REVIEWED BY: Jennifer J. Chen ON: March 14, 1999
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: November 23, 1997
But let's move on to the parts I did like. Strait-laced Scully walks into Mulder’s motel room with wine and cheese and talks about "male and female agents consorting in the same motel room"??! Have I tumbled into some kind of Twilight Zone? And then Mulder skips out not two minutes later, leaving Scully to drink wine by herself?? I wish these two would get lusty at mutual times—they always seem to catch each other when the other is not feeling playful.
Then, when Mulder is hurt and Scully attempts to pull him onto her lap, he resists. Hands are slapping foreheads all over the world. Season Six Mulder wouldn’t even have waited for such an invitation before sprawling all over her. But at least he made the suggestive remark, “I was told once that the best way to regenerate body heat was to crawl naked into a sleeping bag with somebody else who’s already naked.” I love Scully’s response—“Well, maybe if it rains sleeping bags, you’ll get lucky.” Mulder’s cockiness needed to be taken down a peg. And Scully sings to him as he asks, even though she obviously doesn't want to. Personally, like Scully, I can't carry a tune, and I'd have to be really comfortable with another person, not to mention that they would also have to mean a lot to me, to sing upon request. And listen to the lines, Scully might have been singing of their own relationship--"Was a good friend of mine" (I'll say), "Never understood a word he said" (some of Mulder's more bizarre theories, anyone?), "But I helped him drink his wine" (circumstantial: Mulder ditches Scully and her cheese; she drinks the wine alone, both his and hers; metaphorical: Scully joins in with Mulder on his quests even if she doesn't always understand any of it).
Perhaps the most accurate and therefore most meaningful exchange occurred at the beginning of the episode. Mulder had gotten interested in the case, he didn’t want to go to the teamwork convention anyway, and when Scully went to get him, he asked, “How do I say this without using any negative words, Scully?” Without missing a beat she responded, “You want me to tell them that you’re not going to make it to this year’s teamwork seminar.” If one had to describe Mulder and Scully’s relationship with one line, perhaps what Mulder said next would be it: “Yeah, you see that? We don’t need that conference. We have communication like that, unspoken. You know what I’m thinking.” Of course, in this particular situation, anyone with two brain cells would have known Mulder’s feelings, but it is their absolute connectedness that is at the heart of their relationship.
Wasn’t it sweet when Mulder was talking to the two agents at the end of the episode and he discovered that Scully had gone back to pack up their things (how that’s for intimacy?) he jumped into the nearest car and raced to the motel, driving with his one uninjured arm? And then to bang on her door, shouting her name in panic as she appeared from his room, wondering what the heck had gotten into him? His utter relief at seeing her there must have melted a million hearts. I mean, really think about packing for someone else--all the toiletries and underwear and personal knick-knack..."close" doesn't even begin to describe their relationship.
With that said, what were they doing going to a teamwork seminar, anyway? They could do cartwheels around other people when it comes to that...they should be teaching it. Well, I guess their kind of connection can't be taught. But it was really great to see our favorite team juxtaposed with another male/female F.B.I. team, one so commonplace and unintense, and it really makes one appreciate all the more how much rapport Mulder and Scully have together, even when they're not agreeing...and how intense their relationship is.
And you knew you were going to see a pair of glowing red eyes under the bed at the end.
Please feel free to
There is really nothing outstanding about this episode except for seeing Mulder and Scully’s relationship develop further. The monsters of the week, the so-called “Mothmen,” were pretty weak. Usually, Mulder’s speculation about what is “actually happening” has an air of credibility about it (because, of course, he is usually irritatingly right), but this time it is pure speculation and the episode doesn’t give much reason as to why I should believe him. The idea that some 450 odd years or so ago some of Ponce de Leon’s men actually found the Fountain of Youth and now have adapted to their environment so much that they can camouflage themselves by becoming invisible (except for red eyes, of course) is utterly too unbelievable. And besides, Mulder can’t always be right. Four hundred and fifty years is not enough for a species to mutate the way he’s suggesting. These were civilized people in any case; if anyone had found the Fountain of Youth I dare say they would have most likely welcomed any sign of civilization, rather than stay in the woods, live in underground caves, and start killing people. Besides which, are we to assume that now that one of the two Mossmen are dead, the one still living will stop its killing spree? I mean, we never hear of this case again. Oh, and since Scully was the one that was never attacked by the Mothmen, are we to assume that she is the weakest of the group of four? I resent that. Or how Mulder couldn’t quite take it that he wasn’t the strongest of the group—when Michelle is attacked first he reasons, “She was in the lead and presumably the strongest.” What, she couldn’t be the strongest, period? I suppose that it would be galling for Mulder, who often has enough arrogance for two men, to admit.
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1999 by Jennifer J. Chen