#mytharc

[randomfoggytiger]

I kind of hate even asking this question but I’m going to ask it anyway.

Why do you think CC decided to totally retcon the mythology in the revival? Do you think he was bored of it? Did he think it didn’t fit in with “modern times”?

I know the mythology was kind of a mess at the end but I don’t think it was so bad that it was beyond saving.

It’s just, when you watch the struggles and accept the retcon it makes the Orginal Series feel like a waste of time. I’ve also heard theories that the Struggle episodes are told by an “unreliable narrator” for example CSM is an unreliable narrator in MSIII, Jackson is unreliable in MSIV. That just sounds like a cop out. It all just gives me a headache honestly. 🙁

tl;dr: CC is interested in new ideas; and will always be willing to cast off old ones in pursuit of fresher perspectives. His passion for the latter mythology was born from Dr. Simon's and Dr. Fearon's last-minute theory; but when it got fan backlash, he pivoted the focus from his revitalized mythology to the abandoned William arc. However: because he was chasing tantalizing ideas rather than a focused conclusion, Carter completely fumbled in his attempts to close up old threads in order to start afresh.

A couple reasons:

CC and Spotnitz wrapped up the original mythology in Season 6 (One Son), deciding that it had both blossomed out of control and somehow come together. Mythology wrapped up, they then finished off the Samantha arc in Season 7 and began a new mytharc in Season 8. Season 8's Existence, according to Spotnitz, functioned as the end of the original X-Files as a whole--

Spotnitz: "And the series will be different, whoever comes back for it [Season 9]-if there is another year. We’re still working out what that final story is, but there are a couple of elements that we know are going to be in there. And those two elements close the chapter.”

and,

Spotnitz: Whatever I said, what I mean to say is that 8 years of the series will come to a close this May, regardless of whether there is an X-Files next season. I actually believe most of the important questions about the mythology have already been answered, believe it or not, and you will see some new ones asked in upcoming shows.

--leaving room for Season 9 to begin a new chapter for the show (one no longer centered on Mulder and Scully's evolving story, since it had been concluded.)

That... didn't work. So, IWTB's focus, years later, was on a MOTW instead, with the hope that it would succeed and become a stepping stone to a movie-mythology franchise series.

That didn't work, either. But CC never gave up hope for a 3rd movie.

Then 2015 rolled around and FOX approached him for a revival.

Carter: I had one question thrown out to me at a meeting. [Fox Television CEO] Dana Walden asked, “If there were another series, when do you think you could begin work on it?” It wasn’t an overture, more of a practical issue. That was before the show ever aired and they knew what the ratings would be. There’s been no conversation about doing more of these. With the ratings news, it’s hard to imagine that they wouldn’t come back to us.

I would love to do another movie. Especially coming off that second movie, which had such a heavy weight upon it: A summer-release, low-budget movie, with no promotion, in a crowded field of tentpole fare. I was asked to do so much with so little. And I tried! If we were to do another movie, it would need to be akin to the first movie, which I thought was a story worthy of the big screen. That said, I can’t imagine they won’t want to somehow figure out how to do this on TV.

CC didn't know where to take the show, and only signed on after being told the season would be short (and might give him a movie, which is what he really wanted.) It was Dr. Anne Simon that actually got him excited about the mytharc again: as she tells it,

"What was the Conspiracy? This [Struggle I and II] is the conspiracy. Now, did Chris know that this was the conspiracy [since the original show]? Obviously not-- because I told him what the conspiracy was. But he knew that there was a Conspiracy-- he just didn’t know what it was. But when I told him, when I gave him this idea [plot for MSI/II], he was just, ‘This is amazing’-- I mean, he was so happy. ‘I want more, I want more, I want more!’ And every time I sent him these pages, typed pages, he was just, he was extremely happy. I could tell how happy he was.”

(Dr. Anne Simon's an interesting rabbit hole to go down, btw. Gonna do a post on her contributions in the future.)

He redid the focus of the show in Season 10; and his writers and collaborators and even his actors-- David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, both-- thought it was a well-written season (I know....) But the fans did not.

So, CC made a statement after FOX confirmed S11: shippers had been heard-- there would be more MSR and William. So much so, he brought William back purposefully to give his arc a resolution.

And when that didn't work out-- when CC's 'perfect' ending was hated by fans (and famously, Gillian) for feeling more like a cop out than an address-and-move-forward conclusion, he felt slighted and misunderstood.

In short, Carter wasn't invested in his series anymore-- and, to be fair, neither were David and Gillian: all three (and Spotnitz) wanted to do movies instead. FOX said no; so, they took on Season 8 and 9. When the middling traction from S8 flopped in S9, CC deviated from the mytharc and did IWTB. That flubbed; and he let the matter rest for a few years (still hoping for more movies.) When FOX only agreed to do another series, he didn't know what to do with the mytharc. Then Dr. Anne Simon and Margaret Fearon gave him a direction-- and, yes, both worked on (and cosigned) the mytharc episodes-- and got him excited to do something new; and more of it. And we all saw what happened thereafter.

(Dr. Anne Simon also worked on the OG mytharc episodes, and has nothing but good things to say about them and the Revival. Again, a future rabbit hole.)

