The X-Files
"Invocation"

Airdate: December 3, 2000

"Hey, look! It's the spirit of the X-Files!"

Okay, call Guiness, because the impossible has happened. By this, I mean that writer David Amann, the same man responsible for "Chimera," which is universally considered one of the worst episodes in X-Files history, has actually put forth the best offering so far in Season 8, which fans thus far have been referring to as "the year of Hell." Not that this episode, entitled "Invocation," is terribly good, mind you, but it's at least watchable, which is something that the Bat-boy episode and last week's slug-filled extravaganza were not.

The plot, as such, revolves around the disappearance of seven year-old Billy Underwood, who vanished right under the nose of his mother at a carnival in 1990. He reappears ten years later, having not aged a day. But is this really the same boy or is it a portent from beyond? Are there malevolent forces at work here? And hey, do we seriously have to wait until sweeps week for the return of David Duchovny?

The whole of "Invocation" revolves around these very questions (okay, not the Duchovny one, but we're all wondering nonetheless) and we quickly realize that supernatural forces are at work in an attempt to keep events from repeating themselves. The Underwoods, it seems, have had another son in the interim, and he may well be destined for a fate similar to Billy's.

"I had a daughter about your age, Billy. She turned into a molten glob of green alien pus." "Get away from me, lady!"

The cool thing here is that this is the first episode in which we see a real partner dynamic between Scully and Doggett. The latter is quick to dismiss any paranormal aspects, and he doesn't even attempt to wrap his mind around an explanation for Billy's unaged state. Instead, Doggett singlemindedly pursues the assumed kidnapper, a young man named Ronnie Parnell (this name echoes the participant in the actual kidnapping of a boy named Steven Staynor many years back). In fact, he's so dedicated to solving this case that he's even willing to illegally open juvenile records in an attempt to get to the truth -- so much for being "by the book." Unable to accept any unnatural explanations, Doggett is flummoxed by Scully's insistence on the inclusion of a psychic in the proceedings. And after babbling a bit about "powerful forces at work here," the seer focuses on... (drumroll please) Doggett. According to her, he's lost someone, and this is cemented by an earlier shot of Doggett staring sadly at a picture of an unidentified young boy that he keeps in his wallet -- is it a son? A brother? A sister abducted by aliens? Since it's not mentioned again, it looks like we won't be finding out until some time down the road -- probably sweeps week as well, but by then we'll have forgotten anyway.

But I digress.

Scully and Doggett enter the UST lotto.

So just why is Billy hanging around, and what's up with these bloody knives that he insists on jamming through his brother's bed pillows? I won't be giving too much away by telling that it's made pretty obvious early on that Billy's no longer in the world of the living. Honestly, the non-talking thing, the blank stares, and that pesky habit he has of teleporting are all pretty much "dead" giveaways. The reason he's back, though, is the crux of the story, and I won't be spoiling that. Suffice it to say that it's thoughtful, moving, and almost unbearably sad.

Yep, you heard it right. I just gave a positive review to a David Amann script, and I frankly couldn't be more surprised. Sure, there's a lack of expositional logic at the end, but Amann cheerfully admits it in the dialogue. Scully and Doggett search for a logical explanation, don't find one, and pretty much chalk it up to something along the lines of "that's the X-Files for ya."

Like the rest of the episodes this season, there's not the slightest bit of humor to be found, but this is one of those cases where the serious nature of the proceedings demands a serious treatment, and we all remember how Amann faired with humorous asides in "Chimera" (shudder). This is a story that could have worked just an nicely as an episode of Millennium (aka the 1013 show that time forgot) and I have the feeling that this is probably about as good as it's going to get in the eighth season... before we discover the sordid, boring truth about Scully's spawn. Frankly, I find the thought of silent, creepy dead kids much more comforting.

-- David Rosiak

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

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