After a run of bad episodes, Irresistible is vintage X-Files. Eerie and planted firmly in reality, compared to the more fantastical hours surrounding it, this episode is almost a pre-cursor for Millennium, from the graphic depictions of corpses to the rain-soaked cemeteries.At the heart of the episode is Scully's inevitable meltdown following the various traumatic events she's had to endure lately. The case of the week affected her not just because of its brutality, but by the female victims who had been degraded in death. The scene between Scully and her therapist was wonderfully performed by both Gillian Anderson and Dolores Herbig (nice to see her sane, heh), and I appreciated that we finally got some insight into her feelings post-abduction. However, it was a little disappointing that the show once again resorted to Scully being kidnapped and tied up; even more annoying was the fact that she had to be saved by Mulder. After such an emotionally rough episode for her, it would have been neat for Scully to take Pfaster down in the end.
Donnie Pfaster is another memorably terrifying X-Files nemesis. He's clearly modeled after season one's Eugene Tooms, Nick Chinlund even plays him with the same freakishly-ordinary-but-clearly-insane look in his eye. But he's an effective bad guy, made even more sinister by the frequent flashes of something clearly demonic, and the weird shapeshifting he experienced at the end. Was it all just in Scully's mind? Or was he really inhuman? I did like Mulder's explanation of aliens and UFO's being "safer" than real, human evil, which implies Scully was imagining Pfaster's otherworldly appearance, at least to make the situation less horrifying. Rating A
Credits
Guest stars Bruce Weitz (Agent Moe Bocks); Nick Chinlund (Donnie Pfaster)
Writer Chris Carter Director David Nutter
We like scully tied up.
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