X-Files Review – “Sunshine Days”

The second last episode of The X-Files
ran last night. What do you think?

Cast

Robert
Patrick

as John Doggett
Annabeth
Gish
as
Agent Reyes
Gillian
Anderson
as Dana Scully
Mitch
Pileggi
as
Walter Skinner

Arlene
Pileggi
,
Mitch’s wife, playing Skinner’s secretary
Arlene

Crew

Written and directed by Vince
Gilligan

Original Airdate


Sunshine Days
originally aired on
Sunday,
May 12,
2002.

Synopsis

Doggett and Reyes stumble onto an incredibly
powerful psychkinetic
individual who is obsessed with the Brady Bunch.
He can alter the
shape of the world around him and levitate
objects, and he may be the
first tangible, incontrovertible evidence of the
existence of the
paranormal.

High Point

Doggett’s finally getting used to the job.

Low Point

It’s the second last episode. Instead of
developing the mytharc that
made the series great, or wrapping up the life of
a character, like,
say, Skinner, we get a monster of the week with a
few lines of
dialogue that place this late in the series.

The Review

This episode doesn’t do well for
originality. If you take
the TV show tribute bit from Arcadia and
add the apparent
psychic powers from Scary Monsters, you
get this. The fact
that the production was dissimilar from the
others redeems it a bit.
I give it 3 out of 6.

The effects this week were, for the most
part, pretty good.
The only time it really felt like watching
special effects was when
Skinner was floating in his office. Still, the
volume of the effects
were considerable, so I’ll give it 5 out of 6.

The story felt so typical. In the
second last episode, I
wanted something special. This wasn’t it. I
know it amounts to
deducting points because it wasn’t aired before
William, but
I was disappointed. I give it 3 out of 6.

The acting this week was not bad. For
the most part, the
characters just seemed to be having a good time,
without the usual
levity of the situation. It felt like they were
acting in a comedic
episode with a fairly serious script. I give it
3 out of 6.

The emotional response this week was
pretty poor. When
Doggett finally started to get the hang of the
job, I expected that to
kick off one of the most difficult cases yet,
watching the “Monster of
the Week” type of episodes go out with a bang.
This was more of a
whimper. Maybe this would have meant more to me
if I’d ever watched
The Brady Bunch, but it just didn’t do it
for me. I give it
2 out of 6.

The production was excellent, as usual.
Mark Snow and Bill
Roe did fantastic jobs once more. Vince Gilligan
did some nice work
as well. In the end, it’s the usual X-Files 5
out of 6.

Overall, this was a decent episode that
didn’t meet the
expectations I had for the second last episode.
I really got the
feeling that Chris Carter handed this one over to
Vince Gilligan while
everyone else ran off to work on the finale. If
that’s the case, I
can forgive them, but it still doesn’t change the
fact that I’ll only
give it 3 out of 6.

In total, Sunshine Days received 24 out
of 42.

Next Week

Next week is the last week. The Truth
airs on Fox starting
in the 8pm time slot. It’s a two hour finale.
Canadian viewers who
watch on Global should check their local listings
as soon as
possible, because Global also runs Survivor. That
means that some
areas have X-Files in that time slot, and others
have Survivor there.
Some are showing X-Files early, some late, and
(as in at least one
portion of Ontario) some are moving the show to
another station. If
you’re not watching it on Fox, pay very close
attention to when and
where it’s on.

9 replies on “X-Files Review – “Sunshine Days””

  1. This episode…
    ..seemed more like an episode of The Outer Limits than The X-Files to me.

    • Re: This episode…

      ..seemed more like an episode of The Outer Limits than The X-Files to me.

      hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that the season 7 dvd is coming out next week. I’m giving away a free set on the new online team! You can join here pages.m80im.com/register/?xfilesdvd

      -Anthony

      • Re: This episode…

        hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that the season 7 dvd is coming out next week.

        Actually, it’s already out. The release date was May 13.

  2. Erm
    Ok, first of all let me say that I haven’tactually watched The X-Files in ages. I’m talking 2, maybe even 4 seasons. I watched this one cause I caught the promo and thoguht it’ll be one of the Funny Episodes.

    Anyway, the first thing I thought was “Who the hell are these people?” Scully’s been downgraded to an Incidental Character, and Mulder’s a guy who Used To Be Here And Had Weird Ideas.

    But that’s ok.

    The thing that got me was that they had a Happy End. Everything’s figured out – guy doens’t use his powers and lives happily ever after. Except that HE KILLED TWO PEOPLE! Hello? I thought that was still illegal in most of the USA. I guess Mr Doggett (or whatever) was so interested in What Mulder Would Say that he just forgot that he was tracking down a multiple-murderer. Oh well.

    • Re: Erm

      The thing that got me was that they had a Happy End.
      Everything’s figured out – guy doens’t use his powers
      and lives happily ever after. Except that HE KILLED
      TWO PEOPLE! Hello? I thought that was still illegal in
      most of the USA. I guess Mr Doggett (or whatever) was
      so interested in What Mulder Would Say that he just
      forgot that he was tracking down a multiple-murderer.
      Oh well.

      I was surprised Doggett didn’t mention that the guy is
      only in check until his elderly father figure kicks
      it. At that time, Oliver’s going to go into one of
      the biggest depressions of his life. I thought
      someone would realize how dangerous that day will be.

      • Re: Erm
        In a way, that’s kind of what I mean..

        The X-Files has never really offered diffinitive/conclusive information that would end up changing the “world” paradigm. However, The Outer Limits kind of does this every week. The thing that makes it so similar is that even on TOE, something always resolves itself so that the world never changes too much..which is why this X-Files episode seemed like a script written for The Outer Limits but acted by people from The X-Files to me.

  3. Pop culture abounds…
    An X-Files involving the “Brady Bunch,” Guest-starring a former “Married with Children” star, and all written by a guy named Gilligan…

    • Re: Pop culture abounds…
      I’m not a Married With Children fan, but who was the star? I remember the main character most for his amazing role as the serial killer “Hinks” on the Practice last season. Am I wrong?

      • Re: Pop culture abounds…

        I’m not a Married With Children fan, but who was the
        star?

        The second murder victim was Bud on
        MwC.

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