Twin Peaks S2 E21

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Spoilers

“Miss Twin Peaks”

The penultimate episode of season two of Twin Peaks came hard to the Miss Twin Peaks contest as Windham Earle, dressed as the Log Lady, kidnapped Annie after her victory in the contest.

The entire moment felt so chaotic, bringing back the moments of the flashing strobe lights when Bob or the Giant would show up.

After Annie and Cooper got busy in his Great Northern room, she was clearly the target that would make the most sense for the revenge-minded Earle.

Andy comes through big time too, with an explanation of the mysterious cave drawing actually being a map!

You could tell that this episode was ramping back up into a more intense level. Much of the series had wandered since the reveal of the killer of Laura Palmer. Some parts had been good, some were bad. It felt unrefined and inconsistent. This had a much better feel to it. Even the Miss Twin Peaks contest, which was one of the areas of the recent weeks that were not the strongest, created some serious moments.

This sets up the finale of season two, which, it seemed, would be the finale of the series. However, a surprise season three came back on Showtime. When I finish the next episode, I plan on taking a time out before the season three rewatch (probably in the summer).

Fallout S1 E1

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Spoilers

“The End”

I think the TV shows that are based on video games have been doing great recently. There was The Last of Us, and now we have a new video game series on Amazon Prime called Fallout.

I have not played the Fallout video game so I have no predetermined expectations for the corresponding show.

However I do have a love for the actor Kyle MacLachlan, who was Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks. I know that Michael Emerson, who played Ben on LOST, is coming next episode. Love these actors and it gives me an inspiration to watch the show.

The opening scene of the bombs being dropped on LA was devastating and kind of difficult to watch. It reminded me of the dark beginning of The Last of Us, which saw the death of Joel’s daughter Sarah.

We focus in on two main characters for most of the episode: Lucy and Maximus. Then, we end the episode meeting The Ghoul.

Lucy is played by Ella Purnell. Lucy is Kyle MacLachlan’s Hank’s daughter. Maximus is played by Aaron Clifton Moten. The Ghoul is played by the exquisite Walter Goggins.

Hank is taken from the bomb shelter by people from the surface world. This sends Lucy after him. I would expect her to come into contact with our other protagonists. Her story, for me, was more compelling than Maximus’s so the show does have some work to do for me to engage with his character. The Ghoul is just a cool cowboy and I want more from him.

All eight episodes have dropped on Amazon Prime and I will be working to watch the rest of these over the next few weeks. I do not expect a binge as the episodes are all around (or surpassing) the hour runtime.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #91

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April 11, 2024

Well, yesterday was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY…sort of.

If you saw the EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week post on Wednesday, you know what happened. The new comics shipment to Comic World was lost in the mail. Last I heard they had no idea what had happened to the shipment and they were waiting on a replacement order. The only books that arrived were the DC and Image books. There are a very limited number of DC books that I get, so this week was going to be a down week for comic issues.

I did get a few Image books and so the 91st edition of the Comic Cavalcade will press on.

This actually worked out pretty well for me as Todd had picked up a bunch of Amazing Spider-Man back issues for me. I had told him that I was going to start filling out my ASM collection with issues that I was missing since I had gone through my Amazing Spider-Man box , reboarding and re-bagging them. This allowed me to see the issues that I already had, which had always been the hold back for me buying back issues. There was a time that Todd had thought that I did not like back issues, but that was never the case. I just was never sure what I had already owned. As my project to re-box, re-bag and re-board all the older comics, while inventorying the books on CLZ has been moving forward slowly, I knew what was missing in the ASM camp.

Todd did go a bit in depth with his search for these back issues and came back from Des Moines with a pile of books (41 in all) for me to buy over the next several months. Since I did not have much in the pull list this week with the great comic box disappearance (was this worse than the truck/fire thing from last year… probably not because no one died in this. More inconvenient than anything else), I intended on buying the whole lot. Todd wouldn’t let me.

