Special Agent Dana Scully: Do you have a theory?
Special Agent Fox Mulder: I have plenty of theories.
Welcome to the first issue of my weekly X-Files rewatch.
The X-Files first aired in September of 1993 - I was 8 years old. Through my elementary school library and the local one - plus the book fair - I had acquired a small collection of spooky literature. I had also developed a real taste for scaring myself shitless and, incidentally, Total Babes like Gillian Anderson. In my adult life, I would come to realize just how much Duchovny was doing for me, too. I wanted to be both of them and marry both of them. In so many ways, a perfect show, or at least the perfect show for me.
And so it is with great excitement, I begin this rewatch. It is at least the third time I will be watching the show in full, not including any intermittent viewings from its original broadcast schedule; I did not have the discipline as a child to keep up with that schedule. I will include both movies where they occur in the release order/chronology of the series, including the two most recent seasons/series. I’m a little lukewarm on those but my desire to look at Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder outweighs my hesitancy to revisit something I know was a letdown. Call me a masochist. Call me a fan.
Unlike almost every other episode of the show, there is a brief flash of text up top, about how what follows is inspired by true events. Either this is meant in the broadest sense - that Chris Carter was inspired to create the show due to the sheer number of reported alien abduction experiences Americans had reported to authorities - or it is a flourish akin to both the film and TV show Fargo. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please stop reading this and go watch the movie Fargo. Spoiler: it’s not based on a true story. Seriously, go watch it, I haven’t ruined anything.
What I love about revisiting any show is that I am always met with iconic moments, right off the bat. Be they featured in the pilot or peppered throughout season 1, a show’s early episodes and seasons will define it, regardless of how the show may change over time. As soon as Billy Miles (Zachary Ansley) walks out of the light in the woods, the plot came rushing back to me. I did not remember, however, how much the opening of this pilot feels like a direct homage to its obvious forebear, Twin Peaks.
It is worth noting here that David Duchovny had himself appeared on Twin Peaks as FBI Agent Denise Bryson. The connection between the shows is tangible. To know Denise is to love her, not unlike our core cast members on The X-Files. David Duchovny contains multitudes.
Besides the shared cast member, both shows feature characters employed by the FBI, and The X-Files Pilot gives us one of many countless establishing exterior shots of the FBI HQ in Washington, DC. I’m no great fan of LE or authoritarian government violence but I’ve always loved the way that building looks. Maybe I’m a bit nostalgic after seeing a man in a suit fire a submachine gun during the guided tour on the 8th grade DC trip. Maybe I like Brutalist architecture.
Speaking of shows with incredible women in them: Special Agent Dana Scully walks into this show like she got away with something. I can not tell if it’s a choice from Anderson - playing the nervous excitement of the character - or if it’s her nervous excitement as an actor landing her first pilot, blissfully unaware of how this role will take hold in the zeitgeist, make her a household name, and basically change the course of her whole life. So the story goes, Anderson lied about her age when auditioning for the role because she was a little young for it. Lucky us.
Of course, the sustained relevance of the character and performer are a testament to Anderson, perhaps one of the great unsung adepts of her generation. Sure, she is massively influential and part of one of the greatest franchises ever, but that TV vs Film actor/actress divide still seems to seep in, even in the post-prestige TV era we’ve been in for the last decade-plus.
Since she interacts with him straightaway, I have to shout out Charles Cioffi as Blevins. A compelling character that isn’t terribly missed, but he’s cooking in these early episodes. All baritone, indeterminate east coast, bespectacled, seemingly oblivious to William B. Davis as the Cigarette Smoking Man; somehow I always forget he’s in the god-damn pilot!
Quickly- this introductory Scully scene is so brilliant in aligning our characters as pieces in the chess game of this series. Character development for Dana does double-duty as not-boring exposition for the whole show and our other lead. Deft.
When worlds collide in the basement of the FBI-as evidenced by the first picture in this piece-Mulder barely contains his rare-disbelief as Scully arrives and introduces herself. In almost fully-formed chemistry and banter, the two get acquainted and vocally acknowledge a mutual respect they feel due to familiarity with the other’s work. Their living dichotomy is established almost immediately along with its balance in the intrinsic recognition of an equal they both share. Know what I mean, Vern?
This is admittedly a litany of superlative moments in my favorite show. My writing about The X-Files will be heavily biased, let that be clear. I will try to at least justify that bias by identifying the lovingly crafted spine that seems to run through the best episodes, seasons, and movies of The X-Files.
