#and people wonder why he wouldn't tell scully about his brain disease 😭

[deathsbestgirl]

i don't remember why i was thinking about this but i remember being surprised by some people's reactions to mulder killing people in the revival. like some situations were literally kill or be killed, and he's not letting scully die or leaving her behind. these people were all after them or their son — to me, this is growth. in the original run, both of them have pretty strong reactions to killing. they don't regret it at all when it's to save the other. but it isn't something they're okay with, they struggle with it. (i do remember seeing some opinions on scully screaming at boggs that she would 'gas him out of this life for good' if mulder died, and it being ooc but i think that's a case of not understanding how crazy scully is, how fiercely she wants to protect mulder, and her state of mind being very fragile. perfectly in character imo)

mulder didn't kill cigarette smoking man when he had the chance in the original run, or anyone in the syndicate? and idk look where it got them. he almost went to prison for a murder of a man who wasn't dead, and was trying to kill him lol he was on the run for years, completely isolated. in this, mulder & scully had a plan for home invasions. she fell asleep at the dive bar with her hand around a glock & jerked awake when the waiter approached their table. that was their normal for years, and they may be free now, working at the bureau again but for years, they were looking over their shoulder, isolated from the world with no more resources. that absolutely changed them.

in the revival, it is literally all about william. mulder is stepping up to support scully in a new way. only taking the risks she asks of him for their son. he is doing all of the things she can't. i think the revival is the only time we truly see "damsel" scully. because she is ill and weak — having seizures, in a car accident. she couldn't fight back the way she normally can and mulder is the only reason she's alive. (i know it's been said, but genuinely one of the hottest mulder moments is him slitting that man's throat.)

mulder even takes on scully's more typical paranoia, as in not trusting skinner despite vouching for him when scully was dying of cancer. literally refusing to name him, at the expense of himself. (and then correctly calling out blevins, a man who was connected to the syndicate.)

like. they've already lost william because people were after mulder and scully couldn't protect him alone. and now, they've learned william is being hunted. csm still wants him, that new group wanted him. they killed jackson's parents! they tracked him down multiple times. they nearly killed scully.

i think it makes perfect sense mulder is at a point where he won't hold back. he couldn't protect samantha, but he can protect his family. he's healthier than he's ever been — more fit, he's on medication. he's older but he's still got some scoot in his boot and he's got plenty for scully & william. even skinner!!

he's not like the syndicate. he is not abducting, torturing, raping anyone. he's defending himself and his family. i don't think there's a single wrongful killing between either of them.

like scully learned the lesson mulder already understood in unruhe, mulder has learned the flip side of that lesson, what scully already knew. the reasons people are committing heinous crimes does not always matter. trying to get answers from liars is not the right course. stopping these evil men is right. i love that these two will do whatever it takes to protect each other. not just trekking through antarctica with a bullet wound to the head, or taking government agents hostage, or autopsying your partner's mother, or beating the shit out of a medical rapist to save scully's daughter. they will kill. no one will harm them while the other is around to prevent it. if they're dying, they'll die together.