#marc cc

[randomfoggytiger]

The X-Files (In-Depth): Scully's Pregnancy, Mulder's Abduction, and the Truth Behind Requiem and Season 8

This meta is going to uncover the (oft jumbled) web cast around Season 7 and Season 8, from Amor Fati's planned pregnancy to Existence's closure and Season 9's irreparable fumble. Scully's pregnancy: was it in-character? Mulder's abduction: was he supposed to be killed in Requiem? Closure and "Domestication": what was and wasn't planned? What is truth, and what is obfuscation?

TLDR: @bakedbakermom's post here was right on the money.  

The first two sections are going to be pulled directly from Marc Shapiro's book The Official Guide to "The X-Files": all things-- those quotes will be italicized-- and the latter five sections will stem from collected interviews, Tom Kessenich's EXamination, and my own thoughts.

THE HISTORY BEHIND REQUIEM

Marc Shapiro's The Official Guide to "The X-Files": all things begins:

The rumor had begun toward the end of Season 6. Season 7 would be the last season for “The X-Files.” Or would it?

“We always anticipated that, most likely, we were going into the final season,” recalls producer Paul Rabwin. “We knew David's contract was up and we felt that, maybe, the show had run its course.” And so Season 7 started out in a decided state of flux. Many crew members felt they had to protect themselves and their families by investigating potential jobs for the year following the current season, while others insisted that they would wait for a final answer. Needless to say, Chris Carter was on the horns of a dilemma, one that he was agonizing over. 

“I just remember that I felt bad because I had no clear and firm answers to give everyone about whether we were coming back,” he admits. “It was all about David. I kept saying that I would not do it without David. Fox was asking me to commit to doing another season with or without him.” 

But Paul Rabwin remembers that things began to change as Season 7 got under way. “As the season progressed, we found ourselves starting to get energized again. Word started getting around that maybe this would bot be the end. The network certainly wanted us back and Gillian was still under contract for another year. As we got toward the end of the season, everyone was kind of hopeful.”

But hope did not translate into a final decision as the days counted down to the point where the final script of the season had to be written. There were several options. The episode could end the series, it could be a cliffhanger for an eighth season, or it could be the cliffhanger for the long-talked-about series of “X-Files” feature films. Early on there was talk about the season finale being a two-hour or ninety-minute show, but those ideas were quickly discarded. Stage meetings between producers and writers took on an extra sense of urgency. 

John Shiban recalls what was going through everybody’s mind during those meetings. “If this were the end, what would we want the end to be? Where should Mulder and Scully end up emotionally? Where should the conspiracy and the aliens end up? We didn’t know what the status of the show was and so we decided that whatever we did would have to apply as either a conclusion of the series or a cliffhanger.” 

“The first thought we had was, what… are we going to do?” recalls Spotnitz. “We were tossing all kinds of ideas back and forth and finally the suggestion was made to go and finally the suggestion was made to go back to the pilot. Our idea was that if this was going to be the end, let’s go back to the beginning. At that point, we only had one idea that was definite. Since the beginning of the season, we had known that Scully’s pregnancy would be a great idea as a whole, a wonderful way to end things if this was going to be the end. So we had to devise a story that would allow for all possibilities.” 

It went without question that Chris Carter would write the script. And, in an attempt to keep the element of surprise, the particulars of that episode were made known to only a select few. Consequently the rumors began to fly thick and fast, along the Internet superhighway as well as round the Fox Studios lot. There were hints that since Duchovny would, most likely, not return to the show, a recurring cast member would step into the Mulder role. Mentioned quite often as a possible replacement was A.D. Skinner.

“Me?” Mitch Pileggi laughed during a break from filming “Requiem.” “That’s probably the most ridiculous rumor I’ve heard so far. I’ve heard millions of them and that’s all they are.” 

Now, an “X-Files” script being completed at the last possible moment was not uncommon. But as the days wound down and the time when the production company would have to begin prepping the episode drew closer, everybody connected to the show mentally geared up for yet another wild ride.  

Paul Rabwin remembers the day the first draft of the script came out. “The first clue as to the kind of script it might be was its title, ‘Requiem.’ It was a significant title: a Mass said for the dead. The first thing I read on the script was ‘Bellefleur, Oregon.’ I immediately recognized the site of the pilot episode. It sounded like a full circle situation. I didn’t know what to make of it.” 

Slowly but surely, literally one act at a time, the script came out. Cast and crew were finally getting an idea of what “Requiem” would be. Rabwin relates, “By the time we started shooting, we knew Mulder was in the woods, there was a spaceship that took off, and Mulder was nowhere to be found. But, like anything else in ‘The X-Files’, that really didn’t answer any questions.” 

…”I wasn’t surprised that they called me back,” insists Lea. “I would have been shocked if they hadn’t. They’re opening up the closet and bringing everybody back, so why not Krycek? It’s always been that way. Nobody knows where I’m at or even if I’m alive and then I just sort of pop up.”

Filming began on “Requiem” on April 20, 2000, on Soundstage 5 at the Twentieth Century Fox lot. There was the usual joking and good-natured banter during the first few days of filming. But there was also the underlying tension of not knowing, even as the last episode began filming, where “The X-Files” would be back. 

Chris Carter remembers his unease: “I honestly did not know, even through the filming, if we would be back.” 

Adding fuel to the uncertainty and rumors on the set was the fact that the now-completed script was missing the final two pages. 

Pileggi acknowledges, “I don’t know what I was feeling at the time. I was kind of numb.”

For Anderson the missing script pages were not the major source of concern. “It had more to do with not knowing if we were coming back for another season or not and if a new season was going to be involving David.”

…Bruce Harwood saw “Requiem” as the prototypical Lone Gunmen episode: “That was actually the most typical appearance we had that year. Basically we just showed up and used our supertechological information to move the plot along.”

There was nothing typical about A.D. Skinner’s role in “Requiem.” Mitch Pileggi was enthusiastic about the fact that after a season of being largely office-bound, he was now in the thick of the action. “He goes out into the field and is there when what happens to Mulder happens. He’s definitely involved.” 

