Tempus Fugit 4×17: Let me buy him a drink too.

"Welcome back, Kotter!"

I’m going to start with a bit of an unusual premise here and say that “Tempus Fugit” and it’s follow up episode “Max” (4×18) aren’t really mythology episodes at all, instead they’re more like the pre-mythology conspiracy episodes of Season 1; think “Deep Throat” (1×1), “Fallen Angel” (1×9), and “EBE” (1×16). Taken at its most basic, this is your standard The Aliens are Here and the Government Won’t Admit It fare. What elevates the story is that this time it’s personal. “Tempus Fugit” is an episode about the casualties of war, the lives that are being lost whose deaths and whose pain will be meaningless unless Mulder and Scully can ultimately find a way to unravel this whole alien thing. Otherwise, Mulder and Scully could just as easily go the way of Max and Pendrell, and all those who were collateral damage will have died in vain.

The actual and potential loss, largely represented by the incredibly realistic crash site, is sobering. Mulder and Scully have precious few family members left for Chris Carter to kill off so he had to find another way to remind the audience of what’s at stake in this quest that Mulder and Scully are on and he did so by killing two friends and a whole plane full of people. It’s not all fun, games and Black Oil.

Speaking of the Black Oil, where is it? Here, not only is a character from Season 1, Max Fenig, brought back, but the mythology plot is subject to a rewind as well. There’s no Syndicate, no CSM dropping ash all over the place, no Krycek simpering. It’s just a straight up alien abduction meets government cover up. Mulder back to unreservedly and unwisely blasting his opinions from the rooftops rather than playing his hunches close to the vest, another throwback to earlier Seasons when Mulder got on his superiors’ nerves not by his actions but with his words. He never knew when to reel it in.

In the sense that they hark back to a simpler time in The X-Files, these elements are welcome. But in some ways it’s a little too late because now I’ve been conditioned to expect otherwise. Consequently, I spent the entire episode trying to figure out how what’s happened to Max fits into the overall mythology at large. The problem is I’m not sure it does. It’s more like a side plot.

Are the aliens that abducted Max the same ones that are working with the Syndicate? I find that hard to believe since the Syndicate seems to be secretly scared to death of those aliens, but a lone fighter pilot easily defeats these aliens. Speaking of which, how is it that creatures who possess technology we can only dream of and who can manage to travel light years to earth without a problem are no match for our military? That takes the bloom off their rose, doesn’t it?

I have no proof, but I’d be greatly surprised if these are the same aliens behind the plans for colonization. They’d need a lot more power. And besides, if I were them, I’d start colonization early if those human peons started shooting down my ships.

And the Verdict is…

I confess that I’m still not completely sure how I feel about this one, and I’ve been stewing on it for a good while. On the one hand, it’s good to see Max again and I enjoy that element of continuity and the nod to long time fans by giving them the payoff of bringing back a much loved, if oft forgotten character. On the other hand, why do I still feel a little bored?

Sure, we get that great birthday scene between Mulder and Scully, opening the window a little more into their quite comfortable and predictable relationship. That’s worth the price of admission. And Mulder’s short but sweet vigil beside Max’s body is poignant and memorable. Likewise, Scully’s last tender moments with Pendrell are just shy of heartbreaking. But still, I can’t help feeling like all of this isn’t leading much of anywhere. This is only the first in a two-parter, however, so I guess we’ll see.

In regards to the more technical end of things, director Kim Manners has almost outdone himself with that airplane crash. It’s almost too realistic… I have to not watch it too closely lest I have flashbacks during my next airplane flight. And that crash scene looks exactly like what we saw a few times too many on the news during the 1990′s. It’s just stellar work from everyone involved.

But did they have to kill Pendrell??? I’m going to miss that little geek.

B+

Nagging Questions:

How could Max’s sister’s motel room fall from 29,000 feet as Mulder says? Wouldn’t the aliens have had to take the whole motel lest someone notice a few walls missing? Forget that, why not just take the person alone???

Would Mulder have remembered Scully’s birthday if Scully wasn’t dying?

Random Observations:

It’s only funny when Mulder says, “We’re not gonna make it” because we know very well that he is.

I sincerely doubt Mulder and Scully would have been allowed in that TSA meeting or even less likely at the crash site.

On a related note, I realize that in order to keep things fresh and interesting, Mulder and Scully constantly have to be forced into new situations. Even so, why does Mulder going diving without experience feel like too much of a stretch to me? Combine that with Mulder and Scully’s free access to an airplane crash investigation and I’m starting to wonder how much disbelief I can suspend. It’s somehow less jarring to my rational mind to watch a mutant grow a new head.

Best Quotes:

Scully: Mulder, you have never remembered my birthday in the four years I’ve known you.
Mulder: That’s the way I like to celebrate them, every four years. It’s like dog years that way.
Scully: Dog years? Thank you.
Mulder: You’re welcome. Oh, I got something for you.
Scully: Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.
Mulder: It’s just something that reminded me of you.
Scully: What? An alien implant?
Mulder: Two actually. I made them into earrings.

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Scully: Oh, please tell me this isn’t leading to something really embarrassing.

————————–

Scully: You sure know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday.

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Motel Manager: Look at this! I don’t know what kind of game she was playing in here. She blew the door right out of the jamb. I doubt insurance will cover it.
Mulder: Does your policy cover the acts of extraterrestrials?
Scully: We’ll take care of it.

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Bruce Bearfield: Have you worked at this depth before?
Mulder: Not exactly.
Bruce Bearfield: What exactly is your experience?
Mulder: Once I got a quarter off of the deep end of the Y pool.

Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man 4×7 – This isn’t the ending that I wrote.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.

“No one would kill you, Frohike. You’re just a little puppy dog.”

Oh, if he only knew.

Mssrs. Morgan and Wong are back in a slightly different format this time. Rather than co-writing, Morgan authors the script while Wong sits in the director’s chair. In fact, for his directing debut Wong would go on to win the Emmy for Best Direction. That’s no mean feat.

As they would in all four of their offerings this season, Morgan and Wong try their best to think outside of the frame of a typical X-Files episode, in this case changing up both form and content. Besides giving us an almost Shakespearean play quite clearly delineated into four acts, there’s a fluctuating tone to the tale so that we’re never quite sure from one act to the next whether we’re watching a history or a parody, if this is CSM’s view of himself, Frohike’s view, or the view put forth by the seedy magazine Frohike nabbed the story from.

Even more significantly, this is the first episode where David Duchovny doesn’t make an onscreen appearance. He’s essentially limited to a book-ending set of voiceovers. Gillian Anderson narrowly misses this technicality by appearing in a single scene in flashback. At first watch, I remember missing Mulder and Scully. Over a decade later, I appreciate getting a more in depth look at such a fabulous character.

Certainly CSM deserves it by now.

Part I – An Extraordinary Man

Here’s where everything starts going Forest Gump on us. We always knew CSM was a significant man behind the scenes, but just how significant is he? Well, it turns out that he was the lone gunman that day on Dealey Plaza. Oh, and he didn’t always smoke cigarettes.

Actor Chris Owens makes his X-Files debut here. He would go on to play CSM again in flashback, as well as two other memorable characters, The Great Mutato and Jeffrey Spender. He plays the role with such seriousness that you can believe in this young CSM, that he wasn’t always evil, just pragmatic and ambitious, and that it was a downhill spiral from there.

Part II – A Jack Colquitt Adventure

And now we jump forward in time to CSM the would-be Civil Rights activist, AKA author Raul Bloodworth.

This CSM has successfully and speedily climbed his way up the middle management ladder of the netherworld. Young though he is, he’s powerful enough to chastise J. Edgar Hoover to his face. It seems that the F.B.I. has been under his control since long before Mulder and Scully came into play.

But what’s striking is how typically unfulfilling his day job is. He spends his nights typing pathetic manuscripts living off of beer, cigarettes, and unfulfilled dreams. And while his job description requires that he root out Communism in all its forms, he secretly sympathizes with liberal dreamers, thinking so highly of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that he honors him with a more… personal assassination.

At this point, I’m starting to believe we’re hearing less of Frohike’s news article while more of CSM’s sense of self-importance is creeping in.

Part III – Buffalo Wants it Bad

If we thought CSM was stuck in a crappy boardroom job before, now his position has rusted into the downright mundane. CSM has successfully defeated the Communists. But like every man who reaches the pinnacle of his profession and finds there’s nowhere else to go, he’s left weary and unfulfilled. He goes from killing presidents to rigging football games because, well, what else is there to do? Now it’s hard to see this as anything but a parody.

Getting to see Deep Throat again is a real treat. And their brief, opaque and slightly comical conversation is the highlight of the whole episode. It’s hard to put much stock in their talk, however, as some points don’t agree with the larger mythology arc. But since this is fantasy anyway, you can take and leave what you will.

Part IV – Pack of Morleys

And now, like any great hero, it’s time for CSM to have his heart broken.

I love that they work in that flashback to the “Pilot” (1×79), where CSM was more an enigmatic if ominous presence rather than the Darth Vader that he’s become. This way we can consider who he was and who he’s come to be.

He’s no longer an idealist. He’s not even a realist. He’s just a middle-aged man stuck in a shallow life whose memories of youthful dreams grow duller with every year.

I remember at the age of 14 how my best friend and I found that monologue hilarious. In fact, I had it memorized… and tacked up on my wall. That’s 14 for you. Always drawn to the innocent and uplifting.

Now it’s a bit tedious, and, dare I say it? It tries too hard. It’s amazing how our tastes change.

Conclusion:

Originally, the title was supposed to be “Memoirs of a Cigarette Smoking Man”, reflecting Morgan’s intention that this be a true account of CSM’s past. Chris Carter came in and added both ambiguity in the title and in the narration. Not only can we not be sure of the accuracy of CSM’s memories, we can’t even be sure the plot is being driven by CSM’s mind or by Frohike’s.

The seriousness of the story was supposed to be driven home by the killing of Frohike at the end of the episode, a plot point that 1013 Productions justifiably balked at. While I enjoy that Morgan and Wong weren’t afraid of thwarting the party line, the desire to kill off Frohike represents a serious misjudgment of the tone of the series. Sure, Chris Carter liked to claim that no one’s really safe on The X-Files. But then, he also likes to say that no one ever really dies on The X-Files either. Just like Deep Throat in this episode, ghosts return without warning.

Why? Because Deep Throat’s presence adds value to the series’ development at this point? No. Because the fans love him and nostalgia is a powerful force.

