For the past few days I have been watching episodes of the very good but hardly seen X-Files series the Lone Gunmen. I always loved it when these three men showed up on the X-Files and I must not have been alone in that as they seemed to use them more and more as the series went on. This series was more lighter in tone then the X-Files. Fox Mulder on the X-Files was very serious about his work and willing to die if he had to in order to get the truth told. Langly (played by Dean Haglund), Byers (Bruce Harwood) and Frohike (Tom Braidwood) were brave but not as willing to die for the truth as Mulder was.
In addition to the three leads they added the character Yves Adele Harlow played by the beautiful Zuleikha Robinson. Her character never really did reveal her real name as Yves Adele Harlow was not it but it was an anagram of Lee Harvey Oswald. How fitting that name would somehow be associated with a series called the Lone Gunmen. She also revealed very little of her past but in the pilot it was hinted at that Frohike knew it and who she really was. Yves was always a step ahead of the Lone Gunmen and they sometimes were at odds with each other. The Gunmen were always on a case to get to the truth of the matter but Yves was like a bounty hunter and only wanted the money. This is the only addition to the cast that they should have made.
In the episode after the pilot I believe they jumped the shark. Yes it may be hard to believe but I think it was jumped in the second episode when they added the character of Jimmy Bond played by Stephen Snedden. Jimmy was rich but not too bright. He wanted to get to the truth about matters and help others. He was the coach of a football team in a league that he started. The only difference in this league is that it was for blind football players. The Gunmen were on the trail of a case and everything led to him. It turned out that he was being backed by an unknown source and the nut didn't try to find out who was giving him the money. They were using his team as a front and setting him up to take the fall. He helps take the bad guys down and since the Lone Gunmen are out of money to publish their newspaper he backs them with his own money. The character never did wise up too much after that. Frohike was always wanting to get rid of him but they couldn't do without his money.
There was an attempt to create sexual tension between Jimmy and Yves Adele Harlow but it seemed like a high school crush compared to the sexual tension Chris Carter had going on the X-Files. They should have tried it with Yves and Byers instead.
Over all the series was very good and should have been renewed as a mid-season replacement or given a second summer series. (This series came on in the summer of 2001.) One thing that may have hurt the series chances for renewal is that it came on the summer before 9/11. The pilot episode delt with then stopping a plane flown automatically by terrorist from crashing into the UN building. Too bad they couldn't have stopped them in real life.
I hear they are planning on making an X-Files movie again. I in their last apperance they killed off the 3 main characters of the Lone Gunmen. Still I hope they can explain how they survived and I hope we see the older but wiser Lone Gunmen in the film. Perhaps after all those years of investigating the unknown and coming in contact with so many chemicals they may have only been put into a coma and come out of it in time to help Mulder and Scully. Hey it's just a thought.
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