Let's Rank Season One!

WIP: I'll rank Season One as I watch it! Please keep in mind this is based on how much I personally enjoyed an episode, not necessarily based on its strengths and weaknesses.


Ice - GM / JW
Darkness Falls - CC
Beyond the Sea - GM/JW
EBE - GM / JW
Squeeze - GM / JW
Tooms - GM / JW
Erlenmeyer Flask - CC
Young At Heart - Scott Kaufer / Chris Carter
Eve - Kenneth Biller / Chris Brancato
Pilot - CC
Conduit - Alex Gansa / Howard Gordon
Deep Throat - CC
Roland - Chris Ruppenthal
Born Again - AG / HG
Ghost in the Machine - Alex Gansa / Howard Gordon
Shadows - GM / JW
Miracle Man - Howard Gordon / Chris Carter
Lazarus - Alex Gansa / Howard Gordon
Fallen Angel - Howard Gordon / Alex Gansa
Shapes - Marilyn Osborn
Gender Bender - Larry Barber / Paul Barber
Fire - CC
Space - CC
Jersey Devil - CC


Hey why don't we rank shippiness as well? This is going to be tough when there is so little shipping going on, but let's try.


Beyond the Sea - GM/JW
Tooms - GM/JW
EBE - GM / JW
Ice - GM / JW
Darkness Falls - CC
Squeeze - GM / JW
Pilot - CC
Deep Throat - CC
ERlenmeyer Flask - CC
Jersey Devil - CC
Conduit - Alex Gansa / Howard Gordon
Fire - CC
Eve - Kenneth Biller / Chris Brancato
Young At Heart - Scott Kaufer / Chris Carter
Shadows - GM / JW
Roland - Chris Ruppenthal
Miracle Man - Howard Gordon / Chris Carter
Space - CC
Fallen Angel - Howard Gordon / Alex Gansa
Lazarus - Alex Gansa / Howard Gordon
Gender Bender - Larry Barber / Paul Barber
Ghost in the Machine - Alex Gansa / Howard Gordon
Shapes - Marilyn Osborn
Born Again - AG/HG

Season One Summary

What Did We Learn About UST in Season One?

M & S meet. Quickly Scully develops a sense of loyalty to her new partner, and Mulder even trusts her. Mulder likes to invade her personal space, they are easy going together; instantly comfortable. Over the course of the season, it becomes clear that Scully is developing an everyday crush on her coworker. She is protective of him, quick to come to his defense, and is even jealous when Mulder gives her occasion to be.

Keep in mind, I think this is still just a crush, and not, you know, epic. I still think Mulder is the first to develop serious feelings, but we won't see this until much later.

At this point in the series, Scully is not yet totally damaged by her career; if she has had a stressful life so far, it has only been ordinary-life kind of stresses, not aliens-abducted-me, my-family-is-dead, and my-life-is-ruined kind of stresses. She's is still a woman, and totally capable of having a crush on a coworker. And with all of Mulder's invasion of personal space, it's easy to see why she might think he's interested in her.

I don't mean to imply this 'relationship' is one-sided. In Beyond the Sea, after her father dies, Mulder shows he really cares for her (and vice versa). In Lazarus, when Scully is kidnapped, he tells the task force with more than a hint of pain in his voice "And for those of you ---who don’t know already this one’s important to me. So, uh, let’s do it right. Thanks".


We also have indirect admissions of attraction; Scully's friend in Jersey Devil indicated Scully thought Mulder was cute, and also in EBE where Mulder tells her "I think it's remotely plausible that someone might think you're hot."




Top 5s of Season One
In no particular order, because I just couldn't pick a favourite!

Top 5 Villains:

Eugene Victor Tooms

Luther Lee Boggs (Beyond the Sea)

Sally Kendrick/ the Eves

John Barnett (Young at Heart)

Cigarette Smoking Man


Top 5 M & S Scenes:

Neck-check in Ice

"If you were that stoned, what?" car scene in Deep Throat

Tender cheek touch in Beyond the Sea

Underwear and bed scene at the motel in the Pilot

"Iced Tea" conversation in Tooms

Best Scully Episode: Beyond the Sea
Best Mulder Episode: Young At Heart
Best Mytharc Episode: EBE
Best Villain Episode: Squeeze
Best Monster Episode: Ice

The Erlenmeyer Flask

M & S must be really good at what they do to follow Deep Throat's breadcrumb trail on this one. Mulder is instructed to watch a car chase on the news. That is all.



