Wetwired

A strong stand alone that manages to maybe be the most paranoid episode of the whole series.. and I love it. Maybe in my top ten, certainly in my top.. I dunno.. three of this season. Love it.

Lots of UST all over it, almost as much as the paranoia. Mulder joins Scully in her hotel room when they are watching hours and hours of tape recorded TV and makes himself awfully comfy on her couch. I think when you lie down and spend an entire conversation laying down, that's essentially an invitation..

People, including Scully are manipulated with subliminal messages in TV transmissions, made to believe their greatest fears were reality.

Scully's greatest fear, it seems, is that Mulder has been out to get her and collaborating with CSM this whole time. That the one person she trusts is actually involved in some elaborate betrayal. Her scenes are so intensely paranoid and fearful, and because they are somewhat uncharacteristic of her it's easier to understand why she becomes so distressed from it. Enough to tear apart her hotel room looking for listening devices.

For some reason, when she hears Mulder on the phone in the next room, and she leans in to the TV screen crunching on ice, it makes me so tense. I love it!

In turn, Mulder must face his ultimate fear as well; Scully's death.

The episode takes a surprisingly harsh turn when Mulder receives a phone call while enlisting the Gunmen's special brand of expertise. He just leaves.

FROHIKE: What happened?

M: Maryland State Police. They think they've found Scully.

(He opens the door.)

FROHIKE: Is she okay?

M: No, um... (pauses, shaky) they think maybe I should come down and I.D. the body. 

When we see Mulder pull into the parking spot and collect himself, it is so subtly heartbreaking, which makes it somehow more real. He can't quite prepare himself to face it, but he knows he may be faced with his partner's dead body. 

He's approached by an informant who tries to make him get in the car with him. Furious that he'd interrupt this very effing important task of ID a dead woman, Mulder kicks the man's door. I am so proud of him at this moment- yes! Stop being pushed around by these men you don't know, and focus on what's important.

In this case, who else could even do the job? Out of respect or perhaps to keep things going at a pace he can manage, Mulder even insists on pulling the blinds open himself. He's not ready but he does it anyway, and it's almost hard to watch as you wait for relief to wash across his face- it doesn't. He just says 'it's not her'. I think he's not quite over the initial shock. That bit was almost as good as the Pusher Russian Roulette scene.

That's not even the climax.

Then Mulder calls on Mrs Scully. From her body language, he knows he can find his partner inside the house, and when he does, she's already pulled a gin on him.  It's a tense scene when he tries to talk her down.

S: He's never trusted me.

M: Scully, you are the only one I trust.

S: (highly emotional, getting more so with every word) You're in on it. You're one of them. You're one of the people who abducted me. You put that thing in my neck. You killed my sister!

Mrs Scully: That's not true, Dana. 

Interestingly, this is the only time Scully has referenced to her abduction as an 'abduction'. This may or may not involve UFOs but the word carries certain connotations that may reveal something about what her hidden ideas of this experience may be.

 At this point, Mrs Scully, who trusts Mulder implicitly and even gets away with calling him 'Fox', steps in front of him to protect him.

Mrs Scully: I want you to listen to me...

S: Mom, just get out of the way!

Mrs Scully: You trust me, don't you? 

Of course she does. Mrs Scully is able to talk her daughter down, and Scully breaks down in her mom's arms.

Mrs Scully: That's why you came here, isn't it? You're safe here. Put the gun down, Dana.

They take Scully to the hospital where she is embarrassed about what happened. Mulder, to show there are no hard feelings, enters the room with arms raised in mock surrender. Cute :)

Later, Mulder finally confronts X, and we finally get confirmation of his double dealings. I love the parallel in dialogue at the end;

SKINNER: What about their killer?

M: (protecting X) He remains an unknown subject.

CSM:  What about Mulder's source?

X: He's been eliminated.

CSM: And his source? Who's he working with?

X: (protecting himself) That person remains unknown.