Sunshine Days (12 May 2002)
"The X Files" Sunshine Days (original title)

Reyes and Doggett investigate two murders revolving around a house that is, at some points in time, identical to the Brady Bunch house.

Director:

Vince Gilligan

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator), Vince Gilligan

Stars:

Gillian Anderson, Robert Patrick, Annabeth Gish

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Robert Patrick	...	John Doggett
Annabeth Gish	...	Monica Reyes
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Michael Emerson	...	Oliver Martin
John Aylward	...	Dr. John Rietz
Tyson Turrou	...	Blake McCormick
Stephen Bridgewater	...	Dr. Henry Jacocks
David Faustino	...	Michael Daley
Arlene Warren	...	Arlene, Skinner's Assistant (as Arlene Pileggi)
Damon Kaylor	...	Orderly
Eric Don	...	Anthony Fogelman
Marcie Lynn Ross	...	Alice Nelson
Robbie Troy	...	Carol Brady
Keith Forster	...	Mike Brady

Storyline

Reyes and Doggett investigate two murders revolving around a house that is, at some points in time, identical to the Brady Bunch house.

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Plot Keywords:

overhead camera shot | falling on a car | looking up | van nuys california | reference to the brady bunch | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 May 2002 (USA)

Filming Locations:

8554 Hanna Ave, Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Ten Thirteen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dr. John Rietz (John Aylward), the psychiatrist and father figure to the "Brady Bunch"-obsessed Anthony/Oliver (Michael Emerson), has the same name as Robert Reed (born John Robert Rietz) who played Brady father Mike on The Brady Bunch.

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Quotes

John Doggett: I think I'm finally gettin' the hang of this job!

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Crazy Credits

In the main title for the ninth season, a piece of paper flashes across the screen listing "FBI Contacts: Witnesses and Contributors." The names on the list are screen names of the series' on-line fans. For episodes #9.01-#9.11, the names were randomly picked from various X-Files message boards. For episodes #9.12-#9.19, the names came from contest entries.

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Connections

References The Partridge Family (1970)

User Reviews

No, he's dead as a hammer.

Sunshine Days is an enjoyable, light-hearted episode to take in before the serious series finale. People think it's out of place, being right before the finale, but who says you have to have a serious episode before the series finale?

It's funny to see Reyes know a lot about the Brady Bunch, and funnier seeing Doggett's looks at Reyes for knowing such stuff. Doggett makes the illogical leap in this episode that turns out to be true. Doggett says that he's "finally getting the hang of this job". I think this line is intentional irony by Vince Gilligan to show that Doggett was just settling into his role as the X-Files was being canceled.

Scully's autopsies at time turn into the comic relief for the episodes. I like her "well-nourished" line, referring to the corpse. It's cool to see the agents using a high-tech web-cam to communicate with each other, instead of just a cell phone. I don't think they've used a web-cam since the Lone Gunmen used it once. Scully also gets high-tech with a headset recorder during her autopsy.

Michael Emmerson does a fine job as Oliver Martin. It's interesting to see that Doggett doesn't go through the roof like the other two victims, a sign that his power is decreasing(a good thing for Doggett).

I don't like to see Scully and Dr. Rietz's selfishness in wanting to study Oliver. Sure, it would give Scully proof, but no one wants to be a human lab rat. Even towards the end, you see the disappointment in Scully's eyes when they decide that it's best not to use Oliver as a human freak show.

Another problem I have with the episode is that once they discover that Oliver has this power, they just whisk him off to DC to study him, totally dropping the murder investigation. No mention of it. Sure, Oliver didn't have total control of his powers, but there are still two deaths two account for. The guy needs to be charged with manslaughter at least.

And finally, Bud Bundy. I loved seeing David Faustino in the role of Michael. He is a riot. It's too bad that he had to bite the dust. If he had stuck around the episode for a while longer, I might have given this a higher rating.

Overall, Sunshine days is a decent episode, but nothing extra-special. Vince Gilligan does a fine job writing and directing the final Monster of the Week episode which just about wraps up "the story of two lovely agents".