The X-Files Recap: Episode 9 - Space

Posted by Brian Cramer on 06.10.2008

I'm baaaaccccck! This week we focus on "Space" - the final frontier.

Cast:
David Duchovny - Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson - Dana Scully
Ed Lauter - Lt. Col. Marcus Aurelius Belt
Susanna Thompson - Michelle Generoo
Tom McBeath - Scientist
Terry David Mulligan - Mission Controller #1
French Tickner - Preacher
Norma Jean Wick - The Reporter
Alf Humphreys - Mission Controller #2
David Cameron - Young Scientist
Tyronne L'Hirondelle - Databank Scientist
Paul DesRoches - Paramedic

And I’m back! Huh? …what do you mean you didn’t realize I was gone? *cries*

Ok, then. I had a new little feature that Twitch gave me the idea for that I was going to add to the column starting this week, but as it doesn’t really fit appropriately, it will be placed on the back-burner until (likely) next week. I’m all moved in and the cable just got hooked back up today, so things are moving forward. I’ve had a lingering headache all day so we’ll see how well I can write while feeling like crap and after being off for a week.

Oh – and keep your eyes open next week for an exclusive review of season one of “Burn Notice”. Ashish was kick-ass enough to hook me up with it and I’m in the process of getting it watched so I can do a write-up. So far, it’s an awesome show. We’ll see if it holds up.

On with the show!

JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
1977

A reporter tells us about the Viking Observer spacecraft that had captures images of the surface of Mars. They make note of the water in the polar ice caps, how it could have possibly sustained life and mention the “face” on Mars – you know the one. It looks like a human face. Lt. Col. Marcus Belt gives a brief interview, officially denying that the “face” is anything but the work of the solar winds blowing on Mars.

Cut to an apartment, which we can assume is Belt’s, as we see him preparing for bed. He wakes up In a start in the middle of the night and we get a flashback to when he was on a spacewalk and could be heard yelling that there was something coming at him. As he stares up to the ceiling in his bedroom, the “face” on Mars appears and descends on him as he screams.

*cue The X-Files introduction credits and theme song*
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

SHUTTLE SPACE CENTER
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA
PRESENT DAY

HOUSTON MISSION CONTROL

We have a whole slew of things going on that somehow manages to amount to nothing except a really long countdown for a space shuttle launch that ends up failing, causing an aborted liftoff.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
TWO WEEKS LATER

Our favorite agents are sitting on some steps outside of a building, waiting for a secret rendezvous with someone who contacted Mulder. A woman approaches them and introduces herself as Michelle Generoo. She tells them she’s the Mission Control Communications Commander for the space program and she believes that some wily bandit is trying to sabotage the launch. As partial evidence of such, she produces an x-ray of an APU valve that has deep scoring marks – marks that she claims could only be made under extreme, extreme, extreme, extreme, extreme, extreme, extreme heat. In other words, next to impossible. She wants the agents to look into it and relents that she’s slightly biased, as her fiancée is a shuttle commander on the mission.

HOUSTON SPACE CENTER
NEXT DAY

Mulder and Scully ride a cart through the facility and briefly discuss who would want to sabotage a space shuttle. Mulder lists a plethora of groups and organizations but manages to boil it all down to aliens. I’m shocked.

They meet with Belt in his office and Mulder’s apparently a huge Belt-a-maniac because he completely marks out. He even stayed up when he was 14-years-old and watched Belt’s space walk. While Mulder wets himself, Scully asks the hard questions. Belt claims to know nothing about the APU valve and overall doesn’t seem very concerned with the entire situation. He refuses to delay the launch until an investigation takes place but consents to the agents watching it from mission control (since they’d “probably go over my head anyway”).

We cut to a tech guy looking over the APU x-ray. He’s confused because the analysis wasn’t officially ordered. Scully asks if it’s possible that in order to save time and money, proper safety procedures weren’t being followed. The tech dances around the question before saying that it’s their job to make recommendations but the final call is ultimately up to Belt (who happens to be overseeing this from an upper balcony).

Back at mission control, we get another extended launch sequence, with Mulder and Scully looking on. This time, everything appears to go off without a hitch. After the launch Mulder gives Generoo a thumbs-up from the balcony, which Belt sees. He shoots Generoo a suspicious look but doesn’t say anything.

Mulder and Scully walk through the lobby of their hotel, while Mulder tells her that he’s officially lived out one of his boyhood fantasies. Generoo comes running out of nowhere and tells them that something has gone wrong. They had a problem with the rocket boosters that they were able to fix but all communication has gone down. She tells them they have to head back to Houston.

As the agents follow Generoo’s car in the pouring rain, Generoo strains to see the road. Suddenly, out of the fog, the “face” from Mars appears and comes straight at her. This causes her to let go of the steering wheel to cover up, and her car flips. Mulder and Scully pull over and manage to get her free from underneath the car. She tells them she doesn’t know what she saw but it had a face and was grotesque. They help her up and after she appears to be only shaken up, they head back to Houston.

Back at mission control yet again, they’re informed that…well, a bunch of technical shit. Long story short, the maneuvering controls are malfunctioning and they’re unable to rotate the shuttle away from the sun. If something isn’t done soon, the astronauts are going to be toast – literally. Someone in the building is apparently interfering with the system, which takes them to the data bank room but all they find is a dumbfounded technician who says he was responding to an alert for the same problem they’re looking into.

