The X-Files Season 3, Episode 8: Oubliette

'Oubliette' was intensely creepy, and extremely tense. And really dark, but that's what you get when you name an episode 'Oubliette', I suppose.

What seems like a fairly run of the mill kidnapping story is complicated by a past victim, who is experiencing Amy's kidnapping along with her, but also giving Mulder and Scully a chance to solve the case using somewhat unconventional means.

First off, I didn't even recognise Jewel Staite at first. I mean, I kind of did? But then I thought, "Nah, she's not the right age. That girl is supposed to be 15, and isn't Jewel Staite older than me?" (For the record, I was almost 19 when this episode aired.) It turns out that she is not older than me, and was, in fact, just 13 in this episode, playing a 15-year-old, which I suspect is kind of uncommon. Actors usually play younger rather than older, right?

I do feel kind of like the show has done episodes like this before, where two people are psychically connected, though in this case, it relates directly to the trauma Lucy suffered as a victim of the same kidnapper 17 years earlier. Initially, I thought maybe Amy (Jewel Staite's character) was Lucy's daughter from being raped (it's never stated outright that he did rape her, but based on the fact that he kept her in a dungeon for five years, I guess it's kind of implied?) and that that was the source of the psychic connection, but their ages didn't quite work out. (It's weird that that's where I went immediately, isn't it? I've clearly been watching this show for too long already.)

What I do really like about this episode is that unlike a lot of others, where they are racing to prevent more people from becoming victims of a known killer, they are trying to save one person and they don't know who the perpetrator was initially. Plus, it wasn't the perpetrator who had any special powers. A lot of the times, it's someone using an uncommon ability to carry out his or her crimes. This time, it's the uncommon ability that helps solve the case.

And save KayleeAmy's life, of course. But only at the cost of her own. And more interestingly, Scully not only accepts the connection, but credits Mulder with understanding it and being able to use that connection to find Amy in time to save her.

What's also interesting, though, is how this case affected Mulder. When Amy's mother tells him he can't possibly know what she feels, well, she's not entirely wrong, since the relationship between a mother and daughter is different from brother and sister, but she wouldn't have had any idea that Mulder's sister even was taken, and that he still hasn't found out what happened to her. And that was 23 years ago.

So I think that despite his insistence to Scully that his connection to Lucy and his desire to save Amy don't stem from Samantha's abduction, he's clearly got his own sister on his mind in all this. And his sympathy for Lucy initially blinds him to the possibility that she's behind the kidnapping, but of course, he turns out to be right (have his instincts about the paranormal ever not been at least close?) and is able to save Amy, but is too late to save Lucy.

I'm not sure I like the implication that Lucy's only escape was death, though. I mean, do they really want to suggest that some people with post-traumatic stress are so beyond help that death really is better for them? I don't think I can get behind that. Sure, I get where they were attempting to go with it, but the way Mulder stated it, it just seemed a bit cold, and really unfortunate that there was no other help available for her.

Still, despite that slightly troubling bit, this was a good, though not necessarily enjoyable episode. But those tend to be my favourite kinds of episodes - uncomfortable, but well done. And 'Oubliette' was definitely uncomfortable.