In
“Home Again,” Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate
the brutal murder of a HUD official, Joseph Cutler (Alessandro Juliani) who was
attempting to forcibly relocate a group of homeless people in Philadelphia.
His
body was discovered… pulled apart…with his head discarded in a trash can.
While
Mulder pursues a lead involving a street artist, Scully is called back to
Washington D.C. because of terrible personal news.
Her
mother, Margaret (Sheila Larken), has suffered a devastating heart attack and
is near death. But efore slipping into unconsciousness, Margaret asks for Charlie,
her estranged son, and Scully’s brother. This request mystifies Scully.
While
Mulder attempts to console Scully, the murders in Philadelphia continue
unabated. Those who have sought to exploit the homeless for their own gain are
dying in gruesome, bloody ways.
Margaret’s
final words to Scully and Mulder remind Scully of their absent son, William,
and their parental responsibility to care for him; a life they brought into
this world together.
While
she considers that idea, Scully and Mulder confront the artist, Trash Man (Tim
Armstrong), who has created from his own rage a work of art that may have come to
life…
This
2016 X-Files
revival is proving itself a “dark wizard”
of sorts, again striking pay-dirt this week with writer/director Glen Morgan’s
creepy and emotionally-affecting installment: “Home Again.”
This
tale beautifully resurrects a classic series institution -- murder-to-pop-music montage -- at the
same time that it develops significantly the major character arc of these six new
episodes: Scully’s crushing regret and guilt over giving up her son with
Mulder, William, all those years ago.
Beyond
these remarkable touches, “Home Again” reaches for and attains greatness via
its careful and even-handed social commentary.
Once
you pry away all the violence and pathos, Morgan’s episode concerns something
quite significant: the role and responsibility of the artist in the public
square.
Specifically,
no one in “Home Again” will help the homeless of Philadelphia out of the
goodness of their hearts. There are safety concerns and profit concerns about
the homeless, but no real caring or empathy for them. We glean this understanding not
only from the dialogue, but from a powerful image captured in the teaser.
After
being in the proximity of the homeless, the first victim uses hand-sanitizer, washing off “the germs”
he associates with those who live on the streets. The image is perfectly disdainful, and
perfectly apt. You can’t “sanitize” away
a lack of conscience, can you?
Just
about the only person who does see the truth about the homeless is a street
artist called The Trash Man. He understands that the homeless are largely powerless
to help themselves, yet are judged a problem, not people to help.
In
this case, however, the artist’s indignation at the heartlessness he views in
his society proves so powerful that the emotion manifests a violent life of its
own. Trash Man creates a thought-form, or “tulpa” (a Tibetan word for “phantom”
or “conjured thing”) that carries out his agenda of rage.
To
describe it bluntly, “Home Again” gazes at art, and considers both how it can
enact social change, and -- frightfully -- must simultaneously be responsible
for the change it enacts.
This
is not a small or inconsequential idea.
Indeed,
I have had many interviewers in the last few weeks ask me if The
X-Files “created” the culture of conspiracy and is, therefore, somehow
responsible for birthers, truthers, and so on.
My
answer is always negative. I accept as an axiom the notion that art reflects
life, and that The X-Files simply comments on and reflects those things
detectable in the culture by the artists involved.
What
this episode seems to remind audiences is that works of art such as Star
Trek, The X-Files, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead must not
only address social concerns, but -- in shaping the culture -- showcase a sense
of responsibility for the ideas they introduce.
I
have never had any concern about The X-Files walking that fine line,
because it never mindlessly espouses one point of view or another. The series mantra has always been “The Truth is Out
There,” not “I Know What the Truth is, and it is Liberal and/or Conservative.”
“Home
Again” re-affirms the series’ long-term commitment to gazing at issues through various
filters, or lenses, and asking audiences to consider -- with an open mind --
all possibilities.
Here,
we understand and sympathize with the artist’s rage at what he sees as the selfishness of the
culture at large. He sees the terrible people who live in their McMansions, and
don’t want their precious children going to school anywhere near “riff raff”
like the homeless.
But
at the same time, we see that the artist’s “anger” as a point of creative
inspiration boasts murderous drawbacks.
Perhaps just that anger
is a legitimate response to injustice, yes, but it is not a strategy for making
things better.
Instead, it is an emotional response. It is not an answer in and of
itself.
Once
more, The X-Files appears to have captured the national moment in which
we live, both acknowledging the rage that so many people feel, and noting,
simultaneously, that it isn’t a productive emotion.
As
Scully trenchantly notes in “Home Again:” “we’re
all responsible” for that which we create; that which we stoke; that which
we put out into the world.
Even the yellow notices posted on the streets of Philadelphia
reinforce this idea: “You are responsible,” they read.
