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"The X Files" Arcadia (1999)


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20 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Living The American Dream, 24 February 2007
9/10
Author: Muldernsanta from Washington Terrace, Utah

Arcadia is a terrific episode and one of the best from season six. It explores the question, "what if Mulder and Scully went undercover as a married couple?" The result is a bunch of cute moments between the two and a very interesting x-file as well. I like the music by Mark Snow in the very beginning. It has a light, fantasy feel to it, as if you've stepped out of the real world and into a make-believe land. And that's what The Falls at Arcadia is, a (seemingly) perfect planned community. It's funny to watch Mulder completely love pretending to be a married couple, while at the same time Scully is visibly uncomfortable. You get an idea as to what's happening in the community with the show that Big Mike is watching right before the monster attacks him. Other great Mulder and Scully moments include when Scully is looking for the Shroeder's dog and she whips out her flashlight. You can tell that Cami Shroeder is thinking, "why does she carry around a flashlight?" Another good one is when Mulder is watching the mailbox through the door but has to use the bathroom and contemplates using the OJ carton. This episode even hearkens back to season one when a way is contrived for Scully to be unable to see the monster at the end. There are plenty of humorous moments in this episode, but they don't override it to the point of becoming a strictly comical episode. I think the monster story is very strong in itself. The guest acting is very well done and the episode is very good all around. Arcadia remains one the top episodes of season six for the eighth year running.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
"I can get you a good deal on rattan furniture (indoor only).", 28 April 2006
Author: Twins65 from Lindenhurst, IL

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Another winner from the humorous side of "The X Files". This one goes out to every snooty, upstanding "neighborhood association" you've heard about or even come across. While I'm all for keeping ungodly looking permanent "rummage sale" yards from invading the suburbs, there are always a few people who like to take it to "Utopian Extremes".

Mulder & Scully do their best impersonations of an idealistic yuppie couple to move into a pristine subdivision and investigate the unexplained disappearances of a few previous homeowners. Turns out the head of the association controls a "Garbage Monster" (just go with it), who he can summon from under the landfill all of the homes are built on to wreak havoc on any nonconformists. Kind of like the first Poltergeist movie without the creepy little old lady or kids (as no one seems to have any...are they against the by-laws?).

Anyway, pink flamingos, midnight basketball, and front-yard reflection pools are just some of the no-nos which will bring said monster a-rumblin' after dark, so be sure to attend that next once-a-month Monday night association meeting if your thinking about moving into an "Arcadia".

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
An episode which deserves special mention, 11 June 2008
8/10
Author: tr_s from Stockholm, Sweden

My favorite episode of the X-files, ARCADIA deserves special mention. I love how it begins, with only subtle hints of why our well known pair of FBI agents suddenly have changed their names, married and moved into an expensive closed community which turns out to hide a dark secret.

Acting is great in this one, far better than average in this series. I especially liked the one who played "Big Mike". The episode is very funny, with quite a few bizarre scenes; also, Mulder and Scully pull jokes on each other a lot of the time.

If you don't have a lot of time and only want to watch a few episodes in the series, in my opinion this should definitely be on your watchlist.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
The falls of Arcadia!, 23 August 2008
10/10
Author: koalablue_1993 from Australia

Hilarious. This episode is brilliantly hilarious! There are so many classic moments that i wont even try to mention them. Mulder and Scully go undercover as a married couple(genius) to investigate the disappearance of several members of a planned community called The Falls Of Arcadia. Mulder is enjoying pretending to be Scully's husband while Scully doesn't like it one bit. Great acting from both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson! This is one of the best monster episodes, even though the monster is only on screen for a couple of minutes. I thought the episode was one of the most fun to watch ever. And very re-watchable.

Mulder: Woman get back in here and make me a sandwich! (Scully throws her rubber gloves at his face) Mulder: DID I NOT MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Utopia revisited, 18 June 2008
10/10
Author: n-town-smash from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

After the grand plot arc, established so early in The X-Files' life and gathering pace until now, it was difficult to see where the series was going to go. "Arcadia" is the first of the episodes that follows the "Two Fathers/One Son" two-parter which gives much indication that the show can still deliver.

A very knowing episode, "Arcadia" takes the idea of an idyllic setting with a dark underbelly and really runs with it. The planned community is a gift to this, as the whole idea is both bizarre and unnerving to many of us. What this provides is ideal for circumventing preconceptions. The utopian smiles are strained from the off, even before the horrors begin, and what follows is a town apparently built upon irony rather than a simple landfill.

The episode swaggers back and forth between the grim and horrific and purely playing for laughs - Mulder and Scully's "homelife" as the Petries is pretty hilarious, and plays off the "will they won't they" tensions that supposedly existed (they always seemed rather overstated by the media, I have to say) by showing the two living together and, as you'd expect, bugging crap out of each other. It's an absolute corker, and the monster of the week, together with his anally retentive "owner" Mr Gogolak, make perfect sense in context, something which sets "Arcadia" well apart from lesser episodes.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
We pronounce it "Pee-trie," actually. Like the dish., 29 June 2009
7/10
Author: Sanpaco13 from Sandy, UT, United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I love this episode. Not so much because of the story which isn't all too original. But I love the whole gated community secret deal with the mud monster and most of all I love the situational humor between Mulder and Scully pretending to be Rob and Laura Petri. Mulder tries to milk it for all its worth and Scully is doing all she can not to smack him. The little comments about the toilet seat ("third time!") and Mulder's "woman make me a sandwich!" line. Just great. The mud monster, while interesting, seems a little X-Files cliché. I mean there's always some old dude who used to live in Tibet or New Guinea or wherever who knows some weird kind of voodoo golem summoning curse. And that's pretty much what this one is as well. I do like Mike's character. What a noble guy. He sacrifices himself to save a person he doesn't even really know. If not for him Scully would be garbage food. I give this episode a... 7 out of 10.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Creepy Conformism is Too True!, 18 April 2009
8/10
Author: yatie1939-1 from Olympia, WA

Those of us stuck in suburbia and inane neighborhood associations that tout "community" AKA code for: CONFORMITY will find this installment entertaining and too true! Mulder and Scully prove once again to be a winning duo with chemistry and deep character as their investigation leads them down the trail of a mysterious ancient myth set against the surreal enclave of groomed lawns and monochromatic facades.

Aside from "Wrinkle in Time" (Madeleine L'Engle) there are few stories about community control that ring this true. The story features ridiculous rules of conformity that would be laughable if they weren't such a reality in suburban America. As more cookie cutter homes sprout up with less than a foot distance between them, officious Home Owner's Associations will become more of a problem than a solution.

Let's put it this way: the ugliest thing Sculder and Mully uncover is far from mythic. . .it is found in a majority of common suburban neighborhoods across the country.

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