Hidden Truth/Hidden Truth.iso/data/xfiles/x-files3/grotesque.rvw

Text File | 1996-09-22 | 10.1 KB | 189 lines

                    Monsters from the Id

                      by Sarah Stegall

               copyright 1996 by Sarah Stegall

     "Is this the monster called Madness?"  --  Fox Mulder

     A good hunter tracks his prey from the inside:  he
wears camouflage to blend in with the background, seeks
patterns in the way the prey operates, studies it closely to
exploit its weaknesses.  Like American Indian buffalo
hunters before the advent of horses, a good hunter will put
on the skin of the prey, looking through its eyes as he
approaches the quarry, drawing ever closer to it both
physically and spiritually.  And when the quarry is a
madman, what guise will suffice but madness itself?  Howard
Gordon turns in a beautiful portrait of evil and madness
intertwined in Friday night's "Grotesque", where we see
Mulder finally demonstrating the skills that made him a
legend in the Bureau's Behavioral Sciences Unit even as he
earned the nickname "Spooky".  His foray into this heart of
darkness reminds us that, until recently, society did not
distinguish between madness and evil, and that even today we
ignore the terrible price some must pay in tracking the
monsters among us.
     When a series of mutilation murders  continues even
after the perpetrator is caught, Mulder and Scully are
assigned to aid Mulder's old mentor at the Behavioral
Sciences Unit in tracking down the killer's accomplice or
copycat.  But Mulder quickly develops a novel theory--that
killer John Mostow's (Levani) claim that he is possessed by
a demonic spirit is  true, and that the drawings on his
grungy apartment walls are portraits, not fantasies.
Mulder's former boss, Agent Bill Patterson (Kurtwood Smith)
professes his disappointment in Mulder's odd notions, but
admits to Scully that it was Mulder's "cracked genius" he
was hoping to use to "close this God-forsaken case", a case
Patterson has been working on for three years.  Even Skinner
voices concern as Mulder becomes moody and withdrawn,
ditching his partner as she tries to reach him.  Mostow
himself fears Mulder is slipping into darkness, as he warns
him through a mouthful of blood, "It will find you.  Maybe
it already has."
     The idea of the gargoyle as protective image gets
turned on its head through the constant repetition of the
image.  The murderer first projects his inner evil onto
paper and clay, and when that fails to serve, onto human
flesh.  "It wants to see its own reflection", says Mostow,
reminding us that murder is the ultimate act of ego, a
deadly narcissism.  Finally, he carves human faces into the
image that haunts him, in a ritual of exorcism that needs
real flesh and real blood.
     "If you want to catch a monster, you must become one
yourself."  Mulder remembers Patterson's lessons all too
well, and in the next half hour descends through the circles
of Hell, taking on the camouflage of his prey in an almost
shamanic journey.  He covers his walls with diabolical icons
so he can see through the killer's eyes.  He puts his hands
where the killer's have been--on the murder weapon, on the
concealing clay, on the walls and furniture of his home.  He
sleeps where the killer has slept, summoning into himself
not only the spirit of the murderer's surroundings but the
spirit of murder itself. Kim Manners poses him like one of
the leering gargoyles in Mostow's studio, bathing Mulder in
a cold and dispassionate light, as one who has ceased to
look on his fellow humans as brothers but has joined the
ranks of the predators. His one concession to sanity, the
one lifeline Mulder leaves himself, is Dana Scully.  He
shuts her out deliberately, sparing her as much as possible
the ugly trip into madness he must make, letting her rescue
him as Patterson has tried to make Mulder rescue him from
the descent into corruption.
     For the first time this year I have gotten a glimpse of
a Mulder who *might* have worked through his grief and
guilt, all on his own.  From some terrible and lonely silent
place he seems to have gained some peace of mind, but it has
made him older, quieter, grimmer.  Scully, persistently in
denial over her abduction, the government conspiracy he sees
so clearly, the nature of the evidence they find, finds
herself increasingly at odds with him.  Having come out the
other side of a trial she refuses to face, Mulder may now
find himself with little common ground. He still trusts her,
even when she pulls a gun on him, but he cannot talk to her
any more.  This is a much more interesting relationship than
the petty jealousy we've recently seen, and much more
believable.  For this revelation we have David Duchovny to
thank, who showed us Mulder sinking into the heart of
madness almost without the use of dialogue.  His defiant
attitude toward Patterson shows us a disappointed Mulder, a
man whose hero worship was cracked by confronting the
reality of the man himself, who has never really learned how
to deal with hostile authority figures. I loved the soft
bewilderment in his voice as Mulder tells Scully, "But I
didn't take it!", the subtle shifts during his conversations
