#if anyone can think of any more examples where mulder expresses interest in someone who isn't scully pls let me know

[agent-troi]

scully and mulder's dynamic visibly changes after the onset of the season of secret sex

i've been thinking about how dd and ga deliberately played season 7 like mulder and scully were sleeping together, and i think there's solid evidence of that in the differences in how scully reacts to mulder appearing to show interest in another woman before and after the season of secret sex begins (i'm using millennium as the before/after divider bc i think that's what dd and ga decided, but this is based on my vague memory of a reddit comment about it which is how i first learned that the season of secret sex was a thing)

so overall there's an undercurrent of insecurity, borne of scully's uncertainty regarding precisely how mulder feels about her and what her place is in the hierarchy of things that are important to him in his life, that exists in the pre-millennium incidents and is glaringly absent post-millennium:

before millennium:

(i'm not gonna include phoebe/fire here bc i don't think scully's awareness of her feelings had yet risen to the point where she'd be truly jealous, i'd characterize her in that ep as largely protective of mulder and unwilling to let him deal with phoebe's games alone. it also helps that he's clearly not happy phoebe is back in his life again, unlike his much more positive reaction to diana)

war of the coprophages- the second scully finds out about bambi, she immediately hops in her car and drives up to miller's grove to join mulder, bc letting him investigate cockroaches alone was fine but god forbid he spend quality time investigating an x-file with an attractive female scientist who isn't herself- that's their thing!!

syzygy- to be fair the planetary alignment situation was exacerbating her- and mulder's- behavior here, but her jealousy of and hostility to detective white were still real, even if she would've been able to rein in her emotions better under normal circumstances.

diana fowley arc- i think this speaks for itself, lol

alpha- this is an interesting period in their relationship: after most of the diana shit is over, but before the tension between them is fully resolved (a process which to me begins with milagro/the unnatural and ends with amor fati, but that would be its own post lol).

other than introducing himself to karin as "fox" (maybe as a way to appeal to her preference for canids lol) and thus implicitly giving her permission to call him by his first name (which she proceeds to do throughout the episode), mulder doesn't seem to show much in the way of attraction to her.

even when he touches her hand to move the mouse, he's more interested in what's on the screen than in paying attention to her:

karin, however, is visibly affected by the contact, a fact which scully immediately notices:

later in the car, they have this convo, the last line of which is so heavily laden with diana subtext it's not even funny:

scully's reaction to karin is similar to her reaction to phoebe in that she's motivated mainly by wanting to protect mulder from his own naive, trusting nature, and from someone she believes is seeking to take advantage of it, rather than being motivated primarily by jealousy and defensiveness. she doesn't really believe that karin is a genuine threat to her relationship with mulder, but with diana still fresh in her memory she can't afford to not be vigilant. hence why she confronts karin alone later:

here scully demonstrates that she somewhat empathizes with karin (mulder is also someone who challenges her, makes her feel fulfilled and happy and alive). karin's response indicates that she has correctly deduced the basis of scully's dislike/distrust of her, and also acknowledges scully is the dominant one as it relates to the territory (mulder) that they are sparring over.

scully looks away at karin's "feminine wiles" comment, revealing the nagging insecurity about her place in mulder's life that diana's arrival exacerbated and that will continue to plague her until amor fati.

after millennium:

rush- when mulder looks back at chastity in the hallway, scully's reaction is to possessively grab mulder's sleeve and pull him away into the interrogation room:

and his response is to laugh and say "what?" like he doesn't know he belongs to her and only her.

keep in mind this happens just before they interrogate tony reed, and right after they finish interrogating him this shit happens:

i already made a post last week about how insanely flirty they are in this episode, but this scene!!

she's pouting and giving him big doe eyes and playing with his tie!! at work!! in public!! she feels comfortable staking her territory in such an obvious way (also playful rather than hostile) bc she's not longer insecure about her place in his life!! i can never be normal about this i'm sorry ssdfgksdgsjdkfhkjsdf

first person shooter- when mulder checks out jade blue afterglow as she's leaving, he leans so far over in such an obvious, exaggerated way, almost as if he's deliberately trying to get a rise out of scully, but all she does is raise her eyebrows at him and lean over to block his view (while smirking):

and then he says he's "feeling the great need to blast the crap out of something", an almost direct quote of scully's line from their convo in the autopsy room right before they went down to the station:

and her response is to SMILE at him!!

