"Heavenly shades of night are falling, it's twilight time." After playing hit and mostly miss in the dark for the last few episodes, "Kill Switch" was indeed a heavenly return with all the shades of night I enjoy from the X-Files. Visiting Sci-Fi authors William Gibson and Tom Maddox drop in to deliver an interesting and exciting story filled with entertaining twists, tension, and most importantly a creative ingenuity that made this story a fresh departure. Something that is not so easy in the show's fifth season. This was no retelling of something we'd seen before. No "Ghost in the Machine 2" (thank God). It had just the right blend of character familiarity mixed with new situations to make it a success. Drop in again sometime guys. What a wonderful homecoming for Director Rob Bowman who has been busy preparing our summer movie. This was obviously not an easy episode to film as it depended heavily on special effects, action sequences, makeup, stunts, and the character interplay that makes the show special. Kudos to Bowman and editor Heather MacDougall for pulling this all together so well with the able assistance of the computer effects folks. It isn't often we get this "big" an episode anymore that isn't mythology. Even the crack dealer convention teaser, which frankly had little to do with the rest of the episode was suspenseful and well done. Kristin Lehman, looking like a casualty in a cruel mascara experiment in overdrive, overcomes her annoying makeup to play very smoothly in the world of the show. Esther "Invisigoth" Nairn seems to spark with all the characters. Be it Scully's obvious annoyance with her attitude (complete with her frustrated stopping of the car and snide remarks "Were you the bass player?"), Mulder's stuck in the middle attempts to communicate with both of them, or the Lone Gunmen love-fest, she impacts all the players. It was nice to see those "inspired nerds", the Lone Gunmen, playing a part here - and it was a perfect episode for them to do so. Everyone was in their element. Mulder was stealing evidence and making those amazing leaps of his and Scully, back from vacation, returns to full skeptical form giving that "look" of hers a workout. This eventually wears down, as Esther and Scully connect when the conversation turns to matters of the heart with Esther talking about her view of the ultimate union between two people. The highlight of this episode for me was that wacky Mulder AI dream sequence in which we get just a little too much insight into some of the things floating around in his head. Surrounded by Nurse Nancy and her "massage" therapy group Mulder begs and pleads (when his head isn't shoved into Nancy's bosom or being smothered by a pillow) for his Dr. Scully, trying to avoid the doddering old surgeon and his host of pointy amputation tools. I'm not going to try to figure out what it means to have him wake up from his "good dream" under a glowing cross while the buxom Nurse Nancy (sporting both an alien head pin and a cross herself) calls him Fox. This from the fantasy of Mr. "I even made my parents call me" Mulder. The one good thing about Mulder's little computer head game is that he certainly has a healthy appreciation for Scully's skills. Too bad that the biggest Action!Scully sequence in the show's history is merely a figment of Mulder's computer influenced imagination because it was certainly a thing to behold. That twirling, roundhouse, jumping high kick in heels was so impressive for a while I thought we were watching "Scully! Warrior Princess". All she was missing was the battle cry and leather outfit, but I guess that would've been a bit much for even Mulder's imagination. Duchovny is quite good in this dream sequence alternating between confusion and terror as he discovers he has a little more in common with Krycek than he'd like. I loved his pitiful "look" as he tried to draw Ninja!Scully's attention to his stubs while she simply blows the hair out of her eyes and sternly questions him. It is only then does he realize something is very very wrong. Scully does eventually get to answer Mulder's cries for her to help for real and rescues him after a little sharpshooting exercise. We are then treated to that always amusing look at little Scully trying to drag Mulder around. Thank God she works out. I said it last week, I'll say it again now. Unless there is something interesting to convey lose the tag on endings. The "Bite Me" on the screen was plenty without that wasted trip to North Platte Nebraska. It is not surprising or creepy when it becomes predictable and trite, and in continuing doing this just for the sake of doing it that is exactly what it has become. Boring. Not the way one wants to end an episode. Especially one this good. Random Musings ------------------------ -Retread Alert: One of the federal marshals caught in the gun battle last died on the X-Files in "Tempus Fugit" as Max's seat mate. -Now this is odd. Scully is in DC yet she is driving a Lariat rent car, but even weirder still it appears to be a Canadian import as the speedometer is kilometer rather than miles per hour based. -Good thing she did have a rent car, as even though Scully got to drive the entire episode (an X-File in and of itself) she still needs to master backing up quickly without scraping the hell out of the car. Hope she took the insurance option. -That musical moment, lights throbbing to the beat as Scully & Mulder just looked at each other through yet another weird event in their lives was perfect. For these two it is almost always twilight time. -Our Little Sailor: While Scully did say "You believe this load of crap?" I'm more interested in what she was muttering under her breath after being told "You wouldn't understand" by Esther. I don't think it was very nice. -Fun little throwaway moment: Scully intently reading the latest issue of "The Lone Gunman" on infrared technologies while the boys play in the background. Popping in long enough to suggest simply checking email instead of worrying about 64-bit encryption issues. -Love the way Mulder just parks the car in the middle of the road as he looks into the fiber optic angle. That must be a Federal Agent parking perk. -Could Scully be anymore annoyed with herself and the world at being handcuffed to that car? That cell phone conversation was a stitch. "Yup." "Dandy." "You are correct sir." -Only the ever polite Scully would actually thank a suspect for stopping after been tasered twice following a flying tackle. -I'm not so sure about the dates featured on the Mulder information readout. While the Oxford and Quantico entries match those of "Unusual Suspects" it made me curious what Mulder did before entering Violent Crimes in 1988. Most surprising was the "90 - present" entry for the X-Files. He was working on those cases two years before being teamed with Scully? That just doesn't seem right to me. On other notes we find he was a summa cum laude graduate from Oxford, and that Quantico graduates people with honors. -Frank's Fashion Spot: Ah Frohike, you always give me something to talk about. This episode we had a fur theme going. Two vests, one merely trimmed with fur, the other I think we've seen before - making him look like a sheep ready for shearing. Nice costuming touches included the Lone Gunmen jacket Frohike was wearing that later Esther sports and my personal favorite - the fact that he has even cut the fingers out of his latex gloves. Oh, and thanks for letting Scully actually wake up with mussed hair. -Speaking of that. I was personally surprised that she'd let down her guard in the troll den enough to actually sleep on their couch. We know from history that Scully can sleep almost anywhere, but I'd have thought the Lone Gunmen lair might make her a little uneasy. Not to worry though, apparently the boys all sleep together in one little room with the lights on. -Whose gun did Esther pull on Scully? I refuse to believe that Esther was able to steal Scully's piece from the small of back holster she uses without her waking or noticing. Autumn "Oh right. Death from the sky."