#why is there like no Scully in s8

[birdbrainedboy]

Last I checked it was David Duchovny who had to be partially written out of s8 so why is Scully a secondary character to Doggett 😒 You would think that with Scully acting as the skeptic of the duo, she would get more screen time since Mulder as the skeptic always did. But all of a sudden now it’s “interesting” to watch skeptic solo episodes?? This really hammered home the notion that if Scully was a guy he would get way more screen time, more solo episodes, and more personal arcs

[dialecticaldimensions]

x files, s8 e16

The three words were not scully and mulder saying i love you????? (jkjk i knew it wouldn't be, but a girl can dream)

the three words were actually hurt no comfort because omg mulder is really going through it 😭😩 which is so fair bc the trauma of everything is insane. and then by extension, scully is also hurt. But i'm getting ahead of myself. Some bullet point thoughts: 1. IT WAS SOOO GOOD SEEING MULDER & SCULLY TOGETHER AGAIN!!! ughh just them in same frame and looking at each other!!!! I MISSED IT!

2. Mulder's trauma ... the scene of him remembering the torture??? coming back to a world you don't really remember. seeing the world keep turning after you've been gone (esp when mulder has the tendency to not value himself/his life!!!) like god, it must be so confronting for him to see that. And you can see how he was trying so hard to prove that he's still important in this crusade for the truth. (and he is, of course he is!!!! there's no one else like him). But the way he was going about it, with an edge of desperation, i need to go scream into my pillow about it.

3. And then Scully, trying to help him, trying to heal him, wanting him to know that he was missed and that he is important to the x files. I feel like she was both relieved/amused, that his headassery about jumping head first into an x file was still alove and thriving, but also so frustrated because she didn't want him to take unecessary risk and get himself in trouble or hurt. Because she just got him back!!! Also Scully was probably frustrated that she couldn't have his back in the same way bc she also has her pregnancy to think about. But the good thing is Scully has more ppl she can trust (aka lone gunmen and doggett).

4. the gunmen!!! frohike and Mulder hugging was soo freaking adorable!!!!! my sweet sweet boys.

5. doggett this episode was p good actually. except i was like wtf whyyyy do you keep trusting this guy???? interesting to see though how they are trying to parallel doggett w mulder (in early seasons) with all the insider info/who to trust/what even is the truth motifs. And low key, so understand mulder not trusting doggett one bit! to be gone and then coming back to scully having a new partner in the unit you established and on top of that the new guy kept being the bait for traps. and ofc doesn't quite have mulder's openess and grit for finding the truth at whatever cost, so now mulder needs to prove that it's his divsion. i actually think they'll complement each other nicely and i'm excited to see how the show develops mulder and doggett's relationship. 6. kersh is soooo annoying!!! the way he was saying that the arrests rate were higher w doggett compared to the 7 years with mulder!! i demand to see the stats!!!

7. skinner being so over trying to manage all his kids and their tantrums!! so funny!

8. the gunmen alluding to mulder's role in scully's pregnancy!!!!!!!!! why the fuck does mulder look like this is the first second he's genuinely considered that he could be the father?? BROOOO!!! she would never have anyone else's child but yours!!!!!! get with the program!!!!

9. scully and mulder's unspoken communication is biting them in the ass a little bit ... bc they simultaneously deeply understand each other, but don't know that sometimes you do actually need to say things out loud (i need to do a whole other essay on that). BUT they still remain sooo soft and gentle with each other. like the little gazing looks and the softness in their eyes that you can SEE when they are looking at the other. my heart is melting.

i have been enjoying s8! but so far the hurt:comfort ratio is favouring the hurt a lot more ... and i need there to be more comfort!!!

[whenmuldermetscully]

*explain in the tags! the niche-ier the better!!*

[reacquaintedwith-air]

I think I adopted a "Dana Scully avoidance compulsion" headcanon as an automatic, relatable thing because it felt natural to me in the context, but in trying to articulate it, I do also think that the evidence is there. Sort of backwards evidence but still.

It's many things, like scully bringing in the jersey devil (that one was sort of as a joke but still) and the 'vampires' that turned out to be the eves. It's her being scared of the mechinations and sinister events during the pilot, with the famous bug bite scene and having to be removed to use a totally neutral voice stance when she found the connection to Billy Miles. It's in her believing in Boggs and Bruckman and Kevin Crowder and Gibson Praise. There's even a moment in Little Green Men I had never noticed before because I'm usually distracted by their very insane reunion, where Scully sees the poor dead man and realizes that Mulder actually has been right in the middle of the mytharc activities again, and asks if it's 'them' again, looking terrified, when it turns out to be military helicopters. She does believe. In a lot, almost all of it at least the way the character is initially structured.

And she is afraid. But I don't think it's 'i'm afraid to believe' in the sense of fearing foolishness or disappointment. Not even a matter of fearing the things exactly, because she can cope when it's unfolding in some sort of wild emergent situation. But. This part is hard to articulate if you don't have OCD (though if you do, I'm sorry and I'm sure you understand lol). But there are things you can't talk about. It's not 'allowed.' it's too personal or it's like saying it will make it real or make it happen to you again, or because admitting what you want might make other bad things happen to you, or because talking about the scary things that have power over you might draw them to you, or you might discover spontaneously that bad things had happened to you in the past but you forgot about it completely and if you look in the direction of the secret cabinet of powerful, charged, scary things that you can't talk about or think about, more of them might come out at you than you can deal with. And it will be your fault because you touched that live wire or drew that attention to yourself. You might even have to do extra things or say extra denials or take extra care in other outward aspects of your life so that these things can't get you.

Of course in the real world, none of these fears and rituals and avoidance compulsions are true. They aren't based in fact.

But Scully is actually shown to have some levels of extra perception, right from the first season with BtS and Lazarus. And she lives in a world where monsters and aliens are real. So while these powerful compulsions might just be based in anxiety and magical thinking, they also might not. And for her to be able to figure out which avoidances are based in what, she would have to be a lot more willing to push through and examine it than she is.

I think that's part of why believer Scully can work in canon, and a watsonian explanation for why she's the most open about it in s8 and 9. She's already in a catastrophic state, and everything is already set in motion, it doesn't matter what evil or fate she accidentally calls up because it's all happening anyway and all the perfectionist rituals have fallen away because the crisis there and she doesn't have the energy or the willpower left beyond survival and coping however she can. Which was probably on some levels a relief, but mostly was foreign and exhausting.

(I also think this is why I have so much trouble with the 2nd movie and revival Scully. Say what you will about the overall quality of the end of the original run and it's mostly all fair, but I do think that they had thoroughly deconstructed Scully in a way that mostly stayed in character -- save of course for those 2 big things that were decided by certain production realities -- and brought her through that crisis of reality shift and being forced to let go of those patterns that felt like they were keeping her safe but in the end Didn't Work. The ending is bittersweet because for all they've lost, they have gained a measure of freedom on an emotional and personal level that they didn't have before. And then the Late Canon picked up some pieces of Scully from old days without trying to remember what was under the surface and tried to stick them back on and push her back into the old pigeon hole she was stuck in before.

The thing is that I can appreciate cyclic storytelling, or leat helical storytelling filled with parallels. But I don't like a reset button, and after everything she went through to learn, using one on Scully doesn't seem fair.)

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 21 “je souhaite” thoughts

welcome back to M2LS for the newest episode liveblog!

i have to say, this feels monumental. we are almost at the end of s7. i know a lot of people enjoy this episode, and i’m in the mood for something light and airy before we descend into the s8 angst. 

yes, you must recall that i googled this show and read the wikipedia page a year ago before i started watching it, so i know some things. but to be honest, i’m kind of sickly excited for the s8 angst😈there are some particular tropes at play that i’m looking forward to investigating.

but! we have to get there first. and i plan on getting all of my s7 stuff around before watching the finale for cliffhanger reasons. and also, my posting will probably get way less regular very shortly… but it was a brilliant year of 2 or 3 posts a week that we shared. 

anyway. let us get comfy and cozy and started!

reading the description… a man without a mouth…? a corpse without a head? a genie?? what will mulder wish for!! and why the french title… lmao. let us see

(post-episode thoughts: peace and love. and also may i SPECIFICALLY note goodwill toward men!!!!)

we open in missouri. someone is looking for anson, who is reading a magazine filled with pictures of boats. i support him chilling in a storage unit and looking at boats instead of working. 

he hasn’t cleared out 407! oh. don’t tell him he won’t amount to anything! “a monkey could do this job, right, jay?” “well, you can’t, so what’s that say about you?” <- OOP! jay commands him to go clean out 407 THIS INSTANT!

he cracks the lock on the storage unit, which is filled with old furniture covered in plastic. and many cobwebs. and a rug. with something in it! it jumps! then unrolls it as spooky music plays…. OH! a woman? with a gem under her eye! was chilling in the rug!

she opens her eyes…. and he seems to have vanished! jay comes back to the carpet rolled out. but then jay starts to grunt. HE LOST HIS MOUTH? well. that must be the guy without a mouth part of the episode explained.

how will bro eat or drink!!!

intro time… literally GET spooky with it. i love the scene of baby agents with the guns. very short intro. we must have an action-packed episode.

mulder is at the desk, asking someone- who i presume to be jay- if he can get him some coffee, or water, or anything. he shakes his head no. probably because he has no mouth. and mulder goes over more paperwork, bouncing his pen around. i do love that man.

OHHH SCULLY… she opens the door, says good morning, and then makes a very funny face at mulder when she realizes there is someone else in their space. AWWWW. my princess :(

LMAOOOO her pointing and mouthing “who is that?” I LOVE HERRRR!

LMAOOOOO, THE WAY SHE GASPS WHEN SHE SEES HIS FACE AND THEN CATCHES HERSELF WITH A “NICE TO MEET YOU” <- THAT IS MY QUEEN!!! she wants to be POLITE!!!

it seems jay cannot say certain words. mulder shows scully the pictures of his mouthlessness, while jay says that anson did this to him. so i guess they cut him a new mouth somehow. which is good, all things considered! glad he found a doctor who could do that.

so anson told jay to shut up and then… jay had no mouth. yeah. anson was found several days later, but refused questioning. mulder points out they had nothing on anson- but politely!