In conclusion: once CC's interest is engaged, he loses track of all else and devotes his aspirations to that one thing-- to the detriment of not only the whole picture (i.e. mythology) but also other equally important moving parts (i.e. Gillian's desire to move on.)

I could go on, but I think that's it for now.

[heronroseeros]

my favorite thing about the x-files is that i never really know what is happening. even when we see meetings of all the old-ass white men and they explain exactly what is happening, I don't know.

the characters say stuff all the time and sometimes things happen, then no complete conclusion is every truly reached.

the whole show is an unreliable narrator. and it is such a unique flavor. so tasty.

[xfiles-vibes]

One of the things that really strikes me when I go back and watch The X Files is how—despite not appearing in the series much at all—Samantha Mulder’s presence consistently haunts the show and its characters.

Her abduction first inspires and then continues to fuel her brother’s search for the truth over several years. Even characters who have never met her seem to know immediately who she is, such as the moment that Scully sees Samantha’s clone on the bridge in Season 2. Knowledge of the torturous experimentation she was subjected to as a teenager by the Cigarette Smoking Man haunts not only her brother Fox Mulder, but also the boy she was raised alongside: Jeffrey Spender. She is simultaneously grieved for by her parents, and also overlooked by them, both choosing lives of shame and secrecy, endlessly guilt-tripping their son into believing he was responsible for his sister being taken, saddling him with a guilt that will weigh on him for years to come.

Anyway, if you’ve read this far, Samantha Mulder was done dirty and she deserved way better of an ending than what she got, especially after so many things in the show can be traced back to the mystery around her initial disappearance.

[mulderscreek]

Tiny Tuesday Question

If there had been a sequel episode to How the Ghosts Stole Christmas

[agent-troi]

I'D NEVER CONNECTED THE DOTS THAT THAT WAS SCULLY'S LITTLE FETUS SO I WAS, AS THE KIDS USED TO SAY, SHOOKETH.

Obviously, I saw it before with my eyeballs; but seeing and connecting the dots are two veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery different things.

....

....

...Now I'm sad about the Scully fetus, too. ://///////////////////

nobody talks enough about the scully fetus☹️☹️☹️ also was that the only one?? were there more??? were they emily clones or individual hybrids from their own series?? there neeeeeeeds to be more fic speculating about this bc canon just kinda mentions it and then it’s whoops on to the next part of the mytharc lol

[fine-nephrit]

🥏 Fic Rec #62: "Original Sin" by Syntax6

Today’s fic is another novel-length mystery by @syntax6 that showcases her well-honed craftsmanship with polish and confidence. The premise is intriguing: what if Scully really did leave and move to Utah at the end of Fight the Future? The fic picks up two years later with a casefile that unravels the mystery at the heart of the X-Files mytharc.

It never ceases to amaze me the way Syntax6 weaves the loose threads of canon into something even better—plausible, compelling, and still true to the series' classic vibe. Her original characters and her take on Diana are first-rate as always. An entertaining, powerful read!

---

🥏 on author's site 🥏 audio version on @audiofanficpod read by @red2007

length: novel, 102K / 52,000+ words season: post-FTF pairing(s): M/S UST to RST, Scully/Other, Mulder/Other tags: AU, casefile, angst, mytharc, jealousy, rift, separated/reunited, good OCs, Diana Fowley, Samantha Mulder rating: explicit/NC-17

Tagging @today-in-fic

[lilydalexf]

A few fics come to my mind that involve the mytharc and the Scully family in some way:

And Death Shall Have No Dominion by Jean Helms Mulder and Scully, off the X Files for now, investigate a possible bioweapons facility. What they find there puts their partnership, their investigative skills, their love and even their sanity to a test neither could ever have imagined.

Aurora by Steve Mills and Adam Webb Scully attends her great-uncle’s funeral and inherits a mystery for her to investigate, though certain powers don’t wish her to.

Frederick by @lilydalexf (me!) Angst of the Scully family variety. Everything is not as it seems.

Half-Life Universe by skuls (@ghostbustermelanieking) Mulder and Scully get a second chance.

Locusts by syn An unexpected death begins a terrible journey for Dana Scully and Fox Mulder; one that threatens to tear their faith, their beliefs and their partnership apart.

anyone know of any txf fics touching on the idea of Ahab/Bill Scully having also been tangentially linked to...... conspiracy things? or coverups? I feel like that old friend and neighbor from the base having information in piper maru/apocrypha took a step in that direction. as did the implication that Ahab advanced through the ranks with some alacrity if he was already a Captain in Scully's youth/adolescence -- i mean yes it could just be an extension of the Ahab nickname and/or the writer's room getting confused naval promotions, which. fair. the only reason i know anything about that is due to research i did in a past fandom, but I'm choosing to view it with this lens if you see what i mean. Also the fact that Scully is in those 'vaccination' records they found since before her abduction. I'm always unclear if that was meant to imply that 'everyone' was being indexed and filtered at that point or if it was meant to imply that Scully and possibly her family had been marked for the inclusion in the plot/conspiracy from well before her being linked to Mulder on the X-files assignment.

I just think it would be interesting to play with the idea that Bill Sr. did things or knew things or was actually in naval intelligence or something -- I remember from my time in aforementioned previous fandom with an ex naval intelligence officer turned criminal rogue character that they have their hands in more pies than most people think... at least in TV land. Obviously he's not directly involved the way the other father named Bill was but it would be interesting if he were wittingly or unwittingly involved in operations for the benefit of the syndicate people.

