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Season 1: The FBI's Most Unwanted


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Favorites:

Squeeze/Tooms (Squeeze is probably my favorite episode out of all 202).

Darkness Falls  

Eve

Ice

Conduit

 

Least favorites:

This is hard for me, because I'm easy to please when it comes to this show and like most episodes. But I'd say...

Space (this one almost redeems itself because I find it HILARIOUS. Just thinking about Colonel Belt making those constipated facial expressions as the "face" leaves him never ceases to make me laugh).

Shapes

Born Again

Shadows

Miracle Man

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You sure can, queequeg---and you happen to have chosen one of my all-time favorites! How I miss the Scully who could smile...and the Mulder who gave us all more to smile about :) 

 

Squeeze/Tooms (Squeeze is probably my favorite episode out of all 202).

 

I really love these as well. And now you've got me thinking about my five favorite episodes out of all 202, which...no. I don't even think I can pick fewer than 20! 

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How I miss the Scully who could smile...and the Mulder who gave us all more to smile about :)

What?! You wouldn't rather have downtrodden, sad Scully of seasons 8 and 9 with her sad Scully tune?

cap070.jpg

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That's from Deep Throat.  She's waiting for him (he doesn't want to discuss things in the office), and he sneaks in between her face and what she's reading.  Then he offers to buy her a beer, but Agent Goody Two Shoes declares it to be the middle of the afternoon.

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Aww, that's on my "Mulder, it's Me" mix tape, but now I can't remember what song it leads into. 

 

"In our investigations, you may not always agree with me but at least you respect the journey.  And if you want to continue working with them, I won't hold it against you."

"No, you must have something more than your polygraph interpretation to back up this bizarre theory and I have to see what it is."

 

Cue ... some song that will haunt me all day until I get home and dig out the tape.

 

Ah!  I think it's Chantal Kreviazuk's Grace.

Edited by Bastet
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That's from Shadows.  Discussing the Liberty Bell.  Or just before it. 

 

"It's a big bell with a big crack, and you have to wait in a long line." 

 

I knew right away by the maroon suit and white panty hose.

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At least that's the only time he's doing it to be obnoxious.  The rest of the time he's just oblivious or doesn't mean anything by it.  But that Okobogee move is so inappropriate.  I hate especially when men do that to women, and especially in a workplace situation.  That scene bugs me, but I love the look on her face.

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Ok, I'm terrible at lists but the recent activity here made me think about a rewatch and I started with season 1. Not all, because I have to do other things, oddly enough.

 

So, for season 1, my list is based on the episodes I thought are worthy of rewatching:

Fallen Angel: I adore Max and I find him oddly compelling and I feel very sad about him. Scott Bellis made him more than a caricature.

Eve: Because Mulder is wrong about the cattle mutilations.

Fire: Because of Mark Sheppard and because Scully scares the crap out of Mulder at the end.

Darkness Falls: I always liked this one better than ice. Less overacting of the other actors.

Erlenmeyer Flask: Because it's really good.

 

Honorable Mention: I rewatched those some time  earlier this winter.

Pilot, obviously

Squeeze: because there is a reason why all my computers have been named either TOOMS, VICTOR, or EUGENE. Still one of my all-time favorite villains.

Deep Throat: Because Action!Scully will never not be great.

Beyond the Sea: Because.

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Oh, X-Files. The first TV series I ever truly loved. I mean, I loved the X-Files. Little did I know that other people out there loved it even more than I did. If I was a fan of this show, I would later discover there were fanboys and girls on steroids with Red Bull-infused espresso. Die-hard X-Philes who lined up to see "Fight the Future". Die-hard X-Philes who cosplayed when cosplay wasn't so popular. 

Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes. Season 1. X-Files had me at the Pilot. It was everything I'd hoped a paranormal show would be. Everything. Scully and Mulder were the best partners I'd ever seen on TV. Scully was never just a whiny sidekick who would forever be relegated to the role of the helpless damsel-in-distress. The only thing that ever really grated on me was that Mulder. Was. Never. Wrong. And that Scully always missed the crazy paranormal stuff that Mulder somehow always managed to witness.

