#DD and GA both write MSR so well

[unremarkablehouse]

I love that their romantic relationship parallels Scully’s process. She’s skeptical at first but goes along with Mulder and once she understands its value she puts everything into it.

The Unnatural || s. 6 ep. 19

[scullymaxxing]

the real x files

is were they fuckin.

and from my hours of research, scouring countless delusional pro-g*llovny internet users, i can say that you all would make shit detectives. specifically the g*llovny blogs that compare pictures of DA and DD's kids and try to argue that they've have some secret elaborate 30 year long relationship?? theyre not actually the characters they portray, u guys kno that right? right??

ok good.

so basically...

i think DD and GA hooked up in the beginning of filming, before they knew they have to see each other for the next decade (link to website). and then obviously by the time GA was pregnant (beginning of 1993) she was with Klotz. theres a reason most of the msr gifs are from the first few seasons...

Her and Klotz divorced the same year DD and Tea Leoni got married, 1997. The 1997 golden globes (u know the one), was in january.

DD and GA's "dark period" was a year later, 1998, and i feel like they could have regressed in between the time of her divorce and his marriage (this slightly dubious interview from 2002 with GA claims just that) (context: interview transcript with GA, allegedly translated from an italian paper in 2002. even discounting this source, it is not implausible, but definitely left to speculation). they were also filming the movie around 1997-1998, and im certain that they were around each other more than their partners at the time.

Marketing

given that a lot of the DDGA confirmed sources are from magazines, im gonna agree with the claim that DDGA was kind of not that secret at the time, as well as a marketing ploy. anything they said or did in 2008, 2013, 2016-2017 was fully marketing idc. the revival era interviews (including 2008 in this era) do show different stages of DD and GA reflecting on their relationship which is insightful and there are countless interviews where GA kind of hints to stuff, but they were all promos for x files (interviews linked below the cut). they certainty fan the flame, though. and while i am certain it was not by design, their chemistry in the first season, whatever the catalyst may have been, was a saving grace of the show.

the Industry

also, i dont think g*llovny shippers on the Celibacy Website have a realistic grasp on the television/film industry or the business of marketing and publicity. luckily, i go to a college full of people who do just that, and let me tell u, actors fuck each other all the time, and i dont think sex was necessarily sacred or all that deep for either of them... (as with most actors,,, have you ever met a film kid??)

some potential drama given this analysis that i think about:

did GA get with Klotz to make DD jealous, or to move on? or both? GA and DD had a "professional" relationship until her divorce? and then post-divorce was when shit got real...

i also think a big reason to deny the relationship (besides, like the right to privacy as a human being), is because of their timing,,, like she was married and had a kid by the end of 1994, what good would admitting to an affair during that time bring? i dont think DD is the father or anything, but i think even admitting it given the timing would have cast messy implications on DD, GA, Klotz, and/or her daughter.

did DD marry Tea after hooking up with GA in 1997 as an apology and commitment to her, or to move on? the timing is odd if that one dubious excerpt is to be believed, but even without it, it would provide plausible context concerning the catalyst of the Dark Times.

there is the detail that DD and GA announced their divorces on each other's birthdays, which is... a crazy coincidence.

i NEED to know about the "dark times"... i literally can not imagine Hating someone and then being able to look deeply into their eyes. i need to see bloopers or something.

overly specific timeline with sources below the cut (i never said i wasnt as thorough or meticulous as g*llovny shippers, i just said theyre dillusional)

1992: CC writes the pilot, it is picked up by Fox, DD and GA meet at auditions.

sept 10, 1993: s1e1 pilot airs. we can assume they have been filming since or shortly after auditions. They would have known each other and been shooting for at least a few months by the time the pilot aired.

1994: This clip from Entertainment Tonight that i suspect was filmed around the time they were filming S1, in 1993. DD: "ive spent more time with gillian than anybody in my whole life... so, you know, it’s.. you know, you gotta be careful.. somebody could get hurt." GA mouths "me." the whole time GA is trying to suppress some mixed but kind of revealing facial expressions. idk u gotta watch it, but it looks very early on in the series, and is the type of banter that people trying to convince themselves not to fuck engage in.

sept 1994: Gillians daughter is born. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they probably werent fucking for about nine months before this.nine months before sept would have been around december 1993 by the most liberal of estimates

so they essentially had from whenever they met in 1992 until around the end of 1993, though GA probably would have been with Klotz for a few months before she got pregnant around the beginning of 1994

1994-1995 Interview: (sometime during season 2 filming, post pregnancy): In an interview, around the 8 min mark, GA: "at the beginning we [her and DD] started out very close, and, um, as you work together... things change a little bit. we have a very professional relationship, very business orientated."

post-2003: there are countless interviews with GA where she sloppily evades the questions. 2008 jimmy kimmel interview , 2009 interview , 2014 interview GA: “maybe... there might even be more than an attraction.. but it’s not gonna happen”

personal psychoanalysis of strangers, by a stranger

GA:

2003: in a BBC produced podcast recorded around 2003, GA talks about having lethal depression as a teen and engaging in rebellious/self sabotaging behaviors while in the US. (honestly, it makes sense why scully resonated with queer emos, GA was one!)