And it would be interesting if CSM/CGB put Scully onto the X-files with Mulder not to simply be an obstruction in his path and spy on him/take him down like they assume but because Ahab's service somehow put Scully in the net they cast for potential subjects/colonization survivors. That after CSM decided to move Diana under his personal control (take his son's girlfriend for himself) he offset that by pushing Scully at him in hopes that he'd be distracted and settle down with another intelligent, 'conspiracy-approved' woman/genetic line. (not bargaining on them both being obsessive workaholics.) And that maybe her abduction wasn't punishment for continuing to work on the files but was part of something that was already in motion whether or not she continued working with Mulder.

Plus, frankly, it would be really interesting to know what Bill Jr. was up to. To explore the idea that he was also involved in some tertiary way via his own service. In a thought experiment where Ahab was useful to the conspiracy and his 3rd child got selected for further use in early screening, what would be the chances that his 1st born son was totally passed over? Not high, right?

I don't believe this is literally canon or that the intention was really there, but you could definitely make a plot like this out of some of the pieces they gave us and I feel like it would be an interesting perspective on Scully's relationship to her family, and the maybe-inevitability of her involvement in all this, and her ability to establish agency in spite of it. And it's a way to sidestep the 'mulder was being punished with scully's abduction' baggage that the show does and doesn't believe.

I've been really thinking about this lately, but I can't offhand remember any fics or meta tackling mytharcy things from this direction....?

[bisexualfbiagents]

Nine minutes, Scully. Do you remember the last time you were missing nine minutes?

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF THE X FILES Day 5: Favorite Arc Part One ➤ The Suspicious Crash of Flight 549 from Tempus Fugit (4.17) and Max (4.18)

[samanthamulder]

THE X-FILES (1993-2018)

SEASON FIVE — What do you hope to find? I mean, in the end.

[sp00kyactionatadistance]

The X-Files • Anasazi

“In the desert, things find a way to survive. Secrets are like this too. They push their way up through the sands of deception, so men can know them.”

[amplifyme]

Hey, hi, jumping in here to add more confusion. Sorry, but I have to disagree with this statement re: more Emilys: "We know that couldn't have been created post Memento Mori because Mulder was given Scully's ova."

While it's a fact that Mulder walked out of that lab with one vial of Scully's ova, it wasn't the only one. There were at least three vials in that drawer, and possibly many more.

And even though the Crawfords were trying to save their "mothers," that doesn't mean that the Consortium somehow lost access to all those vials of ova being stored after Mulder's visit. Keep in mind that the lab the Crawfords were working in belonged to the Consortium and was housed in a facility specifically maintained by them for the purpose of mass producing clones. I think it's safe to say TPTB had easy and constant access to all the ova stored there, including Scully's - minus the one vial Mulder took.

So I have to believe in the probability of many, many more Emilys (or Emily adjacent clones) being out there. Which, btw, is the premise of Mustang Sally and Rivkat's epic Iolokus series. If you haven't read it yet, you're missing out. It can be a tough read sometimes (with an a unflinching take on our heroes) but it's so very worth it. Okay, backing out of the room now. Carry on. 😁

I am having a hard time filling in the gaps. Are there more Emily's out there for Scully to find? We saw that there were clones of the man who said "they are our mothers". Could Emily really have just been only 1? Would all Emily's have been meant to die?

When Mulder found Scully's ova, were they being held in safekeeping so that they would not be used again for experimentation and were they already unviable when he took them?

EMILY SIM, FETUS SCULLY, AND THE EXTINCTION OF THE HYBRIDS

Hmmm, this is what I figure:

THE SYNDICATE IS ROBBED OF SCULLY'S DNA

When Mulder found (or was directed to) Scully's ova in Memento Mori, he reclaimed what the clones recovered from the Consortium. An important question emerges: we see other clones in tanks-- is that how these clones regenerate, or are they growing more of themselves? If they are growing more of themselves, then perhaps they were using the ova stored in that storage facility-- if so, then the ova were still functional; and the Syndicate might have salvaged and kept them when they obliterated the clones and any shred of evidence. If they weren't, then perhaps the ova were already contaminated via transfer. The latter doesn't make sense, since the clones had them on ice (and appeared to have the training to understand how to monitor and "care" for them.)

Are there more of Scully's ova that haven't been recovered? Unlikely: Melissa Scully interfered on her niece's behalf in A Christmas Carol; and likely would have done the same if Scully had had other children in danger... which would have happened after Dr. Calderon's experiments failed (to be discussed below.)

Why is this important? We later learn that Mulder had the ova he recovered tested during the cancer arc; and that they weren't viable (probably because they hung out in his pocket a few too many hours.) Yet, he stumbles across a Scully fetus, this one prepped and ready for womb transfer (more on that in a bit) in Emily. We know that couldn't have been created post Memento Mori because Mulder was given Scully's ova. So, that means the fetus was created and put on ice (or in an alien goop container) beforehand, ready to be used when it was "time." Why, and for what reason? And what does this mean for other Scully fetus potentialities?

ALIENS AND HYBRIDS AND CLONES-- OH, MY!

