s3 episode 1 thoughts
wow… how much time has progressed… and to think, a mere two months ago, i barely knew these character’s names, let alone that they will likely stick with me for eternity...
let us begin. as we always must do.
okay, so i’m reading the episode description: scully is facing a possible dismissal!!! i know she broke rules but it was for FRIENDSHIP and LOVE! does that not count for anything anymore?!
(spooky noise) (dried up alien shot) (voice of disembodied narrative) last season on the X files…
(a recap of cig man burning things)
we open back in New Mexico, to Albert describing his relationship to memory and history: “memory is radiant and immutable, while history serves only those who seek to control it” <- banger line.
anyway. we see the smoldering ruins of that train car that was once full of aliens. but not a single mulder in sight…
cig man is breaking into the kind people’s houses!! he and his cronies are conducting violence… THEY HIT ALBERT IN THE HEAD NOOO??? HE IS A HERO... cig man, you are less than a mosquito to me
scully time!!! she’s on the scene… guess she didn’t get far back to DC. “where is he?” she asks, and they look at each other with concern in their eyes. oh, they don’t know...
eric walks into the room with a terribly beaten face... NOOO ERIC, THEY SHOULD HAVE NEVER DONE THIS TO YOU.
now scully is screaming for him on the cliffs whilst the smoke still billows from the train where he was last seen… no response… it is not looking good for our friend mulder!!
she finally tries to go home, and a helicopter is shining on scully. RIGHT on her. this is not good for driving. they run her off the road with no regard for anyone's safety??? could have caused a MASSIVE pileup.
anyway, they grab her and it’s upsetting, asking where the files are and she says in the trunk. do we believe her??? it’s a copy of some of them, but not the DAT, which i would guess means the original cassette tape... oh nooo i’m scared… i mean she couldn’t deny it, but it’s also not looking good for the secrets she was trying to keep. so, without the "DAT", they just leave.
back at the FBI, they are telling her she needs to take a leave of absence. she is looking at the ground and it is once again giving student in the principal’s office. NO PAY OR BENEFITS??? you can't do that... what if she needs to go to the doctor......
i guess she is a doctor but the point stands. you NEED insurance in these parts.
she gives them her badge and gun and says she thinks mulder is dead :( NOOOOO you cannot admit defeat
skinner says “don’t think this hasn’t been difficult for everyone” and she is holding back a very very very biting remark but actually manages to hold it back, so god only knows what she wanted to say. a stronger woman than i.
until she leaves the room, that is!!! skinner comes out to talk to her and OH SHE IS MAD!!
“what about the people who are poisoning agent mulder’s water? whose protocol was that? the men who killed agent mulder, the people who killed his father- they aren’t meant to be found”
“we will find them”
“with all due respect, sir, I think you overestimate your position in the chain of command” <- OHHHH TEA. she basically said, you're a liar working for liars and perpetuating lies. meanwhile WE'RE the only real bitches at the function and one of ‘em’s dead because of YOUR pet cigarette man. SICK!!!!! truly evil.
now she has to find some work to pay the bills skinner!!
(i don't think skinner is evil, i just think he's a dick sometimes and that pisses me off more than sheer evilness. EACH time i think i have him figured out. he does something that proves me wrong)
one last visit to mulder's office before she leaves. she's going to take the real files on the cassette and they are GONE??? to whom have they gone…..
back in new york city. it's a meeting of the minds, all the big names in the world of covering up the existence of aliens. cig man is saying everything is fine, mulder is dead, and all the files are back. ALLEGEDLY!! i believe him on no accounts.
GASP scully going to her mom’s house… she walked there barefoot at night because her shoes hurt her :(
“i’ve made a terrible mistake. dad would be so ashamed of me” NOOOOOOOOOOOO DON’T SAY THAT!!!
(i cannot speak to the moral character of her father but if it were me, i would say it was doing the Right thing that counts far more than following corrupt orders from a corrupt system. and this is further proof that she is one of those people who Has to do the right thing or the guilt will consume her... )
and she DID do the right thing!!!! she just doesn't have faith!!!! i'll cry!!!
buzzards back in New Mexico… oh........
HAND SPOTTED!! white man’s hand in the rocks. is it mulder smushed??????
