The X-Files - Detour

“Detour” is right up my alley as an X-Files fan. It is mostly set in the woods with a serious threat to anyone who ventures into them. The predator is elusive and dangerous, very camouflaged by its environment, and is creepy in appearance. The mystery behind the creature is unique to history (a tree trunk, Ponce de Leon, and a network inside a pit with a hole factor into its possible origins and longevity) with Mulder happening upon a crime scene just because the car he’s in was in the area (along with Scully in the backseat, they are on the road to a teamwork conference with fellow agents who are very enthusiastic and excited about the trip!). Scully is “urged” to sing by an injured Mulder, requesting her to do so for his benefit…when she starts with “Jeremiah was a bullfrog…” I was grateful for the levity! So despite having creatures that are chameleons who can move about often undetected in this Florida forest, with red glowing eyes often giving them away, the episode does have a good sense of humor occasionally, and I much appreciated that. And it was a marvelous balance. It does get intense, although I don’t even think when it was first broadcast anyone felt like Mulder and Scully were in any serious danger.

Mulder knowing about prints, indicating to Scully that his father taught him about tracking, was a fun detail and her having to assume protector role when Mulder is injured was especially a refreshing development.

I remember even at the time when I was a kid watching the show that Scully always in peril with Mulder having to race to her rescue got a bit much. In this episode, at the end, sure enough, like clockwork, Scully is at the hotel getting their clothes as Mulder rushes to the room, right before the “damned thing” could attack her…before the fade to black you got a good profile of the creature. So no one in that area is exactly safe. Man, that creature is the stuff of nightmares. An early scene where one of the creatures is inside the house of a victim held in the underground pit, looking to attack his son. Just the eyes and noise of its presence in the building as the kid runs downstairs quickly gives you an idea of how scary such that “damned thing” is. And when surveyors unfortunately come across it in the woods, they just touch the ground, with eyes opening to reveal color and their screams while trying to separate from the “damned thing” really starts the episode on a chilling note. Going after the kid, too, gives you reason enough to believe that these creatures perceive all humans encroaching on their habitat as a threat to their survival.

The agents of the episode coming to the rescue of Mulder and Scully were just a nice touch. They serve as some comedy relief, sort of getting on Mulder’s nerves while Scully is amused by his need to get away from them, but getting to eventually arrive to the pit with other agents behind them adds irony to the episode’s story. They are sort of viewed as yahoos but Mulder and Scully sure needed their help so it was indeed a rescue.

I don’t want to fail to mention how Mulder and Scully get another “quiet time” conversation where she talks about her bout with near-death to him. After failing to build a fire, Scully just gives her lap to Mulder’s head (his arm/shoulder is injured), while the two of them wait for daylight. I like that Scully just isn’t well again and the whole harrowing experience is persona non grata until the next mythology episode brings it back to relevance. Just being mentioned again is much appreciated by me. But I like that Mulder seems happy to have her back by his side, as the two are sent off with other agents on a ho-hum trip, eventually shoehorned into a case they really have no jurisdiction over. Colleen Flynn, as the lead officer on the case of missing surveyors (and later husband/hunter who sends his son and dog back to the house), initially is hesitant to include an interfering Mulder, but when she can tell he’s not a detriment to her investigation allows him to participate should be mentioned…her tracking and investigative skills, knowing the woods quite well, eventually isn’t even enough for the creatures out there. Anthony Rapp, a familiar face to television audiences, is a special FLIR specialist who accompanies Flynn and the agents into the woods, also succumbing to the creature. Solid monster of the week episode; this is the kind that doesn’t fade from memory. 4/5