derivative 1(aj)
1 formed by derivation
2 made up of or marked by derived elements
"Sanguinarium" is the first writing effort for writers Valerie Mayhew and Vivian Mayhew. One can't help but wonder what these ladies ate before they went to bed on the night before they germinated the idea for this episode. The Red Cross doesn't have as much blood as this episode. And sadly, the story doesn't have much punch, either. Call it an iron deficiency.
Mulder and Scully are in Chicago to investigate a strange death in the Operating Room of a hospital's Aesthetic Surgery Unit (ASU). A man who was supposed to have some cosmetic work done on his hairline ends up being liposuctioned to death, and the doctor has no memory or knowledge of what happened. Sure. Fine. Whatever. Subsequent events lead to what appears to be a conspiratorial gathering of doctors in the ASU and the discovery that a nurse is a practitioner of witchcraft. Her death from vomiting straight pins eventually leads Mulder and Scully to Doctor Jack Franklin, who is actually Dr. Colin Cox, who is actually, well, you get the idea . . .
There are many problems with this initial effort from the Misses Mayhew. Primarily, what this episode lacks in originality it makes up for with derivation. ;-) Devil worship was so wonderfully and chillingly explored in "Die Hand Die Verletzt" that "Sanguinarium" comes off looking like just so much warmed over blutwurst. :^) It wasn't necessary, and it wasn't done very well.
The writers didn't even make a half-hearted ;-) attempt to explain why the FBI was investigating a murder in a Chicago operating room. When Mulder and Scully are interviewing the doctor who performed the first fatal surgery, Mulder immediately comes to the conclusion that witchcraft is involved. Boy, it's nice to have writers that put you on the right track 3 minutes after you interview someone. Any other investigator would probably have to actually think about the circumstances for a minute or so before jumping to the (correct) conclusion like that.
Another thing that really bothered me is that it seemed as though the writers wanted to write a comedic thriller or a thrilling comedy. The final result was that they wrote neither. The continual references to witches, i.e., "They'll burn us at the stake" and "You look like hell, Jack" were about as subtle as cannon fire. Mulder's crack about a broom on the porch being probable cause was just a little too cute, but Scully's reply about it being probable cause for finding a witch was overkill, so to speak. And Mulder's crack about ascribing the first incident to being behind "Door #3" was simply inane. Maybe what they were trying for was a Darin Morgan episode. What they ended up with was something more along the lines of Darren Stevens; humor for the average 10 year-old.
So many things in this episode just strained my attention span.
Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z . . .
Oops. Sorry. I guess I must have dozed off for a minute. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Staying focused about this episode.
The Mulder/Scully relationship was, at best, confusing. Scully kept looking for the answers in the prescription bottle and Mulder kept looking for pentagrams. They went places together, but I got the feeling that they weren't together in their partnership. Mulder races after Dr. Franklin and tells Scully not to let them operate on Dr. Shannon. Huh? Why not? It's a good thing Scully couldn't stop them from operating, or Dr. Shannon would have died.
If memory serves, this was Kim Manners' first directorial effort of Season Three. There's no where to go from here but up. The pacing of this episode was languid and, save for some nice pan shots of Nurse Waite's home altar, the camera work was pedestrian. Michael S. Stern's editing, while competent, was nothing special. Mark Snow's score, usually as reliable as a sunrise, took on an aura of forced tension. The ennui generated by this episode was a total team effort. :-)
"Sanguinarium" is an episode filled with wonders. I wonder why a man who comes home at night and finds his lights out heads for the bathroom. I wonder how Nurse Waite could hold her breath under blood for so long. I wonder how she got blood to come out of the bathtub faucet in the first place. And I wonder why this episode was even filmed, much less why it was aired during November Sweeps.
My Score: 1 out of 10