“The X-Files” production wrapped up shooting at the studio at the end of Day 4 and relocated to the mountain resort of Big Bear, California. The picturesque mountains, glassy lakes, and long stark stretches of forest made Big Bear the ideal backdrop for the final days of the “Requiem” shoot. The Big Bear stay coincided with a number of the episode’s most demanding visual effects and stunts….

THE ENDING (WITH GILLIAN ON BOARD)

Shapiro concludes:

Back in Los Angeles, Chris Carter was sitting in front of his computer. The final day of shooting “Requiem” was a day away. It was time to write the final two pages.” 

Carter remembers, “I did not write the final two pages until the day before thy were to be filmed. We had been talking about two pages for a long time, but I held back on writing them until the last minute because I didn’t want to create something that would let the cat out of the bag and give anybody the opportunity to spoil our fun. Then I called line producer Michelle MacLaren and asked her to make sure she scheduled the final hospital sequence between Skinner and Scully as the last shot.” 

Frank Spotnitz was well aware of the attempts to keep the ending secret. “Clearly the idea of the pregnancy was built into the structure of the show but we didn’t want anybody to know until they had to know. We wanted the element of surprise. We knew Mulder’s abduction would get out, but we wanted the pregnancy to be a surprise. Chris finally wrote the ending, showed it to me, printed up one copy with the exception of the last paragraph, and had somebody drive it up to Big Bear at ten o’clock on the morning of the last day of filming. Chris left at four that afternoon with the final paragraph and drove up to Big Bear.” 

Carter arrived at the Big Bear Hospital shortly before the scene was to be shot. He approached Kim Manners, Gillian Anderson, and Mitch Pileggi and calmly handed them the final paragraph. Carter remembers their reaction. “Gillian said she knew it. She thought it was a great idea and it just blew everyone else away.”

WHAT DID MULDER MEAN IN BELLEFLEUR?

Mulder and Scully have an important-- albeit ambiguous-- discussion in his Bellefleur motel room. Quoting from this transcript:

MULDER: It's not worth it, Scully.

SCULLY: What?

MULDER: I want you to go home.

SCULLY: Oh, Mulder, I'm going to be fine.

MULDER: No, I've been thinking about it. Looking at you tonight, holding that baby... knowing everything that's been taken away from you. A chance for motherhood and your health and that baby. I think that... I don't know, maybe they're right.

SCULLY: Who's right?

MULDER: The FBI. Maybe what they say is true, though for all the wrong reasons. It's the personal costs that are too high.

MULDER: There's so much more you need to do with your life. There's so much more than this.

MULDER: There has to be an end, Scully.

In Requiem's script, Mulder's concerns are highlighted clearly and Scully's reactions are more physically engaged and questioning:

There's important interplay here. Scully and Mulder are both concerned about her health; and, while the script writes that she downplays her struggles-- only to internalize them later-- the episode amplifies Scully's anxiety: when he puts forward the idea that she's suffered enough, she doesn't outright disagree. Further, they both have no idea what she's suffering from-- "Why is this happening to me?"-- and fear it's connected to her former abductions. When Billy Miles disappears, Mulder packs up and takes them home, effectively abandoning the case with barely any notice: Scully's safety, he is proving, trumps the files-- trumps his own wishes and fears and needs.

all things resolved what had been brewing in Scully's heart since Never Again-- a fear and frustration she succinctly repackaged in her pointed Biogenesis question: "Mulder... look, after all you've done, after all you've uncovered-- a conspiracy of men doing human experiments, men who are all now dead-- you exposed their secrets. I mean, you've won. What more could you possibly hope to do or to find?" Scully made her peace: the x-files was still Mulder's passion and pursuit; and she chose to stay the course because she wanted a life with him. She was-- they were-- content.

...But. There's always a 'but'. The basement isn't end game for either Mulder or Scully-- not really. Chris Carter to this day maintains he has a vision of their final moment on-screen-- a vision he tries to bring to fruition but can't fully realize due to his aspirations (to be discussed below)-- of them together, victorious. Mulder was meant to find his closure (post here), Scully was meant to find her voice (post here), and they were meant to find the Truth in each other and leave the world to chase its own tail in futility. As Frank Spotnitz famously declared,

"You can't get the truth. You can't. There's a larger truth, though: that you can't harness the forces of the cosmos, but you may find somebody else. You may find another human being. That may be kind of corny and all of that, but that's really it: Love is the only truth we can hope to know, as human beings."

Circling back to the original topic: what did Mulder mean in Bellefleur? Did he mean Scully and he should leave together? Did he mean they needed a healthier work-life balance? Did he mean to go it alone from now on in order to keep his partner safe? Had he wanted Scully to simply verbalize her own thoughts? Had he even reached a substantial conclusion?

Tom Kessenich makes some good points in his book EXaminations:

"The Pilot:" To look at how this relationship has evolved, we obviously have to go back to where it all began. ...I believe the scene in Mulder's hotel room in Oregon is the one that truly laid the foundation for this relationship. Not only are we given insight into Mulder's quest, but Scully is enthralled as well. She (and we the viewer) can feel Mulder's passion for his beliefs, and the intensity with which he relays the mission he is on is seductive. In fact, you could say Scully is seduced by Mulder's words and the powerful way Mulder intently describes his past, present and where he believes his future is headed. In that instant, Scully is hooked. And so are we.

"Fight the Future:" ...Scully is wracked with self-doubt, questioning her place alongside Mulder, convinced she is yet another obstacle in his dogged pursuit of the truth. Mulder's response is crucial. For the first time, he extends the nature of their relationship beyond the aspect of trust. When he tells her that she has made him a whole person, he is pulling Scully inside him, filling the gaping hole created the night his sister was abducted, the night Mulder lost a part of himself as well. Mulder can't go on without Scully because she has become as essential as "the truth" had always been. The elusive truth was the fuel that drove Mulder's quest. But Scully had now provided the soul he needed to not only persevere, but to survive.

