AIR DATE:  January 3, 1999
Written by David Amann
Directed by Rob Bowman

	The good thing about "Terms of Endearment" was there wasn't any
attempt at bad humor at the expense of the two main characters.  There was
an actual X-Files and Bruce Campbell starred in it.  The bad thing about
"Terms of Endearment" was that Bruce Campbell basically was the star of
this episode since Scully and Mulder were hardly even in it, especially
Scully (I guess Gillian Anderson was off doing a movie or something).  I
know there is something wrong with an episode when during the second
viewing I decide to see how much Scully and Mulder were even in the
episode and I counted 17 minutes out of 45 minutes which means 28 minutes
of the episode was filled up by Campbell.  I've written it before and I'll
continue writing it; I want an X-Files episode where Scully and Mulder
work together throughout the episode not as it was done in "Terms of
Endearment" where we get the cursory Scully input via the phone and Mulder
inserted every now and then to push the plot along.

	Other than this it was a pretty run of the mill X-Files episode. 
Some weird thing happens, then Mulder investigates and the evil thing gets
panicky and tries to cover its path unsuccessfully.  "Terms of Endearment" 
reminded me of "Born Again" where there was evil doings and an attempt to
keep Scully and Mulder away, but the difference of course between these
two episodes was Scully and Mulder worked together in "Born Again". "Terms
of Endearment" did an interesting twist to the devil's child in that a
demon was trying to have a normal non-demon baby so he could have a normal
family life and would do anything to get it. He must have had a hard
childhood growing up with all his demon siblings.  We have to give Bruce
Campbell credit in that he did convey how much the demon did love his
wife, Laura Weinsider.  So it isn't surprising to see he spent more time
with her instead of his other wife, Betsy, who he should have got to know
better.  The only problem with Wayne Weinsider was he was a bit of an
inept demon.  Instead of burning all the baby bodies he buries them in
shallow graves (though I won't get into why he appeared to stay at the
same house), he marries another wife across the county risking exposure
(are we really to believe this story wouldn't be in the local newspapers),
and for a demon you would think he could think of a better way to abort
the babies.  I guess being a somewhat good demon doesn't make you smart. 

	Now some miscellaneous comments on "Terms of Endearment":

- The scariest thing in this episode was Bruce Campbell's haircut.  Never
thought a buzzcut could look so bad on someone, but he was playing an
inept demon so it shouldn't be surprising he would have bad taste in
haircuts.  Now let's hope this haircut on Campbell doesn't give Duchovny
any ideas. 

- How far along was the pregnancy?  Even if it was in its third trimester
it looked like a full grown baby when Wayne took it out. We never got the
impression from the visit to the doctor that she due any day.

- Somehow I don't think even Spender would be as cold-hearted as he was
after listening to the Sheriff's story then putting the paperwork through
the shredder other than as a plot device for us to see Mulder with the
shredded paper taped together. What is Spender doing down there twiddling
his thumbs if he treats ever case like that.  Eventually people who have
gone to him are going to start asking him and his superiors what they are
doing on the case. Also, Spender must be expecting a big payback if he is
allowing himself to to be wasted on the X-Files since he refuses to
investigate any case that comes his way. Once again he never seemed this
type of person. 

- Now Scully and Mulder are stuck doing backround checks on Federal
Employees.  The powers that be must have figured out that it is best to
keep them in D.C. instead of allowing them to fly around the country doing
anti-terrorist work. Oh, what joy for them. Well, someone has to do it.

- I guess Mulder is still paying for that Antartica trip since he is left
sleeping in his car outside of Weinsider's house.  Also, where exactly was
Scully going to fax that stuff to Mulder?  In his car?  Let's not forget
how good Mulder still looked even though he slept in his car, hadn't taken
a shower or changed his clothes for over a day.  Wow, I wish I could look
that good in the morning. 

