This was my screen name on the first X-Files chat room I ever used (that statement is as dated as the episode itself!). I thought I was being really clever but no one got it. I got a lot of "Oh don't be shy we're all nice!".
I totally wanted them to call me on being a fat-sucking vampire.
Alas.
This episode is actually almost too gross for me. Partly because of the gross dissolved fatty tissue effects and partly because I have a real issue with creeps online. Imagine the kind of damage this guy could do on Facebook.
The most entertaining part of 2Shy is the dated technology (obviously). The villain and his victims are cringe-worthy in the way they can't really socialize. Speaking of cringing; that sexist detective is killing me.
C: Oh, it’s you.
S: It’s not a problem, is it?
C: No. Just that Dr. Kramer didn’t tell me that you were observing the autopsy.
S: (businesslike) I’m not observing. I’m performing it myself.
C: You’re a medical doctor?
S: You sound surprised.
C: I don’t know. I, uh, I guess maybe I am.
S: Why?
C: It’s nothing personal, Agent Scully. I’m just old-fashioned in certain regards.
S: Old-fashioned?
C: The truth is, I question the wisdom of assigning female law enforcement officers to certain types of cases.
C: Whoever killed Lauren MacKalvey has a definite attitude toward women. So this has to be affecting your judgment.
Scully wants to punch him and so do I.
The highlight for me is when Scully opens the drawer containing the body which sloshes around and all splashes over the floor when she opens it.
They determine it's caused by a secretion that is similar to stomach acid, but stronger, which allows the perp to dissolve his prey for easy extraction of their.. fat. Gross
S: From a dry skin sample you’re concluding what? That he’s some kind of fat-sucking vampire?
A surprising strong point of this episode is the landlandy's blind daughter. Normally the 'blind' people they get are only so-so, but I definitely believe this girl. It sucks that her mom has a crush on a serial killer. It also sucks that she had to lose her mom in order to catch this guy, but I am glad she's responsible for his capture. I dunno, I'm just rooting for her.Terribly hard for her to walk into scary serial-killer's apartment and smell her mom's perfume then have him tell her she hasn't been by. But she's quite brave when relaying her account to Scully. Go her.
The other surprising strong point? Scully's attacked by Fat-Sucker; shades of Tooms again. You know who saves her? The timid, frightened would-be victim! She shoots him!
Someone just found her girl power! As it happens, girl power comes in the form of a little gun...
When he's finally locked up, left to peel away in fat-deprivation, Mulder and Scully both look at him like he should just man up and die already. So much hate.
This was another case (no pun intended) of an interesting ep spoiled by Mulder arriving at the answer WAAAAY too fast. And on circumstantial evidence at best - I hate when it just seems like he read the script.
ReplyDeleteThat said, this is a wonderfully creepy episode, with one of the series' most underrated villains. He's a well-formed character, weird without being weird just for the sake of it, and intuitive without (also?) being empathetic. Crucial difference, and makes him all the more chilling.
That said, he verges on being too much like Toombs - so much so, that it's genuinely surprising Toombs never gets referenced. Sometimes omission is the most glaring of errors.
It's also pretty amazing how well this ep holds up. Aside from the hardware they're using, this story is perhaps even more relevant some 10+ years later.