Mulder tapes it, and the watch it together at work. They don't find much worth investigating, but head to the crime scene anyway.

From there, the chain of events: the car used in the chase was stolen from a doctor. The actual car was swapped out in evidence to cover that up. The doctor was one of the scientists working on the Human Genome project, and was using this research in order to conduct experiments that involved extraterrestrial DNA. The doctor also used a storage unit to store tanks filled with living alien-human hybrids. One of the hybrids escaped and stole his car, and ended up on the news.



I love the Deep Throat character, but I have to say, this is him at his most frustrating. M & S both think so too, but Scully is the one to indicate that enough is enough, by refusing to help Mulder pursue this case. Mulder can't believe what he's hearing.



M: "No?" What do you mean, "no?"
S: I mean, this has reached the point of absurdity, Mulder. We're out here on half a hunch off of a cryptic phone call chasing down a, a clue that's based on nothing but speculation.
M: Well, that's all we've got.
S: That's all he's given us. Who is this Deep Throat character? I mean, we don't know anything about him. What his name is, what he does...
M: He's in a delicate position. He has access to information and indiscretion could expose him.
S: You don't know that this isn't just a game with him. He's toying with you. Rationing out the facts.
M: You think he does it because he gets off on it?
S: No. I think he does it because you do.

At this point, she even dramatically disappears into the ladies room.



Mulder knows she's right though, and later that night Mulder calls him on it.

M: You know, from day one, this has always been on your terms. I've gone along. Been the dutiful son. But maybe this time, we can just cut out the Obi-Wan Kenobi crap and you can save me the trouble.
DT: I fear you've become to dependent on me.
M: Let me tell you something. I've got plenty to do without chasing down your vague leads or trying to decode your circular logic. Maybe it's you who's become too dependent on me... on my willingness to play your games.



Deep Throat knows exactly how to keep Mulder interested though. He plays his game very well.

DEEP THROAT: Don't give up on this one. Trust me. You've never been closer.
M: Closer to what?

No answer, and DT walks away. Dr Berube is killed that night (by what seems to be a precursor to the Alien Bounty Hunter later played by Brian Thompson. Like a proto-ABH). That is certainly worth pursuing.

The most interesting part of this episode for me, is Scully's investigation into the contents of the Erlenmeyer flask found at Dr Berube's lab labeled "Purity Control".

S: Okay, Mulder, but I'm warning you... if this is monkey pee, you're on your own.



It's not. At all. It's a flask full of strange alien bacteria, revealed after a long series of lab tests. Scully sleeps at the lab while Dr Carpenter conducts the tests. She can tell this is important. By the way, I adore the Dr Carpenter character. I would like to be her. She and Scully also seem like they might have been buddies- they act like friends. Or maybe it's a chicks-in-sciences bonding thing. Either way, I just love her!



In a theme that we will see returned to later in the series, the alien bacteria contain a virus as well as chloroplasts; a true chimera. Scully believes this may be an experiment with gene therapy, but I believe it's part of the alien's natural physiology, although that won't come into play until later.

What is so important right now, is the discovery that in addition to all of the strangeness I just described, the bacteria also contain two extra nucleotides that exist nowhere on earth. A fifth and sixth nucleotide, confirming that the bacteria are extraterrestrial for real. Even Scully can't deny this.




So what's most interesting for me, is Scully grappling with this idea throughout the rest of this episode, along with the rest of the evidence they come up with throughout.

Now, ordinarily news about the bacteria like this would probably have completely floored Mulder. But while Scully was taking care of the Purity Control, Mulder was doing some footwork and discovered a Zeus Storage locker filled with tanks, containing ordinary looking human beings, breathing under water. (Either CC has a thing for naming things after Zeus, or the conspirators use Zeus for all of their operations on purpose. Hard to say).



