#s1e14: gender bender

[xf-cases-solved]

S1E14: Gender Bender

Case: In what is arguably one of the most "why did you write this??" plots so far, our dynamic duo (per Mulder's request, I might add) investigate the deaths of five victims who appear to have, like... been fucked to death? Or something?

Actually I have to interrupt my own summary here, bc I just looked up the Wikipedia page (yes, bc I was trying to remember the state, shut up), and Glen Morgan is apparently quoted as saying he wanted "an episode with more of a sexy edge." How that ended up being this particular episode, I cannot say. That is an X-File in and of itself.

But I digress. People are dying of mb really high levels of pheromones caused by super mind-blowing sex. Sure. Also no one is sure if this killer is male or female. (They somehow manage to not even entertain the idea that any of the victims might have been gay, which I thought was an impressive feat of elephant avoidance.)

ANYWAY. Their investigation leads them to Massachusetts, where a bunch of sci-fi not-Amish people are chilling out doing not-Amish people things. Stuff kind of just snowballs from there. Mulder jumps down into the not-Amish people's ritual cellar with no backup and then proceeds to reprimand Scully for being reckless; Scully (for the first, but unfortunately not last time) almost bangs someone bc she is being manipulated due to some supernatural phenomenon; I laugh A LOT alone in my work office bc I had forgotten the stupid twist ending; and Nicholas Lea is a starving artist who has to take the roles he's offered if he ever wants to be bumped up to recurring character status. Sigh. Hustling the club scene used to be so simple...

Does someone die in the cold open: Yes. He is fucked to death. Or something.

Does Mulder present a slideshow: Yes! Of dead people! Who were fucked to death! Or something!

Does the evidence survive the investigation: The evidence doesn't even stay on this planet.

Whodunit: A horny alien cosplaying as a gender fluid Amish person. No, seriously.

Convictions: Zip.

Did they solve it: No. This is my very first explicit no with no qualifiers. They 1. did not figure out the cause of death definitively, 2. did not apprehend the suspect, 3. lost literally all of their evidence, and 4. the government wasn't even hiding anything this time, they just got outsmarted by some horny aliens and were left with nothing. In fact, I bet they actually know less now than when they started. Failure from top to bottom, guys, good work.

[how do i determine if a case is solved? check the scale here: x]

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: Anxiously clenching your butthole while crossing your fingers and praying that your faves don't say anything TOO problematic. Are you educated in the systematic inequalities facing minorities in the world? Are you aware of how socially accepted language and behaviors have evolved over time to become more inclusive and less prejudiced? Do you also happen to be watching a show that was made pre-21st century, and "oh god, are they doing an episode that revolves around *gender*? Oh Christ. Oh no. Oh God"? Never fear! Anxiously clenching your butthole while crossing your fingers and praying that your faves don't say anything TOO problematic is here!

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Get clenchin'!

***

General Total Stats:

(green means stat has changed since last ep; red means new stat added to list)

Total Cases *Definitively* Solved So Far: 6 (streak ended. brutally)

Total Number of "Mulder/Scully, it's me" phone calls: 1

Total Number of Times Scully Has Conveniently Not Seen Something Crucial: 4

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Been in Mortal Danger: 5

Total Number of Times Scully Has Been in Mortal Danger: 4 (upped it another half point, bc i don't thiiiink the guy coercing her intended to put her life in danger. he just ("just") wanted to sexually assault her, but also apparently fucking those guys kills you, so. another toss up)

Total Number of Sexually Charged, Uncomfortably intimate, and/or Flirty Moments Between Friendly Coworkers: 8 (for an episode that was meant to have a "sexy edge," it was deeply unhorny all around, even between our good good coworkers. they should have brought back that horny fire expert from episode 12 to bring up the heat, pun not intended)

Total Number of Autopsies Scully Has Performed On Screen: 1

Total Number of Times Scully Plays Doctor: 1

Total Number of Times Mulder Talks to an Informant: 5

Total Number of Times People Making Out in a Car Are Hurt or Killed: 2 (when i made that stat, part of me was like "mb i am misremembering how often that happens, and it won't even come up that much," and then it happened in the very next episode)

Total Number of Nosebleeds: 4

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Tasted/Sniffed/Touched Something Questionable Without Following Proper Safety Procedures: 2 (don't touch and sniff the weird alien goo wall??? i know for a FACT you keep rubber gloves in your pocket)

