Season 1: The FBI's Most Unwanted

[eleanorofaquitaine]

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.

 

I watched from the pilot on but you know how it is with a new show - I figured X-Files was going to be canceled pretty quickly.  But "Ice" is the episode that I think really made me a fan, and made the show appointment tv for me.  I was in college at the time, and my poor friends always had to wait until after 10 pm before I would go out on Fridays. Anyway, I always feel as if "Ice" is underrated as a critical episode for the show because that's the first episode where I felt like their real personalities were locked in plus, as you said, you could see the real chemistry between the actors combined with this interesting question of how much they trusted each other.  (And the trust that Mulder and Scully have - and how it ebbs and flows throughout the series - is truly what underpins the whole show, IMO).

 

And then the episode that followed it was Space, and I am surprised the series survived that disaster at all.

[Bastet]

And then the episode that followed it was Space, and I am surprised the series survived that disaster at all.

 

It's funny that both Ice and Space were born out of the need to produce cheaper episodes than they'd been doing.  So Ice is written to take place almost entirely on one set, and Space to fill time with stock footage.  One motivation, two very different results.

 

Anyway, I always feel as if "Ice" is underrated as a critical episode for the show because that's the first episode where I felt like their real personalities were locked in plus, as you said, you could see the real chemistry between the actors combined with this interesting question of how much they trusted each other.

 

Gillian, David, and Chris have all talked about it as a pivotal episode, saying it was the first time everything truly clicked, and they felt the importance of what they were doing and the potential of what the show could be.  And Morgan and Wong were very focused, from when they first started writing it, with exploring how much Scully trusted Mulder rather than just continuing the theme of whether Mulder was starting to trust her.

 

Morgan and Wong had so much more of an eye towards Scully than Chris did, especially in those early days, and director David Nutter always got extra great performances out of Gillian.  It's a terrific episode all around, and part of that for me is that it's the first good Scully episode.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Bastet

[festivus]

Yeah, I remember being excited about the episode the first time because Jeff Kober was on it and I was a huge China Beach fan. Even after all these years that one stuck in my mind more than any other episode except for Clyde Bruckman (and Home of course, I'll never get that one out of my head and it's up next in my rewatch)

 

I would have liked to see Chris NoRoMo Carter's face after he saw the checking for bugs scene. Good luck stopping that train buddy.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I would have liked to see Chris NoRoMo Carter's face after he saw the checking for bugs scene. Good luck stopping that train buddy.

 

I mean, to be perfectly honest, that cake was baked from as early as the pilot, with the bug bites scene. 

[festivus]

True dat. The characters and the actors made it inevitable. 

[SparklesBitch]

True dat. The characters and the actors made it inevitable. 

 

They really did!

 

I just finished this season in my rewatch, and it's been even more enjoyable because one of my favorite coworkers started watching the show for the very first time recently. Her boyfriend found it first and then when I started talking about the revival, she started watching from the beginning with him. She'll text me as she's watching in real time and I love that they're both so into it. She's loving the relationship between Mulder and Scully, and after watching Lazarus, with Mulder telling the guys searching for Willis "this one's important to me, so let's do this right," the text I got was "OMG MULDER LOVES SCULLY!!!!" It's been a blast getting to see someone's first experience with the show. She told me she thinks she'll be having nightmares about Eugene Victor Tooms for weeks. =)

 

But anyway, all things considered, I really like the first season. There were some snoozers like Space and Shapes, but I love so many more of them (Ice, Darkness Falls, Beyond the Sea, Eve, Squeeze and Tooms, the Pilot, E.B.E) that I'm willing to forgive the occasional clunker. DD and GA's incredible chemistry was obvious from the very beginning, and I definitely think the show would have ended up canceled without it. For all of CC's many blunders, he really nailed it when he insisted on casting GA.

 

One thing that always, always bothers me though....as a trained scientist, I have a really hard time with the microbiologist in The Erlenmeyer Flask explaining to Scully (THE MEDICAL DOCTOR) the basic structure of DNA. I know that it was the mid 90s and most people watching TV wouldn't know a base pair if it bit them in the face, and also that they needed to explain it somehow, but they really needed to find another way. Scully, of all people, should have been all "yes, I know this, get to the good stuff, lady"....but instead she acts like she's never heard any of it before. It makes me cringe every time I see the episode, which admittedly isn't often, but still. /end of crazypants rant

 

Also, it took me a while to figure out where else I'd seen the guy who played Roland before until I realized it was Željko Ivanek, who is currently playing POTUS's Chief of Staff on the excellent Madam Secretary right now. He's amazing!

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Eugene Victor Tooms is such a creepy villain. It's too bad that Doug Hutchinson is so creepy in real life because it would have been nice to see him come back in some way.

 

 

[Prevailing Wind]

He & I have the same birthday. It creeps me out whenever I think about it.

[madam magpie]

I would have liked to see Chris NoRoMo Carter's face after he saw the checking for bugs scene. Good luck stopping that train buddy.

I saw an interview with Chris Carter (and Gillian/David) where they were all asked when they knew Mulder and Scully loved each other. He said, "From the moment you [pointing to Gillian] walked into Mulder's office." I don't get the impression he was unaware, just that romantic angst wasn't meant to be the focus of the show. Also, I mean...he wrote the pilot, including the searching for bug bites scene and the part where Scully's on the bed and Mulder's on the floor while he tells her about his sister. The rain, candle light, blocking--it's all pretty obviously romantic, so I think that the foundation of the relationship was purposeful.

I've been rewatching season 1, haven't seen it since it aired. And besides the fact that it's still entertaining and interesting, I'm most stunned by how young Gillian is. She's a couple of years older than I am in real life, so when I watched in real time, I'm sure she just looked like a peer. But looking back from 20 years on? Dayum....she's just darling. I want to squeeze her face.

Edited February 15, 2016 by madam magpie

[Taryn74]

 I don't get the impression he was unaware, just that romantic angst wasn't meant to be the focus of the show. 

