Mulder and Scully investigate an incident in Norfolk, Virginia, where two teenage girls viciously knifed each other, each seeing the other as a terrifying monster. Scully is having visions similar to those the girls had before the attack, but it's not because she's to be the next victim. Instead, she's convinced that it's because the son she gave away, William, is somehow involved.
Fortunately, this episode was written and directed by James Wong and not Chris Carter. That meant it was not the travesty-in-multiple-parts that the "My Struggle" series of episodes have been. Still, being forced to pick up where that story left off, there's only so much Wong could do here.
Ordinarily, I love it when a largely procedural, episodic show finds ways to reflect on the main characters by involving them in the story. (Among current genre shows, Supernatural may be the best as this.) But this episode was exactly the opposite. During the opening minutes of the episode, when we were teased with the weird premise of people seeing monsters and attacking each other, I was intrigued. When Scully began to have visions too, I worried about getting another "Scully's in danger" episode hot on the heels of the last... but I still had hopes they could take a left turn that would surprise me.
But then we learned the context, that this all had to do with William. Part of me applauded Gillian Anderson for her emotional, tearful performance in the morgue. Most of me dreaded that it was all going to go south. And sure enough, The X-Files then tried to do the X-Men. The back half of the episode became about a young teenager trying to cope with emerging mutant-like powers, but without any of the social commentary that underpins the most effective X-Men stories. The story didn't even really seem to take a stand on whether William was an emerging superhero or supervillain. (And if you're going to do a comic book, commit!)
As for Mulder and Scully, the episode ended just when it actually got interesting. They finally get confirmation of William's strange powers, soon after having confirmed that he is indeed their son (well, Scully's anyway, according to that horrible season opener). But we don't get to see them reckon with the knowledge at all. Roll credits.
There were some effective and moody moments peppered throughout, and that great performance I mentioned by Gillian Anderson. But overall, the episode fell flat for me. I give "Ghouli" a C-. Great by "X-Files Mythology Episode" standards, but dangerously low on the "Keeping Me Interested in This Season" scale. Can we just have nothing but Darin Morgan episodes from here on, please?
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