
that funny? 

	"Kill Switch" was another one of those Artifical Intelligence
stories that fights back when someone tries to shut it down.  The episode
wasn't that bad, but it fell into some of the same traps that "Ghost in
the Machine" did.  Someone at the X-Files should have told writers William
Gibson and Tom Maddox that the X-Files already did a story similar to this
one in the first season.  As in last week's episode they should have ended
the episode a minute earlier with the episode ending this time with
Frohike having the words "Bite Me" come across his computer screen.  The
X-Files people sometimes don't know when to stop, and it is almost similar
to how "Ghost in the Machine" ended where we see the evil computer brain
still hard at work.

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

2/15/98