The
X-Files
first great two-part episode, “Duane Barry”/”Ascension” plays a lot like a
1990s action thriller, with a tense opening act involving a hostage
negotiation, and a final act that gets down to business with picturesque
locations, and impressive physical stunts.
That
description, however, only begins to scratch the surface of this two-part epic,
a legitimate X-Files classic.
This
is also the story-line, for instance, that forwards significantly the series’
ongoing subplot about alien abduction (first introduced in the pilot), and ends
on a cliffhanger involving the disappearance of Scully (Gillian Anderson).
“Duane
Barry”/”Ascension” also features a brilliant and twitchy performance by guest
star Steve Railsback (Lifeforce [1985]) as the title
character, Barry. Although the character
is only featured in this two-parter, Barry has become, in the minds of many X-Files
fans, a critical and unforgettable part of the series’ background tapestry. Let’s just say the actor leaves an impact on
the series, the characters, and the audience.
One
aspect of this two-part episode that works exceedingly well, too, is its
finely-inscribed sense of ambiguity.
I’ve
written in some length about the “twin” world-view/lens/realities of Mulder and
Scully, the whole believer vs. skeptic dynamic. Delightfully, the Duane Barry incident
remembers that dynamic, and explores it more deeply than ever before.
In
fact, this is a story of ambiguities within ambiguities, realities within
realities. Duane Barry is either an
alien abductee or a serial liar, and his abductions are either fabrications, or
real. But going deeper, those abductions
may be, in fact, not alien in nature at all, but the result of military
experimentation. When critics and fans
remember and celebrate The X-Files, it is in part for this
careful layering of details; this intelligent writing that artfully permits two
ideas or theories -- or even more – to be operative at the same time.
Most
TV shows are lucky to get in one good idea per hour. The X-Files routinely gets
two-competing world views into each installment, and that’s a creative legacy
worth cherishing.
In
“Duane Barry,” Mulder (David Duchovny) and his new partner, Krycek (Nicholas
Lea) are called in to help the F.B.I. with a hostage negotiation crisis in
Richmond, Virginia.
An
ex-military man and sanitarium resident, Duane Barry (Railsback) has captured
his psychiatrist at gunpoint and taken hostage all the employees of a local
travel agency. Mulder’s presence is
needed because Barry continues to obsessively discuss his alien abduction
experience, and claims that the aliens (who have been taking him since 1985…)
will soon send him instructions about the next rendezvous.
Scully
(Anderson), however, learns that Duane Barry suffered a crippling gun-shot wound
years earlier, and that this catastrophic injury may have made him a serial
liar subject to delusions and even hallucinations.
When
Barry is finally taken into custody by the F.B.I. , however, new medical
information is presented. The
dangerously unstable Barry seems to possess implants in the very places he
claims: his gums, his nasal cavity, and his abdomen. And his teeth appear to be drilled via a
technology not yet known to medical science…
Scully
examines one of the removed implants, and finds out that it possesses a
bar-code, and is therefore, essentially cataloging and tracking Barry. Then Barry escapes from custody and captures
Scully. With the F.B.I agent as his
captive, he heads to Skyland Mountains for a rendezvous with his frequent
abductors.
Mulder
and Krycek pursue Barry, but Mulder suffers a betrayal, and is not able to reach
the mountain apex in time to save Scully from an apparent alien abduction.
Like
so many of the best X-Files stories, “Duane Barry/Ascension” takes real life cases of
psychology and history and re-shapes those sources into a fresh tale. Here, there are two inspirations.
On
one hand, Duane Barry and his strange brain injury (which are believed to
account for his violence and confabulations) is based on a real life case of
the bizarre.
And
on the other hand, this is the first X-Files episode to delve seriously
into almost all facets of “abduction” literature and lore.
In
the first case, Duane Barry’s head injury is based, very loosely on the
notorious case of Phineas P. Gage (1823 – 1860), a railroad construction
foreman who survived a dreadful work accident. In particular, Gage’s left
frontal lobe was destroyed when an iron rod smashed through his skull. Gage was thus at the center of the famous “American
Crowbar Case,” and many accounts indicated how this individual’s personality
was changed -- for the worse – following his dreadful accident.
Today,
however, many of the accounts of Gage’s personality change have been debunked,
suggesting that the change, post-accident was not as pronounced as many
psychologists and neurologists apparently believed at the time.
In
the case of The X-Files, writer Chris Carter uses the device of a traumatic
brain injury not unlike Gage’s to dramatize the tragedy of Duane Barry. He was one a man who had it all: a wife and
children, and a job in the F.B.I. after a noble career in the military. Then Barry had that gunshot accident, and
everything changed…his very personality changed. He lost his whole life, right down, finally,
to his freedom and sanity. He has been
deteriorating ever since, slipping into a permanent state of paranoid
psychosis.
Scully
and Mulder each view Duane’s journey differently, but what one comes away with
after watching the two-part episode is
that Barry is a man who has suffered horribly and lives for some kind of
release, some kind of affirmation regarding his unique journey. But, in typical X-Files fashion, there
can be no third party affirmation of the truth, only a collection of details
which can be read one way or another. By
one reading, he’s a lunatic and liar who is being experimented upon by the
military. By another, he’s a legitimate
alien abductee.
That
latter reading -- alien abduction – permits “Duane Barry”/”Ascension” to recount
many stages of the “typical” abduction experience or “narrative.” In
particular, “Duane Barry”/”Ascension” details “the capture,” in which an
abductee is taken from his or her home to an alien spacecraft, “the
examination,” in which medical procedures are performed on the abductee
against his or her will, “the tour” (reflected in Barry’s
discussion of seeing children aboard the ship…) “the loss of time”
(recounted by Barry), and “the Return,” a post-abduction moment
of disassociation and confusion.
