The X-Files Season 3, Episode 13: Syzygy

Sure. Fine. Whatever.

I admit I enjoyed 'Syzygy' when I first watched it, minus the hideously uncomfortable out of character behaviour from both Mulder and Scully, but as I watch it again, I find there's less to like and more to be disturbed by.

I tend to rewatch episodes before or during writing about them - I even managed to rewatch 'War of the Coprophages' - and this one just doesn't seem to hold up after a single rewatch.

The first time, I laughed. A lot. The second time, I squirmed. A lot more.

I just hate the way Mulder and Scully act here, and I know it's supposed to be a result of the alignment of the planets, but it just gave me a kind of icky feeling watching these two otherwise great characters and great partners constantly being nasty to each other.

I'm not a shipper of Mulder/Scully. I don't necessarily mind the idea, and I think it's clear from 'War of the Coprophages' and 'Syzygy' that at least Scully has some more than just professional feelings for Mulder. It's also possible, but far less clear, Mulder also has some interest in Scully and is trying to avoid acknowledging that for professional reasons. But if he is, he's avoiding it in pretty much the most awful way ever, by flirting with every woman other than Scully, and being really obvious and obnoxious about it.

And actually in a rather sexual harassment kind of way, too. Scully doesn't use those exact words, but I'm glad she at least calls him out on his behaviour, as he is sniffing her. Though I'm reasonably sure he wasn't sniffing her spicy brains.

But it's not just the sexual harassment that makes Mulder horrible in this episode. From the very beginning, he's rude to Scully about the directions, and then he's sarcastic about her skepticism to Detective White. It's just completely uncalled for, and part of me hopes it's addressed at some point, but another part of me hopes that now the the planets are out of alignment again, it's just dropped. I'd much rather they get along, because the show is better when they have professional discussions and only mild sarcasm or good-natured ribbing. The viciousness is tiresome.

The rest of the episode is just absurd. The townspeople become increasingly paranoid and reactionary (didn't we just do this in the last episode?), and while Scully's eyerolling at their antics is completely in character, I find it odd that Mulder didn't take her side in that, because the people were jumping to every worst conclusion possible and chase after a man with an apparently secret lifestyle, though that aspect of his character isn't really explored, and I'm pretty sure it was just thrown in there to make the episode look more bizarre. (Or maybe he was the one wearing Mulder's favourite perfume?)

And let's not forget not-twin girls who looked like they took all their fashion tips and catchphrasing from 1985. Their plot was equally strange, and while it initially seemed like a compelling mystery, there was really nothing for Mulder and Scully to do. Sure, they 'solved' the case in that they discovered who was behind everything, and that it wasn't Satanists, but they figured it out way too late to actually save anyone. And it's not like Terri and Margi were even really villains, since they weren't entirely in control of their actions.

But did no one notice that they were the only people at the funeral not completely freaking out? They were sitting there calmly while everyone else panicked, and neither Mulder nor Scully noticed this or cared? Maybe they should have asked that question when interviewing the girls. "Hey, you seem pretty unnerved by the Satanic ritual, but OK with a coffin bursting into flames, what's up with that?"

I guess maybe this episode wasn't really meant to be taken seriously or even analysed that carefully, but that doesn't really make a good excuse for it being so uncomfortable. And I think coming off 'War of the Coprophages', which definitely wasn't meant to be taken seriously and was obviously written to be explicitly funny, 'Syzygy' falls well short. Dealing with some similar themes to 'War of the Coprophages' certainly didn't help.

I think the only thing I can really commend them for is despite using the now less common pronunciation of Uranus, they did not make any juvenile jokes about it.

But still, I can't call this a bad episode, but I'm definitely not sure it's good either.

Fine. Whatever.