Rewatch Extra: 5x19 Folie a Deux
The black, bent, many-legged lamps crawling out of the cubicles look very insect-like. It's more pronounced during the teaser, but you can see it fairly well here, too.
I actually kind of like how the “bug” is sort of static-y and superimposed like video against the real world. There’s something about it that could look kind of tacky in a “Sci Fi Original” sort of way, but it works for me aesthetically. (Then again, I’m a sucker for effects that aren’t slick and clearly CG.) But it also seems that any hallucination would be a product of its time and place, and how else would someone in modern America reference a monster but through television and movies?
“Why can’t the Chicago field office take care of it?” “Because I prefer you did.”
Because he’s the dad, that’s why, Mulder. Do you think there are any other agents who whine like this?
“Because the manifesto contains bizarre overtones…claims of a paranormal nature?” Okay, Mulder, here’s the deal. THAT’S YOUR JOB. Your life’s work. Remember? You have an entire division of the FBI devoted to your work. Your work investigating CLAIMS OF A PARANORMAL NATURE. So how about you shut your trap and hop a plane to Chi-town, okay?
“Monsters. I’m your boy.” Yes. You are. I’m glad we’re back on the same page.
“Or have I finally reached that magic point in my career where every time somebody sees Bigfoot or the Virgin Mary on a tortilla I get called to offer my special insight on the matter?”
“You’re saying ‘I’ a lot. I heard ‘we.’”
First of all, dude, you would never, ever turn your nose up at a sighting of Bigfoot or at a miraculous tortilla. So BOO HOO. And second, what sort of cases do you want? If they were asking for your “special insight” on a regular kidnapping or terrorism or whatever case, you’d be all, “But I work on the X-Files!” Is this just another case of you chafing underneath a bureaucracy that has the power to assign you work?
So listen. You guys know my feelings on Mulder. I love him. Probably a little too much. But DAMN is he being a jackass here. I have to believe it’s due to resentment because he’s just been completely used by the Bureau during the PBV undercover fiasco. Still, it's quite unbecoming.
Kudos to the person who thought to tape up his fingers. Continuity!
“On the case that’s a total waste of time?” “Yes, and I didn’t say that it wasn’t.”
It’s kind of cute how whenever they’re temporarily split up on a case like this, the one on the case is always like, “IT’S NOT AN X-FILE.” Until it totally is. See: “War of the Coprophages,” “Chinga,” “Tithonus.” It’s like…they seriously cannot work an actual case without the other one there. So they keep acting like it’s not one, pretending like, "No worries, I’ll just help out the locals real quick and be back in DC pronto. Because it’s not an X-File. Not. At all."
“Which one? There’s hundreds.” “I’m not sure, but I appreciate it.”
Yeah, you APPRECIATE it. She really does do it all for you, Mulder. It's a good thing you're occasionally really sweet and super easy on the eyes and presumably eventually excellent in bed.
I like that we actually see Mulder doing the boring work of listening to Gary’s tape and taking notes. I’m also always charmed when we get to see an actor’s actual handwriting during a scene.
“Scully, at the risk of you telling me ‘I told you so,’ I think it’s time for you to get down here and help me.”
“I told you so.”
There's something kind of adorable about how she lets him come to the realization that he needs her there. But it's also interesting how, in this and in the episodes I mentioned above, Scully comes to help Mulder, but when it’s Scully on her own, she remains resolute to the end that she does not need his help. Period. It's another gender reversal, Mulder the one who's most able to admit that he needs help. But I definitely get where Scully's coming from. It would be nice, sure, if at this point she were able to get past it and see Mulder as Mulder, but I have to think that there's an ingrained "I have to prove myself and proving myself means not needing any help" sort of feeling that you'd almost have to develop as a woman at the FBI.
This lunchroom is huge.
