Quagmire

... Giggety?

I sometimes feel like this episode only exists so that they end up stranded on a rock at the end. Cute moments throughout seem to lead up to the wildly popular scene that usually pushes this otherwise ordinary ep into shippers' top ten lists. (Well, not mine....)

Any evidence of Life Outside of Work on this show is usually given as evidence of a budding relationship. Here, Mulder pulls Scully away on her weekend. She doesn't have to come along, but she does (possibly remembering what happened the last time she declined to join him on a weekend investigation). She brings Queequeeg- Mulder's remark makes it clear he's let her know what he thinks of that thing. I'm of the same opinion...

Scully also implies in the same conversation that they have discussed kennels (and what she thinks of them) previously. 

M: Did you really have to bring that thing?

S: You wake me up on a Saturday morning, tell me to be ready in five minutes, my mother is out of town, all of the dog sitters are booked, and you know how I feel about kennels. So unless you want to lose your security deposit on the car, I suggest you pull over. 

So Scully joins Mulder on a rather silly trip to investigate a Loch Ness, Ogopogo kind of crypto-animal, lucky her.

M: Sounds like you know a little something about the subject.
S: I did as a kid. But, then I grew up, and became a scientist.

She loses her dog in the middle of it, and I think Mulder is too busy being relived to be of much comfort to her.

His lack of kindness in their hotel room is made up for on their boat ride, and he even manages to get a smile out of Scully; a real smile by doing nothing other than just being himself... Even though hours previously she was beyond words with grief over this "dog"... I am a little surprised she's so attached to the damned thing lol!

Big Blue attacks the boat, stranding them on the rock, lord knows how far from the shore in any direction......

M: When you're living in the city you forget that night is actually so...dark. 

They actually manage to seem quite vulnerable sitting on a rock in a lake, and as Mulder said real dark is so surprisingly dark. Not many people actually get to experience darkness- you may as well have your eyes shut.

Or, you know, bundle up with your partner nearby and exchange mild flirtations and charming hypotheticals. 

M: Hey Scully, you think you could ever cannibalize someone? I mean if you really had to.

S: Well as much as the very idea is abhorrent to me, I suppose under certain conditions a living entity is practically conditioned to perform whatever extreme measures are necessary to ensure its survival. I suppose I'm no different.

M: You've lost some weight recently haven't you?

S: Well, actually I have, thanks for... (stops and glares a bit, realizing he's not sincerely taking an interest in her improved appearance but is teasing her about cannibalism)

We already knew about Scully's father sharing Moby Dick nicknames, but Mulder asks about her dog's name; Scully comes to a realization.

S: It's funny, I just realized something.

M: It's a bizarre name for a dog, huh?

S: No, how much you're like Ahab. You're so consumed by your personal vengeance against life, whether it be its inherent cruelties or mysteries, everything takes on a warped significance to fit your megalomaniacal cosmology.

M: Scully, are you coming on to me?

S: It's the truth or a white whale. What difference does it make? I mean, both obsessions are impossible to capture, and trying to do so will only leave you dead along with everyone else you bring with you. You know Mulder, you are Ahab.

M: You know, its interesting you should say that, because I've always wanted a peg leg. It's a boyhood thing I never grew out of. (seriously!)  I'm not being flippant, I've given this a lot of thought. I mean. if you have a peg leg or hooks for hands then maybe its enough to simply keep on living. You know, braving facing life with your disability. But without these things you're actually meant to make something of your life, achieve something earn a raise, wear a necktie. So if anything I'm actually the antithesis of Ahab, because if I did have a peg leg I'd quite possibly be more happy and more content not to be chasing after these creatures of the unknown.

S: And that's not flippant?

M: No, flippant is my favourite line from Moby Dick. 'Hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple dumpling' (Scully repeats this line along with Mulder, duly impressed with his ability to quote from this most important book in her library).

Strangely, it's Scully who tries to cheer up a gloomy Mulder at the end of the episode. 

S: Well, you slued the big white whale, Ahab.

M: Yeah, but I still don't have that peg leg.

S: How can you be disappointed? That alligator would have gone through half the local population if you hadn't killed it.

M: I know. I guess I just wanted Big Blue to be real.