"Requiem:" Much of this episode is about looking to the future while feeling the past nipping at Mulder and Scully's heels. From an FBI audit which threatens the future of The X-Files to, more importantly, the progression of the Mulder-Scully relationship, it's clear a new chapter is being written. Mulder seems resolved to move to another place in his life. He wants something more for Scully, something more for himself and his growing relationship with Scully symbolizes the change in his life. He is prepared to move forward, but before he can, he believes he must put an end to the past that had driven him for so long. The irony of Mulder's abduction is that it came at the precise moment in his life when he no longer needed it or was driven to embrace it. His "quest" no longer sustained him entirely.

Requiem, then, was the final gasp of their old existence.

I believe Mulder senses something is changing-- the same sense that led him to predict "A change for us, it's coming" in Tooms. This same sense alerts him to the FBI's looming intent to close the files and leads him back to Oregon seven years later.

Unfortunately, authorial intent has been lost to time, along with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's thoughts on the matter. That leaves us, then, with three routes of conjecture:

Mulder is prepared to move forward, and ready to let go. Tom has already explained that point thoroughly, so I won't belabor.

Mulder and Scully are preparing to leave... but not quite yet. I'm going to pull from @baronessblixen's thoughts (who so generously had many chats about this topic) because they sum up this point so well: I think both were questioning things. To me, Mulder wasn't as determined anymore as he used to be - and why would he be after finding Samantha? His priorities have shifted and his priority is Scully. So yeah, he wants to do the right thing and wonders whether Scully should go home, stop working on the X-Files, but I think he was wondering about himself too. They were definitely in transition. The X-Files aren't just Mulder's; Scully's lifeblood is in them too. So yeah, she's not ready to let go either.

Mulder is not prepared to move forward, but doesn't want to hold Scully back-- hence, he will carry on with the work while she (hypothetically) goes to "be a doctor."

As is always the case in these gray matters, the choice is left to viewer interpretation.

Where I stand currently (subject to change): I don't believe Mulder was ready to let go. He is dispirited after the audit, knowing the Powers That Be are looking for a way to shut him (and Scully) down. The phone call from Bellefleur perks him back up because it was proof there is still work to be done. That hope morphs into regret when he sees Scully cuddling a baby-- the truth is a never-ending line that will swallow them whole, he realizes-- then fear when Scully becomes ill at the motel; then terrified resolve when she collapses in the forest.

As Mulder said in Fight the Future, "They call me Spooky. Spooky Mulder, whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was just a kid and who now chases after little green men with a badge and a gun, shouting to the heavens or to anyone who will listen that the fix is in, that the sky is falling...." Two years later, no one listened-- still, there are aliens conniving and scheming as he howls at the moon. But FTF taught him he can't do "this" without Scully-- that he'd rather she "go be a doctor" than live in a world without her.

I believe his fears in Fight the Future are the same in Requiem: that Mulder thinks Scully should "go be a doctor" for her sake yet doesn't want to lose her, or the connection of their partnership, either. I believe Mulder is still struggling to let go of the files, even after his sister's closure-- and that he ignores multiple signs to let the truth be and live his life on this planet with Scully (and their unknown baby.) I believe that struggle lures him into the jaws of captivity and face-first into the darkness of death. And, I believe, he has to learn to let go after his resurrection: not because he's afraid to reenter life (Three Words, post here), not because he's forced out (Vienen), and not because he's turning away from his true nature to avoid the pain of losing that connection (Alone.)

DID MULDER MEAN TO LEAVE?

As Tom Kessenich rationalizes in his book EXaminations:

The question then becomes: Did he leave willingly?

Leaving Scully behind willingly is an affront to their relationship. But I would venture a guess as to say Mulder was intoxicated by the events that were transpiring around him and caught up in the moment he has dreamed about since the day his sister was taken from him.

The power of that moment swept him away. Literally.

...as the alien bounty hunter approaches him and Mulder looks towards the heavens, that opportunity [to see the truth firsthand] is there. Does he take it willingly or is he being led by the moment? I would say it was the latter.

But let's not take Kessenich's word here. The script describes this moment as:

The authorial intent, therefore, seems to be that Mulder stepped into the light of his own accord, but was forced onto the ship against his will.

However, David Duchovny plays this scene differently: purposefully hollow. His expression mimics the faces of the other encircling abductees-- not one in awe of a wondrous new phenomena (@dd-is-my-guiltypleasure's comparison here.) Mulder barely reacts when his captor appears before him; but his eyes are troubled and unwilling. DD, it would appear, is playing a character under control of some sort of influence, similar to Scully's second abduction experience in "Patient X."

The answer, no matter how you cut it, is a resounding "No."

SETTLING RUMORS ABOUT MULDER’S ABDUCTION AND SCULLY’S PREGNANCY

I’ve read elsewhere that it was speculated by fans-- nay, planned by the producers-- to kill Mulder off in Requiem’s finale. By the same token, I’ve seen echoing sentiment that Scully’s pregnancy was tacked on as a last-minute attention grab to green light Season 8. And while there may be degrees of truth to both ideologies, the facts presented reveal a different, more realistic truth: Scully’s conception was planned around the alien ship in Biogenesis-The Sixth Extinction (post here); and Mulder’s abduction, not death, was going to be filmed the same with or without an eighth season. 

Quoting Marc Shapiro’s book:

“Requiem” wrapped filming on May 5, 2000. The consensus was that the season finale was stark, bleak, and ultimately satisfying episode. But there still were no answers. 

“Nobody knew when we started that episode that we were coming back,” concludes Spotnitz. “Nobody knew it at the wrap party. It was a very odd wrap party. We were all saying, ‘This can’t be the end because it doesn’t feel right.’ It just didn’t feel like we had closure.” 

Shortly before “Requiem” aired, Fox announced that “The X-Files” would be back for an eighth season. David Duchovny had agreed to come back but would only appear in a total of eleven episodes….