“they had to make me a whole new mouth”, replies jay, and that would also make me so mad, so i sympathize

poor guy is mopping up his new mouth blood…

the agents head to mark twain trailer court in missouri, which must have been a long drive slash flight.

scully is telling mulder about the effects of a disease known as scleroderma, which is the overproduction of collagen, and i love her so dearly. there is so much tenderness in my heart for her. but mulder is like… that doesn’t just happen in a blink of an eye! mulder shoulder grab….

she’s still coming up with various medical reasons for a vanished mouth. and i see this episode was written and directed by our friend vince. tbh, i can’t really remember if he has a certain style of episode. i’ll probably figure it out along the way. 

(so. i see he's a little shippy at moments)

LMAO, SCULLY GRABS HIM AS THEY SEE THE GIANT BOAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRAILER PARK… this show is so funnyyyyy sometimes.

anson sees them approach, saying they must be from the IRS, and warns someone named leslie to get rid of them. scully says hi :) and leslie starts to stutter that the boat is not theirs! they’re… holding it for someone else. “and they pay the taxes on it” “oookay” <- AWWWW. i love her reactions when people are being weird.

leslie tries to shut the door in their faces, but mulder does not allow this. oh, leslie is anson’s brother. mulder sees someone in the back… and says hello. she looks goth.

leslie says jay’s mouth thing comes from chemicals. like, one time, his brother found a guy with a meth lab in the storage unit, so, they should check that out. LMAO.

mulder declares he knows what is going on here… then they investigate the storage unit of mystery. he finds a calendar from 1978, and scully says it’s too bad, this furniture is really wonderful. (my heart skipped a few beats at her admiration of it all)

it’s expensive- very expensive. tell us more about your fancy furniture knowledge, queen. maybe anson stole something from in here and then dipped. and then used the money to buy a boat… “there’s your crime: theft”

my heart is just overcome with love for these two. idk what is wrong with me on this fine evening. maybe nothing is wrong with me and everything is supremely right. 

mulder finds a picture in a frame and calls her over. it’s a picture of a guy with three women surrounding him- one of which was the goth lady from the trailer! chilling in a fancy car. queen. and she hasn’t aged at all, despite the photo being very old. 

anson says that he has two down, nothing to show for it. “you got the boat” points out leslie. which anson declares has done him no good! goth lady says it’s like a white elephant. “so what the hell did you give it to me for?” “because you asked for it” <- ohhhh, clock his tea!!! he argues that he shouldn’t have had to specify the boat should have gone in some water!

this genie queen…. 

OH. leslie says maybe he could use the last wish to get rid of the boat, and anson threatens to put him in a home. now, i can support slacking off at work, but i cannot support this sort of language. genie is playing with the TV remote that is in the shape of a woman’s body. classy

“you could always give that guy his mouth back” LMAOOOO 

leslie suggests money. an infinite number of wishes. she kills both of those ideas quick. 

“you know, i have a thought. granted, it’s pretty obvious” (she gestures to leslie’s wheelchair) LMAOOO they don’t pick up on what she is saying at ALLLLLLL 

anson FINALLY says he is absolutely ready: he wishes he could turn invisible at will. use it to sneak around, pick up stock tips, snoop on women. james bond stuff. she tells him it is unoriginal. and then declares that it is done. 

BUT HE DIDN’T SPECIFY THE CLOTHES PART, LMAOOOO. absolute rookie mistake.

so he strips right there. she asks him to please turn invisible. and he does! then he goes for a walk. runs straight into some trash cans. he is on his way. hollering about being invisible. 

goth genie disappears. her work is done. anson runs around, invisibly kicking and pushing stuff. sees some women across the street. presses the crosswalk to approach them in a creepy man fashion. but the cars can’t see him!!! and he gets hit by a tractor trailer!!! 

well. instant justice for objectifying those women.

an undisclosed amount of time later, a biker trips over his rotting invisible corpse.

scully is here. an empty stretcher is pulled into her lab. and the assistants ask if they can leave. an autopsy on an invisible guy! that has to be new for her.

she traces his figure. looking for that glowy powder. gently taps it on….. she looks so excited. LMAOOO, LOOK AT HER HAVING FUN WITH IT. girl is gonna need soooo much of that stuff. she makes out a face!!!

eventually, she has made the whole guy yellow. and mulder comes by to antagonize her. the body has a perfect match to anson’s dental records- scully thinks he must have been hit by a car or truck. “and he’s invisible” “yes, he is” <- she seems soooo excited. i’m happy for her.

OHHH, she says it is the best thing she has seen in their 7 years working together. it will change the boundaries of science! she is covered in yellow powder, and he looks at her like she’s the whole world, which she is.

mulder says it is amazing, but he doesn’t think it has anything to do with science. sad scully face. he looked up that guy from the photograph they found back in the storage unit- turns out he made $30 million in a year. and then died of… hold on, let me google something. she is sooo taken aback by whatever it is he says.

ah. death by extreme boner. LOOK AT HER FACEEEE, she does not wanna think about that, LMAOOOOOO

he thinks the mystery woman is the link between the strange old man and anson's case, and therefore they ought to investigate. but scully wants to stay with the body to make sure no one comes and messes with it- it is truly amazing. and he nods and smiles. she is still covered in yellow. i love her soooo much. 

back at the trailer park, “you suck” has been written on leslie’s boat, while mulder tells him he is very sorry for his loss. leslie wants to know if his brother suffered- mulder says no, but asks about the invisible thing. and then where the woman went. he thinks she is a genie! and then they start singing a song together. good for them, i suppose.

leslie says he doesn’t know what mulder talking about. and mulder says you should hand me the object containing the genie right now- for your own safety. leslie wheels away. grabs a case of something. hands it to mulder. who tells him he is doing the right thing. did he really give him it?? i don’t buy it…

scully is taking a million pictures of invisible man while leslie goes back to the storage unit to see if the genie has returned…

OHH, scully doesn’t want to leave the dead guy. “come on, he’s not going anywhere” <- OHHH HER PAINED EXPRESSION… I LOVE HERRR. and she says “bye” to the body before leaving, then tells mulder so excitedly that a group of researchers will be flying in from harvard to inspect him!!

she investigates the little box leslie gave him… which mulder says is what the brothers keep their weed in. LMAO, HER FACE AGAIN- THIS WOMAN IS KILLLLLING ME.

why do i feel the body is going to go missing….

OH! mulder pulls up a video of mussolini which has the genie woman next to him, LMAOOOO. i did not see that coming. he ran her image through the facial recognition database and then the national archives. AWW. he is so clever. 

and then she’s with nixon!!! “both men who got all the power they ever wished for and then lost it” <- ohhh…. very interesting. maybe the act of wishing is doomed in itself… or maybe their wishes were stupid, and mulder can come up with the perfect ones.

back at the storage unit, leslie has found the genie!!! “can we just get this over with, please? three wishes. go” <- LMAOOO I LOVE HER. so she must live in the rug and he brought the rug back to the boat.

she gestures to leslie and says “your disability” …. LMAOOOOOO, HE SAYS HE COULD WISH FOR A SOLID GOLD WHEELCHAIR- BAHAHA, KING!!!

but there is something he wants more than a solid gold wheelchair. is he going to wish for his brother back? what will happen to the body if he does??

scully presents the body to the team of researchers…. but there’s nothing there. NOOOOOO, POOR THING. she’s reaching for him and coming up with nothing.

anson is a zombie!! leslie is not pleased. he did not ask to bring him back to normal- just back. another technicality oversight.

so leslie wishes zombie anson could talk- even though genie says no, you don’t- he insists. and zombie anson just opens his mouth and SCREAMS.

OH, POOR SCULLY SAYS SHE SHOULD SHOOT HERSELF AS MULDER INVESTIGATES WHERE THE BODY WAS…. NOOOO QUEEN, NEVER KILL YOURSELF!!! she was so happy. she thinks it was too good to be true. in her sweet green sweater. mulder says he thinks the disappearance was the result of a wish. who would want anson back? 

cut back to the boat with leslie, where anson is STILL SCREAMING, LMAOOO. he asks leslie what he did to him. leslie wheels away, muttering he wasted two wishes on him. anson turns on the stove…. he tries to light a match as leslie plans his third wish. 

the agents return to the boat as anson tries to light a match. leslie decides on his final wish: LEGS!!! but anson lights the match and blows the whole place up just as he makes his choice! the agents are nearly blown away!!! SCULLY BLOWING HER HAIR OUT OF HER FACE AS SHE IS SPRAWLED ON THE PAVEMENT, LMAOOO

and the rug THUDS behind them. 

THEY FIND THE GENIE!!!! he asks to call her jen. scully wants an explanation!!! mulder wants to know if she is a good or evil genie! “the only thing you people are cursed with is stupidity” <- get their asses. people have not changed a bit, she says. but they smell better now. 

“you’re saying that you have been a firsthand witness to 500 years of human history” <- oh scully, you big nerd, i would ask the same question.

she says she used to be human in 15th century france. she unrolled a rug. found a genie. asked for a mule, a sack that was always full or turnips (amazing!), and then…. great power and a long life. but in french, of course. hence the title of the episode. she says she should have been more specific. 

she wants to know if she’s under arrest, and scully is like… well, can’t think of anything you did, so feel free to go. but she can’t! mulder has to make his wishes! bro begins to contemplate. 

will his overthinking prove worthwhile?

back in his apartment, the genie says she doesn’t think scully likes her very much, LMAO. “oh, i don’t think she knows what to make of you” <- a very measured response. and he doesn’t know what to make of her either!

he tries to ask what her wish would be… she wants to live life moment-by-moment instead of worrying about what it isn’t. she’d drink coffee and watch the world go by. 