Emily Sim was born a few days before Scully's return (timeline here.) We've seen the method by which she was born in Emily: the babies are conceived in tubes, then transferred to baby pods-- a.k.a. older women in induced "beauty sleep" comas-- where they grow and are born in a month (or less.) This hybridization and quick conception-to-birth method seemed to create physiological instability in these hybrids as compared to pure clones; and their health had to be constantly monitored lest they deteriorated in a matter of days (hence, her weekly, perhaps daily, visits to Dr. Calderon.) But Emily (and presumed hybrids at large) were also more human, expressing her personality and fear on a multi-dimensional level. In a broader context, Scully's daughter was just another branch of the Consortium's inhumane experiments on their path to create superhumans: the Eves, the Sleepless soldiers, the End Game clones, the Memento Mori clones, and now the hybrid babies.

THE PROCESS OF CREATION

At the retirement home, Mulder discovered that all eight of the women living there gave birth to healthy children recently: all but one delivered a baby in 1994 (excepting a boy born in 1996.) He found six of the eight already prepped for "beauty sleep", and that another-- Anna Fugazzi, who gave birth to Emily Sim-- was waiting for Dr. Calderon's return to join them.

This, then, gives us a concrete date (June 1994-November 1994) to work off of; and an outlier year (1996) to factor in.

(As a side note: was Scully used as a baby pod, as well? I don't think so-- not only because she was extensively tested upon her return, mere days after Emily's birth, but also because the hybrid experiments followed a very strict regimen: older women pumped full of estrogen and progesterone were used as part of the process. Guinea pigs, too, for progress.

Further, we've already seen women in the exact position as Scully:

Mulder found them in Redux I's DOD, lying comatose on tables while being put through an array of tests. They, along with Scully and the other MUFON women, were part of the extract-and-dump group of return abductees that the Consortium considered to be lab rats: not "dignified" or "healthy" enough to carry their Project's offspring.)

THE DEATH OF THE CALDERON EXPERIMENTS

Back to the original question: are there more Emilys out there?

Emily Sim was carefully adopted out and closely monitored by Dr. Calderon himself-- she, and her kind, were his particular research, like "pure" alien babies were Dr. Parenti's (post here.) Mulder finds another Scully hybrid fetus in the retirement facility, but leaves it; and his attempts to investigate later are thwarted by a hasty cover-up. Both Calderon and his research-- unstable, sickly hybrids-- were probably deemed not only a risk, but a failure; and the Consortium likely stopped the experiments after they buried the evidence, i.e. the Eves (leaving them to rot in prison) the Sleepless soldiers (letting them run loose and kill each other), etc., etc., etc.

Here's what I figure: Calderon had a first round of "experiments" done around the time Scully was first abducted. The ova used before then facilitated clone or nefarious genetics research; however, he decided to take the alien DNA gifted to the Consortium and attempt to blend it equally with human DNA. The first batch included Emily; and he spent the next few years monitoring them to see if their conditions would improve or worsen. (In other words: what were their weaknesses and strengths? And how could their existence be used to fight back against the Colonists?) Canon points to the first batch being the only in existence because they were tied directly to Calderon's work, who oversaw them as his personal pet project. Secondly, I suspect more weren't being created until 1997: one boy was born in 1996 at the same facility, but it wasn't until Emily that the retirement women were being lined up for a "take two"; and it wasn't until A Christmas Carol that the doctor began pressing the Sims for more tests on their daughter (which led to Mrs. Sim's resistance, and their deaths.) Per the scientific method, the second group would need to have the same genetic material as the control group to accurately assess changes and results; hence, why Scully's fetus-- a backup from the first batch, most likely-- was carted in. And thirdly, all experiments were headed by Calderon: one man can only keep up with so much, even with the backing of a shadow government.

If we connect a few dots, it would seem Dr. Calderon was excited about this next transfer: he'd had three years, at least, to study and consider his past "mistakes"; and he wheeled in the valuable, irretrievable leftovers from round one (Scully's second fetus) to, hopefully, garner a second, greater success. His efforts were cut short by Scully and Mulder's arrival; and his life was cut short, as well, when his research became too great of a liability to the Project. And with Calderon's death, the rest of the hybrids would have died, too-- not only because they were directly tied to his work, but also because their life depended on his medical injections.

We never return to the hybrid possibility until Cassandra Spender; but because the rest of the mytharc is stuffed to the gills with clones and aliens and conspiracy, it's safe to conclude the powers-that-be only had a teeny, tiny fraction of successful hybrid clones, and that that faction is no longer drawing breath.

CONCLUSION

In short: even if there were other Scully babies out there, they would have been abandoned in favor of other more "successful" endeavors shortly after Dr. Calderon's death (in line with the Syndicate's other ruthlessly abandoned projects.) Without his supervision, there would be no more "tests", e.g. no more necessary, stabilizing injections. It's safe to assume the other hybrids, too, would have deteriorated and died within a matter of days (if that.)

A rather grim idea, this; but isn't that what makes the Consortium's evil so... evil?

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 6 "the goldberg variation" thoughts

woohoo! last night’s episode was pretty enjoyable, so i’m excited to see where we go tonight. hopefully they’re still all honeymoon-y and basking in that glow. 

so, today we might be dealing with the luckiest person alive. hmm. i wonder what sort of nefarious deal made this happen. or maybe there will be no evil behind the scenes pulling the strings. maybe he just really is lucky. 

i have no real predictions, except that there will be some sort of dramatic fortune reversal. 

i’m very curious about the next episode… could be really hit or miss. fingers are super crossed for a hit.

but first, we must tackle this one!