I am not sure why, but he held back most of the higher priced ASM books he had and even went a far as to keep the books with him to prevent me from circling back and buying them from one of the others at Comic World. I guess I appreciate Todd’s zeal to protect my bank account.

Anyway, I have a large group of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 issues mostly in the four hundreds, but a few lower. I do love Spider-Man and having these are really cool. I’ll get those other ASM books one day, though next week looks to be a double week, with the books from this week and the books from next week. Oy.

Here are the few sparse books this week:

The Last Mermaid #1-2. Written and drawn by Derek Kirk Kim. I actually got The Last Mermaid #2 last week, but I could not read it because I was waiting for #1 to come in. I had missed it and Todd picked it up for me in Des Moines, so I got the chance to read them this week and I loved these two books. Absolutely gorgeous art on the interior of the book. I loved the different shape of the book. I would not want every comic to be this size, but this make this series feel different and original. It was a fun little story of a wasteland future time with a mermaid in a mech-suit in search of usable water. This was some beautiful visual storytelling and I just loved what has been given to us so far. I actually gasped at the end of issue two. I am surprised how connected I am to this mermaid and her little axolotl companion after just a couple of issues. This is wonderful so far.

Rat City #1. Written by Erica Schultz and drawn by Ze Carlos. Cover art by Ze Carlos (Bronze Medalist). This is a book taking place in the future with a character that has lost his legs in his military service and has been given state-of-the-art prosthetics. This is connected to the multitude of new Spawn books coming too. Honestly, this was okay, but it did not grab me enough to want to continue to follow this story.

Napalm Lullaby #2. Written by Rick Remender and art by Bengal, who also did the cover art (Silver medalist). Unlike the previous book, I found this to be an awesome issue. In fact, this really picked up from an okay issue #1. I really dug the story of Sam and Sarah and their father and their beginning of a trek to kill the Magnificent leader.. which led them into…Heaven? I am in.

Phantom Road #10. “Billy Bear One” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Gabriel H. Walta, who also did the cover art (Gold Medalist). This is the end of Book Two, but it was clearly not a end of this series. Very compelling books, kind of a mix between The Walking Dead and The Langoliers. Jeff Lemire is one of my favorite writers currently working today and I will read most everything that he writes.

Transformers #7. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Soundwave vs. Starscream. Oofta! Who is the leader of the Decepticons? And what is going on with Optimus Prime? This issue brings several questions to the front and keeps the momentum of this series moving on.

That’s it for new books this week. Next week is a huge week with the Marvel/Boom! Studios/Etc. from this week and everything from next. More Amazing Spider-Man? Who knows.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of April 8

So we have a strange week this week. My comic shop had their new comics lost in the mail. No one knows what happened to it. The only books that came out this week were Image/DC. I had nothing from DC which meant this week’s comic cover medalists are out of five Image Comics. Next week will be a large one.

Bronze Medalist

Rat City #1

Cover art by Zé Carlos

I don’t know anything about this issue except that sure looks like Spawn on the cover. I picked it up as a curiosity and because I liked the cover. I am interested to see what it is about.

Silver Medalist

Napalm Lullaby #2

Cover art by Bengal

I like this cover quite a bit with this new title from Image. Love the background on this cover as our main protagonists stand in front. I love how everything around them seem to leap off the cover. The title stands out beautifully too.

Gold Medalist

Phantom Road #10

Cover art by Gabriel H. Walta

I love this cover. Truthfully, it is not as much the art of the cover that stands out, but the coloring. This green makes this such a compelling cover. You remember the color because you do not typically see something like this.

Congrats to the all-Image week.

X-Men ’97 S1 E5

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Spoilers

“Remember It”

Wow, what an episode.

So much happened. There are so many things occurred in this episode, and had one of the most dramatic and emotional ends to an episode that I have ever seen.

The first half of this episode was beautiful X-soap opera and the second half was full action spectacle.

