AIR DATE:  January 26, 1996
Written by Chris Carter
Directed by Rob Bowman

	"Syzygy" starts off fine with the two girls manipulating Boon, a
male high school classmate, into having sex with them, but a half hour
into "Syzygy" I decided this episode was just plain stupid.  The whole
concept of having Mulder and Scully treat each other extremely unkindly
and making them act totally out of character towards each other because of
some planetary alignment was ridiculous.  I want to state right now I hate
episodes on any tv show that has it main characters appear to have outside
factors controlling their behavior.  I just have a hard time believing
these things happen so my prejudices against these types of episodes might
be affecting my opinion of "Syzygy". 

	The main problem with the episode was how Mulder and Scully came
off.  Mulder came off lightly because he appeared to be acting like a
horny wisecracking teenager whereas Scully came off the worse since she
acted liked a super bitch from the very beginning of the episode.  I don't
know what Chris Carter was thinking when he wrote this episode, but I
never thought he could make both Mulder and Scully so unlikable in an
episode.  You just wanted to slap both of them to get them to stop acting
like jerks.

	What was even more bothersome about "Syzygy" are the previous
episodes minus "War of the Coprophages" where Mulder and Scully have kind
of been curt with each other.  They just weren't curt with each other they
were downright mean to each other in "Syzygy".  I find this a rather
disturbing trend in X-Files that the two main characters appear to be
having a difficult time relating to each other.  It is one of the main
appeals of the show, the relationship between Mulder and Scully, and to
see it being strained over the past few episodes beginning with
"Oubliette" is making me wonder where all this is going in the show. 
Considering how much they have gone through together it makes it hard to
believe they could ever be this mean to each other and to see them act
this way towards each other is upsettling.  This all brings me another
point of what I think is really going to be the result of this episode...

	There is a person called Tim Lynch who reviews the Star Trek
episodes and in his review of the last Deep Space Nine episode "Paradise
Lost" he commented on how it appears the reset buttom was being pushed at
the end of the episode.  For those who don't watch DS9 what had happened
was there was an attempted coup by some high ranking Star Fleet officers
to take over Star Fleet and the Federation, and Lynch's point was there
would be no way things would go back to normal as easily as it was implied
by the ending of the episode because a coup is a major deal.  Will the
reset buttom have been pushed by next week's X-Files episode and
everything back to normal. I find it hard to believe either one of them
could forget what was said and done during the episode, though I got a
feeling things will be back to normal next week as if the events that
happened in "Syzygy"  never occurred.  This only makes the episode more
dislikable since we expect X-Files to be better than you typical drama
where previous episodes actions are forgotten.

	Here a few general comments:

- I did like the two teenage valley girls (who I will refer to as
Merrimack Valley Girls (MVG) since this took place in my home state of New
Hampshire), now they were funny in a menacing kind of way who only care
for each other and their own needs.  The birthday party was a hoot when
you see their other friends(?) staring at the MVG dancing with each other. 
I guess they really were cosmically linked.

- I half expected to see Tom Servo come out and sing to the late lament
Tibby and have psycho Kenny come out saying that Satan loves children as
Satan destroys another town.  Heck, it would have made the episode a lot
more enjoyable.

- I have to admit it was ironic to have the high school principal be the
leader of the mob since the high school principal would be the last person
you would suspect to act as irrational as he was thoughout the show.  He
must be a part of the Merrimack School Board.

- The fact Mulder only had $300 left of credit on his gold card was quite
funny.  I guess he's still paying off for his trips to Alaska, New Mexcio,
Norway, etc.

- This is the second X-Files episode to deal with a so-called Satanic cult
to take place in New Hampshire.  What is Carter and Co. trying to say
about my home state of New Hampshire?  The state that basically determines
who you will get to vote to be the next president is filled with a bunch
of looney people.  Well, if you look who represents us in Congress then
yeah you would be right we are a bunch of loonies up here.  I will say
this I'd like to know what Sheriff's department in New Hampshire has a
well equipped police department as that one.  Hell, I want to send my kids
to the school in "Die Hand Die Verletzt" where they have the money to
provide pigs to be dissected.  My old high school couldn't even afford to
give everyone a frog to dissect and then we couldn't even really do it
because they had to reuse the frogs for other classes. 

	If "Syzygy" was an attempt to make fun of Mulder and Scully's
usual reaction to things then it didn't work because it was a just plain
dumb idea to have them acting so mean spirited with each other. Also, the
acting by Anderson and Duchovny was a bit off.  It just didn't seem like
they were into it or maybe it was because their characters were acting so
out of character they couldn't quite get the right tone of Scully and
Mulder.
	
	Personally, I'm considering this a rogue X-Files episode and
pretended I dreamt the whole episode.


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

1/27/96