This episode is a perfect example of why I’m really glad I’m doing this slow re-watch and review, so I have time to actually appreciate this episode.
On the surface, not much actually happens in this season opener, so it feels a little boring and kind of like a letdown after the action-packed, fast-moving plot of the season finale. Like, the vast majority of this episode is Mulder monologuing and moping around, with just a little bit of Scully and Skinner thrown in.
But, that’s just the surface. Reflecting further on this episode, it is really a reminder of what The X-files is about. Sure, the show is about aliens and the paranormal/unusual, and government conspiracies. Deeper down, though, the show is about the search for truth, about ourselves, about each other, and about the world. It’s about the question: “Are we alone in the Universe”; the question I think every single human asks at some point in their life at least once. The answer to this question is out there, just maybe not in the way Mulder expects, or wants. The answer lies not out there, but down here, in each other.
So, overall, this relatively quiet episode really establishes, or reestablishes, for the audience what this show is about, at its core. It’s not the most exciting episode, particularly compared to the “Pilot” and “The Erlenmeyer Flask”, but it really is a key episode to understand the show.
The classic opening monologue
This episode begins with a long monologue, narrated by Mulder, discussing humanity’s long search for life outside Earth. Mulder details the two Voyager spacecraft sent to carry messages of friendship and knowledge to other life out in the Universe. But, he says: we didn’t only want to speak with other potential life. We also wanted to listen for any communications some other life might try to send our way. NASA developed the High Resolution Microwave Survey, to scan millions of frequencies with radio telescopes for any possible signals coming from outside our atmosphere. But this project was quickly stopped by Senator Richard Bryan, ensuring at least that no government funding would go towards any “SETI” projects.
Mulder feels now more than ever that his search for extraterrestrial life has been stopped by the government: No longer given tools to listen, or to speak, or even to search now that his “X-files” duties have been taken way. Rather than listening for alien life, poor Mulder is now reduced to listening to men discussing strippers and lap dances for hours (side note: presumably these men are involved in some sort of…fraud? Why exactly is the FBI wiretapping this motel?)
These long opening monologues of mythology episodes, particularly season openers and season finales, will become classic for The X-Files. Honestly, I have somewhat mixed feelings about them. For this episode, I do feel it was well-executed, particularly with the inclusion of Bach’s "Brandenburg Concerto Number Two" and Kurt Waldheim speaking the message from Voyager 1. Some of the future monologues definitely get…quite cheesy and over-the-top though.
“Spooky” Scully
I just need to comment on this brief little moment toward the beginning, when Scully was teaching a class of new FBI trainees.
Scully generally gets portrayed as the “normal” one compared to Mulder, and, sure, she is more rational, logical, and scientific. But, uh, at her core, she is just as weird as Mulder, going on an existential soliloquy about brain tissue and how it holds the consciousness of a man…to her students. Without even being aware of what she is saying.
Yeah, Scully is also weird, and Mulder and Scully are made for each other. No one else wants to listen to either one of them (including, I’m sure, poor Skinner who has to read all of their case notes that include long existential writings similar to this sometimes 😅)
Senator Matheson
In the “Pilot”, it was briefly hinted that Mulder had at least one contact in the Senate who was passing him information, but this is the first time we are introduced to that Senator: Richard Matheson.
We are introduced to him in what I did feel was a somewhat unnecessarily dramatic fashion: Some aide (?) of Matheson just throws Mulder’s door open in the middle of the night and tells him he’s going to the Senate?!
Number one, why don’t you lock your door Mulder?! You already know that people were spying on you a couple of months ago, and it was very recently that Eugene Tooms broke into your apartment and tried to frame you for an attack. Also, you live in D.C. (Alexandria, but close enough). Even in the 90s, I feel like people who lived in cities were locking their fucking doors, Mulder!!!
Number two, OMG, why does he just apparently go down to the Senate without asking any questions?! I suppose we are meant to assume Mulder at least recognizes this aide. But Deep Throat literally just told you to “Trust No One”, Mulder. Soooooooo why are you still trusting this Senator, who it doesn’t actually seem you know that well?