Even aside from emotional reasons, killing Frohike would have ill fit the tone of the episode, which lent itself to something just short of a parody. Taken as a whole, it makes CSM, as Chris Carter so appropriately put it, “sort of a silly person.” I’m not so sure he can be silly and frightening at the same time, despite the fact that Morgan’s goal was to make CSM a real threat again:

“I told Chris, ‘Look, the Cancer Man is becoming a bore. When you get to episode one hundred and he and Mulder have the guns to each other’s heads, I’m not going to worry, because the Cancer Man has never done anything. I’m telling you right now, you’ve got the Cancer Man as a wuss ball. He’s nothing. He’s got to do something dangerous.’”

Maybe they missed that CSM had both men exposed to the Black Oil’s radiation killed and his henchman, Luis Cardinal killed in “Apocrypha” (3×16). Or that he keeps trying with all sincerity to kill Krycek. Or that he just had X killed in “Herrenvolk” (4×1).

The truth is, whatever the pile of murders on his conscience, the audience will never seriously believe that he’ll kill either Mulder or Scully. We’d have no show if he did. It’s enough to show that he’s willing. Suddenly turning things deadly serious by killing Frohike would have lent credence to the whole tale, which would have made some obvious issues of cannon more of an issue.

Besides, Morgan and Wong created the Lone Gunmen. Why so eager to kill one of them off? (As an aside, it’s interesting how in television you can create something only to find that it’s no longer yours. Not only do they characters take off on their own based on an audience’s response and interpretation of them, but production companies and film studios end up having more of a say in their future than you do.)

The best thing about this episode is that it’s clever, in both form and content. Is it great? I can’t quite call it that because I still get bored at moments, but I appreciate what Morgan and Wong were trying to do here. Once again, they’re pushing the boundaries of the show. In that regard, it’s not as successful as “Home” (4×3) but it’s surely not as polarizing as “The Field Where I Died” (4×5)… thank goodness.

At times the story is a little bogged down by the nitty gritty of History. Because of this, it moves slowly. And there’s nothing paranormal to speak of save for a fleeting view of a dying alien. But looking back on the history of the show, it’s nice to have this change of pace, if only to prove that The X-Files could do it.

B+

Comments:

Whatever details Morgan and Wong may have missed, there’s a nice thread of continuity with Deep Throat. He mentions having served in Vietnam and in “Little Green Men” (2×1), Mulder claims to have seen his funeral at Arlington Cemetery. That explains that.

Even the acts are filmed in different colors. Saturated 1960’s hues for the Kennedy assassination, black and white for the second act, reflecting the majority of photos of the Civil Rights era.

Questions:

Who is CSM writing a letter of resignation to? How do you resign from The Syndicate? Do they have a payroll? And why is he purposefully leaving a paper trail??

Best Quotes:

William Mulder: My one year old just said his first word.
Smoking Man: What was the word?
William Mulder: JFK.
Smoking Man: Catch you later, Mulder.

———————–

Smoking Man: What I don’t want to see is the Bills winning the Super Bowl. As long as I’m alive that doesn’t happen.
Third Man In Black: Could be tough, sir. Buffalo wants it bad.

————————

Smoking Man: So did the Soviets in ‘80.
Third Man In Black: What? You saying you rigged the Olympic hockey game?
Smoking Man: What’s the matter? Don’t you believe in miracles?

————————

Deep Throat: I’m the liar, you’re the killer.
Smoking Man: Your lies have killed more men in a day than I have in a lifetime. I’ve never killed anybody.
Deep Throat: Maybe I’m not the liar.

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Smoking Man: Life is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates. So you’re stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there’s nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in a while there’s a peanut butter cup or an english toffee but they’re gone too fast and taste is fleeting. So you end up with nothing but broken bits of hardened jelly and teeth-shattering nuts. If you’re desperate enough to eat those, all you got left is an empty box filled with useless brown paper wrappers.

————————

Smoking Man: I can kill you whenever I please… but not today.

Guest Post – X-Files: A Shipper Guide, Part 5

*Editor’s Note: Nina is a long time X-Phile and shipper extraordinaire. (Seriously. You guys thought I was rabid.) You can find more of her humorous insights into The X-Files, Supernatural, 24 and other fandoms on her tumblr at myspecialhell.tumblr.com. Here’s the final installment of her Season 1 analysis. You can check out parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 here,  here, here and here. Agree/disagree with her observations? Duke it out in the comments section. We can’t wait to hear what you guys think!

And with that, take it away, Nina!

Biased, completely personal, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Tooms

~ It’s amazing how things change, isn’t it?
 - Mulder (Tooms)

Eugene Victor Tooms is one of the most beloved mutants among the Philes, and Tooms is the episode all the Philes recall for two things mostly: the introduction of Assistant Director Walter Skinner[1], a character who would become more and more important in the show, and for the infamous conversation in the car.

Just out of curiosity: what’s the what with Mulder, Scully and stakeouts, anyway? Between Tooms and Pusher one can’t help but wonder!

I remember when I first saw Tooms and the conversation in the car. I remember that my jaw hit the floor. For a moment I really thought they were going to go at it. I mean, usually, when a scene like that happened in another show, next we knew the two lead characters were kissing like there was no tomorrow.

How naive, uh?

Even before the scene in the car, it was clear that Mulder and Scully had truly become partners  at work: there was trust, there was complicity. Scully didn’t hesitate to put herself on the line for Mulder, when talking to Skinner.

She was supposed to be the spy, she was supposed to be the tool to close the X-Files…and yet, there she was, defending Mulder.

Skinner had ordered Scully to make sure things were done by the book, and yet when she went to Mulder, while he was checking on Tooms, it wasn’t the job she was worried about. Do you remember Deep Throat? In the episode she was worried about what she was going to write in her report. She had come a long way from that night…and she showed it.

SCULLY: Mulder, you know that proper surveillance requires two pairs of agents, one pair relieving the other after twelve hours.

MULDER: Article 30, paragraph 8.7?

SCULLY: This isn’t about doing it by the book. This is about you not having slept for three days. Mulder, you’re going to get sloppy and you’re going to get hurt. It’s inevitable at this point.

MULDER: A request for other agents to stake-out Tooms would be denied. Then we have no grounds.

SCULLY: Well, then I’ll stay here. You go home.

(Mulder sighs.)

I’ve always loved how Mulder seemed genuinely concerned about Scully’s career in the scene in the car. I think that was the first time Mulder actually voiced concern about Scully’s career. He had come a long way too from the pilot episode and the infamous lines:

“So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully”

And

“MULDER: That’s pretty good, Scully.

SCULLY: Better than you expected or better that you hoped?

MULDER: Well… I’ll let you know when we get past the easy part.”

When Scully was assigned to the X-Files, she had basically zero experience on the field, Mulder had seen her becoming a good agent, one whose career he felt the need to protect, feeling his was already in the crapper. The fact that he acknowledged that he had put Scully’s career and reputation and her possible future within the Bureau in jeopardy, spoke volumes of the depth of their bond at that point.

MULDER: They’re out to put an end to the X-Files, Scully. I don’t know why, but any excuse will do. Now, I don’t really care about my record, but you’d be in trouble just for sitting in this car and I’d hate to see you to carry an official reprimand in your file because of me.

After such an opening from Mulder, it was no surprise that Scully felt the need to do the same.

(Scully sighs.)

SCULLY: Fox…

Why did she call him Fox?

Why was she embarrassed while she said his name?

They were venturing into an unknown territory. Mulder and Scully sucked at those kind of emotional displays, if we choose to consider the original timeline of the series, they had been working together for two years, yet, that was the first time either of them opened up that way. Mulder had just told Scully that he valued her work, that he valued her both as a person and an FBI agent and Scully wanted to…open up as well, by calling him Fox.

(Mulder laughs. Scully looks at him.)

MULDER: And I… I even made my parents call me Mulder. So… Mulder.

I think Mulder was panicking. He was surprised by Scully, by the shyness in her voice, and by the sudden turn that conversation was taking…so he panicked. It’s not a fanwank, it’s not fanon…it’s the only plausible explanation I’ve ever been able to give to what he said…

Although I think Mulder fell for Scully at first sight, I really don’t think he was ready to explore the feelings he had for his partner, he didn’t have the energies to focus on anything else that it wasn’t the X-Files.

I believe, I strongly believe that at the time the events of Tooms took place, Mulder was in full denial, as far as his feelings for Scully were concerned.

He had too much going on through his head, his life was devoted to a cause that was not only time consuming but demanding everything out of him. It took him a couple of tragic events to wake up and smell the coffee.

So Mulder panicked, and babbled about making even his parents call him Mulder. Scully, though, needed to tell her truth, for once.

SCULLY: Mulder, I wouldn’t put myself on the line for anybody but you.

Mulder’s look when Scully told him those words was priceless: he was floored by Scully’s admission.

In “Squeeze” Mulder had said that the need to mess with people outweighed the milestone of humiliation. While I think that he wasn’t lying to Scully when he  told her that, I also believe that at that point, Mulder needed someone to trust…and needed someone to have faith in him, to trust him.

Mulder had been alone for quite some time, whether it was willingly or not, is not important…his work on the X-Files had slowly shaped into a crusade, I’d wager Mulder felt the loneliness, the frustration that came from being unheard. I don’t think he gave a damn about what people thought of him, but the human need to be believed, especially knowing that he was telling the truth, had to be quite a burden.

He had accepted the loneliness as one of the prices to pay, to sacrifice at the altar of his faith: the truth. He hadn’t lied to Scully when he had said he had a life…the X-files were his life. However, to hear such a line, bearing an implicit trust, a commitment, and mostly faith in him, I think it floored him.

Mulder had another proof that he wasn’t alone in his search, that there was someone who would look for the truth with him, someone who, finally, believed him, believed in him.

MULDER: If there’s an ice tea in that bag, could be love.

SCULLY: Must be fate, Mulder. Root beer.

(Mulder kiddingly sighs.)

You’re delirious. Go home and get some sleep.

He reacted with humor. That’s a coping mechanism Mulder used all the time. When things got difficult he eluded fear and panic with humor.

My God, how much I still love the guy!

I don’t think Scully was hurt by Mulder’s reaction. I mean…c’mon, she had eyes! And she could read him pretty well…she knew that he had gotten the message, and she knew it was appreciated.

Maybe that’s a fanwanking…but I’ve always loved how Mulder didn’t let Scully go after Tooms. On a practical reason, I know it was because of Gillian Anderson’s pregnancy, but to me that was other than a very sweet gesture, just another proof of how protective Mulder had become of Scully…especially if you compare this with such episodes as Ghost in the Machine.

The final scene let us understand that things were going to change very soon, for Mulder and Scully. Mulder watched a caterpillar cocoon and commented on how amazing it was how things changed.

