As a child, I used to think everyone who lived before 1960 existed in a world of black and white. To my childish logic it made sense - all the old movies I'd see on television were in only those two colours. Of course, seeing is believing, and everything you see on television is completely true. When I asked my mother how she liked living in a world of black and white, her smile kind of burst my bubble, and while I now know that there never was a world in which people were blind to colour, it seems my naive reasoning wasn't entirely flawed. For if I believe what I saw in "Tithonus," people can turn black and white...right before they're about to die. Boy, am I glad I'm in colour right now.

There are hits, and there are misses. And then there are hits. "Tithonus" reminded me what it is about The X-Files that attracted me to the series in the first place. Solid plots, well-written characters, and actors that draw you into the story all wrapped up in a paranormal package is what this show is all about. "Tithonus" had all of that. Vince Gilligan showed himself to be the uber-scribe he is, while the actors turned out well- rounded, but more importantly, very real performances. That's why I'd really like to give those guys at the FOX scheduling team a big noogie. First they aired "Rain King" about a month too early, and now they put "Tithonus" (arguably one of the best episodes of the season) opposite the Golden Globes. I swear, they must be on crack! It was very distracting for me to switch back and forth between the two and try to make sure I had both of my VCRs set for the right times (thank heavens I have two!). However, as I was doing this, I found the differences between the shows to be quite remarkable. Compared to "Tithonus," the Golden Globes was a slow-paced bore filled with plastic characters. And I have to say, "Tithonus" was much more interesting than Jack Nicholson's lifetime achievement award acceptance speech.

"He's a regular Dick Clark!"

The most interesting part of "Tithonus" was the characters in it, especially the monster of the week himself, Alfred Fellig. Vince Gilligan has always been good at writing rich, complex, but very human antagonists, and the people at the X-Files casting department outdid themselves by finding just the right person to play such a role. Geoffrey Lewis played one of the creepiest, most disturbing characters ever seen on the X- Files. No where have I encountered a person with such "a contemptible lack of compassion for another human being." After living for 149 years, he truly did not care about life, in stark contrast to Scully's ardent devotion to that end. His tool, the camera, only added to that disquieting persona. The whir and click of his camera shutter sent shivers racing down my spine - an eerie reminder of another X-File, "Unruhe," which had a similar effect on me two years earlier. What was most interesting to me about this character, however, was his relationship with Scully. They shared a very deep bond. Why Scully was attracted to this man, I don't know - perhaps her close encounter with death a year ago drew her toward the concept of immortality, and just as Alfred wanted her chance at death, she yearned for the immortality he possessed - but whatever that connection was, it was definitely there. And in the end, that connection is what saved Scully's life, enabling her to transfer her own death to a man who yearned nothing more.

"Most people want to live forever."
"Most people are idiots."

With all Scully-centric episodes, "Tithonus" gave Gillian Anderson a chance to flex her acting muscles, and gave us a further glimpse into the character she portrays. Given a chance to save her career, Scully was sent along with eager-beaver Agent Ritter to "bust" Alfred Fellig. But instead of following orders, she decided to do what she does best, find the truth. Not that this was much of a chance in the first place - getting separated from her partner, being put down by a Spender look alike, and nearly dying is not exactly my idea of a good time. Nevertheless, "Tithonus" provided Scully with a way to understand her feelings regarding life, death, and the paranormal. Struggling to find "some science to hang this thing on," Scully soon realizes "this has nothing to do with science." As much as she protested, it was clear her belief was for once in sync with Mulder's. Just like death, after "chasing" Mulder and his truth for so long, Scully has begun to "pick it up." More interesting, though, were the striking differences between her approach to life and Fellig's. Whereas Fellig was content simply to "get the shot," Scully, the eternal protector of justice, could not help but save the day. As she sat in the car with Fellig, watching the scene with the prostitute enfold, it didn't surprise me at all when she intervened. (Though her aggression toward the "That gun ain't mine Red"-guy was a little unexpected.) Also unacceptable to Scully was Fellig's "contemptible lack of compassion for another human being," and his ambivalence toward life. After almost losing hers to cancer, this is a very touchy issue for Scully. She cannot imagine how one can "have too much life. There's too much to learn, to experience," like the love she spoke of. And faced with the prospect of dying again, she became frantic, doing anything to stop Fellig's slow, methodical camera preparations. ("I just want to take the picture.") I knew she wasn't going to die, but as in "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas," it was with horror that I realized she wasn't just fainting, she had been shot...shot two shows in a row (once in 6x08, and now in 6x09), in practically the same place in the stomach. While recovering from this most recent excuse to land her in the hospital, she made another realization - people don't live forever. But you can make the most of your life, and after so many life-threatening illnesses and injuries, no one knows better than she the preciousness of life.

