X-COPS

        When the episode "Hungry" was shown earlier this season some said that what we were seeing was the monster view of Scully and Mulder. Well, "X-Cops" is truly someone seeing Scully and Mulder from an outside observer via the "Cops" TV cameras. Here we see a non-opinioned view of Scully and Mulder. The only thing the producers were looking for was good TV and they knew the second Scully and Mulder came upon the scene they were going to get some entertaining TV. As Mulder said at the end of the episode, how they (Scully and Mulder) come out depends more on how they edit the video than what actually happened that night. It makes me wonder how I would have viewed this episode of "Cops" if I didn’t know who Scully and Mulder were and that it was a fictional episode of "Cops". The way it was supposedly edited for TV shows the producers loved the eccentric Scully and Mulder even more when they knew they got on Scully’s nerves and saw how much Mulder loved the attention so that he could have a chance to break a real life para-normal event to a national audience. Though it wasn’t surprising that Mulder would love the cameras and Scully would hate them getting in the way of an investigation.

        In "X-Cops" we get to see that old chemistry we don’t see much anymore right from the beginning when Scully pulls Mulder off to the side saying he can go ahead and say his wacky theories to her all he wants, but not to a national audience because it is embarrassing to let the world know the F.B.I. is spending taxpayer dollars on these type of things. This is why she calls up Skinner to get him to stop Mulder from embarrassing himself and her, but he doesn’t allow Scully to stop the cameras from filming them because the F.B.I. has nothing to hide. Of course, it must have been near midnight when she called him so it isn’t surprising he didn’t really care if the "Cops" camera was following them around. This is one of writer’s Vince Gilligan’s better episodes since "Folie A Deux" and I think he watches "Cops" too much to get it down so pat though I was disappointed we only saw the shirtless crook in the opening credits because what is "Cops" without the shirtless male in handcuffs. At least they did the shirtless woman with her breasts blurred out so I guess that counts.

        Now some miscellaneous comments on "X-Cops":

-  It is interesting to contrast Deputy Wetzel’s attitude at the beginning of his patrol when he says he feels good about protecting people and how people feel safer when he is out there patrolling to later on after being attacked about how he feels everytime he goes out on patrol that everyone hates him and wants to shoot him dead.

-  Hmm, was having Deputy Wetzel calling his unit number 2-12 Adam a little acknowledgement towards that old ‘70’s show Adam-12.

-  Was that cat planned to be in the shot when Deputy Wetzel approached that crazy woman’s house? Because if it wasn’t it was a good shot of having the deputy shine his flashlight on it.

-  I especially found it funny when we see in the background the police car tipped back onto its tires as Scully and Mulder talk to Deputy Wetzel.

-  Best Scully moments in "X-Cops" were her putting her hand in front of the camera (telling them to buzz off), not letting them into their car, telling the Coroner’s Assistant that the cameras are there because the F.B.I. has nothing to hide and the top one was when Scully and Mulder find the camera crew hiding in the closet and she says "I hate these guys".

-  Best Mulder moments were his talking to the camera. You can see how much he loves talking to the camera and how he’s probably always wanted to have the camera crew from "Cops" following him and Scully around on a case. It was also nice that Mulder admits to the camera how it is unusual at this point in an investigation for him not to have figured out what is happening. Which is true from what we have seen this season where Mulder has had an amazing ability to figure out a case 10 minutes into the show.

-  Good to see eagle eye Scully spot that false fingernail on the ground off to the side and lucky for Scully and Mulder Steve and Edy knew right off the bat who that fingernail belonged to.

-  Scully and Mulder get to chase a suspect and then question her ala "Cops" which was quite fun.

-  Just like the cat who appeared to be in a shot unannounced that leaf that fell on Scully and Mulder’s car as they were about to bust into that crack house was distracting because I’m thinking what just fell in front of Mulder.

-  Another favorite Scully and Mulder moment is when Scully asked Mulder if he was talking to her knowing that he was talking to the camera. It was her way of telling him to stop it.

-  Good Mulder moment is when he is talking to Deputy Wetzel and Wetzel is relating to Mulder how he can’t come off crazy because it will take him off the fast track quickly and Mulder goes "Tell me about it."

-  If this were real life there is no way Deputy Wetzel would have been allowed back on duty after his attack and especially after he fired his gun at the "monster".

-  Only on a fictional TV show would Scully and Mulder be the only cops to think of going to the back door to get into the house.

-  It was good to see Mulder had a heck of time pushing down the door to get to the room Deputy Wetzel was trapped in.

        "X-Cops" is the first X-Files episode in a long time I wanted to watch again. Would I want another X-Files episode done like this? No, because it wouldn’t be new or different and we all know how sequels work on the X-Files. This truly was an outstanding episode because it got down to how the TV show "Cops" works and made it work in an X-Files environment.

Claudia

E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

02/22/00

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