Cast

Robert Patrick as John Doggett
Annabeth Gish as Agent Reyes
Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner
Arlene Pileggi, Mitch's wife, playing Skinner's secretary Arlene

Crew

Written and directed by Vince Gilligan

Original Airdate

Sunshine Days originally aired on Sunday, May 12, 2002.

Synopsis

Doggett and Reyes stumble onto an incredibly powerful psychkinetic individual who is obsessed with the Brady Bunch. He can alter the shape of the world around him and levitate objects, and he may be the first tangible, incontrovertible evidence of the existence of the paranormal.

High Point

Doggett's finally getting used to the job.

Low Point

It's the second last episode. Instead of developing the mytharc that made the series great, or wrapping up the life of a character, like, say, Skinner, we get a monster of the week with a few lines of dialogue that place this late in the series.

The Review

This episode doesn't do well for originality. If you take the TV show tribute bit from Arcadia and add the apparent psychic powers from Scary Monsters, you get this. The fact that the production was dissimilar from the others redeems it a bit. I give it 3 out of 6.

The effects this week were, for the most part, pretty good. The only time it really felt like watching special effects was when Skinner was floating in his office. Still, the volume of the effects were considerable, so I'll give it 5 out of 6.

The story felt so typical. In the second last episode, I wanted something special. This wasn't it. I know it amounts to deducting points because it wasn't aired before William, but I was disappointed. I give it 3 out of 6.

The acting this week was not bad. For the most part, the characters just seemed to be having a good time, without the usual levity of the situation. It felt like they were acting in a comedic episode with a fairly serious script. I give it 3 out of 6.

The emotional response this week was pretty poor. When Doggett finally started to get the hang of the job, I expected that to kick off one of the most difficult cases yet, watching the "Monster of the Week" type of episodes go out with a bang. This was more of a whimper. Maybe this would have meant more to me if I'd ever watched The Brady Bunch, but it just didn't do it for me. I give it 2 out of 6.

The production was excellent, as usual. Mark Snow and Bill Roe did fantastic jobs once more. Vince Gilligan did some nice work as well. In the end, it's the usual X-Files 5 out of 6.

Overall, this was a decent episode that didn't meet the expectations I had for the second last episode. I really got the feeling that Chris Carter handed this one over to Vince Gilligan while everyone else ran off to work on the finale. If that's the case, I can forgive them, but it still doesn't change the fact that I'll only give it 3 out of 6.

In total, Sunshine Days received 24 out of 42.

Next Week

Next week is the last week. The Truth airs on Fox starting in the 8pm time slot. It's a two hour finale. Canadian viewers who watch on Global should check their local listings as soon as possible, because Global also runs Survivor. That means that some areas have X-Files in that time slot, and others have Survivor there. Some are showing X-Files early, some late, and (as in at least one portion of Ontario) some are moving the show to another station. If you're not watching it on Fox, pay very close attention to when and where it's on.