REVIEWED BY: Jennifer J. Chen ON: June 6, 1999
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: January 10, 1999
"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships, the ones that last, are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is...suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with."
Listen to the .wav.
If Scully can't see that she's described her own exact situation, then she's got some serious denial issues. Obviously, if Sheila hadn't even considered Holman, that switch had not been flicked yet. But obviously Scully has herself given the subject some thought, considering how quickly and effortlessly the words spring to her lips.
Thank you to newcomer Jeffrey Bell for a thoroughly entertaining and shippy episode. If he keeps this up, he may yet give Vince Gilligan a run for his money. No less than four different people assume that there is a more than platonic relationship existing between our two agents. Their very first scene, the mayor of Kroner, Kansas mistakes Scully to be Mulder's wife. The manager of the motel that they stay in refers to Mulder as Scully's "boyfriend," and scoffs in disbelief when Scully tells her otherwise. Holman Hardt tells Mulder that he's surprised that nothing even as innocent as a little kiss has ever occurred between Mulder and Scully (but we all know that a kiss between these two passionate individuals would hardly be categorized as "innocent," should the situation ever arise). And finally, Sheila Fontaine first mistakes them to be the couple who won the "Watch The Weather And Win" contest and then later confronts Scully about loving Mulder.
The X-file made a good, if a little cheesy, backdrop for the real star of this episode—Mulder and Scully's ever growing attachment to one another. Not only has their closeness become increasingly obvious to even the most disinterested observer, but they have even come to voice some of their feelings out loud—though not under that guise, of course.
For Mulder's part, only once does he contradict other peoples' assumptions about his relationship with Scully, and then it was a direct confrontation, and his response was extremely delayed. He sits adorably through Scully's light foray through his scalp, muttering about cows, and puts up with her disparaging comments about his lack of dates. Holman and Mulder have a heart to heart, whereupon Holman admits his envy of men like Mulder. He asks, "You spend every day with Agent Scully a beautiful, enchanting woman. And you two never, uh...? I...confess I find that shocking." Yeah, get in line, buddy. Then comes Holman's observation about the way Mulder and Scully behave toward one another—"I've seen how you two gaze at one another." Now that is interesting. It makes Mulder nervous; perhaps he wants to believe that his and Scully's intense looks are private, between the two of them. Well, shippers have noted them all along. There is a long pause before Mulder not too convincingly dodges the observation by stating, "This is about you, Holman. I'm here to help you. I'm perfectly happy with my relationship with Agent Scully." Perfectly happy? No one asked how you felt about your relationship with your partner, Agent Mulder. Slip number one. Slip number two was the length of time that it took him to respond. And slip number three was the words that he chose to respond with—much too defensive. A simple disinterested "You've got it all wrong," would have been much more convincing. Of course, being as how we know Holman was right on the money, such disinterest would have been near impossible for Mulder to feign. Then, there's the fact that having "dismissed" the subject, Mulder himself goes back to it after talking about Holman, suggesting that he'd been thinking about it the whole time. He protests, "I do not gaze at Agent Scully." Uh-huh. Sure, Mulder. Notice he doesn't say, "Agent Scully and I do not gaze at one another," which is what Holman said. That leaves an opening for Holman to perhaps say, "All right, but she gazes at you," which is what I know Mulder wants to hear. Stop it, little analytical shipper mind! I'm driving myself batty.
Of course, it's not too difficult to see why Sheila would set her sights on the hunky agent, and she states very succinctly her reasons: Mulder has "a job. A way with words. Intelligence. Good looks." Of course it helps too that he's the strong good guy, rescuing a damsel in distress from the unwanted attentions of a creep. As much as I hated seeing Sheila kiss Mulder, I was still feeling the aftereffects of my laughter from her pleading with Daryl, "not his face!" and couldn't muster more than temporary annoyance. Ah, Mulder's beautiful face. For his part, he looked properly horrified and really looked like he was trying to fight off her advances without violently wrenching her away from him and hurting her feelings in the process. One wonders if he apologized to Scully later, like he did with the Detective White incident from Syzygy.
Throughout the rest of their time in Kroner, Mulder continues to be a very good boy, not encouraging Sheila's behavior in the least. After he and Scully maneuver Sheila into dancing with Holman, he quite desperately hisses to the other man, "Tell her, Holman!" I loved the faux dance that he and Scully share, swaying to the music while watching the drama unfold between the two people they are trying to get together. See, when they're not thinking about it, they just naturally want to do those things together. Which makes the question of what they did together when they shared that motel room even more interesting. But alas we shall probably never know—all the better, since I'm sure my imagination can be put to good use. I personally think Mulder cracks one of his funniest jokes ever in this episode, even if Scully didn't seem to appreciate it. "You build the ark, I'll gather the animals." Listen to the .wav. Especially when Scully chooses that moment to walk away, inciting him to a half-panicked, "I was kidding!" But also, since he brought it up...remember what Noah's ark contained; every kind of animal in male and female pairs, to repopulate the earth once the flood was over. Just what was Mulder suggesting to Scully?
Scully, on the other hand, proves to be quick in contradicting other people when they get the "wrong" impression about her relationship with Mulder. Of course, she is just being Scully. It's almost a defensive move, as not to contradict it might suggest that she accepts or even likes it, and she wouldn't want to give Mulder that kind of impression. It would be too humiliating if he doesn't feel the same. His silence is just like him—his sense of humor allows him to get away with revealing a lot of things under the guise of a wisecrack or two (which works against him too; let's recall the "I love you" he tried to get across in Triangle). He doesn't have to be defensive because his sense of humor allows a little leniency. Whereas Scully feels like she has to constantly tell Mulder "don't worry, I'm not falling in love with you" because as brilliant and brave as these two people are, when it comes to each other they are the densest cowards in creation.
