Up until "Beyond the Sea," Mulder carries what little of the emotional weight there is and Scully is kind of in the background, objecting to Mulder's wacky ideas among other less relevant things, in no small part do to Gillian Anderson's acting inexperience. With "Beyond the Sea," the roles are reversed it is Scully-centric and packs the biggest emotional punch of any episode in the first season.
The episode is loaded with plots and subplots, but manages to stay very focused. A condemned killer, Luther Lee Boggs, is about the be executed, but claims to have information about the kidnapping of two teenagers due to psychic abilities. Mulder, who originally caught Boggs, is sent in to find the truth. While this is happening, Scully's father dies, but Scully thinks she sees him alive sitting in a chair right in front of him.
Scully grapples with the idea that Boggs could be telling the truth, and maybe, just maybe, she speak with her father one last time to get the truth on whether her father was disappointed in her career choice. In the end, Boggs is more or less telling the truth. The teenagers are recovered and his multiple, specific warnings are correct. Scully is unable to stop his execution, but her beliefs in the world at shattered. For the first time, the supernatural is confounded with her personal life and she doesn't know what to do.
Usually, with pathos streaming out of every other scene, there wouldn't be the patented X-Files scariness, but Luther Lee Boggs, played by Brad Dourif, is one of the creepiest "monsters" in the entire series and he looks like a plain human being. And really, Dourif doesn't need make-up or a costume. His ticks, gesticulations, and voice are unbelievable and the direction by David Nutter, who also directed "Ice" is brilliant. At the same time, Boggs's quest for redemption somehow comes through everything else in the episode. I felt sorry for him as he went to his death.
I'm behind again, but I'll try to review another episode tonight.
Score: 9.8/10
