I am not a fan of COPS. The idea of watching a bunch of guys trying to relive their high school jock and military days by dragging wife-beater wearing white trash out of his trailer in order to arrest him is not my cup of tea. But it is one of FOX’s biggest hits, as is The X-Files, so a format marriage between the two is more inspired than I care to admit. For the sake of my fragile emotions, I am going to claim ‘X-COPS” is more an homage to The Blair Witch Project than COPS. Do not pop my bubble.
“X-COPS” is enormously clever in how it begins as a straightforward episode of COPS, with a shaky-cam film crew riding along with the bored, jaded cop relating to them in a matter-of-fact manner he has seen it all. Then the episode hits x-File territory when he and the film crew are chased by some unseen monster who then attacks the patrol car. Shortly thereafter, the cops run into Mulder and Scully, who claim to be pursuing a monster that only appears on a full moon. The camera crew then begins following the now joint investigation.
This is a Vince Gilligan script, so they run into all sorts of colorful characters along the way: a deputy fearful of his childhood boogey man, a hooker with hot pink hair being chased by Freddy Krueger, a coroner terrified of contagion viruses, and drag queens named Steve and Edie. While initially believing they are looking for a werewolf, mulder determines they are actually looking for a shape shifter that takes on the appearance of one’s greatest fear. If one is afraid of it, its attacks are fatal.
Mulder relishes the idea of his hunt being captured on television. To capture the monster would be a validation of his life’s work. Scully is far less enthused about appearing on national television chasing after a monster she does not believe exists. Mulder falls into the role of a typical law enforcement officer featured on COPS. Scully far less so. Their encounters with these colorful characters, accentuated by their usual True believer versus the Skeptic roles, take on a light-hearted, occasionally laugh out loud tone.
An interesting observation is that, since the monster can kill by fear, Mulder and Scully were perhaps in danger because the film crew, which never caught the monster on camera, represent their fear. Mulder is afraid of failure being filmed, while Scully is afraid of looking foolish. Was the film crew the monster as far as they were concerned? Were the agents lives spared because the sun came up before it was their turn to suffer an attack? It is a typical open ended issue like the conclusion of many episodes.
In spite of not being a fan of COPS, I enjoyed “X-COPS.” It is an inspired idea. Terrifying in some places and hilarious in others, it generally hits the right marks. I would not call it a classic in the vein of other absurdly comedic episodes of the past, but it definitely has its high points--and no white trash dragged out on the front lawn, thank goodness.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
I am not a fan of COPS. The idea of watching a bunch of guys trying to relive their high school jock and military days by dragging wife-beater wearing white trash out of his trailer in order to arrest him is not my cup of tea. But it is one of FOX’s biggest hits, as is The X-Files, so a format marriage between the two is more inspired than I care to admit. For the sake of my fragile emotions, I am going to claim ‘X-COPS” is more an homage to The Blair Witch Project than COPS. Do not pop my bubble.
