The X-Files
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Episode Guide
"Monday"
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Episode 6ABX15
Title: Monday
First screened in Australia: May 19, 1999
First screened in the USA: February 28, 1999
Credits:
Director: Kim Manners
Writers: John Shiban & Vince Gilligan
Starring:
Guest Stars:
- Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner
- Darren Burrows as Bernard
- Carrie Hamilton as Pam
- Arlene Pileggi as Skinner's Assistant
- Mik Scriba as Lieutenant Kraskow
- Suanne Spoke as Woman Customer
- Monique Edwards as Head Teller
- Wayne Alexander as Older Agent
- David Michael Millins as Tour Guide
Plot:
A bad day keeps getting worse for Mulder and Scully, ending in tregedy that the agents seem powerless to prevent.
My Rating: 9/10
"Monday" has stood up to repeated viewings which is the mark of a good episode. There are some subtle nuances floating through this episode [which I wasn't particularly looking forward too when I first saw the promo -- it looked not much else than an XF version of "Groundhog Day".] which enforce the role fate has to play in our lives and how many "forks in the road" lead to the same place. Like "Groundhog Day", "Monday" is about fate and redemption and honour and sacrifice and love.
There is humour among all the chaos and death, Mulder actually sleeping in the (Morris Fletcher) waterbed is a classic and his slapstick falling down bit is nice. The effects are well done - a major explosion must have cost a bit of money - and the acting alround is exceptional. It was particularly pleasing to an old "Northern Exposure" fan to see Darren E Burrows in a very different role. The stultifying boredom of the FBI meeting was another funny touch.
The writing, by the often-maligned John Shiban and Vince Gilligan is excellent.
Notable Quotable:
Mulder: (on phone) Hello? …. It's coming through down there? … Ugh! … It's my damn waterbed. My damn waterbed sprung a leak. … I-I-I know I'm not supposed to have a waterbed. … I don't know what to tell you. … I-I think it was a gift. … All right.
Mulder: I know. I missed the meeting.
Scully: You didn't miss the meeting. You're extraordinarily late for the meeting. It's still going on.
Mulder: What are you doing down here?
Scully: We took a short break and I came looking for you. What are you doing down here, Mulder?
Mulder: (sarcastically) I'm having the best damn day of my life. Any moment I'm about to burst into song -- "Zip a dee doo dah." My, uh, waterbed sprung a leak and shorted out my alarm clock. (Scully blinks in surprise.) My cell phone got wet and crapped out on me and the check I wrote my landlord to cover the, uh, damages is going to bounce if I don't deposit my pay. You ever have one of those days, Scully?
Scully: Since I've been working here? Yeah. When did you get a waterbed, Mulder?
Bernard: No, no. I got a plan. This time tomorrow, Pam...
Pam: Everything will be roses.
Mulder: Free will. With every choice, you change your fate.
Pam: Mulder! Don't go in the bank today.
Mulder: Excuse me?
Pam: Bernard's in there. Please don't go in the bank.
Mulder: I'm sorry. Do I know you?
Pam: You pass me every day on the street. Every single day. This day, on your way to the bank. And then you go inside, and everybody gets killed -- you, your partner, Bernard, everybody.
Mulder: I pass you ... and then we die.
Pam: Yes. Over and over. Only ... only last time you looked at me, you looked at me like you knew me. Like you remembered. Please remember me.
Mulder: I just got the weirdest sensation of déjà vu. I've been having it all morning.
Scully: Well, that's fairly common.
Mulder: Yeah, but never to this degree. I mean, I woke up, I opened my eyes, I was soaking wet ... (Scully looks at him curiously. He endorses his check.) It's a long story but I had the distinct sensation that I had lived that moment before.
Scully: Well, you may have. Did you do a lot of drinking in college?
Mulder: Well, you know, some Freudians believe the déjà vu phenomenon to be repressed memories escaping the unconscious. That it represents a desire to, uh, have a second chance to set things right.
Scully: Set what kind of things right?
Mulder: Whatever's wrong.
Scully: Mulder, it's more likely that we're talking about simple neurochemistry -- a glitch in the brain's ability to process recognition and memory. Doesn't mean that the memory's authentic.
Mulder: Yeah? Well, but what if it were?
Scully: What if you'd lived this moment before and now you're living it again?
Mulder: Yeah -- so that I could right some wrong or change fate.
Scully: Well, right now I'd say you're fated to go to this meeting.
Mulder: No. Actually, I'm fated to go to the bank.
Mulder: You're saying this day repeats over and over again.
Pam: Until we get it right. Till my boyfriend doesn't blow up that bank. I have tried everything to stop him. I've hid his keys, I've drugged his coffee ... I even called the police on him myself. He always gets here. He's meant to. It's you. It's you and your partner every time. If it wasn't for you, nobody would die.
Mulder: (whispering to himself) ...He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb. He's got a bomb.
Mulder: Every day you die in here and every day it starts all over again. You can't want this for her (Pam). It's Hell!
Bernard: Hell? I'm doing this for her.
Where Have I Seen That Face Before?
Darren Burrows (Bernard), the son of actor Billy Drago who later appeared in the episode Theef, starred as Ed Chigliak in "Northern Exposure" and has appeared in movies such as "The Hi-Lo Country" (with Woody Harrelson), "Armistad", "Class of 1999" and "Cry-Baby" (with Johnny Depp).
Carrie Hamilton (Pam), the daughter of Carol Burnett, appeared on TV in "Fame" while her last movie role was seven years prior to this episode, in "Cool World" with Brad Pitt. She's also appeared on stage in "Rent".
Mik Scriba (Lt Kraskow) has appeared in "The Negotiator", "City Of Angels", "Conspiracy Theory", Roswell" and "Sliver" and in "The Parking Garage" episode of "Seinfeld".
The Pain Factor:
Mulder gets all wet in a leaking water bed then suffers numerous trips and head-banging before he and Scully are violently killed over and over and over. Sitting in that FBI meeting must have been almost unbearably painful as well!
Trivia:
The original title of this episode was "Mobius".
A "moebius" (note the spelling difference) is a 3D version of the infinity sign. In other words, it goes around in a never-ending loop. For an example, check out the artwork of Escher.
