Rewatch Extra: 5x03 Redux II
It’s like no one there speaks English, like Mulder’s stumbled into some Twilight Zone hospital. Half of me always struggles to buy this, his frantic search for someone to listen to him. None of them are even busy, so it doesn’t make logical sense. But on the other hand, it’s kind of effective because of that. It makes it that much more frustrating and freaky for Mulder because he can’t see any reason for not being able to find her.
“I will calm down when someone gives me a reason to calm down.” His voice cracks, he’s losing it. And it really is dangerous for him to show up there, but it’s like there’s no choice. If Scully really is dying, he has to see her, even if it costs him. And if she is dying, there's nothing to live for, so he might as well offer himself up.
I love the way the doctor scratches his neck with the clipboard in his hand when Skinner shows up, feeling awkward about getting in the middle of these rampaging FBI agents.
“You’re looking pretty good for a dead man.”
“I’m only half-dead.”
I know some people seem to think he’s referring to Scully as the half, but I don’t know. I think he’s just being sassy and colloquial. But I’d love to think he’s talking about Scully, so convince me!
The wind is completely knocked out of him when he sees her in the bed. And not just in the way people say: “That news knocked the wind out of me.” It’s a physical reaction, like someone has literally punched him in the stomach and he’s doubling over, trying to catch his breath.
“Due to what?” “She’s dying.”
He’s like a child who just cannot understand what’s going on. It’s like he hasn’t allowed himself to really process what’s happening to Scully and he suddenly is forced to figure it all out in this one moment.
After Skinner forces him to leave, he gives one last, longing look.
THE MUSIC. It breaks my heart and is still one of my very favorite Mark Snow compositions. This is totally embarrassing, but back in the day, I actually held my boom box up to the TV (which was playing my VHS tape) to record this music on a cassette tape. Boom box! VHS! Cassette! Being nerdy in the '90s was hard work.
Blevins’ office feels sinister in a way I can’t quite explain. It’s just very cigar-smoke-old-boys’-club with its red leather chair. Mulder doesn't fit in with this kind of wheeling and dealing.
“That helps you. How does that help me?” He’s still a smartass, even in this dire situation where he’s killed a man. It’s like: his ship is going down, so he doesn’t really give a shit anymore. If Scully’s going to die, why not go out in a blaze of glory himself?
“Who’s protecting whom, Agent Mulder?”
It’s strange to think of now, but at the time, it really did seem possible that Skinman was the man inside at the FBI. Watching this now, he looks to me less worried that he’s been made and more resigned to the fact that he’s never, ever getting promoted.
“You should’ve mentioned that at the hospital when you were hauling my ass off!”
“I saved your ass, Agent Mulder.”
Ass hauling! Ass saving!
“You want me to lay it where it belongs, Agent Mulder? Pathology turned up two gunshot wounds to the dead man in your apartment. One fired point-blank through the left temple with a handgun, the second a post-mortem wound to the face to remove the man's identity. Now, I'd be happy to verify the ballistics on that first shot.”
He looks so conflicted about it, forced to think about the fact that, no matter the circumstances, he killed a man and then covered it up. Interestingly, in "Redux," when Scully asks how the man died, he tells her “shotgun wound to the face.” But here, Skinner makes it clear that the shot to the face was post-mortem, there to obscure his identity. I guess in the scheme of things it doesn't quite matter, but it's a little thing that tells you a lot about how Mulder's dealing with having done this.
“Tell me why Scully lied for you.” Uh, love, guy. You haven’t noticed the moony faces these two make at each other all the damn time?
No, actually: “The disease she has was GIVEN to her by somebody connected to the FBI, to a mole working here."
“Who?”
“I failed to find that out, sir.”
He’s so sad and so self-loathing. Even if he can’t save her, he wants to know who to punish, who to blame, and he can’t even get that information.
CSM is kind of delighted at the racetrack when he says Mulder is “not to be underestimated.” It’s like he sees Mulder as a worthy adversary, he likes playing the game.
