Season 4: I'm Sorry, But You've Got Something I Need...

[janestclair]

Favorites:

 

Small Potatoes: This is probably the episode I put on most frequently when I'm in a random X-Files mood. It's just hilarious. 

Paper Hearts: Mulder in this episode. It's so good I overlook the fact that the hearts are made of cloth, and not paper. 

Leonard Betts: You've got something I need...the acting in that scene...

Unruhe: I loved Scully in this.  Even though she gets kidnapped by the bad guy, again.  Plus it's just a cool idea.

Home:  I guess I'm just twisted that way.  Everyone always says this is the creepiest episode or the most disturbing, and it doesn't bother me. 

 

Least:

El Mundo Gira: Any time they try to do these ethnic episodes, it's just a fail. Like Shapes, just with Mexicans.  See also, my next least favorite, Teliko. 

The Field Where I Died: Please, never cry on my screen again, Mulder. It's painful to watch. And I hated the woman who played Melissa or whatever her name was.

Unrequited is pretty boring. I usually skip it.

[smrou]

Home:  I guess I'm just twisted that way.  Everyone always says this is the creepiest episode or the most disturbing, and it doesn't bother me.

It doesn't particularly bother me either.  I mean, not more than a whole bunch of other episodes and less than some.  It came up recently in the Extra Hot Great Mini about scariest episodes, and as I commented in the thread for that episode the only part that I have any trouble with (in terms of it being scary, specifically) is when the Peacock boys brutally murder the Sheriff and his wife.  

 

But it's a great episode.  

[queequeg]

Favs:

Memento Mori

Tempus Fugit

Synchrony

Small Potatoes

Demons

Least Fav:

Teliko

Sanguinarium

El Mundo Gira

Unrequited

I couldn't even come up with a 5th least fav. I didn't have the heart to put any of the other eps in the bottom 5. Sign of a great season!

[mstaken]

I'm still thinking about my full list, but can I just say how much it warms my heart to see all the love for Small Potatoes?! If I could keep just five episodes from the entire series to watch over and over and over, Small Potatoes would make the cut :) 

[janestclair]

I'm still thinking about my full list, but can I just say how much it warms my heart to see all the love for Small Potatoes?! If I could keep just five episodes from the entire series to watch over and over and over, Small Potatoes would make the cut :) 

 

Now there's a monumental task. I don't think I could pick just five from the whole series. But Small Potatoes would probably make it.  I can probably quote the majority of it from memory.  Which is probably a little sad, but oh well.  David Duchovny does a fabulous job as Eddie Van Blundt, and the whole thing is just hilarious from start to finish. I think my favorite part, and this is random, is when Eddie senior falls out of the attic onto Mulder and he yells out, "I'm alright!" and Scully's just like, "What?" For some reason that cracks me up every time. 

[Bastet]

I think my favorite part, and this is random, is when Eddie senior falls out of the attic onto Mulder and he yells out, "I'm alright!" and Scully's just like, "What?" For some reason that cracks me up every time.

 

I love that, too; it's funny on its own, but also has a couple-ish vibe to it.

[queequeg]

I think my favorite part, and this is random, is when Eddie senior falls out of the attic onto Mulder and he yells out, "I'm alright!" and Scully's just like, "What?" For some reason that cracks me up every time.

That part was too cute.

[queequeg]

I'm on my phone and too lazy to look up the specific quotes, but also the lines about "the birds, the bees and the monkey babies, Mulder" and "birds do it, bees do it, even educated MDs so it."

[janestclair]

I'm also fond of, "I was just here....where did I go?" 

 

And the whole bit with Eddie's hat at the end.  "...which would be fine, except every week she brings me a new hat." It's the delivery that kills me. 

[Bastet]

I love the way the cop says Van Blundht's name after Eddie tells him the H is silent ("It's like Dutch or something.")  "Alright, Mr. Van Blun-hut."

 

"On behalf of all the women in the world, I don't think this has anything to do with consensual sex."

 

"I was just here.  Where did I go?" is one of my favorite lines, but this episode is pretty much a 44-minute collection of favorite lines.

 

And moments, like Mulder breaking off Eddie Sr.'s tail and trying to hide it from Scully (or him covering his coffee cup to avoid getting Eddie dust in it as Scully uses the stryker saw).  And just about everything Eddie as Mulder does; DD clearly has a blast with it and it's just wonderful.

