Little Green Men

I have been looking forward to this episode so much, I almost didn't allow myself to enjoy the last couple episodes of Season One! This is one of my go-to favourite episodes; I even had it on tape, and I watched over and over. I had the box set that went all the way up to One Breath. Wow. Best season ever.



Normally I don't like these introductory voice-overs at all, but in this one, not only are we treated to some actual scientific history, but it really sets the tone for the episode. It establishes how sad and defeated Mulder is now that the X-Files have been closed. Also, when the recorder suddenly starts playing that famous piece of Bach it gives me chills.

Even though the X-Files were closed in May, and this episode takes place in July, you get the impression M & S haven't seen or heard from each other very much since being reassigned. Scully is an instructor. When she's not afraid to get a little sentimental about a patient before an autopsy, one of her students says she sounds kind of Spooky. If she's not already thinking of Mulder, this is enough to make her try to contact him.



And Mulder is stuck on various garbage assignments. This man is depressed; just look at this:



The shells are piled ankle deep on the floor. The "best analyst in the violent crimes section" stuck on surveillance? Yeah, I don't blame him for being depressed.



To say he's sleepwalking is an understatement. He doesn't notice what's going on around him; not even Scully walking up to him and greeting him in the hall.



Ouch, that one hurt.

M & S have devised a secret way to contact each other; Scully puts a blank sticky-note on his picture of Samantha, and turns it down. They know to meet at a specific time and place.

"What have you found?" he asks her. She hasn't found anything, she's just so worried about him.

M: So why have you bothered to come here covertly?
S: (more than a little wounded) Because I realized that it was the only way that you would see me.
M: So what do you want?
S: To know that you’re all right. Mulder, you passed me today within a foot, but you were miles away.



He's almost annoyed at first, but when he realizes how genuinely concerned she is, he relaxes. He even relates a story to her about George E Hale, and how he came to build the largest telescope (at the time) in the world. That is, an elf jumped into his window and told him to do it.

S: And you’re worried that all your life, you’ve been seeing elves?
M: In my case... little green men.

He's really begun to doubt everything, even his memory of his sister's abduction. He's really lost hope, and frankly, the level of concern and caring on Scully's part is huge in this scene.

S: But, Mulder... during your time with the X-Files, you’ve seen so much.
M: That’s just the point. Seeing is not enough, I should have something to hold onto. Some solid evidence. I learned that from you.

Oh ouch.

I think of all of the things that make Scully feel horrible in this episode (and there seem to be a lot of surprising Scully-Angst in this episode), this is the worst. She feels like she's removed something truly vital from him, and this hurts her.

I also think this was an effort on the writers' part to remind us that Scully is supposed to be the skeptic in the show, because in these early episodes, she's a lot more open minded about all of it, but that complicates her role of steadfast skeptic.

They both seem more vulnerable by sitting/kneeling on the floor of the parking garage in this scene. Scully tries to make Mulder feel better.

S: Mulder, even if George Hale only saw elves in his mind, the telescope still got built. Don’t give up.

As she gets up, she ruffles his hair a bit.



S: And next time... we meet out in the open.

Very sweet scene. Love it.

Mulder is called to capitol (*cough* not parliament, oops) hill. If you remember from the pilot, Mulder said "the only reason I've been allowed to continue with my work is because I've made connections in congress."

Here we get to meet he man he was referring to, Senator Matheson. I love this character.




Matheson: Four and a half billion years from now, when the sun exhausts its fuel and swells to engulf the earth, this expression will still be out there, traveling four and a half billion years. That is, if it’s not intercepted first. Imagine, Fox. If another civilization out there were to hear this, they would think "what a wonderful place the earth must be".

Matheson brings him up to speed about what's going on with the SETI project in Puerto Rico, instructs him to get down there ASAP, because Blue Berets have been sent to destroy the evidence.

M: What am I looking for?



When he leans in and whispers "contact" into his ear I get serious chills every time.

We also establish what become the canonical version of Samantha's abduction in this episode.



Mulder vanishes, but because Matheson's office is being tapped, they may not know where he's going, but they know they need to find him. They question Scully, but even she doesn't know.

Skinner: She doesn’t know where he is.
CSM: How can you be so sure?
Skinner: Because if she knew, she wouldn’t be so worried about him.

Is that ever true. They count on Scully to find out, and lead them to Mulder. Apparently Scully already has keys to Mulder's apartment, the next scene is of her checking Mulder's voice mail, and correctly guessing his e-mail password. She finds a document from Matheson, reading something about 'Galactic Longitude'. She's more than puzzled by that, and prints it off, only to be interrupted by two Goons surveiling Mulder's apartment.

Goon: Please explain why you’re here.
S: I was told by the Assistant Director that Mulder was gone.
Goon: So?
S: So, whenever he’s away, I feed his fish.