 

Agreed.  And as much as it pained me sometimes, heh, I'm glad he went that route.  XF stands out because it wasn't just another show with a "serious" front but the real focus is on who's shagging and bopping behind the scenes.

 

One of my favorite interviews to this day is with Sheila Larken (Mrs. Scully) around S3, she says it's a cliche to say M/S are best friends, but they are best friends in a way that lovers never could be.  You could just tell from the emotion in her voice that she got it.

[madam magpie]

Agreed. And as much as it pained me sometimes, heh, I'm glad he went that route. XF stands out because it wasn't just another show with a "serious" front but the real focus is on who's shagging and bopping behind the scenes.

One of my favorite interviews to this day is with Sheila Larken (Mrs. Scully) around S3, she says it's a cliche to say M/S are best friends, but they are best friends in a way that lovers never could be. You could just tell from the emotion in her voice that she got it.

I totally agree. And I actually find their non-overtly sexual dynamic much more romantic than anything obvious. There's a real mystical quality to the show, and I think the Mulder/Scully relationship taps into that as well. Lots of people think "lovers" is the single most connected relationship two people can have, but I don't. I think Mulder/Scully are meant to share a much more idealized spiritual connection than that, and the friendship is what grounds it. Plus, I mean, let's be honest, I can assume they had sex at some point. The actors eventually put the assumption of the physical relationship into how they interacted. Mulder/Scully behave like two people who've slept together. Of course they have. My guess is that it was great, but I don't need to see it or have them talk about it to get what they're about...mainly because sex isn't what their relationship or the show is about at all. It might even have felt cheap because it's not needed to tell the story. Edited February 15, 2016 by madam magpie

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Agreed.  And as much as it pained me sometimes, heh, I'm glad he went that route.  XF stands out because it wasn't just another show with a "serious" front but the real focus is on who's shagging and bopping behind the scenes.

 

One of my favorite interviews to this day is with Sheila Larken (Mrs. Scully) around S3, she says it's a cliche to say M/S are best friends, but they are best friends in a way that lovers never could be.  You could just tell from the emotion in her voice that she got it.

 

I have few problems with the way M&S's relationship was written in the early seasons - I think that the slow burning tension between them was an interesting dynamic and especially through the first three seasons, the depth of their attachment to each other was more interesting in part because their relationship was platonic (but with the possibility of being more).  So yes, I agree that he was the one to set up that dynamic in the first place, so it's not like he was totally unaware of it. My problems came with the later seasons, where I think that not having them together didn't make much sense.

 

I totally agree. And I actually find their non-overtly sexual dynamic much more romantic than anything obvious. There's a real mystical quality to the show, and I think the Mulder/Scully relationship taps into that as well. Lots of people think "lovers" is the single most connected relationship two people can have, but I don't. I think Mulder/Scully are meant to share a much more idealized spiritual connection than that, and the friendship is what grounds it. Plus, I mean, let's be honest, I can assume they had sex at some point. The actors eventually put the assumption of the physical relationship into how they interacted. Mulder/Scully behave like two people who've slept together. Of course they have. My guess is that it was great, but I don't need to see it or have them talk about it to get what they're about...mainly because sex isn't what their relationship or the show is about at all. It might even have felt cheap because it's not needed to tell the story.

 

This is where I ultimately disagree.  Firstly, I don't really agree that an idealized spiritual connection is somehow cheapened by a sexual relationship. (I may be over-identifying here - my significant other and I came together because we were working together on a cause we both believed in, in a really high pressure environment. First we had professional respect for each other, then we developed a friendship, then we realized we were attracted to each other and became involved in a romantic relationship).  But mainly, I also think that BECAUSE DD & GA were playing the characters as if they were sleeping together, it seemed almost like the show was insulting the intelligence of fans by not acknowledging it. At some point in seasons 5 and 6, it felt like Carter was trying to have it both ways, and you could only do that so long.

 

Sex isn't what M&S's relationship or the show was about but it was almost as if by not acknowledging until pretty late in the game that they were having sex, the show ended up over-emphasizing that part of their relationship. Had they kept the full kiss from FTF, I think season 6 looks a lot differently. But you live and learn - I think CC probably learned the wrong lessons from Moonlighting, and I think subsequent shows learned lessons from The X-Files, that keeping the leads apart too long can also impact the direction the show is taking.

[madam magpie]

I actually think it was internet fans who made the relationship about a lack of sex, not the show. On the show, it was inconsequential and given no real attention.

I didn't mean that the relationship would be cheapened by a sex scene. Those were two separate thoughts, and of course people with a spiritual connection can have sex. They often do. But this story's focus was never physical. Still, we saw LOTS of physical (and emotional) intimacy to let us know that yes, these were two people who loved each other and were eventually sleeping together. I thought the way it all played out was incredibly romantic, and I was never confused about their relationship. It seemed obvious to me that they were a pretty committed pair--sometimes plutonic, sometimes not. But it's not like there were love triangles or crap like that. I don't think Mulder and Scully were ever really "apart" in the way shows play that game.

I think the introduction of a sex scene to satisfy and audience is what would be cheap. Since it isn't needed to understand the relationship or characters, it serves no purpose except voyeurism. So even though I get that some people disliked the choice to leave sex out of it, I don't think Chris Carter et al made a mistake in doing it, and it seemed purposeful, rather than an oversight.

Edited February 15, 2016 by madam magpie

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I actually think it was internet fans who made the relationship about a lack of sex, not the show. On the show, it was inconsequential and given no real attention.

I didn't mean that the relationship would be cheapened by a sex scene. Those were two separate thoughts, and of course people with a spiritual connection can have sex. They often do. But this is a story, and its focus was never physical. Still, we saw LOTS of physical (and emotional) intimacy to let us know that yes, these were two people who were sleeping together. I thought the way it all played out was incredibly romantic, and I was never confused about their relationship. It seemed obvious to me that they were a pretty committed pair--sometimes plutonic, sometimes not. But it's not like there were love triangles or crap like that. I don't think Mulder and Scully were ever really "apart" in the way shows play that game.

