“Redrum,” which is “murder’ spelled backwards, is an anomaly of an episode of The X-Files. the guest star takes front and center with Scully and Doggett incidental to all events save for those occurring at the very end. The story feels more suited for a decent installment of The Twilight Zone. Yet, it is an interesting episode with a moral twist at the end, something few episodes of this series have.
Martin Wells, a Baltimore prosecutor and friend of Doggett, has been jailed under suspicion he murdered his wife four days ago. Wells wakes up on Friday just before his transfer to another prison with no memory of the past four days. It is soon revealed he is traveling back in time--every day he wakes up, it is the previous day. As he approaches the day his wife was murdered, he realizes he has a second chance, so he tries to uncover exactly what happened so her can save his wife. Doggett and Scully are a part of events, but since they are experiencing events in opposite directions, they are not helpful.
The result is this: a hood named campo, played by frequent tough guy Danny Trejo, murders Wells’ wife in revenge for the prosecutor suppressing evidence that sent his brother to jail for life. On the day the murder is supposed to occur, Wells spills all this to Doggett, who is incredulous about Well‘s story of the past (next?) , but fears his friend’s disbarment and imprisonment for his actions. Wells returns home alone near the time of his wife’s murder to save her himself. Doggett and Scully show up anyway just in the nick of time to prevent the murder from occurring. The rescue hinged completely on Doggett’s honed instincts from years of police work. Wells is disbarred and imprisoned for suppressing evidence, but his wife does not die.
Like I said above, “Redrum” feels more like The Twilight Zone than The X-Files . Doggett has about ten minutes of screen time. Scully has even less, making her even more irrelevant here than in the previous episode. That said, I cannot harshly critique “Redrum.” it is a well-crafted, fascinating episode of The Twilight Zone which happens to feature Gillian Anderson and Robert Patrick. Fancy that.
“Redrum” is a Terminator 2 reunion of sorts. Wells is played by Joe Morton, who was Mike Dyson, the creator of SkyNet, in the film. Patrick, of course, famously played the T-1000.
It just would not be one of my reviews if I did not nitpick something, though, would it? Wells is forced to wear a prison jumpsuit to his bail hearing. He would have been allowed to wear a suit normally. At the hearing, the prosecutor holds up a sealed bag with the bloody murder weapon clearly visible in it. No evidence would ever been brandished like that at a bail hearing. There is a big logical flaw in wells’ asking Doggett for help the night the murder is to take place. Why does he explain his implausible story, making himself crazy, instead of just telling Doggett Campo is about to murder his wife sans explanation? It is not like Doggett would consider that less plausible then time traveling in reverse. Still, I cannot hold any of these points heavily against the episode.
For an episode in the final two seasons, “Redrum” is quite good. I note again how awkward it feels for the agents to not take part in much of the events--Scully even less so than Doggett--but the episode is well worth seeing. It is on par with some of the better filler episodes of the Mulder/Scully era.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
“Redrum,” which is “murder’ spelled backwards, is an anomaly of an episode of The X-Files. the guest star takes front and center with Scully and Doggett incidental to all events save for those occurring at the very end. The story feels more suited for a decent installment of The Twilight Zone. Yet, it is an interesting episode with a moral twist at the end, something few episodes of this series have.