“you say that most people make the wrong wishes, right?” “without fail. it’s like giving a chimpanzee a revolver” LMAOO

he thinks the trick would be to make a wish that benefits everyone. 

he asks for peace on earth. she groans. “what the hell’s wrong with that? you can’t do it?” and then it’s done. he looks out the window….. everyone is gone!!!! NOOOOOOOO. he asks for scully, LMAOOO. aww, he goes back to their office…. calls out for anyone…. looks for skinner…… calls the genie back. “you know damn well that is not what i meant” 

LMAOOOO, SHE IS BULLYING HIMMM

AND HE WISHES TO UNDO THE WISH AND STARTS YELLING AT HER… BUT HE IS IN SKINNER’S OFFICE AND HIM AND A TON OF OTHER PEOPLE REAPPEAR IN A MEETING WHILE HE IS TEARING INTO HER

“i think there another possibility here, and that’s just that you’re a BITCH” <- LMAOOOO

NOOOOOOO, SKINNER HEARS ALL THIS!!!

so mulder is typing up his final wish on the computer so he can get it PERFECT using super legal language that CANNOT be misinterpreted.

in comes scully, saying skinner called to check on him- is everything alright? “you don’t remember disappearing off the face of the earth for about an hour this morning?” “no” “well, i guess everything’s okay”

i predict that he is going to wish for this genie to be free so no one else can make these sorts of mistakes… and also because he is a nice guy deep down

LMAOOOOO, THE WAY SHE TURNS AND ASKS THE GENIE IF SHE COULD GIVE THEM A MINUTE PLEASE, BAHAHAAAA. the genie doesn’t go anywhere. “like today?” and then she is gone. 

love when scully gets so mad her carefully curated facade of politeness cracks- it always makes me giggle… tell that genie to GTFO so you and the bestie can have a chat, dr. scully. i support you!

if this REALLY is a genie- what he is doing is very dangerous! he thinks he can make a perfect wish and fix the world. “maybe it’s the whole point of our lives here, mulder- to achieve that. maybe it’s a process that one man shouldn’t try and circumvent with a single wish” <- ohhh, scully and her wisdom… and mulder and his puppy dog eyes…. she goes to leave. he keeps typing. then he says he is ready for his last wish.

AWWW, I PAUSED TO SEE THE THING HE WAS TYPING BEFORE HE TURNED IT OFF. it reads, in part: “i hereby do lay out my wish with consideration of every loophole possible” <- awwww, he was trying so hard!!! he wants to save the world!

back at his place, he puts in a movie with scully, teasing her about not wanting butter on her popcorn. they’re watching caddyshack. “it’s a classic american movie” “that’s what every guy says. it’s a guy movie” “okay, when you invite me over to your place, we can watch steel magnolias” LMAOOOO. they crack open some beers (possibly some other generic sort of soda or bottled beverage, but it LOOKS like a damn beer. only making note of this because i know what happens in the next episode). she laughs as he tries to toss his cap into the trash and misses.

ohhhhh, so they must not do regular movie nights… it seems like that anyway, based off of how she asks what the occasion is. well, don’t worry. movie nights are still gonna happen in fanfiction, even if they don’t talk about anything deep.

seems like he is willing to do at least a LITTLE deep talking tonight, though: “i don’t know if you noticed, but i never made the world a happier place” “well, i’m fairly happy. that’s something” <- OHHHHHH MY GOD. i’m gonna fall to my knees. and they smile at each other. she asks about his final wish. 

and we see that the genie is…. watching life go by in a cafe!! drinking a coffee!!

OHHH MY GOD.

immediately rewinds. 

i need to google what caddyshack is. it is a comedy about golf. writing that down to inform his taste on other matters. OHHHH, and his “i don’t know. just felt like the thing to do” when she asks why a movie night… STOP.

i kept thinking they were going to kiss again, but they didn’t. THEIR SMILES AT EACH OTHER…….

stop. mulder choosing to wish for something that would help the genie….. because he knew he couldn’t fix everything on his own… and he realized this only because scully pointed it out to him... an actual moment where he recognizes his well-meaning hubris... and the genie’s smile as she gets to live her dream… he is just a nice guy…

rewatches the scene AGAIN. her laughter when he misses the trashcan. and her nervous tapping fingers on the bottle. the fish tank in the background. and her smile when she says “that’s something” and he’s looking at herrrrr and AUGH.

and the way they get to have this rare moment of peace after so much pain…. oh my GOD, i need to lay down.

and knowing what i know happens next…. well. like i said, maybe it’s root beer and not real beer. maybe there’s a time skip of a few significant weeks or months between this episode and the next. the designs on the bottles are vague!!

RAHHHH i need to explode a little, please give me five minutes. 

(watches it again) the way she looks at him when she asks what his final wish was, AHHHH

oh my god. so yeah, this one lived up to the hype, LMAO.

a balm for my soul before we plunge into the dark times. which, like i said, i am kinda sickly excited for anyway. they said we need to pile on the silly ones NOW before things get crazy. 

i have a bunch of question as to how this next arc is going to pan out given that i know like, the very basics. but i shall try my best to be incredibly patient and wait for the answers even if they are retconned into existence a decade later, which i think is what happened. that’s the sort of stuff i bring to the table: patience (<- said by someone who is lying)

shoutout to the genie- she may have been a bitch, but she was THAT bitch. like, she took down mussolini AND nixon… that’s getting the job done!!!

ahhh…. so refreshing to feel their happiness in canon. it just bathes over you. like a balm of some sort. i can’t imagine how people see this as not worthy of exploration. you need these moments to breathe to give the audience rest in between a million episodes of saving the world. because at a certain point, saving the world isn't enough of a reason to justify the story you’re telling. you have to show us why the world deserves to be saved: because it has moments of real and genuine connection and love that make all the suffering worth it.

SIGH.

i’m sure i will have more thoughts tomorrow, but right now i need to go just sit and ponder. listen to the rain. read a book. think about what it means to be alive. 

okay, so it’s been a few days since i watched the episode, and i still have so many thoughts. one of which is that i was so SAD scully didn’t get to share her discovery of an invisible corpse with the whole world 💔 my poor queen… she was SO happy to dab all of that yellow powder on a body. not sure if we have ever seen her more excited. and she was covered in the damn stuff and it was soooo cute.

and mulder… he is just a nice man. sometimes his character writing is inconsistent or sometimes he gets ahab-y, but like at the end of the day, that is a guy who, with his full chest and heart, asked a genie for world peace. baby. baby boy. he may be a grown man, but to me that is also a baby. you understand, of course.

and he was so SMUG when he thought he figured it out lmao “can i call you JEN?” like this man 💀💀 he killlllls me!!!

and then let’s talk about scully just kinda accepting that, sure. maybe we do genies now. idgaf. we can’t arrest her. and also can she PLEASE give us like 5 minutes alone? LMAOOOO, that sent me OVERBOARD “like, today?” <- you TELL HER!!

but of course she had lots of deep and true scully wisdom to impart on him: that making the world a better place takes hard work, and maybe that is why we are here, and we cannot simply wish perfection into existence. which. when you think of the context of their stories and how much they have lost, but they keep trying to make the world a better place, even if it’s a little bit at a time, be it through finding scientific truths or putting dangerous criminals behind bars or making each other smile… SIGH.

an excellent episode. i will cherish it and hold the memories close as i type up my end of s7 favorite moments lists and then dive into the finale and s8. i look forward to meeting some new faces and seeing if i enjoy them and also obtaining a temporary citizenship in angst nation. but also i cannot do TOO much angst (gestures to s4), so we will have to see how i feel about the whole thing. i am approaching with an open mind and heart.

[touchstoneaf]

MSR/TXF playlist con't (they get longer as we get into the later seasons, for... reasons. Sexy/relationshippy ones, hehe):

S8:

Today: Jefferson Airplane (S)

I’m Still Waiting: Jamie O’Neal (S)

Cry No More (album version): Arcade (S)

Un-Break My Heart: Toni Braxton (S)

Gone Away: The Offspring (S)

How Do I Live: Leann Rimes (S)

Without You: Niilson (S) 

My Heart Will Go On: Celine Dion (S)

It Must Have Been Love: Roxette (S)

Who Wants To Live Forever (When Love Must Die): Queen (S)  

Scully’s Theme: Mark Snow (S)

My Immortal: Evanescence (S)

Do What You Have To Do: Sarah McLachlan (S)

Always On My Mind: Willie Nelson (M)

Stranded: Heart (S)

Beautiful Disaster (live version): Kelly Clarkson (S)

Kiss From A Rose: Seal (S)

Blue In The Face: Alkaline Trio (M)

Best Of My Love: The Eagles (M)

Bent: Matchbox 20 (M)

Fields Of Gold: Sting (M)

Blood and Fire: Indigo Girls (M)

If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher (M)

I’ll Stand By You: The Pretenders (S)

Making Love Out of Nothing at All: Air Supply (M)

Can’t Let Go: Mariah Carey (S)

Can’t Find My Way Home: Steve Winwood (M)

I Will Follow You Into The Dark: Death Cab For Cutie (S)

If I Close My Eyes Forever: Ozzy Ozbourne and Lita Ford (M)

Good: Better Than Ezra (B)

Never: Heart (S)

I’m On Fire: Bruce Springsteen (M) 

My Lover: Melissa Etheridge (S)

Full Of Grace: Sarah McLachlan (S)

Take Me For A Little While: Coverdale Page (M)

Out Of My Head: Fastball (M)

The Flame: Cheap Trick (B)

Here By Me: 3 Doors Down (B)

With Arms Wide Open: Creed (M)

The Reason: Hoobastank (M)

S9:

Save Tonight: Eagle-Eye Cherry (M)

Hands To Heaven: Breathe (M)

Against All Odds: Phil Collins (S)

Babe: Styx (M)

Every Little Kiss: Bruce Hornsby and the Range (B)

Every Time You Go Away: Paul Young / Hall and Oates (S)

Stranded: Heart (S)

If: Bread (B) 

Now You’re Gone: Whitesnake (S) 

Is This Love: Whitesnake (M)

Bed Of Roses: Bon Jovi (M)

Right Here Waiting: Richard Marx (S)

Somewhere: Within Temptation (S)

Time In A Bottle: Jim Croce (M)

Faithfully: Journey (M)

Send Her My Love Journey (M) 

