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so neat that the x-files opens on an anti-prophecy. the first image of the show is a dead redhead and then year after year scully doesn't die and doesn't die and doesn't die. and not because she's metaphorically immortal (by virtue of being fictional) but because that's just the condition of being alive. look at what we learn about samantha — if x-files are about reckoning with death then investigating them is about facing the fact that death took someone else instead of you
just watched kitsunegari again for the first time in years and i know it can never be pusher obvi, but it was so rife with tension?? scully being so worried for mulder from the start just harkens back so well to the trauma she (and not just mulder) experienced a couple years prior; mulder's frustration at his judgement being questioned, especially by scully, i love that scene where skinner asks him for his weapon and he's being stubborn but then scully tells him and he immediately does so albeit with sad eyes i love trust and loyalty and all that; and of course the final showdown with linda bowman i'm so glad dd decided to do some actual acting here cause mulder's reaction when he thinks scully shot herself is so perfect (as ever ignoring the dumb partner qualifiers "your mother's name is tina" rolling my eyes but ig they had t write to deadlines so i'll overlook as i am so used to doing with this show. neeways recommend watching it if anyone hasn't seen it in a while, if not for anything else then just for how stunning scully looks
“I want to believe” is actually my favourite catchphrase to come out of The X-Files because it’s simultaneously optimistic and skeptical. “Wanting to believe” is different from blind faith - it implies that you’re holding out for a burden of proof, even when the belief itself is desirable. There’s a level of restraint in that phrase that is so beautiful and pure; it feels wondrous and curious but also totally sane and grounded in reality. I think that’s why it continues to resonate.
if you skip season 8 you are not seriously devoted to your x-files studies. this isn't about good or bad tv. it's about scholarship. you don't think there's a lot to be learned from mulder's absence on the everything is learned through absence show?
me sowing: watching an all-time great x-files episode thinking about how stunning it is that a group of people made art like this on a network tv schedule and only flopped as often as they did. me reaping: watching whatever the next episode is
the thing is that scully choosing not to do chemo is the most interesting thing about the cancer arc. she's relying on her work with mulder to give her life meaning and maybe literally save her. it's not clear how hopeful she is. it's not clear what kind of answers (alien or government) she's prepared to find. the show doesn't really engage with scully opening herself up to mulder's beliefs until she's cured, because the x-files doesn't know what to do with two people who both want to believe. but her belief is already there under the surface in the second half of season 4. the cure is in the x-files and maybe even in proving mulder right. think of the implications
the problem with mulder’s brain disease isn’t inherently that it’s a retcon (that’s tv) or that he “would have told scully” or whatever. it’s just that the writers weren’t interested in making me believe it. it feels like chris carter started from the image of mulder’s gravestone and worked backwards from there. many such cases
the thing about ftf is that scully is not going to utah; she’s quitting the fbi so she doesn’t have to go to utah. but if you don't think about it too hard it feels like she's going to utah. scully stands there in two separate scenes and says she only wants to work for the fbi if she can work with mulder and it still kind of plays like she’s leaving him, because there is a third in this relationship and it's the basement office