Okay: I love David Duchovny. But Jesus Christ is he bored during this episode. (Someone remind him it's a hostage scene! And then make sure he doesn't fall asleep.) I think it’s partially the reason why Mulder seems so pissed off and peevish during this episode: because there’s one more episode and Duchov clearly wants to wrap this mother up and get the hell out of Dodge.
After Gary shoots Backus and they drag his body across the floor, it leaves a smear of blood across the linoleum floor. Subtly gruesome.
“What was his name?” Mulder wants to make Gary name the man, to look at him that way rather than as an “it.” I love when we get to see Mulder negotiate with crazy people.
“He wants us all like that. Insects, not people. Mindless drones. He wants to take away who we are. To control us. So we’ll be his eyes and ears and spy on each other and do his dirty work.” It’s all an analogy for having an awful, soul-deadening job, for working in corporate America, isn't it?
Scully’s quietly panicked reaction when she sees Mulder on the TV. She knows he’s in there, but it still affects her. And when Gary forces him down to the ground, her eyes get wider, like she wants to shout, NO! My future baby daddy!
“Don’t do this, Gary.” Well, don't get too excited, there. David, this is not your finest moment as an actor. And I sat through “Evolution.” (Not in the theater, don’t worry. Even drinking while watching did not help.)
So why IS Mulder able to see through Pincus to the monster within? Just because he’s a paranormally sensitive magic man?
I love SWAT action! Woo!
In the aftermath, Scully walk over to a stunned Mulder and slips her hand over his arm and leans into him, kind of clinging to him. And it’s not just for a second. She just stands there, pressed up against him. She’s so handsy and I love it! So unprofessional!
Of course, Mulder walks away. She just wants to figure things out with you! LET HER IN!
The date Mulder writes on the map is 5/10/98, if you like to take note of things like that.
“Close the door.” Sorry, I’ll never stop loving that.
“Have you slept?” Have you met him?
“Yeah, but did he see it because he was disturbed, or was he disturbed because he saw it?”
“Then I’ll prove it without you.” She says his name but he hightails it out of there without looking back. Mulder! Why you gotta act like such a d-bag here? You're hurting me, darling.
Okay, that little cut on his lip? I’m not gonna lie, I spent the whole episode wanting to kiss it and make it all better.
So the hallucination, in a reverse of what we’d usually consider an hallucination, basically causes you NOT to see the monster. Still, I don’t know who is able to cut through that and see the truth, and why? Why Gary Lambert? Why Mulder?
Scully breaks out the red suit! (Also, look at her face in that cap. If they were sleeping together by now, Mulder would NOT be getting any tonight.)
“I was hoping you could give me some insight into Agent Mulder’s recent behavior.”
Damn, she’s always left behind to clean up his messes with Skinner. Not to mention the fact that, against her express wishes, he had the body sent to Quantico and SCHEDULED HER TO DO THE AUTOPSY. And now she has to act like she knew all along and was down with the plan.
“Knock yourself out.” Ha, forced autopsies make her so cranky.
“Think very carefully about the next words that come out of your mouth.”
Skinner, he never has, does, or will, okay? Love him, love his lack of internal censor.
“If you care about your career, you’ll knock this crap off…”
I don’t think Mulder does care about his career. On one hand, there’s something noble about that. He’ll never be the mindless drone that Gary Lambert warned of. But on the other hand, come on, guy. Despite what you may think, you need a paycheck to buy food and pornography and sexy gray t-shirts and pay your rent. It’s going to be several years before you’ve got a sugar mama, so behave accordingly.
Wheee! Wrist-restraint hand-holding in the psych ward! Ladies and gentlemen, the most romantic show in the history of television.
He’s lucky he’s looking like a sad puppy dog, because she should really tear him a new one for the whole Quantico autopsy stunt.
She looks so tired and sad for him, like she just wants to pet his head until he falls asleep.
“Scully, you HAVE to believe me. No one else on this whole damn planet does or ever will. You're my one in five billion.”
