"The X Files" The Goldberg Variation (1999)

Director:

Thomas J. Wright

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Jeffrey Bell (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

12 December 1999 (Season 7, Episode 6)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A man is tossed off the top of a 29 story building by gangsters. Amazingly, he gets up and walks away unscathed...

Plot Keywords:

Cause And Effect | Rube Goldberg | Fall From Height | FBI | FBI Agent

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Willie Garson	...	Henry Weems
Alyson Reed	...	Maggie Lupone
Ramy Zada	...	Joe Cutrona
Tony Longo	...	Dominic
Shia LaBeouf	...	Richie Lupone (as Shia La Beouf)
Nicholas Worth	...	Mr. Haas
Dom Magwili	...	Mr. Ng
Marshall Manesh	...	Mr. Jank
Ernie Lee Banks	...	Maurice Albert
Chris Fogleman	...	Billy (as Chip Fogleman)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Mulder and Scully enter the basement about seven and a half minutes in, Mulder says the line: "No technically falling 300 hundred feet and surviving isn't a crime", and his mouth is clearly seen closed, not moving.

Quotes:

Mulder: [to a crime-scene photographer while looking up at a man hanging in a fan in the roof by his shoe laces] So, do you get many of these?

Movie Connections:

References Fast and Furry-ous (1949)

Maybe he just got lucky.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The Goldberg Variation is a decent monster of the week episode with a few plot holes that lessen the enjoyment. It's interesting to see Willie Garson(from season three's "The Walk" as Roach) return in a starring role as Henry Weems, an extremely lucky man. He does a fine job in this starring role. What immediately caught my eye was Mulder telling Scully "nice outfit" when they first meet in the episode; further evidence of them acting differently towards each other after their kiss in "Millennium". It seems to be intentional by the writers. I don't understand why Mulder and Scully are investigating this in the first place. No crime was committed. They are just there because a man miraculously survived a thirty story fall. Mulder says that the agents who saw Henry get thrown off the roof gave chase but didn't catch him. Weems is walking, visibly limping, away from the shaft, and two able-bodied FBI agents couldn't catch him? For maybe the first time, Scully solves the case early by suggesting that Weems may have just been lucky surviving the fall, for which Mulder ridicules her. She ends up being right in the end, even though she doesn't believe her own theory. I like the parallel of the Hangman Goldberg device of Henry's with the mobster subsequently hanging himself, albeit upside down. A final plot hole is when the mobsters kidnap Richie's mom in the end. The mobsters had no way of knowing that Weems cares for the sick boy enough to trade himself for her. The Goldberg Variation is funny at times with several Mulder one-liners, but it doesn't totally work, trying to weave comedy with a serious story of a dying boy in need of a liver.