That fact is repeated in other interviews, which also claim-- over and over-- that Scully’s pregnancy was definitively planned when The Sixth Extinction and Amor Fati were penned:

This May 2000 joint interview--

Did the producers shoot an alternative ending, as reported?

That`s just crazy talk, insists Carter: “I would have played it the same way whether [Duchovny] came back or not.” In fact, Carter says he`s been planning Mulder`s abduction and Scully`s pregnancy since the start of the season. “I thought it was a finale that would work for any eventuality. And because we had planned to do movies, I thought that would be a place to pick up with those things.”

Perhaps the alternative-ending rumors stem from the producers` clandestine high jinks: Because they wanted to keep the prenatal plot under wraps, the pregnancy scene wasn't revealed to the crew until the night it was shot. “The last page of the script was never published,” says Spotnitz. “That was a secret we were trying to hold as long as possible.”

--this July 2000 interview-- 

“I [Carter] had to write the season finale — which is called ‘Requiem’ — I had to write it without knowing whether or not we’d be back.” 

--this November 2000 interview--

We heard there were 2 possible endings for “Requiem”…can you tell us what the other ending we didn’t see was and how long before you filmed the episode did you decide to make Scully’s pregnancy an option?

"It was never an option, it was always the ending. I [Carter] just did not inform the actors or the crew that Scully’s pregnancy was going to be in the script. I had planned this for months with Frank Spotnitz and only delivered the script pages to Kim Manners — the director — and to Gillian and Mitch Pileggi minutes before they performed the scene. I’m just paranoid!" 

--this Frank Spotnitz December 2000 solo interview--

When was the decision made to pursue a storyline in which Scully becomes pregnant?

Spotnitz: "At the very beginning of season seven, we hit upon the idea and it seemed wonderful to us. There was beautiful symmetry to it. We knew that was our target all season, and so we did a number of things in episodes that would be tantalizing for fans who later were to look back at the episodes and try and figure out when Scully might have gotten pregnant and how. And that’s something we will continue to explore this season. But all questions will be answered by the end of the season, we promise." 

--and the information presented in previous sections of this post all bear up under the same narrative.

But potentially the most shocking bombshell of all, Spotnitz admitted in May 2008 that a pregnancy for Scully had been in the works since Season 5:

Q: When (the year or the season) did you plan the storyline about Scully’s pregnacy?

FS: We had thought about it for some time (at least since Season 5), but we didn’t definitely decide on Scully’s pregnancy until Season 7.

Although CC’s word is tentative at best, Spotnitz never wavers from honesty when asked a direct question; and I'm inclined to believe him.

But if neither are to be believed-- understandable-- then one glance at Amor Fati’s ending script should crush any remaining doubt: 

(More Amor Fati script bits can be found here.) 

A parallel with purposed intent. 

Is a pregnancy at odds with Scully's personality? No, I don't think so: she's open to having kids as early as The Jersey Devil and brings the subject up pointedly to Mulder in Home (post here.) She mourns her infertility in A Christmas Carol-- "I just never realized how much I wanted it until I couldn't have it"-- and grasps at an IVF chance in Per Manum's flashbacks (posts here and here.) The FBI itself is actually a considerably safe career, and quite supportive of their agents' familial obligations. The problem-- if one could call it that-- is The X-Files: an undeniably, astronomically unsafe and unstable career that is not conducive to family needs or structure... which the writers crafted purposefully, as will be discussed below.

Mulder wants a normal life just as much as Scully (@thursdayinspace's post here) but gave up those aspirations-- literally in The Jersey Devil-- in order to find his answers and unveil the Truth. His character arc and growth is a meta post all its own; but though his journey was concluded in Closure, his detachment from and transition away from the files didn't conclude until Season 8's Vienen. Be that as it may, he speaks about a wish to settle down in a place like Home and dreams about "another life, another world" with a wife and children and his sister, safe at last.

Why, then, does the baby arc feel so tacked on-- despite the roots of its conception (pun intended) tracing back to at least Season 5?

Surprise, surprise: the writing is a mess.

In March 2003, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were both glad the show was coming to a close. She gently hinted, “I think it’s good to finish now. We had a great run, but we’re getting out at the right time when the show is still a hit" while he blatantly asserted, “You cannot say it died anything but a natural death." No surprise, considering their excitement over Scully's pregnancy and Mulder's abduction were reduced to footnotes--

Tom Kessenich’s EXaminations:

...Anderson wasn't thrilled with the amount of attention the writers were lavishing on Doggett. ...she believed with Duchovny gone this would be her chance to step into the show's spotlight. Instead, the light shines on Doggett...

...Duchovny felt some frustration as well once he returned full-time for the final six episodes. In interviews after the season, he lamented the lack of resolution to Mulder's abduction and that Mulder was rendered into being a "peripheral" character.

...Duchovny also did not care for the paternity tease since it prevented him and Anderson from establishing any proper dramatic foreshadowing. The two stars were also reportedly unhappy the relationship between Mulder and Scully was not expired more fully since Duchovny planned to leave the series at the end of the season.

--and both had to begrudgingly accept, as parents, that their characters effectively abandoned (for his own good, we're told) William--

"Duchovny, Anderson, and Shiban (all parents) reportedly were not thrilled with the idea. They grudgingly consented only after Carter revealed his plan to end the series with Mulder and Scully on the run, hardly in the best position to raise a child."

What's worse, then and now, is: both agreed, largely, with the direction and decisions of the show heading into Season 8; and heavily disagreed with the direction and decisions of the show unfolding in Season 9. Not only was David and Gillian's interest in Scully's pregnancy and Mulder's abduction squandered, but their own characters' recovery and happy ending was swiftly destroyed not even a year later.

A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH CLOSURE

Something gave me pause: in Marc Shapiro’s book, Spotnitz (as mentioned above), admitted: “Nobody knew when we started that episode [Requiem] that we were coming back…. Nobody knew it at the wrap party. It was a very odd wrap party. We were all saying, ‘This can’t be the end because it doesn’t feel right.’ It just didn’t feel like we had closure.” 

