Mulder and Scully investigate reports of a man who can bring rain, and is being accused of continuing a drought so that his services are required.
This has so far been one of the oddest years of The X-Files, with its sudden reinvention as a comedy series. We've had silly comedy, black comedy and now we have plain weird comedy. And the weird thing is, it works just as well. What's especially odd is that everything works perfectly in Rain King despite all the outward signs of it not holding together at all with its blend of drama, romance and humour.
It's as if everyone in the episode knows how ludicrous their situation is and plays up to it. Duchovny and Anderson manage to act almost the entire episode with just facial expressions as the Southern yokels act increasingly crazily around them. The concept of a man inadvertantly controlling the weather to match his mood is fantastic, and although something of a semi-retread of Season Three's D.P.O., this is tackled in a totally different way.
For a newcomer writer, Jeffrey Bell evidently knows Mulder and Scully well, with further unsubtle hints about their compatability. This is one of the best aspects of this season as the pair refuse to acknowledge any attraction for each other despite everyone else being able to see it. The sheer obviousness and silliness of this episode is wonderful, as it's played to as much as possible, with shots of the happy couple with a rainbow behind them, and a truly sickening final shot with every cliché in the book. It's impossible to find a flaw in Rain King because they're all intentional!
Couple this with some hilarious sequences when Mulder is caught in events out of his control, (asked for dating advice and kissed by a besotted admirer), and you have an unlikely classic.
*****
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