From: GeoRed@aol.com

Like the episode, this review feels incoherent. Oh well, I did the best
I could. If you respond and don't get an immediate response from me, it is
likely due to the fact that I have to go out of town again, for the week.
I'm not ignoring anyone, I'm leaving Monday morning.


FIRST PERSON SHOOTER (U.S. Air Date 2-27-00)
a.k.a. It's bigger than your average cod piece.....

Bulge Shots: 2 (one Armani one in Act 1; the second one is a compilation of
all cod piece shots )
Bulge Shot Scale: 1 (out of possible 3, 3 being most impressive)
MulderTorture: 2 (out of possible 5, 5 being the most hurtful)
MulderGlassesScenes: 0
Favorite Mulderisims: "I have a birthday coming up."
MulderVision: What is it about him lying on the ground with bare arms and
cuts on his face? :::thud:::
MulderApparel: Cod piece cod piece cod piece.....really love the bare arms
and shades too.
ScullyScale: 2.5 (out of possible 5, 5 being the best Scully possible)
ScullyApparel: Love the leather jacket with the black turtleneck, although
the jacket still looks too tight.

Shallow and Worthless Commentary:
I didn't care much for that pinstriped shirt Mulder was wearing. Go with
solids, darling. I also didn't like that striped tie he was wearing later
in the episode. He did have that nice Armani!Bulge in Act 1 when Ivan was
saying that he couldn't have been shot, there aren't real guns in the game.

Speaking of clothing changes....I guess this ep spanned two days? Because I
caught the barely noticeable changes in attire. Mulder's shirt got better,
his tie worse and Scully went from looking nice in a still-too- small leather
coat and black turtleneck, to slobby in that damn, way-to- tight, white
shirt. Untucked. What's the deal, people? Is Gillian picking her own
clothes? I've seen how she dresses in real life and I have to wonder. This
is not business attire. Then again, I've seen David up close and unkempt and
it's a look that really, REALLY works on him. I guess some people can pull
off anything. But then, he doesn't carry it over to the show.
Hmmm.....don't think I'd mind if he did. Especially the spiky hair and the 5
o'clock shadow.

The cyber gear. Dear god. Somebody's been poking around in my imagination
again. Did anybody else notice that Mulder seemed to have a custom made
cod piece? It was considerably larger than anything the gunmen were wearing.
Then again.....nah, no dissin' the gunmen. Not right now, anyway. Bare
arms. I love those bare arms. I went to work (several days later) and one
of my off line phile friends said, "God, the arms!!" I am not alone. The
whole outfit was perfect, right down to the glasses. Yeah, I know, you
couldn't see the lovely eyes. But sometimes, you don't need them for a
really great fantasy life. The gashes on his face only added to his
appeal. Let me lick that gash for ya, honey. Okay, maybe not the gash,
but I had an overwhelming urge to lick *something*. Scully's a really big
idiot if she doesn't get him that outfit for his birthday and do a little
role playing.....oh, wait. She is Scully, after all. Bummer.

Gillian's hair is growing, let's have a party. It even got a bit of
volume there at one point. I didn't see what the big deal was about her
cyber gear, though. She's much too short for that outfit. It did nothing for
her. She should've gone with the thong. Now *that* would've caused an uproar.

Analysis:
There isn't much here to analyze, really. This was an episode tailor made
for shallow and worthless commentary. I loved it for that, it appealed to
all my baser instincts. Maybe that was the point. If you look to deep into
this episode, it'll just piss you off. But I did.....and it did. I also
made a mistake in reading ATXFA. I agree with a lot of what was being said,
but there was one theme that really got to me. More on that later. Watch
this episode again and pay very close attention to three people: Phoebe;
Scully; and Mulder. They are the only characters that really count in the
overall scheme of things.

Forgive me, Gunmen fans, when I say that I found them terribly annoying in at
least two scenes during this episode. The initial scene with Mulder and
Scully showcased that: either these guys aren't great actors; or they are
geeky to the extreme that I can't see a show of their own succeeding. Every
time I watch the ep, that opening scene just makes me feel sorry for them.
I'm trying not to be harsh, but I cringe every time they make their initial
appearance.