(post-episode thoughts: aww! this episode felt similar, vibe-wise, to some of my favorite episodes- like humbug, detour, jose chung, etc. i do enjoy a silly one, it must be said.

i think it's so funny that they're at this stage of being openly infatuated with each other- they kissed ONE TIME- and are now able to (mostly) communicate with each other with such clarity. less time fighting about science vs ghouls. less intense arguments (scully tells him what he did was wrong and why very plainly- nothing explosive like they're gotten into in the past). constant flirting. it makes you wonder in retrospect how much of their previous bickering came from unresolved tension. lmao.

a solid ep, one that shall be added to the rewatch list!)

we open in chicago. a game of cards occurs. this dude- who looks like, i don't know, scary john travolta?- has 4 kings in his hand. damn. what are the odds?

another fellow puts down and asks for 5 cards. scary guy with all the kings (later revealed to be named jimmy cutrona) says to let it happen, even if 4 is normally the limit. i assume that mr. weems, who requested the cards, will be the main character of today's episode. he doesn’t seem to know wtf is happening, but he puts $8,000 on it. other guy raises him 15! “i wouldn’t do that. this is all i need” <- a man with principles

hmm…. “now we show each other our cards?” <- bro has no idea what is going on

ahhh! 4 kings from scary guy to a straight flush from weems! now, you may be like me and not know this, but a straight flush beats 4 kings. he declares it beginners luck.

they don’t want to let him leave- they want to earn some money back. but he says sorry and leaves, LMAO. they’re trying to trick him. he keeps saying he thinks they're going up instead of down, LMAO

they’re going to throw him off the building!! and they do!!! he lands in some sort of pit? and crawls out! somehow not dead! he walks away….

who is this man… how did he get into some mafia poker game? and then survive being thrown off a building? he doesn’t even seem to know how to play poker. 

mr. weems, i want to study you…

intro time!!!! the full one!!! the truth is out there!!!

i wonder how he ended up being a case for our agents.

scully is exiting a taxi in chicago!!!! calling mulder

“i’m on the northeast corner of 7th and hunter, just like you asked. only you’re not here. so where are you?” her voice and the teasing way she said that is so funny. LMAO, BRO IS ASCENDING BEHIND HER, WHAT THE FUUUCK 

“oh…. around. hey, nice outfit!” <- BAHAHA, he thinks he’s so funny and she’s like "wtf is going on"

so the top of the building above them is leased out by a mafioso named jimmy cutrona, whom the FBI have been after for a while. there were agents staked out watching the place last night, and they saw the guy fall 30 floors, and into this shaft! but he walked away! hmmm…. 

they descend down the shaft thingy. it’s like an elevator but into the ground, i guess. idk. and they have no idea who this dude who miraculously survived is. mulder thinks he might have some sort of regeneration skill

“so, we’re looking for wile e coyote” <- LMAO, i thought she was going to say “wolverine”, but that is also good. and she recounts a story of a solider who fell 4,500 feet with only a broken rib- maybe there was an updraft

“i don’t know, maybe he just got lucky” “what if he got really, really lucky? that’s your big scientific explanation, scully?” LMAOOO

BAHAHA, why is her voice so funny? he’s going on and on about how many variables that would take and she just goes “i dunno” <- you heard her! she doesn't know!!

WAIT. i replayed that because it made me laugh, and i noticed her shining the flashlight right in his face and he giggles <- LMAO!! she’s in a silly mood today!!! i am so happy to see this in her!!

maybe he fell and broke this cart thing. mulder digs in the cart and finds an eyeball! a glass one, to be specific! so maybe they have to find a guy missing an eye.

the way she looks at him when he tosses the eyeball in his hand, LMAO

shoutout to that extra on the street scene who was acting the FUCK out of those 3 seconds of screen time. gesticulating hard af.

“there’s got to be at least 600 people with prosthetic eyes in the greater chicago area” says scully- a rather outstanding sentence, may i add- as they stand wayyyy too close together, buzzing an intercom. but only one henry weems made an appointment to get a new one this morning, says mulder! the man gets results!

“maybe he can’t see his way to the door” <- SCULLY, STFUUUUU (said with SO much love and a stupid grin on my face) OHHH he looks at her... and he SMILESSSS... stop. this is so funny 

an old lady exits and mulder catches the door behind her to sneak them in, bahahaaa

oh, it’s been a while since they’ve just barged into a building. they were pros at that in the early seasons. so this feels like coming home in a way. i will someday have to make a list of all the times they just walked into places without waiting for an invite.

they walk in, but someone asks for help, saying it’s an emergency. well! how lucky that this lady stumbled right into a doctor!

oh. well. she wants her pipes fixed?

“ma’am, we’re not plumbers” “i didn’t say you were” <- LMAO, she’s fed TF UP and demands mulder tighten the pipes!

mulder climbs in, asking if weems, who is the building supervisor, can’t be here. this lady says you might as well wait for jimmy hoffa. 