pre-millennium scully would absolutely not have reacted this way in this situation. just like in rush, the insecurity that previously haunted scully whenever mulder seemed to be close to or interested in another woman is utterly absent here. they're joking and teasing and enjoying each other's company like they've always done, but there's a different dimension to it now. pre-millennium mulder would never have made a show of checking out another woman like that right in front of scully (unless a planetary alignment is affecting his behavior ofc lol), and pre-millennium scully would never have found it amusing.

(side note: people were debating on twitter a while back about whether this scene was ooc for mulder, and tbh i'm not sure what my own opinion is bc to me the whole episode has an air of... unreality? idk but it gives me similar vibes to post-modern prometheus, like maybe it's real or maybe it's just someone telling a story or it's somewhere in between, and it's also got that same unserious feel idk how else to describe it)

anyway, back to my main point, which is: dd and ga are damn good actors in the way they were able to subtly telegraph this shift in mulder and scully's dynamic. one might be able to argue that the insane flirting throughout season 7 isn't by itself evidence of the season of secret sex bc on some level they've always been like that, but to me these specific interactions provide important clues that the nature of their relationship has changed.

[dreamingofscully]

Season 2 Summary - X-Files Rewatch

(Here’s a link to my Season 1 Summary, so you can see where they’ve been so far.)

THEME: IT'S PERSONAL

There are 3 distinct periods that encompass season 2: Pre-abduction, Abduction, and Post-abduction. Here are the summaries, and I'll go into detail below and provide a summary at the end.

The pre-abduction arc is more similar to season 1 but with the addition of Mulder being beaten-down and feeling like giving up and Scully trying to motivate him and keep them connected. Scully is still "innocent" here, and freely expresses her feelings for Mulder.

The abduction arc has everything to do with Mulder. (It obviously impacts Scully but that is discussed in the "post-abduction" section.) When Scully is taken, Mulder realizes that his priorities are not the same as they were before he met her. He is devastated, guilt-ridden, but cannot give up. The end of this arc is all about the episode One Breath and the roller-coaster of emotions that Mulder goes through in it. His rage and need for vengeance, his grief, and finally his delight at Scully's recovery.

The post-abduction arc is the longest, and it deals with the consequences of Scully's abduction while also returning them to semi-normality as partners on the X-Files.

Pre-Abduction Arc

Mulder is depressed about not having the X-Files, and not being partnered with Scully. He assumes that the first is more significant to him but as he finds out too late, it is the latter that bothers him more. Scully is determined to maintain their connection to one another but she also hates seeing Mulder so uncharacteristically despondent, so she also tries to build him up. I love that about her. She is somewhat successful, and they have several intimate and flirty moments up until the abduction arc (see The Host and Sleepless in particular). I fully believe that Scully would have tried to initiate a romantic relationship with Mulder at some point, if she hadn't been abducted.

___________________________

Abduction Arc

Mulder gets the X-Files back, but it doesn't matter. Scully's gone, and finding her (somehow) is his only consuming thought. You see at the beginning of "One Breath", that Mulder is absentmindedly watching porn, with Scully's case-file and the last picture of her spread out on his coffee table. He doesn't sleep, and he behaves recklessly. BUT HE DOESN'T GIVE UP HOPE. Maggie Scully gave him Scully's necklace, and he will NOT give up that quest for anything, not even when Maggie herself has given up.

When Scully is returned, Mulder's grief turns into a furious quest for vengeance. She was missing before, but now she's hurt. How DARE someone hurt Scully? Everyone tells him there is no hope that she will survive, and all he has left is his thoughts of killing those who did this to her. Melissa Scully is the tether from Mulder to Scully - she hasn't given up either, has some sort of spiritual connection and awareness of Scully that no one else does. The "Nurse Owens" character is mysterious and we aren't sure who or what she is, but she also keeps Scully from drifting away until Mulder is ready to abandon his anger and stay with her, to connect with her. Which he does, thanks to Melissa's intervention.