Which begs the question: what is "closure" to the open-ended minds at 1013 Productions? And why, then, did they toss it away once they had it?

Carter has long maintained that The X-Files is not a domestic show (post here); however, he has also maintained that Mulder and Scully fell "in love" in the Pilot-- a knitting of souls more than a romantic attraction-- and that Scully wanted "a normal life" (and children) while Mulder wanted answers to his sister's disappearance (and a peaceful existence not dissimilar to Home.) CC also let us know, obliquely, that "domestication" refers to anything personal in his characters' lives-- be it their friends, hobbies, life outside of work or, most importantly, their personal and romantic connections. Wedding these two beliefs together gives birth to the indisputable fact that Chris intended (as he's reiterated, many times) to build up to a final closure for both: ride Mulder and Scully off into the sunset-- away from the files-- and let them have their happily ever after, miraculous cherub included... off-screen, of course (post here.) Top off that union with the knowledge that he has a vague idea how the show will end--

March 2001:

I’ve heard many times that you’ve always had an idea of the last episode of the X-Files. Has that vision changed with the absence of Mulder and the addition of Scully’s pregnancy, or is it mostly the same?

Chris Carter: Mostly the same.

--and you'll notice that: A. CC has a specific 'end credits' scene in mind but B. no mapped-out footpath leading to that vision.

The writers were at their best when they had to channel towards a goal-- e.g. crafting Fight the Future during Season 4, creating the cancer arc to separate then re-bond Mulder and Scully, and building Season 5 towards the basement disbandment. Amor Fati, all things, Requiem, and Existence fall into that same category by letter-of-the-law standards: pre-plotted end points all aiming towards a final conclusion. As @gaycrouton points out here, Carter flipped Sartre's 'existence and essence' philosophy around to tie the concept into his "fate versus freewill" mytharc; and as I pointed out here, William was meant to be-- Mulder and Scully's happy ending-- but only came about because of Scully's freewill choices.

The truth, in full: CC never knows when to stop. He and Spotnitz brainstorm on a possible pregnancy for Scully as early as S5 (in case that season is the last, I'd wager.) He continues to tease the MSR angle until Fight the Future, then pulls the characters back from a kiss because that wasn't the end of their story. He teases another kiss or avowal of their feelings through Season 6, knowing he has another season (Season 7) still to go. When Fox drags their feet on Season 8's confirmation, Chris and Frank reveal the secret pregnancy ace and smudge in Mulder's abduction-- writing off David Duchovny while leaving a window open for his return, and giving Scully her own form of closure or bittersweet happy ending, regardless: an ending, as Spotnitz says, that doesn't "feel like closure." (Because it isn't, really.) Season 8 is a go, but DD only agrees to come back intermittently, and Gillian's contract is almost up. Then, and only then, do CC and Spotnitz craft a healthy transition and happy ending-- a closure, if you will. Hence, the resolution in Existence-- Mulder opening Scully's apartment door for the first time with his key (post here), Scully cementing William as his son (through Mulder's father's name), Mulder affirming they both knew but feared the truth. And Scully asking, pivotally, what that truth is; and Mulder, pivotally, confirming it with a kiss. The actors and crew on-set are touched by this heartfelt moment--

[Kim Manners]: “As they come together to kiss, you’ll see the camera pull out of the door and that was the last shot of David and Gillian together. We wrapped and David and Gillian stood in that room together alone and held each other for a good five minutes. They didn’t talk. They didn’t move. They just held each other, tears running down their faces.”

-- and communally feel that, finally, Mulder and Scully have closure together. Finally, domestication. Finally, the end.

And then the writers fumbled.

I say "writers" plural because Spotnitz cosigned a lot of Chris Carter's creative choices in Season 9-- breaking Mulder's character to lazily write out Duchovny; neglecting Scully's arc until she became a hormonal, irrelevant mess in her own story; handing off William with little care or concern to a random couple in the middle of nowhere (who were, canonically, later murdered because of that adoption); etc. In fact, it was David Duchovny who kept returning and salvaging their disaster (and who gave fans many memorable Season 8 and 9 moments, post here); but that's another post for another time.

But why?

Simple: Carter wanted to make a movie series instead of Season 8 (interview here.) When that fell through, he realized he'd have to bring on another actor to eventually replace Gillian; and hired Robert Patrick accordingly. Doggett became the focus for that and the following season (which upset GA and DD)... but still no movie deal materialized, despite Spotnitz's speculation that The X-Files could extend into a tenth and possibly eleventh season if the show was able to attract an audience (interview here.) Subsequently, the writing suffered-- parallel to Chris's passion for The X-Files-- and the ratings tanked until he admitted defeat and pulled the plug to save everyone's dignity. Still, he refused to acknowledge the flailing writing; and Spotnitz seemed to agree with him, stating:

January 2002:

 Some may argue that it was one season too long, but Spotnitz isn’t sure what caused the decline. He is sure, though, that it wasn’t competition from ABC’s “Alias,” starring Jennifer Garner as a secret agent, in the Sunday, 9 p.m. ET time slot. “That’s silly,” says Spotnitz. “I’ve heard many, many theories about the show this year, but I don’t think there’s anything to that. If you look at the numbers for ‘The X-Files’ this year, in the very first episode, there was a significant portion of our audience that just didn’t come. They just weren’t there.”

Spotnitz also doesn’t see a connection between FOX’s pickup of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon’s science-fiction series “Firefly,” and “X” creator Chris Carter’s subsequent announcement that his show was over. “No, it’s just a coincidence, because the decision really was Chris’, and the timing of it was Chris’. He came to them. He had thought about it over the Christmas vacation. We delivered two really strong episodes at the beginning of January, and the audience wasn’t any bigger. He said, ‘Let’s get out while we’re ahead. We don’t want to limp out.'”

In short, Chris (and Spotnitz) couldn't let go; and hasn't to this day, still pitching The X-Files to anyone that's interested (say, a reboot.)

