“Invocation” revisit’s the hit and miss motif of the creepy, murderous child which The X-Files did frequently in its early years, but mercifully leet pass on in later seasons. While some episodes with such kids are very good, I am inclined to think it is a worn out gimmick that does not have the emotional impact it once did. It does not pack much of a wallop here, either, but it is not really the point. “Invocation” gives Doggett some much needed character development, though still with too many blank spots to make the episode a classic.
Billy Underwood, a seven year old child who was kidnapped from a playground ten years ago mysteriously returns to the same playground ten years later having not aged a day. In fact, a medical exam shows he still has the remnants of an illness he was treated for days before his disappearance. Not only has he not aged, but he is literally the exact same as he was the day he went missing.
Doggett has a particularly high emotional response to missing children cases. He does not buy that billy is the exacyt age he was when he disappeared. He is more inclined to think a teenage suspect who was questioned in the matter a decade ago has held Billy all this time, perhaps stunting his growth. While Doggett harasses the suspect now, Scully, while not quite pinning down a paranormal cause, is nevertheless there is not a normal explanation for the case.
Billy turns out to be homicidal with all the trimmings. He tries to stab his little brother on two occasions. Everyone but Scully rationalizes he has been traumatized by whatever he experienced the previous ten years. But Billy also keeps disappearing and reappearing His reappearance in the former suspect’s car leads to his arrest, interrogation, and eventual admission that he was bullied by his stepfather to kidnap billy years ago. He tried to protect the boy, but his stepfather eventually murdered him. In a twist, Billy’s brother has now been kidnapped, too. The “ghost” of Billy, lead the agents to his brother’s rescue as well as his own, shallow grave.
While Billy and his family’s plight evokes a lot of sympathy, “Invocation” is a character driven episode. The emphasis is on Doggett. There is a clearly personal need for him to solve this case, and he does not want to hear any supernatural goings on as the sole explanation. We discover subtly exactly why as he pulls out a photo of a young boy from his wallet during a quiet moment. We are not clued in on anything beyond that at this point, which is a shame. It is obvious the boy is his son. He must have been kidnapped with the outcome of the kidnapping turning out badly. But why do the writers not let us in on that? We do not even learn his name is Luke yet.
What is worse than the lack of overt explanation is Scully. She yanks Doggett back once when he gets too insistent Billy talk about his ordeal the first time they meet. Doggett insists he has much experience dealing with missing children. At that point, we are thinking professional experience, and that may very well be the case, but he also talking about personal experience. Scully tells him he is full of it. Okay, I realize he lied to her when they first met, so she still questions his honestly. But where is the old Scully who had an empathy for suffering people? The one who used to bring mulder back to reality whenever his obsession with proving the paranormal made him lose sight of the real people involved? Lord, I miss her.
There was a time when she would have known something was up with Doggett. They would have discussed the issue of Luke’s kidnapping. You would think after spending so much time with mulder’s obsession over discovering the fate of his sister, she would be more in tuned with Doggett’s pain. The revelation would have created a bond between the two of them while also letting the audience in on Doggett’s past. We might have even started liking the guy. But no, it is a wasted opportunity.
Another point I dislike about Scully now is how rapidly she accepts paranormal explanations for things, but cannot explain why because she lacks Mulder’s expertise in the subject. She compensates by being cold and rigid. Doggett has taken her old role of urging to consider the case a normal crime that may happen again to another little boy if it is not solved. The problem is that Mulder, whom she is trying pitifully to channel, could be snapped out of his one track mind towards the paranormal when a person was in danger. She is not channeling that aspect of Mulder’s personality. Doggett lascks her old skill of pulling the True Believer back to reality.
Quite frankly, s\Scully is useless here. She does literally nothing but stand around and berate Doggett while he does all the investigative legwork. He is the one to eventually rescue Billy’s kidnapped brother and arrest the culprit beyond the crime while Scully trots along behind him without any proactive gestures on her part. Top cap it all off, when Doggett wants some explanation at the end for how Billy’s ghost appeared, she tells him there is not one and storms off brooding. I get it. She is in pain over mulder being missing, good heavens, her behavior is atrocious.
Before any X-Phile asks, yes, I have taken into consideration Gillian Anderson is tired of the role at this point, so her negative feelings are shining through. That is not as good excuse, however., nor is it a serious evaluation of the problem. The writers are changing the dynamic of Scully from Skeptic to Reluctant Believer, but it is simply not working. That is not what the Scully we all know and love is about.
While I try to avoid speculating what might have been when reviewing episodes, this is the first of the eighth season episodes I am certain would have been vastly improved if it was a Mulder and Scully case. I cannot put my finger on exactly why, since Doggett’s personal issues are what we are supposed to hang our hat on. Maybe it is because Mulder always had a soft spot for children who were crime victims. Scully did, too, back in better days.
As far as comparing “Invocation” to episodes from the final two seasons, it is still one of the most solid. The continued unnecessary tension between Scully and Doggett is annoyingly ridiculous, particularly considering what he has done for her over the last couple episodes. She had bonded with Mulder over far less far more quickly. Certainly there is a desire to keep him at arm’s length in hopes Mulder will return, but she is still acting like an unprofessional ingrate. If I were Doggett, I would be begging for a transfer after this one. It is definitely a Doggett episode, but it would have been better if we had been given more details about his son--like his name--to build up more sympathy, but there you go.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
“Invocation” revisit’s the hit and miss motif of the creepy, murderous child which The X-Files did frequently in its early years, but mercifully leet pass on in later seasons. While some episodes with such kids are very good, I am inclined to think it is a worn out gimmick that does not have the emotional impact it once did. It does not pack much of a wallop here, either, but it is not really the point. “Invocation” gives Doggett some much needed character development, though still with too many blank spots to make the episode a classic.