Mulder sits beside Scully's bedside for hours, connecting with her emotionally. "I'm not sure if being here will bring you back, but I'm here." Melissa tells him to tell Scully how he feels, so I do believe he talked to her about other things. I don't know if he'd be in the emotional space to crack any jokes, so he'd keep it serious and honest and raw. How he wishes she were here, how the X-Files don't mean anything to him since she isn't there beside him. How no one else made him feel like he was worth anything. How he's sorry he never told her the risks of investigating these things. How he would do anything to have her back. How he misses her mind - how she keeps testing him and making him work for things. I'm sure there's more, but this is where I see him being emotionally at this moment.

Once Scully regains consciousness (MULDER BROUGHT HER BACK Y'ALL), Mulder has the softest smile when he goes to see her in the hospital. He is just sososo happy. All of the previous anger and sorrow is gone. His life has meaning again. How can that not be love? He's not quite aware of it as love, though.

___________________________

Post-Abduction Arc

We've lost carefree, innocent Scully for good. RIP.

Things are personal for her now. She doesn't know what happened to her, but she is disturbed that she's lost so much time. She needs to find out, and the X-Files are the best way to do so. She knows that Mulder brought her back, that he cares for her deeply in some way, and if she hadn't just experienced something terrible I think she would have done something about this knowledge. As it is, Scully has different priorities now. She's got personal reasons to work in the basement, maybe even moreso than Mulder.

She took a long while to recover from being sick, and detested that feeling of weakness. She can sense Mulder's concern and protectiveness for her, and while she doesn't believe that he thinks less of her, she is determined that she is back to fighting form, ready to take on the world like her pre-abduction self. She wants him to be looking outwards, to their quest, rather than looking beside him, constantly concerned for her well-being.

As for Mulder, he can't help it. Feelings of guilt and relief combine within him and he is worried and protective of Scully. He doesn't believe she is incompetent - far from it. He knows that now he cannot do this without her - she is the necessary component. Even finding his sister doesn't compare to his connection with her. He gives up the person he thinks is Samantha without a second thought, because otherwise it would mean losing Scully.

We have the Mulder ditching Scully in several episodes, but most notably in End Game/Colony. He doesn't want to risk her so he goes off on particularly dangerous adventures on his own. Usually, these end with Scully having to save him, emphasizing the fact that while he wants to spare her, he needs her in order to survive these outings.

In a similar vein, Mulder is contantly concerned with making sure Scully is alright. Even when he himself is hurt or more at risk he is contantly aware of her (Firewalker/Fresh Bones/F. Emasculata for some examples). He doesn't worry so much about his own life and health but he definitely wants to make sure she is OK. He never intended for her to worm his way into his life but now that she's here and she's BACK, he can't return to the way things were "Before". Things are personal for him because its not just about his selfish quest anymore where he doesn't have to care about anyone or anything except answers, its about Scully.

The season finale ends with the "It's Personal" theme as well. "My name is in those files." Scully tasks Mulder with figuring out why but she can't stay with him (and probably regrets not doing so). They are always stronger together, no matter how much Mulder tries to keep Scully away from danger by ditching her or Scully tries to wall off her emotions. It doesn't work - she ends up needing to rescue him and they go through so much together that Scully's feelings for him deepen only further.

Conclusion

The abduction arc changes a lot of things about Mulder and Scully and their relationship. The theme "It's Personal" means that things hit a lot closer to home for the both of them. Mulder has been obsessed with his quest before now, of course, but it was always something that he could pursue without caring about the personal costs, since it was only him that was paying them. Now, he is worried about losing Scully, and can't even function if she's gone. For Scully, the work is now something she pursues to get answers about her abduction, and to hold the people responsible for it to account. The work was interesting and exciting beforehand, but it was "Mulder's quest", but all that has changed now.

In season 1, Mulder was focused outwards, consumed with the X-Files while Scully slowly wiggled her way into his heart. Scully was primarily focused on the work as well, but she was also in love with Mulder - and knew it even back then. In season 2 things have flipped. Scully is focused on getting answers, while Mulder is focused on making sure Scully is there, that she's OK - because he needs her for the quest (he tells himself), but more importantly because he loves her deeply (which he can't admit to himself quite yet).