What would you do if you saw a hideously deformed and slightly deranged monster?  Well, if you were any normal person, you'd probably run screaming.  But if you happen to be Chris Carter, you'd see a perfect opportunity to produce a quirky, off-the-wall X-File, while at the same time paying homage to the great monster movies of the black and white era.

Shot entirely in black and white with a wide angle lens to achieve a comic book-like effect, Post-Modern Prometheus is a spoof on the classic movie "Frankenstein". . .with a few twists.  There was a monster, only this monster happened to have a great affection for peanut butter and Cher.  There was the mad scientist as well, complete with a wife named Elizabeth, just like the original Dr. Frankenstein.  There was also an angry mob, however, this mob lived in a world of tabloids and Jerry Springer.  Heck, even the barn caught on fire at the end, just like in the original classic.  The title closely echoed that of Mary Shelley's novel too, which was originally titled "Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus."  This episode couldn't have been more like the original Frankenstein movie if it tried.  But with this particular show, the parody worked.  It may have taken a little of the scariness and overall horror away, but since we got a lot of eccentricity in its place, I didn't mind a bit.

This episode seemed to have a few parts missing, which slightly troubled me.  How, for example, did  the monster get that huge circus tent over his victims' houses?  And where did he keep it afterwards?  And why was Dr. Pollidori arrested after the Mutato was found?  I don't remember anyone finding out he was the one who had actually killed his father.  However, this was told from the perspective of a comic book, and things that happen in comics don't necessarily need to make sense.  Besides, any holes in the plot were made up for by the plain wackiness of this episode.  I started watching "The X-Files" because it was different than everything else on television.  One of the best aspects of "The X-Files" is its ability to come up with new ideas every week, to remain fresh and interesting for five years in a row.  So, as long as the shows are unique and surprising, I'll like them.

Speaking of unique, the characters in this episode were certainly anything but ordinary.  The people in the story echoed the comic little town they lived in.  Everyone seemed sort of unreal, in true comic book form.  Also, each character was associated with an animal, a fact that was pointed out at the barn scene at the end.  The man with the pony tail was a horse, the bird-like reporter a chicken, and Izzy, with his pig sty of a room, was a swine - kind of like a mix between Animal Farm and Frankenstein I guess.

Being a student of science, I particularly enjoyed Mulder and Scully's discussion of the ethics, the practicability of genetic manipulation and Dr. Pollidori's little "experiments."  I found Scully's argument to be scientifically sound; cloning flies and cloning humans are two entirely different things.  Personally, I see no point to human cloning because as Scully so bluntly pointed out, we already have a means to recreate ourselves - procreation!  However, it's truly scary what some people might set out to do in order to get their name in a text book, to recreate man, and become a post-modern Prometheus.

"Why did you do that?"
"Because I can."

This episode also had a lot of fascinating discussions between Mulder and Scully, the type of discussions Chris Carter is so great at writing.  Something that I found very ironic from these conversations was Mulder's ability to believe.  When asked if he thought this case had anything to do with UFOs and alien abductions, he replied that he didn't know if he believed in that type of thing anymore.  Yet, when questioned about the monster, he had no problem believing in the possibility that it could exist, simply because there was no way to prove that it didn't exist.  These contrasting viewpoints made me wonder where Mulder stands now after all the lies he's been fed.  But at least we got one line that I've been waiting for Scully to say for a very long time: "Is there anything that you don't believe in Mulder?"  :-)  It would appear not.

This season has certainly been a good one for those X-Philes searching for any hint of a deeper relationship between our two favourite agents.  I'll admit it right away - I'm a sucker for anything that reveals Mulder and Scully's character and gives us a little of that wonderful angst.  Needless to say, I loved the dancing scene at the end of the show.  Mulder and Scully honestly looked happy, and when they're happy, I'm happy.  Besides, Mulder and Scully so rarely loosen up, it's always nice to see them being a little wild and crazy once in a while.  And there's nothing more crazy than slow dancing to Cher singing "Walking in Memphis."
 
That song might have a little in-joke associated with it.  Part of the lyrics go something like this:  "Touch down in the land of the Delta blues, in the middle of the pouring rain."  For those of you who don't already know this, "The X-Files" is filmed in Vancouver, and one of the suburbs of Vancouver is called Delta.  Delta is most probably the place they shot this episode, since its the closest thing Vancouver has for farm fields.  See the connection?  And for those of you who don't know Vancouver, it rains there almost constantly.  So, since they actually were touched down in Delta in the middle of the pouring rain, I thought this song was very fitting.
 
Actually, I loved all the music in this show.  The music, combined with the black and white picture, made the whole show have a very surreal quality to it.  Its circus-like flavour whenever the monster was afoot greatly contrasted with his hideousness, and made the whole show even more bizarre.  Somehow, it just doesn't seem normal to have a monster grooving to old Cher songs while breaking into the homes of his victims.

"This is not how the story is supposed to end."

Mulder, you took the words right out of my mouth.  After the Mutato had told everyone his life story, and was then whisked away by the police, things just didn't sit right.  It troubled me because it seemed too ordinary, not because the monster didn't escape, which is what troubled Mulder about the ending.  The episode had been different from the start, and just any regular ending wouldn't have cut it.  When Mulder asked to see the writer to change the ending, I almost expected the great Chris Carter himself to step out from the doorway.  But instead we got Izzy, the comic book writer, and he changed the ending to what we got in the end.  It may have been a fantasy ending, where deformed babies were loved for what they are, where a monster gets to meet a superstar, and where Mulder and Scully do the cha-cha, but everyone, including Mulder and Scully, were really happy, and that's all that mattered.  A customary fairy tale ending to an X-File that was anything but.

"Goodnight Dr. Frankenstein."