Total Number of Times Someone Says "Trust No One": 1

Total Number of Times Someone Says "I Want to Believe": 2

Total Number of Cigarettes Cigarette Smoking Man Has Smoked: 2

Total Number of Maggie Scully Sightings: 1

Total Number of Alex Krycek Sightings: still 0, but like, uh... definitely the closest we've come so far

Total Number of Times I Had to Look Up What State the Episode Takes Place in Even Though I Literally Just Watched It: 4 ½ (yeah i couldn't even pretend that i paid attention)

Total Number of Times I Had to Look at an Episode's Wikipedia Page to Fill This Out Because It Was Fucking Confusing and/or Too Boring for Me to Pay Attention: 2 (i didn't need to, but i did read the wikipedia page anyway just out of pure curiosity, bc why did they write that episode? i mean like, i was entertained, which ig makes it a win, but also just... why?)

[dalesramblingsblog]

Gender Bender is such a weird episode of The X-Files, like yeah yeah the homophobia and transphobia sucks but even outside of that it's just so strangely put together. And my choice of adjective is very purposeful there, I'm pointedly not saying it's badly put together (even though it is) because the specific flavour of bad here is just so utterly singular and off-kilter that I honestly don't think it's ever happened before.

It's all the little things, like the way that the ostensible killer basically disappears for half the episode while Mulder and Scully do fetch quests, or the fact that there isn't a single "stock local law enforcement character investigating the case of the week" that lasts more than one scene. It's so utterly bizarre.

Rob Bowman went insane on the visual flair though, it's clear from the first frame of this episode why he became one of the go-tos alongside Nutter and Manners. Just like it's clear why Larry and Paul Barber... didn't become go-to writers. Guess they were too busy *checks IMDb* writing for Andromeda.

[rosenkranz-isnt-dead]

Fionna and Cake ep 5: Destiny // the x files s1e14: gender bender

[teenie-xf]

Top 5 episodes of TXF that you dislike

Thanks for asking @scullys-scalpel! I had to go through the episode list to remind myself of the ones I didn't like, and there were more than I was aware of (looking at you seasons 9 and 11...). BUT I was asked for my top 5 dislikes, so I went with the ones I have a visceral negative reaction to.

1. #Gender Bender (#s1e14)

I first watched this episode when I very, very young (like we're talking 10 years old) and I just thought it was so fucked up on so many levels LOL. Not only did the whole sex-pheromone/handing touching thing weird me out but I was also very unsettled by Scully throwing up after escaping Brother Andrew's seduction (I mean, I get it). I have a weird phobia around vomiting and combined with this ep's weirdness my anxiety was ratcheted up, so it's not one that I have revisited.

2. #The Gift (#s8e11)

Which brings me to this ep lol. I just can't. I could barely get through the first airing and haven't watched it since.

3. #Firewalker (#s2e09)

I am putting this ep on my list because of how much it terrified me as a kid. I was about 11 years old when it aired and it gave me such nightmares LOL. I had built it up so much in my mind that I avoided it in syndication and hadn't watched it since its first airing. That is, until I was showing the series to my husband and he made me watch it. Now, as an adult, it is much-less scary than I remembered but I nevertheless still turned my head when the spores burst through people's necks. The scene that absolutely terrifies me (still to this day) is when Scully finds an infected Jesse who is making those inhuman gasping sounds. It's a shame that this episode resides in my fear-centre as I completely missed the fact that Bradley Whitford played Trepkos until this most recent viewing.

4. #Roadrunners (#s8e04)

The saving grace of this episode is, of course, Gillan's acting but that's really about it. I remember thinking "what the hell did I just watch?" after it aired. The concept is just so bizarre and I thought it was ill-timed what with Scully's pregnancy. I'm sure that the writers thought that it only enhanced the urgency of the storyline by putting her and her unborn child's life in peril, but after having just come off the nail-biting season premiere, I thought it was too much, too soon to put Scully through that trauma. Not to mention that such physical trauma would likely put her pregnancy in serious jeopardy. It was just such an ill-conceived episode.