The line Rogue says at the end of the episode as it went to black, “I can’t feel you” which was a call back to earlier in the episode, was heartbreaking as she held the dead body of Gambit.

The dialogue was so fantastic in this episode, taking a brilliant step up from the great dialogue from previous weeks’ shows. It is so well written and impactful. This is so much better writing than most animated shows you are going to find.

We got Cable. We got Tri-Sentinel. We got a story kind of like the Mutant Massacre. We had progression on the Scott/Jean/Madeline storyline. Nightcrawler was here along with a ton of cameos. Was there a secret cameo with the Watcher?

Gambit is such a kick ass stud during this episode. His ending battle with the Tri-Sentinel where he sacrifices himself to save Rogue is some of the best action storytelling that you are ever going to see.

Magneto and Rogue background comes out to Gambit.

This was unbelievable. There was so much in this episode. I absolutely loved this. It was one of the best episodes of animation on TV I have seen. What are they going to do after the tragic events of this ending? It is so fantastic. Next Wednesday can not get here quick enough.

American Horror Story: Delicate S12 E6

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SPOILERS

“Opening Night”

Okay, I saw that American Horror Story: Delicate returned for the second half of its season. I was not overly inspired to watch it.

I was interested in Delicate when it first aired back in 2023, for the first five episodes. However, it was not the best AHS I had ever seen. Then, it went away for months.

Whatever momentum this series may have had, this long of a break really killed it. I was not anxiously waiting to see this episode and I only watched it tonight because it fit into the schedule.

The episode was really good, but I had a very challenging time trying to recall what was going on. It was weird and bloody. Things started to come back to me as I watched the episode, but there were still parts that I did not recall.

This long of a break can really sap a show. I feel the same way about Invincible on Amazon Prime which I have not yet watched, and I liked that show more than the current AHS. I am not sure about the choice to wait so long before the second part of the season dropped.

The show was really creepy though and hopefully I will continue to be intrigued moving forward.

Shogun S1 E8

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“The Abyss of Life”

Whoa.

The scene near the end of this episode was unbelievably powerful and tense. The confrontation between Toranaga and Hiromatsu, which led to Hiromatsu committing seppuku. Man, what a moment among a pretty solid episode filled with moments.

It seemed as if Toranaga has more planned than what it appeared. He claimed that Osaka must believe he has given everything up. The loss of his son last episode and Hiromatsu’s death in this one has given Toranaga, who appeared very sick and frail from the trip, time.

John faced a member of his crew finally after months and it did not go well either. John had attempted to sway Yabushige to forming an alliance. Yabushige rejects the offer in name of loyalty to Toranaga. However, the death of Hiromatsu changed his opinion, saying that he did not want to die for the crazy old man.

There was a powerful scene over some tea between Mariko and her husband Buntaro. Buntaro wished to have them both commit suicide as a protest to Toranaga’s decision, but Mariko came out and specifically said that she did not want to follow him into death and that she would rather live a thousand years because of the way he had treated her.

Two more episodes remaining in this series and who knows where it is heading. This one left that knot in my stomach as I watched the pain involved in the machinations of Taranaga.

Moonlighting S5 E12, E13

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Spoilers

“Einme Kleine Nacht Murder”

“Lunar Eclipse”

This is the final two episodes of Moonlighting. They wrapped up the series finishing off the storyline with David and Maddie’s cousin, Annie.

They still have David and Maddie having repressed anger with each other. Even Annie called David out on his anger, which, of course, he denied. However, it is fairly obvious. It is the same anger that has poisoned the series and brought about the end of the show.

These final two episodes included all of the reasons why Moonlighting lost its way. The anger between Dave and Maddie. The overuse of Herbert Viola, in over the top comedy. The cases taking back seat and being tossed aside.

Dave and Maddie end up two of the most depressing characters in TV history.

Even their giant meta ending to the show fell flat. Denis Dugan appearing as Cy the big time producer did give the final repose on the show.