Silent Running: Mike and the Mechanics (M)

I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues: Elton John (S)

Human Hands: Elvis Costello (M)

I Remember You: Skid Row (M)

I Will Remember You: Amy Grant (S)

Back For Good: Take That (S)

Nobody Knows: The Tony Rich Project (S)

All Along: Blessid Union of Souls (S)

Twenty-Nine Palms: Robert Plant (M)

All Out Of Love: Air Supply (S)

Everything I Own: Bread (S)

Far Away: Nickelback (B)

Ordinary World: Duran Duran (S) 

Constant Craving: KD Lang (B)

Season of Hollow Soul: KD Lang (B)

Seasons of Wither: Aerosmith (B)

When I’m Gone: 3 Doors Down (M) 

Here Without You: 3 Doors Down (B)

Landing In London: 3 Doors Down (M)

Away From The Sun: 3 Doors Down (M)

As I Lay Me Down: Sophie B. Hawkins (S)

Eyes Like Twins: Wilson Phillips (S)

Day After Day: Badfinger (S)

Broken: Amy Lee / Seether (B)

Mental Picture: Jon Secada (M)

Breathe Again: Toni Braxton (S)

Full of Grace: Sarah McLachlan (S)

To My Valentine: SJ Tucker (M)

Epiphany: Staind (M)

Warm Safe Place: Staind (M)

It’s Been A While: Staind (M)

Sweet Dreams: Air Supply (B)

Another Rainy Night: Queensryche (S)

I’ll See You In My Dreams: Giant (B)

Upside-Down Roses: Bekah Kelso (S)

What I Know: Bekah Kelso (S)

Wishing You Were Here: Chicago (S) 

The Letter (Ticket For An Airplane): The Box Tops (M) 

TN1 Teaser / Piotr Tchaikovski: Mark Snow / Scully  

Ghost: Indigo Girls (S)

Baby Come Back: Ambrosia (S) 

Just Another Day: Jon Secada (B)

It Don’t Come Easy: Badfinger (B)

Mandolin Rain: Bruce Hornsby and the Range (B)

One Year Of Love: Queen (B)

The Promise: Tracy Chapman (M)  

Just Remember I Love You: Firefall (M)

We Are Near (Scully’s Theme Extended): Mark Snow (S)

Unchained Melody: The Righteous Brothers (B)

Viva Forever: Spice Girls (S)

All Of My Love: Led Zeppelin (M)

(I ignore everything after Scary Monsters, because I refuse to accept that adoption bullshit or TLG dying (IT WAS A HOAX I TELL YOU!). Also, i will never accept the whole reboot 'CSM was the father' garbage. Not possible timing-wise (Mulder barely is if you do weird math with alien fetuses), and also, Just, NO.

I have more playlist for them, but it's very fanfic-centric and goes with my series on them, which departs after Scary Monsters to go AU, so i can post those if anyone wants me to.)

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

Valentine’s Questionnaire

I skipped some of the questions, but I hope this still helps!

Tell your secret admirer about your favorite things! Favorite characters, ships, scenes, seasons, arcs, etc. I shared this in the ask, but I love season 1 and early MSR, but I'll enjoy anything from s1-7. I love the angst of the abduction arc but also the happiness of the SOSS. Obviously Mulder and Scully are my favorite characters, but I like Maggie and Melissa too.

Now what are your least favorite things? In terms of fanworks, I don't usually seek out things set past s8. Angst is fine, but it needs a happy ending.

Tell your secret admirer where you fall on the following scales:

Spice Scale

Salt only – no spice at all please! i.e., general audience rating.

Black pepper – a hint of spice. i.e., teen rating.

Chili pepper – there’s a bit of a kick! i.e., mature rating.

Habanero – definitely spicy, but most spice lovers can handle it. i.e., explicit rating.

Ghost pepper – only for the spiciest of spice lovers. i.e., VERY explicit/kink/POANG rating. (But I'll enjoy anything on the scale, so don't feel like you have to include smut!)

Angst Scale

Pale blue sky – no angst, all fluff!

Aquamarine – a little bit of angst, maybe some yearning, nothing too heartbreaking. e.g., the various scenes in Mulder’s hallway.

Cascade ocean wave – a moderate amount of angst, e.g. Pusher or Wetwired. Happy ending included. (I'll enjoy 1-3)

Sapphire tears – pain slut. Angst with a happy or bittersweet ending. e.g. abduction arcs, cancer arc.

Catastrophic blues – literally why. Lots of angst with some devastation for dessert, e.g. cancer arc but Scully dies at the end, season 8 and Mulder dies.

What are some of your favorite tropes? Are there any you avoid? One bed might be my favorite. I also like hurt/comfort, mutual pining, fake relationship. I don't really care for high school/college AUs or body swap (very specific, I know).

What is your favorite color or color scheme? These can be specific colors or general categories, e.g. jewel tones, cool colors. Yellow is my favorite color but I also like sage green and light blue.

Share the links to some gifsets/edits that you love and tell your secret admirer why (e.g. do you like the layout? The coloring? The quote that they used? Typography? Simplicity? Parallels?). These can be X-Files/MSR or other fandoms. I enjoy gifsets that showcase parallels. If you check out my "parallels" tag, you'll see ones that I like.

[baronessblixen]

I FIGURED IT OUT.

Okay, so, I gave Bill the benefit of the doubt in my Apologia analysis because, y'know, what do I know? Buuuut I remembered a little detail that made everything entirely unpalatable:

Maggie, I had assumed, was suffering in silence all those months to respect her daughter's wishes. I'd forgotten that she was a gossip, and that she'd spilled the beans about her daughter's infertility the DAY after Scully told her and kept pressing her about the baby's sex in S8 (which makes sense why Scully was deterred from finding out the gender/told no one, because if she can't-- or won't-- tell her mother, then why tell the world?)

How does this relate to Bill? Opening of Gethsemane he mentions he JUST got off his boat and sped (over to see Scully) to make it in time for the party... and ALSO made a point to question (read: mildly interrogate) if his sister had gotten her birthday card a few months ago; and Scully notes how odd that was for him to do... MEANING Maggie told him months ago; and the only reason why Bill hadn't confronted his sister about her cancer, yet, was because he was on a boat and unable to get in touch.

I will, however, give him the benefit of the doubt after Emily because he was (to my recollection) truly remorseful in the church. He also didn't have significant screentime after that, so I'll never know if he took his big foot off the pedal and decided a hands-off approach was the best policy. Again, not that type of series.

But in general: Maggie gossiped, Bill swooped in to assess what was going on, spilled the beans when Scully didn't confide in him (which, tbf, that's gotta hurt-- being left out of his sister's terminal diagnosis and only swooping in in time to see her die incidentally because Maggie gave him the heads up-- for both of them-- thinking her mom kept it private because she doesn't want to think about the deadline only to find out Maggie told Bill and her priest months ago), and ratted their mother out. Twice.

Sooooooooooooooooooo, I wanted to drop in and thank you for your thoughts from yesterday(?)-- got me to think and pull up some rusty quotes. (Now I'm REALLY excited to dig into this messy dynamic when I get around to finishing her family series. Some day. XDDD) Hats off to our discussion~. :DDDD

They really do have a messy dynamic, don't they? I love that cause it feels real. Yes, their mother is a gossip, and Bill tries to be the head of the family, and Scully is too private for her own good - and we never even met Charlie!

I know that wasn't part of your analysis yesterday, but I really hate that Maggie told Bill about his sister's infertility. That's really her thing and something she should have disclosed herself. But I suppose that's how it is with many parents. Still, I hate it. It feels like stripping Scully of her agency.

I always love your meta posts and I love discussing these things too. So thank you for your hard work!!

[aroace-alterhuman]

Saw your tags on my post-- YES YES YES, I agree!!!! :DDDDD S8 was all about Scully succeeding with a replacement SO WELL that poor Mulder felt like their lives were better off without him. That's why he was so caustic to Doggett, and almost threw his life away several times-- he was trying to prove they NEEDED him and him alone to uncover the Truth (which led him right into a trap in Three Words.)

I'm very passionate about that mess of a season. XDD

yeah, exactly!!! i should write a proper post someday with my thoughts but basically like, i always see ppl say that mulder was too mean to/distant from scully in that season but i feel like ppl just brush over WHY that is. like, he came back from literally being dead and from his perspective, it seemed like everyone, including scully who is the person he's closest too, had moved on, replaced him, and were during fine without him, which i feel like would make anyone upset and act out!!! like you said, he was trying to fit back in and prove to everyone that he could be useful bc he felt hurt that everyone seemily moved past him. then you'll have ppl saying "oh, but he should've tried talking it out with scully, he didn't know all the facts" which is like. okay true. but scully also could've tried talking to him too and she didn't. idk, what i'm trying to say is that i feel like all the blame gets put on mulder in this situation even tho i think he had a pretty good reason to feel bad and scully didn't really try working it out with him either (i don't think either of them are really to blame for that btw, they both just suck at communicating with each other lol)

[saltlickmp3]

okay so beginning of the mulder got abducted but scully is having their baby arc I GUESS ? like goddddd another "romantic" moment that seems to come out of nowhere ? for me at least idk like she finds out that abductees Can in fact have kids like three days before she finds out that She is having a baby but also only like three days after she mulder presumably did All That which is ? remarkably compressed timeline (also all happens within just the one episode) foe what feels like major events? like hmm. obv its a seaons finale to its needs to have impact & the say they always do them theres one or two eps but usually one that sets up the arc that continues into the next season but it just feels like so much of an put of nowhere thing? like i started thinking to myself 'oh yeah it would make sense if mulder got abducted/presumed dead/etc now (based on what i know of s8) and then later she finds out shes having their baby ? but i guess hospital tests would do that to you i also presume thats some why she was ill that ep? not just bc of alien force field or whatever ?? idk maybe that was the aliens.

like idk it just feels like (to me at least) that it goes from the last two seaons having everrrr so slightly increased levels of plausible deniability romantic or sexual tension whichever way you want to look at it or even just 'wow they really do know each other that well they really couldnt be Like That with anyone else' to one kiss kind of out of nowhere in particular but nice enough & then back to normal & then one gentle scene between them (which was really nice) and then theyre just like uhmmmmmmm yeah they fucked & uhmmm she can have kids actually whoops. & shes having a baby. with mulder. actually. uhhhhhh. like idk if was me writing it (which obviusly im not) i would have had in the previous episode a big gentle and / or romantic moment which it looks like they might never bring up again but then does actually link into the scene in the hotel room in requiem. like idk they held hands at the end of hollywood a. d. but does that ? really count ? idk whta do i know though im sure people in 2000 lost their shit over this one

[dialecticaldimensions]

no one is more doomed by the narrative than my pals/lomls special agents dana scully & fox mulder!!!!!! 

i just started season 9 and tell me why i couldn’t bring myself to go beyond the first two episodes out of sheer frustration at the writing choices 😭(i will try again to continue at a later date)

season 8 had its flaws but at the very least gave us a somewhat decent through line and importantly a solid ending for mulder and scully, and their love, faith and strength in each other. 

