Redrum is one of the few x-files episodes that stars the guest actor rather than the FBI agents. Joe Morton plays Martin Wells, a state prosecution attorney who has been framed for his wife's murder. The first thing I notice when I see Martin is hey I've seen him before. He has one of those likable and recognizable faces. I'm not sure if he has ever played the bad guy in anything but he is a very good good guy.
Basically Martin wakes up 5 days after his wife's murder without remembering anything from the entire week. So he wakes up in jail with a cut on his face unsure of how he got there and is taken outside to be transported where he is shot and killed by his father-in-law. From here things get weird as he wakes up again but this time it is a day earlier. Things progress as such going from Friday to Thursday to Wednesday etc. until he finally reaches Monday before the murder and gets a second chance to try and stop the killer.
I have somewhat of a weak spot for liking time anomaly type shows like this or like "Daybreak" or "Groundhog Day" where the same day is repeated and others like that. These are the cream of Sci-Fi to me and I will never get tired of the idea. The only other show/movie I can think of that has this idea in it even slightly is "Memento" where a guy with short term memory loss is trying to solve the mystery of his wife's murder and all we see as a viewer is what happened 5 minutes previously until we get to the beginning.
There were few things that I really dislike about the episode. One thing that kind of bothered me although I'm sure it was done purposely is that Martin is kind of clueless. I mean it seriously takes him until Wednesday to figure out that time is moving backwards. The only other thing that jumps right out as having been out of place even though it was obviously done on purpose is that the time of his wife's murder changes without any apparent explanation. The only explanations I can come up with for this change is either Martin changed the time by trying to prevent it (kind of a butterfly effect) or the timecard system needs to re-synchronize its clock with the rest of the world. Despite these seeming holes, this is still one of my favorite episodes and I give it a score 9/10.
Basically Martin wakes up 5 days after his wife's murder without remembering anything from the entire week. So he wakes up in jail with a cut on his face unsure of how he got there and is taken outside to be transported where he is shot and killed by his father-in-law. From here things get weird as he wakes up again but this time it is a day earlier. Things progress as such going from Friday to Thursday to Wednesday etc. until he finally reaches Monday before the murder and gets a second chance to try and stop the killer.
I have somewhat of a weak spot for liking time anomaly type shows like this or like "Daybreak" or "Groundhog Day" where the same day is repeated and others like that. These are the cream of Sci-Fi to me and I will never get tired of the idea. The only other show/movie I can think of that has this idea in it even slightly is "Memento" where a guy with short term memory loss is trying to solve the mystery of his wife's murder and all we see as a viewer is what happened 5 minutes previously until we get to the beginning.
There were few things that I really dislike about the episode. One thing that kind of bothered me although I'm sure it was done purposely is that Martin is kind of clueless. I mean it seriously takes him until Wednesday to figure out that time is moving backwards. The only other thing that jumps right out as having been out of place even though it was obviously done on purpose is that the time of his wife's murder changes without any apparent explanation. The only explanations I can come up with for this change is either Martin changed the time by trying to prevent it (kind of a butterfly effect) or the timecard system needs to re-synchronize its clock with the rest of the world. Despite these seeming holes, this is still one of my favorite episodes and I give it a score 9/10.