Well, this was an uncomfortable 45 minutes, wasn't it?
In another, "Hey, it's that guy!" moment, I realised that the main villain was played by an actor I'd seen in several episodes of Veronica Mars and an incredibly creepy episode of Angel. Actually, I guess this guy must often play creeps, because his character here is not exactly the most upstanding kind of person, either.
Maybe Ed Jerse was only reacting to the paranoia induced by the tattoo ink, but like in 'Blood' and 'Wetwired', the chemical reaction did not simply create the paranoid thoughts, but augmented some nagging thoughts that might already be there in some form.
The tattoo plot was certainly somewhat interesting, but really, the main focus here is Scully, because she's not exactly having the best time of it, is she?
I don't know if maybe she had an off-screen diagnosis after the end of 'Leonard Betts', but either way, she's clearly re-evaluating her life, especially over the last three years and change. It irks Mulder, but Scully's right - not everything is about him. Obviously she hasn't told him what Leonard Betts said to her or what that even implies, because he's clearly bewildered and unnerved by everything she does tell him.
I was worried this might go to a 'Syzygy' kind of place, with the two of them constantly sniping at each other, but thankfully it went to a much weirder place. Though still, a small part of me was somewhat hoping the final scene would go something like this:
SCULLY: Not everything is about you, Mulder. This is my life.
MULDER: Sure. Fine. Whatever.
Because, you know, callbacks and whatnot.
OK, so I know now that these episodes were aired out of their original production order, and that 'Never Again' was actually supposed to come before 'Leonard Betts', which means that when it was written, Scully was reacting entirely to Mulder's treatment of her earlier in the episode. However, even knowing that, I think simply based on when it actually aired, there's no way to ignore the context of Scully's cancer.
Obviosuly Scully's actions are partly just pure reaction to Mulder. She's trying to prove to him, and partly to herself, that she's not boring or antisocial or too bogged down in her work. No matter how much she denies this, it's clear that at least some of it is about Mulder and the fact that she never has had a desk. (I really hope she has a desk in the next episode. That would be awesome and kind of hilarious.) And some of it may even be denial of her own feelings towards Mulder, which have, at times, appeared other than strictly professional.
So she then goes about proving this in pretty much the worst way possible. Or at least the most impulsive way possible. Yes, she technically did go to Philadelphia for the assignment that Mulder gave her, but while she's there and investigating the case, she gets distracted by tattoos. Well, and the fact that Mulder tries to interfere with her investigation by micromanaging her over the phone, which I think further cements in her mind the idea that she's going to do something that no one would believe she would do.
Scully is right - it's not just this one time that he's done this. He clearly doesn't really trust Scully to do the work on her own to his expectations, because he knows she's a skeptic. The problem is that in the first few seasons, her skepticism has frequently led to the discoveries they needed to make in order to solve cases. If it weren't for her, Mulder would have gone with the most ridiculous, out there theory every single time, and failed a LOT.
But in Mulder's mind, Scully is kind of boring. Her skeptical nature limits her in his eyes.
And Scully always struck me as rather conservative anyway - not necessarily politically, but personally - she's a cautious person, not usually rash or impulsive. So the idea of her even considering a tattoo or a one night stand seems kind of out of character, especially when she's probably well aware that she's only doing this because she's trying to prove something. I now wonder if she'll get the tattoo removed, especially given what she learns about it later in the episode.
But also, we don't really see the tattoo affect her, though it's mentioned towards the end that the levels of ergot in her blood weren't nearly as high as in Jerse's. The only real danger Scully was in was from Jerse himself, and she managed to fend him off well enough until he stuck his entire arm into a furnace.
I hope if Scully does get her tattoo removed, she opts for more conventional means and doesn't just try to burn it off herself.
(Aside: Mulder, you are from Massachusetts, why would you ever consider a Yankees World Series victory to be a positive thing?)
No comments:
Post a Comment