He said a change was coming for them…

Of course he was talking about the X-Files…but the caterpillar cocoon symbolized their relationship as well.

The X-Files had to be shut down, their relationship had to die a little for it to really blossom.

The Erlenmeyer Flask

Aka: they’re shutting us down

~ I should know by now to trust your instincts.

Why? Nobody else does

 - Mulder and Scully (The Erlenmeyer Flask)

The Erlenmeyer Flask was a painful episode for me to watch. It was the first mytharc episode, it was the episode where Deep throat[2] died. Mulder and Scully had their first taste of hell…of the conspiracy in its glory, and they were burned by it, badly.

Scully came to a few important understandings concerning Mulder and his crusade. In the pilot episode he had told her that there were people who were trying to cover up the truth. I’ve always thought that she hadn’t really believed …not even when their motel rooms were burned down…but the episode showed Scully that there was indeed a conspiracy, that Mulder was nowhere near as paranoid as he appeared.

She witnessed things…for the first time and she felt the need to apologize to Mulder, who, on the other hand didn’t think apologies were necessary.

The look in Mulder’s eyes when Scully apologized to him, was priceless…in Tooms she had told him that she wouldn’t put herself on the line for anybody else…and in The Erlenmeyer flask, she told him she believed him, she told him that she trusted his instincts.

They had really come a long way from the pilot episode. In Ice, Mulder had told Scully that he wanted to trust her, but throughout the first season Scully had never really said anything about trust.

Of course, she had showed her trust to him, in such episodes like Young at Heart, EBE, Darkness Falls.

It was somewhat heart breaking to hear Mulder’s reply to Scully’s words: “Why? Nobody else does.”

I love how Mulder, who apparently brushed off Scully’s words, showed how he actually took them into consideration…he showed it when talking with Deep Throat and told him to cut the crap and talk already, to skip the whole Obi-wan kenobi routine…

It showed how Mulder valued Scully’s words, how important they were to him. She had been assigned to the X-Files to be a spy, but in the end she had become his only ally, the only one who would tell him the truth.

But Scully did more than telling Mulder that she trusted his instincts, she risked her career, her life, to save Mulder when he was kidnapped.

At the end of Tooms, Mulder had said he felt a change was near, and never truer words were spoken. The last scene of the first season finale…is heart breaking, the circle closed with two scenes similar to the final scenes of the pilot episode: Mulder called Scully to tell her that the X-Files had been shut down.

“They’re shutting us down”

There is a world in this line. As much as Chris Carter’s writing became sloppy in the latter seasons, as much as I still have issues with him, the final scene of the last episode of the first season is so powerful that it took my breath away and it still does. The scene is very dramatic, but in pure X-Files fashion is downplayed, to let the viewers absorb the blow.

“They’re shutting us down”

For Mulder, Scully had become part of the X-Files, for Mulder, Scully had become his partner. The X-Files were the core of Mulder’s life… for him to include Scully, to acknowledge her role in them, was a testament of how much she meant to him.

Scully was incredulous at the news: she had really come to love her job, she had really come to an understanding about her job, she knew that she would always be Mrs. Spooky, chasing little grey men, to people, but she knew as well that their job, was important. They had become partners and friends…and their new found strength was taken away from them.

The X-Files were closed, but their relationship was going to enter a new level very soon.

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[1]              Played by Mitch Pileggi

[2]              Played by Jerry Hardin

Nisei 3×9: Monsters begetting monsters.

$29.95's worth.

“Nisei” is about foreign scientists, war criminals, allied with the Federal Government and more specifically, The Syndicate, who experiment on unwitting citizens in an attempt to create an alien-human hybrid. If that sounds familiar, it should. It was the plot of “Paper Clip” (3×2). The main difference is that we’ve moved from talk of the Nazis to another World War II Axis power, Japan.

There are other repeats such as Mulder seeing what he thinks is a spaceship hidden from perfect view. That happened in both “Deep Throat” (1×1) and “Fallen Angel” (1×9). Scully has also confronted X over Mulder’s whereabouts before in “End Game” (2×17), but of course that time it was the other way around and she wanted to find him not keep his location a secret. And as I’ve already mentioned, as in the season opener the writers are using the horrors of history to scare us. What’s more frightening than the truth?

Since we’ve already heard this tale told in a different way, Chris Carter had to find a way to set this one a part and I think he successfully did that by tying in this set of experiments to Scully’s abduction in a more specific way: These Japanese scientists were the ones who performed tests on her when she was taken.

Now we know for sure that the chip found in the back of her neck during “The Blessing Way” (3×1) is connected to her abduction. If that weren’t enough, we find out that Scully wasn’t alone and we meet the other women who were there with her for at least part of her ordeal. Imagine walking into a room full of people who know all about you but you don’t know them. Talk about creepy.

Scully’s character certainly gets an uplift from the previous couple of episodes where she is relegated to the role of Debbie Downer. Here she’s still the skeptic but she’s a thoughtful one and gives this investigation the attention it deserves. It’s about time the question of why she still doesn’t believe is brought up as we’ve reached a point in the series where it makes less sense for Scully to even be a skeptic in the face of all she’s been exposed to. That’s why some of the previous episodes didn’t work as well as they might have because her knee-jerk skepticism seems out of place, as though she were just going out of her way to be difficult. The tantalizing teasing that goes on about the mystery of Scully’s abduction is a set up to explore her character further in future episodes. It pays off well.

The mythology keeps expanding to include more conspiracies within the conspiracy. It’s exciting and yet… this is both good and bad news. While the scope of the conspiracy is why it attracts an audience, it’s also part of its eventual, inevitable decline. You can only push the circle outward for so long before people forget the juicy center.

Conclusion:

You’ll think me shallow, but what I love most about this episode is that it’s a party. So many honored guests are in attendance: Skinner, Mr. X, The Lone Gunmen, even Senator Matheson who is no doubt summoned because Skinner washes his hands clean of this situation. We also have a first-time participant in Agent Pendrell. We’re only missing Krycek who Chris Carter is saving for later in the season.

Mulder again proves there’s no length of crazy he won’t go to. He’s such a wonderfully frustrating hero. You want to punch him then hug him all in the span of two seconds. Scully’s parallel journey for the truth is just as compelling, but in a less action packed, more emotional sort of way. It’s fun to see them investigate on their own and then come back together and share notes, so to speak. Whether they’re communicating over the phone or in person they make such a great team. And the banter and humor sprinkled through this two-episode arc still makes me smile.

If “Paper Clip” was about the Germans, “Nisei” is all about the Japanese. It’s a natural progression to move on to the next Axis power. But whatever happened to the Italians? Not scary enough?

A-

Lingering Questions:

Why wasn’t Scully subjected to the hybridization tests that created mutants out of the others? Maybe that was reserved for the sick and they used healthy young women for another, equally sinister purpose…

We know Scully is going to get cancer, it’s only a matter of when. The question is, why does she end up with cancer relatively quickly when the other abductees took years and many abductions before they died? I would guess that the abductions themselves somehow saved them.

I still don’t understand why this episode is called “Nisei”. The scientists involved are first generation Japanese immigrants, not second generation Japanese-Americans. Surely there’s a clue that slipped by me.

Random Musings:

The Japanese “diplomat”, Kazuo Sakurai, doesn’t sound like a Japanese diplomat at all, judging by his speech patterns. He sounds more like a Yakuza gangster. I’m wondering if it’s an element of the plot that they didn’t have time to delve into, that he’s an agent of the conspiracy posing as a diplomat for nefarious purposes.

Sakurai: [Japanese] M***** F******, I’m absolutely gonna kill you.
Mulder: You speak English?
Sakurai: [Japanese] What are you babbling about? *Editor’s Note: This is much more offensive than I can translate.
Mulder: Great.

And then he knows Karate, because all Asians know some form of the Martial Arts. *Eyeroll*

Best Quotes:

Scully: That’s not your usual brand of entertainment. What is it?
Mulder: According to the magazine ad I answered, it’s an alien autopsy. Guaranteed authentic.
Scully: You spent money for this?
Mulder: $29.95… plus shipping.
Scully: Mulder, this is even hokier than the one they aired on the Fox network. You can’t even see what they’re operating on!
Mulder: But it does look authentic, I mean the settings, the procedures. I mean it does look as if an actual autopsy is being prepared, doesn’t it?
Scully: Well technically, I don’t know why they would be wearing gas masks.
Mulder: Well maybe it’s because of this green substance they seem to be extracting from the subject. Can you identify that?
Scully: Olive oil? Snake oil? I suppose you think it’s alien blood?
Mulder: It’s widely held that aliens don’t have blood, Scully.
Scully: I guess this begs the question, if this is an alien autopsy…
Mulder: …where’s the alien? But what so intriguing to me is the striking lack of detail here.
Scully: Well, what do you expect for $29.95?

——————

Scully: I don’t know, Mulder, it just doesn’t track. What would a Japanese diplomat be doing in that house with a dead man with his head stuffed in a pillowcase?
Mulder: Obviously not strengthening international relations.
Scully: Well, what do you want to do now? Drop it?
Mulder: I’ve paid my $29.95, Scully. I think I’m entitled to a few more answers. Don’t you think so?

——————

Mulder: Scully, after all you’ve seen. After all you’ve told me you’ve seen. A tunnel filled with medical files, the beings moving past you, the implant in your neck. Why do you refuse to believe?
Scully: Believing’s the easy part, Mulder. I just need more than you. I need proof.
Mulder: You think that believing is easy?

Guest Post – X-Files: A Shipper Guide, Part 2

*Editor’s Note: Nina is a long time X-Phile and shipper extraordinaire. (Seriously. You guys thought I was rabid.) You can find more of her humorous insights into The X-Files, Supernatural, 24 and other fandoms on her tumblr at myspecialhell.tumblr.com. Here’s part 2 of her rundown on Mulder and Scully’s relationship in Season 1. Agree/disagree with her observations? Duke it out in the comments section. We can’t wait to hear what you guys think!

And with that, take it away, Nina!

Biased, completely personal, with tongue firmly planted in cheek

The first episodes: aka getting to know each other

 ~ And you? You think I’m spooky?

                                       – Mulder (Squeeze)

As I previously said, a year and half passed between the events of the pilot episode and those of “Deep Throat” the first regular episode of the series…and the missing year and half still bugs me to no end.

If we choose to follow this time line, Mulder and Scully had been partners for over a year when they met in that bar at the beginning of the episode. There was an obvious attraction, and hey…that’s one of the few times we have seen them together outside the office!

