“The Goldberg Variation” – Season 7 Ep. 6

 

Scully: You okay, Mulder?

Mulder: Yeah, it’s all right. My ass broke the fall.

Written by: Jeffrey Bell

Directed by: Thomas J. Wright

Original Air Date: December 12th, 1999

Principal Setting: Chicago, Illinois

Episode Summary:

A man is tossed off the top of a 29th story building by gangsters. Amazingly, he gets up and walks away unscathed. Mulder and Scully investigate when Mulder suspects this man may have paranormal abilities. The man in question may just be the luckiest man on Earth.

Personal Commentary:

I liked this episode due to the great performance of Willie Garson playing Henry Weems, making his second appearance on the show since Season 3 “The Walk”. He doesn’t brag about his luck, but hides it to help others, which ends of backfiring all his life as people fall to bad luck from his amazing good luck.

The way he survived the scene where the mobster tries to shoot him, but somehow by lucky cause and effect gets caught in the ceiling fan, is wonderfully done. The whole feeling of the game Mousetrap was felt throughout making it funny, heart breaking, and filled with surprises.

The Shia LaBoeuf playing the sick kid got a bit tiresome, but it ended differently than the typical cliche sick kid plot line so it made it feel more heartfelt.

Episode Grade: B+

Featured Video:

Fun Facts:

• The title is a dual reference to Rube Goldberg machines and the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach.
• The scene involving the lottery ticket is identical in nature to the catalyst for the premise of the television show My Name Is Earl.
• The title refers to Goldberg Variations. “The Goldberg Variations” were special compositions of the work of J.S. Bach in the 1700s by a brilliant harpsichordist named Goldberg. Rueben (Rube) Lucius Goldberg (1888-1970) was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, and author. A trained engineer and accomplished artist, Goldberg’s “inventions” were known for making simple tasks amazingly complex by utilizing dozens of arms, wheels, gears, handles, live animals, etc. to accomplish something as simple as squeezing orange juice or closing a window. The name Rube Goldberg has become associated with any convoluted solution to perform a simple task. The board game ‘Mousetrap’ utilizes a Goldberg device as its main feature.
• This episode was too short, so they had to add a scene after the fact- the one where Mulder and Scully are in the car discussing the case. However, Gillian Anderson had already cut her hair significantly shorter for the next episode, so she had to wear a wig for the scene.

Faces You May Recognize:

 

• Shia LaBeouf is famous for starring in the first three Transformers movies, Fury, Lawless, and the hilarious Louis Stevens in the Disney channel show Even Stevens.