REVIEWED BY: Jennifer J. Chen ON: March 21, 1999
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: November 30, 1997
From the beginning, this episode was one to remember. You knew right away it was destined to be a classic. The black and white memoir-style footage was unique to the series, the storyline was effective and typically quirky X-Files, and there was the undercurrent of menace that kept us glued to our seats. Drama, horror, humor, and human idealism found the perfect mix in this episode. It had all the elements that we love about The X-Files, along with the element of surprise (or if not surprise, zaniness!) that we need to enjoy almost any show.
The one aspect of this episode that I would criticise is the message that it leaves us with: if you are a victim of societal discrimination, it's okay to go into other people's homes, drug women, and impregnate them without their knowledge or consent; and instead of being punished, you should be taken to meet your idol. Don't get me wrong; I fully understood and appreciated the blatant message that CC was trying to get across, that the true monsters lurking in society often have the most pelasing countenances , while those with physical deformities or just aren't "normal" enough are the ones who are true example of what it means to be "human." But the fact that such people are unfairly shunned by society does not make this type of "vigilante justice" right. 
By having the women who were raped in their own homes by this person go on The Jerry Springer Show and say about their children, "what's not to love?" is undoubtedly supposed to be admirable (and indeed it is not the fault of the children and they should not be punished), but their easy acceptance of the situation is disturbing because it does say, in not so many words, that what happened to them is okay. The fact that this is some kind of fantasy, comic-book retelling of events (as I contend in my review of The Field Where I Died, I believe that every episode really happens unless it is explicitly stated that it didn't) doesn't excuse this message, because the message is still being told, regardless. 
So it's okay that a perfect stranger came into their houses, violated their persons and their homes, and impregnated them? And though I found his justification speech moving--"What we did was wrong, but in our trespasses
we gave you a loving son and in your homes I went places I’d never
dreamed of. With your books, and your records and home media
centers, I learned of the world and of a mother’s love that I’ll never know," it disgusts me that he is excusing his actions. There can be no, what we did was wrong but. Do we forgive rapists if they say, "What I did was wrong, but you love the child that resulted from what I did"?? Does that make the rape any less abhorrent? Then, this same person, who should granted, be rightfully pitied for the cruelties inflicted on him by "normal" people, but is not only not arrested for his crimes, for they were crimes, but is taken by two enforcers of the law to meet his idol Cher.
What surprised me about this episode happened when I had to go back and find some good photo clips to include with this review. Like many other Shippers, I had no idea about the lovely surprise waiting at the end of the episode, because everything that came before it seemed so nondescript Shipper-wise. Maybe the utterly Shippy moments at the end it made other scenes in retrospect look shippier, but I caught some pretty close/revealing/intimate moments between Mulder and Scully that I didn't really notice were there the first or even second time around. Maybe they especially stood out in this town of rather bizarre looking people who have resemblances to animals, but it was definitely an "us" versus "them" feel to the episode.
On the one hand, I really wanted there to be a monster. The horror, the thrill, the tingling up my spine...but once the comedic aspects really became obvious, I knew there was no way there was going to be any real "monster" lurking about. I loved the scene where Mulder and Scully get drugged from the fumigation. Aw, they look so cute both collapsed on the floor together like that. But the next morning, tired and still trying to get over the effects of the chemicals they had inhaled, was the best. 
They were both so attractively exhausted! And then when Mulder stood up to make a point, how he stumbled and hit something, then had to steady himself, was truly classic. I wonder if that was a DD ad-lib or if it was in the script. GA looked like she was trying not to laugh. That scene alone would have made the episode for me. I love it when Mulder and Scully get to be goofy like the rest of us, when they satirize themselves. So many people have the wrong idea about The X-Files, that it's all aliens all the time, but the magic of The X-Files goes way beyond the mythology. It scares you, intrigues you, makes you laugh, make you think...I don't know what I'm going to do with myself after the last season. It's pretty sad.
The only thing that redeems the act of rewarding The Great Mutato by taking him to go see Cher is that the direct result is my favorite (and all Shippers' favorite) moment in the entire episode--and perhaps one of my favorite scenes of all time--Mulder and Scully dancing together. 
How can anyone look at them and not see that they are madly, stupidly, head over heels in love with each other? I don't know if anyone had expected such a thrilling moment to occur. I certainly hadn't been browsing the net about The X-Files at that point in time, and wouldn't have heard anything about it, so it was a completely, beautifully, shocking moment. It really speaks well to never peruse spoilers. It wouldn't have been half as delicious had I known it was coming. And I probably would have enjoyed Arcadia a lot more if I hadn't known so much about it before it aired. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw Mulder gesturing to Scully, head down (both arrogant and humble at the same time), to give him her hand so that they could dance. I wonder if any screaming started at this point or if all the Shippers were still in shock, staring rapt at the screen as Mulder and Scully gaze into each other's eyes for an incredibly long time (like they can't bear to look away!). 
Jaws must have been dropping all over the planet, people pinching themselves to make sure they were awake and it wasn't just another Shipper fantasy. I mean, the fact that they were dancing was enough to warrant hugs and kisses for Chris Carter for the rest of the season...but that extremely long look that they gave each other was so intimate and full of love and tenderness that one can almost believe (and as some people insist) that they are already lovers; we just don't get to see it. Did CC actually write it into the script, or was it improvised by GA and DD (I love them!)? Or was it simply that they needed to fill time so that the song would end on the right note? 
I can't get off of this tanget--didn't it seem like it was just a small gesture in a lifetime of intimacies? They slide so easily against one another, swaying in perfect rhythm, hands gliding effortlessly together, as if they had done this a thousand times in their lives before. And their smiles! Those smiles of quiet joy, of ultimate contentment, that each was in the arms of the person they loved, and wouldn't trade this moment for any other in the world. Instantly, "Walking In Memphis" became one of the most romantic songs ever made. If you ever speak to someone and they tell you that "Walking In Memphis" is one of their favorite romantic songs (when it hardly falls into the rubric of the typical love song), you'll know instantly that you have met a fellow X-Phile and Shipper. 
It drives me up the wall that the most questionably "real" episodes like Post-Modern Prometheus and Triangle are the ones where Mulder and Scully get to really cross the line from platonic to admitting their true feelings...it's like, so is this real or not? And why are they torturing me in this way? Is it just a fantasy, including Mulder and Scully...of what we all want but can't have unless it's questionably real? Argh!!
Fine, I can put off reality for this scene. Even the way it ended let us revel in the romance of it all, because as they turn into "cartoons," it naturally makes one associate it a long-standing cartoon characteristic..."and they lived happily ever after." And in my heart, no matter where they take things, they always will.
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1999 by Jennifer J. Chen