Fic Rec: 2x18 Fearful Symmetry
Aug. 14th, 2017 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wendelah1 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xfilesficrecsI have no fanfic recs for "Fresh Bones," "Colony," or "End Game," so we are skipping ahead to "Fearful Symmetry."
I don’t know what they were trying for but whatever it was, it failed. The premise is ridiculous even for The X-Files. How anyone could have thought an episode about an invisible elephant was a good idea is beyond me. The tone is preachy. The characters, Meecham and Kyle Lang, are both stupid stereotypes. There’s no meaningful discussion on the most interesting question it raises: what ideally should our relationship be to the animals who share our planet?
When the best character is Sophie the gorilla, you know you have a problem. Despite the script’s obvious defects, I still cared about Sophie. Her intelligence and loneliness in captivity were poignant, her grief over the loss of her unborn was heart-breaking.
Looking on the bright side, this exchange was a classic.
The scene in which Scully autopsies an elephant is funny for all the wrong reasons. I know Scully is a brilliant generalist who handles all problems thrown at her with aplomb, but come on. She’s a human pathologist not an exotic large animal veterinarian. The elephant autopsy did make Top Ten Tuesdays: Autopsies at XFiles News. The elephant autopsy was number nine.
FANFICTION RECS:
Surprisingly, yes. The Mulder voice-over at the end was one of the worst of the series but it did inspire this memorable and disturbing post-ep.
The Motives of Silent Visitors by aka "Jake"
Rating: PG-13 (Adult Situations)
Classification: Post Ep
Spoilers: "Fearful Symmetry"
Summary: “The motives of the silent visitors who set these events in motion remain unclear. Could this be a judgment…?” – Mulder in “Fearful Symmetry”
I don’t know what they were trying for but whatever it was, it failed. The premise is ridiculous even for The X-Files. How anyone could have thought an episode about an invisible elephant was a good idea is beyond me. The tone is preachy. The characters, Meecham and Kyle Lang, are both stupid stereotypes. There’s no meaningful discussion on the most interesting question it raises: what ideally should our relationship be to the animals who share our planet?
When the best character is Sophie the gorilla, you know you have a problem. Despite the script’s obvious defects, I still cared about Sophie. Her intelligence and loneliness in captivity were poignant, her grief over the loss of her unborn was heart-breaking.
Looking on the bright side, this exchange was a classic.
SCULLY: Mulder, if you’re still suggesting that the elephant did this, it just defies logic. Somebody would have seen it.
MULDER: Well, if somebody would have seen it, Scully, we wouldn’t be here. Another vehicle would have left evidence of a collision - distress to the metal, or paint. I can see signs of neither of those things. I’d be willing to admit the possibility of a tornado but it’s not really tornado season. I’d even be willing to entertain the notion of a black hole passing over the area...(Scully gives him a skeptical glance)... or some cosmic anomaly, but it’s not really black hole season, either. (he smiles) If I was a betting man I’d say that it was, uh,...
SCULLY: An invisible elephant?
MULDER: I saw David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear once.
The scene in which Scully autopsies an elephant is funny for all the wrong reasons. I know Scully is a brilliant generalist who handles all problems thrown at her with aplomb, but come on. She’s a human pathologist not an exotic large animal veterinarian. The elephant autopsy did make Top Ten Tuesdays: Autopsies at XFiles News. The elephant autopsy was number nine.
FANFICTION RECS:
Surprisingly, yes. The Mulder voice-over at the end was one of the worst of the series but it did inspire this memorable and disturbing post-ep.
The Motives of Silent Visitors by aka "Jake"
Rating: PG-13 (Adult Situations)
Classification: Post Ep
Spoilers: "Fearful Symmetry"
Summary: “The motives of the silent visitors who set these events in motion remain unclear. Could this be a judgment…?” – Mulder in “Fearful Symmetry”