AIR DATE:  March 8, 1996
Written by John Shiban
Directed by Kim Manners

	"Teso Dos Bichos" is one of those X-Files episode where it doesn't
matter if Scully and Mulder are doing the investigation because nothing
they did had any affect on the case.  It could have easily been Pembleton
and Bayliss from "Homicide" doing the investigation since it wouldn't have
made any difference to the case who was investigating it. Making this
episode one of those dreaded observant episodes where Scully and Mulder
run around a lot and don't really do anything.  The episode itself was
slow paced and uninteresting until we get to the killer pussy cats.  The
idea of these killer pussy cats was kind of funny in its own way in having
these hundreds of cats killing and eating humans.  This doesn't mean "Teso
Dos Bichos" didn't have its moments, but coming after the excellent past
few episodes it seemed a bit of going back to type of episodes from
earlier this season.

	When Dr. Bilac tells Scully that they are wasting their time
investigating the murder he was telling her and Mulder the truth because
they didn't get anything out of this investigation.  Let me see if I get
this straight:  Dr. Roosevelt is working in South America digging up an
old Indian bury site before a pipeline is put through and all these grave
sites are ruined by the construction, but one of the graves is an old
shaman woman who isn't supposed to be disturbed which means we get the
arrogant white man doctor who doesn't believe in the curse and pays for it
with his life.  Yes, something we have all seen before, but nothing made
it unique enough to make it seem like an X-Files episode.  All we get is a
bunch of blood on the floor and nothing much else.  The irony of it all is
killing Dr. Roosevelt didn't stop them from taking the artifact to
America, and though they have buried it back into the ground, it doesn't
appear the indigenous people are trying to stop the pipeline from going
through their grave sites meaning the artifact will most likely be
disturbed again when the pipeline construction goes through the area.  So
what was accomplished with this episode?

	I think the budget on this episode had to be kept low because what
special effects were done didn't have much to them.  The prime example of
this was when Dr. Roosevelt was killed.  This had to be the worse special
effect they ever attempted.  In the scene we see the shadow of the jaguar
attacking what is obviously a dummy with its hands sticking out in an
attempt to ward off the jaguar.  Everytime I think about the scene it just
makes me want to laugh because this is something I expect from a bad
B-movie not from the X-Files.  It only confirms the whole B-movie feel to
the whole episode from the special effects to the acting.  Not the acting
of Anderson and Duchovny, but the acting of the supporting cast was fairly
lacking.  Vic Trevino portrayal of Dr. Bilac was a bit over the top for a
person who has gone native and Janne Mortil was too close to the edge to
be believable as a PHD student from BU.  Usually the X-Files has a strong
supporting cast and fairly decent special effects for a tv show, but with
"Teso Dos Bichos" it seem they were trying to make it at the lowest cost
possible and it showed.

	At least Scully and Mulder were being themselves even if there
wasn't much for them to do.  I especially liked how Mulder kept going to
Scully to go with it whenever he tried to pass off one of his theories on
her.  This is the kind of nice repartee we expect between them. 

	The best part of "Teso Dos Bichos" were the killer pussy cats who
for anyone who owns cats can relate how these pussy cats went into attack
mode.  This is what made it kind of funny because these possessed cats
still acted like cats, especially the part where Scully and Mulder closed
the door on the cats.  All cat owners know cats do not like any door to be
shut and will immediately open it so when they had those cats tearing
apart that door I just cracked up and covered my cat's eyes so she
wouldn't get any ideas.  Oh yeah, having the cat attack Scully was a great
idea though poorly directed because we didn't get to see it.  We saw a cat
jump, its mouth opening and making a hissing sound and Mulder appearing to
get it off her, but we don't see the cat on her which loses the dramatic
effect of it.

	Miscellaneous comments on "Teso Dos Bichos":

- It wasn't until Mulder and Scully are heading into the sewers/steam
tunnels that it finally occurred to me what early X-Files episode I had
seen the museum security guard in.  He was the Waste Manager in the sewer
treatment plant in "The Host".  Gee, I wonder why it came to me at that
moment. 

- The look Duchonvy had Mulder give Scully when he started commenting on
the curse as she was interviewing Mona.  He was talking Mona, but looking
at Scully in a way that said, here I go again with one of my far out
theories so just bear with me.  Showing the way they can communicate with
each other without saying anything.

- Those rats really did look like they wanted to get out of the toilet. 
Boy, what a way to take care of your rat problem, get an anicent artifact
that is curse and it will produce the cats from hell. 

- Having Mulder wiping away as fast and hard as possible the drop of blood
that fell on him.  A very human reaction to something like that happening. 
Also, it appeared Mulder was about to throw up when he found the remains
of the bodies, and it was made better when Scully coolly walks in and gets
right down to look at the bodies.  Nothing bothers this girl. 

- Mulder at the manhole seeing cobwebs and who knows what, saying to
Scully "Women first" and her shaking her head in a way that said, no, I
don't think so was one of those Mulder and Scully moments.

- It is amazing how Scully and Mulder can remember to bring those big
powerful flashlights to search the missile silos in "Apocrypha", but for
offical business they only bring their puny flashlights.

- This part bugged me, why would Mona have gone back to the museum after
her distressing visit with Dr. Bilac, and start touching the artifact
instead of going to her home to call Scully.  You would figure the last
place she would have felt safe would have been the museum where two
murders have taken place. 

- I'm not too familiar with police procedure, but I don't think one of
them is to leave a suspect alone in a room.  This is plot convenience at
its worse when characters that should know better do something illogical
just to move the plot along.


	"Teso Dos Bichos" was an episode that wasn't bad or good, it was
just mediocre.  The story and characters weren't engaging enough to make
one care one way or another what happened to them.  One would almost think
the idea of the killer pussy cats came up first, then the rest of the
story was built around the idea of having Mulder and Scully chased by
killer pussy cats.  I always say any tv show on average will produce a few
bad or so-so episodes a season so I'm not surprised by the quality of this
episode.  The X-Files were just due for an episode like this after the
past few outstanding episodes.
	
Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

3/10/96

Back to Top of Page

Back to 3rd Season Episodes List

1st Season Episodes List
2nd Season Episodes List
4th Season Episodes List

Back to Main X-Files Comment Page