I’m getting tired of typing “back at mission control” but that’s where we’re at again. We get more technical jargon that equates to Belt having to decide whether to make the decision that gets them out of there and aborts or the decision that MIGHT fix the problem but might also strand them in space. He chooses the latter, which involves a blackout of communications while the astronauts attempt to get their systems back up manually. After a few minutes of dramatic pauses, the uplink is reestablished and for now, they’re out of hot water.

At a press conference, Belt tells the media that everything is and has been peachy keen, blatantly lying to them. Inside, Mulder dies a little. He finds Belt afterwards and asks why he lied. Belt tells him that all the media wants to hear is negativity. They don’t know your name unless you’re dying or dead. Mulder seems to partially accept this as Belt assures him that he will bring them back safely.

Back at Belt’s apartment, we essentially get a repeat of the scene earlier when he was on his bed. This time however, we get a pretty creepy meshing of the Mars’ “face” overlaid on Belts, contorting with his as he screams. Trust me, it was cool. Then a ghostly, white, apparition…thing leaves Belt’s body and floats out the window. This episode is fucking weird.

SHUTTLE ORBITER
PASSING OVER CANADA

We hear a transmission from the orbiter saying they just heard something weird.

At mission control, we continue the transmission with the orbiter saying it sounded like something bumped the shuttle. Next thing we know, there’s an oxygen leak. D’oh. When Generoo finds out, she starts getting freaked out, especially so because no one can seem to reach Belt. The agents head to his apartment and he finally opens the door, looking like shit. They all head back to mission control.

When they arrive, Belt gives some orders to the astronauts, the last of which being the delivery of the payload. This incites Generoo who goes off on Belt for placing their lives in unnecessary risk and then runs out. The agents follow her into the hallway and Mulder calms her down a bit. He tells her they need access to some records – stat.

We cut back to the payload being delivered and as Belt starts talking re-entry, we hear a panicked transmission from the shuttle saying there’s something outside the ship – some kind of “ghost”. When Belt hears this, he goes batshit and starts screaming.

After finding two more analysis reports, one from the Challenger in 1986 and both issued by Belt, Generoo runs into the records room and tells the agents that Belt collapsed. They head back to his office and find him curled up under his desk, convulsing. Mulder tells her to get a doctor. Umm…Fox? What about Scully? Just sayin’.

After getting him on a gurney, Mulder gets him to try to talk to him through his shock. Belt tells him that he didn’t sabotage the ship but couldn’t stop “them”. He also says that the fuselage is damaged and they won’t survive re-entry. Just then, the face appears over Belt’s and it gets all contorted again. Generoo comments that it’s the same face she saw while driving (which indicates they could see it on Belt’s face, which is just fucked up). To top all of that off, they just ran out of oxygen and have exactly 30 minutes in their backup systems. Generoo heads back to mission control and tells them to begin re-entry procedures.

In the meantime, Mulder is walking with Belt’s gurney in the hallway and asks him if there’s anything they can do to prevent the ship from burning up. He tells him to change the re-entry trajectory to 35°. Mulder hears this and takes off back to mission control.

He gets there just in time to tell Generoo, who checks the landing conditions in Albuquerque and sends the transmission at the very last second before the communication blackout, thus giving us another two minutes of dramatic pauses and suspense.

KIRTLAND AIR BASE
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

We get a shot of the landing area, but we hear a transmission informing us that the ship isn’t showing up on radar. Generoo gets desperate and starts frantically trying to communicate with the shuttle. After a few more moments of suspense, she gets a reply and everyone applauds. The shuttle lands as the astronauts comment how nice it is to see home.

We see Belt in a hospital room watching a press conference given by Generoo, where she states that the payload was delivered without incident. Hypocrit. Suddenly, his pulse spikes and the creepy-ass Mars “face” meshes with his again. He starts freaking out, ripping off his monitors and after flailing about for a minute he yells, “No more!” and throws himself out the hospital window.

Back at the X-Files office, Mulder is reading an article outlining Belt’s death. Scully walks in and Mulder tells her that he thinks Belt was possessed by something – something he saw in space and that he sent Generoo the x-rays instinctively to try to warn her of what it was making him do. Scully tells him there will be an investigation because they haven’t rules out foul play but Mulder states that Belt gave his own life to stop whatever was possessing him – as an astronaut, that was something he was prepared to do.

As a final shot, we see Belt’s funeral, complete with a military plane fly-over and Mulder, Scully and Generoo in attendance. Fade out on the American flag.

*cue credits*

The 411: I pride myself on being honest, if nothing else. In my personal opinion, this episode sucked. Horribly. It wasn't impossible to follow, but it was just structured terribly. The story was bland and outright stupid. We really learned nothing arc-wise, except that Mulder always wanted to be an astronaut, which is more or less irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

If you're a completionist, watch this. It's certainly not unwatchable, just painful to endure. If you're not a completionist, skip it altogether. You won't miss anything except the 45 minutes you lost when you sat down.

Final Score:  3.0   [ Bad ]