There was this thing where they constantly invaded each other’s space, which, I’m sure every FBI agent is trained to do (note the sarcasm here…sheesh…Carter did *so* fool us!)

At the same time, though, it’s clear that there was still some mistrust. Mulder still didn’t trust Scully.

Now, before someone jump in saying what a jerk Mulder was, let’s state the obvious shall we?

At the time, Scully still reported to Blevins, she still wrote her reports. It’s a constant of the first season. Mulder might have felt that Scully was not a spy, but he wasn’t ready and willing to sacrifice what he perceived as the only way to find out the truth about his sister and what had happened to her.

Oh, and besides, if we have to accept the canon of the show (personally, there are things which I’ve merrily chosen to ignore, ie: Mulder’s stupid, lame, brain disease they babbled about in the eighth season!) Mulder had recently broken up with a woman he had been in love with, a woman he had loved so much that he had – beats on me on this, because it’s not clear- married her.

As much as the fanon wants him as a loner, a loose cannon, in actuality Mulder doesn’t do short time commitment once he smells the coffee.

If said woman was Diana Fowley, a woman who had worked with him, whom he had broken up with, prissibly when he needed her the most…is it a surprise Mulder was a bit cautious?

And we don’t want to mention Phoebe Greene, do we?

So, my speculation is: Mulder’s instinct on people is usually right, I mean, the guy is a psychologist *and* a profiler…it’s his heart he doesn’t trust…especially with women. He isn’t sure whether he can trust his own instincts.

Things for Scully were a bit different. It’s shown since the first episode, that she’s loyal to Mulder: she threatened a man in Deep Throat to get her partner back, she bid her goodbye to her own reputation and her old life in Squeeze, when she took Mulder’s side against Tom Colton. We had seen her bidding goodbye to her social life when she gave up on a date for the X-Files in The Jersey Devil.

And she thought he was cute. She said so to a friend of hers: Ellen. She also said that he was a jerk, but marveled immediately after when she added that he wasn’t a jerk…he was just obsessed with his job.

Mulder talked to Scully about Samantha in the pilot episode, but it’s only in Conduit, the third episode of the series, written by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa that, for the first time, she really had an insight on how much Mulder’s search for his sister meant to him.

On a side note: Conduit rocks! It’s one of my favorite episodes ever!  It’s the episode that really turned me into a Phile. I remember when I first saw it, how much it hurt to watch Mulder struggle against his own pain and recollections to bring Ruby Morris home. And it never ceases to amaze me, how empathic Mulder is of other people’s pain.

That’s one of the things I love most about Mulder: throughout the series, he never lost compassion for the victims and their families. He never forgot that he had been on the other side of the fence…and that he still was.

There was a touching scene at the beginning of the episode, which served the purpose to make Scully understand how much Mulder still loved his sister… Mulder and Scully were in the living room of Ruby Morris’ house; Mulder looked at some photographs and tenderly brushed one of the pictures taken when Ruby was just a child, about Samantha’s age.

In Conduit, Mulder talked to Scully…he told her something about Samantha, about his life after her abduction. He told her of a ritual he had when he was a child of how before entering his room he closed his eyes hoping that  when he would open them, his sister was here, as if nothing had happened. He told her kept entering that room, every single day.

I was blown away by the importance of that confession. If in the pilot episode Mulder needed Scully to understand why the X-Files were so important to him, in this episode he just needed to let her understand that Samantha wasn’t just a name associated with pain and guilt. She wasn’t just Mulder’s holy grail. Samantha was Mulder’s baby sister, and I’d wager that that kind of pain only increased with each passing year.

Mulder was thirty-two when Conduit aired, he was old enough to have children of his own, children of Samantha’s age when she was abducted. I think the sorrow over what happened to Samantha grew with Mulder, morphed somehow with each passing year as he grew up.

In the end, Scully stopped Mulder from seeking more answers…but I’ve always thought she had done so to protect him. She had seen how much that case had hit him too close to home. She had seen it all…and after that, she needed to understand, she needed to know.

She listened to the tapes of Mulder’s regression hypnosis. Mulder made no mystery of them; they were probably included in Samantha’s file…

Scully was alone, judging from her backgrounds she was probably alone in her own home as she listened to Mulder’s anguished voice as he recalled that night. As we heard the heartbreaking words of the voice over we saw him, in a church, sitting on a bench, holding in his hands a picture of his sister. He cried and he finally began to pray

What? Mulder prays? Wasn’t he agnostic? Wasn’t he Jew? Shut-up! It doesn’t matter!

Anyway, the fact that Mulder, who is a very private person, revealed so much about him to Scully shows that in his own way, he was really trying to open up, to trust her.

But, they had to go all the way to Icy Cape, and be closed off in a cabin with Rack from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, George Mason from 24 and the chick with way too many children, from Desperate Housewives to talk about trust for the first time…go figure it out![1]

Breaking the ice

~ Welcome to the top of the world, Agent Mulder. (Ice)

Ice is a milestone for Mulder and Scully’s relationship…

Before going on, there’s a lot to be said about Trust on the X-Files. As you probably know, one of the mottos of the show is: trust no one. The word trust, and its more profound meaning are a crucial part of the show…and trust is the basis of Mulder and Scully’s relationship…even more so than love.

Yes, Mulder and Scully did keep things from each other from time to time, for pride and because they wanted to protect each other from harm, they were stubborn individuals, scarred and pretty much screwed up, but the core of their bond was trust. It’s always been.

One of the reasons the first half of the sixth season[2] was painful to watch for me, both as a fan of the show and as a shipper, was because the trust Mulder and Scully had in each other had been tarnished by outside forces: Diana Fowley (God, I had forgotten how much I despised her and why!).

But I’m getting ahead of myself…once again.

Ice, is a great MOTW[3] episode…but most of all, is the aforementioned milestone, one of the many.

Mulder and Scully had been working together for a while when they were sent to Ice Cape. They had a good working relationship, they made a good team on the field…but did they trust each other? Did they trust each other with their lives?

They had saved each other butts enough times by that point, but…- again- how much did they trust each other?

That trip to Icy Cape became soon enough a nightmare and a test for their partnership.

We find out that deep down, Mulder and Scully didn’t implicitly trust each other, not yet. But they were getting there.

I think what happened in the store when they examined each other was the crumbling of the first wall between them. I’ve previously talked about the scene in the pilot episode where they locked glances through the fake mirror, and as I said Ice broke the first wall, broke the ice between them.

Mulder said he didn’t trust the other people, but he wanted to trust Scully. He was talking about the events that were taking place that night, but I’ve always believed those words had a deeper meaning. Mulder wanted to trust Scully. He wanted to trust his partner. He wanted to trust the young woman who had been assigned from their superiors to debunk his work on the X-Files.

And from that moment on he started to.

On a totally shallow level: my God…you could cut the sexual tension with a knife in the scene in the room. I love the way he touched Scully: gently, with reverence almost. I love how he brushed away some locks from the nape of her neck – and it is just me or the X-Files writers had some kind of a fetish with Gillian Anderson’s neck? -

And I love how Scully touched Mulder…and how she touched anything but his neck!

After the events of Ice, their relationship began to chance, morph into something deeper, although it was a gradual thing. Mulder began to trust Scully on a personal level, but only with the events of “Fallen Angel” he got that he could trust her, really trust her as far as the X-Files were concerned.

Fallen Angel is a beautiful episode, it’s a classic X-File, it has everything in it: conspiracy, aliens and it gave us another insight into Mulder and Scully’s budding partnership. I love how it is shown that they were already totally comfortable into each other’s rooms at the motels. We see that in almost every episode of the first season.

The end of Fallen Angel is beautiful…Scully felt for Mulder, for what she perceived was going to be the end of the X-Files’ division, and I think that didn’t go unnoticed on Mulder.

So, they had begun to trust each other both on a personal level (Ice) and on a professional level (Fallen Angel) yet, we find out that Mulder still withheld information from her, such as the fact that he had a source, Deep Throat. As we can see in “Eve”.

Mulder and Scully’s interaction in Eve was fantastic: they were totally at ease with each other, there was playful banter, you could choke in the chemistry they shared.

I said they were comfortable into each other’s rooms, so much that Scully answered to a phone call in Mulder’s hotel room. And what has always surprised me was that Mulder didn’t seem to mind. It was natural, an almost everyday occurrence.

On a side note: didn’t they really look like the lovely parents of the two kids?

I will write about how people perceive their relationship, later.

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[1]              The actors who guest starred in Ice, later starred or guest starred on other shows: I don’t remember the name of the guy who played the pilot in ice (and Rack on BTVS)  the others are Xander Berkley and Felicity Huffman

[2]                Aka The Hell Also Known As The Sixth Season or how to screw up your characters and still think you’re the second coming of Writers (Bitter to the Surfer Dude? Who, moi?)

[3]              MOTW acronym for Monster of The Week

Guest Post – X-Files: A Shipper Guide, Part 1

*Editor’s Note: I’m so excited about this, our first guest post!

Nina is a long time X-Phile and shipper extraordinaire. (Seriously. You guys thought I was rabid.) You can find more of her humorous insights into The X-Files, Supernatural, 24 and other fandoms on her tumblr at myspecialhell.tumblr.com. Here’s the first part of her rundown on Mulder and Scully’s relationship in Season 1. Agree/disagree with her observations? Duke it out in the comments section. We can’t wait to hear what you guys think!

And with that, take it away, Nina!

Rambling, biased, totally personal opinion, written with tongue firmly planted in cheek, except when I talk about Mulder.

Premise

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It’s been  years, since the X-Files took off the air. To be completely honest I had to distance myself from the show, and the wreck the last seasons had been after it ended. I was too involved in the show, I daresay I was obsessed with it, I took every bad script, every jab at the characters I loved a bit too seriously.

Did I say I was obsessed with the X-Files?

For me, The X-Files was all about Mulder, and the relationship between Mulder and Scully. The mytharc[1][2] stopped making sense whatsoever around the fifth season, to this day I still haven’t gotten all the facts straight, and honestly? I doubt Chris Carter and co, do. The monsters of the week were mostly cool, but to me, as I said, the X-Files was all about the characters: Mulder, Scully and Skinner.

Mulder and Scully shared a very complicated, sometimes dysfunctional relationship, which without a doubt changed all the television standards; it was a relationship, which crashed all the existing clichés.

Up until Mulder and Scully appeared on the screens we were used to star crossed lovers, to relationships a là Moonlighting.

