#this is not happening

[california-112]

S08E14 / S08E15 / 'Work Song' - Hozier

[raiisakitsune]

“i already got my wish” and it’s kiara. SOMEONE HAND ME A ROPE.

[cabesswtaer]

[taechnological]

. . . no

[fringephile]

She really needs a hug.

[randomfoggytiger]

The Parallels Nestled in Season 4's Tempus Fugit and Max

Dedicated to @deathsbestgirl! Happy belated birthday~! :DDD

Season 4’s Tempus Fugit and Max present an interesting dichotomy for Mulder and Scully. On the one hand, Mulder gifts Scully a keychain that, to her, represents “hard work, and teamwork.” But on the other hand, that keychain also acts as a birthday surprise-- an explicitly celebratory gesture, and implicitly “just in case” measure.

The nuances of the "when"s and "why"s color Mulder’s action and Scully’s acceptance; and those interactions and interpretations are subsequently reinforced by the two-parter's mirror couple, Max Fenig and Sharon Graffia. 

MAX AND MULDER, PARALLELS

Max Fenig is the first to be introduced in the mytharc two-parter. A returning character, he unfortunately perishes at the hands of alien and (mostly) government interference while trying to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life. Not only is he taken, then returned, then killed in a coverup, but his journey is also replicated-- without its tragic conclusion-- by Mulder later on in the episodes. 

Max dedicated his life to proving the existence of extraterrestrials-- a crazy man to the rest of the world with his spartan quarters, his paranoid memories, and his easily dismissed yet thoroughly inexplicable experiences. Season 1’s Fallen Angel underlines, highlights, then outright states the similarities between Max and Mulder. At first, Mulder thinks the NICAP nomad is a conspiracy kook; then comes to understand and empathize with his perspective, railing on his behalf: "You can deny all the things I’ve seen, all the things that I’ve discovered. But not for much longer. ‘Cause too many others know what’s happening out there. And no one—no government agency—has jurisdiction over the truth." The likeness doesn’t fade in Season 4-- Scully herself concludes the obvious, stating, “Only Max Fenig and you would appreciate living like this.”

Strangely, both men serve as a reflection of each other’s growth and lingering weaknesses. In Tempus Fugit, we learn that Max is no longer operating solo; and in Max, it’s revealed his “sister” was actually his girlfriend, a woman who believed in him and put her career and life in danger to work alongside him. (Sound familiar?) Before his death, Max and Sharon were dating, a fact Sharon hides after fearing for her life. Mulder, meanwhile, hasn’t changed his own relationship status with Scully, having only recently understood the breadth of his feelings for his partner (post here.) It’s a purposeful parallel, of course: two men driven to extremes to prove the truth of their experiences, who differ most noticeably in their romantic partnerships. When Mulder lets Sharon keep her lover’s tapes, he tells her, “Maybe they’ll be worth something someday”-- directly tying his hopeful aspirations into Max’s legacy. Mulder's original death even plays out similarly to Max's: dying after a return “flight” with the grays. (That death had to be rewritten in Requiem, then re-written again post This Is Not Happening, because of David Duchovny’s repeated returns.) 

Both men also have strikingly similar but opposite struggles. In dangerous circumstances, Max is easily taken advantage of: Fenig can sense-- and see-- the danger he’s in, but is helpless to protect himself. Mulder, meanwhile, acts rather than reacts, setting a trap for his enemy when replicating Fenig’s journey home. In romantic relationships, however, Mulder stagnates where Max flourished, fearful of his partner’s impending death but “unable” to reveal the depth of his feelings. 

Another difference then manifests: Max expresses his emotions more freely and openly, stuttering with his heart on his sleeve to Sharon, to the camcorder, to the world. While more open with his emotional expression-- with his doubts, his anger, his fears, his failings-- than, say, Scully, Mulder does not freely choose to express his deepest, most vulnerable ones (breaking down only when forced by circumstance or situation.) When confronted with Fenig’s dead body, he pauses beside it long enough to suppress his brewing pain; and when confronted, again and again, with the potential loss of his own partner, he hides his love and devotion in unspoken gestures (a birthday keychain in Tempus Fugit, a hand hold and cheek kiss and suppressed scream of agony in Redux II.) That suppression comes to the fore again when he prods Scully about Pendrell’s death, and when he deflects the serious nature of her final monologue. Mulder is too frozen in the past to reconcile “the quest” with his desire to have a simple living (like Home), or to look for life on this planet, or to walk away from “another life, another world” and still feel whole. Not yet, at least. 