I will say that a random meeting in the Senate at, midnight or whatever, actually does seem very realistic. Especially if they’re trying to keep this low-key. But it’s still wild, and yet another example of Mulder only being paranoid when he wants to be, rather than all the time, as he probably should be!
Anyway. Senator Matheson. An interesting character addition, for sure, and definitely needed in this episode since Deep Throat is gone and Mulder doesn’t have his “X-files” resources, so there was no other way he could’ve found that military classified (???) signal detected in Puerto Rico.
My main gripe with the character of Senator Matheson is that (spoiler), we actually end up seeing very little of him throughout the rest of the series. I don’t know if maybe the writers thought the audience would find a Senator a boring character, or were really trying to stick with the “all government except Mulder and Scully are bad and covering up things” message, but I feel that Matheson could have been a very interesting character to have pop up more often, at least once a season. To give Mulder another tangible connection to the government, and someone else “in his corner” regarding his work.
But instead he is basically just used as a means to get this detected radio signal to Mulder here, and then I think is referenced maybe…3 or 4 more times in the entire series. So, in retrospect, the character feels like a wasted opportunity.
Useful and necessary in this episode, but just one of the many cases where I really wish the writers developed a character more rather than introducing so many different characters at different times. Give us a lasting connection to more characters! Please?
Retconning Samantha’s abduction…
OK, so, in the “Pilot” Mulder says this regarding his sister’s abduction: “She just disappeared out of her bed one night. Just gone, vanished. No note, no phone calls, no evidence of anything.” And throughout the rest of season 1, when Samantha is brought up, no other scenario is ever implied.
Here, we see a flashback to the night of Samantha’s abduction: It is revealed that Mulder was babysitting her on the night she was abducted, and that he remembers a bright light, Samantha floating away, and a vague, not quite human figure in the door. In other words, definitely classic signs of an apparent alien abduction, seemingly directly witnessed by Mulder at age 12.
In attempting to explain this quite sudden change in how Samantha’s abduction occurred, Chris Carter essentially said something along the lines of “well, Mulder’s hypnosis-induced memories aren’t reliable, and he was traumatized!”
Which, I mean…fair. Mulder absolutely is traumatized, and I will grant that it is very likely he doesn’t remember how the abduction actually occurred (as we will continue to learn…) But, apparently not remembering that Mulder was home and responsible for his sister when she disappeared feels like a big thing to forget, or not tell Scully either on that night in the motel room or one of the other times Samantha was brought up in the past year. Because that fact alone really explains Mulder’s fixation and obsession and desire to figure out what happens—he thinks it was his fault.
Now, you do wonder if Mulder had indeed completely suppressed that fact, and some others. From what we are shown, Mulder underwent hypnosis before Scully came along, but it certainly is possible and perhaps even quite likely that he is continuing to do some hypnosis sessions and is slowly remembering more, including that he himself witnessed…something…the night his sister was taken. And maybe the further trauma and disappointment of losing his “X-files” brought out more memories from the depths of his brain, as Mulder struggles to find a reason to continue his search after so much was just taken from him again.
I dunno. TV shows and movie and book series retcon shit all the time, so I’m not exactly picking on the show for doing this, but I did need to point it out. Also because the exact story of Samantha’s abduction will continue to change (spoiler??? not that we know anything or I’m saying what it will change to…) basically showing that the writers had no idea where they wanted to go with the Samantha storyline at the start.
Dana Scully, fish caretaker
I think this is the first time that we really see Mulder’s fish tank, which will remain throughout the entire first 9 seasons at least (I don’t remember it in the revival?) I absolutely love that Mulder has fish and that they remain throughout the series as a little “side character” of Mulder. This man absolutely could not take care of a dog or cat or even some rats, but he does love his fish and keeps them around.
And Scully cares about the fish too! You can’t just dump a bunch of food into the tank! Only feed the fish what they need, not too much so that it settles and starts to decompose, causing bacterial growth and general poor water quality.
Although, uh, I do need to point out that it doesn’t seem Scully actually does feed the fish? She is eavesdropping on the two FBI spy dudes, casually dumps the food on the shelf while opening the container, pushes the food into the printout so she can have it…and then doesn’t actually give the fish food?!