And while i haven’t watched anything beyond s9 e1&2, i did not save myself from spoilers, so i do know what is coming – and still i was so put off by just these two episodes because it did not make sense to me!!! (so lord knows how i will feel trying to get through the rest of the season … and the second movie … and the revival mytharc additions …)

in what world would scully be the one to push mulder to leave!!! after just getting him back!!! and mulder would fully have put up a fight about staying and protecting both scully and william if there was still a threat (which i was also just like ??? what was happening in the s8 finale then, but i digress). 

scully, who says she has the strength of mulder’s beliefs, who asks for forgiveness because she cannot be with him on this journey anymore when she thought a life threatening illness would take her, who does not trust anyone else to care for him, to look out for his needs, to save him from himself the way that she does, would not have just let mulder leave like that, on the word of kersh saying that ppl are out to kill him (people are always out to kill mulder tho, why was this different?!). 

and mulder, knowing what he knows, knowing that both scully and william are at risk would not walk away like that, especially because there is no indication that him not being there somehow eliminates the threats that scully and william face? Mulder who would break into government facilities (any facility actually), who would threaten every last man in his path if it means keeping scully safe, who would literally go to the ends of the earth for scully and who JUST got his family, would not just up and leave like that. And definitely would not leave the figuring things out to just scully, esp when she is also concerned about william and his capabilities. 

in sheer frustration i went back to some of my favourite episodes in the earlier seasons and that was both soothing and also mind blowing because it really puts into perspective the growth, trauma and healing that both mulder and scully go through to get to the end of season 8. So to start off the ninth season with what i think is pretty poor writing and not very good storytelling was just sooooo 🥲 i get that dd had to leave, i get that there needed to be more focus on doggett and reyes, but the way that happened was sooo not it!! (how did y’all survive the original run omg! in all honestly idk if i could’ve continued back then, not having hindsight).

@randomfoggytiger has a great post on what was going on in the writer’s rooms/bts around s7, s8 and s9 – which was a great read for me post watching these s9 episodes, bc it validated some of my frustrations. 

It clearly seems like the team was focused more on telling certain stories, without really thinking about how the story would be told with the characters that they currently have. So it felt like mulder/scully (and from what I’ve heard other characters too) are regressing into behaviours/choices simply because it’s convenient for the story -- which is not good writing imo!!

Personally, I find it interesting that the focus was on what stories can we tell to keep people interested, instead of how can we preserve the legacy/joy/comfort in these beloved character journeys with the new stories we want to tell. 

And because of that so many awfullllll things happened!!!! Mulder and Scully were forced into situations only by the narrative, not by their character arcs, and what a shame that it was that way!! 

Anyway, i still love m/s with my whole heart and will continue to grind my way through the rest of the show, albeit very very very slowly. So grateful for the very active x files community (again speaks volumes to the fact that it's the characters that shaped the show/stories) so that i can drown myself in fanfic and gif sets and artwork and meta!!!! 👽🛸

[california-112]

Predictions: A Pre-Review (TXF S8)

Oh-kay, now that I've finished Je Souhaite (and finally found where the thumbnail from S07E01 came from!), we're up for the crossover into S8, and therefore the pre-review. Ignore the fact that there have been several weeks (more than a month?) between Je Souhaite and this...I know that this is going to be hard ;-;

Thoughts going in are that this season will be angsty, and I believe that there are some more characters added, also that Skinner becomes a regular. Maybe a new credits sequence? Hopefully not a revamped theme, please. What fun awaits me? Let's go ahead and guess...

S07E22 'Requiem' - Revisiting their first case?! Hell yeah! However. It seems to come up a lot in AO3 tags, so. Potential for the Sad. 6/10

S08E01 'Within' - I recognise this guy from GIFs. On another note, WHY ARE WE MANHUNTING FOR MULDER. FIND MY BOY PLEASE. NOW. I'm scared for this. 7/10

S08E02 'Without' - That thumbnail hello??? I think we found him, get him to a hospital??? I don't think his arm should be that shape. I'm even MORE scared for this, but staying cautious. 7/10

S08E03 'Patience' - NEW PARTNER??? And it's matey from E01? What in the hell is going on here. Where is my boy. Murderous bat-like creature I can get behind though. 7/10

S08E04 'Roadrunners' - A Scully solo ep, could be fun. However, getting in over her head sounds less so. It probably can't beat Chinga. 6/10

S08E05 'Invocation' - Weirdly non-aged boy. Sounds like a standard MOTW, with a side of Scully and matey arguing. What does invocing something have to do with anything. 6/10

S08E06 'Redrum' - I have a fic idea with a very similar title! The episode sounds nothing like it though, pretty run-of-the-mill MOTW. Could be fun but I'll be cautions. 6/10

S08E07 'Via Negativa' - Skinner is serving someone a Look in the thumbnail, so this could be a fun little ep. Either that, or I will be giving the series a similar look by the end. 6/10

S08E08 'Surekill' - Oh, he would need x-ray vision? He probably has it then, we are in the paranormal show after all. Apologies for the consistency, but anyway. 6/10

S08E09 'Salvage' - Man Of Steel! This ep kept coming up when I was trying to see if that song actually appeared int he show. Something about the Gulf War? Could be good, actually. 7/10

S08E10 'Badlaa' - Oh dear, this looks as though it could be another Cultural Episode(TM). If we get through it without any cringing, I will let it above half way. 5/10

S08E11 'The Gift' - I don't even want to know what is going on in this thumbnail. Sweaty man lying in the dirt. Also MULDER IS STILL DISAPPEARED??? >:( Could have my boy content though. 6/10

S08E12 'Medusa' - A real medusa? In the Boston subway? Cool. Probably not for the victims, though. Also, I don't think she stripped flesh, more went in for turning it to stone. I'm not convinced of this one. 5/10

S08E13 'Per Manum' - Oh that's a name I know from AO3 tags, so something's definitely up. Thumbnail has Scully in white holding her stomach and the summary mentions pregnancy and there's a warning for 'scenes of surgery' so. This may be a f*cked up one. 5/10

S08E14 'This Is Not Happening' - From the thumbnail of a dead-looking Mulder, I am in full agreement, this is NOT happening and my boy is alright. Please. PLEASE. The angst potential though... 7/10

S08E15 'Deadalive' - Another known offender from AO3 tags, I think I know what happens in this one due to Spoilers, but basically WAAAH. BIG CRYING. ANGST AND REUNION AND WAAAH. 8/10

S08E16 'Three Words' - And we're back to MOTW! With Mulder in the thumbnail with Doggett?, so he's all good! This is a rollercoaster. Please just let them all be happy. 7/10

S08E17 'Empedocles' - So many hits in this summary. Who is Reyes? Doggett had a son? Now he's dead? Also Mulder is here? Where is Scully? I am confused but intrigued. 7/10

S08E18 'Vienen' - Return of black oil!!! Man, I hated this stuff to start with, but we've got a Mulder thumbnail and there's h/c potential. I have medium hopes. 7/10

S08E19 'Alone' - Doggett and his partner have disappeared now! Full house! Everyone involved with the X Files has gone missing in one way or another. I hope we get some echoes of early-season Mulder and Scully. 7/10

S08E20 'Essence' - BILLY MILES??? AGAIN??? I really thought he would be a one-time character...though they did apparently investigate his case again in the previous season finale, so...huh. 7/10

S08E21 'Existence' - Oh, oh. THIS thumbnail. With the baby and the kiss (I've seen GIFs) and...I have heard of this ep and suspect that it may not be as cutsey as all that. Probably one shining scene. However. He has the benefit of the doubt. How will they make it run into S9 though...? 7/10

[reacquaintedwith-air]

yeah this is so real, and yet so baffling to me. like, also he was abducted, tortured, died and was resurrected only a few months after his mother killed herself and he ended up realizing that his parents had necessarily always known who took his sister and why, and that they probably knew right away when she died and simply decided not to tell him for 20 years. And that was like 6 months after the biological father who's obsessed with him and the ex girlfriend who emotionally abused him got him sick, kidnapped him, and stole part of his brain. Plus the partner who he tried and failed to help through IVF is 8 months pregnant when he gets back and she quite simply doesn't talk to him about it until she basically has to. This is pretty unbelievable writing for Scully, but it is how it went on screen. If anything, he's a lot more functional and patient and willing to make an effort to communicate than what I'd expect of someone after all of that.

I mean the Mulder writing of s8 isn't flattering, and Scully did go through missing him and thinking he was dead for 3 months. And much of this can be explained away by Carter's anger at Duchovny for wanting off the show and anger at the fans for wanting the ship and 'trying to force him into writing a romcom,' but instead of blaming the writing or looking at the context it's "Mulder's so selfish and cold and manipulative, it's unforgivable, i cant believe she beat cancer/went to africa/went all over the country for this man 😤."

