by Kristina Curkovic
Some of the most exciting times of the year for me are those when a television show presents its season premiere. "E.R."'s proved to be a disappointing hour of precarious experimentation in which the characters hardly advanced toward any sort of plot, and the handheld camera that jostled and bounced had to have an excuse for its presence. The next most eagerly anticipated show this fall will be premiering on November 2; a show full of mystery and suspense, of quirky, mutant characters, and featuring two highly popular leads whose careers both started with softporn movies; yes, my dears, I'm speaking of The XFiles.
This will be the second premiere for the show that involves the murky question of whether its handsome, brooding lead Fox Mulder, as (brilliantly, I must say) played David Duchovny has survived last season's cliffhanger episode. Two seasons ago, he was buried in a train car with piles of decomposed alien bodies when government agents (lead by the infamous Cancer Man) set the car on fire with Mulder still in it. Yet, he survived somehow, and similarly there's no question that Agent Mulder will survive well into this, the show's fifth season, regardless of whether Duchovny's new film career springboarded by the new film, Playing God creates a Hollywood sensation out of him. (By the looks of it, I think it's safe to say we'll have good old Agent Mulder around for a while longer.) Duchovny is arguably as hot as his tightlipped, redhaired sidekick, played to Emmy Awardwinning perfection by Gillian Anderson, and the show would lose favor if it happened to lose either of these actors. The two are already both pop icons, and are, along with the show itself, subjects of countless websites (from Andrew Wong's X-File Page to the Zombie's X-File Page), magazine features, books, and fan clubs around the world. If either of their characters were to even suffer a paper cut at the hands of Cancer Man, their cigarettepuffing (no cigars for him) arch nemisis, one is relatively sure that this poor actor would suffer a long and painful death at the secret location of some Lone Gunmeninspired lair.
So just as we are sure of Mulder's sure recovery from last season's tragic, heartstopping suicide attempt (are we sure there was one, anyway?), we can probably be as certain that Agent Dana Scully will also somehow recover from her ambiguously contracted, superrare brain cancer that makes her nose bleed but still allows her to hunt down mutant creatures and expose government coverups. However, rumors are circulating that Gillian is planning on leaving the show after this, their fifth season (possibly to pursue her own film career, starting with her appearances in the upcoming films Hellcab and The Mighty), so perhaps her prolonged illness could become a feature of this season, along with contract negotiations and more rumors.
This said, the next question becomes, What the hell is going on? At the end of last season's closer ("Gethsemene"), Mulder finds out from Scully that the whole alien conspiracy thing was a hoax on the part of the government, which had been feeding him false information and setting up this elaborate prank ... for some reason. And they'd given Scully her cancer for the same reason, forcing our beloved, guiltstricken Mulder to turn his gun on himself. To be continued. The Official X-Files homepage, run by FoxWorld, is blatantly ambiguous about the upcoming season, not even mentioning Mulder's name in the blurbs about the season's first two shows ("Redux," and "Redux II"). So it seems that we'll have to wait, and watch, and, as always, keep guessing. However, something to look forward to is a guest appearance by Richard Belzer, who will be playing his Lt. Munch role of NBC's "Homicide" on the November 16 episode about the formation of the Lone Gunmen.
Obviously, last year's season closer must not have been as impressive as that which Chris Carter and the XFiles team have in store for next year; that season finale will have to be resolved in an actual featurelength movie due out in theaters during summer 1998. Supposedly, the movie is being filmed under top secret conditions in Bakersfield, California so story lines are hard to come by. However, it is hard to imagine a fulllength Hollywood action/suspense film anymore without a bit of prerequisite romance (a la Speed and Broken Arrow), especially when its characters have already known each other longer than the extent of the movie ("Nice to meet you. Put down the nuclear detonation device and kiss me hard!") as Mulder and Scully have.
But why ruin a good thing? It seems inevitable at this point that the two are destined for a longterm platonic relationship, regardless of how much we fans dream of an eventual romantic encounter between them. Indeed, the simple "you save my life, I'll save yours" basis of their relationship has left room for X-Philes to dream of their own encounters with either of these nowpopular sex symbols, although Duchovny's recent marriage to That Girl (socalled star of the awful "Naked Truth," Tea Leone) was surprising and odious news. In addition, Gillian Anderson seems to have hooked up with one of her own costars, the cute psychopath from the tattoo episode last season ("Never Again," in which Jodi Foster cameoed in a voiceover role as an evil tattoo), which is nice in a way, because it was a shame that they had to get rid of such a good looking character in a show where there are so many gross ones (e.g. el Chupacabra). In any case, if romance does develop in the plot of The X-Files movie, it is doubtful (and maybe a little disappointing) that those sparks will fly between Mulder and Scully.
For those of us who are infatuated with the show, November 2 will find us glued to the boob tube, taping large X's to the windowto signal to all our secret agent friends to come over, bring the snacks and watch The X-Files season premiere. Our infatuation comes not only from a more primordial source (i.e. David Duchovny's lovely, lovely lips), but from the basic knowledge that the show will not disappoint. Intriguing plots, scary characters, and interest in the on- and off-screen lives of the leads all add up to a great show that will hopefully never challenge and disappoint itself with illusions of greatness viz live camaras. The X-Files pointedly draws us into a no-fuss world of fantasy and the macabre. And it has created a pop culture sensation that, now entering its fifth year, rivals that of any other comparable popular TV series. So maybe George Clooney can diagnose illnesses, spred ribs and get the girls, but has he ever battled against mutant forces or chased after or been chased by glowing aliens? I don't think so.
Kristina Curkovic is a Senior majoring in English and Linguistics and the Arts Editor of the Review.