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love all the parallels between josh exley/arthur dales and mulder/scully in ‘the unnatural’, but it is objectively funny that in the 1990’s the writers represented the existence of romantic feelings between the male and female leads who have been all over each other for YEARS as covertly as the feelings between the two men who have literally just been introduced. #myequality — chris carter, probably
Who's the better one-off character? (Round 4)
Josh Exley (played by Jesse L. Martin in "The Unnatural")
Holman Hardt (played by David Manis in "The Rain King")
Mr. Nutt (played by Michael J. Anderson in "Humbug")
Josh Exley: says something really special about love and humanity
Holman Hardt: I always love when emotions are tied to powers, also this moment where Mulder chides him and he makes a face like its a sitcom
Mr. Nutt: Michael J. Anderson was born on Halloween and has worked for both David Lynch (Twin Peaks!) and Nasa. And he plays a hilarious hotel manager here!
Don't like this propaganda? Reblog it with your own or send some in my askbox
To jog your memory, here are the episodes they're from:
The Unnatural: While working in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, a young cop, Arthur Dales (the brother of the Arthur Dales who started the X-Files) stumbles across Josh Exley, a black baseball player who is actually an alien with a love of the game hiding among humans.
The Rain King: In a small town plagued by drought, Mulder and Scully come upon a man who claims to be able to control the weather—at a hefty profit. Yet the agents discover a force of nature at work even more powerful than the weather, and just as unpredictable.
Humbug: Mulder and Scully must find the paranormal among the abnormal when they are sent to investigate a long standing series of ritualistic killings which match no known patterns. The latest of which was the death of the "Alligator Man", just one of many sideshow acts around which the town of Gibsonton, Florida, is built.
wdym there’s not a single Arthur Dales/Josh Exley fic on ao3?? the episode aired almost 26 years ago and yet nobody has given those two the happy ending they deserved???
do you guys think that arthur dales and josh exley ever explored each others bodies?
All Eyes Lead to the Truth (6x19) | Josh Exley
“Ex?”
Arthur comes to, lookin’ like he seen a ghost. But I ain’t no ghost. I’m as real as they come. And Arthur knows it, too, the way he starts pokin’ at my face.
“That's really you under there, Ex?”
Under there? I’ll give him “under there.” I poke him right back, although I’ll admit my long fingers probably get him harder than I mean to.
“Ow!” he recoils, definitely fully awake now.
“I ain't ‘under’ anything, Arthur. And I'm trying not to be insulted by your reaction to my true face.” You humans can be so obsessed with looks, sometimes it blinds you to the ugliness on the inside. ‘Though I guess it ain’t fair, since y’all can’t read minds like us.
Still, maybe it’ll help Arthur calm down. “Look, would it be easier if I looked like this?” I change my form again, this time into the woman I saw him checkin’ out last night at the bar, sittin’ in his lap.
“No,” Arthur says. “That's even weirder.”
Just then, the door to the motel room opens, and ol’ Jeb pokes his head in. “Bus leaves in five–” Jeb’s eyes turn wide as flying saucers. I would know.
“Ooh!” He takes in the sight of us– a human male and alleged female. “Y’all gon’ hafta cut this visit short, cause we’re fixin’ to leave,” Jeb says with a wink, backing out of the room. He tips his hat at me. “Ma’am.”
When he’s gone, Arthur shoves me off his lap. “Ex, what the hell is going on?” He stands up in front of the easy chair as I revert back to my ‘Josh Exley’ form, his eyes still all buggy lookin’.
“Are you a…” he lifts a finger, and I know what he’s thinking. Man from outer space?
“Yes, alright? Yes.” He’s seen me, it’s too late to make something up.
A bunch of thoughts flash through his mind; some colorful expletives, but among them I can also hear so I wasn’t crazy. Hard to tell if he believes me or not, but at least he’s accepting reality.
“But… how?” is all he can get out. He’s watching my face closely. “How do you have everyone so fooled?”
“It’s hard to explain. Just something we’ve always been able to do. You see what I want you to see. Pretty easy once you’ve practiced ‘nuff times.”
Arthur studies me, like one of them bugs underneath a glass. I want to trust the man, but I haven’t known him very long. “Can I ask… why you’re here? I mean, on Earth?”
I raise an eyebrow, something I’m really fond of doing in my human form. “Well that’s, as y’all say, classified information.”
“What happened, Ex? To the little boy in Georgia?”
I shake my head. “There ain’t no little boy in Georgia. I’m the little boy in Georgia.”
“And your parents…?”
“We don’t got parents. Least, not the way y’all do. In our race, we all equals.”
“Okay. So what are you doing in a Negro baseball league then? Some kind of… interstellar recon? Studying humans in their natural habitat?”
“Nah, nah, nah…” I interrupt. “I ain’t even s’posed to be here. I’m here because I want to be. Plain and simple, man.” He’s got it all wrong. I stuck around for love. And it wasn’t no quick and easy kind of love, neither. It’s the kind that hits you so deep you can’t do nothin’ but live for it.
Arthur nods. “So… you ran away. And now your… relatives are looking for you.”
I nod. I know I’ve already said too much. And he’s in law enforcement, too. I’ve compromised the entire Project and I’ll probably lose my life for it.
If Arthur turns me in.
“You’re the only one who knows. And I’m hopin’ we can keep it that way.”
“What happens… if they find you?” he asks.
I stay silent. It’s not a pleasant answer. His eyes turn a little skeptical.
“You aren’t gonna… hurt me, are you, Ex?” I don’t want to hurt you, he thinks. And for just a second, there’s something in his voice I recognize: a fear of otherness. I seen this fear from time to time over the past five years; some humans just don’t like the way I look. And I’m talking about my false face. It’s confusing and upsetting.
But Arthur ain’t like that, not at all. He’s accepted my true face just as quickly as he’d accepted my false one. His fear ain’t about me being different, it’s about thinking you know someone, then realizing maybe you don’t.
“No,” I say gently, shaking my head. “I’m not gonna hurt no one.”
His thoughts get a little misty then, but through the fog I understand. He wants to believe me.
After a long pause, he speaks again. “My job is to protect you, Ex. That’s why I’m here.” He straightens up, lookin’ once again like the man I thought he was. Maybe he will keep my secret after all. “So long as you’re not gonna hurt anyone, I don’t see why they have to know.”
I can feel the corners of my human mouth twistin’ on up. Smiling. It’s worth it to stick around on Earth just for that sometimes.
“Thanks.”
Arthur smiles back. There’s a couple loud honks comin’ from the parking lot outside, and he glances towards the window. “Think they’re waiting on us,” he says, with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder. It’s like he wants to move, but he’s planted to the spot. I have a million questions, he thinks.
“Okay, man,” I say, nodding. “It’s all right. I’ll see you on the bus.”
He only looks at me another couple seconds or so before he leaves my room, but it’s all I need to know he meant every word.
We don’t have a word for ‘friend’ on my planet.
But I’m not on my planet, am I?
Read the rest of All Eyes Lead to the Truth on Archive of Our Own!
@admiralty-xfd
You’re gonna tell me Arthur Dales and Josh Exley weren’t in love? 🙄 Pff. Ok.
Shout out to the best x files character I hope he’s having a good day
