basementcherub

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I'm gonna be honest the only reason I started watching the x files is because I assumed by the way people on tumblr talked about them that "mulder and scully" were a couple of gay old men whose relationship was never canonized and when I found out the reality that this website had so much good to say about a couple of young attractive heterosexuals I had to see what the hype was about

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Mulder, can I ask you a personal question? — Of course not.

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The X-FIles 7.17 "All Things" | 11.03 "Plus One"

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some organizations working on the ground in gaza right now

gaza soup kitchen

the sameer project

salam charity

watermelon relief

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how to say "I love you" in x-files [228/?] ⤷ 1.01 — “Pilot”

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Watching the X Files for the first time, just finished the first episode.

I’m greatly enjoying it and am recognizing its influence on other tv shows. Can’t wait to watch more, really hoping there is a werewolf episode

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The X-Files didn't intend to be a romance and yet, somehow, Mulder and Scully have become the epitome of love for me.

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how to say "I love you" in x-files [224/?] ⤷ 4.20 — “Small Potatoes”

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its very rare for a het ship to make me feel well and truly deranged. ive nearly finished s3 of the x files and mulder and scully have me kicking my feet Head in my hands 😞 free me

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The X-Files Herrenvolk | 4.01

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taking notes on the horrors as usual

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My Top Ten Mulder & Scully Hand Holds

Because on X-Files holding hands is the equivalent of 1st base. So here is a list of my favorite times Mulder and Scully held hands. (I should be doing real work, but fuck, this important too, right?) 

Disclaimer: none of the gifs our mine. Message me I’ll happily give any and everyone credit where credit is due. 

10. Dreamland - The “Forearm Grab/ We’re Partners” Hold

I’m actually not a fan of this episode, (read more on that here) but I can’t deny the power of this shot. Mulder and Scully holding hands on the Area 51 highway as mysterious lights pass overhead. It’s so iconic and so perfectly X-Files that it has to be on this list. (If anyone has a gif of this moment please send my way.)

9.  Tithonus - The “Thumb War in the Hospital” Hold

It’s so sweet and friendly. thetvmouse referred to it as a secret handshake and I think she’s onto something. I like to think they do this every time one of them is in the hospital, which is a fuckton. (Funny that the FBI’s health insurance never audited Mulder and Scully, but the end of the series their deductibles must’ve been a fortune!)

It’s classic Mulder and Scully: communicating through loaded gestures only they understand and leaving the rest of us to fill in the blanks.

No doubt about it, this is their secret hospital handshake. 

8. Post-Modern Prometheus - The “Take My Hand, We’re Gonna Dance” Hold

Is this technically a hold? They clutch hands then it leads to dancing. If this does count as a hand hold, it’s the one that yields the best results. 

7. Field Trip - The “Reaching for Each Other in the Ambulance” Hold

There are multiple ways to look at this. At face value, this hold represents the strength of their connection. They were almost digested in the earth, locked in hallucinations from their own minds, and the thing that broke them out was how well they knew each other. Deep down they need each other exactly as they are. Mulder doesn’t want Scully to unquestioningly accept aliens and Scully doesn’t want to have to go back to living in an ordered and conspiracy-free universe. The truth they both know is that as long as they have each other, warts and all, they can survive anything. 

Then there’s the alternate theory of this episode: that Mulder and Scully actually did die in the field and that everything after this episode, the season 6 finale, seasons 7, 8, 9 and I Want To Believe are all an elaborate hallucination conjured up by their dying minds. If we buy that interpretation there’s still beauty in this gesture. If they are dying, then they are dying together, connected for eternity. 

6. Little Green Men - The “I Still Have You” Hold

Is this the first time they held hands? I’m not sure. It certainly is the a big gesture for their partnership. The bureau may try to keep them physically apart, they may try to destroy Mulder’s work and break his spirt, but Mulder and Scully are in this together, partners through and through. It’s also a demonstration of a powerful hand holding theme we see later: Scully choosing to stand by Mulder.  (I’d love a gif of this too)

5. Redux II - The “I Don’t Want to Let You Go” Hold

This is such a beautiful vulnerable Scully moment. She usually doesn’t let her emotions control her actions which is what makes this hold all the more heartbreaking. She’s dying and this could be her last moment with Mulder. She knows has to let him go do his thing, fight for his quest, but deep down she wants him to stay with her until she slips into the dark. So she has a moment, just a moment, where she wants to be selfish, she wants to beg him to stay, wants to hold onto him as long as she has breath in her body. But she knows she can’t stand in the way of him or his quest, so she slips her hand from his fingers and releases him, letting him continue fighting the fight without her. 

4. The Truth - The “Hold and Kiss”

There are very few moments we get to enjoy Mulder and Scully openly expressing their love for each other. This is one of the finest, especially the way he locks eyes with her. They never verbally say the words “I love you” but Mulder is saying it here and Scully knows it. We all know it. 

3. Red and Black - The “Reaching for Mulder in the Dark”  

Her mind is in another place. She’s on the bridge with a score of fellow abductees, watching as strange lights fly overhead and rebels surround them for the slaughter. But even when her mind is elsewhere, facing the unknown alone, her body instinctively reaches for Mulder, subconsciously aware that he’s next to her and she needs him. This is important for Mulder too, this session comes in the season where Mulder is questioning his beliefs, more skeptical of the alien conspiracy and his memories than we’ve ever seen him. After Scully gives her account of the events, Mulder remains unconvinced, unable to believe that Scully’s ordeal actually happened. Yet, in this moment, even if he doesn’t believe her, he’s there for her. Mulder’s always there for Scully. 

