From: seanc130@hotmail.com   
      
   "Ian Hamilton"  wrote   
   > Christopher M. wrote:   
      
   >> I'm looking for the name of the episode with the devil guy named Frau   
   >> that burns people with his hands and the bald angel that looks like the   
   >> lead singer from Midnight Oil. Thanks.   
      
   > That was 3x11 - Revelations.   
      
   I thought that might be what he was referring to, but was kept from posting   
   by my complete lack of knowledge that there even was a band called 'Midnight   
   Oil' -- let alone what anyone in it looks like -- as well as the fact that   
   the bad guy, as far as I remember, was named Simon Gates, and was not a   
   German housewife.   
      
   Also, this may be a more pedantic point, but it was never indicated that   
   Owen Jarvis was an 'angel' -- he was a real live person, just an especially   
   holy one. 'Saint' might be a better word.   
      
   > A great episode, but then season 3 was always consistantly brilliant (to   
   > me anyway).   
      
   Hmmm ... *almost* always. I think we need not mention 'Teso dos Bichos' and   
   'Hell Money'.   
      
   Although, actually, I tend to be quite a bit less hateful of 'TdB' than most   
   others -- I think it at least succeeds in having an appropriately spooky   
   atmosphere, even if the plot is, well ... what it is. It's good to have at   
   least one episode that deals with ayahuasca (AKA yagé), which is one of the   
   most profound and scary entheogenic substances that exists, even if they   
   didn't really do justice to the spiritual potentials (positive and negative)   
   of the experience. And I at least find the idea of killer kitties highly   
   amusing -- which is good, until you consider the fact that it was apparently   
   supposed to be a successful, climactic, dramatic reveal. It's probably not a   
   very good sign when the funniest scene of the season comes in an episode   
   that wasn't even supposed to be a comedy.   
      
   'HM' I don't really actively hate, so much as I just find it boring. You   
   wouldn't think a show about people losing body parts in a secret lottery and   
   getting burned alive in furnaces -- featuring Lucy Liu before she was   
   famous, no less -- could be boring, but somehow it is. And I still don't   
   understand WTF Mulder and Scully are even doing involved in the case in the   
   first place! The only thing that's even *remotely kinda sorta indirectly   
   tangentially* related to the paranormal is the Chinese character for   
   'ghost', which is a pretty lame justification for an X-File. Now, that by   
   itself is not necessarily bad -- 'Irresistible' and 'Grotesque', for   
   example, are fantastic episodes despite the only truly 'paranormal' aspect   
   being stylistic visions of murderers as daemons, which could be interpreted   
   as merely symbolic. But those episodes have believable, logical ways for   
   Scully and Mulder to get and to stay involved, and they also superbly pull   
   off the classic dark and spooky XF atmosphere. 'Hell Money' just seems like   
   a short dramatic movie about Chinese immigrants, with Moose and Squirrel   
   just dumped into the middle of it, like exotic plants that just can't quite   
   put down any roots into the soil of the story and grow into a natural part   
   of the plot. They stick out like a sore thumb -- they just don't *belong*   
   there. It just feels like another show entirely, with nothing to do with XF.   
   In real life, sexually, I actually prefer B&D without S&M -- and as much as   
   it pains me to say it (and it's not a good pain), this show too might have   
   actually been better with just BD (Wong) and no S&M.   
      
   But I digress. There were a few others that season I'd say were decent   
   enough, and I enjoy them, but weren't really anything spectacular -- 'The   
   List', 'The Walk', 'Avatar'. I waffle a bit on 'Syzygy' -- I have to be in   
   the right mood for it. I used to actually hate it, but it grew on me over   
   time.   
      
   But yes, Season 3 might well have been the most consistently great season.   
   It has a lot of my very favourite mytharcs -- 'The Blessing Way'/'Paper   
   Clip', 'Nisei'/'731', 'Piper Maru'/'Apocrypha'. Also,   
      
   -Some of the awesomest stand-alone guest-star performances -- Giovanni   
   Ribisi and Jack Black in 'DPO', Peter Boyle in 'Clyde Bruckman', Timothy   
   Carhart in '2SHY', Tracey Ellis in 'Oubliette', Kurtwood Smith in   
   'Grotesque', Robert Wisden in 'Pusher', Charles Nelson Reilly in 'Jose   
   Chung'.   
      
   -All but one of the episodes written by Darin Morgan, every one of which is   
   a work of comic genius and repays many, many reviewings.   
      
   -One of THE major Scullycentric eps ('Revelations'), and the first real   
   Skinner-centric ep ('Avatar').   
      
   -All kinds of unique, memorable, and well-executed stand-alone ideas -- the   
   lightning boy ('DPO'), the fat-sucking vampire ('2SHY'), the   
   astral-projecting quadriplegic ('The Walk'), the guy who talks people into   
   killing themselves ('Pusher'), the government TV signals that caused people   
   to massively hallucinate ('Wetwired') -- almost all of them done with   
   fantastic, top-notch visual effects.   
      
   -And finally, tonnes and tonnes of the most classic, indelible, and   
   unforgettable scenes and images of the series. Off the top of my head, a   
   *short* list of picks for personal faves:   
      
   Scully discovering the chip in her neck. ('The Blessing Way')   
   The introduction of the Syndicate. ('The Blessing Way')   
   The white buffalo -- 'For something to live, another thing must often be   
   sacrificed.' ('Paper Clip')   
   The three-way Mexican standoff between Skinner, Scully, and Mulder. ('Paper   
   Clip')   
   The giant honkin' spaceship and aliens running past Scully. ('Paper Clip')   
   'Lots and lots of files!' ('Paper Clip').   
   Darren Oswald calling down lightning and frying all the cows. ('DPO')   
   Scully on Clyde Bruckman's deathbed in tears. ('Clyde Bruckman')   
   Mulder' autoerotic asphyxiation revelation. ('Clyde Bruckman')   
   Captain Draper getting drowned in the pool by an invisible entity. ('The   
   Walk')   
   Mulder crying over Lucy Househoulder's body. ('Oubliette')   
   The innocent kids waving at the train where an army with automatic weapons   
   is about to stop an alien autopsy. ('Nisei')   
   Mulder jumping on top of the train. ('Nisei')   
   The pit full of massacred (alien?) bodies. ('731')   
   X carrying Mulder away from the huge explosion. ('731')   
   Scully saving Kevin from falling into the giant shredder. ('Revelations')   
   The panic scene in the convenience store -- 'Haven't you heard about the   
   roaches? They're devouring people whole!', 'Now where the hell are those   
   roadmaps?!', Scully eating the chocolate at the end. ('War of the   
   Coprophages')   
   the TV showing the Keystone Kops on every channel. ('Syzygy')   
   Mulder's apartment covered in gargoyles. ('Grotesque')   
   The guy pounding on the cockpit underwater. ('Piper Maru')   
   Mrs Gauthier (who I think is really sexy) flashing all those guys with light   
   and instantly roasting them all. ('Piper Maru')   
   Mulder beating up Krycek over by the phones in the Hong Kong airport.   
   ('Piper Maru')   
   Mulder and Krycek being driven off the road and plowing through all those   
   barrels. ('Apocrypha')   
   Scully chasing down and screaming at Melissa's killer. ('Apocrypha')   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)