Edited August 7, 2014 by Bastet

[queequeg]

I love the way the cop says Van Blundht's name after Eddie tells him the H is silent ("It's like Dutch or something.") "Alright, Mr. Van Blun-hut."

OMG, and doesn't the H fall off the front of the house or something when they go to knock on the door?

[janestclair]

OMG, and doesn't the H fall off the front of the house or something when they go to knock on the door?

 

Yep.  Comedy gold. 

 

"Federal Bureau of Investigation is mispelled."

 

"Typo."

 

"Twice."

[Bastet]

Yep, right before Eddie Sr. opens it, I believe.

 

Beat me to it.

 

I also love when Eddie Sr. offers to drop his drawers to show them the tail.  Mulder is all eager and Scully puts the kibosh on it.

 

This is another one with a nice job from the guest cast.  Including the actor who plays the husband (the one who calls his wife "Baboo"), as his character and as Eddie playing his character. 

Edited August 7, 2014 by Bastet

[smrou]

And moments, like Mulder breaking off Eddie Sr.'s tail and trying to hide it from Scully

This might legitimately be my favorite part of the whole episode.  But then, who can choose.  The episode is practically perfect.

 

And the whole bit with Eddie's hat at the end.  "...which would be fine, except every week she brings me a new hat." It's the delivery that kills me.

There's this bit in the Season 4 bloopers when Darin Morgan is holding that hat and saying, "Superstar. Superstar." in a very particular way and I find myself imitating it sometimes.  Not that anyone ever knows that I have Darin Morgan in my head in those moments.  They probably just think I'm out of my mind.  (I might be.)

[kilted]

Season 4 is one of my favourite seasons and I remember it being an emotional roller-coaster. Back then no one could see into the future and know where the show would go. A lot of fans thought we were going to lose Scully and that was so painful. I think I was 15. Episodes like Small Potatoes and Never Again attracted fantastic reactions and leading up to them, and during airing, chat zones were a hive of activity. Screen shots were bouncing off the satellites and dial-up modems everywhere were doing that 'beep beep b-doing b-doing' thing. Americans were yelling to see the BBC Season 4/"lean on me" promo. There was no You-Tube. I lived in the UK and listened to the 1997 US promo for Never Again on a sound wave file, "underground bars, cheap tattoos, one night stands..."

 

The energy between Mulder and Scully was unsurpassed at that time. They'd never looked better. There was a real sense of something unfolding and a few careful nudges would usher them...onwards. The weighted words, heavy silences, long looks and gorgeous interactions had everyone flushed.

 

Meanwhile, and I swear to you, at this point Chris Carter was still ruling out a romantic relationship between the two lead characters. Now I have to listen to all this nonsense they give that the Momento Mori kiss was cut because it wasn't necessary given how obvious their mutual feelings were. My tooshie! Of course it is a very moving  and revealing scene but they cut that kiss because Carter was wholly uncommitted to a romance. He's such a flip-flop.

[queequeg]

Meanwhile, and I swear to you, at this point Chris Carter was still ruling out a romantic relationship between the two lead characters. Now I have to listen to all this nonsense they give that the Momento Mori kiss was cut because it wasn't necessary given how obvious their mutual feelings were. My tooshie! Of course it is a very moving  and revealing scene but they cut that kiss because Carter was wholly uncommitted to a romance. He's such a flip-flop.

 

This is a bit off topic of Season 4, and I'm a bit biased b/c my first introduction to the X-Files and Mulder and Scully was the 1st movie, and that was just ripe with shippiness, so I never knew a world of X-Files that wasn't somewhat direct and in your face as far as their unspoken "feelings" for each other.   I mean cripes, they practically kissed in the first thing I ever saw.  BUT... I don't know where Chris Carter went wrong, or where Duchovny and Anderson went wrong, but for all of Chris' pontificating about no romantic relationship, it went wrong and it went wrong early.  lol.  I mean they were flirtatious here and there in Season 1, and you could even write that off as innocent, but I just feel that there were so many indications even in Season 1, and especially 2, that this wasn't going to follow his, "Nope.  No romantic relationship here. EVER.  Nothing to see.  Move along."

 

I should probably go create a post in the Mulder and Scully thread about all the ways Chris, the writes, the actors, someone failed in selling the no relationship ever piece b/c I have strong opinions on this.  lol

Edited August 7, 2014 by queequeg

[AltLivia]

Season 4 is my favorite season, apparently. I can find very few I hate. 

