"The X Files" Lazarus (1994)

Director:

David Nutter

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Alex Gansa (written by) ...

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

4 February 1994 (Season 1, Episode 14)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A bank robbery ends with a fatal shootout involving the robber and another agent. After he is resuscitated...

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Christopher Allport	...	Agent Jack Willis
Cec Verrell	...	Lula Phillips
Jackson Davies	...	Agent Bruskin
Jason Schombing	...	Warren James Dupre
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Tommy
Jay Brazeau	...	Prof. Varnes
Lisa Bunting	...	Doctor #1
Peter Kelamis	...	O'Dell
Brenda Crichlow	...	Reporter
Mark Saunders	...	Doctor #2
Alexander Boynton	...	Clean Cut Man
Russ Hamilton	...	Officer Daniels (as Russell Hamilton)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Goofs:

Continuity: During the scene where Jack is practicing to re-qualify with his Beretta 92-F, he fires several rounds into his target. When we see him remove his target and show it to Mulder, the breech (slide) is closed. In the next scene with Jack turning around to put the target and gun down, the breech is open.

Movie Connections:

References "America's Most Wanted" (1988)

"Even ugliness is beautiful... thanks to her"

It's a Gansa/Gordon script so you can expect the inevitable hokey, cheap storytelling and stilted dialogue (oh how much better Gordon ended up being without Gansa). Once you get past some hilariously bad dialogue this isn't a particularly awful episode, if still a bad one. It's got some tense scenes and some effective use of characters, particularly Scully. Once the dilemma is set up the episode gets more interesting, but that's not saying much. It turns into a standard thriller towards the end.

What made "The X-Files" great was how it regularly put a fun and different spin on things every time it slipped into more traditional and predictable territory. You would think that you knew what was happening then they'd put something in there that elevated the script above the standard. What I don't like about a lot of season one episodes is how that special spark is seriously lacking, and how many of them seem like subpar anthology show episodes or, worse, subpar police procedurals with a supernatural twist. "Lazarus" is just more mediocrity.

4/10