A CHILD COMES OUT AND SAYS HE’S TURNING THE PIPES THE WRONG WAY, BAHAHAAAA!! listen!! he is a fancy new england boy!! what makes you think he’s ever touched a pipe before?!

he yells that he knows that and scully bites back a smile (it’s so CUTE) but noooo! the pipe bursts in his face!!! oh, look at scully covering her mouth, oh my god…..  

NOOOOO, HE FALLS THROUGH THE FLOOR!!!! smile has been REMOVED from scully’s face as she LUNGES for him 

“you okay, mulder?” “yeah, it’s alright, my ass broke the fall” <- LMAOOOOO, poor sopping wet man. finding himself in such a situation. falling down a hole in front of the love of his life. but! he found weems!!

LEAVE HIM ALONE, WEEMS!! DO NOT BE MEAN TO HIM lmao mulder whips his eyeball out and asks him “want to try this on for size, cinderella?” <- yeah!! get his ass!

poor mulder is still patting himself dry with a towel… aww.

weems was hiding from “you people”, refusing to testify against jimmy cutrona. fair enough.

BAHAHAHAAAAA, MULDER GAGS WHEN HE PUTS HIS EYEBALL BACK IN THE SOCKET..... LMAOOOO, he smiles and turns to scully who is just watching him, not looking very interested at all

weems says maybe he just got lucky- except this bruise- “aww”, says mulder, turning to scully and pretending to pout- and he didn’t get to keep his poker winnings!

mulder is investigating his contraption. it’s a marble thingy… he presses the button and watches as the balls follow a series of really intricate tubes until this wooden dude gets hanged. and mulder says “ah! that’s craftsmanship” <- NERD!!! but weems denies it has any greater meaning. 

scully asks him to please reconsider testifying- jimmy will definitely try to kill him again, and mulder adds that they can protect him! which he refuses. 

“so, here’s the plan as i see it: we inform the chicago field office about weems, leaving it to them to secure his testimony, you change your clothes, we fly back to DC by sunset, and all is right with the world” <- BAHAHAHA, she wants to go hooooooome!! and she’s blatantly hitting on him. at least, it seems that way to me. oh my god. i used to pray for times like these.

but mulder thinks the case is just now getting good! “interesting, mulder, was when we were looking for wile e coyote” <- this mfer and her cartoon metaphors 💀

she gives up waiting for the elevator, declaring they shall use the stairs instead. but just as they leave, some gangster guy emerges! 

noooo! mulder gets locked out of the building- and he lost the car keys when he fell. can he get in there and find them before this guy kills weems??

scully’s little hands in the air motion when he tries to grab the door is so cute, BAHAHAAA

he buzzes for weems just as the gangster bursts into his room and shoots his lamp!

they get inside, somehow, to do a sweep…. and the gangster somehow hung himself on weems’ contraptions!

very lucky guy, indeed. 

somehow, weems seems to have vanished. and, just as it seemed, the dead guy was an enforcer for the catronas! his name was angie the animal.

mulder does a little recreation of what he thinks went down, including a fun sound effect to go along with busting down the door- i love a guy who is a loser! scully is smiling at him while he walks through this, and then angie the animal falls from the ceiling. everything seems to react in weems’ favor. 

scully sees the kid from before, richie!!! she introduces herself as dana, which, while very sweet, feels so strange to hear. and she asks if they can go back to his room, subtly getting the child away from viewing the dead gangster. that’s a responsible adult!

OH. she tucks richie into bed. probably waiting to tell his mother he just saw a dead body. and asks him about the sports posters all over his room. OH. SHE SAYS SHE LIKES BASEBALL. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD. 

hey guys. i’m gonna have to do something drastic here.

she notices a contraption in his room that weems made for him, and it tosses a ball in a net. she smiles, thinking it is very cool. ohhh! he made it for richie when he was in the hospital!!! this poor kid’s liver doesn’t work. somehow, scully figured that out and i didn't, but then again, she's a doctor and i'm not. and he says that since he got sick, weems hardly ever leaves. HMMM… is he like an uncle or something? or perhaps the kid’s dad?

as scully asks why the world’s luckiest man would work as a building superintendent- why not go get a lottery ticket and be a millionaire- weems is hiding in the vents!

ohhh. weems is with richie. asking how he feels. aww, he tells him not to worry about the cops looking for him. but he says he has to go do something he’s been putting off. 

scully is calling around, and she seems frustrated….. there are no records on this weems fellow! not even a driver’s license. but mulder finds a newspaper clipping… he survived a plane crash in 1989! where he was the only survivor! that’s how he lost his eye. 

mulder thinks that maybe the crash altered all of his luck. she wants to know why he dropped off the face of the earth, and he wants to know why he has chose now to resurface. much to consider here.

weems heard scully’s suggestion to go get a lottery ticket. OH! he says he only needs 100 grand. OHHHH, he needs to get help for richie, huh????

he buys a ticket…. scratches it right next to someone….. and wins…. but the police are looking for him on the news, and he learns he will only get the money over many months!!! he says it’s too long. throws it away. and the other guy picks it up- but weems says to leave it in the trash, because something bad is going to happen. 