IT IS!! albert and co are hauling him out of a hole, and he’s looking quite dead, but he seems to have hid in a cave with the aliens. good on him for finding a convenient hole to duck into.
they’re doing a ceremony to call the Holy People!!!! i hope it works because remember, the calusari said mulder knows the devil and that seems contradictory...
hopefully they were just lying.
scully back home. sleeping in bed. answering the door, for someone knocks.
it’s FROHIKE???? i cackled. WHY does he know where she lives! and also why is he here when she is in her robe! well. i guess mourning will have you up and about at odd hours.
he drank a whole bottle of what looks like vodka...? and described mulder as “a redwood among mere sprouts” i laughed... it's so genuine. we all know a frohike, for better or for worse.
he assumes that she will be next in line for hunting The Truth, to which she replies, “i’m soon to be out of a job”. but she's a doctor, so it is gonna be okay. maybe she can just leave the last few months off her resume and get letters of recommendation from her professors. doctors, high in demand.
"and like rats, they just scatter back into the woodpile” she says, when discussing how these secretive people pull the strings behind the curtains. i took note because this is a yeehaw-sounding saying.
i guess we don't ever learn where she grew up, because it probably wasn't in one place, with her dad in the navy... but still. such a phrase is giving some sort of appalachia.
frohike brings bad news: the thinker was killed EXECUTION STYLE and found in a landfill... this is soooo fucked up. she is shocked they would do something so stupid and i was like ??? but ohh she's talking about tracing the bullets!
(i only realized this much later. i won't lie)
back in New Mexico, albert is working overtime calling the Holy People to come help, and mulder's floating out in space as he contemplates leaving this plane…
people are surrounding him. perhaps the holy people or his ancestors??
but no, it is... DEEP THROAT??? I’VE MISSED YOU!!! it was nice to see him again, even for a brief moment in the astral plane.
he’s going on, very theatrically, about the absence of time in whatever it is inhabits after life: “i come to you, old friend, with the dull clarity of the dead, not to beckon you, but to feel the fire and intensity that still live in you…. there is truth here, if that is what you seek, but there is no justice or judgement, without which, truth is a vast, dead hallow” <- he has been reading Shakespeare in the afterlife
no i actually loved that line. it goes hard. "the dull clearity of the dead". i'm eating that arrangement of words up
cutscene: aliens being gassed and locked in the railroad car. that’s…. Horrific
(this scene takes mere seconds, and isn't addressed again in any real way in the episode, but holy. it was. unsettling. what did these bastards do to them....?)
back to the commune with the deceased. it's Bill! mr. mulder! he opens his eyes at his dad’s voice. his dad says he’s very sorry for lying about the whole alien thing, and says he is the memory; “if you were to die now, the truth would die, and only the lies survive us”. so no pressure whatsoever. /s
seemingly awake now, he asks if his sister is in the realm with the rest of those who have passed. and he learns she isn't there yet, so i'm pretty sure that makes up his mind, that he'll go back. but imagine if the answer was yes, she was there... do you think he would have still found the strength to return?
back in D.C., scully has to take the visitor’s entrance to the FBI :( but the security guard knows her!!! she is friendly in this way :) she beeps suspiciously... but he lets her though. i suspect that she might be hiding something... but what?
she's waiting for skinner. and ohhh skinner didn’t call her “agent” this time...ohhh the vibes are…….. not really vibing. it is uncomfortable.
she is bringing the news article to him and suggesting cross running the weapon that killed the thinker with the weapon that killed mulder’s dad to get some answers. this seems reasonable to me! he says she has been relieved of investigative duty and basically dismisses her. but she just wants to be helpful!!!! can you blame her??? she just wants to be HELPFUL, skinner, she wants her friend back and not dead. so please DON'T say something catty right now, i SWEAR.
