MOVIE: “The X-Files: Fight the Future” - X-Files Rewatch
"Why did they assign me to you in the first place, Mulder? To debunk your work, to rein you in, to shut you down." - Scully
"But you saved me! As difficult and as frustrating as it's been sometimes, your goddamned strict rationalism and science have saved me a thousand times over! You've kept me honest ... you've made me a whole person. I owe you everything ... Scully, and you owe me nothing. I don't know if I wanna do this alone... I don't even know if I can ... and if I quit now, they win." - Mulder
Seeing XF in theatres. The black screen, and suddenly the theme music, the oil, the Title on screen. One of the best moments of my life.
How do we go from the devastation of "The End" to the happy, jokey Mulder and Scully at the beginning of the movie?
I have some ideas, which are currently in development.
"Mulder, it's me." First line. ❤️
Introducing the characters to a new audience: Scully as the rational one, Mulder "playing a hunch".
Joking with each other, incredible banter and UST. Such a wonderful team.
They are in a good place here.
Mulder hitting something when frustrated.
SCULLY IS BADASS LISTEN TO HER!!
Standing beside each other when they get into the snack room with the bomb,
Scully grabbing Mulder, yelling at him to leave.
He has a sense something's wrong. His self-sacrificing nature, doesn't care about his danger.
Scully in the meeting, Mulder's late. 😥
That they cover for each other. Blaming themselves for what happened and not wanting the other to take any responsibility. (Mulder would have been lying to protect Scully here. When the SAC ordered M&S to leave him, against regulations, Scully listened while Mulder pushed back.)
Outside the meeting
Scully's suit is so... Hnnng. I think it’s the same one she wears at the end of the movie. I’d wear it every day. Jesus.
Mulder with his sleeves rolled up, how long was he waiting?
Both of them are so damned beautiful this movie.
They're being split up. Not just to different departments but different STATES.
- Mulder moves a bit closer when she tells him this.
"And now if they were to transfer me to Omaha or Cleveland, or some field office, it just doesn't hold the interest for me that it once did. Not after what I've seen and done." - Scully
Not to mention being separated from Mulder.
Mulder realizes she's quitting, which he assumes means he's losing her.
Scully's in a place where she feels that she can't or won't get answers, and she can move on from the X-Files with relatively little fuss. In fact, the price that she feels both her and Mulder keep paying seems too steep for the bits and pieces that they get. Even if they get the truth, get answers, will they be able to hold those responsible to justice? Scully doesn't think so, not any more. So is it worth it? Only because Mulder is there, she needs to watch his back, and she loves working with him. But if he decided to leave, to do something else, she would be fine with it. He can't, because of his sister, ultimately. But all throughout season 5 (since Redux probably: “That would mean that for 4 years we've been nothing more than pawns in a game, that it was a lie from the beginning. Mulder, these men... You give them your faith and you're supposed to trust them with your life.”) and then season 6 we see Scully drifting away from wanting to work on the X-Files, wanting to leave and bring Mulder with her. She won't leave without Mulder, unless forced to by larger powers. She's leaving the bureau to STAY with Mulder, not to leave him. Mulder thinks there's some hope they can get the X-Files back, together, and that if she leaves the FBI he won't see her again.
"Maybe you should ask yourself if your heart's still in it, too." - Scully
Scully is asking him to move on WITH her. Mulder assumes she is just leaving and abandoning not only him but their work on the X-Files. The answers and the truth (and his sister) still mean a lot to him.
Scully knows how relentless Mulder is. She loves it but it's also frustrating. He can't give up and will still pursue his answers in whatever way he can. What is her choice? Stay in the bureau and get transferred away with some hope of returning and working with him or leaving the bureau and having some sort of friendship/relationship with him outside of their work.
Her soft "I'm sorry." when he goes to leave.
Knowing she's disappointing him, even if she thinks she doesn't matter.
Scully's sad face when she gives him his jacket. Her hesitance about leaving in the hallway.
Mulder drinking. [["I usually, I normally never, I don’t drink.." (Syzygy)]]
Feeling pretty sorry for himself.
"One is the loneliest number." - Mulder
Thinking about his impending split from Scully. 😥
"I heard you come in here now and again, figured you'd be needing a little drinkie tonight." - Kurtzweil to Mulder
When did he start going to the bar occasionally? During Scully's cancer perhaps, losing himself in his sorrow.
Going to Scully's after hearing what Kurtzweil said. Maybe the last chance he has to do something with her. 😥
She can't sleep. 😥
Their interaction at Scully's apartment.
