(Im immortal, she quipped to Mulder,winking at a fan theory.)
would be scratching the ship itch nonstop.
But I wont be making it.
Credit: Ed Araquel/Fox
I hope so because its time get busy crushing on it.
(Check out Darren Franichs interview with Morganhere.)
Morgans final credited script was my favoriteX-Filesepisode ever, Jose ChungsFrom Outer Space.
The underlying message: the Monster-of-the-Week episodes really were the best, werent they?
To paraphrase that headstone: Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster kicked it in the ass.
I bring this up because it appears Carter has basically adopted this perspective on the mythology for the revival.
Jose Chungs From Outer Space really does it explain it all!
When Fox releases the revival on DVD, they should include the episode as a prologue.
The Amarillo Armadillo Man, The Hairy Whats-It?
Mulder could already relate.
Im a middle aged man, Scully…. Im thinking its time to put away childish things.
The color of those red* case folders stuffed with silly speciousness struck me as intentional, too.
Here, for a scene, at least, we have Morgan mocking the cultural values of the show?
suggesting that Mulders worldview which allows for gross conspiracies and magical thinking is fundamentally immature.
I think many people would agree with that perspective these days.
Thats one way to illustrate Mulders injured manhood, deflated hero project, and spiritual impotence.
I assume everyone read it the same way.
The scene that opened the episode also satirized mania, misdirected yearning, and intellectual tomfoolery.
The other pined to be a werewolf.
Who got high all the time.
Scully had just the thing to cure Mulders crisis of confidence.
Weve been given another case, Mulder.
It has a monster in it.
So many layers here.
Here was Scully, the avatar of reason, trying to rehab her ideological opposite to his worldview.
(Mulder doesnt believe in God; its the one far-out concept he cant easily deem plausible.)
It keeps them together.
It also allows her to keep searching for proof for a belief system she wants/hopes to be true.
- And it also gives her joy.
I had forgotten how much fun these cases could be, she would say later.
Forget the tortured psychology.
Forget the righteous crusades.
Mulder and Scully need no other motivation for investigating weird stuff than itsfun.
Of all the ideas in the episode, that very simple one mightve been my favorite.
*Wanting to save her I Want To Believe poster from further abuse might have also motivated Scully.
And as Scully made clear, that poster belonged toHER.
What are you doing to MY poster?!)
When did they move back into their old home?
When Mulder get the files back?
When did Scully get a new poster?
NEXT: You seen one serial killer, you seen them all.
Lets take the second one first: Who killed the moony stoners?
Or all three at the same time!
(Thats how I would like to go out, said Mulder.
Seriously, I think.Fun Fact Learned!Mulder wants to die in an episode ofZoo.)
(For example: Gary Leon Ridgway, a.k.a.
the Green River Killer.)
You seen one serial killer, you seen them all.
Mulder wanted to bag it and go home.
Scully appealed to humanitarianism, justice, and professionalism.Cmon, Mulder!
This isnt all about you, you narcissist!
Do your damn job, already!
That creature-feature part of his alibi was true.
The lie was his reason for being in the woods.
In truth, Pasha was a predatory psycho who identified way too much with feral, rabid canines.
As in: The owls are not what they seem.
*The location ofthe third eye was on the forehead.
As Mulder gained eyes to see through the mystery, he began to regain his old self.
A GMO experiment run amuck by some military-agro-big pharma corporation?
(Notable: 1.
The show hitting anew the conspiracy worldview spelled out in the premiere and nourished by Founders Mutation.
Man, this show sure is paranoid about the pharmaceutical industry.
Timely, though.)
To which I know youre going to say: But Mulder!
That sounds like the lunatic ravings of a paranoid mad man!
I dont knowwhatit is, Scully!
All Im saying is…its a monster!
Yeah, said Scully, thisis how I like my Mulder.
Not that she believed him, of course NO!
(The name of the pharmacy:LYCAN.
More werewolf shadings there.)
The twist: The constable was really the monster all along.
Not everything can be reduced to psychology, argued Mulder.
Thats what you think.
For those who knowHamlet or oldX-Files you know the fancy Latin for this:Memento Mori.
- Remember that you must die.
He then prescribed some clozapine for Mulder, too.
But maybe I digress.
I love how Darin Morgan inspired X-Files innovation even when he was falling down on the job.
I will not be covering all of them here.)
He was, in fact, an abnormal horned lizard, recently stirred from hibernation.
He had become a man.
The narration written by Morgan for Guy/Darby was carefully shaped to catch lots of resonance.
I became conscious of my consciousness self-consciousness.
I had my very first thought: Im naked!
From there, Guy described what I call the Bitter Sweet SymphonyTheory of Life.
Which is to say: Youre a slave to the money, then you die.
He found one with ridiculous ease (the privilege of whiteness?
), selling cell phones, despite having no clue how they worked.
Smart Phones Is Us even made him manager!
Like he abused himself each night watching porn?
All he knew as that he was raging-against-the-alarm-clock angry and shrink-seeking depressed.
He wanted to quit.
He wanted to change his life.
He wanted to write a novel!
And it was too late for him to make meaning by being an artist, anyway.
You know:thatlie.
So he got a puppy instead.
A character fromMoby-Dick, just like Scullys old dog, Queequeg.
Daggoo made him happy.
Then Daggoo ran away.
He moved to kill him and stopped when he saw Pasha killing someone else.
Oh, the inhumanity!
Oh, the terrible God that would make such such evil!
A few fleeting moments of happiness wasnt worth this pain.
And so he wanted to die.
Mulder had promised to mercy-kill Guy Mann if he told him his story.
But he couldnt follow through on his end of the deal.
Not that he would have, anyway.
But Mulder was too bummed out by Guys tale to take action even if he wanted to.
Like Dr. Rumanovitchs parable about the monster-slaying constable, Mulders confrontation with Guy Mann was a confrontation with himself.
He considered it a silly myth to explain a busted life.
Guy was the modern mad man as schlubby Munchausen fabulist and a fellow fallen Fortean.
We both want to believe in things that arent real or even possible, said Mulder.
(Apparently Pashas bite also imbued Guy with Shakespeare omniscience.)
What kind of monster do you think I am?Yourethe monster!Jaccuse, Monsieur Mulder!
So much for philosophical optimism.
Somewhere,an old and rugged Positivistweeps.
Mulder put some things together and realized maybe Guy Mann wasnt lying after all.
When Mulder blanched at that idea, Guy accused him anew of doubting him.
Mulder meant no offense.
In fact, he desperately needed Guy to be everything he claimed to be a beautiful freak of nature.
I want to believe, said Mulder.
A risky line and Duchovny pulled it off.
Im glad to have met you, said the one.
Likewise, said the other.
Mulder was left alone, in awe, with faith renewed.
And for a week, so were we.
Good job,X-Files.
As always, give me your thoughts below or on Twitter:@EWDocJensen.
