"I put instant coffee in a microwave
and went backwards in time."
-- comedian Steven Wright
"Fire and ice. You come on like a flame,
then you turn a cold shoulder . . ."
-- rock singer Pat Benatar
Hot and cold would be an appropriate description of how I viewed the inaugural writing effort of long-time Executive Producer Howard Gordon and new Co-Executive Producer David Greenwald. While the episode had some good moments, it was singularly devoid of suspense and surprise. I'm sure most viewers figured out that the old man was Jason after Scully tells Mulder that Jason's fingerprint has been found inside the campus security guard's car and on his uniform; in the context of the world of the X-Files, this was the only explanation that made any sense. And if you couldn't foresee that there would be a climactic confrontation between future Jason and present Jason, then you need to stay in and watch more television. ;-)
To its credit, this was the first X-File episode to deal with time travel. I suppose it was only a matter of, well, time, before they did one. ;-) Over the course of nearly four seasons, the show has explored pretty much all of the standard fare for its monsters of the week, (werewolf, vampire, ghost, etc.) as well as some not-so-standard MOWs (Tooms, Leonard Betts, Modell, etc.). Without these diversions, we're left with only the Alien/Government Conspiracy story lines. The A/GC stories are my favorites, but I couldn't take a steady diet of them. So, we must have stories that are fillers, the lettuce and tomato of our X-Files submarine sandwich that serve to add some low calorie nutrition. "Synchrony" is just such an episode; call it X-Files Lite.
In what has become a stock opening for the average MOW episodes, we watch as someone is killed under unusual circumstances. M & S become interested because, well, we really don't get a very satisfactory explanation why this case is of interest to Mulder. He's intrigued by the alleged killer's "alibi" that there was an old man who predicted the exact details of the death of Lucas just seconds before it happens. Webster's 7th Edition gives this definition for the word "alibi":
alibi 1(n) DEFINITIONS: 1 the plea of having been at the time of the commission of an act elsewhere than at the place of commission; also : the fact or state of having been elsewhere at the time
I'd like to give the writers credit for a nice little in-joke, that they were telegraphing to the viewer that this episode was going to play fast and loose with that tenet of Newtonian physics that says only one object can occupy one space at one time. I'd like to, but I can't. Gordon and Greenwald take this law and throw it in the garbage can, right along side the X-Files timelines. :-) The paradox of time travel isn't even addressed, much less addressed satisfactorily. How can you, as a 70-year old, go back in time and kill yourself as a 30-year old? If you're killed when you're 30, how can you live to be 70 so that you can come back and kill yourself at 30? Apparently, this little exercise of intellectual speculation was deemed unnecessary by both writers.
This was also the episode where Scully took on the personae of "bad cop" in the good cop/bad cop scenario. Mulder was smooth and non-threatening while he was talking with Jason while Jason was in prison. Scully, in the other hand, was pretty quick on the trigger when it came to hurling threats about being an accomplice and being charged as an accessory. I guess brain cancer tends to make you a little short on patience.
And here was another opportunity missed by the G and G writing team. For a cancer patient, few things are more precious than time. Scully was curt and abrupt and bordering on rude in "Synchrony." But this side of her was never explored. Instead, we get the "We'll throw the book at you if you don't cooperate," FBI agent instead of someone who could have waxed philosophically about time in an episode about time travel.
The acting in this episode was passable. Mulder did his weekly, "Here's a theory that's pretty far off the wall but will turn out to be correct," routine, while Scully did her now-famous eye-roll. Fortunately, this episode wasn't so much about M & S as it was about the supporting players. Michael Fairman as old Jason gave a sincere performance as someone who was so desperate to change the future that he's kill the woman he loves, and himself if necessary. In numerous scenes, Fairman really looked to be exhausted and on the verge of collapse. Joseph Fuqua's young Jason had an air of academic insulation about him. The research came first, regardless of its impact on society. But this attitude was really epitomized by Lisa Ianelli, played by Susan Hoffman. Hers was the egotistical bent that even if she knew that the end result of research was going to be disastrous for humankind, that somehow, she would be able to subvert the evil application of her discoveries. Sure. And we could solve the problem of the homeless if all those people would just go home.
There were some fine technical aspects the production, but Mark Snow's
musical score wasn't one of them. For the first time in memory, I was painfully
aware of the background music, to the point of distraction. When Mr. Snow
is on the mark
Editor Jim Gross's work in stringing together the multiple scenes
was well done. The exteriors on the street and the interiors within the
buildings were spliced nicely with the laboratory settings. Director of
Photography Joel Ransom did a nice job in giving the scenes a soft, warm look
when that was called for, and he provided the coldness of sterile lab
environments when that was the setting. James Charleston's direction was
good enough to extract a visual product that was better than the script
itself, and the special effects were once again first-rate. I was particularly
impressed with the glazing over of Lisa's eyes in Old Jason's room after he
injected her with the compound, and, of course, the spontaneous combustion of
the Japanese doctor and of the Jasons. It was also a nice touch of irony
that Mulder was trying to break into the secured computer console room with a
fire extinguisher, especially since he has a fear of fire. But those moments
were too few and far between, and the idea that one's future self and one's
present self could come into contact with each other without some sort of
violent, physical cataclysm was just too much to take. "Synchrony" was
better than Gordon's last effort, "Kaddish," but it was still out of step.
My Score: 5 out of 10