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"X-Cops"

"X-Cops" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Michael Watkins. The episode first aired in the United States on February 20, 2000 on the Fox network. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "X-Cops" earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.7, being watched by 16.56 million people in its initial broadcast. Due to the uniqueness of the episode's format, "X-Cops" received positive reviews, with many critics praising its humor.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Mulder and Scully are caught up in a taping of the Fox reality show COPS during an X-Files investigation. Mulder, who is hunting what he believes to be a werewolf, later finds out that the monster that is terrorizing people actually feeds on fear. While Mulder embraces the publicity of COPS, Scully is not so sure of it.

"X-Cops" also serves a fictional crossover with COPS and is the only X-Files episode, after the sixth season's "Triangle," to be shot in real-time. Gilligan, who was inspired to write the script because of his enjoyment of COPS, had pitched the idea several times to series creator Chris Carter, to a mixed reception: only when the crew felt that the show would be cancelled was Gilligan given the green-light. In the tradition of the real-life COPS program, the entire episode was shot on videotape and featured several members of the cast and crew of COPS.

Plot

The episode starts with the standard opening credit sequence of the show COPS, including the theme song "Bad Boys". It then cuts to Willow Park, California, a fictional district of Los Angeles. Keith Wetzel, a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, is accompanied by an embedded COPS film crew as he visits the home of the frightened Mrs. Guererro, who has reported a monster in the neighborhood. Wetzel, thinking it to simply be a dog, follows the creature around a corner only to run back in a panic, screaming for the crew to go back to the car. Once inside, an unseen entity turns over Wetzel's police cruiser when they try to flee.

When backup arrives on the scene, an injured Wetzel falsely claims that he ran into gangbangers. The cops find themselves surrounding Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who identify themselves as FBI agents investigating an alleged werewolf that killed a man in the area during the last full moon. Scully is irritated by the constant presence of the COPS crew, but Mulder is enthused at the prospect of paranormal proof being presented to a national television audience. Scully calls Walter Skinner to inform him of the situation, but Skinner—perhaps facetiously—tells her to continue the investigation because "the FBI has nothing to hide."

The agents and the police interview Mrs. Guerrero, having her describe the monster to Ricky, a sketch artist. To Mulder's surprise, Mrs. Guerrero does not describe a werewolf, but the horror movie villain Freddy Krueger. Ricky expresses a fear of being alone in the dangerous neighborhood, and is found a short time later with serious slashes in his chest. Mulder and Scully find a pink fingernail at the scene. They also meet Steve and Edy, a flamboyantly gay black couple who witnessed the incident but did not see Ricky's attacker, saying that it appeared he was being attacked by nothing. They identify the fingernail as belonging to Chantara Gomez, a prostitute.

When the agents track down the censored Chantara, she claims that her pimp attacked Ricky and fears that he will kill her. She pleads with the agents for protection. Mulder and Scully have Wetzel guard Chantara while they assist the cops in the raid of a crack house. However, they are drawn back outside when Wetzel again encounters the entity, wildly shooting at it. Inside a police car, the agents find Chantara with her neck broken. When Mulder questions Wetzel, he admits that he thought he saw the "wasp man", a monster his older brother told him about when he was a kid.

Mulder formulates a theory that the entity they are chasing changes its form to correspond with its victims' worst fears. Wetzel, Ricky, and Chantara all expressed fear shortly before their run-ins with the entity; it was also visible only to them, but not to other humans. The agents think that Steve and Edy may be the entity's next target. They head to their house, and find themselves in the middle of an argument between the couple (while all the while Mulder attempts to hide the obvious humor he finds towards the situation). After Edy expresses fear of a separation from Steve, they reconcile. Mulder believes that the entity ignored Steve and Edy because they did not exhibit mortal fear. He further states that they have until sunrise to stop it.

Mulder believes that the entity travels from victim to victim like a contagion. He has Scully perform an autopsy on Chantara's body at the morgue. During the procedure, a conversation between Scully and the coroner's assistant leads to the latter panicking about a Hantavirus outbreak. The entity suddenly kills her with the disease. When Mulder discusses the death with Scully, he realizes that Wetzel is in danger of being revisited by the entity. The agents and police return to the crack house, where the entity has trapped an injured Wetzel in an upstairs room. The agents are unable to enter the room until dawn comes, when the entity disappears and spares Wetzel's life.[1]

Production

Vince Gilligan was inspired to write the episode due to his enjoyment of COPS.

