The X-Files #91: Tempus Fugit

"An alien implant?" "Two, actually. I made them into earrings."
ACTUAL DOCUMENTED ACCOUNT: When a plane crashes, Mulder and Scully investigate and find a UFO may have been involved. Pendrell gets shot.

REVIEW: For the first part of a mytharc two-parter, this is damn generic, aside from a couple of key points which we'll get to in due course. It feels like we've seen all this abduction stuff before, only with spacecraft that looked marginally more to scale. Tempus Fugit definitely has its throwback elements from Season 1 - the white lights and minutes of missing time, and of course Max Fenig, Mulder's super-fan from Fallen Angel. Remember that Lone Gunman prototype? Well, I remembered the name if not the face. It's not clear if his plane is downed to silence him because there's also a guy with weird tech aboard who "passes" it to MiB types who pick it up from his body. Talk about a dead drop!

The investigation will reveal the plane may have crashed accidentally when one UFO shot down another (aliens vs. humans?), in which case I guess those MiBs had to chase down their dude's body in the wreckage. How it all connects, we'll just have to see. Part of the answer comes from a convincing radar man haunted by what he was ordered to do (or rather, not do) that night. And Joe Spano, an actor I've always liked, is a legit crash investigator frustrated to find he may indeed have to believe, especially after bad UFO effects hover over his head and drops off Max's sister Sharon, because being an abductee apparently runs in the family.

This all happens around Scully's birthday, which creates some fun moments, and surprising Bureau camaraderie, though I'm not entirely sure why an Apollo 11 key ring is a good gift for her. What am I missing? Later, the production kills Kenny - you bastards! - I mean Agent Pendrell, the FBI science guy with a massive crush on Scully. That's really too bad because 1) he doesn't deserve it, and 2) he was quite a fun addition to the cast. Felt gratuitous.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium
- X-Files' greatest hits, though the acting is quite good and there is one important (if unwarranted) moment in there.

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