 

Favorites:

Paper Hearts- One of my all time favorites. The dream Mulder had ("BYE!") was terrifying. Not to mention Mulder's intense emotional struggle throughout. I am pretty much Your Lady of Continual Tears for the whole duration.

Leonard Betts - for the title of this thread, also a plot with a lot of twists and turns (Betts' mother hiding his...special regenerativeness, Betts' mother's cancer being harvested, Betts killing his former partner, and serious grossness).

Elegy- Scully's fear about seeing the death harbinger ghost is almost as intense as finding out about the cancer in prior episodes. And I sense Mulder's fear and his feelings of being excluded from Scully's reality.

Small Potatoes- For everything but particularly Van Blundht as Mulder, when his girlfriend is going on about seeing Star Wars so many times. Just his face. And "Where do I sleep?" "Geeks for friends...."

Never Again -I know the facts about the viewing order, but in the context of Cancer Arc, it reads beautifully. I feel like everyone has felt the way Scully feels, to some extent, somewhere in life. I almost feel a bit uncomfortable watching it, because I relate to it that much and it surely has to say something about me.

 

Least Favorites:

Unrequited - Yawn.

Home: All right, hear me out here. Sherriff Andy Taylor was so naive it almost made me laugh and annoyed me all the same. And I get that, sure, the incest angle is disturbing, but I found the makeup just as laughable here as most do in Dod Kalm.

Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man - friend I originally watched with loved this episode and I just felt like, "I know I'm supposed to laugh. Or am I? None of this is actually funny. None of this actually means anything." Not that I said as much, but friend was offended by my very dislike.

Edited August 8, 2014 by ScullyInApt42

[smrou]

Elegy- Scully's fear about seeing the death harbinger ghost is almost as intense as finding out about the cancer in prior episodes. And I sense Mulder's fear and his feelings of being excluded from Scully's reality.

Oh, I left Elegy off my many-more-than-five favorites list!  That was an error.  As discussed earlier in this thread, I think that's an extremely effective episode.

[Taryn74]

I'm quickly losing steam and I really do need to go get stuff done before bed, so this will be a quick listing -

 

Favorites:

 

Unruhe, Paper Hearts, Memento Mori, Small Potatoes, Elegy

 

Least:

 

Teliko, El Mundo Gira, Sanguinarium, Synchrony

[DaynaPhile]

I know I'm in the minority in my love for Home. But anyway...my 15 year old is making his way through the series and Home is up today. I'm not sure if he'll get the insinuations toward incense and what not...he certainly didn't get the Andy Griffith references.

Also, according to IMDB, it's not Johnny Mathis singing. He wouldn't give permission for his version so it's sung by someone else. Sure sounds like him.

Edited March 20, 2015 by DaynaPhile

[SnideAsides]

I'm about two-thirds of the way through this season in my rewatch (yay long weekend, boo having to try and get over knowing one of the Germanwings passengers when Tempus Fugit is next in the queue), and it's kind of fascinating how vision and/or hiding in plain sight turns up in literally every episode in some form. Jeremiah Smith and the Bounty Hunter in Herrenvolk. Mrs. Peacock under the bed in Home. Aboah's hiding places in Teliko. The psychic photography in Unruhe. Mulder's visions of the past in TFWID. The... escape method... of the villain in Sanguinarium. CSM and Deep Throat's "things only we have seen" discussion in Musings. The oilien in Tunguska/Terma. John Lee Roche's deliberate unremarkability in Paper Hearts. The migrants' metaphorical invisibility in El Mundo Gira. Multiple Leonard Bettses. The killer tattoo in Never Again. Clones in Memento Mori. Rising from the dead (and the anti-semite in a Jewish neighbourhood) in Kaddish. Literal invisibility in Unrequited. The alien ship hiding underwater in Tempus Fugit/Max. Two versions of the same person in Synchrony. Eddie van Blundht in Small Potatoes. Smallpox in the bees in Zero-Sum. Visions of death in Elegy. Hallucinations in Demons. Mulder's faked death in Gethsemane. It's quite an odd little recurring thing.

 

Also? I'd forgotten just how much I liked Kaddish. It's amazing, and definitely a victim of its placement within the season, coming right after the Leonard Betts/Never Again/Memento Mori threesome.

[David T. Cole]

FYI: "Home"'s Mrs. Peacock's loving nature is today's King Of Disparate TV Things Mountain challenger. Vote!

[Jac]

Just finished my S4 rewatch (and am now taking a brief break to get caught up with Orphan Black).

