X-Files 6.5: "Dreamland: Part II"

Written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Kim Manners

In which Scully races to find a solution to Mulder’s current predicament, while Mulder comes under suspicion as the leak at Area 51 continues his attempt to hand over evidence…


Status Report

According to the writers, the mandate from Chris Carter for the sixth season was an emphasis on more comedy. Apparently the previous seasons had been too dark for someone with the kind of authority to ask Carter to lighten it up a bit. Considering where “Millennium” was going at this point, one could point to the network as this source of interference. Ultimately, however, it comes down to a simple reality: “Dreamland” was originally conceived as a body-switch caper with Garry Shandling.

Armed with this information, it’s easy to see how the story was developed. Little or no thought was given to how this would make sense within the context of the mythology as a whole. The two-parter was written to allow for as many gags as could fit into two hours. Place this into perspective for a moment. Two hours out of a season boiled down to an excuse for funny gags about David Duchovny and Garry Shandling switching bodies. The fact that Shandling couldn’t schedule the filming, forcing the casting of McKean instead, is a minor consideration.

The end result has its moments. Scully in particular gets to show some of her previous edge, and there’s more than one hint that Scully is still wondering if it would be better to pursue a new and more normal life. Yet there’s also a depth of emotion between the two agents, especially when it looks like all is lost. Scully is very reluctant to let go of Mulder, and he clearly doesn’t want to let go of her. It’s in keeping with the progression of their relationship in the wake of “Fight the Future”; they know how they feel about each other, but there’s still the unspoken psychological issues keeping them apart.

That’s why the opening monologue by “Mulder” is important, both for the seasoned viewers and the new initiates. It’s a good reminder that Mulder’s world is still defined by questions about Samantha and her disappearance. It also makes it very clear that Mulder is a psychologically damaged individual. Mulder often ends up heroic or insightful, but sometimes that’s a matter of perspective. From a different point of view, Mulder has let his life slip away while tilting at windmills. (Leaving aside, for the moment, the fact that he was all but maneuvered into his little crusade.)

Morris probably already knew about Mulder, since it seems that his department was mainly focused on disinformation and Mulder was a high-profile facilitator of such efforts, especially in previous years. But it’s still interesting to see Mulder’s life through another person’s eyes, even someone with as many personal issues as Morris. He quickly points out all the aspects of Mulder’s life that could and should have been different.

For all that, it’s still all a bit overdone. It’s funny to think of Mulder using his bedroom as a massive storage closet, but one has to wonder how much information was really lost when Morris cleared out the space. After all, it takes time for that much information and assorted crap to accumulate, and Mulder must have been hoarding everything possible since the destruction of his office and many of the X-Files. So where did all of that go, in such a short period of time?

One also has to wonder how long he kept that furniture. It probably plays into a few of his personal fantasies, but it’s also clear that things have changed before the end of the season. That’s probably too bad for him, because if he knew Scully and her own dark side, he might have gotten somewhere with the kinky. (And Scully’s little ruse with the handcuffs? Totally in keeping with what was shown in “Never Again”!)

It’s a bit too convenient for the massive space-time anomaly to reverse itself, which is one of the most obvious flaws of the story. Mulder and Scully are completely divorced from the resolution, and when that happens, the story suffers terribly. It’s also somewhat convenient for the reversal to be conditional and partial, allowing some changes to remain and others to be corrected. Logically, if time snaps back to the moment when everything originally changed, then everything should snap back to the original state. Otherwise, how could Howard just let everyone walk away, if there was evidence that something happened?

The idea that someone in charge of the Men in Black would want to contact Mulder to discover the truth is certainly ironic, but it presents a minor problem. If Morris and others were aware of Mulder and the Lone Gunmen because they were falling for the disinformation, then why would Wegman think that Mulder knew the truth? The implication is that they are being used by the conspiracy, setting things up and organizing resources to be used for nefarious schemes by even more secretive groups. An interesting idea, but it’s annoying that it’s mostly played for laughs and developed to explain a tired and unnecessary comedy gag.

More serious implications of the overall situation are hinted, but the writers fall into the “tell, don’t show” trap. Scully mentions that Morris is turning Mulder into Kersh’s golden boy, but there’s precious little evidence of it. Similarly, Scully is suspended and then expelled, but the actual confrontations occur off-screen. In other words, these far-reaching effects of the body-swap are so remote as to have little or no impact. All this insight regarding Kersh and the conspiracy is effectively lost.

Scully is a lot more intelligent in this episode, though she still suffers from the “act stupid until necessary” characterization that plagued the first half. Scully catches on when Morris stages his “seduction”, but the fact that Morris keeps calling her “Dana” doesn’t trip off any alarms. Scully is well aware that nearly everyone else on the planet calls her “Dana”, but Mulder resolutely calls her “Scully”. Why that alone wouldn’t have been enough is therefore hard to fathom.

For all that, it doesn’t take nearly as much time for Scully to come around to the “extreme possibility” of a body-switch as it would have in the earlier seasons. She accepts the fact that Mulder and Morris have made a switch and she acts accordingly. However, taking Morris into the Lone Gunmen’s lair is a bit questionable, even if it led to some funny moments. Wouldn’t they feel like they had been exposed to the enemy by someone they trusted?

Like the first half of the story, this episode exemplifies everything that didn’t quite work during the sixth season. Instead of using the more serious aspects of the story as the foundation, the episodes originated as a flight of comic fancy. Earlier seasons made the case for a dark and psychologically complex series, and that’s what was the draw for a lot of people. Comedy can evolve out of that, but when “X-Files” is treated as a comedy show with serious undertones, it doesn’t work nearly as well.


Memorable Quotes

LANA CHEE: “You’re my bitch now, pencil-neck!”

MORRIS: “This guy hasn’t been laid in ten years…”

JOANNE: “I’ve heard enough from you for one lifetime, Morris. Go tell it to that tramp of yours, that Scully whatshername.”
MULDER: “Dana Scully…Special Agent Dana Scully.”
JOANNE: “Special Tramp Dana Scully!”

SCULLY: “’Baby’ me and you’ll be peeing through a catheter!”

MULDER: “If I shoot him, is that murder or suicide?”
SCULLY: “Neither, if I do it first.”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode continues the odd and somewhat disappointing foray into tired comedy that began in the first part of the story. The issues with the comedy gags are made worse by a massive plot convenience that resets the clock, but in very selective fashion. Scully’s characterization is less problematic, but in the end, this was not a good addition to the mythology.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10