SKINNER. I HATE YOU SOMETIMES. “ohhh the systems would have went off” so there is no need to cross reference the weapons. they’re killing people executioner style!!!! do you really think the people at the police department wouldn’t cover such a thing up?!?!? come ON let's use our heads!!!
he parrots her earlier line about him not having as much power as he thinks... ohhh you bitch. you should both be on the same team here and that team is "please let agent mulder be ALIVE"
he’s all “oh, you just wanna be helpful because you want your job back?” and she very firmly says NO. i just want answers. and honestly, she is handling this way better than i would be. because i would be biting and clawing skinner at this moment. to imply that she just wants her JOB back when she's trying to bring him information regarding a bunch of mysterious deaths, including that of her PARTNER?!?!?
so he says to bring him the cassette tape that she DOESN’T have or otherwise sit tight and let them do their job. and there is unbridled rage in her eyes but it somehow manages to not escape beyond body language and again, applause.
pause. i’m actually so pissed on scully's behalf right now. and i just KNOW filming these scenes had to be fun.
as always in skinner's office, Bill Clinton watches over everything. his eyes are cold and uncaring. like a god who has abandoned its creation.
the MINUTE she leaves his office, cig man enters... SICK!!!! he's asking about the tape that he earlier claimed to the squad in new york that he got back… “that’s unfortunate”, he says, when he learns she doesn't have it. did he PLANT IT ON HER?? is that what the beeping was? do cassettes beep on metal detectors? i had some as a kid, i just remember feelings of plastic when holding them <-op was NOT onto something here
upon leaving, she is confused about the thingy beeping again. “you wearing a necklace or something?”, asks the security man. “no, not today”, and...... OH.... THE VISUAL INDICATOR THAT SHE HAS LOST ALL FAITH IN THE FORM OF HER CROSS NECKLACE BEING ABSENT. AUGHHHH TEARING MY SHIRT. ripping my hair out in grief. but that leaves the real question: what is in there?
she goes to the doctor, who looks at her neck. SOMETHING IS IN HER SKIN??? embedded in there. oh... it’s scarred over and they’re gonna pull it out, and i'm thinking i might gag if they show it, but thankfully they cut then. WHAT DID THEY DO TO HER IN ALIEN LAND????
back to the New Mexico cam!!! mulder progress!! three days of chanting and he is asking for water!! good news.
back to D.C. no extraction scene visible, thank god. COMPUTER CHIP???? IN HER NECK??? did they microchip her... so they can track her location... or is it some sort of coded information... oh this is soooo evil
back talking with melissa!!!! my witchy best friend!!! melissa wants scully to unpack her memories, but can you blame her for NOT wanting to do that?? does reliving alien testing sound fun to you??? but, despite her reservations, she goes to a hypnotherapist anyway because she is a good sister and melissa played the "please? for me?" card
(damn, this show sure has a lot of hypnotherapy. it’s funny because i have never encountered it at all outside of this show. maybe it was the big thing at the time? and they wanted to be cool and trendy?)
but we’re back now, in repressed memory town, circa the Duane Barry era. regarding whoever was conducting the tests on her, she says she couldn’t resist them. hey what does THAT mean!!!
things look close to getting revealed when she says it’s time to go. like i said, i can imagine this is probably top ten worst sensations of all time.
so she drives back home and skinner is there??? HUH???? she looks sooooo gagged. and i was too.
(tell me why. oh god this is awful. tell me why my first reaction was “she must be going back to her mom's place... and he’s dating scully’s mom”) (cue the "i'm going to start dating her HARDER" scene from the office)
back in New Mexico. to end the ceremony, mulder must not do any work, change clothes, or bathe for 4 days. PLEASE DO THIS THING MY FRIEND. the boys give him a pouch for sunflower seeds, which he asked for during the worst of his fevers. the sunflower seeds... that when he heard them as a kid, reminded him he was not the last person in the universe... my sweet babygirl, who is a grown man breaking many many laws... glad to have you back in our world
albert shares that he went to the origin place, so overall, this mission seems to have been a success. so please, mulder, do NOT screw this up!!! sit in a hotel room and eat your seeds in your dirty clothes just do NOT break the rules of the ceremony that just saved your life.
scully calls skinner, asking why he was at her place, and he denies ever being at her apartment. BUT cig man is sitting right in front of him soooo it wouldn't have been a good time to talk anyway...
mulder is monologuing into the abyss, as he has found a way to infiltrate scully’s dreams!! very impressive!!
cutscene to his father’s his funeral. scully is there. because she is fundamentally good. she hasn’t met his mother before, right? i recall thinking earlier their first exchange might not go well, because of the whole sacrificed the “sister” for her in the hostage exchange deal thing...
but it actually goes as well as a first meeting a funeral can go. and without citing her prophetic dreams, scully tells her that she has a strong feeling he will be found. scully engaging in the supernatural...? are her sisters words ringing in her ear? or does she interpret a prophetic message dream as a message from the subconscious. i don't even think she knows.
meanwhile, a suspicious man watches this. he wants to talk to her away from the others. he makes some vague sort of reference to the UN league of alien safeguarding, and he says with confidence that mulder is dead.
