Can I share my x files fandom hot take. I think the fandom centers Mulder and Scully's romantic relationship WAY too much. I mean this generally, but this post is specifically a reaction to "fire" in season one, when we meet pheobe, and Scully has a visibly upset reaction. People love to talk about this as the very first instance of the blessed "Jealous Scully" and I kind of take issue with that for a few reasons.
First of all, because it feels a bit misogynistic. Now, I will say, you could very much argue that she WAS written to be jealous and that it is in fact the writers who are misogynistic (wouldn't be the first or last time), but given that this is season one and Chris Carter is adamant about their being nothing more than coworkers, I doubt that. It feels like such a shallow and stereotypically misogynist way to view it, oh, obviously the deep, complicated and famously forced to be professional in the face of her male-dominated line of work female character, cannot contain her jealousy and loses all composure when she sees her coworker with his ex! And Mulder even has a moment in Squeeze where he gets jealous and Scully even calls him out for being territorial! But no, only the female character gets her supposed jealousy highlighted as a personality trait. It just sits wrong with me.
My second criticism is that it seems fairly clear to me that that's just... not what's happening? Scully never acts out particularly towards Pheobe like she does with Bambi in War of the Corprophagess, we only really see Scully's discomfort when Mulder and Pheobe get a little too close. Scully doesn't even seem that angry, she seems more disappointed. Additionally, scully expresses concern when Mulder explains his deep seeded fear of fire (which, surprise surprise, never gets mentioned again) and how Pheobe is aware of it and asks for his held on the case regardless. Scully knows that Mulder had expressed discomfort about his and Pheobe's relationship and (rightfully) calls Pheobe out for putting mulder on a case she knew would make him uncomfortable, but Mulder shoots her down, and Scully let's him. She gives him the room to make his own decisions, and simply ensures that she's always a couple of steps behind him, so that she can tend to his wounds when he, inevitably, gets hurt. This is the first time we really see her like this, but it's not the last. She learns from this incident, and in future episodes we see that. In Paper Hearts, Scully calls John Lee Roche out as soon as he starts to try and get under Mulder's skin. She has learned from last time that there is no point in waiting around for mulder to get hurt anyway.
And that's why the whole "Jealous Scully" reading bugs me. Along with the misogyny, it disregards the truth that is: Scully really cares about Mulder. Not just in the way that she needs to not let anyone within five feet of him romantically, but that she knows he's been hurt before and she genuinely doesn't want for him to be hurt again.
This post ended up being longer than expected, but what I would like people to take away from it is that we should acknowledge that misogyny is engrained in this show, but also in our own minds, and despite our best efforts we do still have a subconscious misogyny that affects how we view these characters. But also, that not every action Mulder and Scully take is prompted by to their supposed romantic feelings for each other. The reason these characters have such a famously compelling relationship is because it isn't just romantic! Chris Carter famously didn't even write their relationship for it to be seen as romantic! So maybe try and think a little more deeply about why they might do certain things.
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