The X-Files: Darkness Falls
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From: sstegall@isc.sjsu.edu (Sarah F Stegall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files
Subject: Darkness Falls REVIEW
Date: 8 Dec 1994 21:12:26 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Lines: 106
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Message-ID: <9412090310.AA29882@isc.sjsu.edu>
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Reviewer's note: I have been posting these reviews for
several months and many of you have written me with your
opinions, which were much appreciated. However, my employer
has shut down my e-mail address. Those of you who formerly
wrote to me at sfsfs@fail.com will henceforward receive an
error message. If you wish to respond with comments,
criticism, etc., please send e-mail to
sstegall@sparta.sjsu.edu.
Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------
Light in the Forest
by Sarah Stegall
"Darkness Falls", the episode of "The X-Files" re-run on
December 2, is not one of the show's more popular episodes:
it fell into about the middle third of the end-of-season poll
of X-Philes' preferences. However, it has several points to
recommend it, and remains one of my favorites for various
reasons.
The best characters in this episode were non-human: the
magnificent woods of British Columbia and the tiny insects
responsible for the deaths of the loggers. The sequences in
the woods looked rainy and cold and isolated, bringing the
brooding silence of the woods home to us in our urban dens.
The 'bugs' were a fine hook into Freudian fears shared by most
of us--oo, ick, spiders!--as good as the toilet sequence in
"Tooms". And the shocking conclusion, which nearly kills our
heroes, underscored the constant danger Mulder and Scully
place themselves in. I must cite both the excellent
cinematography and the outstanding score for contributing to
the lonely, apprehensive feeling of this episode; Mark Snow's
music just continues to delight and chill.
In "Darkness Falls" Mulder and Scully are essentially
spectators. I don't particularly mind this: "X-Files" is in
many ways an anthology series, telling a complete tale every
week, without ongoing story lines to ease the burden on the
writers. So there will inevitably be episodes of "The X-
Files" with less tension, less involvement of Mulder and
Scully, less immediacy. The question now becomes: how well
did the secondary characters succeed in carrying the story?
Jason Beghe as Ranger Larry Moore turned in an
excellent, understated performance. His forest ranger is a
solid, fair-minded but entirely human character with grit and
resourcefulness. But the characters of Doug Spinney (Titus
Welliver) and Steve Humphreys (Tom O'Rourke) are flat and one-
dimensional. Both Humphreys and Spinney are less than full-
fledged characters, functioning instead as propagandists for
one extremist view or the other. Humphreys' declaration that
environmentalists "value trees more than human life" is
outrageous; Mulder lets him get away with this, so it stands
in the viewer's mind. Spinney, the environmentalist,
callously dismisses the loggers' deaths as unimportant next to
the cutting of the fir tree--an equally outrageous piece of
propaganda.
The unchallenged use of the terms "eco-terrorist" and
"monkey-wrencher" by every character in the show, implying
that these are widely used, acceptable descriptions of
environmentalists, is inflammatory. In fact, they are terms
used by the timber industry and its allies to defame those who
oppose their agenda. While I don't want to start a political
argument, and I realize Chris Carter is not making a
documentary, to permit this appellation to go undisputed is to
allow only one side in a political fight to set the terms of
the discussion. Carter is playing with fire if he begins to
incorporate this kind of political rhetoric into "The X-
Files".
One minor feature of "Darkness Falls" is significant: I
believe it was the first episode to show Mulder making a
tactical mistake. Although his actions in permitting Spinney
to return to his companions with the last of the gasoline
turns out to be a life-saving decision, he could not have
known that in advance when he acted unilaterally. This kind
of lone-ranger behavior is precisely why organizations such as
the FBI are suspicious of the Fox Mulders of the world. More
often than not, this kind of risk-taking with other people's
lives turns out tragically. It was great to have Mulder
realize this and to have Scully call him on it. I only wish
Mulder had been a little humbler about it. He shows a certain
amount of arrogance in refusing to apologize for his high-
handedness.
When Carter writes his own stories, like this one, he
feels free to show us more details of Scully and Mulder's
relationship, which makes this show so interesting. The
conversations between Mulder and Scully are classic: when
they are speaking to one another, everyone else may as well be
furniture, because the agents are off in their own world.
They function as one mind at such times, achieving a real
depth beyond the surface tension of the repressed sexual
attraction. I suppose there's nothing like being cocooned
together to cement one's relationship with one's partner.
There were major plot holes in "Darkness Falls", which
must reduce its effectiveness: for example, if Scully and
Mulder needed a light to fend off the bugs, why didn't they
just build a fire? It's not like they were short of firewood.
But the concept of the ancient bugs sleeping in the heart of
the tree for a thousand centuries catches the imagination
wonderfully. Again we are shown the inventiveness at the
heart of this show's appeal. If not always perfectly
executed, we must applaud the effort.
I give this one two sunflower seeds out of five.