AND THEN HE STARTS DESCRIBING HOW SHE WILL BE MURDERED???? okay could we GET any more unsettling. survey is saying no. anyway, she will be murdered with either with an unregistered weapon and people who will be out of the country right after the crime has been committed, or by someone she trusts visiting her house. uh oh… skinner looking sus
she asks why she is worth killing: "you want something they don’t- justice” hmm. many such cases in american history.
this guy claims to be tipping her off because his colleagues are acting “impulsively” and her death would just draw attention to them. i mean they have already killed like, 3 people if you count presumed dead mulder, but maybe one more would really push it over the edge?
mulder’s mom comes home. AND HE’S THERE!!!! in different clothes. 4 days had best have passed. i refuse to contemplate that he violated the terms of the ceremony.
okay, back from the dead, and he is interrogating his mom about his dad. she is not answering any questions- does she truly not remember or is she just deflecting... she wants to know what the deal is, and he grabs a gun and says it has to do with samantha. and leaves ominously. that man sure does want to make a dramatic exit.
missy wants to come over (scully calls her sister missy!), and she says to come over. but then someone immediately calls and hangs up- a universal sign of danger, as scully knows. she tries to call missy back, but she doesn't pick up the phone. so she calls back and she says she’ll go over to missy's place instead. the air is very very tense. something is about to go down. but what?
running to her car. and IT'S SKINNER? he says to get in the car. scully goes in anyway but is very clearly suspicious he’ll kill her. AND SHE PULLS THE GUN ON HIM WHEN THEY GET TO MULDER'S PLACE!
“don’t turn around, or I’ll blow your head off” TEAAA! let out some of that rage i was earlier commenting was so well managed.
“don’t think I won’t do it, you son of a bitch” “no, I believe you” <- LMAOOOO he knows she is NOT messing around. and he does everything she asks of him, even sitting on his hands.
NOOOOO MELISSA GOES TO SCULLY'S PLACE AND KRYCHEK SHOOTS HER????? WHAAAAAAAAAAT???? he looks down and realizes it isn't scully, so he tells his companion that they should just leave. absolutely useless flop of a man. how did he even get into the FBI. maybe they'll just take anyone.
back to mulder's place. skinner claims he has the tape, and that he took it from mulder's desk. then why would he have sent her on the fool's errand of trying to find it? and now they BOTH have guns drawn on each other… as someone approaches the door…. presumably mulder coming home???
OHHHHHH this is the first time i have wanted to drop absolutely EVERYTHING and go straight into the next episode, writeup be damned. AUGHHH. what about melissa!!!!!! please let her make it PLEASE I CAN’T WATCH SCULLY ENDURE THIS!!!! can you imagine if she walks in the door and sees her sister bleeding out... hopefully krychek was too much of a failure to even land a lethal wound.
and honestly, from the moment I laid eyes on Krychek way back in s2, so long ago, i KNEW that he was a fucking rat. like. evil evil evil. idk how they’re gonna try and make me like him again if they decide to keep him on as a recurring character, but i truly do NOT give a fuck about what sort of backstory they come up with for him. i’m choosing anger over healing here.
i’m that guy by the cork board pinning things with string and smoking a cigarette until all the things line up because truly WHAT is going on!!!!
really great episode; the pacing and suspense were fantastic, i feel pumped to start a new season, i have a million questions but in an exciting rather than an overwhelming way, skinner you are once again on thin ice!!!
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saw the 'bother with asks and questions' post and reblogged it so a lil obligated to BE THE CHANGE I WANT TO SEE. I appreciate a fellow yautja appreciator that is for sure. I didn't watch the latest movie, if you did, how would you compare it to any of the other predator (or AVP) films? I'm taking my sweet time, but good press from someone who is focused on whats important (tHE BIG ALIEMS,,,), might move it up my priority list.
