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mulders-too-large-shirt · 5 months ago

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s3 episode 19 thoughts

was thinking about doing other stuff tn but truly i can’t resist scully and mulder time. it calls to me. i crave it. (<- wrote that last night in order to post the recap today)

i had to think it over for a bit, but overall i thought this was a good episode! it wasn’t very character driven, we didn’t have a lot of scully and mulder moments, but i found the plot SUPER interesting. and obviously some msr content would have made it delectable to me, a fan who enjoys fan service, but the concept was well-executed, very spooky, and really interesting commentary on how vulnerable populations are preyed upon by those who claw power into their own hands just to wield it over other’s heads.

so let us dive in, to an episode set in california!

lion dance!!! so cool. a guy is sneaking into an alley. we hear popping like guns, but it is just fireworks thankfully.

this dude sees paint on a door and he goes in. someone with a flashlight approached him. they’re talking in cantonese which i sadly cannot speak. yet. who knows what the future may bring…

oh! a stabbing. and then people with masks…?

scene change. teeny tiny little blackjack game!!!!! i need it sooo bad. this game is being played by a security guard at a funeral home. he hears a noise that was not the gentle beeping of blackjack and pulls out a flashlight.

music is creepy as hell. GASP! more people in masks are here and they have lit something on fire!!! it appears to be… a guy? is it the guy from before? that did the stabbing!??

now what in the hell is going on here.

dana scully……. i’m cheering just seeing her ID during the intro

OH! and now she’s here <3 investigating the body with mulder. this dude was cremated alive! the detective says it’s the third time this year, but mulder is like um no it’s ACTUALLY number 11. all chinese men between the ages of 20 and 40. good to know he keeps up with the stats on these things.

the prop body is soooo gnarly again... as usual, big shoutout to the props department!

GAG! she’s cutting into the eye and tap taps it! oh it's glass! well. the cutting motion was still gross.

they ask a detective if there are any leads on the crime. apparently there’s a bunch of immigrants trying to get out of hong kong before 1997 which raises the question: did this season take place in 1996? or is he saying that they HAD a big influx and are still dealing with it? no seriously, when does s3 take place?

(sometimes i think about how these two don’t even know about 9/11 because it hasn’t happened yet. quite often tbh)

((author's note: this episode aired in 1996! man, they sure were making these seasons fast... given how long it takes to make a season of TV these days, i thought for sure we would be in the 2000's by now... guess some things really were better in the past))

they call over detective chao to try and read some writing and i’ll say it. he’s hot. maybe you could read chinese if you studied, mulder.

okay so the writing says ghost! well, gui, but translation. is this related to the qingming festival…?

mulder finds a little scrap of something and it’s called “hell money” used in the chinese festival of hungry ghosts. ah, the hungry ghost festival! which is NOT qingming. the tale of the monk feeding his mother who was trapped in hell. yes yes i recall.

scully and mulder are rolling up to the scene of the crime. she says the guy who was killed was a recent immigrant. they’re with detective chao, who sees some writing he can’t read, and says maybe it’s a code of some kind. yayyy nonsense phrases! mulder asks him to copy it down.

oh, they are sleuthing, and scully says that the scene has been cleaned up. and they find new carpet! in an otherwise dilapidated apartment. VERY suspicious!

NASTY! they lift up the carpet and blood is there.

cut to the camera of a guy from the carpeting company, who we later learn to be named mr. hsin. bringing someone some tea and dinner. IS THAT LUCY LIU??????

IT IS!!!!! three cheers!

lucy liu is sick and the person who brought her tea (i presume her father? yes, her father, mr. hsin) says he needs to earn money so they can go to the doctor. noooo, she says the operation would cost too much money :( this is so sad... he tells her not to talk like that :(

so he goes to a big crowded event, until some people in suits holding pots come out and everyone quiets down. oh, a very big suitcase of cash is shown. ah, so this must be the prize that has brought them here. a raffle of sorts...?

mr. hsin drops a tile with some writing on it into the vessel, as do many other people.

a name is drawn and called and this seems to be a good thing for this guy who has a glass eye. he wins the pot of money!

NO. i was very very wrong. he does not win the money. he draws a tile. and then they lead the guy out. i’m a little confused, but i think it was not good for him.

(yeah. past me, it was seriously NOT good for him... i may have been a little slow to catch what was going on but believe me i caught it eventually)

at a traditional medicine shop. detective chao explains that these are mostly roots they are looking at. yum yum.

turns out the victim johnny was taking painkillers. then, he asks the vendor what those characters from the door meant, and she says it was labeled a haunted house. is there a code word for haunted house?

oh! hungry ghost festival explanation, for us, the audience! they leave gifts to prevent angry spirits from coming by. and we see the dude who pulled the tile earlier getting his heart ripped out by a ghost. hard to say if that was euphemistic or not.