Three points about this:
1. I kind of can’t believe Carter let this fly. It’s one of the most blatantly romantic things that is ever said by either one of them. It makes my heart go pitter-pat.
2. Scully’s reaction is priceless, because she looks at him with this face that’s like: are you saying this to me to get your way, or did you just totally tell me that you’re in love with me?
3. Hey! Mulder! WRITE THAT DOWN, buddy, because I’m going to need you to remember it in approximately a week, okay? Only one who believes you. One in five billion. Scully. The one with red hair. Got it? Good.
Scully gets a bad rap as an unflinching Skeptic with a capital S, but she really is rigid in a wonderful way. Because she overcomes her skepticism to listen to him and do things like fly all the way back to DC from Chicago to examine the body again. Just in case she's wrong.
Speaking of which, she’s totally racking up the frequent flyer miles in this episode. She flies to Chicago, flies back, flies to Chicago again to visit Mulder, flies back to DC to reexamine the body, and then flies back to Chicago one more time to save the day. And then, obviously, back to DC.
Mulder’s restraints sort of echo the way you can’t protect your own interest when you’re taken over by something. Mulder is able, somehow, to see the monsters that are there, but since he’s restrained, he can’t protect himself. The restraints somehow put him on “equal” (but more terrifying) footing with the people who are unable to see, and thus, unable to protect themselves.
Maybe it’s because I just finished reading “Dracula” last night, but the whole concept here is rather vampiric. The main creature changing his victims so they’ll do his bidding and create more creatures, creatures that are alive and yet also dead from the point at which they’re “changed.”
“I’ve come a long way, and I know he wants to see me, so what do you say?”
This violet suit she’s wearing is awful. There are about fifty buttons on the front and the jacket is long enough to be a dress.
“A madness shared by two.” And how.
Despite the fact that the epilogue takes place in Missouri (yay), I think they should’ve cut it and ended with the elevator doors closing on Mulder and Scully. Their complete co-dependence to the point of shared madness/hallucinations (hey, wait til next season, you two!) is somehow more poignant or even eerier than the knowledge that the monster is going to continue on.
I actually kind of like how the “bug” is sort of static-y and superimposed like video against the real world. There’s something about it that could look kind of tacky in a “Sci Fi Original” sort of way, but it works for me aesthetically. (Then again, I’m a sucker for effects that aren’t slick and clearly CG.) But it also seems that any hallucination would be a product of its time and place, and how else would someone in modern America reference a monster but through television and movies?
“Why can’t the Chicago field office take care of it?” “Because I prefer you did.”
Because he’s the dad, that’s why, Mulder. Do you think there are any other agents who whine like this?
“Because the manifesto contains bizarre overtones…claims of a paranormal nature?” Okay, Mulder, here’s the deal. THAT’S YOUR JOB. Your life’s work. Remember? You have an entire division of the FBI devoted to your work. Your work investigating CLAIMS OF A PARANORMAL NATURE. So how about you shut your trap and hop a plane to Chi-town, okay?
“Monsters. I’m your boy.” Yes. You are. I’m glad we’re back on the same page.
“Or have I finally reached that magic point in my career where every time somebody sees Bigfoot or the Virgin Mary on a tortilla I get called to offer my special insight on the matter?”
“You’re saying ‘I’ a lot. I heard ‘we.’”
First of all, dude, you would never, ever turn your nose up at a sighting of Bigfoot or at a miraculous tortilla. So BOO HOO. And second, what sort of cases do you want? If they were asking for your “special insight” on a regular kidnapping or terrorism or whatever case, you’d be all, “But I work on the X-Files!” Is this just another case of you chafing underneath a bureaucracy that has the power to assign you work?
So listen. You guys know my feelings on Mulder. I love him. Probably a little too much. But DAMN is he being a jackass here. I have to believe it’s due to resentment because he’s just been completely used by the Bureau during the PBV undercover fiasco. Still, it's quite unbecoming.
