1X04 The Jersey Devil
Now we move onto the phase of definitive “Monster of the Week” episodes. You have some alien episodes dotted throughout but mostly it’s ‘pick a supernatural tale/urban legend’ from the list and run with it. Not that this is bad, it definitely set a good tone for the show and let us get to know the characters, it’s just so blatant looking back on it now.
Here we have ‘The Jersey Devil’ which is only slightly more respectable than the actual Big Foot so kudos on them for trying to keep things in a more realistic light. Also, got to take advantage of that Vancouver forest they got there.
- Question: So no one is going to stay with that body with all the evidence?
Oh yes, Mulder and his porn, a nice little subtle thing that I did not get until I was older and realized ‘yeah, Mulder does have a porn fetish’ and it gets referenced to now and again. I do like how Scully isn’t fazed by it at all and instead is snarky and brings him a case. Mulder, of course, finds it interesting and pulls out an X-File. She really needs to watch what she says around that guy.
“I heard the same myth as a kid, funny thing is, I believed it.”
We all have that moment, that thing that we ‘believe’, be it mermaids, aliens, ghosts or vampires… Mulder makes a very sympathetic and relatable character to the audience.
And now another Blue-Grey car, likely a Bureau car as later he’s getting a car requisition form… so maybe it’s just in later seasons they are all dark blue? Oh well.
Pay phones… wow…
I like the name of that hotel, Galaxy Gateway… perfect Mulder.
Okay, so this was 1993, they had to have the obligatory ‘working woman’ episode where the strong female character has to do the whole “when would I have time to have a family” and all that shtick. At least it’s not too insulting in this episode.
Yeah, that picture it totally not menacing, but it is real… I mean, I couldn’t draw anything better than that myself.
Ah, Mulder is so nice to that homeless man, see, he’s such a great character! Which doesn’t help later when he’s accused of being homeless but there you go.
Okay, so apparently Scully has a random desk upstairs? I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure from at least the second season onward they avoid all these ‘office shots’ and just stick to the basement. Those shots did serve their purpose though, creating a realistic world for our characters to inhabit.
- Question: Was that really David not shaving or a really bad ‘five o’clock shadow’ makeup?
Scully is trying to live a normal life, makes me wonder what she would think if she knew what her future held at this point.
Then there is a talk about evolution, which is interesting because Scully is very religious, sorta, so is it telling she doesn’t bring up creationism. I wonder if this was on purpose or no one thought of it at the time?
So Scully goes on her date and the guy seems nice, but boring, and what the hell is she wearing?
Pager… seriously… I am feeling so old…
Scully takes the lead going into the warehouse, that’s pretty cool. She really is a strong female character, again, not because she makes a big deal about it, no preaching or speeches, she just simply is.
“Maybe we’re just beasts with big brains.”
That’s deep man, real deep.
Mulder does seem to inspire some quick loyalty by the park ranger and anthropologist… or do they simply want to give him lead time because they know the cops will kill the Devil?
That jump and roll… omg, I laughed, I’m sorry, I must be spoiled by modern action films… but dang, nice job in those shoes Scully!
Now we have Mulder being jumped and straddled by the definition of ‘sexy beast’. The actress is Claire Stansfield, probably best known for playing Alti on Xena: Warrior Princess. In one article I read, the second unit guy who did all the filming of her running around the woods was ‘yeah, so I spent a day frolicking around in the woods with a beautiful half-naked woman’. Hilarious.
It’s also kinda funny how she attempted to bury herself to hide, while this is a legitimate tactic by feral creatures, it also allows them to be PG and cover her up. Wonder if they would have bothered had this episode been shot today?
We get to the crux of the episode in that the Jersey Devil is not a ‘missing link’, not a Neanderthal that has survived to modern times, but simply a feral woman. This is something that can legitimately happen in real life, and has happened. People who have been cut off from the modern world, or locked away in basements, and other such things that have made a person revert to their more basic instincts. This is less supernatural and more reality than we’d like to admit.
Then the episode ends on Scully attempting to get Mulder to get a life even though she’s ditching getting one herself… but as she says…
“Eight million years out of African and look who’s holding the door.”
p.s. of course she had a kid
Media Nerd Alert! 