With Mulder and Scully it wasn’t just the matter of: “are they in love or not ?”, because they clearly were…  or “will they or won’t they ?”, because given Scully’s eternal pregnancy in eight season they clearly did, and the surfer dude managed not to show it to us. What Mulder and Scully had was far more complex than the usual relationships seen on TV.

With a few exceptions (such as John Sheridan and Delenn from Babylon 5 and Michael and Nikita from La Femme Nikita) I don’t think TV has given us another couple like that. And I doubt it ever will.

I am a shipper, yet in my utter naiveté I had really thought I had become a noromo[3]…I mean, I had watched the last episode of the series and Mulder and Scully acting like a couple, the admission they were indeed lovers, left me cold…except for the part where I would have ripped the lawyer’s throat out!

It was 2002…fast forward a few years, and my being shipper has come back…with a vengeance! And hey, if I choose to overlook a few things (a few seasons, maybe!), I can even like Scully again!

So I am a shipper, and like any other Mulder and Scully’s shipper on this planet I can tell you the key moments of their partnership/friendship/relationship. I can quote dialogues, things said by Chris Carter and the gang…

That’s cool, and I’ll get to that…but what I really want to do is trying to write a throughout, in depth analysis of their relationship.

Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll try and  write something about Mulder too… since I do believe he’s one of the most fascinating characters ever created. He’s by far my favorite fictional character, ever!

So, guys, fasten your seat belts, grab a pack of Maalox and follow me…

I’ll try to stay as far away as humanly possible from the fanon.

What is fanon you ask?

Fanon are all the common ideas that are shared among fans, through discussions, fan-fictions and the like… fanon is not something written in stone…heck, it’s not even true…but it sorts of become true…

And as much as The X-Files’ canon wasn’t written in stone either (continuity guys, is a bitch!) I’ll try to stick to the facts. I’ll try to channel my inner Scully; hey it worked while I studied physics in high school!

It goes without saying, that here and there I’ll throw in personal comments, thoughts, ruminations, ramblings, bitchings, fanwankings[4] and some of the things are to be considered written with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

I can be a snarky bitch sometimes, but to my chagrin I discovered that my snarkiness and dryness leave the house as far as the X-Files is concerned.

I said that I was obsessed with the X-Files, didn’t I?

So, here it goes…

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Chapter one

The first season

It was the year they met, the year when their lives changed forever.

It was the year they got to know each other and learned about trust, about partnership and something about themselves.

It was the year of Tooms, of Ellen Air Base, of Max Fenig and Luther Lee Boggs.

It was the year Scully got kidnapped for the first time and Mulder got shot in the leg.

It was the year they met ghosts and werewolves, miracle men and killer bugs, it was the year of reincarnated cops into little girls and twins with a vendetta.

It was the year they met Skinner and Smoking Man was just a creepy guy who lurked and didn’t talk.

It was the first season of the X-Files.

The Beginning

~ Sorry, nobody down here, but the FBI most unwanted.

-  Mulder (pilot episode)

Let’s begin with the dates, guys…6^th March 1992, that’s when Mulder and Scully first met. Now, I don’t know why they have forgotten about that. I don’t know whether it’s been a mistake in the close caption made by some wacky editor, but fact is, Mulder and Scully met for the first time on 1992, and I still cringe every time this is not mentioned.

So ok, I guess I’m a bit anal about it…but hey, from the pilot episode to Deep Throat, the first regular episode of the series, there’s a whole year and half we haven’t seen!

Eighteen months, guys…that’s a whole heck of a long time!

Anyway, back to the pilot episode…

For those who are not familiar with the show, and its mythology, Dana Scully, an instructor at Quantico was called to the FBI Headquarters with an assignment: the X-Files and the hidden agenda to debunk its supervisor work on it.

For those who don’t know whom the supervisor of the X-Files is I’ll give you a hint: he’s the guy with the big nose and the to-die-for hazel eyes!

Fox Mulder.

Fox Mulder was a legend within the Bureau: an excellent profiler, a brilliant Oxford graduated psychologist…a rising star at BSU until in 1991 he left it to work on the X-Files.

What are the X-Files?

You know? I refuse to answer to this. If you don’t know what the X-Files are, it’s gonna be tough!

Anyway, I’ll give you another hint: unexplained phenomena. Mulder investigated on them, he pissed off a lot of people, hence Dana Scully’s assignment to the X-Files.

Why Dana Scully? Well, she was supposed to be the skeptic, those crazy, crazy kids at the Consortium – or Syndicate, or whatever the gang at 1013 called them – believed that since she was a scientist and an ambitious woman it would be simple.

Yep…they were so screwed…!

The reasons behind Mulder’s career suicide were rather personal.

One name guys: the name of the recurring character which together with Skinner and Scully’s cross deserved to be in the credits

What…you say that Skinner was in the credits? When? In ninth season you say? Oh…well…I was under the impression the ninth season had just ONE episode…

And for the record: I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the credits of the last two seasons. I never watched them and I don’t mean to. Ever.

Petty of me? So what?

Samantha – insert a second name of your choice in here, since the gang at 1013 couldn’t stick to one to save their lives- Mulder. The brat little sister, except she wasn’t really a brat and I cried my eyes out when I saw Closure…BUT I’m getting ahead of myself…sorry.

She was abducted when Mulder was twelve and she was eight never to be found again. After he came to believe she was abducted by aliens, Mulder went working to the X-Files and being the genius he is, he started pissing people off…and getting close to the truth.

Now, he wasn’t that close to the truth…he kind of danced around it, got drunk during the movie so that when he was told the truth he probably forgot everything about it and we had to sit through Law & Files to know that gee! We Earthers are screwed…

And once again I’m getting ahead of myself…sorry!

So Scully walked into the basement office to meet Fox Mulder, whose nickname among his peers was spooky Mulder.

Before I go on, it’s interesting to notice that although Mulder and Scully hadn’t met before the pilot episode, they knew each other…by reputation…heck! Scully even knew Mulder’s nickname!

Since Mulder was supervisor of the X-Files, he was probably notified of Scully’s arrival. But you know what they say: once a profiler, always a profiler. So it’s within the realm of possibilities that Mulder profiled Scully before meeting her.

‘Cause, guys? Two things: I don’t really think Mulder had Scully’s thesis about Enstein’s whatever paradox handy.

And second…you know how Scully writes, we’ve heard it in various episodes, and mostly it was her frigging journal! Can you imagine her senior physics thesis?

Anyway, Mulder read it and he claimed he liked it.

I first watched the Pilot episode on 1994, I wasn’t even eighteen, and after watching it I used to have all this theory about Mulder: it was a very romantic theory, very fanon-ish and a bit delusional, but I loved it so very much…and then X-Files’ 5^th season came  …and along with it Diana Fowley[5], and Chris Carter screwed it!

Anyway, part of my theory still applies. I’m one of those shippers who think that Mulder and Scully fell for each other at first sight.

Let’s get this straight: I said I was obsessed and I said I was a bit delusional, ok?

When Mulder saw Scully for the first time he actually blinked…he did some kind of double take. Now, maybe he thought: “My God…is she even legal to have a beer? She looks fourteen!”

But I’ve always thought that it was the moment he fell for her…and she wasn’t even SeventhSeason!Wonderbra!Scully! She was just cute…in a: “I’m barely more than a rookie and you have no idea whatsoever of what a pain in the ass I can really be” way.

Mulder put on a show with her, complete with a slideshow, cockiness and all the trademark Mr-Smart-Ass-Mulderisms.

Yet, despite all of the above, two things happened that convince me, even en lieu of my new found bitchiness of my previous theory:

1) Mulder kept invading Scully’s personal space (and Scully didn’t seem to mind)

2) Mulder’s knees kind of gave out when he finally sat and dismissed Scully.

I rest my case about it.

I was talking about my original theory: how Mulder was the lone wolf, the man on the edge of a cliff and how I saw Scully as the light who entered his office and his life.

Carter, thank you ever so for Diana Fowley, the Unusual Suspects and Travellers (Although, speaking of Travellers, I watched it again a few weeks ago and I loved it to pieces! Why didn’t they make the eight season set in the past? The adventures of young Arthur Dales – who was hot in his own way and was a very interesting character – told in flashback to Scully as she tried to really look for Mulder!)! *Editor’s Note: Dang, that would’ve been good.

Fanon wanted Mulder to be this pathetic creature who was alone, had always been and was kind of nut.

Want to know what I think it really happened? And what it has to do with Scully?

Mulder is a survivor and a fighter…we have seen it time and again throughout the series, heck…the guy was buried alive and survived without even bedsores!!!

I think that what happened to Samantha scarred Mulder, but until he underwent regression hypnosis he led a somewhat normal life: he excelled in sports, excelled in academics, was a rising star at the Bureau…and he had partners at work (Jerry Lamanna), he was respected by his peers (Reggy Purdue) and he had relationships…

He was married guys…let’s not dance around the subject…it was kind of hard to miss the wedding ring…it was huge! It was like a frigging flying saucer!

Whom was he married to? It’s not clear, Carter didn’t go out on a limb and said out loud it was Diana Fowley, he probably had still some self preservation instincts…because if you were a fan of the X-Files back then, you recall how liked Diana Fowley was. Not.

So let’s examine the facts and throw away the fanon, shall we?

Mulder was indeed a loose cannon, but he hadn’t always been that way. He was obsessed with his job…but he hadn’t always been that way. The guy used to have a life, then it was torn asunder and he dedicated himself to the X-Files and the truth.

I’ve always thought Mulder is a hero, a real, honest to God, hero…like those in epic tales. Well, the knowledge of his past hasn’t changed this notion one bit.

Ok, ok, at the time it did…but it was a selfish thing…and way too many fan-fictions I had read. And I was younger…don’t forget that.

I find it even more fascinating now, knowing that he had a life, he had basically everything a man could look for: a good job, the respect of his peers, a woman he loved (never mind that she had worked with the Consortium all along and that she was a bitch!) …yet, he consciously gave up on everything…in order to find out the truth.

The truth about his sister, but knowing Mulder? How long did it take him to see that something was rotten in the state of Denmark?

Of course at the time the pilot episode was written, all those pesky things like a former wife didn’t exist…so can you blame millions of people for falling for the “tortured- broody-lonely-on-the-edge-of-a -cliff” guy routine? Bet you can’t.

So, Dana Scully entered his office, as his new partner, and Mulder made no mystery out of the real meaning of Scully’s presence in the basement.

“Really? I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me…”

On a side note: let’s make one thing clear…as much as a shipper as I am – and please believe me, despite everything I’ve said so far I am…I’m, like, THE shipper – I want something to be clear: Scully was assigned to the X-Files not as an equal to Mulder. Mulder is the senior agent in charge, even later this hierarchy doesn’t change. If you don’t notice that is because Mulder didn’t really care about those things, but actually? Mulder was Scully’s boss.