5. #En Ami (#s7e15)

I immediately disliked this episode from the first time it aired as it raised very serious questions about Scully's consent and bodily autonomy, that weren't really dealt with (until that infamous, completely inappropriate, retcon job in season 11, which was such a cop-out IMO). I was well into highschool when this aired and even then I remember being so disturbed by the implications that Scully was drugged and later undressed (and god knows what else) by CSM while she was unconscious. Not only that, but I thought the whole 'adventure' was completely out of character for her and such a slap in the face to Mulder. Sure, he's ditched her countless times before without rhyme or reason, but what she did was beyond the pale: no matter her so-called 'for humanity' motivation, she went off with the ONE PERSON who has SINGLE-HANDEDLY orchestrated so much destruction in Mulder's life. Obviously this created some very serious tension between them (that, I have to admit, is handled so deliciously in fanfic), but I found it jarring that there could be this level of betrayal in one episode (so shortly after Mulder lost his mother and put the mystery of his sister to rest) and a (presumed) consummation of their relationship a mere two episodes later. It just doesn't compute for me. I understand that the impetus for this episode was Bill Davis wanting an opportunity to work more with Gillian, and kudos to that I guess, but the storyline and its implications are so problematic that I just can't respect it.

And there you have it! My top 5 most disliked X Files episodes. Thanks for reading :-)

[pikslasrce]

guess who just watched the x-files s1e14 gender bender

[salaciouscrumbb]

“illegal aliens getting transgender surgery” did trump just watch x-file s1e14 gender bender?

[conspiracy-kitchen]

Chick'n Pot Pie S1E14 // Gender Bender

Conspiracykitchen.com

This week's recipe takes a favorite from Reegan's childhood and gives it a vegetarian twist! Enjoy this hearty dish during these chilly winter months.

[scullysexual]

X-Files Rewatch Series; Gender Bender

| rewatching the series | season 1 | scully’s diary | gender bender |  words: 240 | click the title for the ao3 link | doodles  by @burritoscully ​ everything else belongs to me | in a collaboration with @burritoscully ​. Please check out her addition to this episode when posted | Beyond The Sea |

@today-in-fic

- - -

Withdrawal.

She felt drowsy, fatigued, a small headache beginning to bloom in the centre of her forehead. It felt almost like a hangover.

The taste of sick was still on her tongue, her throat dry from stomach acid. It hurt to swallow. Mulder promised her coffee once they got back to civilisation.

He hadn’t said much since blaming her for what happened. Dana had wanted to defend herself, to describe the feeling, why she so willingly went with Brother Andrew but the truth was, she had no words for it, no way to describe such a strange experience, all she knew was it had something to do with the pheromones.

“You okay?”

Mulder’s voice protrudes her thoughts. She was angry at him, a tiny ball of fire brewing in her stomach, furious that every time he got an idea, she always got hurt.

But Dana had no energy to argue tonight. She leans against the window, eyes closed, her headache was getting worse.

“I’m fine,” she tells him. A lie, she was shaking. Her mind flashes to withdrawal symptoms and her eyes shut tighter to keep the tears at bay, she didn’t ask for any of this!

“I just want to go home.”

They drive in silence the rest of the way. Dana tries to ignore the memory of the Kindred’s accusing stare, the rancid smell of Andrew’s sweat, and the look of fear in Mulder’s eyes when he found her.

Saturday, February 18th

I trust him. I wouldn't have gone with him otherwise, Mulder. Even when he bolted the door with the chair, I didn't react. He drugged me, had me drugged since the first time we met, I would never...Now they're gone but he isn't, I can still feel him on top of me. Will it ever go away?

[clearlysaltybeard]

I will never understand how scully was seduced by the cult guy in season 1 when he literally looks like the cow from the barnyard

[hiddenxfiles]

the x-files ↳ s1e14: ‟Gender-Bender”

[stilliwatch]

👁 🕯 The X-Files “Gender Bender” S1E14

[movietonight]

all episodes of the X-Files get automatically better by headcanoning Mulder and/or Scully as trans but one episode that definitely gets funnier is Gender Bender (s1e14)

[dalesramblingsblog]

Kinda crazy that it seemingly took them a whole fourteen episodes to realise that this Rob Bowman guy was pretty good at directing and that they should hire him again on the strength of Gender Bender.

[moth-bite]

I love how in Gender Bender they are trying to find a killer that had sex and murdered both a man and a woman. And Mulder and Scully are both scratching their heads about who the murderer could possibly be because of the two different gender victims.

Like apparently bisexuals are the real X-file.