"The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
-- John Milton, "Paradise Lost"
"I said write a story where the monsters are BEES, not TREES!
YOU'RE FIRED!"
-- Chris Carter
Okay, so I made up the second quote. But in doing his job as Executive Producer of The X-Files, I can hear Carter's saying words to this effect to screenwriters Jessica Scott and Mike Wollaeger as he showed them the door. "Schizogeny" was the first X-Files episode written by this duo to be filmed. I pray it's the last.
If I understand what I saw (and there are no guarantees that this is the case), we had a woman who's some sort of counselor to young people who has a split personality, her own and her deceased father's. Oh! I get it! That's where the "Schizo" part comes in. ;) Twenty years ago, there was another blight among the hazelnut trees that the evil father owned, and the blight went away when he died. The blight has returned because the father's personality is becoming more and more dominant over the daughter's. Schizogeny refers to asexual reproduction by multiple segmentation. I guess that's what happened. The abusive father was reborn through the daughter's schizophrenia. This in turn, brings us to the trees, which become the instrument of death by the counselor. Joyce Kilmer must be spinning in his grave.
This pathetic excuse for an X-File was further dragged down into the, uh, Michigan mud, by a string of lackluster performances by most of the principal actors, a blatant homage to Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Psycho," a not so obvious tribute to "The Exorcist," and direction devoid of anything original in technique or style. And these were its strong points.
David Duchovny was fine as Mulder. He displayed that nice low-key style for which he has become famous. We got to see Mulder actually using some of his formal education while questioning Karin about the supposed abuse of Bobby and Lisa. Duchovny's facial response to Scully's ridiculous theory about the human mud siphon said, "Are you kidding me???" without having to say the words. DD also had some nice scenes with Chad Lindberg, who also turned in a good performance as the troubled Bobby. Duchovny was able to demonstrate that Mulder could identify with Bobby as an outsider, the kind of kid the other kids make fun of. Young Lindberg managed to display teen anger, fear, rebellion and apathetic aloofness as the story unfolded.
Conversely, Gillian Anderson seemed to just be there, saying her lines, but not putting anything behind them. Anderson was given less screen time and dialogue than her costar, and for one of the few times in memory, she failed to rise above the material, which in this case should have been a snap. Her trepidation at the sight of the Orchard Keeper seemed forced and totally out of character. If her performance could be characterized by a color, Anderson made Scully seem gray, devoid of energy and enthusiasm. The blame for this travesty must lie once again with the script.
Sarah-Jane Redmond's portrayal of the tortured Karin Matthews was alternately subdued and manic. Her voice-overs portraying her father were unconvincing and strained, as was her hysterical bursting into Bobby's house near the end of the episode. Mercedes McCambridge (the voice of the demon in "The Exorcist") she wasn't. She did do a nice job playing coy when being questioned by Mulder, but that was about the extent of her range in "Schizogeny."
I'd say that this was Ralph Hemeker's directorial debut on The X-Files, but I can't swear to it; it could very well have been his professional debut. Hemeker created a paint-by-the-numbers episode which dulled the senses. The creaking steps, the partial exposure of the corpse in the basement and even the decapitation scene seemed as though they were right out of every schlock B-movie I've ever seen. The only thing the falling tree scene lacked was the standard lightning bolt to hit it just before it fell in the path of Mulder's car. To say that the direction in this episode was pedestrian would be more than generous. Even the expert editing of Lynne Willingham couldn't make this episode work.
Mark Snow seems determined to try to "spruce" up a weak script with almost nonstop background music. He seems to have a set of stock interludes from which he's been drawing repeatedly. This score sounded almost exactly like that of "Kitsunegari." The staccato beat during the running scenes and the heavy oboe used to foreshadow danger are just two examples. They worked well in "Detour"; they were hauntingly familiar in ""Kitsunegari"; they were clearly recycled in "Schizogeny."
But all the things that were bad about "Schizogeny" start and end with the script. Scott and Wollaeger seemed to be unsure as to whether they wanted us to believe that Karin was controlling nature or that nature was trying to protect Karin. Ambiguity in The X-Files usually stems from whether or not a MotW will reappear or if it were really destroyed. In "Schizogeny," Scott and Wollaeger brought ambiguity to a new level: "We can't decide what's really happening here; maybe you viewers can figure it out." I can't figure it out after three viewings, a feat which I believe qualifies me for combat pay.
Late in 1996, I expressed my concern that the well was running dry in terms of new stories for the show. After nine episodes this season, that fear has turned to outright dread. It appears that the next two new episodes will be written or co-written by famous authors. This smacks of desperation and of resorting to gimmickry.
"Schizogeny" has floated to the top of my list . . . of the worst of Season Five.
My Score: 1 out of 10