Back to our dynamic duo: there were sparks flying between them in their first scene together, I think their chemistry was palpable in it and so was what was going to become the general tone of the show.

Their very first case together, took them in Oregon to investigate on the deaths of a group of teens. Mulder had his suspicions about what really happened, but he didn’t let Scully on them, he played the cliché of Spooky Mulder, up until the autopsy scene.

I love that scene, it’s one of my favorite of the pilot episode, it gave us an insight into Mulder’s mind.

“I’m not crazy, Scully! I’ve got the same doubts you do…”

Mulder knew that whatever he said wasn’t going to make any difference to a spy. Yet, he felt compelled to tell Scully he was not crazy. He was compelled to let her know that he had doubts, that he just wanted…

Guess what?

The truth.

There is something else I’ve always loved about the pilot episode: the way Mulder and Scully worked as partners since the get go. They worked well as a team…and it showed.

Chris Carter claimed he didn’t want Mulder and Scully to be a couple. You have heard him saying it millions of times. In hindsight I can say that he fooled us all…because he created one of the most compelling love stories ever written, which transcended sex, romance and the usual clichés…

Anyway, he claimed he wrote the scene where Scully undressed in front of Mulder with the precise intent to show that he didn’t want them to be a couple.

Huh?

I never got this.

I swear I didn’t get it when I was eighteen and I don’t get it now, that I’m thirty four! If Carter’s purpose wasn’t that…then why in the hell didn’t let Scully wear a pair of shorts and a t-shirt? Why couldn’t she have just lifted her t-shirt to let Mulder see the marks? Why undressing?  To let us see that they weren’t going to crawl in bed and have sex?

Well…duh!

Mulder knew she was a spy, he knew she could screw his career if her ever attempted something funny…but there wasn’t even a shadow of doubt when he saw Scully on his doorstep.

The scene is filled with tension, and I clearly remember while I watched that scene for the first time that I took a look at my watch and said: “Wow…twenty minutes and they’re already going at it?”

Was it a: “gotcha?”

Nope, it was a red herring. The scene that turned millions of people into helpless and hopeful shippers, was another one…the following.

Nine years – ten and half if you count the original timeline-, countless hugs, chewing of arms, sucking of eyebrows, kisses, and that scene still kills me, every time I see it.

That was the moment where their partnership began. I’ve always loved the setting of the scene…there were those people, who barely knew each other and talked, lit only by lightings and candles.

Mulder told Scully why he worked on the X-Files, he told her about his sister and told her the only thing it mattered to him was to find her.

Now, back then I accepted it as gospel. I thought that it had always been that way…that he had always been that obsessed

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I think that Mulder didn’t give a damn about his sister before he underwent regression hypnosis…on the contrary, I think that one way or another he had always looked for her. Look at the guy’s background: he excelled in sports, couldn’t it have been a reaction to his immobility the night Samantha was abducted?

He was a psychologist recruited by the Bureau even thanks to his thesis about serial killings. He worked for the Bureau in the Violent Crimes Section…wasn’t it a way to look for his sister? To know whatever happened to her? To try and prevent such things, from happening to any other little girls?

I think it did. He never forgot about Samantha, given his way of thinking is only natural that he wanted the truth.

There was probably a lot of guilt involved when the repressed memories were restored. So at that point of his life, it was true…the only thing that mattered to him was to find his sister, to bring her back, to have closure.

Mulder didn’t know what hit him when he met Scully…and boy, the guy was in for a hell of a ride!!

Scully said to Mulder what he had probably known ever since they had met in his office: she wasn’t a spy, she wasn’t one of them, she just wanted to solve the case.

Just like him she wanted the truth.

I love the last few minutes of the episode: the way Mulder and Scully looked at each other through the fake mirror is a classic moment which, in my opinion, offers an interesting metaphor for what their relationship was going to be: they could reach each other against all odds, but they were somehow divided, by walls which took them ultimately a decade to break down.

In my opinion it’s very important the pilot episode’s last scene.

Mulder called Scully, to tell her that the case files about Billy Miles disappeared.

He whispered to her: “We need to talk, Scully” I think, that her simple answer: “Yes, tomorrow” was a promise for the future.

Scully’s soft spoken words let us understand, that, everything, from that moment on, was going to be different, for both of them, no matter the risks, the sorrow, the tears…the pain and tribulations they might face, they were not alone anymore.

As I previously said, Chris Carter, DA man himself, claimed he didn’t want Mulder and Scully to get together. I don’t want to dwell on why he was so adamant in keeping their relationship chaste and platonic…I don’t know if the surfer dude has issues, or if he just wanted to drive the fans stark crazy with the waiting, but anyway while he said that hell would freeze over before Mulder and Scully ever kissed, on the other hand he got rid of Ethan Minette, the infamous Scully’s boyfriend, whose scenes were filmed but never made it to the episode.

And there is something else: I don’t know if any of you have ever taken a look at the original script of the pilot episode, besides the differences (i.e.: Mulder was kind like a v-jay from Mtv, he was way more a loose cannon than in the episode), I love the way he describes Scully’s reaction to Mulder’s phone call.

To those who have complained time and again about how Scully put up with Mulder and that crazy job they had…I want to say this: she knew. She knew that meeting Mulder, entering that office would change her life forever; she knew things would be different, and she accepted it.

---

[1] The Mytharc is how we Philes call the episodes, which dealt with the conspiration and the colonization…the sweeps episodes, where Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz came up with always new ideas to mess with our heads…and Mulder and Scully’s relationship.

[2]

[3] Noromo short for not romance. Noromo are the fans who don’t want a romantic relationship between  Mulder and Scully.

[4] A fanwank is an explanation given by the fans to certain events…a fill in the blank for  a scene and stuff like that

[5] Played by Mimi Rogers

Sleepless 2×4: Wrap the body to go.

Put 'er there.

For anyone who might be watching the series for the first time, you’ll just have to take my word for it that this episode is much more significant looking backward than it is watching the series from the beginning. Be forewarned, there’s a great surprise at the end of the episode that you won’t want to ruin for yourself. This is definitely a case where you should watch before reading any summaries or reviews.

This is our second government cover-up episode in a row but with a twist. For conspiracies that have nothing to do with the greater mythology I have a special category: Half-Caff. These types of episodes generally involve a dangerous cutting edge science or technology that the government it trying, and failing, to control. This episode, however, doesn’t quite fit into any category. There is a cover-up, yes, but the mythology is also a much stronger presence in this episode than we’ve had since “The Erlenmeyer Flask” (1×23). Since Skinner has rebelled, it seems CSM has roped himself a new puppet. And he’s a doozie.

We start off with what may be one of the series’ most compelling and mysterious intros to date. We, the audience, know we just saw a fire ravage a man’s home. So where did it go? From the teaser, we segue into a “Mulder the Jackass” routine and this is where I’d like to pause for a minute.

Mulder can be a bit of a self-important jerk at times. True, Krycek will turn out to be far worse than that, but Mulder doesn’t know that. No, he has no excuse for his arrogance. We can only explain it by assuming that Mulder doesn’t want Krycek to interfere when he uncovers some diabolical plot or some paranormal oddity. Not to mention Mulder is fed up with the FBI and isn’t interested in making friends. But are those the only reason Krycek’s getting the cold shoulder?

No one wants to shake Krycek’s hand figuratively or physically, not even Scully. During the autopsy, Mulder and Scully carry on one of their intensely whispered conversations as if Krycek wasn’t even there. Why does he get the brush off when he hasn’t done anything wrong? It’s not about whether he’s good, bad, or pathetic. Mulder works with Scully or he works alone. He doesn’t trust anyone but her. For her part, Scully isn’t comfortable with the idea of Mulder taking on a new partner either. Could, horror of horrors, Krycek replace her in Mulder’s estimation? Scully goes so far as to fish shamelessly for confirmation of Mulder’s continued affection. Judging from his sheepish response, the loneliness is quite mutual. At one point, they act like 13-year-old sweethearts who can’t get off the phone even though it’s 1 in the morning and the conversation has long since gone quiet.

I still think their relationship is platonic at this point, but judging from that conversation, I can see why my fellow Shippers might feel differently. They’re certainly not hiding the fact that they’re lonely and bored without each other. As I mentioned last episode, they’re much sweeter to each other than they were last season. However, if their relationship was a budding romance Krycek would be no threat and neither Mulder nor Scully would have much reason to resent him. After all, he doesn’t represent a potential rival love interest for Mulder (despite what Slashers may think). The truth is, at this point what Mulder and Scully have is no more or less than a perfect partnership. That’s why Krycek coming in as a new partner is enough to rattle them both. It means that Scully could be displaced.

As long as Mulder doesn’t officially have to work with anyone else, Scully can be his unofficial partner on the side. But will it be the same if he, Scully and Krycek work as a threesome? Of course not. And what if, God forbid, he actually starts to prefer open-minded Krycek? That might be Scully’s worst nightmare. She prides herself on being useful to Mulder. She need not worry. The Mulder we met in the “Pilot” (1×79) may have been looking for a more Krycek-like partner. But after learning to relish the challenge that Scully represents, Mulder would be bored out of his mind with a Yes Man.

But enough about Krycek, there’s more fresh meat in this episode. Finally, Mulder’s new, nameless informant steps out of the shadows. We only know him as Mr. X. A far cry from Deep Throat, X acts like there’s nothing he’d rather not be doing than helping Mulder. He has no intention of becoming another martyr to the cause and ominously hints that Mulder is in danger himself, and not just of being fired. X himself oozes danger. No surrogate father figure is he. Whatever fuzzy feelings Mulder might have had for Deep Throat, X isn’t poised to resurrect them. When Scully questions whether or not Mulder trusts him, Mulder can only sigh.

I’m glad the writers decided to take X in a completely different direction from Deep Throat as an informant. A simple 1 for 1 replacement would have been boring. Between X, Krycek, and CSM’s growing presence, The X-Files is quickly taking on thriller-like proportions.

…And the Verdict is:

“Sleepless” owes a little something to The Manchurian Candidate and that’s a good thing. I’m glad to add this to the list of episodes I enjoyed more this time around. Before I had slept on the plot (pun intended) and had forgotten how good the interpersonal dynamics are.

More than that, I had forgotten how perfect a set-up this episode is for the 3-episode arc that follows. I might even go so far as to say that “Sleepless” should always be watched before “Duane Barry” (2×5) to get the full effect. It certainly makes the ensuing events more sinister. Now we know that something bad is going to happen to Scully and Krycek is at the root of it. He knows what Mulder and Scully know, that he can’t fully ingratiate himself to Mulder with Scully still around. She’s too much competition.