I will choose to believe that she really does care about the fish and actually fed them when she entered the apartment, and then just used this second time as a little ruse for the FBI spies.
Cause you gotta take care of the fishies!
Events Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Ooooooooookay, let’s now get into the bulk of what actually happens in this episode. Which, as stated, isn’t really all that much, and I’ll get into why I still think that is good, actually, in a little bit here.
Mulder is able to board a plane to Puerto Rico using a fake name (Ah, the 90s…), and then quite easily convinces a local to drive him to the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory, which, uh, appears like it is supposed to be classified, or at least definitely off limits to the general public.
But, apparently not off limits enough, or not protected enough, that Mulder can’t still trek through the dense rainforest around the fence and make his way inside.
Doing a real good job of protecting your “state secrets” or whatever there, U.S. military…
The door to the main room at the observatory is locked, though Mulder breaks it quite easily with the handy clippers he brought along with him. The main power seemingly isn’t working, though we see and hear a tape recorder mysteriously whirring…
Mulder then finds a local Puerto Rican (Jorge) man hiding in the bathroom, terrified of something. The translation of what Jorge says (which I do not think Mulder understands at all) is that some non-humanoid creatures, that still looked close to humans came after there were red and blue lights in the sky. They put Jorge in the bathroom and Jorge believes the creatures are still out in the rainforest somewhere.
Later, Mulder and Jorge are in the main room together, and magically, the power now seems to be working despite there being a storm outside sooooooo you’d think if it was going to go out, it would be at this time rather than earlier, even if Mulder found the breaker to reset or a generator or something. Anyway, the tape recorder turns on by itself, playing first the Voyager message and then a high-pitched noise that sends poor terrified Jorge running out into the thunderstorm/tropical storm outside. Mulder (stupidly…) chases after him, and discovers that Jorge is dead, with an expression that certainly implies he was scared to death.
While Mulder is taking on Scully’s role and attempting to record his observations of a dead body (though he won’t be doing any actual autopsy of course 😉), Mulder is interrupted by red and blue lights flashing, the tape player starting, and then, quite suddenly, the door to the lab opening with a vague, humanoid alien shape standing there. Mulder attempts to shoot at the figure before light engulfs the room and Mulder seemingly passes out before Scully finds him (thank god).
If that sequence of events sounds confusing, it’s because it is, and my personal theory behind why these events seem so random, confusing, and erratic is because, quite simply: None of that did happen, except in Mulder’s head. Besides him apparently being able to enter the lab, of course. I don’t know that my personal theory here is what the writers intended, but it’s my interpretation.
(It’s also clearly what Scully believes is most likely, as he directly asks Mulder if he saw the aliens in the lab/observatory, or in his head)
Look, Mulder has already definitely been a bit out of his head the last couple of weeks, or however long it’s been since the “X-files” closed. He hasn’t been sleeping, he took a flight to Puerto Rico on a whim, and then he trekked through a rainforest seemingly with no food or water that we see, in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. To me, it is 100% believable that Mulder entered the lab and found it empty, and he either passed out from dehydration or is at least hallucinating because of his lack of food and water. Probably, he did find the body of Jorge either in the bathroom, or somewhere else in the lab. To me, it doesn’t seem likely that Jorge just…found his way in there and was still alive, especially because the door was padlocked and the lab seemed totally out of commission (so like, no need for a janitor or anyone else working there). Sure, I suppose you could go with the “aliens placed him there” theory, but it seems awfully odd that the aliens would be kind enough to re-padlock the door on their way out. Vastly more likely that Jorge was someone who previously lived or worked in the lab, and got locked in or forgotten there, and actually has been dead for a while? Maybe?
Anyway. To me, the whole locked-room, anxiety-filled, erratic storyline occurring in the lab feels like something taking place in someone’s imagination. Mulder trying frantically to find something, anything in that lab that might provide him with some proof of alien contact, and working himself so hard (again, without any food or water…in a hot humid rainforest…) that he begins hallucinating. He starts questioning everything he knows, and wonders, as he says “what he would do if they really came”. Pushing himself into imagining that they do come, but then seemingly just leave again without actually…doing anything? Just stand ominously in a door and shine some lights at Mulder?
