Upon returning to Ohio towards the later part of May this year, I found myself in a quandry. The LOST series had recently ended for the season, and as that is really the only show I watch that is still in progress (I don't watch much TV, usually), I found myself in need of something else for my viewing pleasure. It is something of a habit of mine to watch an episode of something as I get ready for bed.
I wandered upstairs to my sister's room, and Lo, there was the complete X-files series on DVD, lined up in a neat little row on the shelf, ripe for the picking. It was settled. My summer would be an X-files summer.
Now, the X-files is one of those things that have always been there. I remember before I even moved to Ohio, when we still lived in Pennsylvania, sitting down to watch the pilot episode with my brother and sister. From then on, the X-files was a weekly staple. It became a part of the fabric of the Clark household, and part of the collective psyche between me and my siblings. The adventures of Mulder and Scully were things that were referred to often and with fondness. I went through junior high and high school watching the show.
At some point, probably around season 6, I stopped watching regularly, but still kept up with it, enough to know the basic gist of what was going on. That is, until I got busy with other things and stopped watching altogether somewhere along the latter part of season 8.
Well, last week I completed my X-files summer. Nine seasons and two feature films later, I am of the opinion that this series is far and away the best television show ever produced.
For those of you unfamiliar with the show, Special Agent Fox Mulder of the F.B.I. is something of a rogue, interested in the paranormal and unexplained cases, and as such is assigned the unit no one else wants: the X-files. His position in this unit is already established at the outset of the series. It is Special Agent Dana Scully who we see first enter the X-files. She is assigned there by her superiors because she is a rational scientist, sent to accompany Mulder as he investigates these phenomena, so that she may debunk Mulder and his paranormal theories with sound, rational and scientific facts.
Many of the episodes take the form of monster-of-the-week stories, Scully and Mulder hunting down various unexplained occurences, usually coming away with nothing conclusive. The rest of the episodes, the mythology episodes, deal with Mulder's past as he hunts for his sister, whom he believes was abducted by extraterrestrial beings when they both were children. This tragedy is what has led his life to the FBI, and the X-files.
Many of you might roll your eyes at this premise. Okay, that's fine. I freely admit that many of the episodes are outlandish, fantastical, even down-right silly. That's granted. That's not the reason I love this series so much. I could do without the monster-of-the-week episodes, because these episodes might have a cool or creepy idea to center around, but most of the time they don't develop the main plotline, or most importantly, the characters.
It is one of the tenants of story that plot does not make good characters. Good characters create plot. If I had to boil it down to one reason why I love the X-files series, it's because of the characters of Mulder and Scully.
It would be possible to look at the journeys of Mulder and Scully as two separate paths. But I won't do that here. Because I believe their journeys lie intertwined, and that's what makes them so powerful.
At the beginning of the series, Scully plays the foil to Mulder's belief, trying to dissuade him from leaps of faith when it comes to explanations for the cases which they investigate. Scully is a scientist, independent to the core, a rational thinker, was raised a Catholic, but since has strayed due to her scientific education and need for evidence in all things. Mulder is intuitive, a true believer, ready to believe any far-reaching, paranormal, or supernatural explanation. He is a man of faith in many things, not only a supreme being. He believes in the existence of extraterrestrial life, and his belief is what drives him and defines him, even when the facts are to the contrary.
It is hard to sum up how the characters get from point A to point B. But as Scully and Mulder pursue these cases together, Scully gradually begins to see things that her science and rationality will not explain, and Mulder's stubborn and ungiving faith begin to win her over.
I suppose the series could be summed up by the three recurring phrases that echo time and again throughout.
TRUST NO ONE.
I WANT TO BELIEVE.
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.
That last one, 9 times out of 10, graces the screen at the end of the introductory credits.
TRUST NO ONE - For a show all about conspiracies, misinformation, deceit and lies, this would seem a fitting phrase. However, the thing that makes this phrase so powerful, is, again, the journey that Mulder and Scully take together. Time after time they face down death together, saving each other's lives on numerous occasions, and eventually realize, when they are caught up together in a global conspiracy, that the only ones they can trust are each other. Scully's unyielding independence gradually softens, and she confides in Mulder in rare soft moments. Mulder's unflinching faith gets through to her, and she eventually takes on his cause, and he can finally let her in and trust her with everything.
I WANT TO BELIEVE - This phrase can be seen nearly every episode in the form of a poster hung in Mulder's office. It is, indeed, Mulder's faith that drives the X-files. But what happens when all evidence presented to you is contrary to what you know to be true? What happens when you can't tell the lies from the truth, and your friends from your enemies. See, it's not as easy as believing. Sometimes, you simply must say, I want to believe, because my desire to believe is all I have left. Mulder comes to this point so many times in the series, and it is Scully who holds him up, even she doesn't necessarily agree with him. She still encourages him to keep his faith and to never give up.
From the very beginning of the show, Scully wears a small gold cross around her neck, a symbol of the faith with which she was raised. Somewhere along the way, she lost that faith amidst the rational thought and scientific education that constituted her later life. But she never stopped wearing that cross. As the viewer watches her progression through the series, we see her rational personality crack, and Mulder's faith inspires her to rediscover her own, because her scientific explanations are no longer enough for what she has seen and experienced.
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE - Like any good story, the X-files is about Truth. Mulder's search for it, and Scully's gradual acceptance of it. What's so great about this phrase is that it admits that the truth is elusive, not easily found, but it does lie out there, somewhere, for those who are strong enough, brave enough, and have sufficient faith to find it. Mulder and Scully eventually do find it, together, a journey that they never could have made without the other. But even when they do find it, any evidence to prove it is destroyed and they are left with nothing but the knowledge that they are right. Sometimes, that is enough.
Mulder and Scully are superbly portrayed by David Duchovney and Gillian Anderson. Duchovney stayed with the series through season 7, then left, although his absence was written into the show, and he continues to appear in a few episodes leading up to the end of the series. Gillian Anderson starred in all nine seasons. (A side note: Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully just might be, in my opinion, the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I could stare at her face for hours.)
To see these two act in the series is to see them become their characters, to the point where the viewer is familiar with them, can read their facial expressions, and feels their emotions. There are several moments when Gillian Anderson talks about Mulder after his disappearance, and the viewer believes that this is a real person. And when Gillian Anderson smiles, it's lights up the screen, because Scully is usually so stern and solemn. Likewise, Duchovney's sense of humor and wise-cracking is something I particularly appreciate about the series.
All in all, I guess you could say the X-files is a show about trust, faith, and the truth.
As Mulder and Scully take the journey together, their lives become intertwined, until they both realize that they cannot live without the other. Their journey from partners in the FBI, to confidants, to friends, and eventually to two people who realize that they cannot live without the other is inspiring. And makes this show about one more thing, above all.
It is a show about Love.
Real love. Devoted love. The kind of love that goes to bat for the other person, that sacrifices everything, including itself for the well-being and protection of the other.
The last entry in the series is the film THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE. There is a rumor of a third film, the last, that would be the end all of everything. But even if it doesn't get made, I am completely satisfied with where the characters of Mulder and Scully end. It leaves them on a good note. Not the best note. That's what I love about it. It's an ambiguous end that promises nothing. It merely says that for now, things are good.
The characters themselves sum it up best at the end of the film.
Mulder: "Go help the boy, and then we'll get out of here. You and me."
Scully: "Away from the darkness?"
Mulder: "I don't think it works that way. I don't think we find the darkness. I think the darkness finds us."
The X-files is a series that faces hard truths, real truths, about the existence of truth and the battle for it, about trusting each other along the way, about never giving up faith, and finding a love that will help you face the darkness that is ever present.
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