 

This is a really strong season, though in hindsight the wheels of the mytharc train are beginning to wobble ever so slightly. It feels like the writers are starting to throw elements at the mytharc and keeping what sticks. That said the mytharc is still very enjoyable at this point in the series. This season also has some truly excellent MotW episodes, though the quality across MotWs is a little more varied, in comparison to S3 where even the weaker MotWs feel strong for the most part. 

 

Favourites

 

Home  - one of the only XF eps that has truly scared me.

Leonard Betts - a rare, sympathetic MoTW in Leonard and an excellent plot twist at the end that would shape the second half of the season.

Memento Mori  - Really strong mytharc episode and I like how the writers actually acknowledged hoe close Mulder and Scully are by this point in the series.

Small Potatoes - Hilarious.

Elegy - Poor Scully (pretty much sums up all of S4 actually.)

 

Least Favourites

 

Teliko - Felt like a half-developed plot idea that could have gone somewhere interesting but didn't.

Sanguinarium - I don't dislike this episode as such but other episodes are, far, far better. 

The Field Where I Died - This episode was trying to be deep and philosophical and just came off as irritating.

El Mundo Gira - One of the X-Files biggest weaknesses has always been taking on non-Anglo myths, this was a particularly bad attempt at doing so.

Kaddish - see complaints re. El Mundo Gira.

[supposebly]

I'm on Paper Hearts in my rewatch and I just got reminded of one of my favorite Mulder lines and one of DD's best deliveries: And you're in the wrong house, you stupid son of a bitch!

[Taryn74]

I'm on Paper Hearts in my rewatch and I just got reminded of one of my favorite Mulder lines and one of DD's best deliveries: And you're in the wrong house, you stupid son of a bitch!

 

Yes!  It's one of my faves too.  I think it's the combination of DD's delivery and how much Roche was thrown by it, since he really had Mulder going up to that point.  Really brilliant of Mulder to take him to the wrong house, knowing how much a serial killer is going to intimately know every minute detail of his crimes.  Nicely done, Mulder.  Nicely done.

[supposebly]

Still in season 4 on my rewatch. At this pace, I might not be done by January.

 

Just finished Memento Mori and got something in my eye. Again. The final scene is just so perfect. And I still don't understand why Mulder doesn't tell her about her ova. Especially after "the truth will save you". I hate Mulder more often than I like him, I think.

 

Leonard Betts. One of those perfect deliveries with perfect timing.

Scully: "Leonard Betts. Without his head."

 

Whatever happened to Rodney Rowland from Never Again? I remember him as such an intense and interesting actor but he barely works.

[Bastet]

I hate Mulder more often than I like him, I think.

 

Ha.  He's saved as a character by the fact that when I like him, I really like him, but, yeah - me too.

 

Whatever happened to Rodney Rowland from Never Again? I remember him as such an intense and interesting actor but he barely works.

 

He was part of the ensemble cast of some short-lived show set on the beach not long after XF, and I've seen him in Cold Case and Without a Trace. 

 

Okay, I had to go check IMDb, because the name of that show was driving me nuts -- Pensacola: Wings of Gold.  Looks like he's still getting work as a guest star, but just a small handful of roles per year (just one so far this year).  Until looking up his credits, I never realized he'd been a regular on Morgan and Wong's show (Space: Above and Beyond).  Oh, look - so was Tucker Smallwood (the sheriff from Home), who also guest starred on Pensacola.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Bastet

[galaxygirl76]

I've been bingewatching the show on Netflix and just finished season 4. It's been over 10 years since I last watched anything past season two(I tried a rewatch but somehow got distracted somewhere during season 2) and I forgot how much I liked S4. The only episode I skipped was Home. I tried but made it about 10 minutes in and wasn't feeling up to it, I have seen it before so it's not that I didn't know about it.

 

I believe it's the last full season where I still enjoyed the mytharc, even though it is starting to get really 'out there'. I didn't think there was an episode I hated, just some that were so-so(Sanguinarium I'm looking at you).

 

Oh and it needed more Krycek, because I remember having the biggest crush on Nick Lea when the show originally aired.

 

On to season 5 for me, I'm hoping to actually finish the series because I've seen some epiosdes here and there of season 8 and 9 but never the whole thing. The network that aired the X-files in my homeland started messing with the time and day of airing and I lost track of when it would be aired around that time and gave up out of frustration.

[festivus]

Season Four: Or when Scully finally got to start walking beside Mulder and sometimes even in front!