There
are some politicians out there who are running for President right now and might very well
learn this idea of responsibility the hard way if they continue to play to the anger and resentment of an embittered population instead of the better angels
of our country’s nature.
Anger isn’t a strategy for governance, nor one for
tightening frayed national bonds.
“Home
Again” thus considers how art -- and even speech -- takes on a life of its own once
it has entered the world.
And because
this is The X-Files and not some run-of-the-mill horror show, Morgan’s script
also boasts the wisdom to tie the idea of societal responsibility to Scully and her sense of personal responsibility.
Morgan's direction also makes it clear that this is Scully's story; her journey. When she flees a crime scene to see her sick mother, the camera gazes at her from inside her personal "bubble," and we get a close-up, jittery look at her anxiety. It's the perfect technique to make us understand what she is going through, and that her feelings are paramount.
Before long, Scully's mother helps Scully to understand that she made a
mistake when she gave up William. He is
still out there, and even if she is not with him, she is responsible for
bringing him into the world.
Even
“Home Again’s” murder set-piece is a comment, in a way, on responsibility, or
lack of responsibility. The Band-Aid Nosed Killer (the aforementioned tulpa or
phantom) stalks an obnoxious lawyer to her suburban McMansion to
the tune of “Downtown,” a 1964 song performed by Petula Clark and written by
Tony Hatch.
Now,
The X-Files possesses a long history of coupling music with horror. In Morgan’s “Home,” we had the Peacocks
attack to the tune “Wonderful.” The song
“Twilight Time” was utilized ironically in “Kill Switch,” and “The Hokey Pokey”
informed brutal murder sequences in “Chinga.”
So
this approach -- like the long, personal soliloquy of the voice over narration -- is a legitimate X-Files technique. I'm happy to see it resurrected in such style.
But more
importantly, the tune “Downtown” is an ode or paean to not talking
responsibility. The singer urges the
listener to “forget all your troubles,” “forget all your cares” and visit “downtown.”
There, you can enjoy “the music of the city”
and feel all right, ostensibly. But -- here's the rub -- Morgan's teleplay also refers to the homeless, euphemistically as "Downtown People."
If you say it that way, it doesn't sound like you're such an awful person, right?
Of
course, the city as depicted in “Home Again” is a heartless, caustic place, where
the homeless are pawns to be moved around, hidden away, and “handled.” So “Downtown” knowingly pushes up against the episode’s
depiction of the modern metropolis and its callous vibe. The city is not a place to forget troubles or
cares. It’s not a place where the music is happy.
It’s a place where bad people are harming
other people, and now a monster is murdering those bad people for their
trespasses.
As
an aficionado of the horror genre, the “Downtown” sequence in “Home Again” is everything
that I would have hoped for and dreamed about regarding an X-Files revival. It’s a
ghoulish, wicked scene, that generates scares and rights the scales of cosmic
justice. I love when The X-Files hits such notes of irony and humor, with
plenty of blood and guts to go along. These montages are scary and cerebral at the time, and "Home Again" lives up to that tradition.
For
those who aren’t in The X-Files for the horror, or the social commentary, “Home
Again” works superbly in terms of its fidelity to series history and its
commitment to growing the characters, particularly Scully.
Morgan and partner Wong gave us such early
episodes of the series as “Beyond the Sea” and “One Breath,” both of which went
a long way towards informing our understanding of Scully’s family of
origin. It’s appropriate that Morgan
should return to that terrain here, and use imagery from various episodes
(including “One Breath”) to help us recall what Dana and the family have
endured.
Also,
I must confess, I love that “Home Again” -- and indeed, episodes such as “Founder’s
Mutation” -- are operating on the belief that the last two seasons of the
original series are also, legitimately, The X-Files.
Some creators or writers run away from material that didn’t meet total
fan approval. The X-Files, by bringing up William, and the events of the last
two seasons, reminds fans that William’s story is The X-Files too. The revived X-Files doesn’t try to shake off
those last two years (which I loved).
Instead, it embraces those years, those characters, and those stories, and has weaved one
of the most heartbreaking character arcs imaginable for Scully. She grieves, throughout these episodes, for
what she has lost; for what she has given away. Her mother’s words in this episode help her to understand her
responsibility, vis-à-vis William, and I hope we will see her doing everything
in her power to find him, in upcoming episodes and in upcoming seasons.
Again,
this dynamic, heart-felt arc for Scully -- which has left my wife bereft and in
tears on at least two occasions -- would not be possible without those last two
seasons.
I am so glad the creators of the
series decided to embrace series history and not run away from it, just because
of stupid conventional wisdom.
“Home
Again” is -- like the three preceding episodes of this revival -- a triumph in
terms of its literacy, its social commentary, and its character arc. Beautifully filmed, and emotionally resonant, "Home Again" brings the revival to a four-for-four tally.
Next
Week: "Babylon."