In conclusion, Max succumbs to the horrors of his existence; but he dies knowing and sharing an acknowledged love between himself and his partner. Mulder survives against the odds; but continues in the erroneous belief that his survival depends on an avoidance of “a normal life”-- afraid to confess to his own partner, but afraid, too, that she will die without knowing. 

SCULLY AND SHARON, PARALLELS

The parallels begin-- most obviously-- with the twin 'S's in Scully and Sharon’s name (a twin parallel to Max’s and Mulder’s ‘M’s.) While Scully is a medical-doctor-turned-FBI-agent, Sharon is an aeronautical-engineer-turned-mental-asylum patient, where her “breakdown” and escape from “normal life” dovetails to Scully’s escape from medical school via recruitment. Both women have broken laws, trespassed, and flouted authority to aid and protect their partners, with Graffia stealing alien technology and Scully staring down Skinner and other government figure heads unflinchingly (Tooms, Terma, etc.) Both women were abducted once, both women fell in love with their partners, both deny that romantic connection for self-preservation… and both eventually lose their partners to alien and government interference. 

Scully is also the person who most often talks with Sharon Graffia, prying her open one by one to get closer to the truth. This approach allows the audience to more naturally trace the similarities and compare the differences between the two women: Scully’s fierce determination and Sharon’s reticent revelations. 

The differences are as carefully written as Mulder’s and Max’s. Again, Sharon is Scully’s close-but-opposite mirror. Both are secretive about their love and relationships, afraid it will be used against them; but, again, Sharon has already avowed her heart to Max and is able to make peace with his death. Scully, meanwhile, has yet to face her own approaching death, avoiding or deflecting the topic (e.g. Mulder celebrating her birthday in dog years or Skinner strongly advising her to report to the hospital) whenever possible. Sharon is a victim who feels powerless to save herself, scared into resignation. Scully is a victim who fights for the truth, determined to save others and herself. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE PARALLELS

Mulder and Scully are often compared to other couples in The X-Files series: Daniel and Jessie in Firewalker, Isaac and Ariel (indirectly) in Kaddish, Kinsley and Stonecypher in Detour, David and Esther in Kill Switch, Maurice and Lyda in How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, Holman and Shelia in Rain King, Win and Cami in Arcadia, Wallace and Angela in Field Trip, CSM and Diana in Amor Fati, Max and Chastity in Rush, Phil and Ellen in Chimera, alternate versions of themselves in Hollywood A.D., lookalikes in Fight Club, and Miller and Einstein in Babylon. Max and Sharon are no exception, but they are particularly tailored to the two leads’ personalities and experiences. 

The four are alien abductees, to differing degrees. While Sharon is the only experiencer with a singular experience, Max and Mulder and Scully are victims of repeat alien interference: either abducted and returned, largely untouched (Scully), abducted and experimented on and returned (Max and Mulder), or controlled against their will (all three.) Yet, these parallels can be branched off, again: only Max and Mulder become alien guinea pigs; and only Sharon and Scully escape their abductions largely unharmed, with missing memories. 

(Scully does, however, stand apart from the other three. Her cancer and fertility struggles are a result of the Consortium’s experimentation and sterilization program, not alien activity. And, while she and Sharon escape the aliens’ wrath the first go-around, she is called back to Skyland Mountain in The Red and the Black once the grey overlords deem her-- and other abductees-- worthy of death. Further, she becomes the only person to benefit from alien interference, twice: her life is saved by the Rebels, and her fertility is restored by the same technology used to steal it in the first place, post here.) 