Conception and writing

Vince Gilligan was inspired to write the script because of his enjoyment of COPS, describing it as "a great slice of Americana."[2] Gilligan had pitched the idea to the X-Files' writing staff for some time.[2] However, fellow writer Frank Spotnitz was uncomfortable with Gilligan's idea of using videotape instead of film in shooting the episode, feeling that the show's production crew had already discovered that film could create "effective scares."[2] In addition, the staff worried that an episode filmed exclusively on videotape would be too challenging to properly shoot, due to the lack of cuts and edits.[2]

However, during the seventh season, series creator Chris Carter relented.[2] Many critics and fans believed, although erroneously, that the seventh season of The X-Files would be the show's last.[3] Carter too believed at that point in time that the show had nearly run its course.[4] Seeing the potential in Gilligan's idea, he decided to green-light the episode.[2] "X-Cops" was not Gilligan's first attempt at writing a cross-over. Almost three years before, he had been working on a script that would involve a story being presented by Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries, with unknown actors playing Mulder and Scully.[5] This script was later aborted, and re-written as "Bad Blood."[5]

Gilligan reasoned that, because Mulder and Scully would appear on a nationally syndicated television show, the episode's main monster could not be shown, only "hinted at".[6] Gilligan and the writing staff used methods that had previously been utilized in the 1999 psychological horror film The Blair Witch Project to show as little of the monster and still make the episode scary.[6]

Casting

In an attempt at "realism", camera and sound men from COPS participated in the production; Daniel Emmet and John Michael Vaughn, two COPS crew members, were featured during the episode's climax.[2] Michael Watkins, who directed the episode, had a good rapport with the Los Angeles police department.[2] As such, he was able to secure real Sheriff's deputies as extras.[2] Casting director Rick Milikan was tasked with finding individuals who not only could portray cops, but portray believable cops.[2] Milikan later explained that the group needed "actors who could pull off the believability in just normal off-the-cuff conversation of cops on the job."[2] During the crack house scene, real SWAT team members were hired to break down the doors.[7] In addition, a COPS editor was brought in to insert the blur over the faces of bystanders.[7]

Filming and post-production

What was surprising to all of us was how little time it took to shoot. We basically did one or two takes of something and that was it.

—Gillian Anderson, discussing the filming of "X-Cops"[7]

"X-Cops" was filmed in Venice and Long Beach, California.[2] The producers of COPS thoroughly enjoyed the idea of a crossover, and offered their complete cooperation.[2] Gilligan even was invited on a shooting of an episode.[2] Inspired by the actual show, Watkin's directing style was unique for the episode.[2] During rehearsals, he deliberately kept the cameras away from the set.[2] However, when it came time to film, he would bring the cameramen on, creating the "unscripted" documentary/reality feel.[2]

The episode was one of two X-Files episodes to take place in real time, the other being the sixth season episode "Triangle."[7] Because of this shooting schedule, the episode was relatively cheap to film and production moved at a very quick pace.[7] Initially, the actors struggled with the new "[Cinéma] vérité" style of the episode, resulting in several takes during the first few days. However, as filming continued, each day yielded fewer and fewer takes. Director Michael Watkins likened the filming of the episode to live theatre, noting, "In a sense we were doing theater: we were doing an act, or half of a whole act in one take."[6] On one night, three-and-a-half pages of the script were shot in only two hours, while the normal rate for The X-Files had been three to four pages a day.[7] Usually, an episode requires 800-1200 cuts, but "X-Cops" only required 45.[7]

During post-production, a minor argument broke out between Vince Gilligan and the network.[7] Originally, Gilligan did not want the X-Files logo to appear at any time during the episode.[7] He stressed that he wanted "X-Cops" to be an "episode of COPS that happened to involve Mulder and Scully."[7] The network, fearing that people would not comprehend that "X-Cops" was an X-Files episode, vetoed this idea.[7] A compromise was reached wherein the normal X-Files credits would scroll and the commercial bumpers would feature the X-Files logo in a similar fashion to the COPS logo.[7]

Broadcast and reception

"X-Cops" was first broadcast in the United States on February 20, 2000, on the Fox Broadcasting Company.[8] In its original broadcast, it was watched by 16.56 million viewers, according to the Nielsen ratings system. It received an 9.7 rating/14 share among viewers meaning that 9.7 percent of all households in the United States, and 14 percent of all people watching television at the time, viewed the episode.[9] The episode aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky1 on June 4, 2000 and received 0.85 million viewers, making it the third most watched episode that week.[10] Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "Part 'X-Files'. Part 'Cops'. Totally bizarre."[11]

Critical reaction to the episode was mostly positive. The Daily News described that episode as "nifty" and "exceptionally clever."[3] Starpulse named "X-Cops" as the funniest X-Files episode, writing that the series "did comedy, it was probably the funniest drama ever on television."[12] The Montreal Gazette named the episode the eight best X-Files episode, writing that episode "pushed the show to new post-modern heights."[13] While noting that "The X-Files hasn't exactly smoked this season," Kinney Littlefield from The Orange County Register called "X-Cops" a stand-out episode from the seventh season.[14] Rich Rosell from Digitally Obsessed awarded the episode 5 out of 5 stars and wrote that while "some might view it as a stunt, but having Mulder and Scully be part of a spot-on Cops! parody (complete with full "Bad Boys, bad boys" intro) is just brilliant stuff."[15] Rob Bricken from Topless Robot named "X-Cops" the fifth funniest X-Files episode.[16] UGO named the episode's main antagonist as one of the greatest "Top 11 X-Files Monsters," noting that the creature is a "perfect [Monster-of-the-Week] if only because the monster in question is a living, breathing metaphor, a never-seen specter that shifts to fit the fears of the person witnessing it."[17]

