"Rush"
Airdate: December 5, 1999

Say what you will about the importance of the series' mythology, but were I to recommend one seventh-season X-Files episode to someone seriously out of the genre loop, it would be the cheerfully derivative "Rush." The episode plays like a greatest hits compilation of this year's biggest scifi/horror offerings, paying particular regard to The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project and every genre TV show the WB has to offer. But despite the not-so-fresh feeling, "Rush" does manage to capture the mood and style of the Monster-of-the-Week eps of yore. A supernatural occurrence. A Mulder-Scully investigation. A bloodied corpse. A villain who is not who they seem. Didn't you miss this stuff? "Rush" may be the fast-food equivalent of an X-File, but as such, it delivers.

The premise isn't exactly cerebral -- what is ostensibly a more nefarious version of The Flash terrorizes a small Virginian town; our valiant agents investigate -- but within that very familiarity lies its charm. For all the episode lacks in originality and complex story-telling, "Rush" at least makes sense, and its plot makes for some fine mental vacation time. In short: three teenage stock characters -- one Nice Boy Wrongly Accused, one Outspoken Rebel, and one Troubled Young Woman -- discover a supernatural force in a cave that allows them to move at incredible speed. Being the Troubled Youth that they are, they naturally use this power for Evil: cheating on tests, crashing cars, and, oh yeah, killing people.

With the exception of yet another X-Files exploitation of Southern hick stereotypes, the acting in "Rush" is commendable, and it certainly helps the lessen the mortifcation factor of this definite guilty pleasure. Despite their evident suffering from Luke Perry Syndrome, the distinctly adult actors in the teenage roles are all quite good, the best being Rodney Scott, most recently seen in the role of David Cassidy in the Partridge Family TV-movie. Saddled with some downright silly dialogue ("I'll bet she was a real Betty" -- could we be any more Clueless?), the guest cast manages to make it tolerable and even enjoyable. The same can be true for Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, who are awake, alive, and refreshingly in character once more.

That praise given, I really don't have much more to say about this episode. I'm not even certain if I'll remember it in the morning. Such is the beauty and the failure of "Rush" -- for the hour that it actually airs the episode is downright engrossing, dolefully serving the suspense, the gross-out, the inevitable Mulder punchline. Give it a few more hours and the memory fades, becoming as threadbare and inconsequential as, deep down, the episode really is. True to its fast-food nature, "Rush" is fun, familiar, utterly disposable, and probably bad for you. But at least it felt good while it lasted.

-- Sarah Kendzior

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

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