 

Or at least it seemed that way. 

I guess I agree, more or less, with the best/worst lists. I'm a little surprised at the "hate" for Young at Heart. It never bothered me that Barnett's new hand was spliced from salamanders. The vendetta against Mulder was pretty clichéd in retrospect (and much better executed in Pusher and later Kitsunegari), but I remember being utterly stunned that the youthful-looking Barnett managed to get shots off at Scully and actually hit her, too. Of course she was wearing a vest, but that scene of her falling backwards to the ground and not moving was shocking. But Barnett, as a rival, was shown to have really gotten under the usually unflappable Mulder's skin. I can really appreciate that about Young at Heart.

 

I absolutely loved Darkness Falls. The whole premise was brilliant. Mark Snow's creepy scoring of this episode in particular (I can hear those strings now with the fading sunlight scenes) really helped push this episode into top 10 heights for me. And when my screen "faded" to green with our intrepid agents and the forestry agent struggling inside the Jeep... I didn't know what to think! I mean, they couldn't have just killed the main characters..! Could they?

 

Top marks also goes to Tooms. Made one think twice about ventilation shafts and liver. X-Files always made you believe in the impossible; in the outlandish; in the incredible. Nothing says "impossible", "outlandish" and "incredible" than a hibernating, stretching mutant who eats human livers to sustain himself through his period of hibernation. Eugene Tooms' glowing eyes and ravenous appetite made him a standout in the "monster of the week" pack.

Don't really have very much else to add. I'll probably never watch Space again because I also thought it was poor.

I'll have to watch Roland again to see it anything sticks with me. I remember being underwhelmed the first time. 

Other than that, I have extremely fond memories of watching and enjoying Season 1. I mean, come on. Who else had a freak-out the moment you read "TRUST NO ONE" instead of "THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE" in the season finale? You know you did... 

Edited by TheRealTC
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It's been a long time since I've seen Young at Heart, but I remember liking it. I've always been curious about Mulder's past, so a little glimpse into his old life is great. And I definitely agree with you about Darkness Falls! The first time I saw that episode I was in third grade and it scared me so badly that I wouldn't go outside at night for several weeks afterwards.

 

 I've always loved this shot. Somehow I think it captures the essence of the show... gigantic flashlights, dark rooms, and the duo harassing monsters.   

 

 a201A.jpg

Edited by Hidebehind
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And that Scully always missed the crazy paranormal stuff that Mulder somehow always managed to witness.

 

The worst/best was in Shadows, when shit was getting real inside the house, and Scully's outside stuck in the car because she's still futzing with her seat belt.  Because of course seat belts can be tricky.  Never fails to crack me up. 

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Most of the original fans likely know this, but for new fans or those who weren't immersed in the media at the time ... Back in these early days of the series, in scenes where Mulder and Scully were walking somewhere, Gillian was instructed to walk a few paces behind David (prompting her lovely "It's like India" remark).  No wonder she missed seeing the weird shit go down over and over -- she was pretty much always behind.

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Jersey Devil wasn't a bad episode at all.  It had its moments.  Scully had a life in this episode, a godson, a friend, and her only date until Ed Jerse in season 4.  Mulder getting thrown in the drunk tank was good stuff. 

 

But as a NJ resident, the MOTW was so not the Jersey Devil.  Everyone who knows the legend knows the Jersey Devil has wings and cloven hooves living in the Pine Barrens, and isn't a beast woman in Atlantic City.  If they would've called it something else, I wouldn't have a problem with it at all.  I much prefer The Host as a NJ based ep. Giant mutant flukeworm in a North Jersey sewer...now that I can buy.  

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I like Jersey Devil, mostly for the dialogue. Didn't I write a recap for it? Whatever happened to those, does anyone know?

 

Being from Germany, I know nothing of Jersey Devils and Sasquatches and the like, so however a TV shows chooses to protray it, is fine with me.

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The recaps are here (and, yes, you did Jersey Devil).