Guys, the elder’s bottom teeth are horrifying and I just noticed. Luckily, there is not a good cap of them. (Speaking of caps, he might want to look into them.) The Syndicate is either producing meth on the side or has a really bad dental plan.
“His new loyalty. To us. As I've said all along, Mulder's much more valuable to us alive.”
What could Mulder give them? It’s not like he has some special talent they could use. So I guess it’s just that he wouldn’t be working AGAINST them. Does he really think that Mulder would turn man inside? Yes, it appears that he would do anything to save Scully, but Scully would shoot him in the face for making a deal like that.
Her eyes when she sees him approaching her room! They go all wide and she tries weakly to lift her head up off the pillow. Even now, she’s immediately worried about him, about what will happen to him if he’s seen. Even though she’s the one on her deathbed. And then the way he smiles when he sees her see him! It's just this pure happiness, which is something we rarely see in Mulder.
There is absolutely no hesitation or reluctance between them now. They immediately hold hands and he leans over to kiss her.
The one thing about Mulder that makes me sad: he’s a Yankees fan. It doesn’t make sense for the character, but then again, it’s not like being a Red Sox fan would be less offensive to me or anything.
The soft touch at her temple like he wants to brush her hair back, that little gesture he's always been allowed to make.
Look at how he looks at her. Can you imagine being on the receiving end of a look like that?
“Well then, you have to lay it on me. You have to tell them that I was the one who killed that man.”
He actually recoils, reels back, like a combination of disgust at the idea of doing that to her, and amazement that she would offer him her good name.
“I can’t--I can’t do that."
“Yes, you can. Mulder, if I can save you, let me. Let me at least give some meaning to what’s happened to me.”
"Hi, Fox." "Hi, Mrs. Scully."
Handkissing on this show is hotter than sex.
She shoots him a hilarious eyebrow, like she can't believe he's kissing her hand, right in front of her mom and brother.
OH GOD. I hate how Mulder has to offer condolences to Bill, “I’m sorry about your sister,” like he’s some stranger, like he’s nothing more than her coworker.
“I know something about you, about what Dana's been through with you, so let's leave the work away from here, okay? Let her die with dignity.” I remember gasping out loud the first time I heard that line.
Mulder: “Shortly after she was abducted she discovered a small metallic chip implanted subcutaneously in her neck. It was a short time after she had it removed that she developed cancer.”
Byers: “It's unreal.”
Frohike: “Too freakin' amazing!”
Mulder: “Watch your language, Frohike, and grab me some tweezers.”
Can you imagine how psyched these guys were to be friends with Mulder? Bringing in weirdo things like metallic chips, offering them a front row seat to the government conspiracy?
“Crazy in what sense? That it might save your sister’s life?” Mulder telepathically lets Bill know that he's a douchebag. Scully gives Mulder this sideways look, like, “Settle down,” because she obviously knows he's ready to rumble.
“I think…that everybody here has their heart in the right place. But I need it to be my decision.” Look! Even in all of this, she's still able to make something her decision. And even Bill doesn't push it any further. Yes, that's right: Bill Scully, Jr. is officially classier than Doggett. Let the word go forth.
The sniper interludes are incredibly boring now, but at the time, you didn’t know who the target was, so it was actually a little suspenseful.
Duchovny and Pat Skipper fucking bring it in the hallway scene. And as much as I think Bill is a huge, polo-shirt-wearing ass, I get him, I understand what he's going through. And my Lord, Mulder’s FACE. I don’t know, there’s some magical combination of the lighting and something Duchovny did, but he’s never looked more vulnerable and washed clean of any masks. You can see tiny freckles on his skin. His eyes really look like he’s been crying. And he’s so still, and so quiet. It’s so much more effective than raging and yelling. Pat Skipper does the same thing, even-keeled and so sure of his own rightness.
Bill: You see, she's your big defender, but I think the truth is, she just doesn't want to disappoint you.
Mulder: If it works, I don't care what you think she thinks.
Bill: You're a real piece of work, you know that, Mr. Mulder?