(Scully explicitly textually wanted to do the work and to be with Mulder, but somehow 'centering Scully' also involves ignoring her canonical choices and wants 🙃.)

i once read that the txf fandom loves to downplay Mulder's trauma and make it all about Scully and I'm afraid it's true, because Mulder was literally tortured for months and then literally DIED and was buried and then dug up and resurrected and the fandom's reaction is "aaaw poor Scully suffered so much during all of this and now Mulder is being mean by being weird and distant with her 😡"

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s8 episode 1 “within” thoughts

did you hear the news? that we are soooo back?

i have so many questions and i am VERY excited. today, we meet a guy named john. john doggett, to be specific. i look forward to learning about him.

the episode description mentions the lone gunmen… is now when their show takes place? i don’t think i’ll watch it at the moment, but maybe someday down the road when i have more time. and i think it has a sad ending anyway, right? so maybe not watching it is the best move. even if i love my friends the gunmen. they can live happily ever after in my head.

seems like we will have a lot of scully and skinner time, which i am jumping for JOY about.

hmm, do you think they’ll change the intro…?

so many questions! let us begin!!

shaking with excitement slash fear slash anticipation… please do not let me down!!

(post-episode thoughts: RAHHHHHHHH. ahem. skinner and scully...

good episode. i don't care for this doggett fellow, but i have a feeling he'll have a redemption arc and i'll grow to like him, which is fine. wondering if the same can be said about kersh, because he seems TOO evil... there has to be more there. but! doggett had that glass of water to the face coming and i support scully losing it. SO MANY MORE THOUGHTS below... but those are the biggest ones i can think of right now!)

is my volume not working or is this really quiet…? i skipped a few minutes ahead to check, and i think my volume just isn’t working. okay, let’s try again.

is this a… well. i have a guess as to what we’re seeing, but i don’t wanna sound presumptuous. baby?

AUGH, mulder and the goop!

ohh!! scully having a nightmare :( of mulder and the goop… is she still in the hospital?? free her!!

woah. that was the whole pre-intro scene. that has to be a record. it lasted, like, 20 whole seconds. they had to get to the good part, i guess.

UPDATED INTRO PICTURES???? WHAT THE HELL??? 

AND THE NEW GUY IS HERE: his name is robert patrick. those are both first names.

i’m so gagged... i never thought those pictures would change, LMAO. maybe that is why people don’t like this season: change.

and the visuals are all different, too! oh, we see a picture of a baby for real this time. mulder is falling!!! an eyeball!!! the truth is out there, bitch!!!

well, that is a LOT to handle, all things considered. i don’t think i’ll ever quite get used to that. which is probably okay. but trust that the truth is still out there. that fact remains eternal.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE X FILES...

and the audio isn’t syncing with their lips!! why must i suffer??

okay, everyone is recapped. scully is here. staring into a mirror. she looks beautiful. however, i do not think she is okay. she stops staring. buttons up her jacket. emphasis on her necklace. and heads to work.

GOD. it’s slow and i’m sad. i am very sad. she just looks so…. out of it. is she walking to the basement? yes. and a guy is down here. with other people. why are they going through all their stuff?? oh, she is MAD!!

they are collecting material for anything that might be pertinent to the manhunt!!!

OHHH, NO ONE TOLD HER….. “if you’re looking for mulder, you’re wasting your time. are you listening to me?” <- ohhh, what is she thinking?? has she given up?? or is it more about the methodology?

OH, SHE SAYS IT IS A STUPID IDEA AND ASKS WHO CAME UP WITH THIS…. she bursts into skinner's office while he is on the phone!!! he is saying that someone could have had the courtesy to tell him. did he not know either?

skinner declares that the manhunt was NOT his idea!!! OH, he says that he told her last night he will find mulder… so this is one day after the events of the last episode. oh my gooood. it’s all so new. but she thinks they will not find him this way. hmm…

i mean, when scully was taken, she was just kind of… brought back to that hospital. i don’t think having a lookout team is a BAD idea, but yeah, they’re not gonna find him by going through all of their stuff and sending out a battalion.

but i guess when scully came back, it was the government who took her and not the aliens. or maybe they were working together. this seems like a rogue alien operation, though, so the odds of him being returned in the same fashion seem much slimmer. but who knows?

also… pain that she says they’re going through “mulder’s office”. not shared anymore. damn.

OH GOD, HE SAYS HE DOESN’T WANT HER TO DO ANYTHING TO UPSET HER PREGNANCY, OH GOD… i knew he would be overprotective. falls to my knees and starts weeping.

but she is not having it. she wants to know who tf is going over his head? “our brand new deputy director” <- OHHHH??? KERSH!!!!

the way this happened over night... someone high up in the syndicate is pulling some strings...

what does he care to find mulder?? he hates the guy?? he was working for CSM!! well, maybe he wasn’t… we just saw him in a meeting with him once. i guess skinner has had meetings with him, too. he may have been very mean in s6... but maybe he is secretly a good guy??

so they go in to see him. he doesn’t want to waste any time. they are missing one of their own.

he thanks them for their cooperation. scully implies he thinks they are suspects. and kersh says he wants their statement taken by a guy named doggett, who is the task force leader on this mission. 

they start to leave and he says “one more thing”… oh, what now… “anything leaves this building about aliens or alien abductions or any other nonsense that might cast the bureau in a ridiculous light- and you can forget about looking for agent mulder. you’ll both be looking for new jobs” HUH?!?! WELL. 

uh. um. not beating the bad guy allegations.

i hope kersh has a character arc. i guess we'll see. i wanna know why he is Like That. 

“that‘s all” he says, very meryl streep as miranda priestly, while a furious skinner and scully walk out the door

“why do i get the feeling they’d be happy if we never found him at all?” OHHH…. they think it’s just about covering the FBI… skinner declares that he saw what he saw, and he will speak his truth. “you give them the truth, and they’ll hang you with it”, says scully. “they can hang me with a lie, too” OH…. a man of character. 

but scully asks “what good are you to mulder if you give them the power to ruin your career?” ohhh… such a hard situation… neither of them are wrong… we need to meet this doggett fellow and decide what the best course of action is…. see if he can handle The Truth...

she says they will find mulder. and then they go into the room to give their statements. a guy takes skinner back and tells scully to wait until they call her. it is a very busy room.

she sits down next to someone. but pointedly avoids the person. lmao. turn your whole body away, queen. i see you! alas, he is looking at her. is this doggett? well, whoever it is, he walks away. 

oh. this mystery fellow gets her some water. saying it could be a wait. well, that is kind at least. she says thank you and takes it. 

“aren’t you his partner? mulder?” “yes.” she doesn’t wanna talk about this right now, man with a deep and raspy voice. “i guess nobody’s beyond suspicion on this thing” (scully glare) 

she asks why they’re questioning him, and he says he knew mulder back a bit. “i doubt we agents ever truly know each other- even our partners” <- girl, you can take your doubt all the way to the bank... these two have a soul bond. this bitch...

she says she knows mulder as much as anybody. “yeah, probably so. i always took the rumors with a grain of salt” “what rumors are those?” oh girl…. “well, you know” (she looks at him, seeming to Not Know) “well that, from the beginning, he never felt a real trust with you, that you were ambitious” 

well, yeah, maybe at the beginning he felt that way, but it didn't last long?? i must confess, though, i thought he was going to bring up the rumors of them sleeping together to her face. maybe he was and he had to stop himself.

she is so taken aback she nearly laughs. “where’d that come from?” “there are women here in the bureau that he would confide in” (puzzled scully look)

OH?

nah, i don’t buy it. whoever this guy is, he is just trying to make her suspicious. 

she asks when that was and he says “oh, it’s just talk” <- boy, shut the fuck up……

he asks what her theory is. “my theory is you don’t know mulder at all” GET HIS ASS! “you never did”

OH, THIS BITCH IS DOGGETT? she reached over and grabbed his badge. she was MAD AS FUCK!!!

not so sure if i am excited to meet him now… 

“you might have introduced yourself” “i was getting around to it” 

she stands up and THROWS HER DRINK ON HIM, LMAOOOO “nice to meet you, agent doggett” <- GET HIS ASS!!!

skinner sees this happen and she stalks out. 

well. we’re off on a great start with our newest character who we can definitely trust!!1!1!!

he watches her leave. seeming impressed. GOOD. HE OUGHT TO BE.

ah, typically calm and composed and cool scully, throwing her drink on someone she just met... yelling at those guys down in the basement office... she is going through it. she is going to be in attack mode until she gets her man back. i support her, but i hope she doesn't go too far and get herself in trouble.

she looks doggett's ass up at home... lmao!!! and wouldn’t you!? he is from georgia… his middle name is jay… scully has flowers in her apartment. he was in the marine corps and a peacekeeping force in lebanon. and then he was in the NYPD as a detective and then has been with the FBI since 1995. 

ohhhh, poor scully gets sick :( i know that is par for the course with pregnancy, but like!!! it still sucks. majorly. and she is so alone.

she calls someone. her mom!!! who doesn’t pick up. she says she has been busy with “something else that i should probably tell you about in person” oh god… her voice is breaking. “i really need to see you, and talk to you. there’s a lot of stuff that’s going on with me right now, and, um… i just really need to talk” OHHHH SCULLY :( i hope her mom can stop by.

so her mom must not know about mulder being gone or the other big thing... she is going to be so freaked out when she hears her daughter crying on the voicemail. hopefully she will buzz right up. hopefully there is no other scully family drama keeping her busy.

but there’s clicking on the phone line…. someone must be listening to her!!!!

and there’s a guy outside her window. she calls doggett and tells him to STAY OUT OF HER BUSINESS!!

(you really have to appreciate how scully is acting like an attack dog. or some sort of enraged lion. i only fear it will get her into bigger trouble.

it is giving me flashbacks to triangle- telling spender she WILL kill him... we only really get to see this side of her when mulder is taken away from her. but i have a feeling it will be Way More Extreme now since there is a lot more on the line)

is it the alien bounty hunter taking his shape outside her window?? because doggett doesn’t know what the hell is going on. which had me laughing.

no… there are steps outside her door…. she’s looking at her gun…. grabbing it… what if it’s a friend? whoever it is, they are gone… she runs out of her apartment… but she left her door open! where is she going??? who is out there?? 

ah! it’s her landlord. he says someone was in the building- “tall guy, brown hair” “you don’t mean mulder?” “yeah, mulder” she runs back up to her apartment!!! “mulder… are you in here??”

