#btw if you ever want me to infodump about literally any TXF episode. i will do it.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

why do you like 'ice' so much? :o (plz go Off, info dump on meeee uwu)

ok WELL first of all, I may not live in Alaska anymore, but I'm from there, so I see any of my shows do an episode set there and immediately go "!!!!!" so obviously I'm a tad biased (thus my one post-ep fic absjsnsksms) but also I just think Ice is an unironically, genuinely very good episode. I believe it's actually a tribute to the film "The Thing" (dir. John Carpenter; @spacekrakens has told me a bit about it actually and it's in my watch list) and I'm just... very very into the episode in its entirety tbh.

the Vibes(TM) are impeccable, like... that feeling of being inside where it is Very Hot while it's Very Cold outside? yeah that's the setting of Ice and everything in the set design and lighting and such evokes that feeling SO WELL. people complain about the lighting on TXF, and that's... oft valid... but I LOVE the lighting in Ice. it really evokes the tension and confusion and mistrust running through the episode — a good example is that scene where they're going to the bunkrooms and Mulder and Scully pause to say goodnight and the hallway is lit in this very distinct red lighting (I have some other meta about Scully + lighting in particular, and specifically red lighting, but that's for another time). it just feels so *right* for what's going on and is about to happen.

the thing that initially really got to me about Ice is that scene where Mulder and Scully have that standoff, both pointing their guns at each other and waiting to see who will back down first. the entire premise of the episode — parasites causing fatal aggression — means that there's a lot of stress and emotions running high in the entire group, and that nobody can fully trust each other or themselves. I've written a lot of meta about this scene but it's mainly been in tags and stuff on gifsets lol and/or inserted into my post-ep fanfic, so I'll write it all out again here.

the thing you have to understand, especially in the early seasons, is that Mulder has never had anybody who treats him the way Scully does. he's had a previous partner (who shows up in later seasons) who believed in his theories, but based on what we see, she never treated him with respect the way Scully does. early on in the show, when Mulder gets scared, or stressed out, or what-have-you, it manifests as aggression. he's EXTREMELY defensive, because he's spent his entire life disdained and not listened to or believed, and that's a big part of why he pulls his gun in the first place in this ep.

everybody is stressing the heck out, nobody knows what's going on or who to trust. it's not immediately obvious, just bc he's not consistently the most... noticeably expressive guy (s1 is fun bc you can tell the actors were only just figuring things out lol), but after everything that's already happened and ESPECIALLY after finding that other guy dead, Mulder is afraid. we the audience get to see more of Scully's fear, but Mulder is scared too and he gets mad when he's scared, and especially when he feels like he has to defend himself.

Scully only pulls her gun because she's out of options, she's scared, she's small, she can't actually do a whole lot against ANY of these people (bc even the other woman is a fair bit bigger than her), and just... visually, this scene is a masterpiece. it's framed like Scully and Mulder, their fragile trust tested in a way I don't think either of them expected, are the only people in the room. you can see very very clearly how small Scully really is, moreso than in I think any other time so far in the show??

I think what I like is that Ice goes into a lot of extremes — extreme cold, extreme fear, desperation, oscillating wildly between utter terror and a hopeful kind of trust and teamwork. it's the first time we really see M&S in this tense a situation and you get to see the extremes of their fear responses — that scene where Scully goes into the room and stands there for a second trying to calm herself before suddenly spinning around and barring the door? she is TERRIFIED. and, coming back to the standoff scene, that's actually a REALLY IMPORTANT THING.

Scully guards her emotions very carefully. yeah, she's generally more open in the early seasons than she is later on once more and more traumas start piling on, but she's still fairly guarded, ESPECIALLY about her fear. it's not... explicitly stated until season 2, but for as much as she trusts and lets herself rely on Mulder, she doesn't want him to think he has to protect her or that she can't handle herself. that's especially true early on in s1 bc they're still figuring out this new partnership thing and she's just starting out and kinda has something to prove. but in this episode and specifically this scene, she completely drops all those guards — it's not a conscious choice, she's scared and upset and pointing a gun at her partner while he points one at her, and the one person she should (does) trust most right now may not be who he is, and all bets are off. she doesn't have the option to hold onto her skepticism and disbelief, because there's no denying what's happening. she doesn't have the option to hide her fear.

and THAT, more than her reason and logic or anything else, is actually what gets through to Mulder. he gets to that point because he's stressed and scared and so tired of not being listened to/believed/taken seriously, and the thing is — Scully is the odd one out. she's like... the one person who does listen to him and take him seriously, even if she disagrees with him. she may not believe his theories, but she believes him as a person, and that's why she's different to him. and now she's seemingly against him as well and that SUCKS but like I keep saying: they are both SCARED.

Mulder hasn't often seen Scully scared, but when she finally breaks a little bit while they're pointing their guns at each other, when she cracks and her voice wavers and she says "Mulder, you have to understand, you may not be who you are" so desperately, that's the moment he takes a step back and softens and puts his gun down. because he saw her scared, and he saw her scared not only of this parasite, but of HIM, and he... doesn't want to make her scared. (shhhh don't @ me for constantly quoting my own fic... half the reason I even wrote that fic was for the sake of this meta lol)

idk that was the thing that stuck with me from the very first time that I watched the episode, that they have this very tense, serious standoff but it's oddly full of trust. Scully doesn't believe that Mulder would ever hurt her outside of if he was infected with the parasite, which is shown again when she goes into the storage closet with him — all of it, pretty much everything in the episode, is this back and forth act of trust. and Mulder, for his part, is trying very hard to be worthy of that trust and offer it to her as well.

and just like how she always gives him the respect of listening to him, he also listens to her and backs down, not for himself or for either of the other people, but only for her. I think Scully is probably the only person who could really talk him down from something like that, and that's... really interesting ESPECIALLY since this is so early in their partnership. and I think knowing that she's afraid, and that he's a part of it, is a big reason for that — he cares more about her and how she feels than he does how he feels.

...I guess in a way I feel like it's very female-gaze? and the aesthetics of it are gorgeous and so well-used and just the INSANE amounts of relational development that's packed into this one little 45 minute episode barely two months into the series' run?? AMAZING.

like... ok so trust is a big deal for them, it's a HUGE theme of the show and their relationship as a whole, and that's established very early on, before Mulder even trusts Scully at all. and eight episodes into the first season, when they can't have been working together for more than a few months, the tentative trust they have is tested in an entirely unexpected, dangerous way, and only turns up stronger in the end.

also Scully is really really cute. her outfit in Ice is basically how I dress all winter long shdjdnsksmsm (also oddly enough I found it very... idk maybe empowering, the first time I watched it??? simply bc her hair is so messy and half-tied back like that, and I saw that and went... Oh. it's ok for me to have a screwed up messy ponytail??? so yeah ndjsnsksk)

aaand i have taken like a month and a half to finally finish writing this and it STILL feels kinda incomplete, but I'm gonna call it and give up on sitting on this ask any longer lol, so if I think of anything more to say on it I will add it and tag you! thanks sm for this ask though, sorry for taking so long on it!! I just really wanted to say All The Things shsjsnsksk 😅