"You know, maybe the boys wouldn't treat you like such a tramp if you'd wear less makeup."
ACTUAL DOCUMENTED ACCOUNT: Man in Black Morris Fletcher gives the Gunmen the runaround, trying to recover a disc stolen by Yves.
REVIEW: Guest-stars 'ported from The X-Files, the promise of big revelations, big cons and capers... All About Yves has all the makings and style of a big season finale. It even ends with the characters in peril and a To Be Continued card. Except this was just the mid-season, and the production was probably a little optimistic. Slap a two-parter at the end of the contract? Eeech. Not only is the episode NOT "All About Yves", in that revelations about this most mysterious character are either fake or take a long time coming, but we'll have to wait another two weeks (by our reckoning) for a conclusion. And if the Millennium wrap-up is any indication, the inclusion of X-Files characters there will make that enterprise less than satisfying.
Other than the lack of an ending, we've got quite a fun episode on our hands. Michael McKean's Morris Fletcher, MiB, is always good for a laugh, and here delivers a lot of one-liners, many of them actually funny. The episode starts with him getting hosed by the Gunmen who stage an abduction - when you see the fat Gray alien, if you don't immediately think it's Frohike... - to get his secrets, getting us back to some of the early episodes' best bits. And after the con, a heist where they have to use blue screen technology to get past the security? Yes, please! (Since this is the end, there's something appropriate about the Gunmen faking the identities of the show's producers, like signatures.) But the con men get conned in the end, and every interaction they've had with Fletcher was faked. That's pretty badass, but it's also a problem when it comes to the revelations he offers about Yves and the covert group Romeo 61. Yves as a rogue member of a black ops unit responsible for domestic terrorism and "natural" disasters? Sounds really interesting. And perhaps it IS true up to a point. I want it to be true. But it seems to be a hoax, and too good to be true, so... Ah well.
Good episode for Jimmy, who once again is paired up with Yves. He's as open as she is closed, so it makes sense, and it's nice to see her tenderness here. It's probably the darkest Jimmy's been. He doesn't let Kimmy the hacker badmouth him and forces him to help later in the episode. He breaks ranks with the Gunmen when they let their obsessions get the better of them. He's the only one who sees through Fletcher's duplicity and is annoyed no one will listen to him despite having proven himself a keen judge of character. Of course, he's still a dim bulb, going out to meet Mulder (whoo!) thinking the only "Fox" he knows is foxy Yves. The three base Gunmen have met Mulder plenty of times, so it's fun to see another member of the cast here, and it allows for a sort of missed Deep Throat moment. And finally, a note on the cool electronic score, much better than the screeching guitars of the past.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - A lot of fun with quality guest-stars, it's just a shame the story couldn't be completed properly. See you on Christmas Eve for what conclusion the production was able to salvage from the wreckage.
REVIEW: Guest-stars 'ported from The X-Files, the promise of big revelations, big cons and capers... All About Yves has all the makings and style of a big season finale. It even ends with the characters in peril and a To Be Continued card. Except this was just the mid-season, and the production was probably a little optimistic. Slap a two-parter at the end of the contract? Eeech. Not only is the episode NOT "All About Yves", in that revelations about this most mysterious character are either fake or take a long time coming, but we'll have to wait another two weeks (by our reckoning) for a conclusion. And if the Millennium wrap-up is any indication, the inclusion of X-Files characters there will make that enterprise less than satisfying.
Other than the lack of an ending, we've got quite a fun episode on our hands. Michael McKean's Morris Fletcher, MiB, is always good for a laugh, and here delivers a lot of one-liners, many of them actually funny. The episode starts with him getting hosed by the Gunmen who stage an abduction - when you see the fat Gray alien, if you don't immediately think it's Frohike... - to get his secrets, getting us back to some of the early episodes' best bits. And after the con, a heist where they have to use blue screen technology to get past the security? Yes, please! (Since this is the end, there's something appropriate about the Gunmen faking the identities of the show's producers, like signatures.) But the con men get conned in the end, and every interaction they've had with Fletcher was faked. That's pretty badass, but it's also a problem when it comes to the revelations he offers about Yves and the covert group Romeo 61. Yves as a rogue member of a black ops unit responsible for domestic terrorism and "natural" disasters? Sounds really interesting. And perhaps it IS true up to a point. I want it to be true. But it seems to be a hoax, and too good to be true, so... Ah well.
Good episode for Jimmy, who once again is paired up with Yves. He's as open as she is closed, so it makes sense, and it's nice to see her tenderness here. It's probably the darkest Jimmy's been. He doesn't let Kimmy the hacker badmouth him and forces him to help later in the episode. He breaks ranks with the Gunmen when they let their obsessions get the better of them. He's the only one who sees through Fletcher's duplicity and is annoyed no one will listen to him despite having proven himself a keen judge of character. Of course, he's still a dim bulb, going out to meet Mulder (whoo!) thinking the only "Fox" he knows is foxy Yves. The three base Gunmen have met Mulder plenty of times, so it's fun to see another member of the cast here, and it allows for a sort of missed Deep Throat moment. And finally, a note on the cool electronic score, much better than the screeching guitars of the past.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - A lot of fun with quality guest-stars, it's just a shame the story couldn't be completed properly. See you on Christmas Eve for what conclusion the production was able to salvage from the wreckage.
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