AIR DATE:  March 23, 1997
Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Kim Manners

	I don't know if it is the mood I'm in right now, but I just didn't
find "Max" all that exciting or revealing.  Maybe I felt this way because
Max ended up really dead even though he did figure as the catalyst for
everything that happened in the story.  The problem is once again Scully
and Mulder come up with nothing expect theories with no proof though I
don't know what Mulder was going to prove with that stolen alien(?) 
property.  It wasn't surprising to find out the government was responsible
for Flight 549 going down since we have seen the government do even worse
things to people in the X-Files.  The question is did we learn anything
more than what we already knew beforehand and the answer is no.  We know
from earlier episodes that the government is using alien technology and
the government will kill anyone to keep it quiet, which is the basic
storyline of "Max". 

	At least "Max" had one thing going for it, which was it made
sense.  There wasn't the quite hard to believe deal as has happened in
other mythology episodes.  The thing is which aliens did we get in "Max",
the oily ones from "Piper Maru" or the invisible ones from "Fallen Angel".
I don't usual concern myself about these things because Carter and gang
have thrown so many things at us making it hard to keep things straight
that I don't really care anymore. We have oily aliens, invisible aliens,
shape shifting aliens, and your standard grey color aliens.  There are so
many of them it becomes hard to care either way, so in the end we only
care how the story affects Scully and Mulder.  This story didn't really
tell us anything more about Scully and Mulder except it had someone who
they knew die so they could reexamine why they are doing what they are
doing.  The quest now goes beyond just Mulder finding out what happened to
his sister, but bringing to justice the people responsible for Scully's
cancer, for Pendrell's death and the people on the airplane, and for
countless other deeds. 

	The one part I felt that didn't work in "Max" was Scully's speech
at the end explaining to Mulder why he gave her a key chain with Apollo 11
on it.  I understood the sentiment behind it and I think it said a lot
about the only way against all odds to expose the conspiracy is to work as
a team, that it is something they cannot do individually.  I don't know if
it was how Anderson was saying the words or what, but the problem I had
with it was the wording didn't seem like how a real person would talk. I'm
sure it looked great on paper, but once it started coming out of Scully's
month it just didn't work.  It didn't help that we got the musical cue
telling us there is an important statement coming up so pay attention.  Of
course, Carter had her doing the same thing in "Memento Mori" though the
difference there was we knew she wasn't saying it to someone, but writing
it in her journal to Mulder for him to read if she dies. 

	Miscellaneous comments on "Max":

- Okay, here is a real plus to the episode:  they had Mulder be tired
after coming out of the water just like he should be after swimming that
far.  Don't see that too often on tv shows.  Oh yeah, I liked the tackle
Mulder got from the soldier.  I felt like yelling touchdown. 

- Scully turning around when Mulder changes out of his prison pants was a
nice touch you almost wouldn't catch.  You would think with all the times
Mulder has been beaten up and she had to fix him up this wouldn't faze
her.

- I guess I now know why there weren't any fish swimming around Mulder
when he was checking out the alien craft since they were all killed off by
the radiation.  Though I can't imagine the people living on the lake are
going to appreciate finding out the lake is now radioactive.  I'm sure the
lake wasn't only used for recreational use, but most likely was the main
water supply for the area.  Are we to believe there wouldn't be a big
stink about it?  Sure the government could say the F-16 had a nuclear
device, but somehow I don't think people would be happy with that either.

- Oh yeah, are we to believe no one would be interested in what the
government is doing at the lake?  No one would be wondering why if the
government is only picking up the wreckage of an F-16 they would need the
area to be sealed off armed with soldiers dress in black.  Let's not even
get into the fact no one even noticed or heard the aircraft crash into the
lake at around 8pm.

- Wasn't it nice of them using the Soul Coughing song off of the Songs in
the Key of X soundtrack. 

- Lucky for the aliens that both Max and the mustache bad guy were both
near the emergency exit door.  What would they have done if they were
somewhere else?  Why didn't they just take Max and leave instead of taking
the time to bring him back onto the plane leaving themselves open to
attack?  Also, if they were so good at detecting where these individual
parts were why didn't they take them from the place that was storing them
in the first place.  Unless, they were trying to prevent Max from exposing
their presence, too, along with the government.

- I didn't exactly find the mustache bad guy that compelling as a bad guy
compared to others like the Crew Cut Man.  He seemed kind of inept in his
job.  He gets himself shot in the leg then they send him to take care of
Mulder on the plane knowing he would be easily recognized by Mulder
ruining any chance of surprise. I think it is time to reevaluate who they
put in charge of these cases.

- I just have to ask was the trailer park owner living in a shell that
Flight 549 doesn't even come to his mind the second Mulder says Max died
in a plane crash.  Considering a major plane crash liked Flight 549,
especially after the Air Force admits it was responsible for downing it,
that it would have been all over the tv news.

- I guess Mulder didn't have a pair of handicuffs with him when he put the
mustache guy into the airplane's rest room. Next time Mulder should be
more prepared when he goes out in the field.

- Pendrell with a gun?  I always thought he was just a lab worker and
wouldn't have a gun.  Well, it shows how much I know about the F.B.I.. 

- Oh yeah, it is going to be a long, long time before I forgive them for
killing off Pendrell.  Poor guy should have known trying to get close to
Scully only will get you killed like in Bonanza.

- I guess I should think before I write when I made a comment last week
about how that wasn't Max who Mulder recognized in the airport hanger.  I
think I was too convinced he wasn't dead so in my mind that couldn't have
been him.

	"Max" was a fine episode which could have been better if it had
been a single episode and didn't kill off Agent Pendrell.  There isn't
much to say about this episode since nothing much happened and didn't
expose anything new to us about the conspiracy.  As I stated earlier the
best thing about "Max" was it made sense about what was happening in the
story. As always Scully and Mulder ended up with nothing except theories
and a deeper commitment to exposing the truth.  It is not that I didn't
like the episode, it just didn't grab me as other episodes have in the
past.


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

3/25/97

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