Before he takes her inside the locker, Scully has a confession;

S: Wait a second... Mulder? I, I just want to say that I was wrong.
M: It's all right, don't worry about it.
S: No, um... if you'd had listened to me, we wouldn't be here right now. I should know by now to trust your instincts.
M: Why? Nobody else does.



S: You know, I've always held science as sacred. I've always put my trust in the accepted facts. And what I saw last night... for the first time in my life, I don't know what to believe.



Mulder is kind of touched! What a nice thing for his partner to tell him; that she should trust his instincts, and more importantly... he was right!




Unfortunately when they get inside, they find an empty room. And Deep Throat, who is finally ready to tell them everything, including where to find the original tissue from which the alien DNA was extracted.



Then shit gets real.
Shocking is the sudden death of Dr Carpenter. She knows too much. Mulder is chasing the escaped hybrid, when he is kidnapped and held for ransom.



Scully goes to Mulder's apartment to meet him, but Deep Throat is waiting for her to tell her what happened.



To get Mulder back, Scully must break into a government facility to retrieve the original tissue; a frozen fetus. She then hands it over to Deep Throat, who is the only person they are willing to deal with. Probably because they have been ordered to kill him, which they do, as they push Mulder out of the truck and drive away.



One of the most famous death scenes ever:

DT: Trust.....Trust no one.



Devastating.

Was the entire thing set up from the beginning to trap Deep Throat? If you remember, DT pulled strings once to keep the X-Files open (in Fallen Angel), so they know he's helping Mulder. He told his associate "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer", but I think they saw through that bullshit line and decided to take DT out.

It may have been smarter to have just killed Mulder and Scully too, because even though they took away all of the evidence, our Agents still know what's going on, and they are going to do their best to expose the truth so long as the X-Files are around and the Truth is Out....

Oh.

Oh shit, they closed the X-Files for real.


:-/

Well, Mulder, do your best.



Scully is already asleep when Mulder calls her with the bad news. This late night phone call scene kind of mirrors the final scene of the pilot, down to the colour.

Mulder spits Skinner name like a poison when he says word came from him that the X-Files is being shut down, and M & S are being reassigned. Mulder appears... drunk... in this scene. It may be that he's in shock but I would not be surprised if if the first thing he did upon hearing the news was hit the bar, before he can surprise his partner with the news.



Final scene is CSM returning to the Pentagon's hidden ET room, and stores the fetus safely with others like it in a box.

What this finale did for the X-Files was made sure fans wanted to continue watching in the next season, without ending in a cliffhanger (thank you!).



Instead, they built the story quite a bit, adding information about aliens, and creating tons of questions for fans to chew on. At the end of this episode, fans now know that the government isn't just covering up the existence of aliens, but experiments with them. We know that a cloning project is in place, and they succeeded in producing a hybrid. We also know that these hybrids have toxic, burning green blood, and that none of them were meant to get out because it would expose the project.

Not only all of that, but they even had M & S find this out for themselves. Now that they have had a taste for it, they have to be hungry for more.

Roland

I know I'm not the only one who sees this episode coming up next and goes "oh crap, the retard one". If I weren't such a completest I probably would have skipped it.

I would have been missing out! It was a really interesting episode, very scientific, and it wasn't even 'about' mental handicaps, it was 'about' twins, and their psychic links! I am really interested in sibling connections! The supporting characters were fairly interesting (Dr Nollette relaying their college prank of disassembling their prof's car and putting it back together in his office is, frankly, priceless). There are even a handful of cute M & S moments to keep the shippers entertained (they seem to be bored by episodes that are strictly paranormal, and not emotional or part of the mytharc- episodes like this one!).




Amazingly, Maclean wins a bloody prize for noticing that Zeljko Ivanek (Roland) plays JJ in Big Love. X-Files actors are in every single one of the shows that we love, but as far as I knew, not only was Big Love the exception, but there was no chance of seeing an XF actor in it. It just didn't make sense.