1999: excerpt where GA describes her attraction to “dangerous” (ie toxic, avoidant, noncommittal) men and DD definitely fits the bill.

GA’s dating and marriage history is kinda crazy and impulsive in retrospect. of course i know she wasn’t thinking about that as she was living her life but, she makes wild moves.

GA was also so so young and new to the industry. Hollywood is infamous for its coercive business tactics and Gillian sure knows how to play the game. (the crown) or "bc the director liked her".

DD:

2008: DD sex addiction. and he probably thought with his dick and had very lose ideas about relationships for years before he came out with the addition. (like maybe 10 or 20 years of giving into the same self sabotaging behavior patters) tbh he 100% fits the fuckboy profile, he was just a Man in the 90's and none of the gen-z g*llovny sh*ppers are used to seeing a Classic Fuckboy.

u guys guys see too much mulder in DD. DD is an intelligent, rich, NYC jew who went to TWO ivy league schools.... youre a young, handsome, educated actor who just got signed onto his first pilot... thats gotta make a man bold and impulsive.

at present, he is a rich boomer podcaster engaged to someone less less than half his age who looks like a guy who would call me a slur in the street. DD isnt the clever, witty, crimefighting mulder or hank moody or any of his charming characters, hes literally just some guy. same goes for GA, shes just a rich white lady...

[enigmaticxbee]

✖️✖️✖️✖️ 6x08 The Rain King

The one where... a Kansas weatherman’s emotions affect the weather and after a flying cow destroys Mulder’s room there’s only ONE ROOM at the motel.

Best: Scully: Well, it seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with. Love this speech coming from Scully - we know talking about her emotions is difficult for her, so to open up even in a slightly detached second person way (thinking back to her therapy session in 2x13 Irresistible) and even to a third party is big. I tend to think it was not just one “switch flicked” moment, but a series of moments where she acknowledges - to herself if no one else yet - what he means to her. The ones that always come to me are when she smiles up at Mulder in his hallway and tells him she just knew he wasn’t dead in 3x02 Paperclip; and in 4x14 Momento Mori when she writes in her journal to Mulder and decides that she wants to spend her remaining time with him. There are probably countless others along the way.

Worst: I just added up all the evidence - this takes place 6 months after Valentine’s Day, and it’s the 20th reunion for the class of ‘79, which puts us around August 1999... So chronologically speaking somewhere at the end of season 6 or the beginning of season 7. I’d prefer they didn’t mess with the timeline like this because it makes it difficult to place in the arc of the season and emotionally speaking this makes more sense to me early on in season 6 (if they’re still fronting so hard about not being interested in each other that way in early season 7 ugh, no they’re not). But the show clearly doesn’t intend for this episode to have any forward momentum or real emotional significance.

❌ Flashlights

❌ Woods/Desert

❌ Slideshow

❌ Autopsy

❌ Evidence Disappears

❌ Scully Misses It

❌ Mulder Ditch

✔️ Sunflower Seeds

❌ Voiceover

❌ Catch Phrase

❌ Scully is a Medical Doctor

❌ Mulder is Spooky

❌ Scuuullllaaaaayy! Muullllderrrr!

❌ Fox/Dana

✔️ Inappropriate Touching (that I am here for)

❌ Casual Scully

✔️ Casual Mulder

❌ Trench Coats

❌ Bad Tie Watch

❌ Glasses Watch

50 States: Kansas (38/50)

Investigate: Together & Apart

Solve Rate: 58%

❌ Bechdel Test: All of the conversation between women is about men.

MSR: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

Goriness: 👽

Creepiness: 👽

Humor: 👽👽👽👽

Rewatch Thoughts:

It was all a dream: Not technically, but we’re back to the Wizard of Oz references and something about this episode feels very out of time (see above re: timeline shenanigans).

If this episode was a fic it would be tagged FLUFF. Look, I see the MSR baiting the show’s doing - and I’m HERE for it.

The “mistaken” for a couple quotient is already high this season but this is the peak: (1) Mayor when they get off the plane; (2) Sheila at the tv studio; (3) Motel manager when there’s only one room available; Holman and Sheila also both assume there’s something going on between them (Holman: I’ve seen how you two gaze at one another. Sheila thinking Scully’s trying to push her onto Holman because she’s jealous.)