Narin Bahar from SFX named the episode one of the "Best Sci-Fi TV Mockumentaries" and wrote, "Whether you see this as a brilliantly post-modern merging of fact and fiction or shameless cross-promotion of two of the Fox Network’s biggest TV shows, there’s lots of nods to the real COPS show in this episode".[18] Bahar praised the scene featuring the terrified lady telling Mulder that Freddy Krueger attacker her—calling the scene the "best in-joke"—and applauded the two series' cohesion.[18] Timothy Sexton from Yahoo! Voices named "The Cops Monster" as one of "The Best X-Files Monsters of the Week", writing, "What is so memorable about the X-Files episode X-Cops is that you never see him. [...] In a way this is the perfect monster of the week for the X-Files because it essentially pure fear."[19] Sarah Stegall praised the episode and likened the episode's monster to the Boggart from the Harry Potter universe. Furthermore, Stegall wrote highly of Vince Gilligan, noting, "top honors must go to Vince Gilligan, whose work on The X-Files is consistently the sharpest and most consistent."[20] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five.[21] The two wrote that the episode was "funny, it's clever, and it's actually quite frightening".[21] Shearman and Pearson also wrote positively of the faux documentary style, likening it to The Blair Witch Project.[21] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations, gave the episode a largely positive review. He called the entry "one of the most entertaining episode of the season" and "60 minutes of pure fun".[22]

Not all reviews were positive, however. Kenneth Silber from Space.com gave the episode a negative review and wrote, "'X-Cops' is a wearisome episode. Watching the agents and police repeatedly run through the darkened streets of Los Angeles after an unseen -- and uninteresting -- foe evokes merely a sense of futility. The use of the format of the Fox TV show Cops provides some transient novelty but little drama or humor."[23] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode one star out of four.[24] Despite the negative review, she called the episode "one of the season's better hours".[24]

References

Footnotes
  1. ^ a b Shapiro pp. 141–152
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Shapiro p. 152
  3. ^ a b Mink, Eric (12 February 2000). "'X Files' Boldy Goes Thru 7th Season". New York Daily News. Mortimer Zuckerman. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  4. ^ Pergament, Alan. (January 18, 1999) Chris Carter Feels 'X-Files' Will End By Spring of 2000. The Buffalo News (Berkshire Hathaway). August 6, 2009.
  5. ^ a b Meisler p. 170
  6. ^ a b c Persons, Dan (October 2000). "The X-Files: The Making of 'X-Cops'". Cinefantastique. 32 (3): 28–29. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shapiro, p. 153
  8. ^ The X-Files: The Complete Seventh Season (Media notes). Fox. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |director= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |titlelink= ignored (|title-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |titleyear= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Shapiro, p. 281
  10. ^ "BARB's multichannel top 10 programmes". barb.co.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2012. Note: Information is in the section titled "w/e May 29-June 4, 1999", listed under Sky 1
  11. ^ X-Cops (Promotional Flyer). Los Angeles, California: Fox Broadcasting Company. 2000.
  12. ^ Payne, Andrew. "'X-Files' 10 Best Episodes". Starpulse. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  13. ^ The Gazette (25 July 2008). "Top drawer Files: the best stand-alone X-Files episodes". The Montreal Gazette. Postmedia Network. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  14. ^ Littlefield, Kinney (7 April 2000). "Scully gets mystical in gentle 'X-Files' written/directed by Gillian Anderson". The Orange County Register. Freedom Communications. Retrieved 27 December 2011. (subscription required)
  15. ^ Rosell, Rich (27 July 2003). "The X-Files: The Complete Seventh Season". DigitallyObsessed. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  16. ^ Bricken, Rob (13 October 2009). "The 10 Funniest X-Files Episodes". Topless Robot. Village Voice Media. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
  17. ^ "Top 11 X-Files Monsters". UGO Networks. IGN Entertainment. 21 July 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  18. ^ a b Bahar, Narin (24 September 2011). "Best Sci-Fi TV Mockumentaries – The X-Files – X-Cops". SFX. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  19. ^ Sexton, Timothy (20 June 2008). "The Best X-Files Monsters of the Week: No Aliens Allowed". Yahoo! Voices. Yahoo!. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  20. ^ Stegall, Sarah (2000). "Don't Boggart That Cop". The Munchkyn Zone. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  21. ^ a b c Shearman and Pearson, pp. 216–217
  22. ^ Kessenich, pp. 113
  23. ^ Silber, Kenneth (23 July 2000). "TV Review: The X-Files - 'X-Cops'". Space.com. TechMediaNetwork. Retrieved 4 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  24. ^ a b Vitaris, Paula (October 2000). "The X-Files Season Seven Episode Guide". Cinefantastique. 32 (3): 18–37. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Bibliography
  • Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-55369-812-6.
  • Meisler, Andy (1999), Resist or Serve: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Vol. 4, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-00-257133-3
  • Shapiro, Marc (2000). All Things: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 6. Harper Prism. ISBN 0-06-107611-2.
  • Shearman, Robert; Pearson, Lars (2009). Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 0-9759446-9-X.
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