The Oregonian
(Portland, Oregon)9 November 2001
Fast paced two-parter kicks off ninth season of 'X-Files'
A body double of Mulder is a poor substitute for the wisecracking, dedicated FBI agent who isn't expected to appear all season.
By Allan Johnson (Chicago Tribune News Service)
The ninth-season premiere of Fox Broadcasting's "The X-Files" misses its Mulder factor, although it's a high-gloss, fast-paced two-parter with a neat guest-star turn from a Warrior Princess.
Last season, FBI Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) was searching for her alien-abducted partner, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), while conducting an antagonistic new partnership with John Doggett (Robert Patrick).
That partnership, which evolved during the season, combined with Mulder's eventual return to provide a new energy to the paranormal cult hit.
In this season's premiere, only a body double of Mulder taking a shower in Scully's apartment exists. Duchovny isn't expected to appear at all this season, despite his character possibly being the father of Scully's baby. And Anderson might not be in every episode this season.
It's hardly a substitute for the wisecracking, ironic and dedicated agent... and after several minutes, there isn't even that.
"He's gone. He's just gone," Scully tells Doggett on Sunday.
And gone with him is the hip swagger that the character, through Duchovny's detached performance, provided "The X-Files." Scully, and then Doggett toward the end of the season, were only straight men for Mulder's cracks, unflinchingly illogical logic and obsessive desire for the truth.
We're left with Scully and Doggett to provide that determination in their quest to find the truth, although the Lone Gunmen characters played by Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood and Dean Haglund provide some laughs in the premiere.
Among assorted issues in the opener: Doggett gets the same cold shoulder from the other agents previously reserved for Mulder as he investigates Deputy FBI Director Kersh's (James Pickens Jr.) part in last season's finale, where the government's knowledge of an alien conspiracy resulted in assorted mayhem and death at FBI headquarters.
Despite Scully's assertion that "my son is fine," she realizes he might not be as innocent as originally thought in last season's finale, when a bunch of aliens first wanted to abduct the child but later backed off.
Meanwhile, two drowned EPA workers are connected to a former Marine who served in the same unit as Doggett, a plot that starts a new level of conspiracy in the mythology of the series.
The former Marine is coolly played by Lucy Lawless of "Xena: Warrior Princess," who says she's "just running around with no clothes on" in the episode, thanks to some underwater scenes.
Executive producer Frank Spotnitz said the producers, including creator Chris Carter, are fans of "Xena" and, when they saw there was an opportunity to create a new character for the show, they thought of Lawless.
"it's a great 'X-File-ish' kind of character," Spotnitz added, "where you won't be sure whether she is good or bad for some time."
Lawless' character, Shannon McMahon could return -- although events in the Nov. 18 episode suggest otherwise.
Lawless said she did the guest shot "for love" because she respects Carter. But "the others would have to makes sense, and a business sense, if you know what I mean....
"I know the producers have been very good to me, and I would love to be good to them and their show." However, "you work like a dog for six years and being the star of your own little show. And to go and be a firth wheel on somebody else's would have to be rewarding in a lot of ways."
Augmenting the series somewhat is the earnestness of Annabeth Gish, who returns from a limited role last season to become a co-star this season as Agent Monica Reyes, a spiritual, open-minded sot who Spotnitz said brings "charm, intelligence and humor" to the role.
"I guess they want Monica to be open-minded and not necessarily a skeptic or a believer," Gish said. "And I think I kind of fall into that category. I'm pretty open and willing and interested to entertain certain possible explanations for things."
"She's got a lot more lightness about her than we've come to expect from 'The X-Files' characters," added Spotnitz. "Monica is like an 'X-Files' character in that she is smart and heroic and selfless. But she has so much humor and quirkiness and a slightly neurotic appealing quality about her that it changes the show and makes it something fresh and interesting."
She's going to need it to make up for the loss of Mulder's dry, sarcastic wit. Otherwise, it's going to be a long season for "X-Files" fans.