 

Home: What's to say that hasn't already been said? I just know this show prepared me to watch shit like Hannibal and not even flinch. I also remember this episode making regular  appearances on the shows that scarred you for life thread at TWoP.

 

Teliko: Scully's crawling around in vents again. Still sexy.

 

CSM episode: Where we learn more about Cancer Man. I don't care. Is that bad?

 

<How did I forget that Krycek got his arm cut off?>

 

Paper Hearts: Poor Mulder.

 

Chupacabra episode: Hey, It's Detective Sanchez!

 

Leonard Betts: Yay Paul McCrane. I was a dancer when I was young and Fame was my jam. I was also one of the only two people on the planet that loved Dr. Romano. What's Paul McCrane up to now? *Googles* Under the Dome. Nope don't wanna watch it. Anyway, a most shocking reveal. The first time around I had no computer, no one to talk to. It's still a great shocking moment. Did Gillian win an emmy this year? *Googles* For Memento Mori. Of course she did.

 

Never Again: Hey that's a different IWTB poster. I LOVED this episode. These two episodes were orginally supposed to air in opposite order, right? Either way it really works for me. It's a bit more interesting without the cancer, but that doesn't really hurt it any for me. I wonder what it was like on the internet after this epi back then. I loved watching Scully question things about her life and then have her some sex with a hottie. Girl deserved it. Yes, I totally think they did it. I hope we get to see that tattoo again someday. Hmm, what's Rodney Rowland up to? *Googles* Mostly guest stuff. He needs a show. So does Ben Browder. Sorry, I got distracted.

 

Memento Mori: The feels. Right in the feels.

 

Tempus Fugit, Max: Poor Max. Poor Pendrell. All he wanted was to admire Scully. (Again, who doesn't?)

 

Small Potatoes: "Can't be a dead person." "Why the hell not?" Scully says what a lot in this episode. It's cute everytime. Mulder with that tail. I legit had to pause the episode I was laughing so hard. I need to watch it again right now.

 

Ok, I'm not done watching the season but I'm going to post this anyway. I need to watch a few of these episodes again.

[DaynaPhile]

I'm right in the middle of season 4 with my 16 year old and it's so fun to watch with someone with fresh eyes. He liked Leonard Betts, he was on the fence about Never Again. It was only now that I noticed that Ed ripped Scully's sweater when they were struggling. I heard it. I never noticed it before and always wondered how the back of her sweater got so wonky. That fight scene is one of my favs. I'm weird.

[Bastet]

Teliko: Scully's crawling around in vents again. Still sexy.

 

 

That is literally the only thing I remember about the episode.

 

Never Again: Hey that's a different IWTB poster. I LOVED this episode. These two episodes were orginally supposed to air in opposite order, right?

 

 

Yes, and the implication her fear of cancer is why she reached her boiling point of frustration (not to mention got it on with a hot-ass man) - when we've just watched four years worth of reasons - has pissed me off ever since.  I really like that episode, too.

 

And, of course, Small Potatoes -- you should watch that again.  And again.  And ...

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Man, I don't know what it is but I never found Rodney Rowland attractive.  Though, granted, he is more physically attracted than the gender-bending Amish guy who came onto Scully in season 1.

 

However, I am the only other person on the planet who also loved Dr. Romano, and so also have a soft place in my heart for Leonard Betts and Paul McCrane.  The re-order of the episode doesn't bother me that much.  In fact, I would argue that the re-order allows us to scene Scully processing the cancer news - I guess I don't find it hard to believe that both the frustrations she was experiencing in terms of figuring out her relationship with Mulder and the cancer would lead to the events of Never Again.

[festivus]

And, of course, Small Potatoes -- you should watch that again.  And again.  And ...

 

I did!

 

However, I am the only other person on the planet who also loved Dr. Romano, and so also have a soft place in my heart for Leonard Betts and Paul McCrane.

 

I always figured that the other person was Dr. Romano himself. ;)

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I always figured that the other person was Dr. Romano himself. ;)

 

Guess that makes three of us :) The reality is that I find difficult men compelling.

[festivus]

Well, I've finished season four. Not much more to say except Mulder is acting crazy and is being kind of an ass. We'll just go with the helplessness he feels is making him act this way cause otherwise...