David and Gillian both did a fine job. David made Mulder more adorable and
boyish than usual. His gentle mocking of the gunmen was designed more to get
Scully to lighten up than anything else. He cares about these guys, though.
Scully's condescending attitude about the games people play is played
typically heavy by Gillian, but David/Mulder's antics have the effect of
lightening her up a bit. I thank David and the director for that. His
humorous delivery of rebuttals to Scully's sexist comments makes them
bearable and should show Scully that men like Mulder negate many of her
comments and bring the stereotypes into the glaring light of day. The very
fact that she basically calls Mulder a moron and a testosterone laden boy (by
default) and receives a grin and light banter in return should tell her that
Mulder is a mature man who can take apparent insult with no injury. No
childish pouting from our Mulder. He simply disagrees with valid reasons and
a bit of a smile. He's a better person than I am.

I found the knuckle bite amusing and the look on that gorgeous Mulder face
when Jade crossed her legs stunning. And you have to know that if Jade was
walking away from me, my reaction would have mirrored Mulder's, to a degree.
Who could not watch? Thankfully, Scully was amused as well. This gave me a
great deal of hope for Scully.....she wasn't going to put on an injured
feminist pout and make matters worse. She knows as well as I do that there
ain't nothing wrong with ogling. I'd bet a million that she's studied
Mulder's ass on many occasions. With good reason.

Phoebe makes me rather ill. This is why I asked you a few paragraphs ago to
watch her carefully throughout the episode. She starts out mildly derisive
to her co-worker about the guys getting ready to play the game. I've got no
problem with that, it's an honest and open reaction. Then, when they are
playing, she's into it. She doesn't seem all that timid when talking to
Mulder and Scully, either. When Darryl Musashi plays the game, she's as into
it as the guys. Again, I've got no problems with any of these reactions.
None. But then she realizes who is doing the killing inside the game. Her
Goddess. She begins to feel guilty. All of a sudden it comes out that she
created this character because she was overwhelmed by the testosterone fumes
in her work place? Give me a fucking break. She's feeling guilty and she
tries to blame it on working in a male dominated work place? Yeah, that Ivan
is a real macho man. If these are true feelings on her part, and not an
attempt at excusing her fuckup, then she very carefully disguised her
feelings in that atmosphere. I'll say it again: most men don't read minds.
Not to mention that this was an atmosphere that certainly seemed harmless
enough to this viewer. This was very poorly executed. Instead of feeling
sorry for her and understanding her dilemma, I wanted to shoot her myself for
falling back on a destructive cop out. Wah, wah, wah, the boys are nasty.
Please. Either one of these explanations: a) she was trying to create
something of her own because she was outnumbered in a hostile environment
(instead of speaking up), or b) she's using that as an excuse for creating a
killer, is very disturbing. Maybe it was meant to be. What exactly is
Gibson trying to say here?

Oh my, Scully. Immature hormonal fantasy? Morons? Testosterone? "No fair
picking on the girl?" Extremely sexist, especially after you advance on Ivan
with hostile intent earlier in the ep. So, you can knock out his teeth, but
his anger is "picking on the girl?" Perhaps Scully was supposed to be
sexist, but I didn't really want to see it and the results of it were poorly
developed or not developed at all. She was never shown to be either right or
wrong, IMO. The only juxtaposition was her comment about "picking on the
girl" with Mulder getting the crap kicked out of himself by the "girl's"
creation. Every other instance was Scully making a statement and then
nothing really being said about that statement in the plot. There was no
follow through that I could see. See below.

I find Scully's attitude far more dangerous than *anything* Mulder and the
boys did in this episode. Let's face it. We, as women, are just as prone to
ogling as any man is and to deny that is ludicrous. There is nothing wrong
with it from either gender. There was all this talk on ATXFA about Mulder's
sexist behavior. To me, that smacks of denial and a double standard. But
where is all the talk about Scully's sexist attitude? And she was rather mean
about it too (morons?). Is it okay because she's a woman? Mulder's ogling is
harmless, Scully's comments on testosterone and violence are dangerous
reverse sexism. She is contributing to on-going sexual and gender
stereotypes. If you hate sexist behavior, don't practice it. Okay, enough
preaching. It just bothers me when I see women succumb to the same sort
of commentary that men would get lambasted for.....aren't we supposed to rise
above it?