The coupling in Tempus Fugit and Max also provides different angles through which to view victimization and coping mechanisms. Mulder and Max soldier on, embracing their repeated traumas as part of the sum of their experiences. Sharon and Scully deflect and avoid these memories, choosing to advocate others’ causes instead of (momentarily) quailing before their own. Mulder recognizes that kinship between himself and Max; and feels that desperation and loss keenly when Max is killed. Scully and Sharon don’t need to share a kinship to feel personally responsible for the consequences of their choices: Sharon briefly gives up, shamed over her dishonesty with Mulder and Scully; and Scully feels burdened by inadequacy, unable to fully protect Sergeant Frisch or save Sean Pendrell’s life (“I realized I didn’t even know his first name.”) Further, Tempus Fugit draws diagonal lines from Max Fenig to Scully-- both abductees-- and from Mulder to Sharon-- both “partners” of alien abductees. These parallels are more blatant than plotlines written later into the show (ex. Requiem, This Is Not Happening): Sharon loses her love to the evils of the Consortium’s coverup; and Mulder witnesses her grief, knowing he, too, might suffer this same fate. When he lets her keep the tapes-- a memento of that love-- there is, perhaps, a part of him that knows he may one day have only an Apollo keychain to hold onto. 

CONCLUSION

Max and Sharon, Mulder and Scully. Reaction and action, conclusions and beginnings. 

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy! 

[gaycrouton]

I love the dynamic between Scully and Doggett, and I think the parallel between his son’s death and his desire to protect Scully from what he experienced is so powerful.

We know his son tragically died, but it isn’t until Empedocles that we know just how much his experience of finding him mirrored Scully’s (i.e, stumbling across the dead body discarded carelessly in a field).

From approaching a group of people huddled around the body to your partner looking at you with despair, he’s been in her shoes

He knows what it’s like to see the body of someone you love more than anything lying lifelessly in a field.

I know him pulling Scully back is frustrating to us as viewers. We’ve watched Mulder and Scully for seven years, we know the depth of their love for one another, and it can be aggravating seeing someone coming in between them in such a devastating moment.

But thinking of it from his perspective is so heartbreaking.

He is haunted by the memory of seeing his son like that. That is how he remembers his little boy. It was cruel, senseless, and (until Release) a mystery.

He wanted to spare Scully from having that with Mulder.

If I’m remembering correctly, Reyes even said seeing him unmoving next to his son in that field was haunting, he was paralyzed with grief and shock.

Doggett was trying to do Scully a kindness because he’s still haunted from when he experienced something hauntingly similar.

Again, we don’t get to know that was his motivation until a few episodes later. But with how similar the framing was, we know that it was a purposeful parallel.

It’s heartbreaking to think Reyes recognized the similarities at the time they found Mulder, and she knew how re-traumatizing that would be for Doggett.

She watched him relive the worst moment of his life and try to intervene to prevent someone from experiencing what he did.

It reminds me of how Skinner knew how awful it was to deliver heart-shattering news and chose to intervene and save Scully from having to do it.

In both cases, it may feel like it wasn’t their place, but it came from a place of empathetic kindness.

[bakedbakermom]

the x-files: 8x14/8x15 this is not happening/deadalive hozier: work song

[winchesticles67]

when i hear skinner say “nothing says we’re gonna stumble over him in some field” the irony makes me laugh. like my humour is dark or smth because that’s the funniest shit. THEY LITERALLY FOUND MULDER DEAD IN A FIELD. like come on that’s morbid but so funny.

[agent-troi]

ok so i was looking at screenshots from This Is Not Happening for fic reasons, and:

Scully staring up at the night sky looking for Mulder

vs:

Mulder staring up at the night sky looking for Scully

(i edited this post bc i figured out how to turn up the brightness on the first pic lol)

[amisupposedtobecool]

How about you let other countries vote too huh? Your dumb decisions are affecting ALL OF US, so why wouldn't we have a say in this?

[audreyh002]

For fucks sake I gotta stop going on tumblr for gifs during the commercial breaks I can’t believe this is how I found out mulder dies. I swear to God I will spend my last living breath falling in love with stories of a missing human and a lover who does everything in her power but who finds him too late

[multi-fandom-things730]

NOBODY SPEAK TO ME

[girlsnightgirlsnight]

NVM GUYSSS ITS A PRANK!!YOU KNOW HOW HIS FAMILY LOVES THOSE!!! ITS A JOKE!!

[will80sbyers]

one possibility that I really don't want to think about is Dustin sacrificing himself for Steve in season 5 because he doesn't want to lose anyone else after Eddie