I don’t know that this episode does its job as a stand-alone, but as a part of the series as a whole it’s valuable and effective.

B+

Randomness:

Dr. Grissom’s sleep disorder center seems behind the times considering the man has already figured out how to render sleep unnecessary. You’d think that these lesser sleep issues would be a quick fix.

CSM has reading glasses. That’s so not diabolical.

Did Krycek kill Cole on purpose? I believe so. But Cole was also purposefully trying to get killed.

Mulder makes a selfish demand of Scully in regards to the autopsy, knowing she’ll drop everything and help him. Already it starts.

Best Quotes:

Krycek: I paid off your cab. I don’t appreciate being ditched like somebody’s bad date.
Mulder: Sorry if I hurt your feelings.
Krycek: Where do you get off copping this attitude? I mean, you don’t know the first thing about me.
Mulder: Exactly.
Krycek: You know, back at the academy, some of the guys used to make fun of you.
Mulder: Oh, stop it, or you’re going to hurt my feelings.

————————-

Scully: Sounds like your new partner’s working out.
Mulder: He’s alright. He could use a little more seasoning and some, uh, wardrobe advice. But he’s a lot more open to extreme possibilities than…
Scully: Than I was?
Mulder: …than I assumed he would be.
Scully: Must be nice not having someone questioning your every move, poking holes in all your theories?
Mulder: Oh… oh yeah. It… it’s great. I… I’m surprised I put up with you for so long.

————————–

Smoking Man: What about Scully?
Krycek: Reassigning them to other sections seems only to have strengthened their determination. Scully’s a problem. A much larger problem than you described.
Smoking Man: Every problem has its solution.

Season 1 Wrap Up: The FBI’s most unwanted.

"This must be the place."

…And the Verdict is:

B

It’s alive!

Sure, things started off a little slow and clunky, but that’s what happens when a snowball rolls downhill.

Up until now, when I’ve had a rewatch or when I’ve gone back and watched Season 1 episodes individually, all I noticed was how different the show was in the beginning versus later seasons. The unfulfilled episode endings, hokey special effects, bad ties… it’s hard not to forget that you’re watching early 90s television. But this time around, I’m struck by how consistent the show actually was, particularly in Mulder and Scully’s characterizations. Even through Season 7, the creators stuck to the original plan, they just got better at executing it. From beginning to, well, almost end, we have two paranormal investigators who use science as their guide and regularly give their bosses the stank eye.

The conspiracy is different, sure. But that’s only because it didn’t exist. Instead, there are a number of small conspiracies presumably organized by the same shadowy group of men. There’s no connectivity between episodes like “Deep Throat” (1×1) and “Conduit” (1×3) for instance. Miraculously, though, all the seeds planted at the end of the season in “The Erlenmeyer Flask” (1×23) bring forth fruit before the end of the series. No, you can’t quite call it a mythology episode but it certainly serves as a prologue to what comes later.

My personal highlights were enjoying “Ghost in the Machine” (1×6) and “E.B.E.” (1×16) for the first time. GITM still ranks at the lower end of the spectrum but it’s not the lost cause I had written it off as before. I dare say I might even enjoy it more the next go-around. “E.B.E.” is a gem long misunderstood by my adolescent mind. Thank heavens I’m a big girl now. It’s particularly gratifying since part of the point of this endeavor is to eke out every last bit of pleasure from this show that I can. Now I have to more episodes to add to my anytime rewatch list.

Even more importantly, I’m getting a kick out of trying to track Mulder and Scully’s relationship timeline from beginning to end. As far as Season 1 goes, they click in the beginning, they gel in the middle, and they downright congeal at the end. By the beginning of Season 2 Mulder just about gives her the, “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope,” speech.

So now for a question I’ve been dying to get to. Somewhere inbetween the “Pilot” (1×79) and the closing of the X-Files in “The Erlenmeyer Flask,” Mulder and Scully become better than partners they become “Mulder & Scully.” Now, I’m not hinting at any Shipper Shenanigans, but I’ve always wondered whether there was a “moment” that could be picked out or if, as I’m prone to think, it was a naturally evolution that occurred before the audience even picked up on it. To be honest, I’m still not sure. But if there is a “moment” that can be pointed out, then there are several contenders for that honor.

1. “Pilot” (1×79): Mulder and Scully bond in the rain and Scully laughs maniacally. Why not? She must be losing her mind since she’s starting to believe her crazy partner.
2. “Squeeze” (1×2): Scully stands up for Mulder against some J. Edgar Hooverish bullies while Mulder first hints that he may be feeling some (platonic!) affection for Scully. Scully makes a fateful decision to follow him up the stairs.
3. “Beyond the Sea” (1×12): Mulder doesn’t just hint, he calls her Dana. Dana decides she can open up and be vulnerable with Fox. At this point, they’re so in tune with each other that they even sit in sync.
4. “E.B.E.” (1x)16: Mulder now realizes that the only person he can trust is Scully, and he tells her so without any regard for her personal space.
5. “Tooms” (1×20): Root beer.

My personal opinion? The “Pilot” is where they become partners, “Squeeze” is where they become comrades, “Beyond the Sea” is where they become friends, “E.B.E.” is where they become allies, and “Tooms” is when they become “Mulder & Scully.”

That’s my take on it… this time around. But I’d love to hear some other opinions. Is it possible to pinpoint when Mulder and Scully became something special? If not, why not? If so, are any of the options I listed viable? Was there a moment I didn’t list that you want to smack me over the virtual head for missing? Let me know!

P.S. BBC America is airing Fight the Future right this very moment, 8pm ET. I smell a run up to XF3!

The Erlenmeyer Flask 1×23: I know it’s not Silence of the Lambs, but it’s what we do.

Maybe this time we can just cut out the Obi Wan Kenobi crap.

This is it, we’ve finally reached “The Erlenmeyer Flask” AKA “Scully Takes a Stand, Then Takes it Back” AKA “People Die on This Show.” Recurring themes to follow.

We open with a high speed chase, mainly to prove that X-Files don’t just hang out in dank, dark corners anymore. Apparently, neither does the show’s budget. The story takes place on a grander scale than any other X-Files episode up to this point. As a mystery, the pacing of this episode is great. In the beginning there are lots of clues, but as Scully points out, no connection, which is how I like it. Anticipation is better than fruition. Well, when it comes to well-written mysteries, anyway. But this is not just the beginning of real action on The X-Files, it’s the beginning of the mythology. Hip hip hooray! The series’ backbone is starting to take shape like a supersoldier’s spinning metal spine.

That crucial revelations in this episode take place at 1616 Pandora St. is so perfect one would assume the writers had to make it up, but my sources tell me they didn’t. (By “sources” I mean one source and by “source” I mean the DVD documentary.) Regardless, it’s an appropriate location for secrets to start to shake loose. And like the original Pandora, Mulder is delving into mysteries that can hurt as quickly as they can help. As asked earlier in Season 1, what will he do with the information once he has it? He wants to go public for the sake of the freedom of information. Yet, it doesn’t sound like he’s bothered to ask himself what good that will actually do. But I digress.

Why Mulder trusts Deep Throat again after the debacle that occurred in “E.B.E.” (1×16), that’s the true X-File. Nothing here to counter my theory that Mulder is actually trusting by nature, if a little jaded. The man’s loyalty outstrips his reason. It’s as obvious as Gillian Anderson’s baby bump. But I digress. Again.

Once more Scully is the voice of reason, airing doubts about Deep Throat that any rational person would be thinking. Only this time she’s wrong. So wrong. It’s only occurred to me for the first time this go-around, but Deep Throat must’ve known he couldn’t blackmail his fellow conspirators, not without giving up his life. This is why he is so insistent that he physically make the trade for Mulder and not Scully. Mulder refers to himself as the “dutiful son” early on in the episode. I suppose Deep Throat wants a chance to repay his trust by sacrificing himself like the father figure Mulder once thought him to be. His final speech to Scully while he’s still in the car is, in essence, a passing of the baton. He’s hoping that if he gets Mulder released, Mulder will find out the truth and put a stop to these men. Something that whatever strings he can pull, Deep Throat can’t seem to do himself.

Deep Throat has good reason to believe that Mulder won’t rest until he’s exposed every last conspirator. Chris Carter has stated that Mulder’s search for his sister, his search for extra-terrestrial life, is a pseudo-religious experience. He goes from being your average guy (albeit with excellent prospects) to alienating himself from family, friends and colleagues all for the zealous pursuit of his “cause.” He clearly doesn’t think God can offer him any answers. Perhaps he thinks the aliens will? I wonder if at this point in the series the character bothers to ask himself what he would do if he found Samantha, if he was able to confirm the existence of other life out there… somewhere. What would he do then? He’d hitchhike a ride on a space ship for some god-forsaken reason and goes who knows where, that’s what. But that’s a rant for another episode. Suffice it to say that Deep Throat can go to his grave assured that Mulder will let it all hang out one day.

There isn’t too much to say on the Mulder and Scully partnership front, except that we see Scully being refreshingly vulnerable with Mulder by admitting that she was wrong and confessing that she’s not sure she can trust her beloved science anymore. But Scully need not fear. This show is based on science, really. What makes The X-Files stand out from the paranormal pack of vampire slayers is that it uses science to give creditability to the spiritual; it uses science to prove what science hasn’t been able to prove up to this point. That’s its intelligent allure. The only reason Scully believes Mulder is because science has proven he’s right. So maybe she need not give up her belief in science, just remember that science hasn’t finished revealing its secrets.

Chris Carter is a sucker for parallels and bookended stories (I am too), and so the episode ends just like the “Pilot” (1×79), with Scully in bed taking a midnight call from Mulder. Only this time, instead of distancing herself from Mulder, she finds that they’ve been ripped a part by outside forces as punishment for getting too close to the truth. It’s like when God confused people’s languages at The Tower of Babel because they could do too much damage when they were unified and left to their own devices. (Except that God was justified.) Similarly to the human race, broken up or not, Mulder and Scully will find a way to make trouble together anyhow. Thank goodness.

Final Answer:

Mythology episodes, even though this can only loosely be called one, have a reputation for suggesting much and revealing little. A reputation that’s been well-earned. So let’s take a moment and take stock of what the writers did give us, shall we?

