AIR DATE:  October 27, 1996
Written by Vince Gilligan
Directed by Rob Bowman

	Finally, a decent X-Files episode, not that the other ones were
bad just that "Unruhe" had the elements that makes X-Files a good show.
There was the villian who had some weird ability though he didn't know it,
the usual Scully and Mulder verbal exchanges, and Mulder going for the far
out conclusion in the case.  If it wasn't for the Scully gets kidnapped
bit at the end of "Unruhe" it would have been a better episode, but for
what it was it was a damn fine episode.

	In "Unruhe" we get Scully getting unnerved by Gerry Schnauz who
once again touches upon Scully's fear of being kidnapped and having
someone do unspeakable things to her.  A telling moment happened after
they find the dead body of the second victim and Mulder wants to get more
into the head of Schnauz to understand what made him do what he did while
Scully just wants to forget all about the reasons. It is only at the end
that Scully understands why it is important to understand what makes these
kind of people tick that if we try to not understand these people it makes
us vulnerable to them.  It is something I don't think Scully has been
willing to face in the past.  Considering her reaction of denial to the
women in "Nisei" it isn't surprising to see this in her.  Agent Scully
might be one tough cookie, but even she is only willing to go so far into
looking at the interior motives of people. 

	A good aspect to "Unruhe" is it was good old detective work done
by Scully that led them to the killer.  While Mulder was obsessed with
finding another photograph in the accounting office Scully puts two and
two together via a photo when she sees the same construction company had
been in the area where both kidnappings took place.  If it wasn't for that
they never would have found Schnauz.  Though in the end it was one of
those weird photos that allows Mulder to figure out where to find Scully. 
It was kind of nice to have them both be right on different aspects of the
case.

	Now on to the misc. comments:

- I have to admit at the beginning of "Unruhe" I really wanted to smack
Mulder in the head for the arrogant attitude he displayed during this
episode.  At the same time I wanted to smack Scully for her outright
dismissing of Mulder's theories though you couldn't blame her since all it
appeared Mulder cared about was proving someone could have the abilities
Schnauz had in the "Unruhe".  Also, I was kind of curious what exactly
were Schnauz abilities in the first place.  At one moment Mulder indicates
we are seeing Schnauz's nightmares and then the next moment it appears the
photos are showing what is going to happen in the future via Schnauz.  Oh
well, I guess it isn't really that important to the story. Maybe he had
the ability to do both things.

- Did the Polaroid photos Mulder took out of the first victim apartment
remind anyone of the painting "The Scream" where you see a ghostlike
person screaming? The irony of it all is the Mazda commerical right after
the episode ended using the same painting. Weird.

- I have to admit that was one hell of a busy back road that first victim
turned up on.  It was like the director said okay cars move now. 

- No more Ford Taurus for Scully and Mulder, they now demand a car with
power like a Ford Explorer.

-  For once Scully hangs up on Mulder, yahoo.  Now I hope he knows how it
feels.  I would have loved to have seen the reaction on his face when she
did that to him.  Oh yeah, I always like it how only on a tv show can the
only person Scully checks out is the man they are looking for as a
suspect. 

- I liked how when Scully and Mulder are questioning Schnauz he explains
how he has no earthly idea what they are talking to him about.  I just
thought it was an interesting way to put it.  I thought they worked well
together interrogating him though they still can't beat pre-stroke Frank
Pembleton from "Homicide". 

- Boy, that drug stuff Schnauz used really works fast through the foot. 
The first victim could at least walk down the steps and see her attacker
come after her while Scully was out in about 10 seconds. Once again one of
those things that only happens in tv land.

- I'm kind of curious who paid the rent on Schnauz's father's office for
the last 16 years.  Sure you could say he might have owned it, but he
would still have to pay taxes on it and since the son was in a mental
hospital for 6 years and the father was beaten so badly he couldn't take
care of himself anymore where was the income to pay for it.  This part of
the show just didn't make sense and the only reason I can see for it was
to pad the episode out a bit and have us see Mulder's investigating
powers.

- I did like how as they were finding the second victim's body Mulder had
his gun holster on his left side of his body though he is right handed .

- Where the hell did Mulder shoot Schnauz?  I sure couldn't see any blood
on him and considering he died from the gunshot wounds you would figure it
would have been more noticeable.

    
	"Unruhe" was a good X-Files episode in that we didn't get the
reaction of what the hell is going on as we did in "Herrenvolk" or the
lame attempt at another super mutant as in last week's episode "Teliko".
As I said before the only drawback to the episode was Scully being
kidnapped by the bad guy, but the scene with him made it worth it since in
all the other times we never got to see Scully talk to the kidnapper.  It
allowed us to see more deeply into what Scully would do if she was allowed
to face her kidnappers.


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

10/28/96

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