Bill's more perceptive than we all usually give him credit for, you know? Because I do think there's some truth in that, in Scully wanting to be a good little soldier right up to the end. She's talked about it in her therapy sessions, not wanting to let Mulder down. I think a large part of it has to do not necessarily with pleasing Mulder by doing the "right" thing, but rather with the fact that she wants to give to Mulder what he gives to her.
“You know how that makes me feel?” Mulder sort of…isn’t allowed to say that Scully is something he’s losing, too. Like before, he has to play along with this farce that she's just his co-worker and her family is feeling the loss, because he can’t throw it in Bill’s face. He can only mention his sister and his father, he can’t tell anyone, let alone her brother, that he knows how it feels times ten, because he hasn’t gotten anything he's been seeking, and now he’s losing Scully.
“You’re one sorry son of a bitch. Not a whole lot more to say.”
He doesn’t even defend himself. It’s a form of self-preservation, not getting into it with Bill, as well as self-flagellation, letting someone else tell him how awful he is. It’s also a kind of gift to Scully, knowing that she wouldn’t approve, that she wouldn’t want it to happen.
I love the exterior shot of this diner. It’s gorgeous.
Samantha is so boring when she shows up as an actual person, rather than just being there as an idea. Yawn.
When she says CSM is her father, Mulder gives this hilarious WTF look. It kind of looks like he went to Joey Tribbiani's acting class.
“I remember you.” Even though this isn’t really Samantha, this line is echoed in the real Samantha’s diary: “I think I had a brother. With brown hair, who used to tease me.”
David! No! Don't cry now! Save your strength to eat sheets! You know I love him, but really, this bad crying just kills me. It’s like a high schooler doing a monologue from ‘night, Mother.
"Please don’t, Fox!” As she’s pulling away from him, he gets this absolutely stricken look on his face, like, “Everyone leaves me because I am the worst person in the world.”
Look at his face as they drive away! How did he not go jump off a bridge?
CSM: As I said, I'm offering you a chance to know the truth.
Mulder: In exchange for what?
CSM: Quit the FBI, come work for me. I can make your problems go away.
Mulder: No deal.
CSM: After all I've given you?
Mulder: What have ... what have you given me? A claim of a cure for Scully. Is she cured? You show me my sister only to take her right back. You've given me nothing!
CSM: I intend to keep my promises, I just need something from you.
Mulder: You murdered my father, you killed Scully's sister, and if Scully dies, I will kill you. I don't care whose father you are, I will put you down.
CSM: Well, you're certainly capable, so I've been told. I understand you have a hearing tomorrow where you'll have to testify to these murderous impulses of yours. When you reconsider, the offer still stands!
It's really, really hot when he tells CSM he'll kill him if Scully dies. I believe he will.
So, it's pretty much a travesty that Sheila Larken was never honored for her performance.
There’s a really great moment where a gold orb of light hits Mulder's face as he enters Scully’s room.
Oh my God, his face as he looks down at her and sort of touches her hair with the back of his hand. How long did he stay in there, I wonder? I can picture him just sitting on the floor next to her bed, his cheek pressed against the mattress, all night.
Then he starts gnawing on her arm and bedsheets. But listen. I don’t totally hate it. I actually kind of love it. It’s funny because, well SHEET EATING, but it also kind of works, because HE IS IN THAT MUCH PAIN. Grief is not pretty, people, it's sloppy and unattractive and occasionally ridiculous to the point of laughter.
“Why am I here?”
He doesn’t really lie, just evades. The Mulder trademark while being interrogated.
Blevins tells Mulder that Skinner is the man, and it would behoove him to say that. Mulder is loyal, he really does seem convinced that it’s not Skinner.
“Then they’ll prosecute you.” (And I won’t be here to protect you.)
“We all have our faith, and mine is in the truth.” I'm crying now, if you were wondering.
“Why’d you come here if you’d already made up your mind?”
“Because I knew you’d talk me out of it if I was making a mistake.” Him. And her. And they're in love but it's too late. (BUT IT'S NOT!)