I am wrong. Also, I can't believe Roland is played by an actor, and not a real life mentally handicapped guy. That man is good. His female companion on the show is not. She seems more like a drunk homeless person if you know what I mean. Plus, Ivanek manages to get his eyes completely blank, but the chick still has a sparkle like there is someone in there.

After the pre-credits setup, the first shots are of M & S walking down a hallway, not not briefing eachother on the case, but catching up after a weekend apart:

M: How was the wedding?
S: You mean the part where the groom passed out or the dog bit the drummer?
M: Did you catch the bouquet?
S: (flirtatious and girly) May-be




That was just about the girliest Scully gets. Adorable. But you know what they say; ask a flirty question, get a flirty answer.

The case involves a group on scientists working together to break the sound barrier on less than half the fuel presently required. A formula is being tweaked, but the scientists are being killed off one by one, by Roland the janitor.

What nobody knows is Roland is the long-separated twin of Arthur Grable, one of the scientists, who hired him completely by coincidence. That scientist was in an accident, and his head is kept frozen in a bath of liquid nitrogen- not dead, but not exactly living either.

The premise is that because Arthur is in a state of consciousness that nobody has any experience with, he is able to do mysterious things like influence is twin brother in order to complete his life's work. It is also interesting that one brother ended up with all of the brains, and one with absolutely none.



I enjoy watching Mulder and Scully put the pieces together on this one; actually noticing details in reports etc to form theories and come to conclusions, rather than Mulder having a hunch that happens to be exactly right. I like watching the light bulbs turn on in their heads when they realize Arthur and Roland share birth dates and places. I enjoy watching them doing work together, you know? Like this is a job, not a TV show, and they are two normal people, not actors :)



I also like that they draw the wrongs conclusions at times in this one as well:

M: Well, if he had intentions of killing Nollette, Keats and Surnow, why not set it up to appear the least likely suspect?
S: Yeah, but by the look of this, (she holds up a photo of Grable's accident scene) he's hamburger.
M: Maybe he staged it. That would explain why his work is continuing on, six months after his "death".




It really helped to build the case. In this episode even the viewer is being set up to believe Arthur faked his death.

S: Was he a practical joker?
DR. NOLLETTE: On top of all his brilliance, he had a genius for executing elaborate schemes.
M: Could he be making it seem like a man with a 70 IQ is gaining access to and, uh, operating his old computer files?
DR. NOLLETTE: Arthur would still have to be alive.

Often we are shown everything that happens, and the Agents have to figure out what we already know. This episode is so much more mysterious. But the next reveal is genius:

DR. NOLLETTE: If, you are trying to suggest that Arthur Grable killed Surnow and Keats and is after me next, you're way off. Art could not have done the murders.
S: How can you be so certain?
(cut to the scene in the cryogenic lab where Arthur's head is kept)

It's also full of great quotes.

BARRINGTON: This is Arthur Grable. Uh, because of the massive internal damage to his body caused by the car accident, we could only preserve the head.
S: Wouldn't your client find it somewhat inconvenient to be thawed out in the future, only to discover he had no functional mobility?
BARRINGTON: We believe that by the time science figures a way to revive our clients ...
M: ... you'll also know how to clone new bodies for them.
BARRINGTON: Exactly


M: You've got a brother, don't you Scully?
S: Yeah. I've got an older one and a younger one.
M: Well, have you ever thought about calling one of them all day long and then all of a sudden the phone rings and it's one of them calling you?
S: Does this pitch somehow end with a way for me to lower my long distance charges?



S: But in this case, one sibling has closer ties to a frozen fudgesicle than he does to his own brother.


Also, a really interesting, probably unintentional bit of foreshadowing when Mulder tells Roland about a dream he had, in order to get him to open up.

M: Tell me about your dreams, Roland. It's all right, I won't tell anybody. You know, I had a dream last night. I dreamt I was swimming in this pool. And I could see my father underwater, but when I dove down, the water stung my eyes. Then there was another man at the pool, watching me. He upset me. He was asking me questions I didn't want to answer. And I had to leave. I couldn't find my father.