Dig Scully's 'I'm smarter than you' face. They almost take the document, though, before they decide it's probably a self-test that printers used to do sometimes (do they still, I wonder?). She outsmarts Them left and right in this ep.

Scully takes the 'self test' to Dr. Troisky, who compares it to the 'Wow Signal'- a radio signal from the 70s that was so clearly not part of the usual galactic background noise, they took it as the best evidence of extraterrestrial life. But the Doctor says this is even better.

By checking the passenger manifests for every flight to a city with a SETI project (wow, Scully really will do anything to find him), she finds a passenger suspiciously named 'George E Hale'.

Meanwhile in Peurto Rice, Mulder is finding amazing evidence in the form of tapes, and a local man named Jorge who has seen aliens first hand, and scared shitless, hides in the 'banyo'. All the while, he's talking into a tape recorder. Not until after Jorge runs into the jungle and dies of fright, do we learn Mulder's recordings have all been directed at Scully. Don't think that's insignificant.



M: My God, Scully. It’s as if he’s been frightened to death. Again, Scully, nothing but evidence... and again, no evidence at all.

Beyond just recording the events, he becomes emotional, and even reaches out to a Scully that will probably never even hear this tape. Kind of like writing love letters, than throwing them in the garbage, never intending to send them.

M: Even if I could see them, would they really be there? How do I know this isn’t some classified military satellite? These transmissions are from the Voyager, for God’s sake. Could extraterrestrials really have intercepted them? Or is this just some elaborate joke played on those who want to believe? I was sent here by one of those people.

The whole time he is breathless, exhausted, not just from this absolutely crazy trip, but also from the whole situation that his life in.

M: Deep Throat said "Trust no one." And that’s hard, Scully... suspecting everyone, everything. It wears you down. You even begin to doubt what you know is the truth.
Before, I could only trust myself. Now, I can only trust you... and they’ve taken you away from me.


I've added those italics because his voice is actually quite pitiful when he says it. It's as if once the X-Files were toast, he couldn't think about or acknowledge anything to do with them- it was better to push the X-files completely out of his life, Scully included. But her visit with him served to remind him that she's really there for him. He can and should rely on her.



M: My life up to this point has been about the need to see her again. To see them. But what would I do if they really came?

As if on cue, the tape records starts again, playing back what Mulder just recorded. He rewinds the tape and plays it over again to make sure he's not just making things up, but the SETI recorded echoes back eerily 'Trust no one', and with that, a light flashes and Mulder has a legitimate close encounter that echoes his memory of Samantha's abduction, down the the gun that won't fire.



Chills. Seriously.

Scully arrives the next morning to find Mulder passed out so completely, she's sure he was dead.



A little crazed, Mulder rushes around the room trying to explain what happened, and that he has proof; tons of it, everywhere. They have no time to collect it; a rumbling interrupts them.

S: Is that them?
M: No, this isn’t it. (he checks outside) It’s the Blue Berets Crash Retrieval Team. They’ll kill us. Help me with the body.
S: We don’t have time.
M: Help me!
S: Mulder, we’re never going to be able to get the body out of the country!



Shit. She's right. What can he grab? Quick! He frantically tries to collect something but Scully reminds him helpfully "evidence is worthless if you're dead!". Before they make a run for it, he manages to grab a tape, being forced (heartbreaking) to leave all of the other evidence behind.




The Blue Berets chase them down the hill in a Jeep. Cut to Mulder being chewed out by Skinner, big time.

Skinner: The entire surveillance, all the months of work on this case, gone. Just like you, gone. This has four-bagger all over it, Mulder. Censure, transfer, suspension, probation.



Mulder is surprised they even noticed he was gone, it being a bullshit assignment anyway. Busy work. He casually mentions his phone was wiretapped "an illegal procedure without a court order."

This surprises Skinner, and he glares at CSM and tells him to get the hell out. CSM can't hide his shock. Excuse me? I don't think Skinner knew just how serious this shit was until now. Mulder still needs to be punish, so he tells him to get back on surveillance. They need 'more to go on'.



Fine, he uses the surveillance setup to listen to his SETI tape. It's blank. Heartbreaking for both of them.

S: You know, an electrical surge in the outlet the storm may have degaussed everything, erasing the entire tape... You still have nothing.

Mulder gets up and start fidgeting with the tapes. He even looks shy when he says this.

M: I may not have the X-Files, Scully, but I still have my work. And I’ve still got you. And I still have myself.



What a look she gives him when he says that. She squeezes his hand when he sits back down, before she leaves.


What's great about this scene, is it really solidifies their partnership. Even though they are no longer assigned to work together, they both realize how important it is that they stick together no matter what. From now on, it really is Mulder and Scully vs the World.