Customer Reviews

The X-Files: Beyond the Sea/E.B.E. [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These two episodes from the first season of The X-Files are both fascinating in their own way. "Beyond The Sea," my favorite episode of the first season, is a unique in-depth character study of the female protagonist of the series. A young couple is kidnapped and it's up to FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to use a doomed serial killer's psychic ability to save them. The killer, brilliantly played by Brad Dourif (Oscar nominee for "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) has a psychic connection to someone in Scully's life who has recently passed away and Scully shows her willingness to believe in things paranormal. "E.B.E" is somewhat less satisfying. UFO's are the focus of this episode, as the ongoing conspiracies of the series continue for Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Of note to X-Philes, "E.B.E" introduces us to the trio of Frohike, Langly and Byers, otherwise known as The Lone Gunmen, characters who will play an important role to the agents as the show progresses... Five Stars for "Beyond The Sea" Four Stars for "E.B.E" END

E.B.E. Is a great mytharc episode--four stars, but "Beyond the Sea" really stands out in this video --six stars. It continues to be one of my favorite episodes, (Along with "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'," "Momento Mori," "Closure," and "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose."

The first episode on this tape is masterfully done. Scully's father dies unexpectedly of a massive coronary and she begins to see his image suddenly appearing. Two college students are kidnapped and a brutal serial killer named Luther Boggs that is on death row claims to be channeling communications from the dead and the abducted students. Mulder's work as a profiler was largely responsible for Boggs being captured, so he has a grudge against Mulder.
What makes the episode fascinating is that it reverses the roles of Mulder and Scully. In a typical situation, Mulder is the believer and Scully the skeptic, but now Scully wants to believe and Mulder is the skeptic. When Boggs appears to channel the spirit mind of Scully's father, she finds it difficult to stay objective. Mulder is forced to be somewhat harsh in explaining that the kidnapper and Boggs could be working as a team, because Boggs is demanding that his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment before he will continue to cooperate.
Through excellent investigative techniques, Scully and Mulder are able to find the abducted teens before they are killed, although Mulder takes a bullet. When he realizes that he is going to be executed, Boggs tells Scully that he will send her a message from her father before he dies. The last scene is a simultaneous one; Scully is explaining to Mulder how Boggs could have faked all his messages while Boggs is being led to the gas chamber. It ends with Boggs dying and Scully receiving no message.
The second episode was somewhat tedious; it begins with a human fighter jet over Iraq shooting down a craft containing extra-terrestrials. One of the crewmembers survives and is being transported in a truck across the United States. Flying saucers are following the truck and that leads Scully and Mulder to the case. In a series of lies and deceptions, Deep Throat communicates with Mulder and he and Scully are eventually led to a power plant in Washington. They manage to falsify identification badges and enter the facility. When Mulder is finally to the point where he can look into the chamber containing the alien, the plant guards capture him. At that time, Deep Throat appears and gives Mulder a bit of explanation regarding the human treatment of extra-terrestrials. It all comes across as a weak plot and explanation. It also expands on the plot device of the super-secret government within a government and introduces the "Lone Gunmen.".

Beyond the sea is a little better out of the two. Beyond the sea is about scullys father dying, and two teens are missing but with the help from a death row inmate, mulder and scully search for them. Also the death row inmate has the ability to channel spirits, and of course the scully/death of her father is played out. E.B.E. is another great one, this one is about a truck hauling an alien to a control center or something like that. mulder and scully track the truck down and .......... well your going to have to buy it and see, but if youve already seen it than you already know. i would definitly buy this one.