Kudos to the person who thought to tape up his fingers. Continuity!
“On the case that’s a total waste of time?” “Yes, and I didn’t say that it wasn’t.”
It’s kind of cute how whenever they’re temporarily split up on a case like this, the one on the case is always like, “IT’S NOT AN X-FILE.” Until it totally is. See: “War of the Coprophages,” “Chinga,” “Tithonus.” It’s like…they seriously cannot work an actual case without the other one there. So they keep acting like it’s not one, pretending like, "No worries, I’ll just help out the locals real quick and be back in DC pronto. Because it’s not an X-File. Not. At all."
“Which one? There’s hundreds.” “I’m not sure, but I appreciate it.”
Yeah, you APPRECIATE it. She really does do it all for you, Mulder. It's a good thing you're occasionally really sweet and super easy on the eyes and presumably eventually excellent in bed.
I like that we actually see Mulder doing the boring work of listening to Gary’s tape and taking notes. I’m also always charmed when we get to see an actor’s actual handwriting during a scene.
“Scully, at the risk of you telling me ‘I told you so,’ I think it’s time for you to get down here and help me.”
“I told you so.”
There's something kind of adorable about how she lets him come to the realization that he needs her there. But it's also interesting how, in this and in the episodes I mentioned above, Scully comes to help Mulder, but when it’s Scully on her own, she remains resolute to the end that she does not need his help. Period. It's another gender reversal, Mulder the one who's most able to admit that he needs help. But I definitely get where Scully's coming from. It would be nice, sure, if at this point she were able to get past it and see Mulder as Mulder, but I have to think that there's an ingrained "I have to prove myself and proving myself means not needing any help" sort of feeling that you'd almost have to develop as a woman at the FBI.
This lunchroom is huge.
Okay: I love David Duchovny. But Jesus Christ is he bored during this episode. (Someone remind him it's a hostage scene! And then make sure he doesn't fall asleep.) I think it’s partially the reason why Mulder seems so pissed off and peevish during this episode: because there’s one more episode and Duchov clearly wants to wrap this mother up and get the hell out of Dodge.
After Gary shoots Backus and they drag his body across the floor, it leaves a smear of blood across the linoleum floor. Subtly gruesome.
“What was his name?” Mulder wants to make Gary name the man, to look at him that way rather than as an “it.” I love when we get to see Mulder negotiate with crazy people.
“He wants us all like that. Insects, not people. Mindless drones. He wants to take away who we are. To control us. So we’ll be his eyes and ears and spy on each other and do his dirty work.” It’s all an analogy for having an awful, soul-deadening job, for working in corporate America, isn't it?
Scully’s quietly panicked reaction when she sees Mulder on the TV. She knows he’s in there, but it still affects her. And when Gary forces him down to the ground, her eyes get wider, like she wants to shout, NO! My future baby daddy!
“Don’t do this, Gary.” Well, don't get too excited, there. David, this is not your finest moment as an actor. And I sat through “Evolution.” (Not in the theater, don’t worry. Even drinking while watching did not help.)
So why IS Mulder able to see through Pincus to the monster within? Just because he’s a paranormally sensitive magic man?
I love SWAT action! Woo!
In the aftermath, Scully walk over to a stunned Mulder and slips her hand over his arm and leans into him, kind of clinging to him. And it’s not just for a second. She just stands there, pressed up against him. She’s so handsy and I love it! So unprofessional!
Of course, Mulder walks away. She just wants to figure things out with you! LET HER IN!
The date Mulder writes on the map is 5/10/98, if you like to take note of things like that.
“Close the door.” Sorry, I’ll never stop loving that.
“Have you slept?” Have you met him?
“Yeah, but did he see it because he was disturbed, or was he disturbed because he saw it?”
“Then I’ll prove it without you.” She says his name but he hightails it out of there without looking back. Mulder! Why you gotta act like such a d-bag here? You're hurting me, darling.