I think the introduction of a sex scene to satisfy and audience is what would be cheap. Since it isn't needed to understand the relationship or characters, it serves no purpose except to please a voyeuristic audience. So even though I get that some people disliked the choice to leave sex out of it, I don't think Chris Carter et al made a mistake in doing it, and it seemed purposeful, rather than an oversight.

 

I think we're talking about two different things here. I wasn't talking about including a sex scene on the show (though I can only imagine what would have happened had they ever done so.  Talking about Internet explosions).  I was just talking about an actual acknowledgement of their sexual relationship.  To be perfectly honest, for all that "all things" was a mess of an episode, that was probably the right way to acknowledge their relationship.  I guess we're supposed to believe that was the first time they were together sexually, but I always sort of liked the idea that the scene just showed what was happening for a while.

 

Also, I just don't agree "it was internet fans who made the relationship about a lack of sex, not the show. On the show, it was inconsequential and given no real attention."  I mean, yes, certainly, some fans were completely obsessed with the subject.   But I really don't agree that their sexual relationship - whatever the status - was inconsequential on the show and given no real attention.  That was kind of my point - in CC's efforts to be coy on the status of their relationship, he was writing around what was obvious to anyone watching.  And that ultimately was unnecessary and hurt the storytelling in some of the later seasons.  Had they acknowledged their relationship and integrated it into some of those episodes, their relationship would have been placed in the proper context in the show.  I just don't believe it was all because of the fans that their romantic relationship became such an off-screen obsession - I think that the writers/producers all had a lot to do with it.

[madam magpie]

Fair enough. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that bit. I do think it was the rise of the internet that made it a thing. We used to just watch TV and then move along.

I look at it like this: I know plenty of people who are having sex with each other. We don't talk about it much unless there's a problem or insecurity or whatever. I, myself, have never really sat around discussing the fact that we're sleeping together with my partners. There's joking and innuendo, which happens on the show. But mostly, we all just do it and then go on with our lives because it's not a thing; it's just a part of our lives. I LOVE that Mulder and Scully don't discuss their relationship much. I feel like that would be contrived; it's not who they are. Instead, they show me with their behavior how they feel about one another. It's truly one of my favorite things about the show. But I'll admit, I don't think I've seen the show since it aired. I'll have to pay attention as I rewatch and see if I notice when their relationship changes. Right now, I'm just in season 1 and even though they're clearly into each other, they're also clearly not sleeping together yet. My memory of when everything happens and what episode is what isn't the best.

Edited February 15, 2016 by madam magpie

[Bastet]

Answering in the Partnership thread since I'm talking about much later than season one ...

Edited February 15, 2016 by Bastet

[eleanorofaquitaine]

So I've never actually owned any of the episodes but I figured now is as good a time as any to do some rewatching, so I broke down and bought season 1 On Demand last night. I'll probably buy Season 2 this weekend, as well, and then go from there.  I am not going to do a full rewatch because, honestly, I don't need to see "Space" again for anything. 

 

I watched the Pilot and Ice last night. I know it's out of order but I will likely watch Squeeze and Beyond the Sea today.  A few thoughts:

 

Pilot - is actually a better episode than I had remembered.  And okay, kudos to CC and others for establishing things earlier than I realized - like the implant in "Ray Soames" nose and the nose-bleeding, etc. 

 

I also realized that the scene in "Were-Monster" where Mulder is sticking his phone in Scully's face while she's performing the autopsy was a call back to the scene in the pilot where Mulder is bouncing around with his camera, so good for them on that.

 

It's interesting to watch the introduction of Scully's character here in relation to how we were introduced to Agent Einstein's. For one thing, Scully may have been a skeptic but she was also intrigued by the mystery.  So when Mulder immediately starts in talking about the case, while she may think he's being a bit of a crackpot, she's open to the idea that there is a mystery here that she can help solve.

 

I had also forgotten that Scully was actually aware of Mulder by reputation - and that there is the nice parallel of him doing his homework on her with her senior dissertation, etc. But that was a nice reminder that Mulder actually has valuable analytical skills that the show didn't always showcase. (Though, to be fair, I actually liked that they had him noticing things in Home Again - like, remember, Mulder actually has pretty good investigative skills).

 

Also - glasses! I wish they let them wear glasses beyond season 1.

 

Ice - I mentioned that I really love this episode, and it holds up as a suspenseful episode, really well written, great tension between all of the actors, but especially DD and GA. BUT! In rewatching, I noticed some rather large plot holes that I hadn't previously. Namely:

 

1. I love how affronted Mulder is that Scully pulled a gun on him, conveniently forgetting of course that he pulled a gun on her (and the other two) first.  And it's not like he said, I can't trust you two - Hodge and DaSilva - he specifically said he can't trust you three, including Scully.  Now, I get it - DD does a good job of making Mulder's paranoia believable unrelated to the parasitic infection.  But still, when they are in the closet there and he's all "you pulled a gun on me," I can't believe Scully doesn't throw it back in his face.

 

2. I had forgotten that Da Silva was the one who had the infection, I had thought it was Hodge.  And that kind of annoys me because we saw no mode of transmission for her plus she didn't really display any symptoms - except the time she argued with Hodge about the blood.  I mean, I get why they went with that misdirection but still, I wish they had found some plausible way to show how she got the infection.

 

Anyway, still a great episode, I just love how front and center the question of trust between Mulder and Scully is in that episode.

 

ETA: One more thing about the Pilot - I know they have talked about the show borrowing from The Silence of the Lambs, but I also think Twin Peaks deserves an honorable mention. The whole Pacific Northwest locale, and the mysterious death of a teenage girl, etc. The truth is that there are real reasons why The X-Files was able to survive longer than Twin Peaks but I don't think TXF exists without TP.