"Are you drunk, Mulder?" - Scully
"I ... I ... I was until about 20 minutes ago, yeah." - Mulder
"Was that before or after you decided to come here?" - Scully
"What exactly are you implying?" - Mulder
Scully thinking he's just drunk, that he came here to get her to change her mind, to do something neither of them has had the guts to do sober. But she doesn't want anything from an inebriated Mulder.
BUT! Don't worry Scully it's just a case. 😥
I think Scully's wearing the same coat as the one she wore in Christmas Carol.
She always knows to pack gloves around Mulder.
Standing close over the body.
Love Scully in the cold room & the phone ringing. Her panicked face. Mulder just left her there. 🙄
Hiding under the gurneys. 😆
Scully arriving in Dallas. Mulder wasn't sure if she'd come but his face says everything - so happy she changed her mind. He needs her.
Standing closely over the microscope. His FACE! He loves her. ❤️
Scully's face when she sees what's under the microscope.
I really love Well-Manicured Man. Seems more similar to Mulder's father, except having stayed more involved with the Consortium rather than quitting it completely. He wants to do the right thing, but found himself in a strange position of power and forced to do bad things. He's still terrible, of course, but much more nuanced than CSM.
"Mulder" saw one of the infected bodies. What about Scully? Why are we forgetting about how important she is here? Ugh.
"Then you must take away what he holds most valuable. That with which he can't live without." - Strughold
Cut to shot of Scully.
Everyone knows what they mean to each other, except each other. 🙄
I mean... I'm conflicted here. Love that we're acknowledging that Scully is something Mulder can't live without but at the same time she's not just important in terms of how Mulder feels about her. She's the reason that Mulder is as close as he is to the truth, that he's been able to do so much and be such a pain in the ass. If not for her, he'd probably be unwittingly working for the Consortium by now.
"Five years together, Scully. How many times I been wrong? Never. Not driving anyway." - Mulder
In the car - their teamwork, their compromise. Mulder drives straight instead of going right (Scully) or left (Mulder). And because of this, they find what they were looking for. A bit of a 'knock you on the head' metaphor, but oh well. They find their answers not because of Mulder and not because of Scully but because they work together to reach the truth. The danger comes from them both being a team, not from either of them separately.
The scene with Mulder bashfully admitting this is an extraterrestrial virus to Scully is so darn cute. I wish they'd kept Scully's swearing in the final movie, that would have been amazing.
Mulder keeps looking back at her, making sure she's with them, as they approach the white structures in the cornfield.
When the bees come, Mulder taking her hand/wrist, going back to help her. Putting his arm around her.
Scully's wild hair. ❤️ Mulder gazing.
Yelling at each other in the cornfield. PEAK X-FILES!!
MULDERRRRRRR! SCULLAYYYYYYYY!
Mulder's face when they find each other. His hand on her arm.
At the meeting, Scully looking disheveled as she arrives late.
HALLWAY SCENE.
Scully resigns because she doesn't want to go to Utah. The appeal of working for the bureau has waned after working for Mulder and seeing how things really are with the corrupt government.
What she wants is HERE, in D.C.
Mulder doesn't want her to quit because he thinks there is some hope they can get the X-Files back, knows he can't do it without her. And he thinks he's losing her if they don't work together. That the only way he can have her at his side is if they are partners. That he doesn't deserve her in any other way, or that she'd even want it.
Like she told Mulder earlier - her heart isn't in it if she's not with him.
"I need you on this, Scully." - Mulder
"You don't need me, Mulder. You never have. I've just held you back." - Scully
Her thoughts from the past while:
“Folie à Deux”: not believing in him. In fact, refusing to do so and nearly getting him killed
From “The End”: Finding out about Diana: a previous partner who also had a romantic relationship with him, who was able to work with him and believe him
Also, their office, all their files and work destroyed: Not only does Mulder not have the proof Scully wanted to give him, but they lost the X-Files; Scully feels responsible. They were warned (by Diana no less) about pursuing this course of action, and Mulder chose Scully's way - and they were punished for it.
She thought she could make a difference in the FBI, but she feels like she hasn't (her comment from earlier in the hallway at the FBI)
So - she feels like she holds him back. She can't believe, feels like she can't be that person. She can never be the person he needs and wants. She caused their work to be destroyed, for him to lose everything important to him.
I love how she just shoves her face into his chest. 😍
Mulder never planned to tell her these things (they don't normally talk about their feelings), but he can't let her say that she doesn't matter. She is everything to him. 😍
Mulder's spontaneity.
For all of season 5, he's been holding himself back, despite knowing how he feels about her, because he's felt he doesn't deserve to be loved, especially by her.
His feelings come rushing out here
No "I love you" but everything that those words mean to him.