Mulder: I do not - gaze - at Scully. Cue ALL the gifs of Mulder gazing so, so lovingly at Scully.

“Checking for head trauma” - uh huh Medical Doctor Scully.

Mulder: He wants advice. Dating advice. Scully: Dating advice? From whom? Mulder: Yours truly. (Long pause) Hello? Hey, Scully. Scully, you there? Scully: I heard you. Mulder, when was the last time you went on a date? Mulder: I will talk to you later. Scully: The blind leading the blind. Peak comedy. The delivery from DD and GA is - chef’s kiss!

Sheila when Daryl is attacking Mulder: Not the face! 😂 Sheila is all of us.

Don’t love a surprise kiss Sheila! Scully is surprised but not really jealous or upset about walking in on Sheila kissing Mulder because it’s so clearly one-sided. They both just blow past it without comment, awkwardly ignoring the lipstick all over his face 😂. Ok, maybe she’s a little bit jealous, but it’s an irrational jealousy.

The swaying! Love how out of place Mulder and Scully look all episode, especially at the reunion at the end. Despite Scully’s occasional musings about getting out of the car, put the two of them in a room full of normies and you see how weird and out of synch they are - except with each other.

Episode-Related Fanfic Recs:

One bed, one bed, ONE BED

Fraternize Chapter 4 by @admiralty-xfd and @gaycrouton - post-ep strip poker in their motel room with a very surprising (but episode-appropriate) ending.

Free Merlot at the Cool View Motor Court by @sarie-fairy - one bed post-ep, NSFW with great build up where they goad each other into kissing without thinking through what comes next.

Dating Kings and Queens by @baronessblixen - fun, fluffy reinvisioning of the second half of the episode when Mulder finds out Scully’s been on a date recently.

Turn That Damn Thing Off by @sunflowerseedsandscience - one bed post-ep, but this isn’t their first time. Love the backstory, I completely buy this version of events.

Time Enough at Last by bayloriffic - one bed post-ep. Scully’s stand-offish at first but they watch The Twilight Zone and it’s very sweet.

Conversation in the Dark by Cass - one bed post-ep. Mulder and Scully stay up talking and get deep on denial, fate and regret.

Pillow Talk by Alelou - one bed post-ep. Mulder gets chatty. Short and sweet.

Static by LoneGunChick - one bed post-ep. UST, with a disappointing (for all involved) ending.

Heads or Tails by Suzanne Fed - one bed missing scene. Classic one bed cuddling fic. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Stop Me by Gina Rain - one bed post-ep. NSFW. It’s real sexy guys. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Pinky-Promise by ATTHS TWICE - post-ep Mulder and Scully go on a “fake” date to prove that they know how. Fluff, fluff, fluff, it’s very cute.

The Things We Do For Love by @admiralty-xfd - post-ep but they stay and dance and almost talk about their relationship.

[unremarkablehouse]

Omg this was hard!

‘This’ is one of my favorite URST fics- the entire episode is basically MSR foreplay. It’s also an excellent story and I was just thinking about Langley in the simulation.

‘Plus one’ is a great story with bonus points for incorporating one bed into a script, plus I love that is canon Scully gets pissy when she’s horny 🤣 ATTHS… TWICE!

‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ is too short, they really rush the storyline to add more MSR and I love that. The speech in the church is actually profound and makes up for a lot of BS the audience goes through.

‘Familiar’ is a great monster of the week episode that is legitimately creepy.

‘Mulder & Scully Meet the were-Monster’- is a brilliant piece of writing that somehow looks at Mulder’s tragic backstory and becomes comedic.

‘Lost art of forehead sweat’- this is a really cynical view on facts and so fascinating. It would have gotten higher points if there was some more on screen PDA but I’ll take it as implied RST and just continue rolling my eyes at the fact that CC has made TWO xfiles porno films but didn’t let the characters kiss on screen during the revival even though it literally defies all logic.

‘The Rmj-blah-robots’- really shows how great David and Gillian can act with very little dialogue, and the story really paces well. Scully’s smart home has no personal touches (except her mini vibrator), so it definitely fits with my head canon that they actually weren’t separated for that long they’re both just drama queens about any distance between them.

Basically I LOVE most of the episodes except for the myth arc, Agent Einstein & Miller, and Kitten. The thing is though, even the eps I’m not a fan of do have redeeming scenes and that is 💯 due to DD and GA.

also i would love to know what you like about the episode

(babylon isn’t here bcs there was no space and im pretty sure no one would have chosen it)