I think I'm not being clear. It's difficult without being able to give specific examples, and I can't do that, so I feel like I'm talking around it all taking the long route, and I am. Maybe I'm doing it all a disservice.

The thing about Home is that the entire episode was built around that moment when she slides out from under the bed and we know that it's incest, so the feeling of dread was building and building to reach that moment.

With the Inside, the characters are strong and it's very plot driven. So it's not all about that one shocking moment, there's a lot of moments of discovery that lead up to a whole picture.

So it's not all about That One Scene. There's notes that will hit everyone differently. There will be currents of dread, but it's like the bassline under the guitar, keeping the beat under the story/characters.

The most recent one I read had that dread undercurrent with HSQ solos peppered throughout.

I think it will appeal to a wide audience, I'm confident of that.

But it works on the two levels, like Buffy did. For some, it's the little girl, big stake, and her wacky adventures.

For others, there's the subtexty yumminess, that makes us need to discuss it for days. You'll want to pick up on the clues about who these characters are and what makes them tick. Others will be drawn to the whodunnitness.

I think this is what makes something like House work (though I'm not a big fan of House, I don't have the Hugh love), because it is different and you can get attached to the characters, and wonder how they came to be and where they are going.

But the mysteries themselves are interesting in both plot and presentation.

Is there any supernatural/sci-fi/genre element to it all, Allyson? If not -- does this make the first show of Tim's to not have any?

No, there's no supernaturalness.

For us, I think looking at this with a knowledge of Tim's previous work, we'll note that the thing under the bed is so much scarier when it's human.

And heroism means much more when the Orb or the W&H box o' Darla can't bring you back. There's so much more on the line.

So when Tim kills you, you're really most sincerely dead.

So when Tim kills you, you're really most sincerely dead

I think I just found my new tag.

I think looking at this with a knowledge of Tim's previous work, we'll note that the thing under the bed is so much scarier when it's human

I wouldn't go that far. I think the most gutting scary thing (to me) Tim's written was the moment where Angel betrayed us in Reunion. It's not about humanity -- it's about trust, and the complacency of thinking you know the boundaries of the situation.

I think Allyson is right when she describes Home as being about that one scene. Viewer and investigator alike are thinking rescue, right up until the reveal. The key shot, for me, wasn't Mrs. Peacock, but the long closeup on Mulder's face as he goes through WTF?, past Ew, and into the realm of Brains-Explodey. Reflecting back at the viewer her own thought-process, you know?

Of course, that is also the episode in which a sherriff (named Andy Taylor, no less) and his wife are beaten to death with baseball bats to the sweet strains of Jerry Mathis. Actually, the X-Files had a number of memorably sonorous violent tableaux (see: Never Again).

One thing I'd worry about, with this new show, is Millennium Bed Death -- the grimness is all people remembered about that show. It had its flashes of brilliance (the ending of the second season seemed to flirt with real, serious apocalypse, signalled by the narrative coherence of the episode fraying and failing), but the grimness and gratuitous ugliness made it hard for people to get into. (Compounded, I think, by the hero guy, who was like a charisma vacuum. On purpose, I think, but the show really needed some charisma.)

Allyson, have you ever seen the BBC show Wire in the Blood? Any comments?

Allyson, have you ever seen the BBC show Wire in the Blood?

Haven't seen it.

It's not about humanity -- it's about trust, and the complacency of thinking you know the boundaries of the situation.

Hm. Yeah that isn't it for me, but I get why it is for you.

Compounded, I think, by the hero guy, who was like a charisma vacuum. On purpose, I think, but the show really needed some charisma.)

We got charisma in spades. Web is fantastic, Adam is darkly snarky, and Katie is sort of like Tim Burton's version of a cheerleader. She peppy about the dark.

I get what you mean. I wanted to wrestle Lance Henrickson to the ground and dose him with ecstacy just to see if he knew how to smile. Or at least smirk. Anything at all. Something other than the way I look when i have a migraine and it's overcast and forgot my lunch money and have to eat a hot pocket.

I'll ask if I can give away some lines in spoilers lite.

That might be helpful.

Oooh! I'd like to add that as a request for the site. A few script pages for an upcoming episode or something, along with a sort of DVD extra style interview of a minute or two with Tim or Craig talking about how the story was developed.

I love this idea. You should send it over to Fox's web department people.

You should send it over to Fox's web department people.

And then I'll call Elvis Costello to write the theme music.

These people don't listen to me. I'm a fan. They'll just pat me on the head and pinch my cheeks and say, "oh aren't you the most precious little fan!"

And when I say, "Please don't be so condescending," they'll say, "oh and the cutie wittle fan knows such BIG WORDS!"

Not that I'm angry and bitter or anything. I've just, you know, been there and have had to talk to marketing people at FOX before, and that's how they always talk to me.