Edited February 20, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[festivus]

ETA: One more thing about the Pilot - I know they have talked about the show borrowing from The Silence of the Lambs, but I also think Twin Peaks deserves an honorable mention. The whole Pacific Northwest locale, and the mysterious death of a teenage girl, etc. The truth is that there are real reasons why The X-Files was able to survive longer than Twin Peaks but I don't think TXF exists without TP.

 

Ah, Twin Peaks my other early 90's obsession. I didn't watch much tv in the 80's but I don't remember anything like TP or XF. I think there was definitely an audience that wanted this type of show, I know I was one.

[Taryn74]

I've never seen Twin Peaks (I think I remember my sister watching it, but I'm not sure) -- should I watch it?  I don't even really know what it's about although I hear it mentioned a lot.

[Bastet]

Twin Peaks is fabulous - two seasons of quirky (well, let's be honest -- outright weird), beautifully shot.  And there's a revival of that coming, too. 

 

I didn't see XF until The Host, and I don't think I got a hold of season one episodes until after I'd finished season two.  So by the time I watched the pilot, I was already ensconced in the show.  But I think if I'd watched it in real time, I'd have come away excited.  It's got all the inherent flaws and limitations of a pilot, but made clear this was going to be something interesting.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I've never seen Twin Peaks (I think I remember my sister watching it, but I'm not sure) -- should I watch it?  I don't even really know what it's about although I hear it mentioned a lot.

 

I was a HUGE Twin Peaks fan back when it ran but I confess that I haven't watched those episodes since the first run, so I do wonder if it would hold up.  I will say that the Bob character - the demon who is responsible for the killing - is among one of the most terrifying creations I have ever seen. At the end of the day, though, I think it is probably worth watching because it had a huge influence on a lot of television, including The X-Files, in the 1990s.  That being said, I think that the one place that Lynch sort of falls down is in the nuanced emotions that TXF excelled at.

 

Twin Peaks is fabulous - two seasons of quirky (well, let's be honest -- outright weird), beautifully shot.  And there's a revival of that coming, too. 

 

I didn't see XF until The Host, and I don't think I got a hold of season one episodes until after I'd finished season two.  So by the time I watched the pilot, I was already ensconced in the show.  But I think if I'd watched it in real time, I'd have come away excited.  It's got all the inherent flaws and limitations of a pilot, but made clear this was going to be something interesting.

 

I watched in real time but I don't remember what my reaction was beyond the fact that it kept me interested enough to keep coming back. To be perfectly honest, I think I might have been more interested in who David Duchovney was because there were tons of ads for Kalifornia (which, I am now realizing, premiered the same day as The X-Files) playing, and while he wasn't quite everywhere, he was clearly up-and-coming.  I remember watching the first three episodes (I have vivid memories of Squeeze), but it was Ice that made me a rabid fan.

[baileythedog]

Twin Peaks is fabulous - two seasons of quirky (well, let's be honest -- outright weird), beautifully shot.  And there's a revival of that coming, too. 

 

I didn't see XF until The Host, and I don't think I got a hold of season one episodes until after I'd finished season two.  So by the time I watched the pilot, I was already ensconced in the show.  But I think if I'd watched it in real time, I'd have come away excited.  It's got all the inherent flaws and limitations of a pilot, but made clear this was going to be something interesting.

 

Same. I was studying abroad in the UK in 1993 and The X-Files wasn't airing there. Never mind the fact that I didn't have a television set, even if it were.  When I came home, some friends had told me that I needed to watch TXF but I didn't join in until S2.  I'm not sure when I finally got all of S1 watched, but it certainly wasn't immediately. 

 

As for Twin Peaks - I was in high school when it was on, so my tuning in was sporadic at best. In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw the movie "Fire Walk With Me" before I had seen the majority of TP episodes and I was confused as hell.  But I've made several efforts, over the years, to rewatch; the last time I did this was circa 2000-2001 or so.  As I recall, the show held up very well.  I plan on re-watching the two seasons again prior to the revival.  

 

I'm thinking the TP revival might come off better, quality wise, than the TXF one did.  It was announced earlier and production is certainly lasting longer whereas TXF was officially announced in, what, March with filming beginning in June?  It seems like a wee bit more time could have gone into refining the scripts before production.  Not that I'm complaining, but there are definitely some rough edges. 

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I'm thinking the TP revival might come off better, quality wise, than the TXF one did.  It was announced earlier and production is certainly lasting longer whereas TXF was officially announced in, what, March with filming beginning in June?  It seems like a wee bit more time could have gone into refining the scripts before production.  Not that I'm complaining, but there are definitely some rough edges. 

 

TP is a fundamentally different show than TXF, in that they didn't really have the episodic format at all, and Lynch isn't always accessible with his ideas.  Furthermore, part of the reason for the delay between announcement and production had to do with some kerfuffle with Lynch.  So I am not sure it will fare better, though that is partly because I have been - on the whole - pleased with these episodes.  I do wish they could have gone with 13 episodes instead of 6 because I think they were trying to cram a lot into these episodes.  But I will be interested to see where they go with TP when it finally does air.

 

Squeeze - not much to say beyond the fact that this is the first MOTW, and it was a strong one to kick off with. Love Mulder's line about Scully running the bureau by the time Tooms reappears again in 2023 and how he says that messing with the other agents' heads is how he deals with the humiliation.  I am also noticing in ways that I didn't before Scully's fearlessness when it comes to dealing with the bad guys - she's the one who goes first in finding Tooms's bile lair.

 

Beyond the Sea - Speaking of Twin Peaks, Don Davis as Scully's dad was inspired casting. Scully waking up to find her father sitting across from her is creepy but the kind of experience that a lot of people have when they've lost a loved one.  The seeds of Scully's devotion to The X-Files and to Mulder are really planted with this episode - her need for her straight-laced father's approval, the conflict she feels between wanting a "normal life" and wanting to understand these things that she can't explain. Also, Brad Dourif really is quite good in that role. In the hands of a different actor, Luther Lee Boggs could be a caricature, but he provides a pathos that is convincing. I also love when Mulder is skeptical, it shows that he does have a core of sanity.

