#excelsis

[superthepervone]

[bisexualfbiagents]

THE X FILES | Excelsis Dei (2.11)

[trusttnno1]

Excelsis Dei

[seraphinesaintclair]

“Gloria in Excelsis,” (1893) by Evelyn De Morgan 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

[tyrantisterror]

Bringing back the age-old tradition of Dinosaurs visiting the Baby Jesus.

[ave-immaculata]

glory to the newborn King actually

[fluentisonus]

guy who out of habit always pronounces christmas songs the classical way without noticing he's done it

[reg1ment]

choir kids (me) when they sing angels we have heard on high for winter concert. again

[esteemed-excellency]

ok i'm almost done with the new firmament chapter, i have So Many thoughts 👀

[california-112]

Episode ask game!

-Beyond the Sea

-Irresistible

-Pusher

-Demons

(All my season favorites)

+ Excelsis Dei because I think you’ll be funny:)

Oh, multiple! This will be fun!

For reference and to avoid repetition, here is the scale:

Scum on Earth | Will Not Rewatch | Pretty Bad | Not Great but Charming | Objectively Not Good But I Had Fun | Neutral | Some Good Stuff Here | No Complaints | This is Great | This is Fantastic | One of My Favorites | Actually a Divine Work Nothing Will Ever Top This

S01E13 'Beyond The Sea' - This Is Fantastic

Sticks to the pattern of the Christmas ep going directly for the feels

Surprise Don Davis! But he dies basically immediately so :(

Scully's backstory gets quite a bit of a reveal though

Mulder whump! Complete with hospital scenes! The gods are kind to us today

I actually cheered when Scully went to Boggs after Mulder was shot and absolutely went off at him

And how Scully takes over on the case whilst Mulder is in the hospital and sees it through to the end...

The fake deal scene yesss

S02E13 'Irresistible' - This Is Great

I'm not gonna lie. First watch around I didn't find it too compelling

That said it was during the period when I was going through like seven episodes a day so...a lot of things flew right by me lol

Moe Bocks the UFO guy! Wish we'd seen more of him!

Mulder just took the case to go see the game and then all this happens. Bruuuh

Pfaster is creepy as f*ck just in general how did he ever get a job anywhere

Yet another Scully kidnapping :(

She does practically get away all by herself, though! You go girl!

Then when Mulder tilts her head after the rescue at the end...and the hug...your honour I have never felt more touch starved in my life who said that. Anyway

Great ep for Scully's character from an outsider perspective but sucked to be her :'(

S03E17 'Pusher' - One Of My Favourites

First of all the whole bit of Modell being able to just talk people into doing things is so interesting as a concept

This is the one with Dave Grohl in it for no reason so that's fun

The falling asleep in the car on the stakeout...

"Please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy"

Modell looks like Sam Neill from The Dish or is it just me

The scene in the van where Mulder says 'smile, Scully' almost destroyed me

And then THE RUSSIAN ROULETTE. HOLY SH*T

Something something Mulder's mental state is secretly (!) really bad. Let's examine that in a fic (coming soon!) (hopefully!)

S04E23 'Demons' - One Of My Favourites

OH MY GOODNESS this ep.

First of all the scene in the motel where Scully takes care of Mulder I am DECEASED it lives in my head RENT FREE FOREVER

Particularly the line 'Did you take anything, Mulder?' as discussed in this ask

The rest of the ep though. Mulder's insistence to pursue the case despite his condition as he doesn't remember if he shot the Cassandras. The fact that he's actually literally having seizures and Scully is trying to get him to a hospital and he keeps refusing. And then the climax scene in the old house...waaa

And the fact that this is RIGHT BEFORE Gethsemane but we're not talking about that here

The amount of fics around this episode is obviously immense, but some of my favourites are Blood And Water by @agent-troi, Provisions by @freckleslikestars, and Dancing With Mephistopheles by Satchie, everyone go check them out!