Where does this leave us?

For me, Season 8 is the true bookend of the series, with Season 7 serving as its necessary precursor. For others, Je Souhaite is the dropping off point; and they can ignore the seeds that were sown in Amor Fati and all things with a clear conscience. For the rest, canon continues until the point they deem best to stop, be it another movie, season, or all the way. The choice, really, is up to you.

CONCLUSION

Finally, the Requiem meta has been exorcised.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[simstefani]

simstefani - drop 14.5

-

new arrivals:

heaven tailored lace camisole

heaven tailored corset skirt

heaven chunky cropped cardigan (buttoned)

heaven chunky cropped cardigan (unbuttoned)

... and yes, the boots r coming soon! just need to finish up the texture.

-  

download - drop 14.5 

[lizthacreator]

[LIZTHACREATOR] 00'S ECKO COLLECTION

DOWNLOAD

[vancruejovi]

Kerrang 122 highlights (Part 2) 🌹

Bret!!!! My babies!!

Also WHAT are they talking about above this picture?

[tokoats]

first meeting marc was unexpected but i still love him regardless <33

[marc--chilton]

fan of the camp camp posting :D i was just rereading ptkd yesterdaay surprised but delighted to see someone ive followed for awhile start posting it at the same time!!

I LOVE CAMP CAMP SM...... dadvid save me dadvid.... it's the only rt show i am still invested in (i liked early rvb as machinima is basically playing with dolls and making up storylines But In Video Games, and i eat that shit UP but i never played halo so once it got more heavy i got lost, and don't get me STARTED on rwby)

max is my fav i care him deeply. sonboy baby boy. 2nd fav.... miss priss or dirty kevin maybe. btw did The Forest kinda fuck you up a little too when you first saw it because i still think about it sometimes. a lot

one of the campers actually has the same name as me!! imagine my shock

[lydtheway]

Marc Jacobs 40th anniversary campaign 🕺✨

[0110110i]

Oscar Isaac / Marc Spector [WIP]

[randomfoggytiger]

The X-Files: Scully's Pregnancy and Mulder's Abduction

(Extract from a larger meta I'm working on~.)

I’ve read elsewhere that it was speculated by fans-- nay, planned by the producers-- to kill Mulder off in Requiem’s finale. By the same token, I’ve seen echoing sentiment that Scully’s pregnancy was tacked on as a last-minute attention grab to green light Season 8. And while there may be degrees of truth to both ideologies, the facts presented reveal a different, more realistic truth: Scully’s conception was planned around the alien ship in Biogenesis-The Sixth Extinction (post here); and Mulder’s abduction, not death, was going to be filmed the same with or without an eighth season. 

Quoting Marc Shapiro’s book:

“Requiem” wrapped filming on May 5, 2000. The consensus was that the season finale was stark, bleak, and ultimately satisfying episode. But there still were no answers. 

“Nobody knew when we started that episode that we were coming back,” concludes Spotnitz. “Nobody knew it at the wrap party. It was a very odd wrap party. We were all saying, ‘This can’t be the end because it doesn’t feel right.’ It just didn’t feel like we had closure.” 

Shortly before “Requiem” aired, Fox announced that “The X-Files” would be back for an eighth season. David Duchovny had agreed to come back but would only appear in a total of eleven episodes….

That fact is repeated in other interviews, which also claim-- over and over-- that Scully’s pregnancy was definitively planned when The Sixth Extinction and Amor Fati were penned:

This May 2000 joint interview--

Did the producers shoot an alternative ending, as reported?

That`s just crazy talk, insists Carter: “I would have played it the same way whether [Duchovny] came back or not.” In fact, Carter says he`s been planning Mulder`s abduction and Scully`s pregnancy since the start of the season. “I thought it was a finale that would work for any eventuality. And because we had planned to do movies, I thought that would be a place to pick up with those things.”

Perhaps the alternative-ending rumors stem from the producers` clandestine high jinks: Because they wanted to keep the prenatal plot under wraps, the pregnancy scene wasn't revealed to the crew until the night it was shot. “The last page of the script was never published,” says Spotnitz. “That was a secret we were trying to hold as long as possible.”

--this July 2000 interview-- 

“I [Carter] had to write the season finale — which is called ‘Requiem’ — I had to write it without knowing whether or not we’d be back.” 

--this November 2000 interview--

We heard there were 2 possible endings for “Requiem”…can you tell us what the other ending we didn’t see was and how long before you filmed the episode did you decide to make Scully’s pregnancy an option?

"It was never an option, it was always the ending. I [Carter] just did not inform the actors or the crew that Scully’s pregnancy was going to be in the script. I had planned this for months with Frank Spotnitz and only delivered the script pages to Kim Manners — the director — and to Gillian and Mitch Pileggi minutes before they performed the scene. I’m just paranoid!" 

--this Frank Spotnitz December 2000 solo interview--

When was the decision made to pursue a storyline in which Scully becomes pregnant?

Spotnitz: "At the very beginning of season seven, we hit upon the idea and it seemed wonderful to us. There was beautiful symmetry to it. We knew that was our target all season, and so we did a number of things in episodes that would be tantalizing for fans who later were to look back at the episodes and try and figure out when Scully might have gotten pregnant and how. And that’s something we will continue to explore this season. But all questions will be answered by the end of the season, we promise." 

--and the information presented in previous sections of this post all bear up under the same narrative.

But potentially the most shocking bombshell of all, Spotnitz admitted in May 2008 that a pregnancy for Scully had been in the works since Season 5:

Q: When (the year or the season) did you plan the storyline about Scully’s pregnacy?

FS: We had thought about it for some time (at least since Season 5), but we didn’t definitely decide on Scully’s pregnancy until Season 7.

Although CC’s word is tentative at best, Spotnitz never wavers from honesty when asked a direct question; and I'm inclined to believe him.

But if neither are to be believed-- understandable-- then one glance at Amor Fati’s ending script should crush any remaining doubt: 

(More Amor Fati script bits can be found here.) 

