CGB Spender enlists Scully's help in a mission to retrieve information on how to cure cancer.
Written by William B Davis, the man who's got his own views on just who Cigarette Smoking Man is, this episode gives a much more convincing insight into the character of CSM than we've been privy to before. There's still plenty of the traditional double-crossing we've come to expect from him, although this somehow destroys part of the point of the story. It's nice to think that CSM actually wants to do good and make up for his past before he dies, and towards the end this doesn't seem to be true.
The last couple of seasons have done a good job in humanizing Cancer Man to the extent that he no longer seems to be the bad guy, and the careful writing here shows several different facets to him, where between the lies the truth about him can be found. Gillian Anderson not only plays a gradual conversion to CSM's way of thinking but also treats us to a close-up view of her bosom, which many have been waiting years to see. William B Davis, for his part, plays the sympathetic side of Cancer Man well and expertly convinces an audience entrenched in Scully's scepticism that he might actually be doing something good. Hopefully we can see more of this aspect later in the season.
If there's any problem with the whole thing, it's the tacking on of the traditional X-Files device of Mulder and Scully going back to where Cancer Man was and finding it empty and the open-ended ending, which sees CSM chucking away the cure to the world's diseases. Okay, he may not have wanted Scully to have it for whatever reason, but surely binning it is rather irresponsible? It's this obvious and expected ending that spoils what is otherwise a very interesting and enlightening episode.
****
Would you like to go to the The X-Files Season Seven guide, head back to the main TV reviews page, read older reviews in the Reviews Archive or return to the front page?
Get your own Free Home Page