(it was not euphemistic, past me)

this chao guy fits in well with our agents. add him to the group.

(filed under statements that aged poorly)

a random guy is pulling up to a graveyard and sees the three people in masks there... doing WHAT?

“i still don’t understand what anyone would want with an empty grave”, scully says, as mulder hops right in. the officer asks what the hell he is doing LMAOOOOO yeah he is just like that :/

and he starts digging down there with his hands and!!! he finds a body!!!!!

scully doing an autopsy :D with her hair pulled back n the white coat... okay, i see you doctor!!!

gasp! this body is covered in surgical incisions INCLUDING OVER HIS HEART!!! but she says nothing seems wrong with him!! she thinks he was selling his organs and makes a stupid joke and i love her so bad and i love mulder for giggling at it

BLECK she’s cutting him open. and it’s PULSATING GAG GAG GAG but it’s just a FROG that comes out?

well. i think that was the best possible ending to that situation.

back at the gambling event. more jars are being brought in by men in suits. they pull a name and it’s the guy who is trying to save lucy liu, mr. hsin! so now he must pick from the jar. and i gather that now it means he will either lose an organ or win a fortune? pulling for you to win, king...

it is unclear what his result is…..

scully brings detective chao the frog in a jar from inside the dude who was autopsied. a new pet has been unlocked. he is like, ummm idk, maybe it’s a symbol or something?

scully is LOCKED in. she senses duplicity. asking about organ removal. the autopsied man had his kidney and cornea removed BEFORE his heart was removed after death. detective chao seems very confused. mulder is watching him intently whilst munching upon his seeds.

oh! she found stuff in the body that is used for preserving organs for transplants!!! well this is starting to add up...

they think he resents their presence... ohhh interesting. or that he’s trying to protect the chinese american community. and he is pissed off by this because the chinese community sees HIM as an outsider for being american born chinese. he is very mad, and tbh i don’t blame him. and he storms off after shoving a paper with the name of the carpet company from earlier into mulder’s shoulders. i thought his anger was deserved at this moment... but little did i know the detective chao lore

they go to the house of mr. hsin, who has lost an eye!!!!!! he says it was a work accident. and he introduces his daughter. lucy liu.

he’s denying knowing about the carpeting for johnny's crime scene apartment, and mulder finds the tile he pulled earlier on the shelf. gasp!!!! a clue!!!

mulder says they’re done and he pocketed the tile for investigation. chao and hsin were talking and the agents are suspicious, but he says he was warning him about a fire trap. anyway, mulder shows chao the tile. and it says “wood”. this is not very helpful.

lucy liu asks about her father’s accident and notices that his eye was fine when he came from work. he explains that he is worried about her and he is afraid the ancestors are mad for them leaving home, and maybe that is why she is sick, and he blames himself. it’s so so so so so sad :( it isn't your fault mr. hsin

chao is walking home but finds something written in BLOOD on his door? he looks around. no, don’t let anything happen, i like him!!!

NO THE MASKED MEN ARE IN THERE!

mulder is pissed because people are throwing firecrackers near the car. he’s very jumpy and with scully, watching mr hsin’s house, but gasp! scully breaks the news that chao was attacked at his house. off they go to explore. while a man in a suit comes and knocks at the door of mr. hsin. and his eyeball socket is bleeding!!!

suit man is let inside and asks for payment. mr. hsin says he wants to quit the game. but the pit is almost 2 million dollars if he stays in…. still, he says he wants out. but he cannot get out…

BUT LUCY LIU IS LISTENING TO ALL OF THIS GO DOWN!!

the rules “cannot be broken, or it’s said that the Preta and the fires of Ti Yu will consume you” says suit man <- OHHHHHH so it’s serious. but also who says this? how old is this game. it can't be that old.

mr. hsin begs to be released from the game but suit man STILL says nope.

NO! detective chao is GONE from the hospital! not gone as in dead, gone as in missing!! allegedly he went to go to the bathroom and dipped. where to, though...?

mulder checks chao's blood type and it matches the blood type on the floor of the victim’s carpet. well, i mean, there are a lot of people with the same blood type so… idk they might be jumping to conclusions here?

but they are brainstorming. they go to find mr. hsin and ask more questions, and lucy liu answers the door. only now do we learn her name is kim but i’ve called her lucy liu for so long i don’t see a reason to change it.

oh! she has leukemia. it’s a treatable kind, scully points out, but they have no money to afford it :(

mulder is sitting next to her and asks if she knows what the tile is. scully is pondering. realllly pondering.