2. Pusher - The “Delicate Finger Grab” 

I love this for so many reasons. Nothing in Mulder and Scully’s relationship is conventional, not even the way they hold hands. Scully’s reach is tentative: her searching, delicate fingers hoping to offer comfort but not fully committing. Mulder needs to complete the gesture, if he doesn’t want it, she’ll move her hand away. But he does. He reaches out and clutches her fingers tightly, reassuring her that they feel the same way. They just faced one of the biggest threats to their partnership and they passed. This is a confirmation of their connection. “Are we okay?” Scully asks, with her tentative hands. “Yes,” Mulder says with a squeeze, “we’re okay.”

What’s also great about this hold is according to Vince Gillian, who wrote the episode, he had to fight for it. Apparently both Chris Carter and Frank Spotniz where reluctant to put it in fearing it’d was “too soap operay.” But Vince fought for it and rightfully so. It’s a testament to the strength and power of the MSR ‘ship, even in the early days of the series. 

1. Fight The Future, The Beginning, I Want To Believe - The “Side Hand Grab” aka The “If I Quit Now, They Win” aka The “Scully” aka The “Hold to End All Holds”

The one and only. So much conveyed in such a small gesture. But it’s not a small gesture, it’s massive, more powerful than a kiss or an embrace. This, the way Scully grabs Mulder’s hand, is the essence of The X-Files. 

The X-Files is the story of a believer and a skeptic who come together searching for the truth in an uncertain universe. They are equally matched but they aren’t always equally balanced. The quest is always Mulder’s, it originated from him and he is the primary driver. Scully is always following behind him. Even in later seasons, when Mulder is gone and she’s leading others, the path she walks is one blazed by Mulder; she’s still following the idea of him, continuing his work.

And that’s a tricky dynamic because if it’s done poorly it could threaten Scully’s agency. It could seem like she has no goals of her own, she just spends her time following after a man who believes in monsters with no thought of herself or her wants and needs. But the X-Files never falls into that trap (unlike say, Doctor Who). Scully never feels like a directionless character. It never feels like she’s just a supporting player in the Mulder Show. This is because every step of the way Scully CHOOSES to be there. Again and again she is given the chance to walk away. Walk away from the X-Files, walk away from the bureau, walk away from Mulder, walk away from a chaotic universe where her precious science and logic hold no power. 

But she doesn’t.

Even when she loses so much: her sister, her health, her children, her chance for children, her safety, her career, her reputation, her chance of a normal life, SHE CHOOSES MULDER. Because while she may not always believe him, she’s always believed in him. She’s believed in him the moment she lay on his bed and he told her about his sister. That’s the moment when his quest became hers and something inside her knew that she couldn’t leave this man to fight in the dark alone. 

That’s what this hand hold is. It’s Scully choosing Mulder. It’s Scully reaching out and grabbing his hand and holding on for dear life. It’s her commitment to him, his quest, his beliefs. 

Because she wants the truth too. And she’s willing to fight and die for it a thousand times over. 

This is their connection.

We first see this hold in Fight the Future, but it’s used again in The Beginning:

Here she’s trying to ground Mulder, remind him that she’s here for him (and Fowley isn’t) and whether he likes it or not, she’s not going anywhere and she’s not giving up the fight. 

Then we see it again in I Want To Believe:

It’s from a different angle, but come on, we know this is “The Scully.” She “may be done fighting monsters in the dark”, but she’s never done with Mulder. Where he goes, she goes. And this time, Mulder closes his hand over her fingers and holds her back, acknowledging their bond, thanking Scully for choosing him over and over again. 

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THE X-FILES | 7x05 'RUSH'

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how to say "I love you" in x-files [201/?] ⤷ 4.12 — “Leonard Betts”

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I was at a store today and they had New York Knicks T-Shirts for some reason????? Is that a tiktok thing??? No other sports teams, just this one?? And this is a store not in the USA, by a non-USA company, and their target customers are very clearly teenage girls? Geographically speaking, it isn't even the closest NBA team either...

I was tempted to buy one as an inside joke (that I alone would understand). Cosplaying Scully in Mulder's shirt when spending the night at his place?

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# that fucking gaze

MULDER: I don't think you can know. I mean, how many different lives would we be leading if we made different choices. We... We don't know. SCULLY: What if there was only one choice and all the other ones were wrong? And there were signs along the way to pay attention to. MULDER: Mmm. And all the... choices would then lead to this very moment. One wrong turn, and... we wouldn't be sitting here together. Well, that says a lot. That says a lot, a lot, a lot. That's probably more than we should be getting into at this late hour. (MULDER looks down at SCULLY. She has fallen asleep against his shoulder. Music begins again. In slow motion, he tenderly brushes a strand of hair out of her face, then gazes at her a moment. He pulls his Indian blanket over her and carefully tucks it around her. Camera pans around to the fish tank with it's bouncing UFO decoration as MULDER gets up off the couch. The rhythmic song "The Sky is Broken" continues playing. The camera pans down under the fish tank to a small figurine of Buddha on the shelf below.)

7.07 All Things

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Mulder and Scully spent so much time on the road and on planes, but little time on vacation. I just know they would make great travel partners.

May they have many more.