REVIEWED BY: Jennifer J. Chen ON: March 25, 1999
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: February 22, 1998
I suppose the most logical place to start would be at the beginning, so lacking any more creative way to do it, that's exactly where I'll begin. A chase in a dark forest is not exactly what would clue me in on humor...nor would a person driving a stake violently through someone else's heart. Already, my interest had been piqued...I love The X-Files and I love vampire stories. But to my utter shock, after such a dark, menacing, and "serious" beginning, Scully discovers fake vampire teeth on the boy whose heart Mulder had just driven a stake through, and Mulder echoed my own sentiments--"Oh, shi..." And then I burst out laughing. And was quite glad that it looked like it was going to be a funny one, because I hated to think that they had copped out and used a subject that they had already explored previously (in 3--although that one left a lot to be desired), and plus I have to admit that I was afraid they'd make a really bad/cheesy episode about vampires, and then I'd lose some respect for the show. But that didn't happen. Instead, my respect went up--and it doesn't look like there's a limit to how far up it can go.
"Don't even start with me." How great a first line is that? Tells us two things right away: Mulder is on the defensive, and Mulder knows exactly what Scully is going to say. Their conversation is absolutely so familiar with each other. Mulder trying to be adamant about his rightness at the same time knowing that there was no chance in hell he could talk himself out this one without Scully backing him up was so adorable. Scully's disapproving, "I did not do the...with the thing" was hilarious. And Mulder, so sure that Scully would be there for him like always--"You're my proof. You were there"--and so lost when she doesn't immediately jump to his defense--"Okay, now you're scaring me." Scully is then willing to swap stories so that they can back each other up, but Mulder is not just trying to get out of trouble--he truly can't believe that Scully isn't honestly on his side and didn't see the same things that he saw. So he makes her explain (no doubt so that he can use what she says to make her see things differently and defend him because she really believes it, not just because she loves him to pieces). And she...like I...started at the very beginning.
Now here's where the really interesting psychobabble can start. From Scully's story, we see Scully as she sees herself, as she sees her relationship with Mulder, and as she sees Mulder--all exaggerated, of course (a requirement for the humor they were trying to achieve), but not without a grain of truth. Mulder is an overexcited, dismissive, all-too-prone-to-believe-in-vampires partner who laughs at his partner's attempts at rational explanation. Scully is a clear-headed, rational person whose kindness is overrun quite frequently by her insensitive partner. She is careful not to dismiss the reasons for Mulder's enthusiasm outright, though he barely lets her get a word in edgewise. And when he finally lets her speak, he scoffs at her reasonable explanation--is sarcastic, even. He has obviously jumped to his own conclusions and doesn't want to hear anything else. This is definitely Mulder, taken to the extreme. Scully paints herself as being Mulder's doormat, easily forced to bend to his will, and compliant to his wishes despite her own reservations. We know that Scully's not really like that--but that's how she sees herself. We know from past episodes that her greatest fear aside from losing Mulder is losing herself, being swallowed up by Mulder's zest...that she is not an equal partner but a sidekick. Those feelings and insecurities are portrayed here--Mulder is the leader, she the follower.
Scully makes no secret of the fact that she was taken with Sheriff Hartwell (and a cutie he certainly was), but who can discount Scully's susceptibility to using the feminine ploy of making the person she's really interested in a little jealous by exaggerating her feelings for the Sheriff? As for Mulder "forgetting" Scully's name for a second, let's look at the two options we have here. Either he really did "forget" her name and had to snap his fingers while trying to remember it, or it is an impression that Scully got. If it was the first, come on--we all know that there's no way in hell Mulder could forget Scully's name, even for a split-second, so it was a ploy to get her attention, warn her that he was not happy. If it was the second, then it goes back to Scully's view of how she believes herself to be incidental in Mulder's life; she isn't even important enough for him to remember her name. This two-scenario possibility goes for everything that happened, and I'd like to explore both possible scenarios for what I believe are significant events/conversations and what they might mean. Mulder's "Come on, Scully, get those little legs moving" is not completely out of the blue--we have heard him make remarks about her height before. But (and you can correct me on this) it's never been when they haven't been openly hostile to each other (like in Syzygy). So if Mulder actually did make this remark, it's completely off from what he would normally tease her about when they're not at each other's throats, so it's another warning--he deliberately makes a rather insulting reference to her height to get her attention (and make her wonder why he's being so snippy). Of course, much like yanking on a girl's braids in the third grade because you like her in order to get her attention, it only ends up pissing off the girl you like, but that's courtship! No one ever claims that it makes any sense. On the other hand, if it's just something that Scully remembers, we now see that she also thinks that Mulder makes callous comments about her stature without regard to her feelings.
