However, I bring it up because, in a lot of ways, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It actually reminded me more of an episode of The X-Files than a Conjuring movie. I realized I am aging myself quite considerably with the comparison (so if it makes you feel better, comparing it to a Supernatural episode would be no less apt). It felt like a square peg/round hole situation.No, not literally (although, that would be pretty freakin’ amazing if there was a crossover). I just wasn't a fan of how they tried to connect the responsibility of creating a vengeance demon with Scully giving up William in order to protect him. And it's not a bad idea for an X-Files episode. A vague mystic idea akin to golems and imaginary friends and such. Loosely behind all of this was the notion of "thoughtform" and the Tulpa. Nothing came of anything except for Scully using both her mom's passing and the Trash Man's speechifying to become more resolute about possibly finding William. And then Trash Man just took it upon himself to ruin the statue and turn the head into a smiley face. Because Band Aid Nose Man (that will always feel weird to type) killed everyone he was out to kill. It got too preachy for a ghost hunt that essentially didn't go anywhere. And then that whole lecture about people treating the homeless like garbage. And that the monster Trash Man unintentionally made was somehow similar to William? It was a reach. With flashback images of her giving birth juxtaposed with him creating his art. When Scully came back to the case, because she needed to work, she wound up coming to a bizarre, stretch-of-a-conclusion based on Trash Man's words.
Things started to fall apart a bit though when the episode began trying to awkwardly tie everything together. And so did the parallels that came with the flashbacks showing Mulder (so young!) at Scully's hospital bedside. And to counterbalance the weight of this half of the story, Mulder's manhunt for the mystery mutilator was given a bit of extra zip.
A lot of these moments contained some very powerful work from Gillian Anderson. A feeling she was already harboring as indicated by her initially seeing his name every time someone called her.
Which worked to sideline her for most of the creature case while she ran a gambit of emotions that led her back to her overwhelming sense of guilt regarding William. Helping make this chapter feel like two episodes in one though was Scully's tragic loss of her mother, Margaret (the returning Sheila Larken). Meaning, we're to sort of assuming that could have happened here with the unstoppable "Band Aid Nose Man" and his penchant for ripping apart smarmy city bureaucrats. Sort of a ghost tale, as "Trash Man" (Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong) mentioned to our heroes something about spirits floating about, looking for various vessels. A street artist's rebellious artwork coming to life in violent defense of the homeless. Not as insightful or hilarious as last week's rather meta take on urban legends, but still - a boogeyman tale. Or, as Scully felt this week, the fear that they tossed him away like "trash." As something to push out of sight and keep out of mind.Įssentially, "Home Again" was another monster hunt. And Mulder and Scully's regrets over giving him up. While we all slowly discover what these six new X-Files episodes truly are (were they to be a single-arc miniseries or a condensed version of a regular season?) it's become more apparent that the major through line here is William. A bit of a backslide here this week with "Home Again," though it was definitely the most emotionally hefty of these new chapters so far.
0 kommentar(er)