OH! the tile that means wood also corresponds to the eye!! so that makes sense…..

and scully notices paperwork that says mr. hsin had just had his kidneys and liver measured…. oh no...

mulder realizes they are playing a game where they gamble their organs. and mr. hsin returns to the game….

they go to the organ procurement organization. and the lady there says that a lot of asian men come in to learn about their organ types, but when they find a compatible recipient, they are told by their doctor that the men have left the area or disappeared. do they have a phone number for the doctor???

back at the game, they call mr. hsin’s name again!!!!!!! the suspense is very very very high!

the agents roll up to the outside of the place where the game is being played, because that is where they found the doctor’s phone registered. and who is walking in but chao! is he doing a sting???

mulder gets up to follow him as mr. hsin is drawing a tile. the drawing was clearly not what he had planned because he’s trying to run away. chao is watching all of this….

oooo, the agents break the lock and get inside the restaurant to investigate. so far it is looking like a normal restaurant. but gasp! they find something that could be the sterile ice used in organ transplants!

open da fridge to find many many many organs. many eyeballs!! very gross. other organs too but a LOT of eyeballs.

back to mr. hsin, who is getting his remaining eyeball inspected. NOOOO :(

OH! chao is telling the men in suits who run the game to stop, but he says that he was “warned once before”. he asks for mr. hsin to be let go, and the suit man refuses, saying that chao is just as responsible because he protects the game from the foreigners. GASP! so he WAS involved with all of this….

BUT HE KNOCKS THE TABLE OVER!!!!! and he realizes that ALL THE TILES SAY “EYE”!!!! it was rigged.

the agents hear the stampeding crowd above going wild at this revelation, while there is surgery happening to mr. hsin. he is covered in something.

mulder comes into the game room as the people start to riot. and mr. hsin sees his daughter as a ghost figure, and begs for forgiveness. but it’s really just the surgeon about to make the cut.

chao bursts in and SHOOTS the surgeon! as scully and mulder come in to take care of the other surgeon! partial chao redemption arc.

when the shot surgeon says that chao should have killed him, he translates this for mulder as “the game is not over” so again idk why we are trusting this man after so much lying... he had ME fooled!

scully is talking to a ringleader of this game. she says he cheated these men out of life, but he says he committed no crime, because death is merely transition, but life with no hope is living he <- OHHH WOW. banger line. terrible thing to say but banger line.

scully is GLARING AT HIM LIKE WILD... WOW... when mulder comes in and asks to chat. apparently mr. hsin is doing okay and his daughter has been put on the organ recipient list. this is good news! but also something is wrong.

OH! everyone who was at the game that night claims it was a social club, and chao is missing. so they have NO CASE AGAINST THIS MAN!!

WHY WOULD THEY GO ALONG WITH THAT IF THEY SAW THE GAME WAS RIGGED?!?

cutscene to chao, who opens his eyes while being placed in an OVEN!!!! ANOTHER ALIVE CREMATION!

woah. this episode was spooky. i’m spooked. and the ending implies that the cycle will just keep going on and on.

WHEW! it’s the terrifying nature of humanity that is far scarier than ghouls and demons and fat-sucking vampires. in terms of spookiness, this is definitely up there in my ranking. i think only the s2 cannibals and the fetishist compare. this one had a pacing that had me at the edge of my seat. how you wanted mr. hsin to pull through so badly, how evil the leaders of this game were for preying on people with no hope.

yet again, WHEW!

i was really hoping chao wasn’t going to be an inside man because i thought it would be a bit cliche. and yet, he had me fooled. despicable! that being said, i did not expect a barbecued ending for him.

i was so invested in how other people saw this episode that i started googling it and reading the wikipedia (which taught me it aired in 1996!) and it seems to have gotten mixed reviews, one critic saying that if mulder and scully were removed, it would have had nothing to do with the x files at all. which- i guess? i mean, yeah. if you remove them from any of these one off episodes, yeah, it would be a different thing. but with these monster or the week episodes, i find myself disagreeing that it makes it an inherently bad episode. obviously not every episode is going to dive deep into the overarching lore- most of them don’t. most of them propose the question, “wouldn’t it be fucked up if (insert thing here)” and then dive into that. and we do learn about our characters along the way, sometimes more than others.

we didn’t learn a TON about mulder and scully here, so i suppose i agree with that observation- i would have preferred to learn more about them. but the premise was really interesting and i was at the edge of my seat. i guess you CAN have both, but in many cases just one or the other will please me.

#so i guess i agree with the criticism but also don't really care lol. i care but only a little.#this is why i try not to read other people's thoughts on each episode... but the curiosity beat me this time!#i was hooked #juni's x files liveblog #3x19 #the x files #txf

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