Scully's emotional state. Her chest heaving, tears welling in her eyes. His words to her mean everything. Acknowledging that she completes him, that she makes their work possible. That she is critical to his quest. That he doesn't want to do it without her, doesn't think he can.
Everything that she's wanted to hear from him, that she's wanted to BE to him - proven to her by his words for once. Actions may be stronger proof, but you can always deny their true meaning, misinterpret the gestures. But then he backs those words up with more actions...
Scully can't look at him whole he's talking, afraid of what her eyes will reveal. Holding him, kissing his forehead with affection. Familiarity. They've done this before to comfort and she loves to touch him.
UNTIL-- !!!
She realizes what he's about to do, what his eyes are saying. Her world shifts -- HE LOVES HER?!
How did that damn bee know to pick this very moment. ARGH.
Mulder's concern when she pulls away sharply. Thinking that he crossed a line, that she doesn't want this. MORE GUILT.
Her reassurance turning to fear. Bees - can't be a coincidence.
Mulder's tenderness and fear when she collapses.
LGM ❤️
Instant rescue mode: WHERE'S SCULLY??
Mulder just throwing Byers' jacket in the street. LOL
WMM - knows exactly what to do to get Mulder into the car with him. Everyone knows except Mulder and Scully how they feel about each other... Well they sorta have an idea now.
"Save Agent Scully" - hmm, OK, you just killed Kurtzweil but I'm listening.
IN the end WMM gives Mulder the vaccine/coordinates not out of any altruistic motives, just out of a need to help his own family - disagrees with the rest of the consortium on their methods (that they are willing to work with the aliens despite new information that they are being used). Mulder is WMM's best chance to fight the aliens and the virus, but he knows Mulder needs Scully. Mulder would be USELESS and LOST without her.
When the car blows up Mulder's face, he’s shocked, realizing the truth in WMM’s words but still focused on his goal -- SCULLY.
Just think about how much pain he must be in. Doesn't matter. SCULLY.
Goes to ANTARCTICA to save her. Doesn't think twice. What a hero.
At the ship, seeing everything, what it could mean. Doesn't matter. SCULLY.
Seeing her clothes and necklace in the transport container. The first evidence that she's here.
Finding her! Desperately breaking her out of the container.
"I'm cold." 😥
His hand on her face.
Definitely sees her naked.
She's so pale. 😥
Lifting and carrying her when she can't continue.
The mouth-to-mouth. Her joke when she comes back. ❤️ "Had you big time." And her smile.
When they get out Mulder keeps his hands on her.
He just wants her to SEE to BELIEVE him ❤️ He wants to share that with her.
SHE SAYS SHE SAW IT. Mulder's like "FINALLY!"
Their cuddle on the snow. Scully's face in his hair.
The ending scene.
Mulder on the bench, watching Scully approach. Looking fabulous! ❤️
Mulder and Scully's positions are reversed compared to the hallway scene.
Mulder doesn't want to watch her die - this she was leaving him when she was resigning.
Scully now has the determination to continue - that Mulder did what he did to save her, what she saw even if she can't explain it or admit it.
AND she knows how he feels about her. He loves her, she believes in that at least. She wants to give him reason to continue, knowing he won't do it without her.
"You were right to want to quit! You were right to want to leave me! You should get as far away from me as you can! I'm not going to watch you die, Scully, because of some hollow personal cause of mine. Go be a doctor. Go be a doctor while you still can." - Mulder
Mulder's guilt - telling her to leave him and be a doctor. That she went through hell because of HIM. (Not thinking about how he went through hell to get her BACK. Of COURSE he would, but it doesn't seem significant to him.)
That she was CURED. That there is a vaccine for this thing. Scully needs to pursue it and she needs to be with him to do so. As a scientist this would be incredible exciting. She has some physical proof, some tangible thing she can focus on, not just an endless search. That their work can potentially lead to something good, that can save lives.
Scully encourages him and he loves her for it.
She grabs his hand but then Mulder holds hers in his. ❤️
The actual ending. More forgetting about Scully. "He is but one man. One man alone cannot fight the future." Like, FUCK OFF. Shoulda left it with the previous scene. 😩
This story is a magnificent take on what might have happened in "Fight the Future" if Scully's visit to Mulder's apartment hadn't involved a certain bee in a certain hallway. Repeat: magnificent!
Title: The Parting Glass
Author: Aloysia_Virgata (@aloysiavirgata)
Summary: It's too hard to stand here and see him stripped down like this. She turns and walks away.
Length: 6,017 words
Classification: None provided
Rating: Explicit
Spoilers: Fight the Future
Favorite line: The lull in their momentum has built up potential energy for conversion to kinetic and Scully, as a student of physics, acquiesces to the demands of science.
Read the story!