 

ETA: One additional thing about BTS - is that the first appearance of Scully's tiny gold cross? I was always amazed at how they found the tiniest cross available. It's a marvel of jewelry, to be honest.

Edited February 21, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Taryn74]

Also, Brad Dourif really is quite good in that role. In the hands of a different actor, Luther Lee Boggs could be a caricature, but he provides a pathos that is convincing. 

 

Agreed.  I love that to this day, no matter how many times I've seen BTS (and it's a lot, I love the ep) I still am not sure if he was playing them or not.  I go back and forth between believing him, and not, every single time.  Incredible acting.

 

Thanks for the info about Twin Peaks!  I checked and it's available on Netflix streaming so hubby and I may give it a whirl.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Agreed.  I love that to this day, no matter how many times I've seen BTS (and it's a lot, I love the ep) I still am not sure if he was playing them or not.  I go back and forth between believing him, and not, every single time.  Incredible acting.

 

Thanks for the info about Twin Peaks!  I checked and it's available on Netflix streaming so hubby and I may give it a whirl.

 

Hm. It's a good question as to Boggs's guilt. The problem is that we never actually see any interaction with the possible accomplice, so it's hard to judge. But I think that the episode leans pretty heavily toward saying that Boggs is for real in what he sees, even if he is making a play to save his life.  I mean, he tells Scully to avoid the blue devil (and Mulder to avoid the white cross) and even if he knows the guy's general location, I don't know that he can know all of those little details.  Plus, we see in the episode that - a full six or seven years ahead of The Sixth Sense! - that he sees dead people.

 

At the end of the day, I think Boggs sees Scully as his one shot at redemption, which is why he warns her about the Blue Devil, but even then, he is still a bastard enough to withhold her message from her father.  I had honestly forgotten about that whole bit at the end and it is just so sad to me that Scully chooses to not attend the execution, even though I ultimately understand why she does.

 

One final thing about Twin Peaks - like I said, it had a huge influence on television in the 1990s, but that influence extends beyond even than that.  I don't think it is a coincidence that Matt Weiner, for instance, included a few TP veterans in Mad Men more than 20 years later (Madchen Amick and Ray Wise). I think TP was probably the beginning of "prestige tv," it just took a few years for the economics to work and for cable to buy into the idea.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Finished the Season 1 rewatch last night, and the good news for me is that I think I've finally succeeded in getting my significant other into the show.  But he was asking me about what happened to Samantha, and I was all, "uh, well, I don't want to spoil you."

 

It still doesn't make much sense to me that they didn't kill Mulder, but instead killed Deep Throat. I don't think plot point is ever revisited, is it?  Also, you'd think Scully would have taken a picture of the frozen alien baby.

 

Looking forward to diving into Season 2.

 

ETA: Oh, I should also say that my SO was a little freaked out by the scene in "Tooms" when Tooms comes out of his lair to attack Mulder.  Kind of fun to see him experiencing the little scares that I did 20 years ago. :)

Edited March 7, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Taryn74]

Started a little informal rewatch last night, I'm having to do some alterations on my daughter's prom dress that are going to take forever (hand stitching) so I fired up TXF to keep my mind busy.  Made it thru the Pilot and half of Deep Throat before hubby got home and took over the laptop.

 

This show holds up so well!  M/S chemistry has been off the charts since the first time she stepped foot in his office, I swear.  And the first of many projector slideshows - squee!  I love the way she was completely ready to mock whatever it was he was proposing but as soon as she saw the slide with the odd molecular makeup of the tissue surrounding the marks on the victims' lower back, she immediately snapped into doctor mode and was all seriousness.

 

A flub I noticed for the first time -- when M/S are standing in the rain in the cemetery after they've found the two opened graves, trying to make sense of everything that's happened, Scully says that it was Teresa Nemmen who was drawn into the forest earlier that night, when it was actually Peggy O'Dell.  They had just left from speaking with Teresa at the diner.

[GreenScreenFX]

I could do a rewatch..... Anyone else?

Actually, I might just match where ever festivus is.... WHat ep are you on?

Edited April 14, 2016 by GreenScreenFX

[festivus]

Me? I'm halfway through season 9. I'm about to do my post on it.

 

It seems like forever ago that I watched season 1. I've kinda wanted to rewatch Beyond The Sea but I think it might be a bit jarring for me right now.

[GreenScreenFX]

I meant I will catch up on whatever episode season 9 you are on

[festivus]

I watched Provenance and Providence last night.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I could do a rewatch..... Anyone else?

Actually, I might just match where ever festivus is.... WHat ep are you on?

 

I'm doing a rewatch, as well, but I am only halfway through season 4 - I just watched Never Again and Momento Mori last night (as I just posted in the Season 4 thread).

[Taryn74]

Continuing my sort-of rewatch --

 

I have a deeper appreciation for Deep Throat now than I did the first time I saw it.  I like that Scully was willing to see, even from the very beginning, that there was more going on than just Mulder being paranoid.  There really was a conspiracy to hide the truth, and she was determined to help Mulder expose that, at the risk of her own reputation and career.  She could have just turned a blind eye and let Mulder dig his own grave, but she didn't.  That is to her credit, IMO.

 

Squeeze.....I'm so glad this was the first MotW.  Good, solid, scary ep.  Love M/S in this one.

 

Scully:  It seems like you were acting very territorial.

Mulder:  Of course I was.

 

*swoon*

[Taryn74]

Conduit, Jersey Devil, Shadows, Ghost in the Machine.

 

Conduit is actually not that bad of a mytharc eppie.  It doesn't really seem to have much to do with the mytharc other than it deal with an abduction, but the episode is really not too bad.  I felt sorry for the mom and can understand why she wouldn't want her kids talking to M/S or the police.  She herself had faced having a UFO "experience" for her small town neighbors to gossip about and ridicule her for her entire life, and she didn't want her kids to go thru that, even if it meant not telling the truth.