The love shared between the two leads that eventually binds them, inseparably, is compounded with the love at the center of Mulder’s quest to find his sister. As much as it is representative of a larger search for the truth, a greater mystery will theoretically be solved by unraveling the one about Samantha. That said, the powerful and compelling theme on our side of the tv set that resonates so loudly is Mulder’s indignation, disgust, and anger fueled by the injustice he and his family experienced at the hands of the government. Zooming out a bit more, he is ultimately driven by the injustice of all victims of authoritarian government abuse that are swept under rugs to conceal evidence of wrongdoing by the powers-that-be. Scully and Mulder’s dynamic doubles the righteousness of their umbrage and our own.
Back to the episode.
I love this classic 90s turbulence scene. I don’t know why planes were effectively novel in their media representation in the 90s - people were flying all the time already - but it feels very pre-9/11. Probably because it is! Don’t miss Mulder driving while eating sunflower seeds! Whose idea was this? It is one of those delightful little character traits that go so far towards establishing verisimilitude. Audiences today are conditioned to think that world-building is a wizard teaching a proxy about some bullshit geography or lore when in fact it is sunflower seeds and air travel. Maybe it’s both but hopefully you get my point.
Final thoughts on the “on the road” part of the episode (which we’ll see more of): Mulder is so excited about the radio interference, it is genuinely adorable.
The X-Files consistently showcases memorable guest stars, be they future-celebs or journeyman character actors like Cliff DeYoung. Although viewers might not have known his name when he arrives at the cemetery, I have to believe that some of them would have recognized his face as a That Guy, from Dr. Giggles, Murder, She Wrote, Glory (personal favorite), Simon & Simon, Beauty and the Beast, Matlock, and the resumé goes on for a while in both directions. Point being, an actor like that elevates a show without the audience even noticing, but subconsciously we’re thinking, “I’m in good hands.”
The remains in the casket are an early warning of the somewhat shocking effects and even gore that the show will be known for. Even as an adult, I recoil in horror and excitement. This time watching, I could not help but think of “Coffin Flops” from the Save Corncob TV sketch on I Think You Should Leave. Even more remarkable, Mulder’s line after the medical examiner leaves: “Guy obviously needed a longer vacation.” The show is nothing if not funny throughout. The callousness of this joke is a bit rough around the edges, an early indication of later refinement in the humor with which the show becomes entangled.
And yet it pivots neatly back into mystery/thriller territory when we find our heroes investigating the crime scene in the woods, with pitch-perfect creepy music to haunt these possibly-fake woods. It is not altogether surprising that the bright lights, when we return from commercial, are simply headlights belonging to the local sheriff. As you will see if you continue to watch the show (or as you know if you already have), local law enforcement is frequently at fault, either through negligence or for straight up conspiracy; at the expense of locals, especially children, which makes them even more villainous.
The way this run-in sends our agents off to lose time in their rental car - again, much to Mulder’s joy - is another preview of larger alien lore to come; not everyone loves the alien conspiracy arc but I sure do, so strap in, folks! Does it buckle under the weight of its own hype by the end of the initial run of the series? You bet, and I love it still.
If you are not familiar with the show, this is not the last episode with a bathtub scene, though this one moves along the plot a bit more explicitly than future instances. Still, it is not without a bit of levity to relieve the tension, following Mulder’s incredible display of discretion when faced with his new partner’s nearly-nude body. Duchovny is a subtle-enough actor - seriously - to give a beat for Mulder to shake off his nerves because he knows Scully came to him in need.
The trust and accountability established and shared is more than enough to entice us to come back to see what these two will get into next. I do not mean that in a salacious way, even if my childhood crushes are obvious in my writing. The X-Files is about friendship and true love as much as anything else, a characteristic that still sets it apart from almost all of its offspring. I am a huge Matrix apologist but I see Mulder and Scully when I’m watching Trinity and Neo. It’s not 1:1 but if you know, you know, I guess.
Fortunately for us, the Special Agents are not in their motel rooms when the place is burned down to cover up what they had discovered about the remains found in the casket. This scene stuck out to me because it shows us how far conspirators will go to hide, suppress, and bury information. We don’t know if people died in that fire. In fact, they probably did. The show is smart not to dwell on the realistic morbidity of that but as a fleeting thought before the next edit, it sticks in one’s psyche as a feeling of dread. It is dreadful.
That this show would be special is, to me, obvious from the jump. For that reason, I am a little more interested in what these stories invoke or unsettle - I will not belabor the plot points outside of what I deem necessary to dig a little deeper. Some episodes are a series of great scenes all in a row, which may justify recounting the technical production instead of the underlying themes. I am figuring it out along with you, dear reader. Consider this my pilot episode.
