AIR DATE:  January 26, 1997
Written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban & Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Kim Manners

	There is an old Letterman bit he used to do during viewer mail if
more than 1 person wrote him a letter.  He would always go, it took 3
people to write this letter.  This was my first thought when I saw Vince
Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz names come across during the open
credits of "Leonard Betts".  "Leonard Betts" was an episode that could
have been so much better than it was with its plot line of someone being
able to regenerate themselves.  It was brought down by the one-dimensional
mutant monster, but saved by a great ending of Scully being quite shook up
by her encounter.

	"Leonard Betts" starts out interesting when there is a parent
warning before its broadcast which could only mean we were going to get a
real gore fest from our X-Files friends.  Boy, did we get some gore though
nothing seemed to be gory just because they could do it.  At first they
made it seem as if there is going to be a headless body running around
Pittsburgh and that will be the main mystery, but as always nothing is
ever as it appears to be on the show.  Not until we see Betts stick his
head out of his iodine bath do we start getting an idea of what is going
on.

	If they had continued with making Betts a mystery and a nonviolent
mutant monster then the episode would have been a very good episode. 
Instead we ended up getting the standard mutant monster who seems to go on
a killer rampage the second Scully and Mulder show up.  It was when they
had him kill his former EMT partner that the episode lost it for me since
like Betts's mother I just had a hard time believing he would kill her. Of
course, we have to get over the fact he would be able to find another EMT
job that quickly in Pittsburgh or that he would be dumb enough to stay in
the same place.  The second he killed his former EMT partner he became
just another mutant monster without any personality or purpose other than
to insure himself a cancer supply.  He is equivalent to the pigment
sucking mutant in "Teliko" in which we never learn more about the person
behind the mutant.  How long has Betts been like this?  Did he discover
this ability from his first accident?  What did he do before the first
accident?  Was he an EMT and did he stage that accident?  These are the
questions that popped into my mind while watching the episode.  Maybe if
we were giving these answers maybe it would explain why a man who seemed
to work not only to get a regular cancer supply, but also it appeared
wanted to save lives.  The episode would have worked a whole lot better if
they hadn't decided to make him your typical mutant.  They should have
made him more afraid of being discovered by the government or the media.

	The last five minutes of the episode almost makes up for the
typical mutant monster.  The last thing I suspected they would have
brought up was the possibility that Scully could have cancer from her
abduction which was brought up in "Nisei".  You almost feel Scully had
forgotten about it, and was quite shaken up by the thought of having
cancer.  Notice how she didn't mention this aspect of her confrontation
with Betts to Mulder considering his lackluster reaction to her concerns
back in "Nisei".  I don't think I've ever seen Scully so shook up about
something, and Mulder totally misreading her by thinking she is upset over
the fight and doesn't even bother to ask her what's wrong when it is quite
visible she is upset.  I have to give the credit for bringing this up to
Vince Gilligan since he is the only X-Files writer who cares enough to get
his facts straight about things that have happened in earlier episodes
even though Frank Spotnitz did co-write "Nisei".  What this will mean for
the rest of the season is anyone's guess, but it was a great ending.  Now
if only the rest of the episode could have been this good. 

	Now onto the misc. comments:

- Did plot convenience come across anyone's mind when within a day of the
accident Michele, the EMT worker involved in the crash, was back to work.
Somehow I can't help thinking if this was real life she would have been
taken off the road until it had been reviewed on how the crash happened in
the first place.  What kind of employer would even allow one of its
employees back onto the job after something that traumatic?

- Why did Michele seem so surprised by Betts ability to figure out what
was wrong with the patient in the ambulance when later on she makes it
seem like it happens all the time to Mulder.

- Why didn't the head grow a body too or did it take too long since it was
only a head.  Also, what's the deal with the regeneration bit?  Does he
grow a whole new body and the old body lives a little bit longer or
whatever? What was the complete deal with him?  Also, why did he dump the
head in the hazard waste stuff?  Why didn't he just leave it behind since
it didn't seem to make a difference whether he had it or not.  So many
questions with so few answers. 

- Anyone think of the line "I'm not dead yet" when Betts open his eyes and
mouth during the autopsy.

- Anyone wonder whether Scully and Mulder knew where they were sometimes
since outside Dr. Burns office Scully goes on about Betts's mother living
right here in Pittsburgh.  The only problem with the statement was they
were in College Park, Maryland.

- Also, why did Tanner/Betts have fingerprints on file under his former
self?  What did he do to have his fingerprints on file?  Oh well, another
thing left up in the air.

- Does anyone else wonder why Betts and his mother just didn't move out of
the Pittsburgh area?  It isn't like he isn't well know among his EMT
colleagues.

- Maybe not leaving the Pittsburgh area was used to show what a dumb
person Betts was considering he ran right for his car when he was being
chased by the security guard.

- Interesting how they flash the rating TV14 twice during the episode. 
Wow, a really viewer friendly episode.

- Boy, Scully and Mulder sure were crack shots shooting at Betts car.

- I have to admit I was looking forward to Mulder getting beat up when he
was left behind at the mother's house.  Nothing I like more than seeing
Mulder getting beat up.

- All right!  Scully gets to defend herself without anyone coming to her
rescue like in "2Shy".  You just don't mess with the Scully.  Did anyone
think Tooms when the iodine stuff started dipping on Scully's head just
like it did in "Squeeze".

- The one benefit of my local FOX afflicate starting the show an hour late
was they didn't squeeze the end credits so I could actually read them for
the first time in about two years.

	"Leonard Betts" was an episode that should have been better than
it ended up.  If they had gone beyond the typical mutant monster then it
could have been so much more.  Instead only the ending made the episode
above some of the average episodes from this season. 


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

1/28/97

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