 

Kevin making the portrait of Ruby out of pages full of 1s and 0s is the best "spooky" part of the whole episode.

 

Jersey Devil - Mulder getting thrown in the drunk tank will never not be funny.  I love that Scully told her friend Mulder is cute.

 

Shadows - suffers from cheesy acting and special effects, but interesting enough x-file.  I always forget that Howard Graves (is very dead) was involved with some sort of terrorists and that's why they killed him and were trying to kill Lauren.

 

GitM really does not hold up well over time.  I find the subject (artificial intelligence) interesting but the technology within the episode is SO dated it makes it almost unwatchable now.  Pity.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Taryn, I found both Deep Throat and Conduit better than I had remembered them being, in my rewatch.  Conduit isn't really so much a mytharc episode, IMO - it is more about understanding how what has happened impacted Mulder.  It sets up the idea that what happened in his past totally ruins Mulder's life, and I like it for that reason.

 

I think part of why I gravitated to The X-Files back in the day is because it was one of a few television shows (the other being Quantum Leap) that dealt with the reality of loss.  When you've lost a loved one, processing that loss and grieving just doesn't happen overnight, and popular culture at that time didn't really deal so much with that reality.  Conduit really shows that Mulder is constantly dealing with the loss of his sister in a way that even the scene in the Pilot can't show.  It's showing, not telling.

Edited April 18, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Taryn74]

I think part of why I gravitated to The X-Files back in the day is because one of a few television shows (the other being Quantum Leap) that dealt with the reality of loss.  

 

Oh I LOVED Quantum Leap.  Still catch a few eps every once in a while if/when it's on Netflix.  (Haven't checked lately)  Are you thinking of Al and his one wife that he actually loved?  I need to go see if there's a QL forum......

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Oh I LOVED Quantum Leap.  Still catch a few eps every once in a while if/when it's on Netflix.  (Haven't checked lately)  Are you thinking of Al and his one wife that he actually loved?  I need to go see if there's a QL forum......

 

I was actually thinking more about Sam and his brother - like Mulder, Sam lost a sibling at a young age (in Sam's case, his brother is killed in Vietnam) and that incident informs Sam's actions throughout the series.  Of course, unlike Mulder, Sam gets a chance to save his brother, which he does - at Al's expense.  And of course, Al being a prisoner of war (who lost Beth, the only woman he really loved) is also about loss.   So both of them deal with loss, in their own ways. 

 

My father died in 1991 (I was only 18), and it was comforting to watch shows like The X-Files and Quantum Leap because they helped me to understand that grieving and loss were real things, that there wasn't something wrong with me for feeling so alienated from my peers, etc. I think you see more tv shows dealing with that reality now but at the time, these two shows were it because everything else was so episodic.

[Taryn74]

Ohhh, yeah.  Can't believe I forgot about Sam's brother!  That was actually one of my favorite episodes.....or sets of episodes, didn't they make it a two parter?  Yeah....one where Sam was his younger self trying to stop Tom from going to Vietnam, and one where he was one of the soldiers there with Tom.  And the second parter was the one with the photographer who took photos of Al when he was a POW.  That one made me cry.  Oh, Al.

 

QL really was quite different for its day.  And many of the episodes still stand up well even now.  The one where Sam has to save the kid's sister from marrying the abusive boyfriend is really very well done.  I also love the trilogy with Abigail and Sammy Jo.

 

Anyway, X-Files.  LOL.  I'm still only 7 episodes in, but I'm still just astounded at how willing Scully has always been to be "Mrs. Spooky" even when the costs were high.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Taryn74

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Ohhh, yeah.  Can't believe I forgot about Sam's brother!  That was actually one of my favorite episodes.....or sets of episodes, didn't they make it a two parter?  Yeah....one where Sam was his younger self trying to stop Tom from going to Vietnam, and one where he was one of the soldiers there with Tom.  And the second parter was the one with the photographer who took photos of Al when he was a POW.  That one made me cry.  Oh, Al.

 

QL really was quite different for its day.  And many of the episodes still stand up well even now.  The one where Sam has to save the kid's sister from marrying the abusive boyfriend is really very well done.  I also love the trilogy with Abigail and Sammy Jo.

 

Anyway, X-Files.  LOL.  I'm still only 7 episodes in, but I'm still just astounded at how willing Scully has always been to be "Mrs. Spooky" even when the costs were high.

 

RE: QL - yes, you are correct - there is an episode where Sam leaps into himself as a 16 year old, and tries to prevent Tom from going to Vietnam, but obviously fails. And then, yes, he leaps into a soldier in his brother's platoon, and does save Tom, but in doing so, he somehow ensures that Al remains a POW (I'm fuzzy on that plot point). It's great stuff.

 

WRT your X-Files point, on my rewatch this time around, I've been a little more attentive to the dynamics between Mulder and Scully. My opinion is that Scully was a little in awe of Mulder in Season 1, and actually probably had a bit of a crush on him. TBH, I think that school girl crush remains right up until she is abducted by Duane Barry - she's the one pushing to see him after they are separated at the beginning of season 2. (Which is why I bristle a bit when it is claimed that she got abducted because of Mulder. No doubt Mulder's quest drives the narrative, but Scully has her own agency - she's the one pushing to maintain their working relationship, and when it comes to Duane Barry, she basically inserts herself into that situation. I just don't like it when people imply that Scully is a victim, because IMO, she isn't).

 

Anyway, I think that the abduction and illness changes her feelings for Mulder - they become deeper, but actually less romantic.  But throughout season 1, she is giving off a lot of "I have a crush on you" vibes with him, IMO (from telling her friend that she thinks he's cute to that moment in Eve where's she like, "do you have a girl coming over" to the tiny flashes of jealousy she shows over Phoebe Green).