These events are very anxiety-filled and suspenseful, I will grant that. Considering that nothing much happens, and we only see a vague “alien” silhouette, those scenes are some of the most haunting ones so far, but to me that’s because we are feeling the anxiety and paranoia Mulder is feeling. Not of anything actually happening, but more the pure anxiety of wondering: Are we alone? And if we’re not, what do they want?
Are we alone in the Universe?
Which brings me to: The core of what I really think this episode, and the entire series is about. And why I actually really like this episode, despite the erratic storyline and not much happening outside that tiny, dark room at the observatory with Mulder and (maybe???) a terrified stranger.
The question at the core of this episode is: Are we alone in the Universe? And that question is, in my opinion, at the very core of humanity. It is so beautifully human to want to search for other life, to want to connect, to want to believe that there is intelligent life somewhere else outside Earth.
That question is the reason why we sent out the Voyager missions in the 1970s, and why the SETI programs to also listen for communication from outside were started (and then stopped, sadly). The optimism, and hope, of wanting to believe there is other life out there. We want to share our experiences and knowledge with others, and listen to whoever might be out there.
For sure, there are some people who scoff at the mere idea of searching for intelligent life, but I genuinely think everyone has wondered at least once: Is there life elsewhere? Or are humans alone in the vast Universe?
Personally, I’m not sure which is the more terrifying thought: That there is other intelligent life out there (which may or may not be hostile) but we cannot find it yet, or that intelligent, human life was an evolutionary fluke. Or even that the simple creation of any kind of life was a complete accident, just some chemical reactions that happened in the perfect way at the perfect time in the perfect location close to a star. Actually, maybe I do know, because that last statement is scariest to me. I don’t believe in “aliens” in the sense that Mulder does, but I do want to believe, desperately, that there is some form of life on another moon or planet somewhere. Maybe we cannot recognize it because it is too different from what we are used to. But the idea that the creation of life was a scientific accident…that is scary to me.
Now, of course, The X-Files is about the search for alien life and government conspiracies to coverup past and current contact with alien life, and we will continue to delve further into those storylines (with…mixed results. I know I’ve stated before that the monster-of-the-week episodes are my favourites, and the mythology gets verrrrrry messy, though can still be enjoyable)
But, at the heart of the show lies the simple question: Are we alone in the Universe?
That is the truth that Mulder is searching for, and that Scully will come to search for as well.
The ultimate answer to that question, and the answer we begin to find in this episode is: No. We are not alone. Alien life may or may not be out there, but humans are not alone because we have each other. The answers to the deepest questions we have actually can be found right here, in other people.
At least, that’s what I take away from the series, and what I feel this episode first really starts to illustrate for us. It’s such an important message, and it means a lot to me. ❤️
A love letter from Scully to Mulder
This then leads me into the second major reason why I love this episode: It feels like a love letter from Scully to Mulder, which is then ever so slightly responded to and reciprocated at the very end.
Mulder has quite clearly given up on his search almost completely, and it is Scully who reaches out to him and basically tells him to get up off his ass and keep looking. She knows how important the search for the truth is to Mulder, and she knows that he is very much not all right. And, I do think that now that she has seen some of the weird shit the government is getting up to (trying to keep and develop a homicidal computer program, cloning “perfect” children, explicitly lying to Mulder, and possibly keeping a weird alien fetus), she also wants to know the truth and does want to keep looking. Even if she doesn’t believe in aliens or anything as much as Mulder (yet).
Scully also wants to keep searching, and she knows neither of them can do it alone.
The effort Scully puts into reaching out to Mulder, encouraging him, and then flying to Puerto Rico to save him is message of: You are not alone, Mulder. Don’t give up. Your search is important, and the work you are doing is important, and you are important. Poor Mulder is so devastated about losing his work that I don’t think he has quite realized how close he did get to a very important truth in the last episode. That’s why they shut you down, Mulder. Because they’re scared of you and your relentlessness.
By the end of the episode, Mulder essentially returns a love letter to Scully, as he has realized that if nothing else, he still has her along with him on this search. He has his work, and he has himself, but most importantly, he has Scully.