The final clip montage was more sad than anything else. And I do not mean sad in the good way. The last two seasons of Moonlighting really miscalculated what made this show so classic that it wound up in the EYG Hall of Fame. The last two seasons had so much bad in it, but there still had some great moments too. And very few shows can provide three seasons like the first three did.

The rewatch of Moonlighting has now come to an end. I am very happy that Hulu gave me a chance to see the show once again for EYG.

The Anselmo case was never solved.

Moonlighting S5 E11

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“When Girls Collide”

You knew what kind of episode this was going to be when you heard the sad Maddie piano music that we had a lot during season three and four. That was a bad sign.

There was a funny cameo from Demi Moore, who married Bruce Willis in real life.

After that there was way too much Viola. The relationship between Dave and Maddie felt very childish with the inclusion of Maddie’s cousin/old roommate, Annie.

The case was one of the worst ones that they have had in ages.

Why do we have to have the anger back between Dave and Maddie? I thought they were getting more into the act recently, but this truly felt like a step backward.

By the way, Maddie has no one to blame but herself if David is looking for a new relationship.

They then through the “To Be Continued” up on the screen, as if I want more of this soap opera storyline. This show does not do drama well. It is just too angry, degrading the relationship between Dave and Maddie.

Only two more episodes of Moonlighting to go.

Twin Peaks S2 E20

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“The Path to the Black Lodge”

Three remaining Twin Peaks remaining in season two. Things are slowly picking up the connections between the first story arc and the new arc with Windham Earle.

We discover something more about the Black Lodge and we see Killer Bob make another appearance, connecting Bob with the Black Lodge.

Windham Earle dressed up as a horse (with Leo as the horse’s ass) and kidnapped Major Briggs.

Miss Twin Peaks hypes up. Sounds as if Annie may be joining in when the giant returns to attempt to warn Cooper.

A few of the men had some strange reaction with their hand. I saw Cooper and Pete both have it happen.

The whole Ben Horne may be Donna’s father feels forced. If Ben had such a deep connection with Donna’s mother, why did we see nothing about it before now? Why was there absolutely no tie to Donna until just recently? I do like the new Ben Horne, but this just does not work.

They spend some more time trying to make me care about John and Audrey. Not sure I do. I liked Pete more in the episode. When he offered to take Audrey fishing, that was very sweet.

This episode was clearly bringing a lot of the mystical energy back again.

Wrestlemania XL Sunday

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What a night.

After being somewhat underwhelmed by an entertaining Saturday night, Wrestlemania XL Sunday night absolutely rocked.

Cody Rhodes finished his story by defeating “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns in a dramatic main event that saw the Usos, Seth Rollins, Solo Sikoa, The Rock, John Cena and the Undertaker get involved. Emotions were everywhere as the “American Nightmare” finally won the title that his legendary father “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes could never win.

But that was not the only major title that changed hands tonight. Kicking off the show, Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins for the World Championship. Drew went to taunt CM Punk, who was on commentary, and got jumped by Punk. This led to Damien Priest cashing in his long awaited Money in the Bank contract to become the new World Champion. Then Bayley defeated Iyo Sky for the WWE Women’s Championship.

LA Knight defeated AJ Styles in a competitive match. The Pride defeated the Final Testament in a Philadelphia Street Fight refereed by Bubba Dudley. Logan Paul pinned Kevin Owens in the triple threat after KO took an impressive RKO from Randy Orton, who reversed the pop-up powerbomb.

Great night in the WWE as a new era gets underway…

Cody Rhodes celebrated with “Mama Rhodes” and the rest of his friends.

Cody celebrates with his wife, Brandi Rhodes.
Undertaker returned to choke slam The Rock.
Seth says to Cody, “Now it’s your time, baby”
John Cena faces off with The Rock in the middle of the main event

This could be, arguably, one of the best Wrestlemanias of all time. They kept saying that this would be the greatest Wrestlemania of all time and it always felt like hyperbole. However, I think this is in the consideration.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #90

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It is Wrestlemania weekend, so the time has been limited. I had to squeeze some books in-between everything that was going on. I still wanted to get Comic Cavalcade #90 done and published.