She reaches out for his hand, letting herself, finally, be the tiniest bit needy.
Hail Mulder, full of grace.
He switches hands to hold onto her even longer, and she just won’t let go, her fingers clasping his and finally trailing off as he walks away.
Hi, I’m crying again as Mulder starts talking about her integrity. Seriously, chaste handkisses and talk about integrity. This show does weird things to me. “That Agent Scully did not follow these orders is a testament to her integrity as an investigator, a scientist, and a human being. She has paid dearly for this integrity.”
“Agent Mulder, Agent Scully lied, straight-faced, to this panel about your death.”
“She lied because I asked her to.”
“The victim of these same tests. Conducted without her knowledge or consent.” He is furious, he spits these words out like he can barely handle the fact that she was violated like this.
Mulder in rolled-up shirtsleeves. Give me a minute.
Mulder looks at the picture, thinking, “No way I was this husky as a child.” I personally prefer the young Mulder of "Demons," even though he's not perfect and he only shows up that once. But his gangliness works. This kid's a brick.
“I just guessed.” Okay, NO. Why would he make that guess? It really seems reckless. I wish they’d given him SOMETHING, some tiny reason to make that leap apart from Blevins just seeming vaguely sketchy. What if he'd been completely wrong?
“It’s the best news I could have ever heard.” Look at him, he’s like, drunk on emotion! But compare this to four years earlier: “Nothing else matters to me.” And it’s even more amazing here because he’s just seen his “sister,” which is what he started off wanting. But now, the possibility of Samantha being alive pales next to Scully being okay.
His weird crying noise/seal bark when he bites his lip actually works for me.
You know what sucks? "Unusual Suspects" is the episode that aired after this. That Sunday night was ridiculously disappointing. It's like when you're a kid and you're at Six Flags and you just got off the Screamin' Eagle and it was awesome and you're like, YEAH, TIDAL WAVE NEXT WOOOO! But then your mom tells you that you actually have to ride the train next because grandma's getting tired of sitting on benches while you ride rides. "Unusual Suspects," you are the train at Six Flags. Totally boring and a huge letdown and you don't even have a fake train robbery in the middle to shake things up.
“I will calm down when someone gives me a reason to calm down.” His voice cracks, he’s losing it. And it really is dangerous for him to show up there, but it’s like there’s no choice. If Scully really is dying, he has to see her, even if it costs him. And if she is dying, there's nothing to live for, so he might as well offer himself up.
I love the way the doctor scratches his neck with the clipboard in his hand when Skinner shows up, feeling awkward about getting in the middle of these rampaging FBI agents.
“You’re looking pretty good for a dead man.”
“I’m only half-dead.”
I know some people seem to think he’s referring to Scully as the half, but I don’t know. I think he’s just being sassy and colloquial. But I’d love to think he’s talking about Scully, so convince me!
The wind is completely knocked out of him when he sees her in the bed. And not just in the way people say: “That news knocked the wind out of me.” It’s a physical reaction, like someone has literally punched him in the stomach and he’s doubling over, trying to catch his breath.
“Due to what?” “She’s dying.”
He’s like a child who just cannot understand what’s going on. It’s like he hasn’t allowed himself to really process what’s happening to Scully and he suddenly is forced to figure it all out in this one moment.
After Skinner forces him to leave, he gives one last, longing look.
THE MUSIC. It breaks my heart and is still one of my very favorite Mark Snow compositions. This is totally embarrassing, but back in the day, I actually held my boom box up to the TV (which was playing my VHS tape) to record this music on a cassette tape. Boom box! VHS! Cassette! Being nerdy in the '90s was hard work.
Blevins’ office feels sinister in a way I can’t quite explain. It’s just very cigar-smoke-old-boys’-club with its red leather chair. Mulder doesn't fit in with this kind of wheeling and dealing.
“That helps you. How does that help me?” He’s still a smartass, even in this dire situation where he’s killed a man. It’s like: his ship is going down, so he doesn’t really give a shit anymore. If Scully’s going to die, why not go out in a blaze of glory himself?