 

Which I'm now re-reading, and loving this commentary on Mulder openly perusing a nudie magazine at work:

 

This is the fifth episode and the fact that Mulder doesn’t even blink an eye nor tries to cover up, speaks volumes. Since this is the first time his porn obsession is addressed (and you’ll have to call it obsession when he keeps his tapes in the office), this looks like he’s trying to embarrass her. Since Scully is of course above such shenanigans (and TenThirteen’s idea of humour), she is barely able to contain her laughter at this feeble attempt to make her uncomfortable, thus making it clear that this will not work by uttering the infamous line “anti-gravity is right.” Mulder gets it right away and the magazine is thrown on to the desk. Still, he’s acting like a prick. Yes, pun intended.

Edited by Bastet
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Oh, they are still there! Maybe I should re-read them when re-watching. Glad, you like it, @Bastet I barely remembered that I wrote it.

 

I Think I agree with @janestclair. It's an episode of enjoyable moments. Not an episode that made much sense.

Edited by supposebly
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"Keep it up, Mulder, and I'll hurt you like that beast woman."  It's in response to his teasing her by throwing her "Unlike you, Mulder, I would like to have a life" remark back at her when she decides to accompany him to the Smithsonian.

 

I also love when she springs him from the drunk tank, saying it's easy to see how they mistook him for a vagrant, and he asks if she's going to rag on him or take him to get some food.  "Am I buying, or did you manage to panhandle some spare change while you were at it?

 

I remember loving this one. I was convinced that Scully was trying to ask Mulder out for a date at the end of the episode.

 

Always wanted that jerk agent Colton from the Squeeze episode to return.

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OK, so I know we're not to Darkness Falls, but I came across this today and I'm still cracking up:

 

tumblr_n2srl4bUgx1qag66no4_250.gif

 

She runs into his backpack, and it's taller than her. 

 

Yet another reason I love Gillian and Scully, as someone who is roughly the same height, I relate to GIF's like this. When I was a teenager, having a short, red-headed kickass woman in popular culture was a big positive influence.

 

Apropos of nothing, here are my five favourite and least favourite season one episodes.

 

Favourites

 

The Pilot - one of the best pilots of any TV show ever, while S1 characterisations could be a little all over the place, this pilot gives you a great sense of who these characters are and what the show is going to do. 

 

Beyond the Sea - Gillian was just amazing in this episode and you learn a lot about who Scully is and what makes her tick.

 

Ice - The fact that both Felicity Huffman and Jeff Kober guest star in this episode sells me on it straight away. The tense, well-paced plot is just a bonus, even if the CGI worms are the suck.

 

Squeeze/Tooms - Eugene Tooms is one of The X-Files most successful MOTWs in terms genuinely creeping me out.

 

The Erlenmeyer Flask - The best of the S1 mythology episodes, my response to Scully pulling the alien out of the flask is still 'Holy God!!!'

 

Least Favourite

 

Ghost in the Machine - I remember quite enjoying this ep this first time I saw it but now it feels very dated and the tech seems ridiculous.

 

Gender Bender - This episode felt so rushed at the end and was a real letdown after Fire, which I quite enjoyed and Beyond the Sea, which I still think is one of the best episodes of the entire 202.

 

Space - I don't dislike it as much as some seem to but still not great.

 

Shapes - I actually like this less than Space.

 

Born Again - again, this is not a bad episode per se, but others are far better.

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I'm rewatching the show to prepare for the new stuff. I've seen everything a dozen times, and each time, I am surprised that my opinions on episodes generally don't change.

 

"Time can't just disappear! It's a universal invariant!" makes me laugh literally each time I watch the Pilot.

 

Ghost in the Machine, Fire, and Space are such disasters that I can't even deal with them most of the time.

 

I love the Pilot, and my two favorite "Monster of the Week" episodes are Darkness Falls and Eve, which I was glad to see are enjoyed by most of the people in the thread as well.

 

When I rewatch this season, I always remind myself that the bad episodes are there for me to watch the chemistry between Scully and Mulder develop.

 

I could do without half of the episodes though.

