AIR DATE: February
11, 2001
Written by Frank
Spotnitz
Directed by Richard
Compton
One of the last great episodes on the old tv show "Homicide" was an episode called "The Subway" where a man was pushed into a subway train and ends up stuck between the platform and the train. The whole episode took place in real time because the police and rescue workers were under pressure from the Baltimore Transit Authority to get the man out so the trains could keep on moving. The only problem was no matter what they did the man is going to die because his whole body has twisted around like a corkscrew and the train the only thing holding his organs up so the second he is released all his organs will fall down killing him instantaneously. During the episode Det. Pembleton talks to the man knowing he is talking to a dead man and at the same time other detectives are out looking for the man’s girlfriend who was out jogging so she could say goodbye to him. The episode was heartbreaking, creepy in its own way and compelling. Everything "The Subway" had, last night’s X-Files episode "Medusa", didn’t. One of the big problems and a common problem this season is I didn’t care for one single character in this show because they were fairly predictable characters. Doggett I knew wasn’t in any real danger of dying even when he got infected and the others you knew would go before Doggett. Are we supposed to be happy that Doggett is working with Scully by taking her advice and orders on what to do down in the subway tunnels. I guess it is better than the teamwork we saw in "Badlaa". I did like when Doggett said he was there because he was the better shot.
At this point it would be more believable Scully not going down into the subway if she was actually showing her pregnancy. Maybe that whole pregnancy plotline was developed in a parallel universe and she’s no longer pregnant. Nah, we wouldn’t be so lucky. But at this point at episode #12 she should start showing or give some kind of indication because with the lack of Mulder being mentioned in the early episodes it is starting to become ridiculous. Of course, we haven’t been given any timeline on this episode so the people behind the X-Files can keep on saying it has only been a short while since she found out. Well, it feels like a long time and it looks like they are going to drag out her pregnancy to May where maybe she will start showing big time and then Doggett can say, "Hey, Scully are you pregnant?" It is time to move this storyline along. Just think how much better this episode could have been if Scully was down there working with Doggett instead of being stuck communicating with him via radio. Boring and no suspense was how this episode worked out. At least Scully was in this episode and it is always good to see Scully bossing around others who she feels are risking others for no reason though how she became in charge considering the F.B.I. was only called in for advice is one of those Federal/State questions.
A few little comments on "Medusa":
I have to say that was the cleanest T car (the T is what the mass transit system is really called in Boston) and station I’ve ever seen in my lifetime of riding the T. Also, it was the quietest T car I’ve ever heard in my life. It was nice to see how the new mass transit system in Los Angeles looks like with its clean cars and stations.
Scully and Doggett should have told Deputy Chief Karras they were delayed because they got lost coming out of Logan or they got a ticket going through the Ted Williams tunnel instead of Scully wanting to check the body. Getting around the Big Dig changes is enough to drive anyone crazy.
Under the "old hard to believe" part of the episode is the subway being closed that long and even if it was closed the T would just use buses to take people from one station to another. Also, it would be all over the news so more people would have taken their cars or not come in at all. Yes, commuters would have been delayed and stuff but that was going overboard.
There is no way no matter how much Deputy Chief Karras wanted to start the trains up again he would not have started them with Doggett and Lt. Bianco still down there. What we got in Deputy Chief Karras was the stereotypical bureaucrat such as we used to get on Star Trek where the crew of the Enterprise would have to deal with an Admiral who wanted something done at all cost and it was up to the crew of the Enterprise to find out a way to stop him. As a matter a fact I think the actor who played Karras, Ken Jenkins, has played a few of those Admirals over the years. Also, Karras sent the train knowing Doggett and Bianco were down there and are you trying to tell me he wouldn’t get in trouble for that? Give me a break. This guy just wasn’t smart enough to get away with anything.
It was so good to see everyone's concern for Steven Melnick (mustache guy) when he took off his bulletproof vest. Lucky for them he didn’t get shot.
Dr. Lyle sure could take good bright clear pictures of the dead body for Scully in that dark, damp subway tunnel.
Making Scully do something stupid for the sake of a plot moment came when she just left Doggett out there without putting someone else in contact with him so they know what is going on at all times. Are we really to believe Scully would just leave without telling Doggett where she was going? But if she did that then we wouldn’t have the scene with Lt. Bianco attacking him so when Scully came back she will only see the subway ceiling because Doggett had been knocked out.
Are we to believe Doggett would make Lt. Bianco just stay with him knowing he needed immediate care? Also, wouldn’t one want to check themselves out too which Doggett didn’t do? I don’t blame Bianco hitting Doggett, but why the hell did they make him banging on the roof trying to get someone’s attention instead of going back the way he came. What, was he lost in the tunnels? Why was Doggett the only one with any form of communication? Lt. Bianco should have had one too or some form of communication to talk with his boss. Of course, if he did that would be too easy because then he could have called for help.
I want it to be known city, state and federal government have been working hard cleaning up the Charles River and Boston Harbor. Yeah, a lot of Boston is built on landfill, but it doesn’t mean it has green liquid stuff.
Lucky for everyone Doggett little third rail trick got rid of the green liquid stuff and that holy looking boy came to his and Bianco’s rescue. I’m still pondering how the green liquid stuff got on Transit Cop in a sealed T Car. Are we to believe the Robber had it on him so he passed it on to the Transit Cop? If that was the case why did it work faster on the cop then the Robber.
What more can be said about "Medusa"? In the years to come I will remember that Homicide episode while I will not remember "Medusa" or any of the past two seasons of the X-Files except how bad it got. Why do I keep on watching? Someone told me why they keep on watching "There is always hope."
Claudia
E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu
02/12/01
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