While it was not everyone's cup of tea, the general consensus is that 1994's Pulp Fiction was one of the most innovative movies made in the past 30 years. Why is that relevant in a discussion of Darin Morgan's latest writing effort for The X-Files? Well, I saw "Jose Chung" as one great writer's (Morgan's) tribute to another (Quintin Tarantino). From the opening sequence, where things are not quite what they appear to be, through the unique closing voice-over by guest-star Charles Nelson Reilly, we are taken on a non-stop visual rollercoaster ride. The dialogue, particularly the <bleeps> of Officer Manners, and the rapid-fire shifting of venues from interviews to flashbacks to third party observations and back again to the interviews were an obvious homage to Pulp Fiction. The multiple perspectives on the same events were at the very core of what made Pulp Fiction the masterpiece that it was. If you saw the movie, how could you look at the "men in black" and not think John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson? The humor in this episode was decidedly off-center, as was the case for Pulp Fiction, and it was uproarious at times. I half expected the MIB to quote from the Bible, as Samuel L. Jackson did, until I realized that his speech to Rocky about seeing the planet Venus was in fact, the secret government's version of the truth, their Bible, as it were. This episode paid homage to Steven Spielberg, too. The electric company worker working to repair an unexplained power outage was straight out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A second, more subtle reference was when the surviving pilot was playing with his mashed potatoes in the diner while telling Mulder about his role in the events. This was straight from the dinner scene in Close Encounters, where Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfus) begins to see the shape of the Devil's Tower when he begins to mold his mashed potatoes with his fork. Lastly, there was the lingering shot of the little figurine of E.T., in one final tip of the hat to Spielberg.
Morgan's sense of humor was as sharp as ever in this episode. While depicting Mulder as slightly over-the-top, he also engaged a playful reference to Twin Peaks as Mulder staged a one-man pie-eating contest. Since DD played Dennis/Denise in Twin Peaks, he now had the opportunity to sit in the same chair as Special Agent Dale Hooper, and wolf down the best pie in town while asking his questions. Other inside jokes included the jab at Alien Autopsy and another visual by The Stupendous Yappi, from "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose." The acting in the episode was first rate, starting with the incomparable Gillian Anderson. Her facial expressions and voice intonations spoke more than most TV actresses can with words. Guest star Charles Nelson Reilly outshone a quite excellent supporting cast, which included the two "abductees" and the two Air Force pilots. The <bleepin> Officer Manners maintained a straight face through the running stream of profanity, and the abductee-wannabe was convincing in his portrayal of a lonely, empty shell of a man whose life has so little meaning that he longs for an alien encounter.
This episode was important for another reason. Darin Morgan was given the opportunity to write an episode that could not only stand alone, but which also gave us some more insight into the Alien/Government Conspiracy. In the world of The X-Files, minions of the secret government (the Consortium?) conduct bogus alien abductions to further research on selective memory erasure. This would tie in with the theory that the government has successfully reverse-engineered a captured alien spacecraft (see episode 1.2, "Deep Throat"). What is inconsistent with this is that the second craft that appeared in the opening sequence was triangular, as in "Deep Throat" and "Piper Maru/Apocrypha", while the craft used by the Air Force officers was more like that seen in "Duane Barry." It should have been the other way around. But, as with most episodes dealing with aliens, perhaps a suitable explanation to this anomaly is forthcoming in another episode.
So, how does this episode stack up for me? Well, maybe my view is tainted because I have loved every episode written by Darin Morgan. Maybe I look forward so much to Darin Morgan's episodes because they're humorous. Maybe I just think his episodes are so unique that they come close to redefining what a great X-File should be. Maybe I'm just so hopelessly in enamored with Pulp Fiction that I would love anything that was a tribute to this movie. Maybe this episode looked so great because it followed the dreadful duo of "Teso dos Bichos" and "Hell Money". Or maybe it's a combination of all of the above. For me, "Jose Chung" is the best episode of the series.
My Score: 10 out of 10, because I can't rate it any higher.