AND THEN THE GUY WHO TOOK IT IMMEDIATELY GETS HIT BY A CGI BUS, BAHAHAHAHAAAA

i saw that coming, but the CGI caught me so off-guard that i had a hearty chuckle about the whole thing

scully asks the cashier some questions- and he claims that the guy hit by the truck wanted him to have the lottery ticket, haha. 

LMAOOO, mulder ponders why weems would choose to now go get a lottery ticket. “actually, that’s exactly what you said, about an hour after you said it” (cutscene to mulder investigating the vents in the apartment building)

they divide and conquer to explore the apartment and its many vents- but another gangster guy approaches, looking for weems! he’s not in his apartment, so he crawls in the vent. 

weems hears someone approaching- he’s carving a little wooden guy- but it’s just mulder here to find him. somehow, he hides. mulder finds him in the vent and pulls him out!! HAHAHA!! he grabs him to have a very serious talk- but the other gangster guy is here!

gangster guy shoots, but the bullet somehow bounces off and kills him!!!! because weems had his knife in his pocket!!

poor mulder got hit in the arm, though. it is NOT his lucky day at all. 

mulder is getting his arm bandaged up in the hospital- he says it stings a little- and weems is here, too, when scully comes in with a deck of cards. he shuffles them…. which i liked watching. not sure exactly why. he tells weems to pick a card. and he picks a higher card than him both times! 

mulder asks how it feels to be the luckiest man in the universe- and weems says it’s a nightmare. “something good happens to me, and everybody else has to take it in the keister” aww, poor guy :( and poor mulder actually DID have to take it there when he fell through the floorboards. not fair!

scully clocks that he needs the money for richie. he is on every donor list, but has a rare blood type. “and he’s cn- something” “cmv negative. cytomegalovirus” <- okayyyyy, medical doctor!!!

they need 100 grand to get him into an experimental program in england :(

scully says weems needs protection from cutrona and his men. then he draws a king- and says they need protection from him. 

scully is mad at mulder!!! “i’m sorry, mulder. that was utterly irresponsible. you’re feeding the delusions of a man who has had three attempts made upon his life” <- (i'm nodding along) you tell him. i have to agree with scully here.

mulder says he would agree- but he doesn’t think weems is in any danger. in fact, he’s currently doing a better job dealing with cutrona and his men than the FBI seems to be.

but no!!!! there are men here to get him!! scully does not like how much faith mulder is putting in luck- he's betting a man’s life on it. 

she picks a card and she beats his, which prompts mulder to say they have to go right now.

weems steps in front of a bus as mulder runs to get him!!! his eyeball is knocked out. mulder checks for his pulse, and looks up at scully. bro. did he not make it?

richie is playing with a toy. ohhhh shoot, he is super yellow. this is not good.

weems made it through the bus crashing somehow. and he’s agreed to testify against cutrona. cutrona is hearing this news. “who says we have to get to him?” ... now what do you mean by that?

richie is being taken to the hospital- he asks for the toy weems made him, and his mom stays behind to grab it. ah! the gangster guy is here looking for his mother! we hear a grunt!

the toy is on the floor…. will it hang this guy somehow???

weems is watching richie in the hospital, and mulder and scully are here to tell him they haven’t found the kid's mother- he thinks they took her to keep him from testifying. her name is maggie, btw. not sure if i knew that before.

mulder asks him if maybe his luck hasn’t changed. weems runs out. scully says the kid is not doing well. he needs a donor within a few hours.

mulder wants to find maggie. they've relied on luck so far for this case, so he opens a phone book and finds a random number- muhayamin daycare. then grayson’s linen services. they call the second one.

ahh! weems is brought to cutrona. he wants to tell him there is no hard feelings, he isn’t testifying against him- just let her go. he says he doesn’t care what happens to him. cutrona says he will. 

they take him down in the basement of the linen place and tie him up!!! he’s on some sort of electrical wire!!! it is an elaborate trap that is hard to explain in words!!

and it zaps the other gangster guy instead!!! and then smacks cutrona in the head!!!

scully is waiting with richie as all of the city's electricity goes haywire- and the hospital lights spell richie’s name!

mulder is here to see the dead cutrona- who has the same blood type as richie!

awww, richie is able to get the transplant. and scully smiles at his little basketball toy.

the end.

well! this was a silly one. 

i will say, i enjoyed it thoroughly. but after last episode, which was fairly lighthearted, and this one, which was very much so, i do fear what will happen in the next one. still, we can’t critique that yet if it hasn’t happened.

well, i guess it did happen 20-ish years ago. it is just new to me.

they’re so openly flirty with each other... it’s gonna make me sick, lmao. 

scully taking richie back to his room :( scully making polite talk with him and saying that she likes baseball :( stoooop :( do you think her and mulder have gone to a game together yet? how do you think that went? do you think he was explaining everything the whole time and getting really excited and she was watching him nerd tf out and laughing?

as always, i request that someone drop the fic.

and then she was waiting with him in the hospital while he was hours away from dying :( oh, scully :( she makes my heart ache :( she's just so kind :(

GOD, and her reaction to mulder getting sprayed in the face by the pipe being to hide her smile so he wouldn't get upset... versus throwing herself at him when he fell through the floor because she was worried!! and then teasing him about getting new clothes... he was looking all embarrassed, trying to dry himself off..

