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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :- "Deep Rising" X-Files Style, 19 October 2006 Author: (andyetris@yahoo.com) from Philadelphia, PA
Arthur Dales, star of the season 5 episode "Travelers," calls Mulder and Scully to investigate the mysterious disappearance of two marine biologists and their young son. With a hurricane well under way the agents find themselves trapped in swamped apartment building - where something else is trapped as well...This is a pretty fair "monster of the week" episode, but the ending IS rushed - in fact one moment all seems lost and the next all's well and we're wrapping it up! How Mulder figured it out is pretty clear, but just how Scully reached HER conclusion... Oh well. The humor isn't overwhelming here, and the monster, while not exactly original, is fine. Personally I find the disposability of sheriff's deputies increasingly annoying - but maybe it's a Star Trek reference!
9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :- Don't all the nuts roll downhill to Florida., 17 February 2007 Author: Muldernsanta from Washington Terrace, Utah
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Agua Mala is an episode that had a lot of potential but fails in some aspects.It starts out with a super scary teaser with the mom and the son frantically trying to protect themselves from a yet unknown assailant. They are then attacked by some tentacled monster. It had the perfect setup to be a truly terrifying classic X-Files episode. However, it gets laced with too much humor. The X-Files excels when it has a scary premise interspersed with some subtle humor, usually consisting of witty one-liners by Mulder or some funny dialogue between Mulder and Scully. But, in Agua Mala, writer David Amann wanted to make every guest character funny, from the bumbling deputy to the gun-toting patriot. This episode could've been so much better had it just concentrated on the already frightful premise of the sea monster and left the humor behind. Besides the great teaser and the frightening premise I also liked how the episode sprinkled clues to the solution of the sea monster throughout the episode, beginning in the teaser. It kind of makes the viewer the detective. I also thought the crew did a good job at recreating a Floridian hurricane. Darren McGavin does a fine job returning to his role as Arthur Dales. The ending was very abrupt to me. Mulder is struggling in the hallway, the sea monster bursts out of the ceiling light, George shoots at it, and then....storm over, different scene. Everything is okay. The conclusion is resolved through exposition instead of action. It's almost as if they ran out of time for the episode and had to wrap it up quickly. I don't like how they did that.Agua Mala is still an entertaining episode and I enjoy it a lot. However, the too frequent humorous lines dampens what could've a truly horrifying classic x-files.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- Bad Water, 28 July 2008 Author: Sanpaco13 from Sandy, UT, United States
Agua Mala is a pretty good episode if you can look past the fact that almost every single element has been done before. While I like Arthur Dales, it seemed like they were trying a little too hard to integrate him into the show. First with Travelers in the Season 5 and then not one but TWO episodes in season 6. Now Travelers was cool to see him because we got a lot of history about the x-files pre-mulder. And in The Unnatural we do get a different actor playing a different Arthur Dales although this was only because the actor that played him previously passed away. But Agua Mala seemed kind of pointless to have him in it. Anyway enough about that. You also have the isolated Mulder gets exiled from group and Scully has to save the day scenario like we got in Ice, Firewalker, I think there are others but those are the only ones that immediately come to mind. It was just the same story over again with a different monster. The idea of the monster was interesting but not overly creepy or hard to figure out. Also, even though I was able to figure out pretty quick that the creature lived in salt water and died in fresh water, how did that family figure it out so quick? I figured it out because of on screen hints like focusing on the Epson Salt. But how is it that the first victim's in all of these shows always seem to know EVERYTHING about the monster but still get killed and the main characters who know NOTHING about the monster get lucky and figure it out at just the right moment and are able to save the day in three seconds? I guess the episode really isn't all that bad. I love the character of the pregnant woman. She is so hilarious. "Oh, well its great to be surrounded by so many wonderful men!" I give the episode a 5 out of 10.
3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Don't drink the water..., 1 April 2006 Author: wtdk123 from United States
In "Aqua Mala" Mulder and Scully end up a monster that can get you anywhere even while your sitting on the head. Really. It's a very good monster-on-the-loose episode of "The X-Files". Arthur Dales (the late great Darren McGavin) returns in this episode. He expresses concern for his daughter and son-in-law who have disappeared during a hurricane in Florida. He's been monitoring the police bands and he believes that some sort of creature is at work taking inhabitants during the storm. He calls Mulder for his help when the police treat him like a crackpot. Mulder suspects that it's something that was driven into the sewer system by the storm but he and Scully find something much more dangerous and sinister than they could possibly have imagined...Well directed "Aqua Mala" is a suspenseful episode with a lot of good humor in it as well. Although the conclusion seems a bit rushed the episode works still works due to sharp direction, witty writing and strong performances from the regular and guest cast. My only complaint is that Dales doesn't seem very upset at the conclusion of the episode (you'll know why when you see the episode)and clearly some scenes were left on the cutting room floor explaining the outcome of this episode.This was McGavin's last appearance on "The X-Files" as Dales. When McGavin's wife passed away he wasn't able to make his third appearance in the episode "The Unnatural" and so veteran character actor M. Emmett Walsh stepped in to play the role in a very "X-Files" twist. Although writer/actor Duchovny's "The Unnatural" is a bit heavy handed at times with its message, it's still a delightful episode as well.
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