GOD. the sorrow in her voice. the way it bounces around the empty room. i need to scream a little.

she gasps… something on her desk…. a wire??? what is it!!! maybe it was byers leaving some sort of message??? idk if the landlord knows names….

(author's note: please keep me thinking that there was a wire left on her desk in the back of your mind as we proceed, because it will be really funny later)

she goes to mulder’s apartment. his desk is covered in dust. she is looking around…. and picks up a shirt from his bed. lays her head on his pillow. OH MY GOD. SHE FALLS ASLEEP???

oh my god...... she fell asleep IN HIS BED HOLDING HIS SHIRT…

guys... do you think i should scream really really loudly????

but more evil dreams… of tests and needles on his face and something up his nose???? like a nose ring. and whirring. they’re pulling his face and sticking something in his mouth?? and he’s screaming. NASTY.

but is it really happening? or are those memories of scully’s abduction coming back and with his face on top of them?

the gunmen are here, finally! with some data! they’re looking at UFO encounters from the pacific northwest, of which there are a LOT. but they can’t tell where the next one will be... much to skinner’s dismay.

doggett is coming into kersh’s office. we learn that kersh was in the air force in vietnam. kersh lore… not sure if i will like his character enough to do anything with it yet, but we’ll see. i guess. i once hated skinner.

doggett asks if he is really in charge of this task force. he says he doesn’t believe it… someone else is calling the shots. kersh tells him he has a chance to shine. “show them all you’re an ace”

doggett kinda looks like an 80's rockstar. a little too sharp and pretty for this line of work. it is slightly off-putting. he does seem like he bites.

ooo, that was a very loaded exchange... i wonder how they know each other and why kersh selected him as a puppet. i wonder if kersh thinks doggett will do whatever he says and then rise through the ranks as a result. he seemed to be genuinely friendly with him... or is it all a ruse?

but doggett is clearly catching on that he is part of something bigger here, and he seems to be indicating that he won't just go along with everything he is told to do... does he have a heart deep down?

doesn't make up for being rude AF to scully, though... he is gonna have to grovel at her feet over that. in my humble opinion.

oh, scully… waking up. in mulder’s bed. so she must have gone back again. with doggett in the room??! “what are you doing here?” “i came by to feed mulder’s fish” <- yes, a responsible friend!! and the parallels to the first episode of the second season...

“and then you got tired and decided to take a nap” yeah, well, maybe she did! her hair was all mussed up from the nap in one shot and in the next it was fixed, LMAO

at this point he HAS to realize what is going on between mulder and scully. like, i couldn't tell if she was holding his shirt again when she fell asleep this time, but come on. doggett cannot possibly consider her a suspect at this point. maybe he is just pointedly ignoring the obvious because he doesn't want scully to know he knows. it might be too painful to acknowledge it.

or maybe he really can't see it. but... c'mon now. he was a detective. which you do not have to be to see what they have.

she wants to know who tf wiretapped her!!! she demands respect... but he counters with, oh, like you showed me over the phone? “i just came by to feed the fish” he claims... ohhh…. they’re having a cat fight. 

why does he know where the fish food is… bro was def poking around!!

he says he knows the answer… and she doesn't even know the question. of what happened to mulder. “i know what you’re gonna say or not, because you think i’m the big bad wolf. do you really believe it? that he was abducted by aliens?” “you said it, i didn’t”

“i guess i just find it hard to swallow that a scientist, a serious person, could buy that… ever see an alien, agent scully?” WHY IS HE SO NASTY?

“you want me to go on record? i will go on record to say this: that i have seen things that i cannot explain. i have observed phenomena that i cannot deny. and that as a scientist, and a serious person-“ oh, she is mad as fuck! “it is a badge of honor not to dismiss these things because someone thinks they’re B.S.”

okaaaay!!!! you live and you learn. and she’s been doing a lot of living and learning. 

i’m just worried he’s going to provoke her into revealing something… she is so frustrated and scared at this point in time that it would be easier to do it now than ever before… she is usually so guarded and cautious…

“so you think he was abducted? i’m just trying to find him” “then what are you doing here?” “trying to figure these out” ooooh… he has car rental receipts. 370 miles, four consecutive weekends in may. she says she doesn’t know where he was going. “like i said, maybe you didn’t really know your partner” <- rude as fuck. 

also... why did he rent a car? does he not have his own? then how did he get to work... i'm confused.

it's almost like he's implying she is just one of the many lovesick women mulder left behind and i Do Not Care For It. or maybe he was told by kersh to try and make her suspicious of him so they can come up with a bullshit reason for his disappearance- some sort of personal betrayal- and get her to buy it. which i cannot ever see happening.

he is interrupted by a phone call. “agent mulder at the FBI?” what is going on???? 

skinner gets called in…. scully is here, too… and he can’t talk to her. 

someone removed some files. we don’t know what yet. used the pass card belonging to mulder. “you said agent mulder felt threatened by the FBI” “no. no, that’s not what i said. i said he felt the x-files were threatened by budget-cutting” <- OOO SKINNER, CATCH THEM IN THEIR LIES!!! they ask if he would ever retaliate. 

they’re trying to find inconsistencies… scully said skinner was home, but he was allegedly making phone calls in the office until 10. they think he came in here… using mulder's pass card. 

someone is whispering to doggett… she says skinner is telling the truth. he claims he believes it, but it doesn’t explain who used the card. and now mulder's visa was used two days ago in north carolina. buying flowers at at mortuary. but on a schedule, it seems.

“mulder’s mother is buried in raleigh. that’s the reason he was going every weekend”

“it’s one reason”

GIRL???? what other business is he implying is down there.

also very interesting that she is buried in raleigh. she wasn't from that area, was she? i swear she was born in massachusetts. so why down there?

and then they crack open a GRAVESTONE WITH HIS NAME ON IT??? are they suggesting he was buying his own grave??? oh, how the tables turn from abduction arc… she is crying as she stares at it. 

people walk by her. 

notably, samantha is also on the gravestone, listed as deceased in 1979. is this from CSM??? or is he actually dead, too? maybe it's a sick thing from krycek, then...

skinner comes in and joins the staring. “i don’t know what to think” “i don’t believe it, dana, it just doesn’t make any sense to me” OH... HE CALLED HER DANA…. is she going to allow this… it appears she shall

doggett declares he has some light on this and wants help from scully. he had mulder's medical records. 

his brain… the records show lots of irregular brain activity. skinner argues he recovered from is illness. but scully says he was dying. that there was a record of his decline. 

doggett thinks… “he took one big last chance to make it”

OH LMAOOO, I JUST NOW REALIZE THAT THE WIRE IN HER APARTMENT WAS WHERE HER COMPUTER WAS BECAUSE HE BROUGHT UP THAT BOTH OF THEIR COMPUTERS WERE STOLEN… I’M DYING!!! I FORGOT THAT COMPUTERS HAD WIRES BACK THEN AS I STREAM THIS ON MY LAPTOP!!! KILLLLLL ME LMAOOO... I WAS LIKE "OOOOH A WIRE!! MAYBE IT HAS A SECRET MESSAGE", BAHAHAAAAA

(i'm still fucking laughing at this the next day LMAO, what the fuck did i think was hidden in that wire...!!! i just kind of accepted it, like it was some early version of a hard drive, BAHAHAAAAA. i am the person you have to spell things out for when you are making TV shows i guess!)

doggett wants to know how far he would go. he says he gets obsession- interesting. tucking that away for future character analysis. would mulder stage his own disappearance? 

skinner says he knows what he saw. he watched it happen. he will not sit there and listen to this. we get a little recap. but she reaches up and grabs his jacket. stands. looks at doggett. “please don’t report that” ohh... he must have confessed to doggett what he saw while we got to relive it.

he says it wouldn't help him find mulder anyway. also interesting.

she grabs skinner’s shoulder. but he says it’s not good enough. while doggett goes to make a phone call. 

now skinner and the gunmen are looking at UFO activity. scully thinks it is a waste of time, but skinner insists it isn’t. the ship might be in the arizona desert. well! we have had experiences in the arizona desert before, haven’t we? i still think about those weird alien human hybrid bodies in the train car in the desert all the time. will that finally be addressed here? probably not...

“okay, say this is true-“ ah! she is doing her thing! i love when she does the thing where she suspends disbelief to follow the next logical step. “then how do we even begin to start finding him?”

langly suggests with who they might abduct next- “we’re only trying to help” “we’re only trying to find mulder” they say. scully turns- they must think they have upset her. and doggett said that too… and kersh said something similar… who can she believe? 

but she realizes something. why they took him, why they’re in arizona. why do people refuse to believe in aliens? maybe they’re removing all the evidence. meanwhile, someone slides something under doggett’s door. she thinks they are the ones removing the things, not mulder. 

what does doggett have?

they want to find the good hard proof… gibson!

WAHHH!! doggett has a file on gibson!!! is that where he ended up?? arizona??

omg… i look forward to their reunion. but who gave this file to doggett!

doggett declares to his task force that the objective in this case has been reframed… they’re laughing as doggett explains mulder thought gibson could read minds, might be part alien. maybe mulder left to look for him, he proposes. gibson was last seen in arizona. and they’re out. doggett wants to put gibson’s photo all over the southwest.

more creepy images of a UFO or mulder experiments or scully nightmares… all very unclear what is real and what isn’t. UGH, the tubes in his arms and legs…. more face pulling…. SLICEY THINGS… nah, i don’t want to see that. CUTTING HIS CHEST OPEN???

does she have some sort of connection to him that lets her see this stuff?

ah! it was just scully waking up from a nightmare. skinner is driving them somewhere. with his shirt mildly unbuttoned. oh… he needs navigation help. his little smile at her.

oh my gosh, i guess gibson was technically seen last in arizona… i guess i didn’t know the power plant was out there. i can't keep track of all the places they go. hmm.

ahhh! a helicopter is over their car. is doggett? yes, it is! they found gibson in a school for the deaf. and doggett is on the way. hmm… i don’t want doggett to get there… and he has a helicopter, so he will get there first… skinner and scully have stopped for gas or coffee or a map or something... and scully sees something in the distance… a mirage? or an alien thing?

skinner says there is a school in 20 minutes. meanwhile, the school is getting a phone call about him. doggett is pulling up…. it is gibson!!!

doggett gets there just as skinner and scully do! i started to type “mulder and scully”, which i imagine will be a hard habit to break.

gibson sees doggett… but the teachers want to know what is going on. 

skinner and scully run into doggett!!! scully asks to see gibson so much more politely than doggett did, lmao. but the kid is on the run!!!

bro ran into somebody… but who?? we cannot see his face. doggett finds footprints…. that seem to lead into the mountains?

someone has him!! oh!! the little dude is growing up!!