I get you! We gotta be the change we want to see! I myself went out and asked some folks things. 😊
As for your question concerning “Prey”, in comparison to the others in the franchise it stands out for multiple reasons.
1. It’s not set in the modern era.
With this film not being in modern times, we get to explore, for the first time on film, what a predator hunt in the past would look like! It’s no longer just seeing their historical hunts in the comics and novels, which has long been something we fans have wanted to see on the big screen. “Prey” also answers questions concerning historical hunts.
How different would their technology look and behave? Would they get tangled with historical events that shaped the future? What would they do in the face of long outdated weapons of that time?
“Prey” answers these pretty well, I think!
We get to see possible earlier iterations of the iconic weapons Yautja are associated with, we get to see how one becomes entangled with big historical events in pre-colonial North America, and also get the treat of one dealing with 17th century weapons.
The weapons of the time provide a few genuinely funny moments that help break the tension a little. I won’t spoil them, but I’m sure they’ll give you a good laugh!
I will say that it’s not riddled with excessive humor like 2018’s “The Predator”. There is a wonderful balance.
2. The lead isn’t some forgettable buff military guy and instead a Comanche Native American woman.
Unlike other current Hollywood female leads, she’s a genuine bad ass. She’s allowed to learn and grow from her mistakes, shaping up to use her intelligence against Feral. Naru knows the land and uses it to her advantage. She grew up surrounded by nature and picks up that something weird is going on, something she can’t explain until things happen.
Sorry, no spoilers here!
While there are moments where there is obvious plot armor, she still a cool and likable character with flaws but manages to also be a surprisingly worthy hunt for Feral. It’s also cool to see Indigenous representation and see a glimpse into that culture! We see parallels between a cryptid (can’t confirm if it was just for the movie or actual mythology for that tribe) and our titular Yautja.
With Naru, we get a coming of age story that mirrors Feral in this hunt being his first time on our planet and him slowly learning more about this hunting ground. They’re both, seemingly, out to prove themselves, setting up for later events in the film that pay off.
3. New Sub-Species of Yautja!
Thanks to Feral we get a glimpse of what a Yautja who originates from a different region, other than the jungle, of the planet looks like, with this case being a desert environment. While I think the facial design is atrocious, I can see what they were going for.
We learned from interviews with the design team that his sub-species consumes bones and has a special palette just for that in his mouth. His locs are slender and more numerous in order to keep cool, plus it looks pretty cool! I’m sure he’d be a shampoo company’s dream model!
You get to see a predator actually hunt things other than humans! I won’t spoil it, but there are some awesome scenes that really showcase the strength and agility that Yautja are known for but we hardly get to see. It’s pretty bad ass!
In “Prey”, we also see a more brutal predator who revels in bloodshed and fucks people up. There’s more violence on display, plus some new cool weaponry that only aids the carnage. While he gives off Young Blood energy occasionally, he’s still a bad ass! When he’s on the screen, he commands your attention!
However, he’s the only Yautja I’ll want the mask to stay on. He’s not a pretty fella and I liken him to a golden roast chicken.
“Prey” was the return to form the franchise needed after the questionable decisions made in 2018’s “The Predator”. Whoever thought that Yautja would be interested in my Autism was a big dumb ass. This film breathes new life into the franchise and gives us something genuinely entertaining while also bringing back some of the terror that the original 1987 “Predator” gave us!
I personally rank this high up on the list of previous films we’ve received over the years. It’s better than “Predators”, “The Predator”, and “AVPR”, sitting right with the OG, Predator 2, and AVP for me.
It’s worth the watch. It’s not a 10/10, more like an 8/10, but it’s still worth the watch! You should run to Hulu and give it a go. You won’t be disappointed!
Sorry for the LONG response, but I wanted to break it down. Thank ADHD and Autism and my rabid horniness for Yautja.
Oh! Last thing!
On a scale of 1 to 10, Feral is a solid four for me. His body is gorgeous. Those thick fingers? HELLO!
It’s the face that lowers the rating, though. My GODS that face design is…wow. 💀
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