AND how he snuck up behind her at the beginning and hung up the phone to yell "nice outfit". SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT.

my initial thought upon seeing the last scene was: do you think that bracelet on cutrona meant he was an organ donor? or do you think they just stole his kidney. i mean, that is frowned upon, but... richie was dying, so. hmm!

maybe part of weems' luck is that cutrona just so happened to be an organ donor. maybe some gangsters have a little bit of a heart. but only when they're dead.

so, a good episode. i still have some questions about the overall plot, though, that came up in my head while i was editing my notes. we haven't seen spender or marita in a long while- are they really dead, or plotting a comeback of some sort? i feel like marita's character could have been used in so many other interesting ways. what was going on with her and krycek? is that over and done with now? was it a double crossing on both sides, or do you think either of them had feelings for each other?

are we still operating under the assumption that CSM was telling the truth when he claimed to be mulder's father? i don't buy it. but we haven't heard what mulder personally thinks, or his mother, who we left off last seeing in a strange place- on the hospital camera footage with CSM nearby- so i'd like to know if she is doing alright. we haven't heard any updates on the real or fake samanthas, either. i assume they're all fake and always will be to save time. and i guess that mulder had all the alien removed from him now, which is why he is better. but now CSM has the alien in him? even though i thought he already had the alien in him from when they thought they were going to be colonized a few weeks before? girl, idk.

in scully land, we also haven't heard from her family for a little bit- i'm curious about her brothers. i don't think we have seen anything from or about her younger brother at all, have we? i keep my eyes and ears open, but i don't recall anything. we only have seen bill who hates mulder, and we haven't seen him in a while, either. not that i'm complaining- he is a nasty guy- i'm just chomping at the bit for any and all family lore from our beloved characters. we haven't heard anything else about if her newer implant is continuing to make her want to drive strange places, either. i wonder if she will deal with that forever, or if the failed colonization attempt made that stop. and what are those alien rebels up to these days, anyway?

we also haven't heard much from skinner- you know, it's been a few years now, but we never heard if he actually went through with the divorce or not. but now he's got this remote control disease, so maybe reconciliation is not on his top list of priorities. he was staying alone in the episode where he got sick, so i kind of assume he isn't back together with his wife. i wish him well, for we all know that skinner is dear to me.

and i'm not expecting any of these questions i am raising to be answered, either- not necessarily now or ever, because i'm used to how this show works. just want to keep a bit of a list of what is going on.

well, i am expecting some angst in the next episode, which i am hoping will be well-written and not incredibly fucking disturbing like that one episode last season was (shivers at the mere thought). that one WAS well-written- at least partially- but it made me feel sick, so i couldn't take much enjoyment from it. i hope it is a scully-centric episode! a real meditation on her character!

[enoughslices]

Behold! I wrote a fun, fluffy little future fic in which William and Emily are normal, human, snarky adult children!

The Best by thefinestmuffins (my AO3 handle)

Rating: Teen and Up Relationship: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Word Count: 5.1k Summary:

“When my card declines in therapy,” Will says with a loud sigh, glancing up mid-signature, “they’re going to pull out the NDA my mother made me sign.” Will shows Emily a shocking discovery in their parents' basement; Mulder and Scully have some explaining to do. (Or: how Emily and Will learn about the X-Files!)

Read it on AO3!

Tagging: @today-in-fic In case links break: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57869401

[whoify]

i think currently one of my favorite things about reading/watching/etc a story is Finding Out What Happened. and so i don’t love when you don’t get to find out what happened and i don’t love when What Happened is a bunch of handwavey sci-fi nothingness. i like the details and tracking everything from point A to point Z

[agent-troi]

the way red museum is like five plots wrapped up into one ep and you don’t even find out that includes the mytharc until like three quarters of the way through

[fine-nephrit]

🥏 TXF Fic Rec #42: "Universal Invariant" by Syntax6

It’s rare to find a novel-length, all-encompassing fic set in season 1. Today’s fic is exactly that: a celebrated classic exploring a ‘what if’ scenario where Scully’s deleted live-in boyfriend, Ethan, sticks around. The story begins with Scully’s assignment to the X Files in the ‘Pilot’ and concludes with her return from abduction in ‘One Breath’.

We get to experience the M/S dynamic right from the very beginning, watching their partnership evolve from suspicion to trust, with a repressed, burgeoning attraction. In Syntax6’s skillful hands, you know what that means: lots of delicious, in-character UST.

Ethan plays a major role, adding to the emotional tangle. The ‘Other’ character is often reduced to a flat plot-device or crudely villainized, but Syntax6’s characters are always likable and sympathetic. She writes the best ‘/Other’ plot in this fandom, enhancing the journey to MSR.

It’s a lot of fun to see how the story neatly interweaves with canon episodes, a hallmark of Syntax6’s writing. What’s more, She’s best known for her case files, and there’s a strong original casefile tossed in the mix, which I enjoyed immensely. And we get another of her signature moves: a very hot, well-written sex scene with explosive intensity, placed at the perfect spot in the story. She really does it all, and makes it look effortless.

---

🥏 on author's site

author: @syntax6 length: novel, 80,000+ words season: season 1, early season 2 pairing(s): M/S UST, Scully/Ethan, Mulder/Other tags: AU, episode-related, casefile, angst, Mytharc, abduction arc, jealousy, amnesia, good OCs rating: explicit/NC-17

tagging @today-in-fic