1. There is a conspiracy. (But you guessed that, didn’t you?)
2. This conspiracy is about more than the existence of alien life. (Bet you didn’t guess that one.)
3. Alien life, at least its DNA, exists. (What would be the point otherwise?)
4. This DNA is being tested on the population without their knowledge. (This is what makes the bad guys “The Bad Guys.”)
5. The conspiracy revolves around cloning a virus. (Because the world needs more of those).
6. Those involved in the conspiracy may or may not bleed green blood and have super powers. (It’s a bird, it’s a plane…)
7. The conspirators have the cure for cancer but have no intention of sharing. (Maybe if we ask nicely.)
8. The conspirators also have no intention of making the conspiracy successful. (That would ruin everything.)
9. Even the conspirators aren’t safe. (No honor among thieves and all that.)

All in all, it’s not a bad set of revelations. It’s certainly more than we’ve gotten the whole season long. Up to this point, the conspiracy has been suggested but hasn’t shown any real signs of taking form. Truthfully, it still won’t until Season 2 rolls along. You can’t see it, but I’m rubbing my hands together gleefully.

A-

Random Thoughts:

Mulder’s penchant for B Sci-fi is far preferable to his predilection for porn.

Mulder is incurably snarky even when he’s blind and in the hand of his captors.

Mulder says, “Skinner!” with the vehemence of a mental patient.

I could be wrong, but I believe this is Danny’s first “appearance.”

Scully holds an alien fetus in her hand and a reputable, objective scientist tells her that she’s stumbled upon alien DNA. And yet, she doesn’t believe for another 6 seasons or so…

Unanswered Questions:

What makes Mulder pick up that random flask to get tested, anyway?

How did Scully sneak that Alien baby out of the facility? Stuff it in her pocket?

Who else thinks Dr. Carpenter would’ve called the CDC and made copies of her findings before she went home for fried chicken with the family??

Is the green blood toxic or isn’t it? The officer that shoots Dr. Secare at the beginning of the episode is unaffected, while Mulder later folds like a schoolgirl. Scully steps in alien blood herself, but only her shoe is the wiser. Maybe the blood has to be uber fresh? This will be one of my standing questions for years to come.

Did Scully leave Deep Throat’s body there in the street, or did she call the Police? And if she called the police, how in the heck did she explain what went down?

Best Quotes:

Mulder: You think he does it because he gets off on it?
Scully: No, I think he does it because you do.

—————-

Scully: OK, Mulder, but I’m warning you… if this is monkey pee, you’re on your own.

—————-

Scully: I should know by now to trust your instincts.
Mulder: Why? Nobody else does.

EBE 1×16: Don’t stop swimming.

Exit. Stage Right.

I’m going to step out into precarious territory here and say that I think Fox Mulder is a naturally trusting fellow. Don’t believe me? Well, he certainly trusts Deep Throat without question. He lets Jerry and Phoebe back into his life in “Ghost in the Machine” (1×6) and “Fire” (1×11) respectively. And most of all, in the “Pilot” (1×79), he’s skeptical of his skeptical partner and yet he reaches out to her anyway… in hope. What hope? Hope that he can trust her.

This is all a part of Mulder’s tendency to naturally give trust based on his instincts. And once he believes in a person he’s reluctant to throw that trust away unless given a significant reason to do so. He does that with Skinner in “Redux II” (5×2), Diana Fowley in multiple episodes. And here we see him live out the same pattern with Deep Throat. Has Deep Throat ever given him any hard reason to trust him? As Scully points out: not really. But since he hasn’t given any particular reason to distrust him either, Mulder is inclined to think the best of him.

The man is a sensitive soul at heart. There’s a reason he’s downright gullible sometimes. He wants to believe, not only in aliens and the paranormal, but in people too. Unfortunately, this idealism doesn’t serve him well and he grows progressively cynical and distrustful as time marches on. Still, even as of Season 6 he’s reluctant to suspect anyone he has a history or relationship with. That’s my theory and I’m stickin’ to it.

Regardless, as usual, Mulder’s gut instincts are right. Deep Throat is on his side. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t mislead him for the sake of his own agenda. As Mulder eventually learns, the only one he can count on, the only one who doesn’t have their own agenda tied up in a musty closet somewhere, is Scully. It’s not that Scully is the only one he would trust, rather, as the mythology spreads out, she’s the only one he can trust. All other options and allegiances are taken from him. There’s food for thought. Chew on that cud.

Whatever the reason he trusts Scully, if we were ever unsure before now we know that Mulder truly does rely on her. He even switches from saying “me” to “us” by the end of the episode. How does he put it? Deep Throat “tried to deceive us.” They’re a team on this. Finally. Now Scully is in on the conspiracy for the first time whereas before she was clueless on the outskirts. I mentioned before that there is a moment in Beyond the Sea that could possibly be considered the moment when Mulder and Scully become Mulder and Scully. Well, this is the second contender.

Scully, on her part, finally admits that it’s Mulder’s passion she admires. And truthfully, their relationship follows the outline of this exchange for much of the rest of their partnership. Scully knows the world is out to get Mulder and she’s trying to keep the world at bay. Mulder wants to jump off the deep end and Scully desperately tries to rein him in for his own good. He wants to believe too much, she’s too reluctant to believe… world without end, amen.

One thing I never appreciated properly before when it comes to “EBE” is its subtlety. Take the interchange of the cup back sliding back and forth on the interrogation table between Scully and the truck driver. A lesser show would have put too much emphasis on it with close ups on the actors’ drawn out, exaggerated reactions and such. The X-Files just lets it sit there for you to notice it or not. Same thing when Scully receives the bugged pen. Never, ever had I caught that bit about the pen at the rent-a-car agency. Not only that, I didn’t even catch it during the re-watch for the review. I was enjoying myself so much that halfway through I rewound the episode to the beginning to savor it even more and that’s when I caught it. How sad is that? Feel free at this point to dismiss all the rest of my reviews as obviously my powers of observation encountered kryptonite somewhere along the way.

However, I don’t need any particular powers of observation for this next part. Not enough can be said about the introduction of the Lone Gunmen and the way it’s underplayed. Once again, there are no exaggerated, lingering close-ups. I could almost wish we had more time to watch the characters respond to one another, but in the end I prefer it this way. It’s funny to think that Morgan and Wong initially thought that they had somehow missed the mark in the depiction of these three amigos. Thankfully, nothing could be further from reality. They are a nerd’s joy and a geek’s delight. And so is this entire episode.

And the Verdict is…

I really, really enjoyed watching “EBE” this time around. Maybe it’s the beauty of hindsight, who knows? Being aware of what happens at the end of the series certainly makes the beginning more poignant, not to mention it makes me feel like a bit of a wise old owl superciliously dropping knowing nods in the characters’ directions. Whatever the more primitive psychological reason, the acting and directing here points to the extreme possibility of this turning into a dang good series. If there’s any disappointment in this episode it’s that it didn’t have time to develop both the characters’ relationships and the conspiracy. We really don’t learn much about the government conspiracy except that it exists. Oh, and that Scully seems to have started believing in it too, minus the part about aliens, of course. One can’t have it all.

We finally see the mythology start to blink its sleepy eyes. It’s not quite awake yet, but it’s peeking!

A

P.S. If that’s not enough, check out the obscene amount of quotable moments I felt compelled to tag onto the end of this review.

Little Nags:

Roswell being lumped in with the Tuskeegee experiments? Really, Mulder??

The spaceship parts are supposed to be making this truck heavy, right? After all, little green men don’t weigh 2 tons. That’s why we say they’re “little.” And if the truck is overloaded with spaceship pieces, how is Mulder shoving these boxes around like they’re full of Styrofoam popcorn? Moreover, if those are car part decoys, where are the alien gizmos?

When did Mulder learn where Scully lives? For that matter, how did he know where she lived during “Squeeze” (1×3)?? I can’t exactly see them hanging out with each other on the weekends at this point. Maybe he picked her up on the way to the airport before or something.

How did the grandmotherly covert agent fit the pen properly with the bugging device without knowing what pen Scully would use ahead of time? It hardly looks like the expensive type of pen that you’d keep your eye on.

General Observations:

Scully doesn’t use nearly enough creamer in her coffee.

Did Mulder and Scully spend their own personal money on those extra plane tickets? Talk about conviction for a cause.

After Mulder’s touching declaration of blind trust does Deep Throat feel guilty? We hope so.

Aliens abduct humans out of their beds yet they can’t abduct one of their own out of a truck before the government gets to him?

Did anyone else notice that at the beginning of their interview of the truck driver Mulder had his leg up on the table? He really has always been like that.

Mulder totally saw that $20 bill thing coming.

This is the second time that Mulder and Scully have been blinded eyewitnesses to an alien abduction. Of course, this is the first time an alien is the abductee…

Best Quotes:

Scully: From the trucker’s description, the shape he fired on could conceivably have been a mountain lion.
Mulder: Conceivably.
Scully: The National Weather Service last night reported atmospheric conditions in this area that were possibly conducive to lightning.
Mulder: Possibly.
Scully: It is feasible that the truck was struck by lightning, creating the electrical failure.
Mulder: It’s feasible.
Scully: And you know, there’s a marsh over there. The lights the driver saw may have been swamp gas.
Mulder: Swamp gas?
Scully: It’s a natural phenomenon in which phospine and methane rising from decaying organic matter ignite, creating globes of blue flame.
Mulder: Happens to me when I eat Dodger Dogs.

————-

Byers: Vladmir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Russian Social Democrats? He’s being put into power by the most heinous and evil force of the 20th century.
Mulder: Barney?

————-

Deep Throat: Mulder, if the shark stops swimming it will die. Don’t stop swimming.

————-

Langly: Is this your skeptical partner?
Frohike: She’s hot.
Byers: You don’t believe that the CIA, threatened by a loss of power and funding, because of the collapse of the cold war, wouldn’t dream of having the old enemy back?
Scully: I think you give the government too much credit. I mean, the government can’t control the deficit or manage crime. What makes you think they can plan and execute such an elaborate conspiracy?
Frohike: She is hot.
Mulder: Settle down, Frohike.

————

Scully: Those were the most paranoid people I have ever met. I don’t know how you could think that what they say is even remotely plausible.
Mulder: I think it’s remotely plausible that someone might think you’re hot.

————

Byers: That’s why we like you, Mulder. You’re ideas are weirder than ours.

————

Scully: Please, will you just hear me? I have never met anyone so passionate and dedicated to a belief as you. It’s so intense that sometimes it’s blinding. But there are others who are watching you, who know what I know, and where as I can respect and admire your passion, they will use it against you. Mulder, the truth is out there… but so are lies.

———–

Deep Throat: You’re awfully quiet, Mr. Mulder.
Mulder: I’m wondering which lie to believe.