OH SHIT!! someone has mulder’s body, but no way that is him. doggett has him at gunpoint…

dun dun DUN!!!

well. the next episode’s description reveals what is going on, but even if it didn’t i wouldn’t buy that it was really mulder for a second, LMAO.

so much to process…

let us think.

thoughts on doggett? don’t fully trust him, but i don’t fully distrust him. he might be kersh’s lapdog at the moment, but i don’t think he’ll stay that way. clearly he’s onto him, anyway, with the whole visit to his office thing. but i think he ought to be FUCKING NICER???? did kersh TELL him to be a dick on purpose?? i know he has some tragic backstory reveal later on, but other than that i do not know a damn THING about the guy. and so i expect kindness from him, as i do from all people.

so, mulder’s brain alien surgery thing was killing him? that… well, i was going to say that doesn’t make sense, but nothing on this show makes sense, so that helps nothing. i guess what i meant to say was that i didn’t see any signs of him slowly dying last season. was i supposed to? i would have bought it for season 6 with the way he was acting so weird, but by s7 he seemed mostly back to himself. and besides, the surgery was at the very start of s7 anyway, so that makes the s6 weirdness hard to explain. i guess the whole alien virus thing could have been why he was weird in s6, but it doesn’t fully explain anything… hmm. 

i do not believe that he purchased his own gravestone. first of all, his father already has one, so why would he include him on there? is that a thing people do- put people who are not actually buried in the ground at that location on the headstone? and i don't think his father was buried in north carolina like his mother was, so having them together on there was an additional layer of weirdness. i guess i could MAYBE see him doing that if he really was dying, and really was traveling to north carolina to buy his own burial plot, but like... why north carolina and why include his family on there if his father is in an entirely different location? just because he wanted to honor them? the samantha part makes sense- he would always want to keep her with him- but the confidence with which the death year was placed also throws me off because we saw him admit that there really weren't answers in the last episode. it seems to me it is a nasty krycek trick to try and divert scully and skinner from their mission by making them think he is just dead and then he can claw his way into the upper ranks of alien diplomacy or something. idk. feels weird.

skinner… i trust him and the gunmen. GOD. when he said over and over again that he would report what he saw… and scully had to tell him no, that he can't help mulder if he gets fired. skinner was so often the guy that saves the day for our agents, and now we get to see him be in distress, which is perversely appealing to me. oh, and he SMILED at her when she woke up in the car… the way he was trying to explain his theory with the UFOs, trying to be gentle, but she just rejected it… him saying he doesn’t want anything to impact her… she's going to chafe at him being to gentle. i can already see it happening.

and the way she grabbed his jacket and put her arm on his shoulder. RAHHHH, i’m eating this UP!!! this is such a fascinating dynamic. i really hope they leave that joke about him being into her in that one episode, because that protective mentorship role is SO much more fascinating in my humble and correct opinion. there’s definitely affection and a deep respect there, but like... come on. not like that.

and poor scully. i have to say though, i wanted more scully character exploration. although, for this show, i guess we did get a lot, huh? with the phone call to her mom, the water on doggett, her conversations with skinner… yeah, i guess that was a lot. we don’t get a ton of long and quiet character rumination, even if i would really really like that, so i guess, for our standards, this was pretty good. i look forward to scully time. i really do. she seemed so shell shocked. i hope that the season isn’t just “where is mulder! where is mulder!” but also that people are asking "how are YOU scully, how can we help you", and then even if she answers with “bad”, i want some narrative focus because she is going through a LOT and her internal world has always been really interesting, but especially so now. i want to dive in. i’m assuming that those scenes of mulder are deep memories of her own abduction and not that she is somehow seeing him, but i guess we can’t rule that out, either. some sort of cosmic connection. via a baby that he might have fathered. it isn't super clear.

i hope we get to see maggie scully in the next episode when they come back from arizona :( she needs her family at this point in time. not bill tho... fuck bill fr fr.

the one time someone left me a nasty comment on this blog (not including that comical anon message, which i ought to bring back because it still makes me laugh) someone said “scully started believing in aliens the minute mulder left!” and to me… were we watching the same show? because s7 was to me all about scully opening herself up. i mean, come on, we’ve been exploring this concept since beyond the sea in s1. gibson saying she believes in s6 and is just afraid to admit it? same with that guy from tithonus? what about the whole episode theef? let’s be for real. this is not out of nowhere. this is a process of her coming to terms with her beliefs, famously not an easy thing to do! that feels like such a reductive take. people change over time.

i did feel a pang of loss for mulder time when i began to type "mulder and scully arrive at the scene" out of habit instead of "skinner and scully arrive at the scene", but then i got to thinking. and i'm not quite sure how to put the thoughts i am feeling into words, so bear with me. we have seen our friends mulder and scully go and investigate many cases together. a lot of those cases are very interesting, and the dynamic between them that is explored is the heart of the show.

but there have also been many episodes where our friends mulder and scully go to investigate a case that have been... anywhere from mildly disappointing to point-blank infuriating. we all remember the greatest hits- quagmire! wetwired! detour! memento mori! how the ghosts stole christmas! and it is true that there were, in fact, some absolute bangers. BUT. there were also a lot of mulder and scully investigate a case episodes that have been flops. who remembers trevor? or first person shooter? D.P.O.? heaven forbid, el mundo gira?

while we all love scully and mulder agent time, it has 1. never been very consistent in tone or quality, which leads to whiplash, and 2. there are a lot of forgettable scully and mulder agent time episodes, so to say that they are needed together for an episode to be good feels like an oversimplification, because there are plenty of episodes where they ARE together that are still BAD.

my point BEING in saying all of this: while i understand the nostalgia of wanting them back together, and i can imagine how much more intense it was while the show was airing, i think changing it up opens us to some really interesting character and narrative exploration that we probably would not have gotten otherwise. i understand that they were backed into a corner with contract stuff, and why people would get hostile at having mulder gone for a while, but frankly i find it to be an opportunity to go to new places, test out new things.

it is entirely possible i could regret my words and end up being an early seasons purist... but i'm not as inherently opposed to shaking it up a bit as others might be. which is surprising. i usually hate change!

that got pretty long, and i imagine that future posts will continue to do so as the plot fleshes out this doggett anti-hero but really i just want to focus on scully and skinner's dynamic. but, a good start to the season, and i look forward to what will come! hopefully i can still post around once a week!!! because i am excited!!

[ruscha]

they should have given mulder a real send-off in s8. like either killed him off, or otherwise given him a concrete and impactful reason to not be seen with the rest of the crew in the next season. like i couldn’t have come up with a worse excuse than the one they picked. oh mulder, the guy who recently came back from the dead after a traumatic alien abduction that still isn’t fully explained? whose partner and fellow abductee just had his alleged miracle alien child? who has had his life constantly threatened by the deep state for like 10 years and this has had little effect on his mission to find the truth and protect those he loves? who just recently discovered another government plot for alien takeover via infiltration of the fbi? he just had to leave this time. idk the government really wanted him dead this time for some reason. scully is fine though, no danger to her or her baby at all actually. not sure why

the thing is why would they bring david duchovny back for like 10 episodes only for him to disappear again for pretty much the entire 9th season except no one gives a fuck about it this time. utterly baffling things happening in the xf writers room in 2001

[baronessblixen]

Saw your tags-- I think that's why S8 is my favorite: for all its (many, many, many) flaws, Mulder and Scully were allowed to be unabashedly heartsick and in love and goofily happy and a couple. It felt like the next step of their S7 dynamic; and, of course, having William on board doesn't hurt things.

I also loved Doggett, loved Skinner's more hands-on role, TLG were fun, even Monica was neat-o, and Kersh coming back? Stressful but he served a purpose. The ending with Mulder, Scully, and their baby while Doggett and Monica nail Kersh to the wall sets up so much potential-- Mulder still saving the world, but as an independent (without the chains or the FBI to hold him down); Scully has everything she could ever want and the future is bright; TLG are so happy their buddy is back; Doggett got some closure helping Scully, finding Mulder for her (when he couldn't save his son); Monica was... there, but sweet; and Skinner got to shake off the shackles of the previous seasons and be both Mulder and Scully's rock.

Love it. And even the... not great episodes had good character moments for Scully and Doggett and Skinner (and the rest can be fast-forwarded.)

I wish the two parter finale could be scrapped and completely reworked (I just watch until Mulder/Scully escape from her apartment and right before Krycek shows up, then skip to the ending of Existence and fill in the rest w/ fic); but manos de piedra, Mulder in beige running game on Doggett on a Saturday while Maggie throws his partner a baby shower, Skinner being nosy about the paternity (he knows, BUT) and even Krycek parts were... worth it? XDDD

ESSAY ASIDE, XDDDD, it's fun for me~. ;)))))

Very valid opinion! It's nice that the angst from the first part of the season somewhat eases off in the end. For me, it's just all too muddled. I didn't like the inclusion of that brain disease (so unnecessary), or the fact that Mulder came back from the death and was pretty much the same he always was. The whole "is he the dad or is he not" was tiresome to me. There weren't even all that many MSR scenes! And then they're separated for all of Existence for no reason whatsoever.

There definitely are great moments. I love Doggett and Skinner, too. All in all, though, it's not enough for me. But I love that you love the season so much. It would be boring if we all only liked the same things!