Now here is a rarity for the final two seasons--a monster of the week story that is actually memorable. What is even more so is a more fun bit of role reversal between Scully and Doggett than we have seen thus far. Scully plays the Mulder role early on by jumping to the wildest theory behind the unusual murder they are investigating. Doggett is naturally skeptical. He also remains that way even though evidence piles up until the very end. You can sense a certain exasperation on Scully’s part, as if to say she finally realizes what a pain her more aggressive debunking must have been to Mulder.
Scully and Doggett are called in to investigate the murder of a man who apparently hit someone head on with his car and subsequently had that man’s fingers sunk into his skull. Only scully believes it was a man who committed the act. Doggett is incredulous a head on collision with a human could flatten the hood as badly as it did, much less could someone suffering such an accident mash another guy’s skull in with his bare hands. Scully turns out to be right.
The murderer is Ray, a salvage yard worker who accidentally became infected by exposure to a scientist’s corpse in a industrial waste drum. The scientist had been working with something called smart metal. It is a metal that can repair any damage to itself instantaneously. But it is not a good mix with flesh. The scientist died when he turned completely into a machine. Ass Ray begins slowly turning into a machine, too, he conspires with his wife to kill everyone associated with developing smart metal technology.
You should have caught hints already there is a lot of homage to the Terminator series of films. Robert Patrick, as the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, gets to do a lot of self-reference. Some other points are more subtle, such as a sawed off shotgun being used as a weapon against ray at one point and a child becoming the central motivation for ray to finally stop his rampage. The only downside is Chris Carter’s imposed limit on humor in the eighth season so as to not make light of Mulder’s disappearance. “Salvage” cried out for plenty of humorous pop culture references to elements of the Terminator series. We did not even get so much as an ‘I’ll be back here.” why not do some of that? I do not think fans would have considered a lighter episode a betrayal to Mulder. Considering the rapid ratings decline at this point, fans were probably hoping something light amidst Scully’s brooding and Doggett fantasizing how much he would like to kill her.
In spite of that shortcoming, “Salvage” is good. Ray’s slowly creeping make up job is done the old fashion way rather than with CGI, and it is highly effective. As is his demeanor. Ray slowly loses his humanity the closer he gets to becoming engulfed in metal, which makes it more poignant with the company’s CEO’s young son is the one who pulls him back to reality before he can kill the guy ultimately responsible for the project. Ray sulks off to the salvage yard to die.
Just like the previous episode, Scully and Doggett are irrelevant in the resolution, but “Salvage” is good enough to not fret over such. The humor is sorely missing from this one. Even though it does have a dark theme of revenge, The X-Files has been good at mixing comedy and horror in the past. If it had been done here, “Salvage” might have been a classic. It is still entertaining viewing, particular for a late series installment.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Now here is a rarity for the final two seasons--a monster of the week story that is actually memorable. What is even more so is a more fun bit of role reversal between Scully and Doggett than we have seen thus far. Scully plays the Mulder role early on by jumping to the wildest theory behind the unusual murder they are investigating. Doggett is naturally skeptical. He also remains that way even though evidence piles up until the very end. You can sense a certain exasperation on Scully’s part, as if to say she finally realizes what a pain her more aggressive debunking must have been to Mulder. 
