The Dana of the first season and the Dana of the ninth could really have a conversation. Scully finally appears on the cusp of verifiable proof, inconvertible. The extraordinary proof of telekinesis featured in “Sunshine Days”, a power that a lonely man named Anthony, calling himself Oliver, the cousin “jinx” that moved in with The Brady Bunch in the last season of the show, has is actually killing him. If he uses it, the results are his body’s shutting down organs among other inner destruction until Anthony is dead. Doggett and Reyes arrive in LA to investigate the death of a young pizza delivery teen who was seemingly shot out of a house into the air, collapsing into the car of his buddy (portrayed by Faustino, Bud of “Married…With Children”), seemingly impossible without some type of paranormal or electromagnet jolt. Faustino later bursts into Anthony’s home and because he won’t leave is also levitated off the floor, shot through the roof, smashing into the grass outside, an impression cut into the ground where his body splat! Eventually Doggett and Reyes tie what happened to the two teens (Faustino insisted that The Brady Bunch set and cast was inside Anthony’s home) to Anthony/Oliver (Michael Emerson; Ben of “Lost”), Doggett eventually himself lifted off the ground, extended upside down inside the attic, needing a telekinesis expert, Dr. John Reitz (John Aylward) to help. Reitz studied Anthony when he was a kid in 1970, the two eventually separating when Anthony’s powers faded until he no longer needed to use them. The Brady Bunch created by Anthony because he’s lonely is to compensate for the loss of Reitz, recreating a time when he was most happy…when Reitz and Anthony would watch the show together. Emerson plays Anthony as a wide-eyed, simple-minded man-child whose powers only kill or endanger because they have never been properly maintained. He probably wouldn’t even have them if Reitz hadn’t left thirty years earlier due to their fading. Doggett upside down (and Skinner later flipped when levitated much to the amusement of a doctor called in as well as smiling Reyes and Scully) in Anthony’s house is hilarious. Scully advocating for Anthony to travel with them to Washington to prove to her peers there is actual proof of an X-file really establishes that after 200 cases and nine years of investigation she is tired of no results. But this is The X-Files and the happy ending is almost always elusive.
And much like Kolchak: The Night Stalker, evidence for the public to see always
remains just out of reach. Even Skinner experiences Anthony’s power but his
superiors miss out when the young man collapses to seizure…using his powers is
eating him alive inside. This episode is just a hug around the neck compared to
past episodes where the likes of Scully (losing William and still unable to
find Mulder) and Doggett (coming face to face with the man who killed his son)
went through unimaginable pain. Reyes and Doggett even hold hands and Reitz, a
father figure to Anthony, lets his once-lab-rat know that he won’t leave him
alone (encouraging him never to use the powers again). Scully is disappointed,
as you might expect, but she reasons that perhaps the overall experiences of
the past nine years, with Mulder and now without him, is as important as
capturing evidence for the world to officially see. The “A to B to C” theory
Doggett posits to Reyes, and his “I’m starting to get to hang of this” are nice
nods to fans who hung in there with him during the last two cynical seasons
where he refused to accept the extraordinary and rejected what was often right
before him. Reyes and Scully knowing a lot about The Brady Bunch while Doggett,
uninformed, counted on them for the knowledge was a fun bit of revelation that
produces some light-hearted humor. I didn’t mind this episode at all. After two
stronger episodes where Anderson and Patrick had the chance to act their asses
off, this diversion wasn’t such a waste. It was sort of an exhale from the
intensity of those last two episodes. And it was just cool to see Doggett seemingly relieved of so much sorrow and misery. 3/5
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