S02E11 'Excelsis Dei' - Neutral

This is being kind. I might avoid it on a rewatch

It was boring even to skippy rewatch to write this but it would make good background whilst I'm working (recently I have been listening to episodes like audiobooks whilst doing particularly mindless tasks and it works surprisingly well)

I only really liked the climax scene in the bathroom and even that didnt climax enough imo

To quote the fic plan that I have for this episode:

The rest of the episode is meh due to the subject matter and portrayals etc.

The '''plumbing''' comment though 💀 Scully should have got to drop kick that guy

Also Teryl Rothery!!! Hello!!!

Thanks for this ask! It made my day a lot better to get to review these episodes! :)

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

just finished el mundo gira and i thought it was like. comically bad. sorry to any el mundo gira stans, but tomorrow's writeup will have some hater energy.

[apenitentialprayer]

We saw that the sacred meal is not limited in meaning and scope to this context of space and time alone; rather, it is situated within a properly eschatological framework. The Mass signals this transcendent dimension in a number of ways. In the Confiteor, the liturgy invokes another world: "I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God," and the great Gloria prayer calls to mind the song of the angels early on Christmas morning: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors" (Luke 2:14). From the beginning of the rite, therefore, we are situated in a properly heavenly context that stretches beyond that of the community gathered immediately around us. We are praying to and with the heavenly court, composed of glorified human saints and spiritual creatures at a qualitatively higher pitch of existence. Furthermore, between the preface and the commencement of the Eucharistic Prayer proper, we find this distinctive prayer: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory, hosanna in the highest." The triple holy mimics precisely the the cry of the angels in a scene from the sixth chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. As the prophet saw a vision of God, he heard attendants at the heavenly throne invoking the Creator of the universe with this triple chant. The Christian tradition has, naturally enough, taken these three angelic "holies" to designate the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. The point is that as the worshiping community enters into the most sacred part of the Mass, it becomes conscious, once again, of the supernatural community that worships in tandem with it. In his treatment of the Eucharist in the Summa theologiae, Thomas Aquinas said that the sacrament has three names, each one corresponding to one of the dimensions of time. [... For the last name,] as we look into the future, we call it Eucharistia (Eucharist), since it anticipates the great thanksgiving that will take place in heaven when we are in the company of the holy ones, at the eschatological banquet. It is this final feature that the liturgy emphasizes when it invokes so consistently the angels and saints.

- Bishop Robert Barron (This is My Body: A Call to Eucharistic Revival, pages 33-34, 34). Bolded emphases added, and text slightly reformatted.

[mygreatadventurehasbegun]

Watching this Christmas episode of The West Wing and...I am always floored by this scene. It never fails at getting me choked up. Kathryn Joosten's restrained performance is perfection...it's so matter-of-fact, yet so full of heartbreak.

And I think it was such an interesting choice to have the computer screen reflecting off her glasses. I think normally, they would have just turned off the monitor to prevent that, especially since it makes it tougher to see her eyes...but leaving it on makes the scene feel so real. And even with her eyes blocked by the reflection occasionally, you still feel everything she is going through.

And her joining Toby for the funeral at the end is so moving...you almost feel like she needed that little bit of catharsis.

[agent-troi]

it just seems so incredibly ooc that mulder is the skeptical one in excelsis dei. actually neither of them should be wholly skeptical in this situation tbh

[ithastobethiswhitehouse]

The original ending of the script, according to Martin Sheen in St Anthony Messenger, was to feature the president attending the funeral. 'It was changed because it took away the power of Mrs Landingham and Ziegler, who were deeply affected by the incident: a woman who has lost two sons and a man who gave this guy clothes to keep warm. Had the president been there, it would have [reduced] the poignancy of the scene. That's why I like this show. We try to play honest moments with real characters.'

Excerpt from Inside Bartlet's White House: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to The West Wing by Keith Topping

[ave-immaculata]

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then, I called on the name of the Lord: "Lord, save me!" How gracious is the Lord, and just; our God has compassion. The Lord protects the simple hearts... I was helpless, so he saved me.