Okay, that little cut on his lip? I’m not gonna lie, I spent the whole episode wanting to kiss it and make it all better.
So the hallucination, in a reverse of what we’d usually consider an hallucination, basically causes you NOT to see the monster. Still, I don’t know who is able to cut through that and see the truth, and why? Why Gary Lambert? Why Mulder?
Scully breaks out the red suit! (Also, look at her face in that cap. If they were sleeping together by now, Mulder would NOT be getting any tonight.)
“I was hoping you could give me some insight into Agent Mulder’s recent behavior.”
Damn, she’s always left behind to clean up his messes with Skinner. Not to mention the fact that, against her express wishes, he had the body sent to Quantico and SCHEDULED HER TO DO THE AUTOPSY. And now she has to act like she knew all along and was down with the plan.
“Knock yourself out.” Ha, forced autopsies make her so cranky.
“Think very carefully about the next words that come out of your mouth.”
Skinner, he never has, does, or will, okay? Love him, love his lack of internal censor.
“If you care about your career, you’ll knock this crap off…”
I don’t think Mulder does care about his career. On one hand, there’s something noble about that. He’ll never be the mindless drone that Gary Lambert warned of. But on the other hand, come on, guy. Despite what you may think, you need a paycheck to buy food and pornography and sexy gray t-shirts and pay your rent. It’s going to be several years before you’ve got a sugar mama, so behave accordingly.
Wheee! Wrist-restraint hand-holding in the psych ward! Ladies and gentlemen, the most romantic show in the history of television.
He’s lucky he’s looking like a sad puppy dog, because she should really tear him a new one for the whole Quantico autopsy stunt.
She looks so tired and sad for him, like she just wants to pet his head until he falls asleep.
“Scully, you HAVE to believe me. No one else on this whole damn planet does or ever will. You're my one in five billion.”
Three points about this:
1. I kind of can’t believe Carter let this fly. It’s one of the most blatantly romantic things that is ever said by either one of them. It makes my heart go pitter-pat.
2. Scully’s reaction is priceless, because she looks at him with this face that’s like: are you saying this to me to get your way, or did you just totally tell me that you’re in love with me?
3. Hey! Mulder! WRITE THAT DOWN, buddy, because I’m going to need you to remember it in approximately a week, okay? Only one who believes you. One in five billion. Scully. The one with red hair. Got it? Good.
Scully gets a bad rap as an unflinching Skeptic with a capital S, but she really is rigid in a wonderful way. Because she overcomes her skepticism to listen to him and do things like fly all the way back to DC from Chicago to examine the body again. Just in case she's wrong.
Speaking of which, she’s totally racking up the frequent flyer miles in this episode. She flies to Chicago, flies back, flies to Chicago again to visit Mulder, flies back to DC to reexamine the body, and then flies back to Chicago one more time to save the day. And then, obviously, back to DC.
Mulder’s restraints sort of echo the way you can’t protect your own interest when you’re taken over by something. Mulder is able, somehow, to see the monsters that are there, but since he’s restrained, he can’t protect himself. The restraints somehow put him on “equal” (but more terrifying) footing with the people who are unable to see, and thus, unable to protect themselves.
Maybe it’s because I just finished reading “Dracula” last night, but the whole concept here is rather vampiric. The main creature changing his victims so they’ll do his bidding and create more creatures, creatures that are alive and yet also dead from the point at which they’re “changed.”
“I’ve come a long way, and I know he wants to see me, so what do you say?”
This violet suit she’s wearing is awful. There are about fifty buttons on the front and the jacket is long enough to be a dress.
“A madness shared by two.” And how.
Despite the fact that the epilogue takes place in Missouri (yay), I think they should’ve cut it and ended with the elevator doors closing on Mulder and Scully. Their complete co-dependence to the point of shared madness/hallucinations (hey, wait til next season, you two!) is somehow more poignant or even eerier than the knowledge that the monster is going to continue on.