"The Amazing Maleeni"
Airdate: January 16, 2000

Screw Kolchak: The Night Stalker -- The X-Files has a whole new muse in town, at least judging from "The Amazing Maleeni", a uneven but at times amusing episode straight from the Hanna-Barbera school of mystery storytelling. While Chris Carter's reluctance to mention the X-Files precursor Quatermass has been well documented, methinks he's forgotten to give yet another established supernatural series its due. This forgotten masterwork, whose influence has certainly been seen in prior episodes but never felt so blatantly until "The Amazing Maleeni", can be summed up in three simple words:

Scooby.
Dooby.
Doo.

Where are you?

Investigating the murder of a magician whose head fell off after executing an impressive 360-degree spin, thus throwing our intrepid agents into a tale of secret identities and silly tricks so cartoonishly constructed I was surprised Mulder didn't pull someone's face off in the final scene. (Oh wait -- that was "Sanguinarium".) This isn't to say that "The Amazing Maleeni" is a bad episode; backed by charismatic guest turns from established magician Ricky Jay and terrific up-and-comer Jonathan Levit (who play, like, magicians), "Maleeni" is fun and entertaining, and until the lame final act, more intricately plotted than most. Unfortunately, it's also hokey, mindless, and as unintentionally humorous as it is intentionally witty, including a downright goofy "flashback" scene illustrating how the magicians pulled off their evil schemes. What's worse is that I likely wouldn't have noticed this had the episode not continued the seventh season trend of retreading older, superior ground.

While the successful "Orison" was a direct sequel to "Irresistible", "The Amazing Maleeni" runs just a touch too similar to the second season "Humbug", and when it comes to a Darin Morgan episode, it's better to just stay away from like-minded subject matter altogether as whatever comes after will likely never measure up. One of the most common suggestions lobbed against my X-Files reviews is that I should look at each episode as if the previous ones never existed -- a fine approach were this not, by definition, a television series. It is hard not to be reminded of "Humbug" when watching an episode dealing with freaks, magic, and even evil twins, and it is impossible not to notice how short "Maleeni" falls of an episode which examined similar themes with far more wit and meaning.

Or, I suppose, it can be summed up like this: "It's about originality, style, and more than anything else, soul," says Levit's character, LaBonge, of the magic that he performs. "That's what separates the great ones from the hacks." While "Maleeni" never veers into outright hack territory -- the performances are excellent, and the writing is certainly a step up from the past few seasons -- the episode is far from great, miles from original, and bears far too much resemblance to that episode where Shaggy and Scooby get lost in the funhouse to make its loftier dialogue seem anything but unintentionally laughable. Fun stuff, but the great ones have come and gone.

-- Sarah Kendzior

The X-Files airs at 9pm EST/8pm MNT, Sundays on Fox.

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