I have to applaud The X-Files for doing an episode that logic practically cries out for--if Mulder is so outspokenly anti-government, why has an anti-government militia attempted to recruit him yet? There would be many advantages to having a well-connected FBI agent at your service. I can appreciate the premise, perhaps, but the episode devolves yet again into an evil government conspiracy to kill civilians for its own ends. I am disappointed, because “The Pine Bluff Variant” could have been far more.
Mulder and Scully are part of a joint FBI/CIA operation to capture Richard Haley, the leader of a militia group known as the New Spartans, as he attempts to buy arms. Somehow, Haley is tipped off. He uses some sort of biological, flesh eating agent on an operative about to arrest him, and manages to escape with what, scully thinks, is Mulder’s help. She becomes suspicious he may be a traitor and begins following him, only to discover he is secretly meeting with Haley at a motel later.
One flaw of the episode is how quickly we learn Scully is off the mark. Mulder is secretly working to gain Haley’s trust in order to infiltrate the group in order to discover where they got the flesh eating agent. It would have been more interesting if we could have been strung along longer over whether Mulder really has gone weary of the government’s ’evil’ projects. He was, after recruited because of the anti-government statements he made at the UFO abductee conference in Boston during “Patient X” It would have given the story more blood.
As it is, once we know what Mulder is up to, it is a straightforward adventure with the typical twist for this series. The militia plans to stage coordinated bank robberies, but at only one of which will they spray the flesh eating agent on the money they leave behind. This is the second big test after infecting a theater audience in Ohio with it. Turns out Haley is in cahoots with the feds to test a new biological agent. For whatever reason, it strikes everyone as logical to kill innocent civilians in broad daylight with it rather than foreign enemies or prisoners, etc. getting rid of mulder on such a suicide mission is icing on the cake.
Ho, hum--as far as the plot goes, at any rate. There are some exciting bits. The skeletons stripped of flesh calmly watch Die Hard with a Vengeance is one of the most memorable of the series, as is the gruesome torture sequence in which Mulder’s finger is broken as a ’terrorist lie detector test.” The bank robbery in which Mulder is dragged in as an accomplice echoes Point Break, but not in any bad way. The climactic sequence in which Mulder may be killed execution style is surprisingly tense. There is much to offer, not the least of which is Scully concern for her partner’s well-being. Maybe they have both been at this long enough to realize he is liable to be stabbed in the back.
But none of these elements are enough to light “The Pine Bluff Variant” beyond watchable status. So the government is yet again doing something shady and takes the opportunity to have Mulder killed in the process? All right. It is a pretty weak effort, but not a total loss if you are into the gore and fast Mulder quips under pressure.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
I have to applaud The X-Files for doing an episode that logic practically cries out for--if Mulder is so outspokenly anti-government, why has an anti-government militia attempted to recruit him yet? There would be many advantages to having a well-connected FBI agent at your service. I can appreciate the premise, perhaps, but the episode devolves yet again into an evil government conspiracy to kill civilians for its own ends. I am disappointed, because “The Pine Bluff Variant” could have been far more.