I’m
not saying that I believe in alien abduction, but The X-Files’ dedicated approach
to the subject matter is -- as I liked to say when I wrote An Analytical Guide to TV’s One
Step Beyond and tried to find legitimate validation for the paranormal
stories there -- accurate in terms of
the literature on the subject.
In
terms of how this abduction material is vetted, The X-Files’ visual style
is really cemented in this two-part installment, thanks in part to the impressive
directorial debut of Chris Carter. There
are many shots here originating from a low-placed camera as it probes into a
new or different environment (like Duane’s house at the start of the first
episode), and so the resulting psychic impression is of an on-going exploration. The
low-angle portends some kind of menace, as if the locale is outsized (and the
audience is small, or under-sized), and gliding motion suggests a
reconnaissance into danger and the unknown.
There’s
also a visual sense of mystery and sub-textual connection afoot here. Late in the story, for instance “Duane Barry”
cuts from an alien medical tool drilling Duane’s teeth (in flashback) to the
F.B.I. drilling a hole in the wall at the travel agency. The underlying question is this: do the two shots suggest a contextual
connection? Is the government behind
both drilling attempts? And therefore, is the choice of cuts/editing suggesting
that hidden connection?
Similarly,
the episode reflects Mulder and Scully’s uncertainty about Barry by giving us
flashbacks that reveal alternate “truths.”
In some flashbacks, we see the alien greys congregating around
Barry. In others, we see military
men. At one point, he says both forces
are in cahoots. Again, discerning truth
isn’t easy, and again, we must grapple with the notion of an opaque world.
I also appreciate how -- at least
subtly -- Carter’s choices of techniques and compositions suggest “how” we
should best view Barry: sympathetically. When Barry is shot by the F.B.I, the screen
goes to black, and when an image re-emerges, it is a foggy, blurry P.O.V. from
the suspect’s perspective. In other
words, we are in his shoes…betrayed in a sense, by Mulder, who gives up his
convictions and adopts Scully’s viewpoint when he should probably know better. Whether Barry is a liar or an abductee, he is
not entirely responsible for his actions. The first-person subjective shots
transmit that notion and makes us wonder how it must feel to “be” Barry.
The
story’s set-up, “Duane Barry,” with its intense one-on-one confrontations
between Mulder and Barry, and the high-stakes of the F.B.I. snipers is
superior, in my estimation, both in style-and-substance to the final act, as
depicted in “Ascension.”
It’s
not that “Ascension” is poorly-done, only that all the real and important
character information and story substance is included in the sterling “Duane
Barry,” leaving “Ascension” to tie-up everyting. It succeeds, I would conclude, but mostly on
the basis of action tropes: spectacle and tension.
In
particular, the set-piece at Skyland Mountain that finds Mulder aboard a racing
sky-tram is a technically-magnificent piece of work, brilliantly edited. First, the episode evokes tension when Mulder
refuses to heed the technician’s advice to slow down, and presses the gas
pedal, so-to-speak…beyond all reason and sanity. Each time he does so, Mulder threatens to
make the tram jump its cable at the next tower…an eventuality that would send
him plunging to his death. This is nail-biting stuff, as Mulder accelerates,
decelerates, and races to retrieve Scully.
Then,
the episode unexpectedly moves to pure spectacle as Mulder climbs out of the
sky-tram, and attempts to climb down a tower.
I’m sure I was merely fooled by excellent stunt-work, but it really looks as though Duchovny is
clinging to the top and side of the sky-car.
The amazing thing is that this sequence on The X-Files – a low-budget
TV episode – totally outshines a similar sequence in the James Bond film, Moonraker
(1979). There, obvious rear projection
screens and stunt doubles ruined the illusion of Bond (Roger Moore) hanging on
for his life on a Buenos Aires tram. The
scene in “Ascension” eschews optical trickery and obvious stuntmen, and emerges
an action sequence of considerable (and superior) impact.
In terms of characters, much happens in this two-part episode, obviously. Skinner re-opens the X-Files. Scully is abducted and disappears…setting up a multi-season plot-line, essentially, involving the tests performed on her. Mulder learns that Krycek is actually Judas, and meets with Deep Throat’s replacement, X (Steven Williams) in person for the first time.
Yet
as I wrote above, beyond all the great intrigue and surprise twists, these
episodes work so splendidly because Railsback invests Barry with so much
humanity…and madness. His scenes are
unpredictable, energetic, and dangerous-seeming, primarily because of the
character’s lack of stability.
Accordingly, both Scully and Mulder seem imperiled by his presence in a
real and intimate way. The key to
Railsback’s performance is that the audience both loves and hates him
simultaneously; both wants to see him captured, and see him (and his beliefs…) vindicated. That’s not an easy tight-rope for an actor to
walk, but Railsback gives an accomplished, pitch-perfect performance.
“Ascension”
also introduces fully another shade of Scully’s character: her Catholic faith. Mulder returns Scully’s crucifix and necklace
to Mrs. Scully (Sheila Larken) upon her disappearance, and asks “if she was such a skeptic, why did she
wear that?” This fascinating
dimension of Scully -- her ability to embody both “faith” and “science”-- is
examined in many future stories.
Next
week: “3.”
Another great review. I agree with you completely on these two. Railsback makes these episodes work so well. I also thought the first episode worked a bit better than the second episode. Revisiting these I was afraid they might not hold up to my memories of them, but they still packed a punch.
ReplyDeleteVery curious about your thoughts on the next one.