[Baby Button Eyes]

I've only re-watched up to Paper Hearts in this season so far, but I really like that episode and sort of hate it at the same time. David Duchovny's acting is really good in this one as Mulder. It is just so personal to him. The ending was very sad about the unresolved missing child out there. The story was very affecting. But it affects me in a certain way considering I used to work in prison and I spent my days with male inmates who had nothing to do with their day then try to play mind games with staff, and anytime I see Scully in a prison interacting with inmates, it just reminds me of a time I'd rather not dwell on! I hated seeing how that killer was toying with Mulder's head and psyche. The actor who played the murderer had the right amount of creep!

I also favour "Home" for so many things, I guess I'm a true horror movie fan because this feels like closest the X-Files got to harsh horror. I haven't revisited the cancer arc yet, but I'm sort of dreading it.

Anyone notice with the high definition on Netflix, that the lighting for certain scenes is too bright or obvious and you can see how the make up staff attempted to cover up Gillian's beauty mark? I find that odd as she looks perfectly fine with her mark! And another thing I noticed that I had forgotten, when Scully is in tears it sort of breaks my heart. I guess it's cause Gillian gives such a restrained performance ? It's like "Scully, just cry it out" but all she does is silent tears, still trying to hold it back. Was she an underrated actress on this series?

Edited February 24, 2016 by Baby Button Eyes

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I’ve made it into season 4 – as an aside, the boyfriend was significantly disturbed by “Home.”

 

I watched “The Field Where I Died” last night, which like everyone else, I remember disliking a lot back in my twenties.  I like it a lot more now. I like its sense of sadness and I like how it is a meditation on what connects us to each other.

 

That being said, while I do like it a lot more now, I also recognize it is still incredibly flawed.  I am less affronted now than I was 20 years ago by the idea of Mulder’s “soul mate” (which, blah, I really hate that concept in general) being someone other than Scully. I actually like the idea that Mulder and Scully are connected as trusted confidantes – as opposed to lovers - throughout all of their lives. That actually does seem right to me.  And to be honest, Melissa is exactly the kind of woman toward which Mulder gravitates – she’s like Lucy Householder in “Oubliette,” a vulnerable woman that Mulder can protect. 

 

But while I can accept all of that, the depth of the connection between Mulder and Melissa still feels pretty unearned (especially because she’s never mentioned again).  Plus, there is always just the reality that the chemistry between anyone that isn’t Mulder and/or Scully, interacting with either Mulder or Scully, is just going to pale in comparison to their chemistry.  So ultimately, while I respect what Morgan and Wong were doing here, it just doesn’t end up working for me. I do like the atmospherics of it, though.

 

I’m looking forward to getting into the meat of Season 4.

Edited April 10, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Okay, so Never Again and Momento Mori:

 

I have more issues now with NA than I did the first time around.  I am going to preface this by saying that I think NA is a good, compelling episode, so my problems with it aren't related to it not holding together or being boring.

 

The first time around, I watched it without the knowledge (obviously) that it was supposed to be before Leonard Betts, so watching it last night was almost like watching it for the first time. I do think Scully's actions are out of character, but that is the point of the episode - that she is acting out of character, in ways that she herself doesn't recognize.  And without the cancer explanation, I have a hard time feeling as if Scully is acting in an empowered manner, which is what I suspect Morgan and Wong thought was going on.

 

It feels to me like Never Again, as much as it is commentary on M&S's relationship, is as much commentary on the way that the show has held that relationship in stasis. But that is where most of my problems lie with it. I don't mind them commenting on Scully's feeling as if her life is passing her by because she has tied herself to Mulder's quest - but it is curious to me that they have her "rebel" against Mulder as if theirs is a particularly dysfunctional marriage.  And that her rebellion ultimately means she ends up having a ONS with a psychopath - that doesn't feel like a victory, to me.

 

Beyond that, though, my deeper problem with the episode is the idea that Scully has no agency in her own life and her relationship with Mulder.  Mulder is such an incredible ass in this episode, so there is no way we aren't supposed to wonder, "what the hell is she still doing here?"  And the answer that Morgan and Wong come up with is unsatisfying to me because it comes down to Scully saying, "I am attracted to controlling men and am powerless to do anything to stop that."  I get why that makes from a male perspective, and why Morgan and Wong think that makes sense for Scully as she ponders through her partnership with Mulder.  But I don't think it is a coincidence that years later, when Gillian Anderson herself tackled that question, we see Scully accept that she has made these choices, to remain in this partnership, and that they weren't imposed upon her.  It is that sense of imposition that Morgan and Wong seem to be arguing for that bothers me most of all.