Path: netnews.upenn.edu!news.cc.swarthmore.edu!psuvax1!news.pop.psu.edu!news.cac.psu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail
From: sstegall@isc.sjsu.edu (Sarah F Stegall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files
Subject: Darkness Falls REVIEW
Date: 8 Dec 1994 21:12:26 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Lines: 106
Sender: nobody@cs.utexas.edu
Message-ID: <9412090310.AA29882@isc.sjsu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: news.cs.utexas.edu
Reviewer's note: I have been posting these reviews for
several months and many of you have written me with your
opinions, which were much appreciated. However, my employer
has shut down my e-mail address. Those of you who formerly
wrote to me at sfsfs@fail.com will henceforward receive an
error message. If you wish to respond with comments,
criticism, etc., please send e-mail to
sstegall@sparta.sjsu.edu.
Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------
Light in the Forest
by Sarah Stegall
"Darkness Falls", the episode of "The X-Files" re-run on
December 2, is not one of the show's more popular episodes:
it fell into about the middle third of the end-of-season poll
of X-Philes' preferences. However, it has several points to
recommend it, and remains one of my favorites for various
reasons.
The best characters in this episode were non-human: the
magnificent woods of British Columbia and the tiny insects
responsible for the deaths of the loggers. The sequences in
the woods looked rainy and cold and isolated, bringing the
brooding silence of the woods home to us in our urban dens.
The 'bugs' were a fine hook into Freudian fears shared by most
of us--oo, ick, spiders!--as good as the toilet sequence in
"Tooms". And the shocking conclusion, which nearly kills our
heroes, underscored the constant danger Mulder and Scully
place themselves in. I must cite both the excellent
cinematography and the outstanding score for contributing to
the lonely, apprehensive feeling of this episode; Mark Snow's
music just continues to delight and chill.
In "Darkness Falls" Mulder and Scully are essentially
spectators. I don't particularly mind this: "X-Files" is in
many ways an anthology series, telling a complete tale every
week, without ongoing story lines to ease the burden on the
writers. So there will inevitably be episodes of "The X-
Files" with less tension, less involvement of Mulder and
Scully, less immediacy. The question now becomes: how well
did the secondary characters succeed in carrying the story?
Jason Beghe as Ranger Larry Moore turned in an
excellent, understated performance. His forest ranger is a
solid, fair-minded but entirely human character with grit and
resourcefulness. But the characters of Doug Spinney (Titus
Welliver) and Steve Humphreys (Tom O'Rourke) are flat and one-
dimensional. Both Humphreys and Spinney are less than full-
fledged characters, functioning instead as propagandists for
one extremist view or the other. Humphreys' declaration that
environmentalists "value trees more than human life" is
outrageous; Mulder lets him get away with this, so it stands
in the viewer's mind. Spinney, the environmentalist,
callously dismisses the loggers' deaths as unimportant next to
the cutting of the fir tree--an equally outrageous piece of
propaganda.
The unchallenged use of the terms "eco-terrorist" and
"monkey-wrencher" by every character in the show, implying
that these are widely used, acceptable descriptions of
environmentalists, is inflammatory. In fact, they are terms
used by the timber industry and its allies to defame those who
oppose their agenda. While I don't want to start a political
argument, and I realize Chris Carter is not making a
documentary, to permit this appellation to go undisputed is to
allow only one side in a political fight to set the terms of
the discussion. Carter is playing with fire if he begins to
incorporate this kind of political rhetoric into "The X-
Files".
One minor feature of "Darkness Falls" is significant: I
believe it was the first episode to show Mulder making a
tactical mistake. Although his actions in permitting Spinney
to return to his companions with the last of the gasoline
turns out to be a life-saving decision, he could not have
known that in advance when he acted unilaterally. This kind
of lone-ranger behavior is precisely why organizations such as
the FBI are suspicious of the Fox Mulders of the world. More
often than not, this kind of risk-taking with other people's
lives turns out tragically. It was great to have Mulder
realize this and to have Scully call him on it. I only wish
Mulder had been a little humbler about it. He shows a certain
amount of arrogance in refusing to apologize for his high-
handedness.
When Carter writes his own stories, like this one, he
feels free to show us more details of Scully and Mulder's
relationship, which makes this show so interesting. The
conversations between Mulder and Scully are classic: when
they are speaking to one another, everyone else may as well be
furniture, because the agents are off in their own world.
They function as one mind at such times, achieving a real
depth beyond the surface tension of the repressed sexual
attraction. I suppose there's nothing like being cocooned
together to cement one's relationship with one's partner.
There were major plot holes in "Darkness Falls", which
must reduce its effectiveness: for example, if Scully and
Mulder needed a light to fend off the bugs, why didn't they
just build a fire? It's not like they were short of firewood.
But the concept of the ancient bugs sleeping in the heart of
the tree for a thousand centuries catches the imagination
wonderfully. Again we are shown the inventiveness at the
heart of this show's appeal. If not always perfectly
executed, we must applaud the effort.
I give this one two sunflower seeds out of five.
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