X-Files Review – “Audrey Pauley”

Last night’s episode was definitely focussed on
developing the characters rather than the
mythology. For more details, you know what to do.

Cast

Gillian
Anderson
as Dana Scully
Robert
Patrick

as John Doggett
Annabeth
Gish
as
Agent Reyes
Tracey
Ellis
as Audrey Pauley. Some viewers may
remember her previous guest role in
Oubliette, back in season three.

Crew

Written by Steven
Maeda

Directed by Kim
Manners

A more complete cast and crew list can be found here.

Original Airdate


Audrey Pauley
originally aired on
Sunday,
March 17,
2002.

Synopsis

In the teaser, we see Doggett and Reyes saying
goodnight after a
drink, with some almost tangible sexual tension.
After Reyes drove
away to go home, she was hit by another vehicle.
She was conscious
upon her arrival at the hospital, but soon
slipped into a coma. She
was officially brain dead.

However, she wasn’t completely gone. She existed
with two others in
an alternate version of the hospital. They began
looking for a way
out, to no avail. This version of the hospital
floated in some sort
of void. They noticed oddities, such as the lack
of signs, and the
random jumble of letters on the doctors’ charts.

In the real world, Doggett was refusing to agree
with Scully and
Reyes’ doctor about the need to unplug Reyes and
act on her organ
donor agreement. He felt that Reyes must be
alive. She had no
detectable trauma to the head, and had been
conscious until a sudden
downturn at 8:11pm. He began digging for
evidence that she was alive,
and looking for a way to undo whatever happened to
her at 8:11.

The only other person who believed Reyes was
alive was Audrey Pauley,
the woman who delivered the flowers. She had the
ability to
communicate with Reyes and the other two
patients, by going “inside
her head” and visiting the other hospital. (She
built a model of the
hospital to help her visualize it, apparently.)
She passed some
messages back and forth between Doggett and
Reyes, convincing Reyes to
fight and convincing Doggett that Reyes was, in
fact, alive.

Doggett managed to dig up enough information on
the other two men to
convince himself that Reyes’ doctor had drugged
her with intention to
kill her. Reyes woke up, and warned him that
Audrey was in danger.
Doggett was too late to save Audrey, but he was
quick enough to catch
the doctor at the scene.

High Point

The incredibly realistic car crash.

Low Point

The lack of investigation into the nurse’s death.
Why was Doggett the
only one who found that suspicious?

The Review

When rating the originality of this
week’s entry, I have to
admit that it’s not like anything I’ve seen on
The X-Files
before. The closest episode to this was probably
The Walk
from season 3, and even then, the guy was alive.
I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects were mixed this week. The
exterior shots of the
alternate hospital were quite obviously CGI, but
the car accident in
the teaser was extremely well done. I give the
effects 5 out of 6.

The story this week was a bit mixed.
Most of it was great,
but I found the Low Point was quite a sticking
point. I give it 4 out
of 6.

The acting this week was no surprise;
Annabeth Gish was less
than convincing, while the other stars did very
well. I must also
mention Tracey Ellis’ great performance as Audrey
Pauley as one of the
better guest roles. In fact, she even makes up
for Gish in most
scenes. (I still don’t know why Gish seems to be
having such a hard
time settling into this role. I’ve seen her do a
much better job on
other things, such as The Last Supper,
but this just isn’t
working. I know she’s better than this.) I give
the acting 5 out of 6.

As for the emotional response this week,
I have to say that
some moments had tension, but I never doubted the
outcome. Still,
the car accident, Doggett’s breakdown and the
doctor’s capture all got
a rise out of me. I give it 3 out of 6.

The production was, well, predictably
high quality. We’ve
seen Kim Manners direct before. (In fact, he has
now directed 50 of
the series’ episodes. There will be 200 episodes
total as of the
series finale.) Mark Snow’s score was subtle but
effective, and Bill
Roe’s cinematography was extremely well
implemented (especially in the
lighting, and in the use of more lighting on
Reyes’ face during
Doggett’s flashback.) I give the production 5
out of 6.

Overall, this was an entertaining and
interesting episode
that actually developed the characters of Doggett
and Reyes. There is
a deep caring and understanding between the
characters (who have known
each other since the death of Doggett’s son,) as
well as some genuine
emotion. Even better, Doggett acts like the
professional he is, not
acting on these feelings with his partner. I
give the overall episode
5 out of 6.

In total, Audrey Pauley received 32 out
of 42.

The Coming Weeks

Next week is Oscar night, and The
X-Files
is being
pre-empted for Independence Day. After
that, we get new
episodes for eight consecutive weeks, ending with
the series finale on
May 19. A complete list of episodes can be found
on this
page
of the
official site.

One reply

  1. What Use Are Second Chances???
    Boy, Robert Patrick is a superb actor. Nuff said. Anabeth Gish is still OK in my book, but I agree she’s just somehow too…constrained, controlled, rigid, something. The thing that’s odd to me is that she smiles more than any of the other X Files characters, which should be indicative of emotion, yet somehow even with license to have a “range” the others don’t, she STILL doesn’t elicit much audience empathy. At least to me, and I’m a great believer that X-Files has gone totally overboard on the seriousness angle of their characters. Sometimes I’m flipping channels and see a really early X Files episode – first or second season – when Scully still laughed and smiled – it seems so out of place on her now. Just like the rigid hold the writers keep on these characters even with the end in sight – both Doggett and Reyes get very precious insight into their feelings and lives and the etherial gift of a second chance – and three nights later it’s “good night, good night”? Yeah, Doggett’s strength is that he’s a professional and acts like one but my God, to have a setup like this and not follow thru on it – these characters are less human than the aliens thay chase in other non-character driven eps. Oh well, it’s only a fairy tale…it’s only a fairy tale…

Comments are closed.