“Who’s protecting whom, Agent Mulder?”
It’s strange to think of now, but at the time, it really did seem possible that Skinman was the man inside at the FBI. Watching this now, he looks to me less worried that he’s been made and more resigned to the fact that he’s never, ever getting promoted.
“You should’ve mentioned that at the hospital when you were hauling my ass off!”
“I saved your ass, Agent Mulder.”
Ass hauling! Ass saving!
“You want me to lay it where it belongs, Agent Mulder? Pathology turned up two gunshot wounds to the dead man in your apartment. One fired point-blank through the left temple with a handgun, the second a post-mortem wound to the face to remove the man's identity. Now, I'd be happy to verify the ballistics on that first shot.”
He looks so conflicted about it, forced to think about the fact that, no matter the circumstances, he killed a man and then covered it up. Interestingly, in "Redux," when Scully asks how the man died, he tells her “shotgun wound to the face.” But here, Skinner makes it clear that the shot to the face was post-mortem, there to obscure his identity. I guess in the scheme of things it doesn't quite matter, but it's a little thing that tells you a lot about how Mulder's dealing with having done this.
“Tell me why Scully lied for you.” Uh, love, guy. You haven’t noticed the moony faces these two make at each other all the damn time?
No, actually: “The disease she has was GIVEN to her by somebody connected to the FBI, to a mole working here."
“Who?”
“I failed to find that out, sir.”
He’s so sad and so self-loathing. Even if he can’t save her, he wants to know who to punish, who to blame, and he can’t even get that information.
CSM is kind of delighted at the racetrack when he says Mulder is “not to be underestimated.” It’s like he sees Mulder as a worthy adversary, he likes playing the game.
Guys, the elder’s bottom teeth are horrifying and I just noticed. Luckily, there is not a good cap of them. (Speaking of caps, he might want to look into them.) The Syndicate is either producing meth on the side or has a really bad dental plan.
“His new loyalty. To us. As I've said all along, Mulder's much more valuable to us alive.”
What could Mulder give them? It’s not like he has some special talent they could use. So I guess it’s just that he wouldn’t be working AGAINST them. Does he really think that Mulder would turn man inside? Yes, it appears that he would do anything to save Scully, but Scully would shoot him in the face for making a deal like that.
Her eyes when she sees him approaching her room! They go all wide and she tries weakly to lift her head up off the pillow. Even now, she’s immediately worried about him, about what will happen to him if he’s seen. Even though she’s the one on her deathbed. And then the way he smiles when he sees her see him! It's just this pure happiness, which is something we rarely see in Mulder.
There is absolutely no hesitation or reluctance between them now. They immediately hold hands and he leans over to kiss her.
The one thing about Mulder that makes me sad: he’s a Yankees fan. It doesn’t make sense for the character, but then again, it’s not like being a Red Sox fan would be less offensive to me or anything.
The soft touch at her temple like he wants to brush her hair back, that little gesture he's always been allowed to make.
Look at how he looks at her. Can you imagine being on the receiving end of a look like that?
“Well then, you have to lay it on me. You have to tell them that I was the one who killed that man.”
He actually recoils, reels back, like a combination of disgust at the idea of doing that to her, and amazement that she would offer him her good name.
“I can’t--I can’t do that."
“Yes, you can. Mulder, if I can save you, let me. Let me at least give some meaning to what’s happened to me.”
"Hi, Fox." "Hi, Mrs. Scully."
Handkissing on this show is hotter than sex.
She shoots him a hilarious eyebrow, like she can't believe he's kissing her hand, right in front of her mom and brother.
OH GOD. I hate how Mulder has to offer condolences to Bill, “I’m sorry about your sister,” like he’s some stranger, like he’s nothing more than her coworker.
“I know something about you, about what Dana's been through with you, so let's leave the work away from here, okay? Let her die with dignity.” I remember gasping out loud the first time I heard that line.
