"Soft Light" was Vince Gilligan's first script for The X-Files, and on the basis of this effort it's hard to believe he went on to write some of the best episodes of the series. As if the absurdly silly premise (A killer shadow!... Really?) wasn't bad enough here, the story is also sloppily executed, replete with scientific faux pas (a shadow that goes under a door and comes out on the other side? A black hole that's selective about what it destroys?), random unexplained story threads (What was Dr. Banton doing at Margaret Wysnecki's house? If not X, who was Dr. Davey on the phone with, discussing plans for Banton?), shoddy detective work (Why did no one ever try to speak to Dr. Morris West, who was right across the hall from Neuwirth in the hotel and could have immediately established a possible connection to Polarity Magnetics?), and nonsensical plotting (finding Banton at the train station is made to seem like the logical outcome of following one of Mulder's "brilliant" hunches, but in fact the train tickets found with two of the victims are not connected in any way to the case, and there was never any real reason to think that they were. Banton's presence at the station is nothing more than a very contrived - and extremely lucky for Mulder - coincidence).
Guest actors Tony Shalhoub and Kate Twa give respectable performances, and it's refreshing to see Scully portrayed as a mentor of sorts, but "Soft Light" is nonetheless disappointing. What's most annoying is that the writing problems could have been easily avoided or solved with a little thought and imagination. As it turns out, the only noteworthy positive point here is Mark Snow's music, which gives us a lovely and very distinctive episode theme, heard first in the teaser, and then periodically throughout the story. Too bad the story isn't worthy of it. Grade: F.
Guest actors Tony Shalhoub and Kate Twa give respectable performances, and it's refreshing to see Scully portrayed as a mentor of sorts, but "Soft Light" is nonetheless disappointing. What's most annoying is that the writing problems could have been easily avoided or solved with a little thought and imagination. As it turns out, the only noteworthy positive point here is Mark Snow's music, which gives us a lovely and very distinctive episode theme, heard first in the teaser, and then periodically throughout the story. Too bad the story isn't worthy of it. Grade: F.
