reviewed by Charity Bishop
             

By its second season, The X-Files had garnered a loyal fan base, but it wasn't until midway through the year that it really took off, developing into "quite a different kind of show than when it started." The first five episodes suffer the absence of Gillian Anderson, but with her return, the series took a much darker and more compelling turn.

With the X-Files department closed on the orders of the assistant director, the bureau has parted Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Stuck archiving audio surveillance, Mulder leaps at the chance to investigate strange phenomenon beneath the bureau's radar. His disappearance is noted by Scully, who abandons her teaching position in order to track him down and hopefully prevent his employment from being terminated. Simply because the FBI's center for abnormal investigations has been shut down doesn't mean paranormal activities have ceased. Believing a victim of alien abduction might help shed some light on the mysterious disappearance of his sister a number of years earlier, Mulder is horrified when his investigation manages to get Scully abducted. The suspect is found ranting on a mountaintop, claiming aliens came to take away Scully in his place.

Mulder exhausts all of his resources in an attempt to find her, believing the government is behind the conspiracy rather than extraterrestrial forces. Most of his work is undermined by the presence of a man without a name, known only for smoking a particular brand of cigarettes. The more Mulder discovers about the inner workings of the government, the more dangerous his work becomes. Then Scully is inexplicably found and brought to a local hospital, near death. Her recovery and the incidents that follow lead to the re-opening of the X-Files. Admittedly, I am not as big of a fan of the mythology episodes (those centering around alien abductions) as those that stand-alone, and I did feel that the first half dozen cases suffered a great deal. I found them to be rather mundane and dull, but my opinion rapidly changed when we hit mid-season. The premise of aliens and the occasional mutant bug cannot prepare audiences for what the second half of season two has in store for them, from madmen mutilating corpses to a Satanic coven to serial murders and cannibalism in a small country town. There were some genuinely dark and sadistic moments.

A series that pushed censors at the time, there are some gruesome elements to be found in any given episode. Puss-filled boils that explode toxic diseases on passerby, mutilated , half-decayed corpses, hideous man-eating slugs, and severed heads with their eyes and lips sewn shut are just a hint of what lies within. Many of the episodes feature man-eating creatures. One has a circus freak eating a raw fish; it's implied he cannibalizes a creature that attempts to eat him. There are less than a handful of mild profanities, and no sexual content. In "Red Museum," young people are found stripped down to their underwear and wandering in confusion in the middle of a field. "Excelsis Dei" has a woman claiming to have been raped by a supernatural being. The incident is not shown, just the aftermath (bruising, trauma, discussion of the event), but we do witness her being tossed onto a bed. There is some innuendo in the "dark" comic episode "Humbug," and in "3," a vampire seduces a man in a hot tub before killing him. It's also lightly implied that Mulder has a one night stand.

Spiritual beings and the paranormal are heavy in this season. "3" features vampires. In "Rxcelsis Dei," an old folk's home is inhabited by the vengeful spirits of former residents, who take revenge on their cruel caretakers. Lights flicker, objects move, and a man is thrown from a second story window to his death. In "Aubrey," a woman is either influenced by genetics or possessed by the spirit of a serial killer to commit a series of brutal murders. "Irresistible" has a deranged psychopath removing hair and fingernails from corpses. It's implied he lures a prostitute to his room and murders her. One of the most sinister episodes is "Die Hand die Verletzt," which revolves around a Satanic cult. Sinister happenings include a girl being forced to cut her wrists, a python swallowing a man whole, and descriptions of hideous sexual practices on local children. However, as the producer states, it is also a cautionary tale about dabbling with forces you cannot control, as the devil turns on his less-than-faithful followers. "Fresh Bones" finds Scully the victim of voodoo practices, which also endanger the lives of others and involve depictions of bodies rising from the dead to extract vengeance on those responsible for their demise.

"The Calusari" involve a graphic, realistic exorcism to remove a vengeful spirit from the body of his twin brother. Blood runs down the walls, horrible guttural screams come from the boy, and several deaths transpire as a result of his dark mischief. Finally, the creepy "Our Town" implies that most of the occupants of a small farming community have become cannibals in order to prevent falling prey to a natural aging process. It sounds wretched, but it's not if the paranormal is your cup of tea. I would encourage viewers to be aware of the dark nature of several of the episodes, but not to avoid the second season, as it contains many magical moments.