[Taryn74]

Ice and Space

 

I've really been trying to "put myself into" the situations as I watch the episodes this time, rather than just casually observing.  How would I feel if I were sent to the arctic to figure out what happened to a group of scientists who flipped out after successfully taking ice core samples?  Or investigating repeated failing rocket launches?  Definitely puts an interesting twist on things.  Bonus:  Space didn't bore me to tears  this time!  Woo!

 

Ice - I'm usually not a huge fan of this one, though it's a fan favorite.  Not sure if it's because we don't really get to know any of the other people involved, or what.  But I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit more than I usually do, imagining myself in both Mulder and Scully's place, trying to figure out what was going on while at the same time not entirely sure I could trust any of the people there with me, not even myself really.

 

Space - Like I said, this one actually didn't bore me this time!  Definitely not a great ep by any stretch, but if you ignore the hokey looking space-man-possession thing, it's really not a bad ep.  Well, not too bad.  Because it is bad.

[Taryn74]

Fallen Angel - I enjoy this ep a lot more now than I did the first time I watched it.  (Let's face it, back in the day if it wasn't a M/S centered ep I really couldn't be bothered LOL)  We meet Max for the first time, and I really love Max.  Poor guy just got in over his head.  I feel like Max is what Mulder would have been if he didn't have the connections he does.

Even though she's starting to see the cracks underneath the surface, Scully still isn't quite ready to believe how corrupt the FBI/government is, the lengths they will go to to falsify evidence and cover up what they can't explain away.  I hate knowing what it's going to take to finally convince her.  :/

 

Eve - Ah, the first of the creepy children of the X-Files.  And the Eves are truly creepy, all of them.  Even the "normal" Sally Kendrick, you can tell something is a bit off with her.

 

Quote

 

SCULLY: Until I heard that, I was beginning to suspect the girls.

MULDER: No. No, no, no. It seems the two remaining Eves are doing away with the parents in order to keep Teena and Cindy in the family.

 

 

Admittedly, Mulder's not usually wrong especially when it comes to profiling, but boy is he ever wrong on this one.

 

Fire - Well, I still hate Phoebe Green so it's nice to feel like all is right with the world.  What exactly was her motivation in dragging Mulder into this case?  Did she keep up with his XF career and thought he'd be the best to figure out the killer?  Did she just get some kind of sick thrill out of throwing him in the middle of a case she knew would terrify him? Why was she acting like she wanted to rekindle an old flame with him, when she was already having an affair with her employer?  Ugh.  Hate her.  (Wouldn't want to date her.)  

[AntiBeeSpray]

On 4/21/2016 at 11:54 PM, Taryn74 said:

Ice and Space

 

I've really been trying to "put myself into" the situations as I watch the episodes this time, rather than just casually observing.  How would I feel if I were sent to the arctic to figure out what happened to a group of scientists who flipped out after successfully taking ice core samples?  Or investigating repeated failing rocket launches?  Definitely puts an interesting twist on things.  Bonus:  Space didn't bore me to tears  this time!  Woo!

 

Ice - I'm usually not a huge fan of this one, though it's a fan favorite.  Not sure if it's because we don't really get to know any of the other people involved, or what.  But I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit more than I usually do, imagining myself in both Mulder and Scully's place, trying to figure out what was going on while at the same time not entirely sure I could trust any of the people there with me, not even myself really.

 

Space - Like I said, this one actually didn't bore me this time!  Definitely not a great ep by any stretch, but if you ignore the hokey looking space-man-possession thing, it's really not a bad ep.  Well, not too bad.  Because it is bad.

And what's sad is that it is far better written than CC's efforts this go. The banter was good and it didn't feel like it came from an XF phrase generator.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

16 hours ago, Taryn74 said:

Fire - Well, I still hate Phoebe Green so it's nice to feel like all is right with the world.  What exactly was her motivation in dragging Mulder into this case?  Did she keep up with his XF career and thought he'd be the best to figure out the killer?  Did she just get some kind of sick thrill out of throwing him in the middle of a case she knew would terrify him? Why was she acting like she wanted to rekindle an old flame with him, when she was already having an affair with her employer?  Ugh.  Hate her.  (Wouldn't want to date her.)  

I think that there are a couple of issues with Phoebe Green - one, she's just not a well-written character.  But two, I think that whenever they tried to create a character that rivaled Scully for Mulder's affection, they would write characters that were "Scully, only not a skeptic." That was the case with both Phoebe and Diana - both were seemingly smart and independent, but both shared Mulder's interests in the paranormal. The problem is that you can't write a Scully-like character to be a rival to Scully, in my opinion, especially when DD and GA had such chemistry.

If they were really serious at ever writing a Mulder relationship to rival Scully, they should have written it around one of those "little girls lost" that Mulder always gravitated towards - Lucy in Oubliette or Melissa in The Field Where I Died or Marty in Mind's Eye.  For whatever reason, Mulder always had a lot more chemistry with those women - women he felt he could save - than with the Phoebes or the Dianas.

But beyond that fundamental problem, you're right that Phoebe's character really makes zero sense. The only way I can figure it is that Mulder was a pretty insecure guy through college - not hard to imagine because we see him as a guy who is unsure of himself in Travelers, so it is not hard to imagine that after Samantha's abduction and through the establishment of The X-Files, he was a fairly unsure individual.  And Phoebe was the type of person who enjoyed having the power in their relationship and so she was hoping to use Mulder as an ego boost on this case.  And to be honest, she wasn't totally off in her assessment - Mulder is pretty easily manipulated by her throughout most of the episode, up until Scully really decides to step up to protect her partner. Basically that dynamic repeats itself with Diana, but it still rings a bit hollow, IMO.

Edited May 5, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Taryn74]

57 minutes ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

If they were really serious at ever writing a Mulder relationship to rival Scully, they should have written it around one of those "little girls lost" that Mulder always gravitated towards - Lucy in Oubliette or Melissa in The Field Where I Died or Marty in Mind's Eye.  For whatever reason, Mulder always had a lot more chemistry with those women - women he felt he could save - than with the Phoebes or the Dianas.