 

(This is long, so I won't get too much into Momento Mori except to say it is jarring to watch the end scene of NA immediately followed by that opening sequence between M&S in Momento Mori. Oh, and can we talk about the fact that Scully had Mulder tell her mother she has cancer? Talk about passing the buck a bit).

Edited April 14, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[GreenScreenFX]

A major problem with Never Again, is that it aired out of sequence. I can't get over the fact that the continuity is now so fucked up... It throws the entire show off balance.

[GreenScreenFX]

It was just ao random given the storyline.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

A major problem with Never Again, is that it aired out of sequence. I can't get over the fact that the continuity is now so fucked up... It throws the entire show off balance.

 

Yes, I mentioned that in the post (that I was watching it with different eyes knowing that the episode was supposed to come before the cancer reveal).  I actually don't think it being aired out of sequence is a problem - personally, I find it a lot easier to accept Scully's actions as a reaction to knowing she has cancer than just because she's annoyed with Mulder.  In any case, I don't think that this episode airing before Leonard Betts screwed up the continuity of the show - instead, it screwed up Morgan's intended meaning, but I am not in love with Morgan's intended meaning, so I am okay with that. 

[GreenScreenFX]

In "Never Again".....I think Scully's recklessness is a direct result of a devistating cancer diagnosis. Otherwise the whole episode is totally out of character.

I see the flaw in my logic. I still think it's weirdly placed in the timeline.

[Bastet]

I hate the impression left by the re-ordering of episodes that Scully's actions in Never Again are a result of Betts making her fear she has cancer; it works so much better for me as the spark at the end of years worth of slow burn frustration, so I always watch it in the intended order.

 

I love the episode, and don't think her actions are out of character - they're something different than we've seen her do, but not something that don't make sense based on what we know of her - but I agree Morgan and Wong are, like most of the writers, fixated on Mulder and other outside (male) forces rather than on Scully's internal logic and it would have been an even better episode had she been given more agency.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I hate the impression left by the re-ordering of episodes that Scully's actions in Never Again are a result of Betts making her fear she has cancer; it works so much better for me as the spark at the end of years worth of slow burn frustration, so I always watch it in the intended order.

 

I love the episode, and don't think her actions are out of character - they're something different than we've seen her do, but not something that don't make sense based on what we know of her - but I agree Morgan and Wong are, like most of the writers, fixated on Mulder and other outside (male) forces rather than on Scully's internal logic and it would have been an even better episode had she been given more agency.

 

But I mean, they are out of character. And I don't mean that in a bad way (like, how DARE Scully have sex!?!?!?), that is actually the part of the episode that makes sense to me (whatever the motivation is for it - cancer or frustration w/Mulder and/or her life in general).  Scully herself makes it pretty clear in the episode that she is acting in ways that she isn't used to acting and CLEARLY Mulder thinks this isn't the Scully he's used to dealing with. She talks about "wishing" she was so reckless when she's in the tattoo shop, she says she doesn't go out much, her whole little speech at the sketchy dive bar is all about comparing what she's doing now with her out of character actions as a little girl (smoking cigarettes).

 

She's absolutely acting out, and she knows that she's acting out. I don't have any issues with her acting out, given where they are in the show, but it seems a little strange to me to deny that Scully is acting out of character when the show goes to great pains to acknowledge that she is, and that she knows she is.  My objection is more to whether or not the episode makes the case that Scully's actions are empowered. I think her actions - whether motivated by the cancer or by Mulder - are understandable. But I find the notion that she's motivated by frustration with Mulder way less empowering than the idea that she's motivated by the cancer diagnosis. So I prefer to watch this episode in the order it was shown, rather than the order it was meant to be shown.

 

ETA: I don't mean to harp on the thing from Momento Mori but it really does floor me that this isn't mentioned more - Scully asked Mulder to tell her mother she had cancer (and he obviously did it).  I mean, I can't even imagine how my mother would react if I asked my boyfriend to tell her I had a life-threatening illness. And he's my actual significant other.  It occurs to me that one of Scully's flaws, and one that is overlooked, and that she kind of does depend on Mulder to do the dirty work and isn't always ready to take responsibility for her actions.  And maybe that's what we're seeing a little bit of in "Never Again," and to be fair to Morgan and Wong, it is something they revisited in "Home Again" with regard to William and the adoption.

Edited April 14, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Bastet]

When I regard something as out of character, I mean it's something that doesn't make sense for a person to do given who they are and what's going on in their life -- when dealing with a fictional character, I'm saying to the writers, "You've shown me nothing to explain why this is happening." 

