“Fallen Angel” – Season 1 Ep. 10

Mulder: You hear that noise, Scully? Hammer and nails. They’re building a gallows in the town square. Don’t worry. It was only a matter of time. I’m surprised I lasted this long.
Scully: Good luck.
Mulder: I’ll break a leg.

Written by: Howard Gordan & Alex Ganza

Directed by: Larry Shaw

Original Air Date: November 19th, 1993

Principal Setting: Townsend, Wisconsin

Quick Synopsis: 

“Fallen Angel” returns to the mythos of Mulder desperately trying to prove extraterrestrial life. A foreign air craft has crashed going 800 mph in Townsend, WI and the military general immediately dismisses it as a crashed meteor, then calls in awesome code names like Fallen Angel and Operation Falcon, to wipe the area clean. Mulder of course is intrigued and gets to the crash site, which already has a laser gated perimeter (very cool effect), and starts taking pictures of hazmat suited men cleaning up the wreckage, as well as aircraft metal jetting out of the ground. He then is cold cocked with a rifle, captured, and told to forget all that he’s seen.

While incarcerated, Mulder meets a UFO nut crazier than he is named Max Fenig (perfectly casted by Scott Bellis). He is part of a UFO obsessed group called NICAP (forgot what it stands for, but it’s basically a conspiracy theory group to prove the existence of alien life). Meanwhile, an invisible figure is lurking around the crash site that sounds like a whistling football when it moves and burns its victims by emitting an extremely bright light. At every pass the military is there to cover up all proof that it could be work of green, I mean gray, men.

Mulder discovers a scar under Max’s ear, after he suffers an epileptic seizure, which causes him to find others with similar scars that claim to be abducted. Max runs away to a shipping warehouse, trying to do anything he can to get away from the whistling entity that seems to want to take him. The episode ends with a third appearance by Deep Throat where we learn that he may not have the best interests at heart for Mulder.

Personal Commentary:

It couldn’t get any worse than last episode, although this one isn’t too intriguing either. The entity is lame with its annoying football whistling movements, but I do like that it doesn’t look like a typical big eyed alien.

The standout of this episode is Max. He gives a great performance of a man obsessed with finding the truth about aliens, even more then Mulder. He plays the perfect amount of three parts nerdiness, obsessive, and worry for his life, that really gives us a taste of what’s to come with the Lone Gunman group.

Overall an okay episode that continues to build on the alien arc of the show, but just not a very hashed out story for an entire 45 minutes.

Episode Grade: C-

Favorite Scene/Fun Video: 

I like all the scenes with Mulder and Max. Don’t have a favorite with this sub-par episode, but check out this video on how they did the special effects for the alien. It’s both interesting and hilarious that it was a man in an orange dinosaur like costume that brought it to life.

Fun Facts:

• This is the first episode that references the line “Trust no one.”
• Mountains can be seen in the background of the motel, which is supposed to be in Townsend, Wisconsin. There are no mountains in Wisconsin (and there are no large hills in Oconto County Wisconsin, where Townsend is located), but there are many in British Columbia where the series was filmed up until its sixth season.

Faces You Recognize:

• Scott Bellis played in Timecop along side Jean-Claude Van Damme and was the character John McCracken in Little Women.