 

Very true.  I never once felt a real connection between Mulder and any of his "old flames" even when the scene called for it (dancing with and kissing Phoebe in Fire, married to Diana in the vision in Amor Fati).  But his connection with all of the ladies you mentioned was highly palpable, and is a big part of why I enjoy those episodes so much even though they're not fan faves.  (Well, not so much TFWID, but that's due to the absurd soulmate thing.)  He had better chemistry with the dog lady in Alpha than he did Phoebe or Diana, heh.

[festivus]

Yeah Mulder had a type. At least he finally found the one who put him first. 

22 hours ago, Taryn74 said:

Fire - Well, I still hate Phoebe Green so it's nice to feel like all is right with the world.  What exactly was her motivation in dragging Mulder into this case?  Did she keep up with his XF career and thought he'd be the best to figure out the killer?  Did she just get some kind of sick thrill out of throwing him in the middle of a case she knew would terrify him? Why was she acting like she wanted to rekindle an old flame with him, when she was already having an affair with her employer?  Ugh.  Hate her.  (Wouldn't want to date her.)  

She is the worst. She could have had all that intense loyalty focused on her. Dummy.

[Taryn74]

Going back and checking posts, looks like I didn't post after watching Beyond the Sea, Genderbender, and Lazarus.

BTS is still amazing.  I've talked about it quite a bit though, and probably somewhat recently, heh.

Genderbender - ugh.  Boring, and makes not a lot of sense.

Lazarus - again with the ugh.  Just don't care for this one that much.

Watched Young At Heart and E.B.E. today.

YaH - eh.  No real reason not to like this one I guess, but it's just kind of meh.  I think we've discussed before how awesome the handwriting expert is.  Love her rapport with Mulder.

E.B.E. - Nice mytharc ep.  We meet the Lone Gunmen!  Ahhhhh!  Love.  "I think it's remotely plausible someone finds you hot."  Hee.  Mulder's just starting to get a glimpse of the lengths they will go to, to yank his chain.  Sad portent of many, many things to come.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

11 hours ago, Taryn74 said:

Going back and checking posts, looks like I didn't post after watching Beyond the Sea, Genderbender, and Lazarus.

BTS is still amazing.  I've talked about it quite a bit though, and probably somewhat recently, heh.

Genderbender - ugh.  Boring, and makes not a lot of sense.

Lazarus - again with the ugh.  Just don't care for this one that much.

Watched Young At Heart and E.B.E. today.

YaH - eh.  No real reason not to like this one I guess, but it's just kind of meh.  I think we've discussed before how awesome the handwriting expert is.  Love her rapport with Mulder.

E.B.E. - Nice mytharc ep.  We meet the Lone Gunmen!  Ahhhhh!  Love.  "I think it's remotely plausible someone finds you hot."  Hee.  Mulder's just starting to get a glimpse of the lengths they will go to, to yank his chain.  Sad portent of many, many things to come.

I have a soft spot for Gender Bender, for some reason.  Mostly I think because I love Mulder's whole "WTF" reaction to finding Scully with Brother Andrew.  Plus, the decision to mash up the Amish with transgender aliens is just out there enough to be entertaining.  But I also think it is such an episode of its time, both in its total confusion around the concept of being transgender and because of its paranoia around sex (not surprising, since the episode did take place during the height of the AIDS crisis).

I didn't watch Young at Heart during my rewatch. All I remember is the lizard hand.

[Taryn74]

My 15 year old started watching XF for the first time today.  So far he's been thoroughly creeped out by Victor Eugene Tooms (the episode which he referred to as "the one with the murders"....uh, gotta give me more than that, kid), worried they were really going to kill Mulder in Deep Throat, tried to explain to his little brother that the Jersey Devil in Poptropica was way different than what he was seeing, and wanted to know if all the episodes are supposedly "based on actual events" or if that was just the first one.  Heh.

This may be the happiest day of my life.

[AntiBeeSpray]

That's awesome! :)

[Nanrad]

On February 14, 2016 at 10:56 PM, madam magpie said:

I saw an interview with Chris Carter (and Gillian/David) where they were all asked when they knew Mulder and Scully loved each other. He said, "From the moment you [pointing to Gillian] walked into Mulder's office." I don't get the impression he was unaware, just that romantic angst wasn't meant to be the focus of the show. Also, I mean...he wrote the pilot, including the searching for bug bites scene and the part where Scully's on the bed and Mulder's on the floor while he tells her about his sister. The rain, candle light, blocking--it's all pretty obviously romantic, so I think that the foundation of the relationship was purposeful.

I've been rewatching season 1, haven't seen it since it aired. And besides the fact that it's still entertaining and interesting, I'm most stunned by how young Gillian is. She's a couple of years older than I am in real life, so when I watched in real time, I'm sure she just looked like a peer. But looking back from 20 years on? Dayum....she's just darling. I want to squeeze her face.

TBH, I take whatever CC says with a grain of salt concerning Mulder and Scully's feelings/romance. I think he liked to tease, but that he didn't want to go there and was forced because of their chemistry.

Most of the memorable, romantic gestures, cues, or whatever between Mulder and Scully was mostly due to other people or DD and GA. I read someone that he often had to tell them to hold back or even cut scenes that were overly romantic. I can't remember the exact quote, but it's been quite clear to me over the years that CC switches his answer depending on how he's feeling rather than him actually telling them truth. Even if he were, what was his plan exactly? Like, no one wanted romantic angst--their romance didn't have to be in the forefront. With CC's way, it just became convoluted. And, whenever he does touch their relationship, it's always drama filled and (almost) breakups. He's the one who caused the angst.

Gah--it always blows my mind how young GA was when she played Scully. It seriously had to be intimidating. Kudos to her.