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Okay, in that sense, I agree that Scully's actions aren't "out of character" in that they don't come from nowhere with little or no explanation.  But in my definition, they are out of character in that they are out of her usual routine behavior and they are ways that even Scully would define as reckless. But there are reasons for them.

[GreenScreenFX]

I'm all for Scully getting some from the hot guy (GA's Bf at the time apparently), it just seems out of character for Scully to have a 1 night stand, get drunk, and get a tattoo.

Not 1 of those things is a MO

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I finished Season 4 last night, and I had forgotten how unrelentingly bleak it gets there at the end of the season - thank God for "Small Potatoes" for breaking up all of the sadness and grimness, though even SP is pretty jaundiced about Mulder at the end.

 

I really love Demons, and I am surprised to learn from the Internet that a lot of people don't like it. (Though, New Englander nit pick, which actually goes back to season 3 - why in the hell does a family that lives on Martha's Vineyard need a summer home in Rhode Island?!?!?!?! It must have been in Bill Mulder's family, which makes me wonder if Mulder actually owns that house?).  I had remembered the whole ketamine deal, but I did get this episode confused in my head with Sein und Zeit (for obvious reasons related to Teena Mulder).  Anyway, can I just say how much I love the acting that both GA and DD do in that scene where Mulder confronts his mother?  Once again, we get a sense of how alienated Mulder is from his parents, and how much he bears the guilt of his parents' decisions. He can't look at her, just like he couldn't look at his father when he lost "Samantha" in End Game, and Scully can't look at her, either. You get a sense from those scenes that after Samantha's abduction, Mulder was a very lost boy, and his parents did nothing to ease his guilt.

 

It was also fun to watch Gesthemane again, because I remember the summer of 1997, and the debates about Mulder being dead, very well.  I recall that I pretty much knew that Mulder couldn't be dead but thinking it was pretty brilliant that they had written a story that could make you believe that Mulder had finally just given up and killed himself. I remember thinking three months was too long to wait to find out.

Edited April 19, 2016 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Taryn74]

I really like Demons too.  I think it's an excellent episode and it really does make you wonder for a while if Mulder really did kill the Cassandras.  You can see how Scully is pulled in different directions - wanting to protect Mulder and find out what happened, and also knowing that if he was the one who killed them, justice would have to be served.

 

I started fanwanking two or three rewatches ago that Teena Mulder was actually the one heavily involved with the Consortium, and Bill Mulder was the one who reluctantly went along with it, rather than the other way around.  I really think that makes more sense with everything we are shown throughout the series.  Fortunately for Mulder, he never had reason to suspect the truth about his mother, and so he was able to remain blissfully ignorant about the level of her involvement with Samantha's disappearance and everything else that happened.

 

Ah, Gethsemane.  The summer after it aired was when they started playing reruns of the series on a different channel (FX, maybe?) and the ads (something along the lines of "get ready to relive it from the beginning") had me convinced that Mulder was truly dead and the show was going to go back and show Scully's viewpoint of all the cases they had worked.  That was the longest three months of my life, LOL.

 

My gosh I love this show.

[Baby Button Eyes]

I really like Demons too. I think it's an excellent episode and it really does make you wonder for a while if Mulder really did kill the Cassandras. You can see how Scully is pulled in different directions - wanting to protect Mulder and find out what happened, and also knowing that if he was the one who killed them, justice would have to be served.

I started fanwanking two or three rewatches ago that Teena Mulder was actually the one heavily involved with the Consortium, and Bill Mulder was the one who reluctantly went along with it, rather than the other way around. I really think that makes more sense with everything we are shown throughout the series. Fortunately for Mulder, he never had reason to suspect the truth about his mother, and so he was able to remain blissfully ignorant about the level of her involvement with Samantha's disappearance and everything else that happened.

Ah, Gethsemane. The summer after it aired was when they started playing reruns of the series on a different channel (FX, maybe?) and the ads (something along the lines of "get ready to relive it from the beginning") had me convinced that Mulder was truly dead and the show was going to go back and show Scully's viewpoint of all the cases they had worked. That was the longest three months of my life, LOL.

My gosh I love this show.

Someone wrote a fantastic fanfic of seasons 1-7 of every episode seen through Scully's viewpoint, which is well written and sounds very canon! It's called Seasons: Fourth and on fan fiction.net and season 4 really was an intense season full of angst! I remember those cliffhangers and the long agonizing wait, oh the old days of suspense. Edited April 19, 2016 by Baby Button Eyes