“Hollywood AD” is the third and final episode of the seventh season to be written by a cast member. This time around, it is David Duchovny doing the writing and directing chores. Of the three, I plop this one firmly between William B. Davis’ “En Ami” as the best, and Gillian Anderson’s “all things“. Is it a bad episode? Not really, but it reminds me of a quote from Duchovny years ago in which he said Darin Morgan absurdly comedic scripts were his favorite to film because it seemed like Morgan was always trying to destroy the show. An attempt to destroy the show is about the best way to describe “Hollywood AD.”
The story is loosely based on master forger Mark Hoffman, a master forger who, in the ’80’s, convinced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to buy fake documents which cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Church’s founding. Hoffman hoped his forgeries would pass inspection, but a couple of his Mormon accomplices got cold feet and threatened to expose his fraud. Hoffman planned to kill them with a homemade bomb, but was injured when the bomb went off as he was constructing it. The explosion prompted an investigation which uncovered the entire plot.
The forger in “Hollywood AD” is Micah, Hoffman, a former ’60’s radical who drafts a Gospel of Mary Magdalene which presents Jesus as a Man who carries on a romantic relationship with her. I assume Micah Hoffman is not only based on forger Micah Hoffman, but his background as a Weathermen sounds like a nod to Abbie Hoffman. I would not be too surprised, given the homage/parody tone of the script, if the idea of Jesus and Mary Magdalene in a relationship was not a tweak at the direct lift of the last thirty minutes of the seventh season premiere.
Cardinal O’Fallon buys the forgery and an artifact which is claimed to be a bowl with the exact words Jesus used to raise Lazarus from the dead inscribed on it. O’Fallon destroys the forgery, but cannot bring himself to destroy the Lazarus Bowl. O’Fallon poisons Hoffman to keep him quiet, but Hoffman, who has had a change of heart after immersing himself in the life of Christ in order to draft his Gospel of Mary Magdalene, sets a bomb to destroy the forgery himself. The lazarus Bowl turns out to be real, so he rises from the dead just as O’Fallon is being arrested for his murder. The whole case is a wash. Mulder and Scully are suspended pending a possible lawsuit from the Catholic church.
You got all that? Do not fret if you have not. It is all quite irrelevant. The real heart of the episode is the final act. A screenwriter/producer friend of Skinner’s from college follows the agents around during the case hoping to find something interesting enough to film. The film turns out to be an Ed Wood laughably bad project starring gary Shandling and Tea Leoni produced in part by skinner himself. In the end, we discover O’Fallon murders Hoffman then kills himself. The fake Lazarus Bowl Mulder was eating popcorn out of turns out to have actually resurrection powers which raise zombies up for a cross between Thriller and Chicago dance number when no one is looking.
The best way to describe “Hollywood AD,” besides absurd, is self-indulgent. Duchovny made the script heavily Mulder and Duchovny-centric. Scully often plays third fiddle here as Mulder is the center of it all. However, I will note the few scenes she does have present the character as well as she has ever been written. Duchovny has a knack for balancing Scully’s characteristics better than just about any other writer. She is strong, but not hard. Smart, but not aloof. More fun would be the best way to describe her. Nevertheless, Mulder gets the best lines, particularly joke-wise, gets to toss in all sorts of indulgences like hanging out with his real wife Leoni and playing with The Larry Sanders Show that he and Shandling have a thing for one another, and some ax grinding. Certainly Mulder’s irritation as being presented as buffoonish in the film is a jab at his being stuck on a series for which he has a well recorded animosity.
“Hollywood AD” is entertaining, but very sill. I imagine the Duchuvny buffs find it better overall than I do. It is almost like two episodes in one, with the investigation and then the Hollywood bits. Duchovny, an avowed anti-theist, takes some pointed jabs at Christianity’s alleged disinterest in the natural world versus the spiritual which reminds me of Christopher Hitchens’ accusation Mother Teresa was less interested in relieving the physical suffering of people than promoting the church. It is distracting, but so angry atheist amateurish, I have an hard time taking it seriously enough to get angry. Duchovny is having fun here stroking his ego while taking jabs at anything and anyone he does not like. Take that for what it’s worth.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
“Hollywood AD” is the third and final episode of the seventh season to be written by a cast member. This time around, it is David Duchovny doing the writing and directing chores. Of the three, I plop this one firmly between William B. Davis’ “En Ami” as the best, and Gillian Anderson’s “all things“. Is it a bad episode? Not really, but it reminds me of a quote from Duchovny years ago in which he said Darin Morgan absurdly comedic scripts were his favorite to film because it seemed like Morgan was always trying to destroy the show. An attempt to destroy the show is about the best way to describe “Hollywood AD.”