"Death only looks for you once you seek its opposite."

While incredibly interesting, all this deep, meaningful discussion about life can get kind of depressing, kind of gloomy. The X-Files has always been good at gloom and doom, and after weeks of light-hearted romps into the paranormal, "Tithonus" definitely benefitted from its dark roots. Nonetheless, an audience needs some comedic relief. This was provided quite deftly by Mulder. With "Tithonus," Vince Gilligan proved you can have a single character-based episode without completely forgetting the other. So many Scully and Mulder-centric episodes have been lacking in this category. They allowed one character to shine, but pushed the other back into the woodwork. The X-Files is about Mulder AND Scully, and without one of them, something just seems missing. This gap was amply filled in "Tithonus," though, with Mulder providing Scully with lots of back up, and the audience with some humour. Whispering back and forth while doing their background checks, Mulder and Scully seemed more like naughty school kids than FBI agents. As in "Chinga," their cell phones became a lifeline for them (even Alfred realized their unnatural obsession with that little portable friend), and provided some of the most amusing scenes in the show. I just had to smile at Mulder's drawl as he quipped, "Hi, my name's Fox Mulder. We used to sit next to each other at the FBI." And if Mulder can "inadvertently intercept" Peyton's messages to Kersh, the FBI might want to look at getting a better security system. You never know what snoopy FBI agents might be trying to get their hands on.

"I'm thinking murder by telekinesis, I'm thinking maybe shamanistic death touch, I'm thinking about the Muslim superstition that to photograph someone is to steal their soul..."
"Thank you. All very helpful."

"Tithonus," an episode based around its characters, was the perfect venue with which to introduce us to a new one - Agent Peyton Ritter. Initially, I thought he was a rather flat character, an anal Spender there only to make the audience hate him. I was also quite sure he was going to get killed - the last guy to speak to Scully the way he did bit the big one (remember Scully's old friend Tom Colton from "Squeeze?"). Yet he wasn't a Colton, or even a Spender for that matter. Ambitious, yes, but not overly. And for once, he was a character with no hidden agenda, no alliance to any evil government organization, or any role at all in the conspiracy. Just a green young agent who tends to make too many rash decisions...and an annoying tendency to use people's first names all the time (do people actually do that? ;). He also elicited my favourite line of the whole show, with Scully's contempt and anger toward him all boiled down into one cool word - "Scully." One thing that puzzles me, however, is why he felt it necessary to shoot into the dark room before even assessing the situation. The lighting wasn't very good in the apartment, and Fellig wasn't armed, unless you count his camera. Anyway, it's a good thing Scully was able to cheat death one more time. If she'd died, Mulder would have opened up a can of whoopass on him!

"You're a lucky man."

In many ways Vince Gilligan has given Darin Morgan immortality. "Tithonus" carried on a tradition started by the latter's masterpiece, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," and again expressed in John Shiban's "Elegy." Those near death, or in this case, denied death, could see what others were blind to. And it doesn't matter what you do or how you try to intervene, people don't live forever. This philosophy has been shared by Clyde Bruckman, Hamlet ("If it be now, 't is not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all."), and now Alfred Fellig...with a slightly more depressing tone. And while Scully may not be immortal, as both "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "Tithonus" suggest, the two shows definitely share one similarity - both are examples of the great dramatic power one can achieve with a few words upon a page, and are two of the best X-Files ever made.

"You muck up my case and Kersh will hear about it. Are we clear Dana?"
"Scully...and we're done with this conversation."