Rewatch Extra: 1x07 Ice
One of the earliest appearances of the recurring theme of "we're not who we are." Ultimately, that becomes one of the largest fears on this show, one of the biggest dangers. How can you trust people when you're never quite sure if they are who you think they are?
Best credit sequence ever? Maybe I’m biased and blinded by my love, but 15 years later, it holds up. It doesn’t look dated or any worse for the wear. I also adore their ID photos, especially because I’ve had to look at the tacky 8 and 9 ones.
I’m not sure where they are when Mulder is showing Scully the tapes. Some weird FBI classroom? There’s a chalkboard and some computers. Maybe they don't have a TV and VCR down in the office yet.
Scully’s hair right now is a little fluffy, a little feathered, kind of making a sweet little halo around her head. It’s not tragic yet, it’s just cute, like she cut off her long college hair to make herself look like a professional lady.
She loves those strange blouses that sort of cross over like scarves beneath her jackets. They’re kind of silly, but they don’t look terrible on her. Which is good, because she rocks them for a few years. It could be worse! (I almost watched "The Jersey Devil" just to talk about her date outfit.)
He cutely kneels down next to her after she seems taken aback by the video. I think it could seem paternal coming from another actor, but he plays it like everything he does is done to connect with her, to get on the same page.
Okay. I have a minor obsession with the way Duchovny clenches his jaw. He does it here, for no discernible reason--or maybe because he's irked that the Bureau finds him expendable. Either way, I'm not complaining. He most often does it when he's upset, or Scully's in danger, or someone's being an asshole to Scully. I think my favorite is the way he aggressively clenches it at Ritter in the hospital at the end of "Tithonus."
“Bring your mittens!” Any time I see or wear or think of mittens, I want to quote this line. And yes, I occasionally wear mittens. I have a striped pair with a cat's face sewn on the top and a red tongue sewn between the fingers and thumb. So I can pretend to eat things with my hand.
The rest of the arctic team is played by non-random actors. Murphy, the geology guy, is played by Steve Hytner, aka, Kenny Bania. "Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The container is round. They should call it Roundtine." Then there's Felicity Huffman giving what is possibly the worst performance of her career, and Xander Berkeley, known best to me as some dude on that one season of 24. I think he sacrificed himself for the greater good or something.
Scully’s winter coat is serious business. I hope Mulder made at least a little bit of fun of her when they left D.C. and she had that thing with her. It’s eating her alive. Really, the fur around the hood is quietly plotting her demise. Mulder doesn’t look quite so ridiculous.
When Bania tells them that he has a tape with his favorite Chargers plays, Mulder gives him a look like it’s weird. You know what, Mulder? Really? Glass houses and stones and all that. Because I can think of a few things about you that people might find stranger than a compilation tape of old football plays.
I feel like Mulder touches her back CONSTANTLY in the early days. All the time. I know David is a physical actor and he touches everyone he’s on screen with, and no one more than her. And the lower back touching obviously never goes away. But now, it’s like as soon as they get within a few feet of each other, his hand’s like, zing, right there on the back. It's sweet that they never make a thing of it, that she's never, even at the beginning, like, what are you doing?
I really, really hate Felicity Huffman in this episode. Her girly scream cracks me up when the dog jumps on Mulder.
I like how the others assume that Mulder and Scully know more because they’re with the FBI. Their badges and titles give them outside credibility, while no one knows how little the FBI actually cares about them.
Scully wears an adorable ponytail during the whole episode.
Mulder is hot. His clothes are not horrific. I love the unbuttoned henley and the jeans and even the big boots.
Microscope love! Nerds. Nothing beats Scully's microscope eyebrow in FTF, but I enjoy them doing a little scientific inquiry together here.
Bania: “Well, this kind of travel always makes that kind of tough…for me.” Ha. I don't know why, but that always makes me laugh. I think it's the way he says "for me." Like he doesn't want to offend anyone by suggesting that they're constipated.