When they go to examine the body, Mulder again is an insensitive brute--he mocks Scully's "theory" and gives her absolutely no credit whatsoever. When the Sheriff says that he thinks Scully is right, Scully is so pleased that he only rises in her estimation. Scully's version of the Sheriff is someone who is very amiable, willing to leave this case "up to the experts," and obviously somewhat intelligent, since he believes Scully. He is also obviously interested in Scully (she either really believes that he was, or again, exaggerating her beliefs in order to make Mulder jealous)...I loved it when he stepped in between Mulder and Scully. And their exchange of "erotic" made me chuckle. But when Scully claims that he said, "You really know your stuff, Dana" and we cut to a disbelieving Mulder who exclaims, "Dana? He never even knew your first name," it really cracked me up. Mulder had probably been holding his tongue for quite some time now during Scully's recital of events, but that he should choose such a minor infraction to pick on says volumes. Number one, in his view, no one is allowed to call her Dana but him (and her family), and the fact that she should bestow such intimacy on the Sheriff really rankled. Number two, this personal use of her name (or the perceived use of it) kind of worries him--just how interested is Scully in this guy? But Scully concedes (was it just another tactic to get Mulder to sit up and take notice, when all of her other efforts hadn't made him break his silence?), and the Sheriff amends "Dana" to "Agent Scully." Mulder is still the vampirism-is-the-only-answer-partner. But even in this exaggerated state, with Scully supposedly interested in another man in the same room, the scene explodes with Mulder/Scully UST when he basically tells her to do an autopsy, she asks what she's supposed to look for, and he puts his hands on her shoulders, looks deep into her eyes, and replies, "I don't know." Proof that the major sexual tension that erupts anytime the two of them are together, or especially when they touch, is created together, not because they are each sexy in their own right (or else we'd see more UST between Scully and the Sheriff), even though they are.
That has got to be the grossest yet funniest autopsies the show has ever shown. How does Scully get hungry when rummaging through the stomach contents of a dead guy? That takes medical detatchment to an art. And how hilarious was Scully's obvious disinterest even in where they were staying? She can't even get the name right, giving it a hicky name to go with the town. It really cracked me up when the on-screen byline changed from "Davey Crockett Motor Court" to Mulder's correction, "Sam Houston Motor Lodge." Only, it also made the show more personal, and made me see it in a perspective I'd never considered before--it was like Mulder and Scully were "creating" the show, and they were sitting there making the by-lines change. Anyway, that was a really random thought.
When an exhausted Scully gets to her motel room and immediately uses the bed's "Magic Fingers," we feel really bad for her. We feel even worse for her when Mulder brushes aside her concern in seeing him all muddy, and tells her that there is another dead body and she has to go back to do another autopsy. Despite her exhaustion and her obvious disappointment, she wearily acquiesces to his cruel treatment. He doesn't feel sorry for her at all, he assures her that he won't let the Magic Fingers go to waste, and gleefully takes her place on the bed, laughing all the while. Her only payback is that she makes him pay for the pizza. During the second autopsy, she gets a phone call, wearily answers, and when all she hears is deep breathing she just sighs and hangs up. It's obvious that Scully sees herself as a victim of the world--of Mulder's indifference and insensitivity, and of all the depravity in society that is the reason why she's performing an autopsy in the first place (a second one, no less) as well as why she received a "disgusting" phone call. Her melodramatic "Pizza...chloral hydrate's in the pizza. The pizza guy. Mulder!" complete with gasps in between phrases was also pretty funny.
