"How many historic events have only the two of us witnessed 
together Ronald? How often did we make or change history? And 
our names can never grace any pages of record, no monument will 
be in our image, and yet, once again, tonight the course of 
human history will be set by two unknown men standing in the 
shadows."

I was actually quite prepared to not like this episode much - 
after all I am an admitted unashamed Mulder/Scully purist, and 
with no Moose and Squirrel to entertain me I was afraid this one 
would tank. However, I decided to take it for what it was - a 
character study. It wasn't an X-File, it wasn't  scary, but it 
was interesting. Not a classic episode, but something I found 
solid and entertaining without being hokey. Actually, I've always 
thought that CancerMan was painted in a bit of a "sympathy for 
the devil" light on the show - now we see that in full force. 
Motivations are always interesting. No one is evil for evil's 
sake. In this we saw the human side of "the most dangerous man 
alive".

From the beginning where we see a neon lit, rat infested room, 
we learn that we will find out "possibly everything" - and, more 
importantly, who CancerMan wants to be. We learn he is an 
orphan of a cancer victim and a communist spy - and that seems 
to make him hate communism ("the most heinous personification 
of evil mankind has ever confronted"). JFK is killed for failing to 
protect, and, despite being an "extraordinary man", MLK is killed 
for communist leanings. What we really find out though is that he 
is just a man who believes in sacrifice, but is longing for a
second chance.

There are a couple of amusing themes here. Of course the smoking 
thing - from "No thank you sir, I never touch them" to that first 
Morley to that whole patch thing.The other fun theme is the 
movies/rejected writer idea. Old CM would rather read a trashy 
novel than see a great movie, and so he uses "I love the movies" 
as his cover for Lee Harvey and even goes to a movie (with a 
significant smoking theme) to light up his first Morley. He tells 
his MLK cohort to "go to a movie or something" and says he
"couldn't care less" about the Oscar nominations. All he really 
wants to do is write - and frankly, after 30 years of rejection 
(and let's be honest that "burn it" letter was just as silly as 
the one that loved it) - who wouldn't be a bit evil. How funny 
that his final acceptance is from a shady magazine that Frohike 
would subscribe to. Plus, just who does CancerMan resign to anyway? 
After all he even hides his existence from presidents.

I am most afraid that this episode will bolster those "CancerMan 
is Mulder's dad" folks. Let me remind you, that while he may 
believe it to be true and gazes fondly at Mrs. Mulder and little 
"my first word was JFK" Mulder, Bill Mulder also believed Fox to 
be his child. Nothing was set in stone and only DNA tests will 
tell. Though if taste in ties is a genetic indicator we may be 
in trouble.

Time line issues once again. So, while this episode, with a 
birth date for Cancerman of August 20, 1940, does fit into the 
"Field Where I Died" frame, once again "Apocrypha" is totally 
hosed. You know, I have to admit I find it quite irritating that 
they can't even be bothered to make the mythology episodes match 
up - really, how hard is it? It just comes across as very very 
sloppy to me. So, yes, at least it is apparent that Morgan &
Wong pay attention to their own episodes. We have a nice tie 
in to the president dying insinuation of "One Breath" and the 
E.B.E. death of "E.B.E", but the funniest thing I saw was poor 
Lee Harvey trying to buy a root beer - must be fate pal.

Random Musings
-------------------------

- An in-joke for us pause button freaks - Dana Scully's lovely 
Einstein Senior Thesis is actually filled with conspiracy and 
references to the MJ-12. No wonder she was assigned to the 
X-Files. The moment with him eavesdropping on their fist meeting 
was quite amusing though.

- How funny that the first words we hear are Scully saying 
"Not everything is a labyrinth of dark conspiracy" - and then 
the words sure to make "little puppy dog" Frohike tingle "Look 
at you - you're shaking." Frohike's paranoia was hilarious - 
esp. his threatening to kill Byers for saying his name and the 
whole CSM 25 bit.

- Deep Throat is named "Ronald"? Well, I suppose it was better 
than some of CancerMan's pseudonyms - Raul Bloodworth, Jack 
Colquitt, and of course Mr. Hunt. If Fox were his son that would 
make his name Fox Hunt, so it can't be true, right?

- So, we finally find out the Lone Gunmen's publication name: 
The Magic Bullet. How appropriate that they find the real 
grassy knoll shooter.

- I thought once again during this episode how inappropriate 
the tag line change was for "Teliko". A great change here would 
have been a repeat of "Trust No One".

- The switch to black and white for the MLK section was (while 
it certainly did not bother me visually) a bit too heavy handed 
thematically. Oh, I get it... black and white...

- As a proud and happy Denver Bronco fan, I have to say I am 
now worried that CancerMan might not like them either. At least 
during his Forrest Gump riff there weren't any signs that said 
"Post no Broncos".

- Apparently CM has had his thumb on the FBI for a long long 
time - all the way back to 1968.

- You have to wonder about Deep Throat in retrospect now. "I'm 
the liar, you're the killer".

- I was surprised to learn that the "project" was Bill 
Mulder's - so much so that the living EBE could advance it 
decades. (At least the "Death to EBE resolution" was #1013).

Autumn
"I can kill you whenever I please. But not today."