And they both desperately need each other, to find the answers to their questions.
Genuinely, whether you go the route of “they’re just platonic best friends” or “OMG they’ve clearly been in love forever”, in my heart I really believe that the connection between Mulder and Scully is what makes The X-Files so special. Yes, basically every cop/law enforcement type of show tells a story about partners, and more often than not they include a sometimes annoying, occasionally heartwarming romance. But. With Mulder and Scully the story really is: I can’t do this alone, and you can’t do this alone either, and I’m here for you, in whatever way you need.
And that means a lot, whether it’s romance or friendship. ❤️
(They definitely love each other though 🥰)
A.D. Skinner!!!!
We get the return of A.D. Skinner here! Hooray!
Just two brief notes on his ending scene with Mulder and the Cigarette Smoking Man:
I love that he tells Mulder off for shirking his “work” duties, but then realizes that really, he can’t fire Mulder. I mean, he can, logistically, and I’m sure the higher ups would be thrilled to get rid of Mulder. But Skinner knows Mulder is too good of an agent, too good of an investigator, and really Skinner needs to find some way to at least get Mulder reassigned as some sort of investigative field agent, “X-files” or not.
FUCK YEAH, you kick that cigarette smoking asshole out of your office! Good job Walter!
Our “Completely Platonic Coworkers”
This first one is maybe not “flirting”, but OMG this is so cute. “I learned that from you” I love them.
Oh my GOD Scully just casually ruffles Mulder’s hair while he’s squatting in the parking garage brooding. Totally normal coworker things
Unnecessary touching under the guise of “checking on Mulder”
Mulder places Scully as even more important than his work 🥹
The 90s™
All these old-school tape players Mulder had to use to record/listen to those two criminals
Mulder’s desktop computer, particularly this hilarious 90s software reading or whatever this is
Mulder was just able to board a flight to Puerto Rico under a fake name. Didn’t have to show ID or anything I guess?
WILD.
“I’m surprised you even noticed I was gone, let alone wiretap my phone...an illegal procedure without a court order.”
Hahahahahahahaha
Oh Mulder
You’re going to be very upset in a few years
Goofs/Bloopers/Fun Facts
Other than the Samantha’s abduction retconning, which I can somewhat get behind even if it’s a little annoying, my main “Goof” with this episode is Scully telling Mulder “We’ll never get the body out of the country!”
Scully.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory
Now, would you probably still have a hard time getting it on a plane? Especially since this wasn’t an FBI case?
Yes.
But just say “We’ll never get it off the island!”
Saying “country” makes the writers sound like idiots who don’t know even the most basic US geography
I didn’t know where else to put this, but I do need to highlight that Mulder and Scully meeting at the Watergate Complex parking garage was a nice touch.
Overall Thoughts/Summary
Episode rating: 8/10. I know! I’m a little surprised too, because as I stated at the top, this was always kind of an episode I just casually watched and didn’t appreciate on previous re-watches. Just an “OK, let’s get into the second season, it’s only a couple episodes now until the storyline really picks up again”
But, now looking back and digging deeper, I really do think this episode is a critical one, as it reminds both the audience and Mulder what the search is really about. It’s a stop and slow down after the action-packed season finale. Ask the questions. Refocus on what the search is really about. And realize that other people are perhaps the most important asset to have along on the search for the truth.
X-files cases “solved” to date: Well there definitely wasn’t an actual case in this episode…I guess we have that Mulder is trying to “solve” whatever caused that signal recorded/heard from outer space, and he definitely did not solve that. Or even figure out exactly how Jorge died.
So. We start the season at a total of 20/25 cases solved so far. And not a strong start this season with solving cases…
Well, I think this was a nice start to the second season. Not as plot-filled and definitely not exciting, but I feel really important for establishing what the show is about at its core.
Let me know what you think about my personal interpretation about those “events” that occurred at the Arecibo Observatory.
Next week we have “The Host” which, like “The Jersey Devil” is definitely a classic episode of the series, though uh, I also remember it being quite a gross episode. So. We’ll see how that goes.