But the most hilarious scene has got to be Scully checking on Mulder as he sang the theme song for Shaft. He was just so adorable--DD was fantastic--and we know exactly why Scully stays with him and loves him in spite of herself. Mulder's indignant, "I did not!" was also good for a giggle. Then Scully goes on to say, "I left you behind and I entered the woods in pursuit. I assumed that you were
incapacitated. Then I heard screaming. When I arrived in the clearing,
I found that you had caught up with him first and had...over reacted. And that his vampire teeth were fake." Mulder is aghast. "That's what you're going to tell Skinner?" In his mind he is conjuring up visions of the electric chair, an orange jumpsuit, an abusive jailmate, and the F.B.I. being sued for $446 million all on his account. Now he has his chance to make Scully see his side of things, and make her story to Skinner on his behalf more convincing (cuz he knows, like the rest of us, that she's not the greatest liar in the world).
Mulder's Mulder is a hen-pecked weakling who manages to get his way, but not without a lot of grief from a shrewish and cynical Scully. He portrays himself as someone who is right about his beliefs, but has to go through iron-woman Scully and really convince her that anything he says has any legitimacy. Scully is completely unwilling to believe anything he has to say, and completely unwilling to accept that anything paranormal may be at work. Mulder lets Scully go on and on while he meekly counters her belligerent refusals to believe. Scully is short on patience, closed-minded, and isn't afraid to show it. Mulder is only theorizing that these may be "vampire or vampire-like acts," not that this is necessarily the case.
When Mulder begins his version of what happened, he seems very put out that Scully was indeed, not focusing all her attention on him. "Upon arriving at the funeral home I made an
interesting observation. One which you apparently didn't hear." Since he doesn't say anything really memorable, one can only assume that he wanted her full and undivided attention, and did not receive it. So now Mulder has gone from being meek to being in-charge, with lack of attention from his partner. He goes on to say, "Apparently your mind was somewhere else," and enter Sheriff Hartwell. That Mulder should note this out loud to present day Scully speaks of some serious resentment here. And of course, the fact that Mulder's Sheriff has enormous buck teeth accentuates the fact that he didn't like the Sheriff, and the only reason he would have not to like him (there wasn't much reason to like or dislike him either way, but Mulder chose the latter for a reason) he has already given away--the fact that Scully's attention was on the Sheriff and not on him. Scully then becomes a besotted fool, as she not only has the bad taste to like anyone but Mulder, but to like someone as hill-billy-like as Sheriff Hartwell with his big buck teeth. Rightfully, Scully questions, "And that's significant? How?" And Mulder has no good reason, except that he's "just trying to be thorough." Sure. Fine. Whatever.
The best was when Scully repeats Mulder's question "No exam has been done?" so enraptured with the Sheriff that she wasn't even listening to Mulder. So now Mulder's painted the Sheriff as a buck-toothed hick, and Scully as an air-head who can't be trusted to act professionally around good-looking men. This is so far removed from the no-nonsense Scully who is almost irritatingly always professional that we can really see how irked Mulder is to describe her as such. The real Scully would no doubt be rather provoked by such a description of herself, and Mulder knows her well enough to realize this, which makes me pretty certain that he does it to provoke her. Mulder then goes on to cite some historical facts, that he's basing his theory on real knowledge and not because he's simply prone to believe in the supernatural. Scully pays him no respect, still unwilling to believe despite the fact that he can cite historical examples--rolling her eyes and stifling (barely) a yawn.
While Mulder is in the cemetery with Hartwell, he reiterates the fact that Hartwell is a very small-town sheriff, all too willing to acquiesce to the federal government, not very intelligent, and thereby, not worthy of Scully's adoration. Scully, meanwhile, doesn't really care about Sheriff Hartwell (a ha!), she's more interested in why Mulder found untied shoelaces so revealing. But Mulder wants to go on talking about the Sheriff, so he can attack his character some more, before finally getting to what Scully wants to hear. Mulder is also very unwilling to admit to anything that would make him look bad in front of Scully, so he wanted to "skip ahead" of the part where he unsuccessfully tries to shoot out the tires of an RV. The part where he's hanging off the back of the RV while trying to pull a macho stunt was hilarious.