- I can't believe Scully would so easily dismiss the father as a suspect
in the baby's disappearance.  She should have suspected both parents since
they were the only ones who witness the baby's disappearance.  I suppose
being stuck doing background checks on people makes one's investigation
skills rusty.

- The funniest part of the episode was after Scully tells Mulder to be
careful when he goes to confront Laura about the baby we see he has
brought the entire police force with him.  Yeah, that's being careful
around a sensitive subject especially since at this point he suspected the
husband to be a demon, and it doesn't seem like Mulder's style to let the
wrong person be accused.  But I guess we wouldn't have that great line of
him saying to the husband, "I know what you are." 

- My favorite line of the episode was Laura saying to Wayne, "I know there
is nothing they are going to find, but why do I feel guilty anyway?".  No,
truer thing can be said when one has been accused of something they didn't
do.

- I did like the fact that even a demon has to work for a living. 

- How and why did Wayne wrap the baby in Laura's nightgrown.  Wayne says
to Laura, "That's impossible", which is the same thing I say since she was
wearing the bloody nightgrown when she woke up that night the baby was
taken. It just doesn't make sense. 

- We all knew there had to be something up with Betsy when finding out the
baby had abnormalities it didn't bother her.  Boy, I would have liked to
see what happened when Betsy confronted Wayne after he tried his little
demon trick. Now that would have been fun. 

- "I'm not a psychologist" - Mulder to Scully.  I think this line will
rank right up there with Scully only being missing for 4 weeks instead of
3 months in "Emily" as one of the most boneheaded things to ever come out
of Mulder's month.  I guess earning your degree in Psychology and being
assigned to the Violent Crimes Unit because of one's ability to get into
the head of criminals does not make you close to being a psychologist. 
This information must be wrong in the Official X-Files Guide just like how
long Scully was missing in order to serve the plot.  Maybe Mulder was
making a joke even though he said it in complete earnestness, or what
really happened was no one remembered Mulder's educational background so
the powers that be let the line slip through. 

- Wouldn't most police departments have waited until daylight to do their
search of the grounds since it would cost ten times more to do it at night
and the lighting would be better during the day.  Oh heck, what am I
saying, this is the X-Files where stuff like that is only done at night so
it can be creepier and we get to see those cool big flashlights again.

- How cliche to have the Sheriff shoot Wayne just as he is about to
confess to being a demon and that Betsy was one too.  I guess the devil
made the Sheriff do it. 

- Well, at least we got the typical X-Files ending of seeing Betsy, the
woman demon, happily traveling with her demon child though she should know
it is best to put the baby in the back seat for safety. 

- I couldn't help thinking as I was watching this episode if things had
gone the other way it could have easily been Duchovny or Anderson guest
starring in the Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. instead of Bruce Campbell
guest starring in the X-Files.

	"Terms of Endearment" was saved by a decent X-Files and a good
performance out of Bruce Campbell (oh yeah, I liked Lisa Jane Persky as
Laura.  She gave a good performance of a woman who was dealing with the
lost of a child).  Unfortunately, I don't watch the X-Files for just the
guest performances, but for how Scully and Mulder work together on a case. 
This is the 7th episode this season where they didn't work together or we
get the witty repertoire between them.  If "Terms of Endearment" had been
an episode from the 1st, 2nd or 3rd season it would have worked better as
an episode.  As it was my mind couldn't help drifting to thinking Anderson
and Duchovny were off doing something else other than the X-Files. 



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

1/4/99

P.S.  I am going to give X-Files this much credit, there hasn't been a
time this season where after an episode I have thought to myself it cannot
get any worse than this.  Whereas this is how I have felt after a recent
Homicide episode so much so when I was going to be out one Friday I
debated taping Homicide.  This is something I never thought would happen
with Homicide.  Though I am going to admit during "How the Ghosts Stole
Christmas" all I could keep thinking of was The Practice was on next and
I'm not even a big fan of The Practice.