"He was exhal'd; his great Creator drew
His spirit, as the sun the morning dew."
-- John Dryden,
"On the Death of a very young Gentleman"
After a great setup by rerunning of "Fallen Angel" last week, this week's episode, "Tempus Fugit," is something of a letdown. The anticipation of the return of Max Fenig is quickly doused when Max is unceremoniously killed in the opening trailer. At least, we're certainly led to believe that Max has been killed, and there is considerable forensic evidence to support this conclusion. But all is never quite as it seems on The X-Files, so we will watch faithfully next week to see if one of the more interesting characters in the history of the series really is dead. If next week's episode, entitled "Max," depicts this wonderful character in flashback, I will feel all the more cheated.
"Tempus" is the first of another two-part mythology arc from the pens of Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. These two have written most of the conspiracy episodes since last year's "Piper Maru/Apocrypha" arc. Of late, the trend has been that the opening episode of the arc has been nothing short of wonderful, while the conclusion left more than a little to be desired. The possibility for this to happen again is very real, for "Tempus Fugit," despite several flaws and the undelivered promise of Max Fenig's return, is as engrossing and entertaining an episode as we've seen all season.
The opening sequence, wherein Max is quite obviously abducted once again, serves notice that this will be an exceptional visual episode. Director Rob Bowman, who's become my personal favorite, uses his considerable skills to weave a story that has a somewhat hypnotic affect on the viewer. "Tempus" has several periods of sit-on-the-edge-of-your seat action and catch-your-breath-and-wait-for-the-next-thing-to happen sequences. A mid-air abduction is followed by a small birthday celebration. In one of the show's few tender moments, Mulder gives Scully a key chain commemorating the moon landing of Apollo 11. I don't claim to have a monopoly on interpretive genius, but to me this was a symbol of Mulder's unwavering support and hope for Scully. Apollo 11 represented man's greatest technical achievement. We freed ourselves from the bonds of gravity and walked on the surface of another world. This single event, more than any other, demonstrates that there are no limits to the miracles that the human spirit can achieve. I believe that Mulder's present is a symbol of his faith that Scully somehow will be spared, and his request that she share that faith with him.
This moment is interrupted by the arrival of Sharon Graffia (Chilton Crane), who happens to be Max's sister. She enlists M & S to help find out what happened to Flight 549 which disappeared with Max on it. Bowman then lulls you into settling back in your chair as you watch Mulder make himself look foolish at an NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) briefing before the NTSB team goes to the crash site while Scully looks on, eyes rolling in disbelief. The obfuscation of the identity of one of the passengers who had assembled a plastic gun and started out after Max just before the abduction is closely followed by the discovery of a badly-burned survivor. Mulder finds Max's body with some help from Scully and Max's sister, and we feel the pain as Mulder pulls his business card out of Max's pocket. Then we are treated to an even better abduction scene than we saw in "Fallen Angel" as Max's sister is taken. There must be something really special in the Fenig gene pool to make these aliens keep coming back for more. ;-)
Back and forth we go, from the bad guys chasing Sergeant Frish after killing his partner, to Mulder playing chicken with an in-coming plane on a runway. Mike Millar (guest star Joe Spano) sees an unearthly craft hovering over the crash site, then blinding him with light just before Sharon is returned. And the final scenes, where Mulder discovers the bodies of aliens and is engulfed in light at the same time that Scully is shooting someone who was out to kill Sergeant Frish make for a quite a cliffhanger.
David Duchovny turns in another fine performance. He easily displays his tender side at Scully's birthday celebration and at the confirmation of Max's death, yet shows his fierce determination while driving at the plane on the runway and as he prepares to dive in Great Sacandaga Lake. In this episode, Mulder displayed a very important trait for an investigator: as new facts came to light (Max had an alias, then several of them; he worked at a nuclear weapons plant, etc.), Mulder never ignored or dismissed a fact. He altered his theory to fit the facts instead of ignoring the facts that didn't fit with his theory. This kind of flexibility is what allows him to get to the truth through all the convoluted twists and turns and red herrings that the powers that be throw in his path. Carter and Spotnitz did a nice job with this part of their script.
Gillian Anderson's considerable talents are underutilized in "Tempus Fugit." Her screen time is much less than Mulder's, and there isn't even a good medical emergency to occupy her time until the end when Pendrell is shot. She does manage some nice non-verbal expressions when Mulder is addressing the NTSB briefing meeting; but save for the moments she calls for help after finding the survivor and when trying to reassure Pendrell, she wasn't very active.
Joe Spano as NTSB team leader Mike Millar and Tom O'Brien as Sergeant Frish turn in credible guest-star performances. O'Brien is particularly effective as the repentant solder who just might be that crack in the shadow government's armor that Mulder has been seeking for years. Frish appears to be someone for whom blindly following orders just isn't his style. He is a man with a conscience. Spano, late of Hill Street Blues and last year's Murder One, seems to strike just the right amount of sarcasm at Mulder's early suggestion, then sincere admiration when one of Mulder's postulates steers Millar towards the impossible yet right answer.
Scott Bellis, reprising his role as Max, utters not a single word of dialogue in the episode and is on screen for all of about three minutes. This was easily the smallest amount of work for a guest star credit since William B. Davis got a similar credit for smoking in the background during the police questioning of Walter Skinner in "Avatar." But Chilton Crane picks up the slack for the Fenig family, with a wonderfully over-the-top performance as Max's sister Sharon. Her concern for Max when his flight is missing is as genuine as is her sheer terror when she's being abducted and her collapse when she is returned. Ms. Crane made the most of her limited screen time, and I hope she's back in this week's conclusion.
There were several consistency errors which should have been caught by the average X-Phile. Certainly, Scully's birthday in February did not jive with "EDS," Eastern Daylight Time. We don't go on Daylight Savings Time until the end of April. Scully's allowing Frish to call his girlfriend was ridiculous, and Mulder's guide's not asking Mulder about his diving experience before Mulder was completely outfitted and ready to dive was simply ludicrous. But the one that got me the most was this: the alien ship was able to track down Sharon Graffia (who, it must be supposed, has never been abducted before and who is unknown to the aliens) to a specific hotel room without any problem, but they couldn't find their own spacecraft in the lake???? Uh, okay, if you guys say so.
But I guess I'm starting to lighten up in my old age. I've always said that for me, the most important thing was the story, and the story that was told in "Tempus Fugit" was good enough for me to overlook the flaws. "Tempus" had all the things that make up a great X-File: excitement, uncertainty, ambiguity, and revelation. The special effects were never better. The two abduction scenes and the return scene were awe-inspiring, and the underwater photography by Joel Ransom was exactly right. Editor Heather MacDougall did a superb job of pulling all the diverse scenes together into a taut, cohesive work that did justice to the exciting script and Rob Bowman's direction. And Mark Snow's music once again was the thread that weaved its way through the entire tapestry without overpowering it. "Tempus" worked on just about every level for me.
My Score: 9.8 out of 10