So now we know how Mulder got all muddy, and we feel somewhat sorry for him, but not his version of Scully, who is on him like a harpy while he stands there in her room looking pitiful. She goes on and on about how horrible her day has been, and not until the end of her tirade does she think to ask what has happened to him, and not in a nice way, either--"What the hell happened to you?" They sound like an old married couple, bringing to mind again a hen-pecked Mulder. Scully's stern, "Don't you touch that bed," is as funny as it is shippery--like a cross wife to a husband caked in mud and she doesn't want to clean up the mess...but it's their bed. Both times, Mulder doesn't go to his own room to relax, he goes to Scully's...makes one wonder if he had a room to go to. And plus even after she leaves he makes himself comfortable in her room and eats her dinner there, too. Ah, love.
"And then he sort of flew at me like a flying squirrel?" I was gone in a spasm of a giggling fit. I have to say that Scully either needs to work out more, or she's got to stop wearing those heels when she's out doing an autopsy. A drugged Mulder is able to get to Ronnie Strickland and drive a stake through his heart before Scully even gets there--and she started the chase first!
And how adorable was that scene when they're waiting to go into Skinner's office? More of them acting like a married couple as Scully reaches over to straighten his tie, while Mulder irritably brushes her hands away. Then, a very concerned Scully (who, despite her earlier bravado and wanting to torture Mulder into thinking that she wasn't going to back him up) whispers to him, "Mulder, please just keep reminding him you were drugged." Now the tables have turned--the shrewish wife is now sweetly concerned, while the hen-pecked husband is now an insensitive brute. "Would you stop that?" he hisses, because she's making him more nervous than he already is. But I really cracked up when Skinner comes out and Mulder is on his feet like a shot, announcing "I was drugged!" just as Scully had told him to (though I suspect she wanted it to be more convincing than that) but sounding like a little boy reciting a lie. And how hilarious was Skinner's, "His...throat was bitten. It was sort of...gnawed on."
We then get some proof that Sheriff Hartwell indeed does not have buck teeth, that it was a fabrication by Mulder (or else the buck teeth was something he wanted to remember) to make Scully doubt her attraction to the Sheriff. As far as Mulder knew when he was telling the story, neither of them would have cause to set eyes on the Sheriff again, so the chances of proving him wrong were slim. Too bad, Mulder!
Now, why did Mulder leave Scully with the Sheriff? Well, I think that by this point he wasn't too worried about the good Sheriff--and I think he wanted Scully to have her chance but choose Mulder in the end. Sometimes, if we love them, we have to let them go and all that. It's really too bad that Scully can't fall for a normal guy for a change and get Mulder really worried, but I have to say that with the revelation that Sheriff Hartwell was really a vampire it just made him all the more attractive. So he'd been playing dumb all along...
So that's it. All the reasons why I loved this episode, in addition to some subtle moments that you just can't capture in words...you just have to see it. I love Vince Gilligan's Mulder and Scully; they are always so in sync with each other, they are always together on every level. Their familiarity and their love fairly shines through all his episdoes. And it doesn't even have to be a romantic love, just their love for each other as people, as partners, as best friends.
Please feel free to
How utterly fantastic was this episode? Again and again, Vince Gilligan delivers. After the heavy duty episodes that we were bombarded with after Post-Modern Prometheus, (and a couple of bad eps), we really needed this episode. I've never made it a secret that I love the humorous episodes, because in many ways I feel that when Mulder and Scully are relaxed, they allow themselves to reveal more about how they feel about each other (unless, of course, one of them is sick or dying in a hospital) than in others, when they feel the need to be guarded. Bad Blood not only delivers a much-needed injection of freshness to this season in a smart and cleverly-crafted manner, but it does it in a way that allows us to delve into the psyches of Mulder and Scully and appreciate how much it reveals about them.
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1999 by Jennifer J. Chen