What would have made this episode much more interesting is the concept of the
bloodlust and testosterone being brought out in *Scully*. Instead, when she
entered the game she was simply protecting Mulder. I got no feeling that she
was *playing*, simply that she was trying to protect her partner. It would
have been nice to see her succumb and then realize that perhaps these games
*are* an outlet as Mulder (the *psychologist*) says. But this wasn't
developed or explored. OR, clearly show that Matreia was feeding off the
aggression and testosterone by having Mulder win. He did win, in a way, but
it wasn't clear. As it was, we got a video game run amok and no clear
commentary to the sexist issues brought up in the dialogue. It was just
there, it was never fully developed or resolved one way or the other.

Sadly, Mulder wasn't fully fleshed out in the climactic sequences either.
Scully says he's "getting his ya-ya's off" and once again shows how little
she knows him. He does this on a regular basis. He is curious. He has to
know. He sticks his fingers in goo, fer god's sake. Mulder is just being
Mulder. I didn't see him as out of character in this episode. Perhaps a bit
exaggerated, but not out of character. Standard Mulder MO: something bizarre
happens, Mulder runs after it to check it out, Mulder acts like an FBI Agent.
That last comment? Well, I don't think Mulder figured out that the game was
feeding off testosterone and he was, therefore, holding it in check (if that
was what he was supposed to be doing it wasn't clearly developed). He was
being an FBI Agent. Watch him. He "lays down cover" but he doesn't shoot at
Matraia when he has a shot. He doesn't fire his gun at Matraia when she is
holding a sword on him. He tells her to stop right there and put the sword
down. She takes a swing at him and when she hits the gun it goes off, out of
control. Because Mulder *isn't* playing the game, and is acting like his
usual FBI Agent self, she lets him live. Mulder's very nature allows him to
live. He's never been terribly aggressive, except maybe around Krycek. He's
not doing anything out of the ordinary (for him) here. Then, when he next
sees her, he still doesn't fire until she attacks. Next, she begins to kick
the crap out of him and he defends, but he doesn't go on the offensive. When
he gets her down, he takes off. He's giving her nothing, because he uses his
head. No, he doesn't do this to keep the testosterone down, he does it
because it's who he is. He's out gunned and he needs a weapon. He's not
afraid to take off. I love the fact that once he gets her down with a
defensive move, he can remove the sword from the concrete (like the mythic
hero he is) and move to the next level. Mulder is winning the game on his
terms. Would he have continued to win if Scully hadn't shown up with a gun
and started blasting? That would have been nice to see. There were many
different ways they could have explored the ideas presented. Instead it was
a rather muddled attempt at I don't know what.

Why does he say, "Ask me if I'm humiliated?" That doesn't fit with what
actually happens in the episode, but I suppose it fits how Mulder usually
thinks. Scully didn't save him, she kept him alive until the gunmen turned
the game off. But I don't think he's talking about Scully saving him, I
think he's talking about getting beaten up by a cyber chick. He wasn't
*fighting* her, not really. Still, he got to the second level on his own and
he was succeeding. Nothing to be humiliated about.

Am I the only one who thinks Scully was the scariest person in the episode?
I couldn't decide if Mulder was turned on or scared when he saw her
standing there with her gun.

At the end, we see Phoebe stand up to Ivan, but it is so hollow. If they were
going with the subverted female taking charge it just didn't work. She
created Matraia, she knew the whole time how to kill the game, and she showed
no signs of being cowed early in the episode. She wasn't a true victim, she
was a perpetrator in her own right masquerading as a victim. That's the way
it came off to me. If she was supposed to be a victim, it wasn't established
at all. There was nothing much established other than a killer cyber chick.
All that sexual/gender commentary had no clear resolution one way or the
other.

To all those who thought Scully actually saved Mulder, take note of the paint
splotches and the gun outside the door. Looks to me like Scully held them
off for awhile and Mulder got the door pried open with his sword. They both
made a dash for it and got shot just as the plug was pulled. The gunmen and
Mulder's sword to the rescue.

Chris Carter, that closing voice over has your fingerprints all over it. It
made no sense whatsoever when compared to what was shown on the screen. I
wrote it down, word for word, and studied it. Even on its own, it doesn't
seem to make sense. Like the episode, I don't get it. For that reason and
the reasons outlined above, I'm going to have to go with a very superficial
(read: shallow) view of this episode. That's the *only* way I can agree with
Mulder and say,

"That's entertainment!"