The X-Files Season 2, Episode 1: Little Green Men

So, season one has come to a close. I have no profound conclusions or even predictions for the next season. I don't know how I could possibly predict what will happen. Mulder and Scully will do stuff? There will be aliens? Who knows?

Either way, it begins now! And it begins with aliens (one prediction right!). Maybe?

Actually, it begins with a voiceover.

And more importantly, it begins with kind of a disaster, because the X-Files really have been shut down, Mulder and Scully have been separated, with Mulder working on what sounds like some busywork project they have him on until they can figure out what to do with him, and Scully teaching at Quantico.

Things cannot possibly get any worse for them, right?


Oh wait, no, wrong, because of course, this is a TV show. Murphy's Law is kind of a thing.

So Scully has a slight mental breakdown during her class, because she can't unsee what she now knows to be true, and also because she knows there are powers within the government who are trying very hard to keep her and Mulder apart and keep them from discovering the truth.

And then one of the students calls her 'spooky' and she looks like she's about to cry. She is clearly lost without him, and as we see in the very next scene, he's just as lost, but trying to ignore her to prevent the higher-ups from becoming suspicious.

I like that their meeting takes place in the garage at the Watergate Hotel, an obvious homage to the fact that Bob Woodward's meetings with Mark Felt (it feels so weird to refer to the original Deep Throat by his actual name. I really thought we'd never find out) during the Watergate investigation took place in a parking garage in Rosslyn (Arlington). (And later even a reference to Watergate with the flashback to Mulder's childhood and his sister's abduction.)

And I love that it's Scully, the skeptic, who helps put Mulder back on track. He starts to doubt himself and she manages to convince him not to give up. There's a certain poetry to that.

Plus, Scully is an outstanding investigator, picking up on every clue Mulder left her, like telling her about George Hale, to try to lead her to him in Puerto Rico. Though the fact that his house is monitored is highly unsettling. Not just, "Trust no one," but nowhere is safe, either. And obviously aware she's being spied on, she manages to lose the agents following her (though they turn around a little too quickly at one point) and lead them on a false trail. Scully, you are brilliant and awesome, never change.

And while I'd kind of like to discuss the action that took place in Puerto Rico, I don't really have that much to say about it. It's more or less irrelevant to the actual story. So they went on a wild goose chase, whatever. They came back with nothing because the government people got to them first. OK, fine.

But we get the ending, after they've returned, where Skinner tells the Smoking Man to get the hell out of his office (hmm, interesting) and declines to punish Mulder in any way for his actions. I wonder who he is really working for, or if he just realises that Mulder is good at what he does and can't afford to lose him.

The very last scene, though, is very touching, and I'm pretty sure will be something they continue to build on. Scully and Mulder need each other, and they can't continue to ignore each other or meet in secret. They are truly in this together.

Though I have to say, when they were listening to the tape of the men describing the difference between a lap dance and a table dance, I saw Scully roll her eyes, and as she put her hand on Mulder's, I kind of wanted her to say, "I'm not giving you a lap dance, Mulder." Maybe it's a good thing I'm not a TV writer.

(But hey, Mulder and Scully did stuff, I'm two for two!)

Either way, I am seriously on board with this show. Bring on the next!