Mulder: “Shortly after she was abducted she discovered a small metallic chip implanted subcutaneously in her neck. It was a short time after she had it removed that she developed cancer.”
Byers: “It's unreal.”
Frohike: “Too freakin' amazing!”
Mulder: “Watch your language, Frohike, and grab me some tweezers.”
Can you imagine how psyched these guys were to be friends with Mulder? Bringing in weirdo things like metallic chips, offering them a front row seat to the government conspiracy?
“Crazy in what sense? That it might save your sister’s life?” Mulder telepathically lets Bill know that he's a douchebag. Scully gives Mulder this sideways look, like, “Settle down,” because she obviously knows he's ready to rumble.
“I think…that everybody here has their heart in the right place. But I need it to be my decision.” Look! Even in all of this, she's still able to make something her decision. And even Bill doesn't push it any further. Yes, that's right: Bill Scully, Jr. is officially classier than Doggett. Let the word go forth.
The sniper interludes are incredibly boring now, but at the time, you didn’t know who the target was, so it was actually a little suspenseful.
Duchovny and Pat Skipper fucking bring it in the hallway scene. And as much as I think Bill is a huge, polo-shirt-wearing ass, I get him, I understand what he's going through. And my Lord, Mulder’s FACE. I don’t know, there’s some magical combination of the lighting and something Duchovny did, but he’s never looked more vulnerable and washed clean of any masks. You can see tiny freckles on his skin. His eyes really look like he’s been crying. And he’s so still, and so quiet. It’s so much more effective than raging and yelling. Pat Skipper does the same thing, even-keeled and so sure of his own rightness.
Bill: You see, she's your big defender, but I think the truth is, she just doesn't want to disappoint you.
Mulder: If it works, I don't care what you think she thinks.
Bill: You're a real piece of work, you know that, Mr. Mulder?
Bill's more perceptive than we all usually give him credit for, you know? Because I do think there's some truth in that, in Scully wanting to be a good little soldier right up to the end. She's talked about it in her therapy sessions, not wanting to let Mulder down. I think a large part of it has to do not necessarily with pleasing Mulder by doing the "right" thing, but rather with the fact that she wants to give to Mulder what he gives to her.
“You know how that makes me feel?” Mulder sort of…isn’t allowed to say that Scully is something he’s losing, too. Like before, he has to play along with this farce that she's just his co-worker and her family is feeling the loss, because he can’t throw it in Bill’s face. He can only mention his sister and his father, he can’t tell anyone, let alone her brother, that he knows how it feels times ten, because he hasn’t gotten anything he's been seeking, and now he’s losing Scully.
“You’re one sorry son of a bitch. Not a whole lot more to say.”
He doesn’t even defend himself. It’s a form of self-preservation, not getting into it with Bill, as well as self-flagellation, letting someone else tell him how awful he is. It’s also a kind of gift to Scully, knowing that she wouldn’t approve, that she wouldn’t want it to happen.
I love the exterior shot of this diner. It’s gorgeous.
Samantha is so boring when she shows up as an actual person, rather than just being there as an idea. Yawn.
When she says CSM is her father, Mulder gives this hilarious WTF look. It kind of looks like he went to Joey Tribbiani's acting class.
“I remember you.” Even though this isn’t really Samantha, this line is echoed in the real Samantha’s diary: “I think I had a brother. With brown hair, who used to tease me.”
David! No! Don't cry now! Save your strength to eat sheets! You know I love him, but really, this bad crying just kills me. It’s like a high schooler doing a monologue from ‘night, Mother.
"Please don’t, Fox!” As she’s pulling away from him, he gets this absolutely stricken look on his face, like, “Everyone leaves me because I am the worst person in the world.”
Look at his face as they drive away! How did he not go jump off a bridge?
CSM: As I said, I'm offering you a chance to know the truth.
Mulder: In exchange for what?
CSM: Quit the FBI, come work for me. I can make your problems go away.
Mulder: No deal.
CSM: After all I've given you?
