“I will return to avenge the petty tyranny and the cruelty I have suffered. I will be recast. Reincarnated. Reunion of Spirit and Flesh. Mark my words: Five men will die.” – Napolean “Neech” Manley.
THE LIST [Standalone] Aired October 20, 1995
Episode: 3×05 / 54 Overall
Director: Chris Carter • Writer: Chris Carter
Enemies of a prison inmate who was executed in the electric chair begin dying one by one.
Carter direct his second episode since season two’s Duane Barry which is brimming with visual flair though ultimately lacking in storytelling. The List is a claustrophobic prison thriller that has a captivating gloomy atmosphere. Carter himself has stated that he felt the episode was daring in the sense that there are essentially no likeable characters, no protagonists to root for, beyond the two agents themselves. The episodes weakest link is in its simplicity, we witness the execution of Neech Manly (Badja Djola), a self-proclaimed prophet of sorts who vows revenge from beyond the grave. “Five men will die,” Neech proclaims to his witnesses in the most powerful scene of the episode which sets a foreboding tone. However Carter’s story practical ends where it begins in the sense that there are no revelations beyond this point. What we see in the opening teaser is exactly what we get, Neech Manly returns from death and enacts his revenge. Much like season one’s Space, Mulder and Scully are relegated to spectators since although we follow them through the advancement of plot, they themselves have no real bearing on the events. They neither prevent any of the deaths from occurring nor do they solve the case. Never the less Carter proves himself an adept visual story teller as he captures the confined geography of the death row holding cells to create a sustained sense of tension throughout, which ends up being the episode’s saving grace.
I don’t entirely agree with Carter’s assertion that there are no protagonists. The story progression clearly positions the audience to dislike the Warden, played by the always sinister J.T. Walsh. The Warden fears for his life, believing himself to be on Neech’s list and is desperately trying to prevent his own demise. Throughout the episode he interrogates the prisoners, bashing two of them to death in a futile attempt to save his own life. And even though these are death row inmates who surely committed even worse atrocities to receive such a sentencing, the fact that we don’t get any insight in to these characters or their crimes causes us to feel sorry for them. As far as the audience is concerned, this is the story of a Warden abusing his power over helpless, shackled inmates. Without learning, even to some degree of these prisoners past, we can’t help but sympathise with them and given the corrupt nature of the prison system we’re shown we invariably side with Neech in his revenge. The way Carter positions the audience through the story telling invites us, perhaps unintentionally, to see the Warden as the antagonist and Neech and his fellow inmates as the good guys. It’s a natural desire to try and find a party to side with in a story so in this case we choose the lesser of two evils.
There are some gruesome practical effects in The List which are quite effective, such as the severed heads of the guards and the recurring theme of maggots feeding on the recently deceased. Apparently the maggots used on set were real and in several cases actors had to lie still while they had buckets of them poured on to their body. Needless to say this was an unpopular aspect of filming for the cast and crew, particularly Gillian Anderson who stated that the maggots were the hardest animal to work with on the show. Watching the episode again I wondered whether I had missed something about Neech’s resurrection in that it appeared to suggest to me that he had returned as a fly, which is present just before each murder. Although he was able to also materialise within his original body to enact the murder so perhaps the fly is simply an omen of death. The final scene, despite being somewhat cliché is still very effective and ends the episode on a dramatic high point. In fact I felt that the two most compelling scenes where the first and last, from Neech’s execution to his final act of revenge on his most deserving of victims.
★★☆☆☆
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