A parallel with purposed intent. 

Is a pregnancy at odds with Scully's personality? No, I don't think so: she's open to having kids as early as The Jersey Devil and brings the subject up pointedly to Mulder in Home (post here.) She mourns her infertility in A Christmas Carol-- "I just never realized how much I wanted it until I couldn't have it"-- and grasps at an IVF chance in Per Manum's flashbacks (posts here and here.) The FBI itself is actually a considerably safe career, and quite supportive of their agents' familial obligations. The problem-- if one could call it that-- is The X-Files: an undeniably, astronomically unsafe and unstable career that is not conducive to family needs or structure... which the writers crafted purposefully, as will be discussed below.

Mulder wants a normal life just as much as Scully (@thursdayinspace's post here) but gave up those aspirations-- literally in The Jersey Devil-- in order to find his answers and unveil the Truth. His character arc and growth is a meta post all its own; but though his journey was concluded in Closure, his detachment from and transition away from the files didn't conclude until Season 8's Vienen. Be that as it may, he speaks about a wish to settle down in a place like Home and dreams about "another life, another world" with a wife and children and his sister, safe at last.

Why, then, does the baby arc feel so tacked on-- despite the roots of its conception (pun intended) tracing back to at least Season 5?

Surprise, surprise: the writing is a mess.

In March 2003, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were both glad the show was coming to a close. She gently hinted, “I think it’s good to finish now. We had a great run, but we’re getting out at the right time when the show is still a hit" while he blatantly asserted, “You cannot say it died anything but a natural death." No surprise, considering their excitement over Scully's pregnancy and Mulder's abduction were reduced to footnotes--

Tom Kessenich’s EXaminations:

...Anderson wasn't thrilled with the amount of attention the writers were lavishing on Doggett. ...she believed with Duchovny gone this would be her chance to step into the show's spotlight. Instead, the light shines on Doggett...

...Duchovny felt some frustration as well once he returned full-time for the final six episodes. In interviews after the season, he lamented the lack of resolution to Mulder's abduction and that Mulder was rendered into being a "peripheral" character.

...Duchovny also did not care for the paternity tease since it prevented him and Anderson from establishing any proper dramatic foreshadowing. The two stars were also reportedly unhappy the relationship between Mulder and Scully was not expired more fully since Duchovny planned to leave the series at the end of the season.

--and both had to begrudgingly accept, as parents, that their characters effectively abandoned (for his own good, we're told) William--

"Duchovny, Anderson, and Shiban (all parents) reportedly were not thrilled with the idea. They grudgingly consented only after Carter revealed his plan to end the series with Mulder and Scully on the run, hardly in the best position to raise a child."

What's worse, then and now, is: both agreed, largely, with the direction and decisions of the show heading into Season 8; and heavily disagreed with the direction and decisions of the show unfolding in Season 9. Not only was David and Gillian's interest in Scully's pregnancy and Mulder's abduction squandered, but their own characters' recovery and happy ending was swiftly destroyed not even a year later.

CONCLUSION

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[considerablecolors]

MOON KNIGHT FANDOM IS ANYONE TALKING ABOUT THE FACT THAT OUTER SPACE / CARRY ON IS THE MARC SPECTOR SONG???

LIKE HELLO???

[angelsim333]

come kick it with me

[batsplat]

I was gonna ask you to rank Marc’s cota and sachsenring wins and then thought there’s really not much to rank them on cause he kinda won them pretty convincingly each time (2016 was pretty good) and the 2021 wins always have a special place in my heart but I’m not sure how else to rank them unless it’s like how dominantly he won them? Kinda wild that he had 3 cheat code tracks tho like that just sounds fake but Cota, Sachsenring and Aragon basically had is name on the P1 trophy every year (Aragon not until the 2016-19 run tho)

(Also just watched Brno 2017, man he’s not good in full wet races but you put him in a flag to flag and its hilarious cause comms are like oh he’s switching already oh look at him go he’s gonna win it now and it’s the same every time) (Although him getting P3 in his rookie year at France in a full wet race he did good)

yeah tbh I could't rank marc's wins at those circuits by any metric because quite frankly I don't remember most of them and am not particularly inclined to rewatch any of them for extra insight. sachsenring's still a bit better at cota - the only marc cota win I remember enjoying was 2017, but that was entirely because of the whole zarco/valentino/dani drama. don't even remember seeing marc

with sachsenring... yeah, I mean, 2016's pretty fun, felt extremely plot armour-y, marc makes a dicey bike swap call that ends up paying off big time. the main reason he makes that call iirc is because he'd sent himself to the shadow realm a couple laps earlier and was down the order anyway - which to me is actually one of the most interesting elements of his f2f wins. a lot of them are obviously based on perfect tactical execution but to some extent there's also some remarkable luck at play. taking a gamble because the race wasn't going his way and it just consistently paying off. the heavens are looking out for that man. anyway, incredible scam win

um... 2017 was actually not too bad, yamaha satellite rider folger does a pretty handy job at keeping the pressure on marc for as long as he does. I also vaguely remember 2018 being reasonably watchable, kinda the last jorge/valentino battle and valentino actually puts in a pretty impressive effort to chase after marc. I liked what he said in the presser about having studied what folger had done, how nobody had told folger yamaha was supposed to be mid at the sachsenring (to paraphrase), old man's still doing his homework. apart from that... the most memorable thing about 2014 were the pit lane shenanigans. I cannot remember a single thing about 2019 apart from dovi being in a bad mood that weekend. 2021 is one of those races that is entirely dependent on context - like, I was tense while watching it at the time, but if it had been any other year... it obviously wasn't exactly a stunning race

and it's a neat calling card!! the only real equivalent you've got is casey at phillip island. valentino technically also has a couple streaks to his name (seven at mugello, six at rio, five at phillip island) - but those have a completely different vibe to marc's and casey's in that most of them aren't exactly dominant. marc having this kind of margin over the field at several different tracks is pretty unique. it's actually a bit of a shame that we never quite got to see if dani at his best would've had something for marc at the sachsenring. dns in 2013, in 2014 the track conditions were always going to favour marc, 2015 I suppose but dani really wasn't in good form after his injury absence earlier in the season... and eventually his level just dipped anyway. idk if he could've beaten marc... but he really WAS excellent at that track, had won there 2010-12. the 2013 injury was awful timing in the context of his season and it wasn't ultimately a race that marc won by a crazy margin. idk! would've liked to see it!