I love how she looks at him when they’re taking a vote about detaining Bear, then raises her hand. They’re such a united front. This shows up again when they’re arguing in the hall. Even in this tense, claustrophobic environment, they can argue with each other when they’re alone, but when confronted with the others, it’s like, boom, back in business, Mulder&Scully and don't you forget it.
After Bear cracks Mulder in the head with the jar, Scully tackles him to the ground. It's awesome.
Hodge says Scully seems stressed and she gets up in his face, all, “What the hell are you trying to say?” She's ready to rumble.
It’s really, really weird when Scully examines DaSilva. I feel like it comes from the same weird place as Moronica's "you're beautiful." Like the writers think two women in a scene should be all tender and creepy with each other.
As they’re going to bed, Mulder reminds Scully that the spots on the dog went away. Listen, Mulder, insinuating that someone is probably infected is no way to relax her and lure her into your room for some arctic sex.
Yes! Even in Alaska, Mulder takes his shirt off!
Gun pointing! Nothing better. “Scully, for God’s sake, it’s me!” “Mulder, you may not be who you are.” And he trusts her enough to lower his gun.
I have no explanation why, but I love when Scully throws the clips out into the snow.
When Scully tells the rest she’s going to go in to talk to Mulder, they think she’s crazy to go in alone. She has no fear--even if Mulder were out of his mind, it's like she thinks he’d still know it was her. We see it again even more awesomely in “Biogenesis.” “He‘s a danger to anyone.” “Not to me.” (Why didn't we get to see that? Why did stupid Fowley and Skinner have to drag her into the hall? WHYYYY?)
For everyone who loves Squinting Mulder, there's nothing better than the face he makes when Scully turns on the light in his storeroom jail cell. (Although...why was he just sitting in the dark? Actually, you know what? That's not even weird, and it seems kind of right. Carry on.)
Why is there nothing hotter than urgent whispering? And then he crouches down so he’s right next to her. (She's so tiny. I think the apple boxes got bigger and bigger as the years went on.)
They both check each other in completely inappropriate (and awesome, naturally) ways. She runs her hands up his back a little before yanking his shirt down and giving him an impromptu back rub. And because I watched it an untoward number of times, I can report that he closes his eyes the moment her hands hit him. Like it’s too much to handle. I am dead. Then he grabs her and she gives that little gasp, and he softly brushes her hair aside and covers her neck sideways with his hand.
There’s a nice camera move during this scene. There’s an angle on Scully when he grabs her shoulder, then it widens a bit before moving to show us him touching her neck, and then widening to a two shot. No cuts.
Mmm, they look all warm and delicious and disheveled when they pull the door open and come out of the storeroom. “I just examined him.” Yeah, I bet you did.
DaSilva's screeching freak out is a little hilarious. I’m not sure why she suddenly goes apeshit when they discover she’s the infected one. I don’t think the worm really works that way; it seems here like the worm “knows” it’s been discovered and then causes her to snap into craziness to protect herself as the host. But the other guys who were infected seemed truly possessed by it, rather than experiencing a psychosis that can turn on and off at will.
As Mulder tackles DaSilva, Scully LEAPS across the frame to help him. Like a flying squirrel.
At the end, Hodge tells Mulder that the base was torched--by the military, the CDC, someone from the government. “They’re your people.” I think this partially echoes the “we’re not who we are” theme, but it also touches on something that I think continues in several ways throughout the show. Expectation based on appearances. Like I said above, the other members of the team assume Mulder and Scully have special knowledge because they work for the government. When really, as Mulder says, they were probably sent on the mission because they’re “expendable.” Not that the FBI actually wants them to die--well, not yet--but rather they think their manpower isn’t being used on anything important anyway, so why not send them to the top of the world for a few days? Then, we have cases where expectations are based on physical looks. It’s the whole point of “Small Potatoes”: “Looking like someone else, Mulder, and being someone else are completely different things.” “Well, maybe it’s not. I mean, everybody else around you would treat you like you were somebody else, and ultimately maybe it's other people's reactions to us that make us who we are.”