Books this week:

Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter #4. “The Mad Monster” Written by David Dastmalchian and art by Lukas Ketner. If you read last week’s Comic Cavalcade, you know that I actually read the trade paperback that included this issue because of a mix-up at eBay. I received the missing issue from this Dark Horse series this week.

Doctor Strange #14. “Cobolorum, Pt. 2” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art by Alex Ross. The D & D-inspired Cobolorum is completed in this Doctor Strange issue and the interactions between Taskmaster, Black Cat, and Hunter’s Moon was one of the strongest part of this storyline.

Captain America #8. “Intermezzo, Part Two of Two” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Carlos Magno. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Lyra, sister of Asmoday, also known as Life, recruited Captain America. This pair of issues was not as strong as the previous part of this book.

Sensational She-Hulk #7. Written by Rainbow Rowell and drawn by Ig Guara. Jen Bartel did the cover art. She-Hulk is doubting her relationship with Jack of Hearts because of an old flame for Jack, Ganymede, who has shown up at the space retreat. Little does anyone know that her mission is to kill She-Hulk.

Man’s Best #1. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote and illustrated by Jesse Lonergan. Two dogs and a cat (dressed as a dog) are the center of this new series. There have been a plethora of dogs/cats/animals leading comics over the last few years. This is yet another interesting book.

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin. Written by J.M. DeMatteis and art by Michael Sta. Maria. Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. This is another of the short series that fall into a previous time frame. This one goes a long way back to the early days of the Amazing Spider-Man. The most interesting part of this series was the interaction between Peter and his Aunt May in the days and weeks right after the loss of Ben.

Under York #1. Written by Sylvain Runberg and art art by Mirka Andolfo. This is an intriguing new Image Comic book involving magic and the underground world existing beneath New York. New characters and a fun start.

Deadpool #1. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Rogê Antônio. Inhyuk Lee In did the cover art (Gold Medalist). New series for Deadpool and there is a new villain out there. And Deadpool feels a little heartbroken from a previous failed relationship.

Geiger #1. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Cover art by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. Part of the Ghost Machine universe from Image, Geiger returns to a new book. I really do love the design of this character and I find it very interesting a read. Some futuristic post apocalyptic action.

Rook Exodus #1. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Jason Fabok. Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson did the cover art. A second of the Ghost Machine universe and it was another fascinating book. Rook has a helmet that allows him to control birds and he has wound up on a planet after escaping from a dying earth. This was a great book and I am looking forward to seeing the book continue. Scary giant bear too. Stephen Colbert says that bears are the ultimate killing machine. This is a gigantic example of that.

Redcoat #1. Written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Bryan Hitch. Cover art is done by Bryan Hitch and Brad Anderson. This is my favorite of the three new Ghost Machine books. A cowardly BritI ish redcoat named Simon Pure has become immortal. I enjoyed this book a great deal.

Antarctica #10. Written by Simon Birks and art by Willi Roberts. Willi Roberts did the cover art (Silver Medalist). The finale of this series. This book wraps up with Hannah and her father face a deadly moment. This has been a very original run in a combo book from Top Cow and Image.

Void Rivals #8. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Lorenzo De Felici. We get some background details about Solila’s past. Her past is coming back to haunt her… or maybe hunt her. Wait for that last page, it is a doozy.

Sam and Twitch: Case Files #1. Written and plotted by Todd McFarlane and Jon Goff. Art was by Szymon Kudranski. Cover art was done by Kevin Keane and Todd McFarlane (Bronze Medalist). A new book inside the Spawn’s Universe features Sam Burke and Maximilian “Twitch” Williams, a pair of detectives that do not necessarily follow the rules.

Ghostlore #9. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. Cover art by Reiko Murakami and Jorge Coelho. Things go poorly for the people helping out Harmony. Shane has some deadly ideas going down. Harmony’s father reunites with her. Things are starting to fire up.