I seriously doubt the writer of this episode had any idea what direction the show would eventually take with the complicated issue of Mulder's father, but I have to say, it's a hell of a coincidence. And it really works. You can so easily interpret the other man as CSM, and the dream being about how Mulder doesn't want to answer the hard questions about who his father really might be. Ultimately he can't find the man who he understands to be his father ( because A) he dies, and B) is not his father).


Best of all, this episode has one of the greatest deaths ever. Roland dunks a man's head in liquid nitrogen and...




...OH SNAP!

Born Again

This episode doesn't actually have an ounce of UST in it, which is probably why it always gets forgotten.

I have to tell you, it is a pretty great X-File. Seriously creepy, even scary in parts. That girl is so bang on; a poorly cast kid can really ruin things, but this girl was so scary.

I love her psychic powers. I love reincarnation stories. I even found the little deep sea diver image surprisingly scary. I never think of the X-Files as a scary show, ever, but this hidden gem of an episode really was!



The best is the hypnosis scene, or rather, the hypnosis video where an ambiguous image of the diver in the fish tank buzzes across the screen. Figuring it out that it was the last thing this ex-cop saw before he died kind of gave me chills.

The disfigured doll that the girl mangles repeatedly in therapy is super creepy, especially when you find out that's how the ex-cop was disfigured after his death.




The origami animals were a neat touch, but as much as I liked the giraffe being left of the doorstep, I think it was strange that the woman kept such a huge shrine to her first husband so prominently in her living room. As her second husband, I would probably get pretty jealous, to tell you the truth.



Cute that the writers thought they needed to explain to the viewers exactly what origami is. :p

The cutest part was when Mulder asked the composite artist to draw a funny mustache on the mug shot to make the little girl laugh. Aw.





Needless to say, Mulder and Scully don't exactly see eye to eye on this one. But even Scully kind of has to admit that the coincidences are too great to deny. She can at least acknowledge that something strange is going on, when they get brushed off, and realize certain pages are missing in the ex-cop's homicide file.




So much strangeness at least makes it easier for M & S to work together. They are both interested enough in the case to see it through togetner, despite their obvious differences of opinion. As a viewer, I felt the same way. I really wanted to know how this would wrap up.



I know it's not shippy, so most Philes would probably dismiss it as boring, but seriously, if you haven't recently, give this episode another try!

Tooms

Sequel!

They let Tooms go because Mulder sounds hopelessly crazy when giving his testimony. Scully misses out on the trial and can't give hers because she is too busy meeting with Skinner (first appearance!), who is telling her that despite the X-Files "conviction or case solution of seventy-five percent" is "well above the current bureau standard" she needs to reign it in and make sure they are all done by the book. Of course, given the nature of the cases, by-the-book investigations will mean closer to a zero percent case solution rate.



Why would he want that? Because CSM owns him! I think this is the first episode where CSM has a line, but he hovers in the background making it clear that he is pulling the strings, trying to keep the truth hidden.


Because as usual Mulder is right, and Law Enforcement is wrong, he insists on stalking/staking out Tooms.By keeping tabs on him Mulder will make sure he never eats the fifth and final liver that he requires before going back into hibernation.




M & S have have words about this stakeout, and Mulder calls Scully out for being kind of a tool:

S: Mulder, that's going to entail unorthodox methods of investigation.
M: Look, Scully, if you're resistant because you don't believe, I'll respect that. But if you're resistant because of some bureaucratic pressure, they've not only reeled you in. They've already skinned you.

Scully immediately knows he's right/ knows how stupid she just sounded, so she decided to be even more helpful than usual in proving Mulder is right.



Scully uses her time to find proof that Tooms can be linked to the 1930s murders. She eventually joins Mulder on his stakeout, and the famous Iced Tea scene ensues:

M: Tooms hasn’t come out of the house all day. I sat through a Phillies game, an Orioles game, and four hours of Ba-Ba-Booey. When it got dark, I took a walk around the block. Do you have that sandwich that I asked you to bring?
S: It’s liverwurst.
M: Ha-ha. (she is so funny :P)


S: Mulder, you know that proper surveillance requires two pairs of agents, one pair relieving the other after twelve hours.
M: Article 30, paragraph 8.7?
S: This isn’t about doing it by the book. This is about you not having slept for three days. Mulder, you’re going to get sloppy and you’re going to get hurt. It’s inevitable at this point.
M: A request for other agents to stake-out Tooms would be denied. Then we have no grounds.
S: Well, then I’ll stay here. You go home.




