It completely slipped my mind over the last eleven years that Kathy Griffin had a guest role on The X-Files. She was not at this point a full on obnoxious, d-list celebrity desperately attempting to slow her descent into obscurity by frequently attacking Bristol Palin, but she had yet to finance all the plastic surgery yet, is playing twins, and has scene in her underwear. You might think ’Fight club” is a wash, but it has a few big laughs that surprisingly make up for Griffin. Not by much, but in a fun, frivolous filler for this series sort of way.
Griffin plays identical sisters, Betty Templeton and LuLu Pfeiffer, who are products of sperm donation by their now imprisoned, but always insane father. After a chance encounter twelve years ago, they have pursued one another across the country attempting to ruin each other’s life. When they are in close proximity, their presence prompts overly aggressive behavior in people nearby. Mulder and scully investigate when two locally based FBI agents beat each other to a pulp while interviewing Betty about two door to door missionaries who also beat each other to a pulp.
Betty and LuLu are competing for the affection of a full time bank robber and part time professional wrestler. They are leaving behind a path of destruction in the process, but the agents still remain one step behind until the big fight in which said wrestler and object of affection will hand over stolen cash as well as put on a good show for a crooked fight promoter. In the interim, Scully discovers the bank robber/wrestler has a twin, too, so she gets the bright idea of bringing him to the fight so each of the sisters can have one. This plan is why Mulder is consider the brilliant one who is never wrong.
Up until this point, “Fight Club” has been a silly sitcom full of pratfalls, absurd fistfights, and mistaken identity scenarios. Had Scully plan worked with all four falling in love, thereby resolving the issue of prompting aggression in surrounding people, I would have considered it the laziest writing imaginable. Instead, both sets of twins prompt aggression, so a huge fight breaks out in the wrestling arena. Both Mulder and Scully get the tar beat out of them, too. Serves them right for not holding out for a better script.
The X-Files has a history of bad late season filler. Whether it is because the creators are running out of steam by that point or they are spending more time on the supposedly more involved season finaler, I cannot say. But “Fight Club” fit’s the usual motif. It is not very serious, nor is it particularly good. But being in the mindseet that it is late season filler, those are the episodes I feel like comparing them to in my pre-Easter generosity. In that regard, it has some big laughs even if the story is extremely predictable. They did not take the easy, happy ending route, however, and I give them some props for that.
“Fight Club” does not belong in the same class as other lighthearted episodes, but if you can stand Griffin in her underwear--no small feat, that--it is an enjoyable watch. I am uncertain why anyone thought the episode was a good idea in the first place, mind you. One high point: the episode takes place in Kansas City. Fats Domino’s version of “Kansas City” plays on a jukebox at one point. Good stuff:
It completely slipped my mind over the last eleven years that Kathy Griffin had a guest role on The X-Files. She was not at this point a full on obnoxious, d-list celebrity desperately attempting to slow her descent into obscurity by frequently attacking Bristol Palin, but she had yet to finance all the plastic surgery yet, is playing twins, and has scene in her underwear. You might think ’Fight club” is a wash, but it has a few big laughs that surprisingly make up for Griffin. Not by much, but in a fun, frivolous filler for this series sort of way.