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I couldn't agree more. S1 Scully is serious and an introvert from the outset (and that's why I love and relate to her!), but she has such a droll, clever sense of humor and a lot of spirit and vitality lurking just beneath the surface. It's a million percent understandable that she'd become more somber and sometimes flat as the series progressed, but early Scully is just such a pleasure to spend time with. 

 

 

Is it too late to respond to a thread over a year old? Okay, I don't care.  

 

I've been revisiting the S1 episodes in anticipation on the new series---I've also talked several people that never saw the show into watching and guiding them with a list of the "essential" episodes to watch.

 

But yes, S1 Scully had some seriously droll moments.  The episode Roland, which is terrible by almost every account, features one of my favorite exchanges between Mulder and Scully.  Mulder asks her if she has a brother. She says she has two and Mulder goes on a very long winded explanation of how sometimes you can be thinking of someone all day and then suddenly you get a phone call from them; of psychic connections and the suggested ability for one sibling to control the thoughts and actions of another sibling. Scully is buying none of this, but exits the conversation with "I gotta go call my brother." 

 

In advising friends on watching S1 for the first time, I guide them to the following episodes and strenuously argue that they skip the rest because goodness knows some of those S1 clunkers could possibly derail a less determined viewer.  Best eps:

 

Pilot

Deep Throat

Squeeze

Conduit

Ice

Fallen Angel

Eve

Beyond the Sea

EBE

Tooms

The Erlenmeyer Flask

 

I don't hate "Miracle Man" or "Young at Heart" (we learn something about Mulder's past and that he flirts with the technical staff at the FBI) or "Lazarus" (we learn something about Scully's past which includes her having some semblance of a romantic life before teaming up with Mulder).  I don't even hate "Fire" because although a boring episode, Scully does punk him so well at the end. 

 

Only "Space", "Ghost in the Machine", "Genderbender" and "Born Again" are truly no-gos for me. 

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Space will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first episode I ever saw and it legitimately gave me nightmares for weeks after. Every Friday after that, I would have a huge fight with my older sisters over whether we would watch The X-Files or the TGIF lineup. Thank god it switched to Sundays and I grew up a little bit, otherwise I would be stuck celebrating the Full House revival, which is clearly a bad life decision.

 

I also sort of like Ghost in the Machine because it has a great Scully moment. Coming to Mulder's defense while covered in gunk from the air vent is both hilarious and badass.

Edited by M.F. Luder
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 Thank god it switched to Sundays and I grew up a little bit, otherwise I would be stuck celebrating the Full House revival, which is clearly a bad life decision.

 

 

I saw some poll online recently asking if viewers were looking forward more to the X-Files revival or the Full House revival.  All I could think was, "are there seriously any cross-over fans of both shows?"  Seems so unlikely. 

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I also sort of like Ghost in the Machine because it has a great Scully moment. Coming to Mulder's defense while covered in gunk from the air vent is both hilarious and badass.

 

Same here -- the episode is certainly awful, but I have a long-standing affection for it because of that scene (okay, and the elevator blow job from the gag reel).

 

Space I sort of want to like in a "oh my god, they actually produced this as an hour of television" way, and Scully's fantastic season one humor is on display as she pokes fun at Mulder's fanboy ways, but the episode just pisses me off.  Between Mulder explaining everything going on in the control room to Scully as if she is not a high-functioning adult standing right there watching and hearing the same things he is and the EMTs obeying Mulder's instructions overriding what the (medical) DOCTOR has just said, I can't just sit through the stock footage and laugh at the image of Chris Carter saying to himself, "You think I'm spending too much money per episode?  Well, fine, FOX, here's what you get for less."

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In advising friends on watching S1 for the first time, I guide them to the following episodes and strenuously argue that they skip the rest because goodness knows some of those S1 clunkers could possibly derail a less determined viewer. Best eps:

Pilot

Deep Throat

Squeeze

Conduit

Ice

Fallen Angel

Eve

Beyond the Sea

EBE

Tooms

The Erlenmeyer Flask

I don't hate "Miracle Man" or "Young at Heart" (we learn something about Mulder's past and that he flirts with the technical staff at the FBI) or "Lazarus" (we learn something about Scully's past which includes her having some semblance of a romantic life before teaming up with Mulder). I don't even hate "Fire" because although a boring episode, Scully does punk him so well at the end.