X-Men #33. “As the World Burns.” Written by Gerry Duggasn and art by Joshua Cassara. Joshua Cassara and GURU-eFX did the cover art. The X-Men are into the final battle with Orchis and they get some help from the X-Men of Doom.

Love Everlasting #14. “Acting Out of Love.” Written by Tom King and drawn by Elsa Charretier. We focus in on the Cowboy more and we find out who is behind the plans for Joan Peterson. It is her mother! This seems to be heading toward a finale, maybe?

Immortal Thor #9. “The Land of Lost Content” Written by Al Ewing and art by Ibraim Roberson. Cover art by Alex Ross. Skurge, Enchantress, Minotaur and.. Roxxon Comics?

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #4. “Hunter’s Moon.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art by Davide Paratore. Tigra and Hunter’s Moon are out to discover who this new Moon Knight is… and they learn the shocking truth.

Avengers #12. “Hit Back“. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Francesco Mortarino. Stuart Immonen did the cover art. After keeping out of it, Iron Man officially calls the Avenger into the conflict with Orchis, and they are executing it to a precise detail.

Other books this week: Minor Threats #1, Power Pack: Into the Storm #4, Grim #16, Deep Cuts #6, The One Hand #3, and Torpedo 1972 #2.

Slammy Awards 2024

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The WWE continued Wrestlemania XL weekend with a live stream Sunday morning featuring the Slammy Awards.

The award show is supposedly voted on by the people, although you can always wonder about it. Many of the winners may not have been my choice. Match of the Year was Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley from Wrestlemania 39. That was a great match, but it was not my choice. My personal MotY was Sami/KO vs. Usos at the same event. It was not nominated for a Slammy though.

R-Truth was a sideline reporter and in the audience so he was hilarious as always. Drew McIntyre won a Slammy and absolutely stole the show with his acceptance. Chelsea Green was mad that she did not win that Slammy. Drew was truly epic.

Dominic Mysterio was here too and got booed like crazy…again.

This show felt a little rushed and not up to the WWE’s usual standards for production. Still, it was a lot of fun thanks to the charisma of the wrestlers involved.

Monkey Man

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Dev Patel had his debut as a feature length director. He was also a writer on this project as well as the lead actor, so Dev had a huge presence across Monkey Man.

I would say that the best parts of this movie was Dev Patel. His performance was outstanding. He took this character and provided a ton of emotion for him.

According to IMDB, “Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.“

This was very violent and brutal in many moments, but the biggest problem I had with the movie was the use of shaky cam. So much of the fight scenes were difficult to see because of the shaky cam. There were some scenes where the camera was set and not shaking and they looked great.

There were several moments that the film felt kind of dull. It feels as if it were too long and could have used some editing.

Monkey Man has its flaws, but it is a good movie despite those. It was an impressive debut for Dev Patel behind the camera.

3.4 stars

The X-Files S4 E9

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“Terma”

This is the conclusion of the story that started in the previous episode, Tunguska,” with the term conclusion being a loose descriptor. It just seems that the overall message of the X-Files is that the bad guys are just so much smarter than Mulder or Scully because they just keep getting away with things.

The Smoking Man, Alex Krycek, even some retired KGB agent are always one, maybe two, steps ahead of Mulder and Scully and they just can never bring anyone to justice. The whole mythology of the series winds up being frustrating at times, not just for the characters on the show, but also for the audience.

The two part story was full of action and dramatic moments from the Russian gulag (that Mulder escapes really easily) to an oil refinery explosion in South Dakota, the action beats are exciting.

I’m not sure how the cliffhanger from last episode was resolved. Mulder had been exposed to the Black Oil (or as they started calling it this episode, “Black Cancer”). We see people who have had their arms amputated to stop the testing, but that does not happen with Mulder (sorry Krycek).

This episode really was not structurally well designed. There are just too many issues. It has its moments but not enough.