with Scully about Patterson, the sorrow on his face as he
realizes he has shot his idol and guru.  Best of all, the
confrontation scene between Mulder and Patterson shows
Mulder's fundamental ability to keep his head even in the
eye of a nightmare, and find his way out of a maze that has
brought low a man of more experience and expertise. And his
in Mostow's cell was sudden, furious, and deeply troubling.
That sudden loss of control revealed more than any ten
lines of dialogue could have. Applause to David Duchovny
for a very subtle performance.
     Trapped in the light of reason, Scully can only
contribute confusion to the investigation:  her discovery of
a weapon on the scene of an attack on Mulder throws more
suspicion on her partner's actions.  Mulder's fingerprints
on a murder weapon alarm her, but not as it might first
appear.  When she later confronts Mulder about this over the
phone, she accepts his reassurance without hesitation,
knowing that someone has set up her almost helpless partner.
She refuses to undermine her relationship with her partner
by agreeing with Skinner's concerns, knowing him better than
Skinner.  And she reaches right past Bill Patterson's gruff
exterior to reach a common concern for the Mulder they both
know so well. Again, kudos to Gillian Anderson for showing
us a determined yet caring Dana Scully, who can go from
righteous anger to caring concern in a few seconds and make
us believe it.
     Kurtwood Smith turns in a wonderful performance as the
hard-nosed investigator who does not see the trap his prey
has sprung on him.  Poor pitiful Patterson, who realizes too
late that Mulder is right, knowing in the deepest reaches of
his soul, where he refuses to look, that the demon has moved
in and taken over.  Because Mulder is not afraid to look
into the eye of the gargoyle, he survives:  Patterson's
refusal to admit the danger in his investigation makes him
easy prey. The confrontation scene between Mulder and
Patterson in the warehouse was stunning:  Mulder finds
compassion even in the midst of his anger ("I'm sorry!") and
Patterson comes up short as his anger gives way to sudden
realization  ("Look at your hands.  Now tell me what you're
doing here.").  How terrible to find yourself at last gazing
on your own reflection--and recognize the demon looking out
of your own eyes.
     Emmys for Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Series
this year should really go to Mark Snow's music and John
Bartley's cinematography.  Without Snow's tragic, echoing
theme the episode would have lost whole dimensions of loss
and sadness.  Bartley's camerawork leaches the light and
warmth of humanity out of every scene in Mostow's chamber of
horrors, until even Mulder becomes a soulless gargoyle, his
eyes empty and dark, his skin the color of mortal clay.
Without the deep blues and purples of the warehouse scenes,
"Grotesque" might have been flat and cartoonish, but
Bartley's magnificent and cinematic work add layers of
meaning to a shaft of light, a shadow, a ripple of rainwater
down a windowpane.  Images like surrealist portraits play
across the screen:  Mulder's face superimposed on a gargoyle
outside a window, the almost palpable darkness of Mostow's
secret studio, the tortured features of a gallery of
gargoyles contrasting with Mulder's closed, abstracted face.
Bartley even used hand-held camera work to humanize an
otherwise static scene between Scully and Skinner.
     Art Director Graeme Murray and Director Kim Manners
surely come in for honors as well, as they decorate both
Mostow's and Mulder's apartments in image after image of
mind-bending ugliness, an increasingly deranged portrait
gallery of evil.  I was especially impressed with the slide
show in Mulder's office, where his own portrait gallery of
murder victims, horribly and all too literally defaced, is
barely glimpsed in passing, teasing our imaginations with
abominations we can imagine all too freely.  When Mulder and
Scully pass back and forth before the projected images, the
blood and bruises play across their faces, turning them both
into living gargoyles for a moment.
     Howard Gordon shows his background on "Beauty and the
Beast" in the concept and writing of "Grotesque".  Chunks of
voice-over narration, that might have made the episode wordy
and long-winded, are balanced by extended scenes with no
dialogue, where the story is told in images and music.  If
he did not have Mark Snow and John Bartley to tell the story
with him, "Grotesque" might have left us confused and
frustrated.  But the combination of all three talents in the
service of one story is dynamite. The red herring of the
agent's bitten hand, the subtle clue in the mutilation
victim's reaction to seeing his attacker in his own hospital
room, the barely-glimpsed demon mask of the attacking
Patterson all added up to a tense and suspenseful hour. I
could have done without the closing voice-over--the zoom in
on the gargoyle drawing in Patterson's cell was enough--but
otherwise it was a well-done, exciting, and damn near
perfect episode, one of the best this season.  I award it
five out of five sunflower seeds.