Only "Space", "Ghost in the Machine", "Genderbender" and "Born Again" are truly no-gos for me.

First of all, where is Darkness Falls? Come on, one of the best episode of the season! But yes, we're all different, et cetera.

It depends on what your friends are drawn to with lists like these, really. If it's a mix of conspiracy and UFO's and monster of the week then these are good choices. Myself I'm a MotW man (with a small dose of conspiracy eps). I'll watch Genderbender, Born Again and Fire ten times before I'll watch Conduit or Fallen Angel.

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First of all, where is Darkness Falls? Come on, one of the best episode of the season! But yes, we're all different, et cetera.

It depends on what your friends are drawn to with lists like these, really. If it's a mix of conspiracy and UFO's and monster of the week then these are good choices. Myself I'm a MotW man (with a small dose of conspiracy eps). I'll watch Genderbender, Born Again and Fire ten times before I'll watch Conduit or Fallen Angel.

I do like Darkness Falls. It just isn't one of my favorites either as a standalone or as a representative of S1.  In 2015, since the new series was announced, I've had three different friends embark on watching the show for the first time but all have been wary of it because, you know, 202 episodes plus two movies and who the hell has time for that and still hold down a job? 

 

I love both the stand alones and the mythology. I don't think you can truly understand the show and appreciate the fullness of the characters without watching both.  Likewise, I enjoy both "Fight the Future" and "I Want to Believe" movies.  Having said that, I think there are more misses and clunkers amongst the stand alones than the mytharc. (Excepting S9 which I think is uniformly awful up and down.)  At any rate, I ended up with a list of 106 episodes plus the movies. 

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Is it too late to respond to a thread over a year old? Okay, I don't care.  

 

I've been revisiting the S1 episodes in anticipation on the new series---I've also talked several people that never saw the show into watching and guiding them with a list of the "essential" episodes to watch.

 

But yes, S1 Scully had some seriously droll moments.  The episode Roland, which is terrible by almost every account, features one of my favorite exchanges between Mulder and Scully.  Mulder asks her if she has a brother. She says she has two and Mulder goes on a very long winded explanation of how sometimes you can be thinking of someone all day and then suddenly you get a phone call from them; of psychic connections and the suggested ability for one sibling to control the thoughts and actions of another sibling. Scully is buying none of this, but exits the conversation with "I gotta go call my brother." 

 

In advising friends on watching S1 for the first time, I guide them to the following episodes and strenuously argue that they skip the rest because goodness knows some of those S1 clunkers could possibly derail a less determined viewer.  Best eps:

 

Pilot

Deep Throat

Squeeze

Conduit

Ice

Fallen Angel

Eve

Beyond the Sea

EBE

Tooms

The Erlenmeyer Flask

 

I don't hate "Miracle Man" or "Young at Heart" (we learn something about Mulder's past and that he flirts with the technical staff at the FBI) or "Lazarus" (we learn something about Scully's past which includes her having some semblance of a romantic life before teaming up with Mulder).  I don't even hate "Fire" because although a boring episode, Scully does punk him so well at the end. 

 

Only "Space", "Ghost in the Machine", "Genderbender" and "Born Again" are truly no-gos for me. 

 

What's funny about that list is that if you do indeed add Darkness Falls, those are all the episodes that were on the season 1 VHS tapes.  Remember those?  That was in the dark ages before DVDs, and even though I had taped them all off the TV, I still bought (and probably still have, somewhere) those VHS tapes. 

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I also went and bought those tapes even though I already had all the episodes -- because they had those little interviews with CC at the beginning.  I paid how much to hear him "uh" his way through saying pretty much nothing?

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What's funny about that list is that if you do indeed add Darkness Falls, those are all the episodes that were on the season 1 VHS tapes.  Remember those?  That was in the dark ages before DVDs, and even though I had taped them all off the TV, I still bought (and probably still have, somewhere) those VHS tapes. 