But she gives it all away, anyhow. Luckily Mulder is just as timorous and unsure as she when it comes to their non-platonic feelings, and won't let himself really believe that she might be in love with him, too. So Scully is free to roam her loving fingers through his hair checking for a head injury, and he is none the wiser.
She is also free to be deprecating about his lack of a date in who knows how long, though I'm willing to be that inwardly she basks in the knowledge. She can't really believe that her gorgeous partner couldn't get a date if he wanted one, not with all these women constantly throwing themselves at him. The exchange is perfectly sweet and funny—we all know that Mulder hasn't had a date in so long because of her. Granted, Scully could have been a little more outraged when she finds Sheila kissing Mulder, but as I said, he was being a good boy and showing that he didn't want to be in that situation. Plus, Scully's pretty good at being stoic. Again, she has to be on the defensive. It wouldn't do to show how much she cared. I would have given anything to see her wipe away the smear of lipstick on his mouth, though.
Still, she can't help herself later at the dance. When Sheila bounds up to the group, making it obvious that she wants to dance with Mulder, Scully suggests, quite firmly, "Holman was just telling us that, uh, that he wanted to dance." Translation: "If you think I'm going to let you anywhere near my man again, you're crazy." Mulder is relieved, and says quickly, "Yes, he was." Translation: "You're a nice person, but if you ruin things for me with Scully I'll have to hurt you." I almost felt bad for Sheila at that point; it was so painfully obvious that the two of them wanted each other, and she was definitely not wanted around. I stopped feeling bad for her, though, in the bathroom when Scully realizes she'll have to work on Sheila to keep the other woman's clutches off Mulder. Sheila's question, "You love him, don't you?" throws Scully a little off guard. She is there to get Sheila together with Holman, not face her own truths. But I was pretty irked by the gall of Sheila's next statement—" You're jealous because Agent Mulder and I have a special connection and you're trying to divert me to Holman." Special connection? #$%#$@#! Does she have eyes in her head at all? The person with the special connection with Mulder is the woman he can't take his eyes off of, the woman standing right in front of her! Scully beautifully nuances her controlled outrage and disbelief in her single uttered word, "What?" And then just like Holman with Mulder, Sheila can't believe that Scully and Mulder have never kissed. (Hell, I can hardly believe it myself—it's making me rather deranged.) This eventually prompts Scully's beautifully shippy self-revealing speech (though she never directly indicates if she feels that way toward anybody in particular—just admit it, woman!). I only wish that Mulder could have been eavesdropping in the air ducts or something.
Lastly, did Holman's advice to Mulder "You should try it sometime," strike a familiar chord with anyone else? Eddie Van Blunht, perhaps? Wonder when Mulder's going to finally start listening to these guys who actually get the girl.
So basically, in the end everyone cheesily gets together, even Daryl and Cindy's relationship gets repaired; it makes Mulder and Scully not getting together even more painful than usual. Couldn't they have at least danced, after doing such a good job playing matchmakers? We know you two can dance; we watched Post-Modern Prometheus. But beggars can hardly be choosers; shippers were delightfully blessed with this episode as it is.
Two more notable mentions: loved the hailing ice hearts at the beginning. Also, great music. Not only does it go well with the events that are happening, but the lyrics also strike a familiar chord in relation to Mulder and Scully. The Carpenters' "Rainy Days and Mondays" is appropriate for obvious reasons. However, the lyrics that we hear: "Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you/Nice to know somebody loves me/Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do/Run and find the one who loves me" very aptly describe the cycle of their relationship. The song that's playing when we first see them at the dance is "Rock The Boat" by The Hues. The lyrics simultaneously encourage, "Rock the boat," and "Don't rock the boat, baby," perfectly describing the two steps forward, one step back routine that Mulder and Scully seem to be stuck on. Should they "rock the boat" a little, risking something comfortable and familiar for something more exciting and possibly, better? On second thought, no, "don't rock the boat." But it also ties in very well with Mulder's "ark" reference. The song that Sheila and Holman dance to, the song that Mulder and Scully inadvertently sway to, is "The Things We Do For Love" by 10CC. I think the title says it all, especially considering that it starts playing just as Scully practically forces Sheila to dance with Holman instead of Mulder, and then later trails her to the bathroom to help things along. In fact, the whole idea of Mulder and Scully being matchmakers, when they are so hopelessly clueless about their own love lives, is pretty amusing. But their history together, all that they've shared, are all great examples of what people will do for love. Yet it also ties in to the current situation—Holman's unique gift is an example of the extremes that people are capable of, all for the sake of love. Finally, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" at the end—very obviously geared toward the "happily ever after" feeling that we're left with, Sheila and her newborn, Holman being the weatherman on TV, a bright and beautiful rainbow outside the window. "Why oh why can't I?" Such a yearning statement could also be attributed to either Mulder or Scully, or if you're really lucid, both. Why indeed. Hopefully the last season will supply us with a satisfactory answer.
"You spend every day with Agent Scully a beautiful, enchanting woman. And you two never, uh...? I...confess I find that shocking. I...I've seen how you two gaze at one another."
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me at jenu1bruin@centropolis.org
1999 by Jennifer J. Chen