“Fear. It’s the oldest tool of power. If you’re distracted by the fear of those around you, it keeps you from seeing the actions of those above.” – Fox Mulder.
BLOOD [Standalone] September 30, 1994
Episode: 2×03 / 27 Overall
Director: David Nutter • Writer: Glen Morgan & James Wong
Mulder searches for a Vietnam veteran who can project his consciousness into other people’s minds.
After his successful turn as the fluke-man monster in previous episode The Host, Darin Morgan conceived the story of Blood, which Morgan & Wong adapted in to a screenplay. David Nutter once again sits in the director’s chair and delivers a taught, finely tuned thriller with an intriguing and original concept. The story does become a little convoluted and is typically unresolved in it’s conclusion, though it overcomes these obstacles thanks to it’s imaginative script writing. The Long Gunmen make their second appearance in the series since their introduction in season 1 and although it’s brief, they’re always a welcome addition that in this case provides a much needed reprieve from the sinister overtones that permeate this episode. There’s quite a high body count here, despite most of the murders taking place off screen. It’s a wise choice to use the insinuation of violence as opposed to unnecessary gore which would have cheapened the effect. Gillian Anderson’s pregnancy caused her to have less screen time in the early episodes of season 2 and her minimal appearance in this episode is felt.
As entertaining as this episode is, it feels like the explanation for the murders is a little forced. The attempt to tie in the government with the crop dusting of an illegal chemical is believable enough. This aspect rings true for the most part and as an audience we buy the concept of the government testing potentially life threatening chemicals on it’s citizens. However the explanation, or lack thereof, for the messages appearing in digital readouts is severely lacking. It’s perhaps easy enough to overlook since the majority of the episode is sufficiently engaging but for the sake of nitpicking it’s a fairly large plot hole. For instance, how could the government control the readout on a digital watch or a gas pump, or even a microwave for that matter? The only one that is passable is the elevator, as it could be hooked up to a computer system that is hackable. For entertainments sake I feel like I would have preferred this to remain an unsolved mystery as for how the messages appeared. It’s even more believable to argue that the messages were not there at all and that the psychotropic drug simply caused the victims to think they were seeing a message. It’s a frustrating misstep in an otherwise well written standalone story that holds it back from being a particularly noteworthy addition to season 2.
★★☆☆☆
The X-Files Retrospective Project 