 

Ha. I actually had taped everything myself, so didn't make any further VHS purchases. (Except for a compilation made by someone online who hawked a whole bunch of behind the scenes, gag reels, various interviews, etc.)  

 

But did that stop me from paying, like, $100 / season for dodgy DVD sets from South Korea? No. No, it did not. 

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I love this group so much.  My people!  LOL.

 

Hubby bought me my first set of XF DVDs for Christmas one year.  It was the complete first season, and it was from China.  The box and cases were all in Chinese, so I had to type up a list of each episode title and what DVD it was on, and put that in the box so I would know what I was looking for.  Good times.

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So, I was left desperately wanting more after the new episode aired earlier tonight, so I decided to start all over again at the beginning. I grabbed a big glass of wine, thanked god for the crazy blizzard that makes taking an impromptu day off work seem like a great idea, and watched the Pilot and Deep Throat.

 

Random thoughts on the Pilot:

 

- Nineties fashion was awful for everyone involved

- Scully looked about 16 years old sitting on the bed in her hotel room while she was typing up her field notes, How is it that Gillian just gets more gorgeous with time?

- I forgot how much they smiled so early on!

- Gillian was such a pro at all that medical jargon from the very beginning.

- Even as a card carrying lesbian who (unknowingly) had a crush on Scully from the very beginning, even I can appreciate how insanely hot Mulder was.

- Mulder's "characteristic exuberance" was so cute and so earnest in the beginning. He was just so excited and genuine and not so burned out and bogged down. It's very refreshing. It made me grin like an idiot during the scene where he's telling Scully about Samantha for the first time.

- I actually liked this case! It more or less came together into sort of a resolution and I loved that by the end, Scully was just as into finding out what was going on as Mulder.

- I forgot how very "Boo-yah!" Scully is when she hands over the implant to Section Chief Blevins, all "I DO have evidence, bitch." She looks SO pleased with herself.

- I loved how they were setting everything up that became iconic, Mulder's work being a joke to the FBI, his Spooky Mulder reputation, the phone tapping (I remember thinking "people can listen to your phone calls??" and being blown away), the flashlights, all the darkness, the bad rental cars, the crappy hotel rooms. Ahh, memories.

- "I'm afraid I might be next. I'm afraid I might.......die." The woman that played Theresa Nemmen was so bad!!!

- "The boy from the hospital. The vegetable." Damn, Scully. Not very PC. Is it wrong that it made me literally lol?

- Scully sometimes looks at Mulder like she's the band geek and he's the football star. It's adorable and hilarious.

 

Random Thoughts on Deep Throat:

 

- Mulder and his complete disregard of the concept of personal space. Hee!

- The introduction of the first informant. Yay!

- "The government is not above the law. They cannot withhold information.".........Oh, Scully. If only you knew.

- The phones, the huge phones!!!

- "Sucker!" Love it!

- The first "Mulder, are you suggesting..."

- I had forgotten that he doesn't even try to hide that he's ditching her. He had to have known she'd hear the car start.

- "Did we tell him about the landmines and junk?" Hee!

- "Mr. Mulder, they have been here for a long, long time." --- Chills.

 

God, I love this show.

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I am currently doing a rewatch of the entire series which is something I've never actually done before.

 

A little background: I watched this show from the very beginning back in 1993. I was 27 and I had two little kids so I really didn't have anything better to do on a Friday night ; ). I have a terrible memory which I mentioned on one of the new episode threads so I only really remember my feelings about the show and not actual details so I thought I might post about that and what I think now after a rewatch.

 

Season 1. Then:

 

I had never shipped any couple on TV until Mulder and Scully and I didn't actually ship them romantically in the first season. I was more interested in the deep friendship that was developing. But with Ice, even I was like dayum. I realized what insane chemistry they had. My favorite episodes from season one were Ice and Beyond the Sea.

 

Now:

 

All the touching. I'm not sure I was aware of it back then but boy am I seeing it now. My favorite episodes still remain the same. My heart just breaks for Scully in Beyond the Sea. General impression now is I hope they realized what a treasure they had in Gillian. This show would not have worked without her. I think CC did because I was reading my season one companion book and he really went to bat with the network to get her cast. 

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