Mulder: What have ... what have you given me? A claim of a cure for Scully. Is she cured? You show me my sister only to take her right back. You've given me nothing!
CSM: I intend to keep my promises, I just need something from you.
Mulder: You murdered my father, you killed Scully's sister, and if Scully dies, I will kill you. I don't care whose father you are, I will put you down.
CSM: Well, you're certainly capable, so I've been told. I understand you have a hearing tomorrow where you'll have to testify to these murderous impulses of yours. When you reconsider, the offer still stands!
It's really, really hot when he tells CSM he'll kill him if Scully dies. I believe he will.
So, it's pretty much a travesty that Sheila Larken was never honored for her performance.
There’s a really great moment where a gold orb of light hits Mulder's face as he enters Scully’s room.
Oh my God, his face as he looks down at her and sort of touches her hair with the back of his hand. How long did he stay in there, I wonder? I can picture him just sitting on the floor next to her bed, his cheek pressed against the mattress, all night.
Then he starts gnawing on her arm and bedsheets. But listen. I don’t totally hate it. I actually kind of love it. It’s funny because, well SHEET EATING, but it also kind of works, because HE IS IN THAT MUCH PAIN. Grief is not pretty, people, it's sloppy and unattractive and occasionally ridiculous to the point of laughter.
“Why am I here?”
He doesn’t really lie, just evades. The Mulder trademark while being interrogated.
Blevins tells Mulder that Skinner is the man, and it would behoove him to say that. Mulder is loyal, he really does seem convinced that it’s not Skinner.
“Then they’ll prosecute you.” (And I won’t be here to protect you.)
“We all have our faith, and mine is in the truth.” I'm crying now, if you were wondering.
“Why’d you come here if you’d already made up your mind?”
“Because I knew you’d talk me out of it if I was making a mistake.” Him. And her. And they're in love but it's too late. (BUT IT'S NOT!)
She reaches out for his hand, letting herself, finally, be the tiniest bit needy.
Hail Mulder, full of grace.
He switches hands to hold onto her even longer, and she just won’t let go, her fingers clasping his and finally trailing off as he walks away.
Hi, I’m crying again as Mulder starts talking about her integrity. Seriously, chaste handkisses and talk about integrity. This show does weird things to me. “That Agent Scully did not follow these orders is a testament to her integrity as an investigator, a scientist, and a human being. She has paid dearly for this integrity.”
“Agent Mulder, Agent Scully lied, straight-faced, to this panel about your death.”
“She lied because I asked her to.”
“The victim of these same tests. Conducted without her knowledge or consent.” He is furious, he spits these words out like he can barely handle the fact that she was violated like this.
Mulder in rolled-up shirtsleeves. Give me a minute.
Mulder looks at the picture, thinking, “No way I was this husky as a child.” I personally prefer the young Mulder of "Demons," even though he's not perfect and he only shows up that once. But his gangliness works. This kid's a brick.
“I just guessed.” Okay, NO. Why would he make that guess? It really seems reckless. I wish they’d given him SOMETHING, some tiny reason to make that leap apart from Blevins just seeming vaguely sketchy. What if he'd been completely wrong?
“It’s the best news I could have ever heard.” Look at him, he’s like, drunk on emotion! But compare this to four years earlier: “Nothing else matters to me.” And it’s even more amazing here because he’s just seen his “sister,” which is what he started off wanting. But now, the possibility of Samantha being alive pales next to Scully being okay.
His weird crying noise/seal bark when he bites his lip actually works for me.
You know what sucks? "Unusual Suspects" is the episode that aired after this. That Sunday night was ridiculously disappointing. It's like when you're a kid and you're at Six Flags and you just got off the Screamin' Eagle and it was awesome and you're like, YEAH, TIDAL WAVE NEXT WOOOO! But then your mom tells you that you actually have to ride the train next because grandma's getting tired of sitting on benches while you ride rides. "Unusual Suspects," you are the train at Six Flags. Totally boring and a huge letdown and you don't even have a fake train robbery in the middle to shake things up.