M: They’re out to put an end to the X-Files, Scully. I don’t know why, but any excuse will do. Now, I don’t really care about my record, but you’d be in trouble just for sitting in this car and I’d hate to see you to carry an official reprimand in your file because of me.
S: Fox...
M: I... (laughs uncomfortably) I even made my parents call me Mulder. So... Mulder.
S: Mulder, I wouldn’t put myself on the line for anybody but you.
M: (pauses, they look at each other) If there’s an ice tea in that bag, could be love.
S: Must be fate, Mulder. Root beer.







M: Here. Take my sandwich, I only had one bite. You’re gonna want it later, believe me. And you’ll call me if anything happens, immediately. I’ll be here.
Oh, and 11:30, station 790, Pete Rose Late Night Sports Talk Radio Show.
S: Wouldn’t miss it for the world. (not)


Woo, that was a lot of dialogue I saddled you with there, sorry about that.
So what do we have after all of that? First, she's bringing him a sandwich, and I kind of get a kick out of that. Scully has picked up that Mulder uses her first name when he wants her to know he seriously cares about what's happening to her, so she reciprocates. This makes Mulder uncomfortable either because he's shy/embarrassed about her caring about him, at least openly, or he's truly embarrassed by the name Fox. Who wouldn't be?



I would say Scully pretty much lays it all out when she says "I wouldn’t put myself on the line for anybody but you.". That was a surprising amount of honesty and emotional openness that you just don't expect from these characters. They make a habit out of subtlety and never revealing their feelings about anything. I think the sweetness and awkwardness of this scene is how that originates; after this, they both mainly keep their feelings under wraps, never speaking plainly about anything.

Normally, the quote is ended after the line about Root Beer, but I happen to really love Mulder's Sports Talk Radio suggestion. He's totally serious, but knows she won't listen anyway. He's kind of a closet sports geek, but that is the hobby of his that gets the least amount of attention :P





I just think that part was kind of adorable.



Finally, Mulder gets some sleep, and Tooms break into his house. First of all, ew, Mulder is that what you eat for dinner? You are such a stereotype bachelor it's not even funny!

Instead of eating his liver or anything that might help him survive, Tooms goes all vengeful on Mulder's ass. Using Mulder's shoe to make an imprint of his face, Tooms proceeds to beat himself up and check himself into a hospital, thereby framing Mulder and making them believe Mulder kicked his ass, when in face, Tooms kicked his own ass.


I think I would have just taken his liver but whatevs.

Mulder is reprimanded by Skinner, but Scully defends him, even lying a bit on his behalf, saying Mulder was with her on the stakeout the whole time. That definitely wasn't by the book; Mulder is surprised at his partner's loyalty.



By the time they track him down, Tooms has already eaten his final liver and is back in his hibernation nest. For some reason, that apartment building has been torn down and construction has already been completed on a brand new mall. Wow that was fast. I wish construction moved that quickly in real life, seriously!

They determine he must be hiding under the escalators. Scully thinks there is only room for one of them, and Mulder insists he go down. He dramatically removes his tie. I think Scully thinks that's hot.



Mulder is also never afraid to get really messy when on the job. Even if it's a nest made of bile. Tooms attacks and there is a close call, I guess, then Scully reaches down to rescue Mulder. I don't know why but I can't find a screen cap of it anywhere, but they do like, a really obvious close up of their hands grasping each other. It's not subtle enough to be accidental, so I can only assume we are supposed to notice it. They turn the escalator on, killing Tooms and solving their pest problem.



The episode ends with Scully catching Mulder staring at a cocoon.
M: It’s amazing how things change, isn’t it?
S: The caterpillar?
M: No, a change for us. It’s coming.



Maybe this gets Scully's hopes up. But wow, they seriously have no idea the magnitude of the changes that really are coming for them. I can't wait for Season Two!