one mildly interesting plot point in the next couple years is following marc's performances at those tracks - given that cota/sachsenring did also always feel like honda heartland. they suited both marc AND the bike. and yeah, you'd still expect him to run away with the victories at all those tracks, especially now we've seen his ominous aragon performance. but idk, that's one of the most fun aspects of manufacturer changes - you actually get more data points about how much the performance profiles are determined by bike or rider. for a currently relevant example, I've always thought that marc's a better rider at like,, qatar than he is at sepang. the headline stats are fairly similar, but it's about how the comparisons with other honda riders shake out. honda barely ever wins at qatar, they've done it only three times - once way back in 2004, can't remember anything about that race, once in 2011 courtesy of casey but that's one of HIS best tracks, and once in 2014 courtesy of marc to start off his win streak. whereas sepang is a track honda has a far better record at. unfortunately marc's only ever had one decent direct teammate comparison, but this is dani's record at the two respective tracks:

which you can also only read so much into, because dani himself is clearly a bit of a sepang specialist and doesn't particularly love qatar. but next year we get a lot more data!! finally! different manufacturer AND a decent teammate to serve as a baseline. in general marc's way more fun to watch at his bogey tracks than his specialist ones, so those are the circuits I'm more interested in his record at than the yearly cota walkover. always curious to see how he gets on at those... guess we'll have another chance to do so in a couple weeks time lol

as for the wet weather thing, again I do want to stress that marc isn't BAD in full wet conditions. at all. he doesn't have the same margin over the field as he does in mixed conditions, but the thing about wet races is that they are kind of supposed to make things a bit weird. it's always going to be luck of the draw to some extent - which is what makes marc's f2f record so remarkable because it's so dominant. in general, prime marc isn't racking up an obscene number of race wins in most of his title winning seasons - bar 2014 and 2019, which just happened to also have zero full wet races. so there have been wet races where some riders were just fully going at it and he settled for safer positions for championship reasons, like assen 2016, sepang 2017. and other wet races where he comes extremely close to snatching the win, like motegi 2017 - where he was also going up against one of the very best wet weather riders this century. and other wet races came late in the season and he just chucked it down the road for vibes, like sepang 2016, valencia 2018. and other wet races he was riding close behind an italian championship contender and putting them under sustained pressure for much of the race, before over-extending himself and crashing. of which there have been one or two instances

he's never dominated in full wet conditions before, no donington 2005's or silverstone 2011's on his resume, but also. the distinction between f2f and 'full wet' is also a bit arbitrary, because by definition races classified as f2f will more often than not feature some wet tyre action. at times in heavy rain. it's useful to put it in a spreadsheet and compare the two categories because it'll probably give you a general sense of where exactly marc shines and where he doesn't shine quite so much - but like with most of these things, you do need a lot of context. for instance, dani has three 'full wet' wins to marc's one. obviously, dani is not a better wet weather rider than marc. f2f as a category of races contains a lot of variety... marc has a quirky record in that you really wouldn't think he'd be so much radically better in f2f than he is in wet, which is why I like to point it out now and again. there's a small number of top riders who do definitely have a better record than him when the track is completely soaked (dovi, casey, valentino), but like. high bar. the le mans 2013 podium isn't in any way an aberration. he's good in the wet

[julio-viernes]

Me da rrrabia cuando las cosas se ponen de esta manera, no doy a basto. Herbie Flowers RIP, formidable bajista de Blue Mink, C.C.S., T. Rex, Sky... el hombre de las cuatro cuerdas en "Space Oddity" de David Bowie, "Transformer" de Lou Reed, álbumes de Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Paul McCartney, Cat Stevens, Nirvana (UK), Harry Nilsson, Melanie, Chris Spedding, Roger Daltrey, Ringo & George, Roger Daltrey, "La Guerra de los Mundos" de Jeff Wayne, y un larguísimo etcétera... Miren aquí si se atreven.

Subo la que es su interpretación de bajo más recordada, aislada. Las líneas gemelas que tocó para "Walk On the Wild Side", Lou Reed 1972. Flowers grabó una línea al contrabajo tocando las notas más graves, y la dobló en agudos en un bajo eléctrico sin trastes. Y una de mis favoritas personales, "Celebrate Summer", ultimo single de T. Rex, año 1977. Me sigue encantando ese toque "neo Cochran" a sólo a una semana de que se cumplan 47 años de la muerte de Marc Bolan, que falleció en un accidente de tráfico, just like Eddie, cosas de la puñetera vida.

[tokoats]

anything and anyone can become a pillow but someone might just take it almost personally teehee…<33

[seagull-astrology]

Working with Panacea

Panacea‘s Mythological Importance Panacea is the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. She is one of their four sisters each performing a facet of Apollo, Asclepius’s father’s art. They are also called the Asclepiads. She first appeared in the weekly chart for Jackson Mississippi. Our header image is Dr. Marcus Welby (played by Robert Young and shown with his assistant James Brolin) and his steady…

[yekkiz]

͙͘͡★ it couple lookbook II

1. Marc - top - jeans - sneakers Ruth - top - skirt over pants - sneakers 2. Marc - top - jeans - sneakers Ruth - top - shorts - flats 3. Marc - top - jeans - sneakers Ruth - top - shorts - boots 4. Marc - top - jeans - sneakers Ruth - top - skirt - boots

ty all creators!! @seoulsoul-sims @xiuminuwu @rona-sims @serenity-cc @daylifesims @peachibunnii