A show has balls when it decides to throw a wrench in the wheel of its own basis halfway through and change up everything that we thought we knew. The entire show began with Dana Scully being introduced to Fox Mulder who had been assigned to the X-Files due to his interest in extraterrestrial activity, all of which because he wanted to figure out more about his sister's disappearance, which he thought had happened because of aliens. That has been the story that we have gone with for the last three and a half seasons, so it wouldn't make sense for the creatives to do something that would make us question everything at this point, would it? That's why this show is so brilliant, because it decides to do just that and gives us an alternative option for Samantha's disappearance; one that is way more possible, but also way more morbid and crazier. Leave it up to Vince Gilligan to brilliantly shake up things with an episode that is so overwrought with emotion that gets some of the best performances out of our leads in a long time, as well as giving us a creepy "monster-of-the-week" that is so different than anything we've seen before.
The episode simply asks us to put aside the alien abduction idea and proposes that maybe she was abducted and killed by a serial killer. This doesn't necessarily fit in with the show's overarching narrative, but it paints a very painful picture for Mulder and his personal development, giving him an episode that ups the ante for him as a character. It's a brilliant piece of storytelling and character development for someone who has had a great season, but has needed some closure for the entire show, so to tease him with it here is both cruel and morbidly brilliant.
Gilligan has always been great at the cat-and-mouse game between protagonists and antagonists, so to utilize this here - like he did in the brilliant "Pusher" episode - seems right up his alley, and it achieves such amazing results here. The play between Mulder and John Lee Roche is delicious and adds tension to every scene that the two share, which are a lot. It builds the momentum for the episode throughout and leads the audience to an incredible climax that serves up some sweet justice for a character who simply got what was coming to him and what he deserved.
Tom Noonan does great work in his appearance as Roche, constantly delivering his lines with such chilling effects, making me uneasy every time he appears on screen. We didn't get a large sample of him here, but he sold all of his scenes with great effect. At the same time, David Duchovny deserves a lot of praise, not just for his performance here, but for what he's doing this entire season. He has added a lot to his emotional register over the last season and it comes to play here, in which he has definitely delivered his best work so far.
"Paper Hearts" changes up the storyline for a well-directed entry that maybe doesn't add to the overall mythology, but introduces a nice hypothetical to the mix. It's full of great emotional stakes, while also featuring some great tension, mostly because of the incredible cat-and-mouse game between Duchovny and Noonan who both excel with their performances.
The episode simply asks us to put aside the alien abduction idea and proposes that maybe she was abducted and killed by a serial killer. This doesn't necessarily fit in with the show's overarching narrative, but it paints a very painful picture for Mulder and his personal development, giving him an episode that ups the ante for him as a character. It's a brilliant piece of storytelling and character development for someone who has had a great season, but has needed some closure for the entire show, so to tease him with it here is both cruel and morbidly brilliant.
Gilligan has always been great at the cat-and-mouse game between protagonists and antagonists, so to utilize this here - like he did in the brilliant "Pusher" episode - seems right up his alley, and it achieves such amazing results here. The play between Mulder and John Lee Roche is delicious and adds tension to every scene that the two share, which are a lot. It builds the momentum for the episode throughout and leads the audience to an incredible climax that serves up some sweet justice for a character who simply got what was coming to him and what he deserved.
Tom Noonan does great work in his appearance as Roche, constantly delivering his lines with such chilling effects, making me uneasy every time he appears on screen. We didn't get a large sample of him here, but he sold all of his scenes with great effect. At the same time, David Duchovny deserves a lot of praise, not just for his performance here, but for what he's doing this entire season. He has added a lot to his emotional register over the last season and it comes to play here, in which he has definitely delivered his best work so far.
"Paper Hearts" changes up the storyline for a well-directed entry that maybe doesn't add to the overall mythology, but introduces a nice hypothetical to the mix. It's full of great emotional stakes, while also featuring some great tension, mostly because of the incredible cat-and-mouse game between Duchovny and Noonan who both excel with their performances.