The Grand X-Periment Day 11

10/11/11

31 & 32) Tempus Fugit & Max- Season 4, Episodes 17 & 18- Although these are considered mythology episodes, I don't really see it much. We get the return and death of Max Fennig (last seen being abducted in Season 1's Fallen Angel episode). Really, these two are the closest we have seen to a good old-fashioned mystery.

Max is on a plane, about to be ventilated by a conspiracy agent. The plane seems to be getting hijacked by a UFO and, the next thing you know, the plane has crashed killing everyone on board.

Mulder and Scully (along with a crash investigator) start trying to figure out what really happened. Mulder goes diving for aliens, Pendril (the lab geek with a crush on Scully who I have not mentioned but has been around awhile) gets killed and we get a reminder of Scully's cancer. The only interesting thing to really come from this entertaining mini-story is the idea that not all abductions are government operations (which would explain why the government was so vexed when Max disappeared the first time).

Mulder battles Jeff Foxworthy in a plane and there is some hullabaloo about a stolen alien power source. Does it move the plot forward? Nope. Is it a fun hour and a half of TV? Sure. A little shocking to kill off two supporting characters in this one but I guess they need to do a "one step back" arc every now and then. Unfortunately, they are all playing like that about now.