#txf redux I

[actual-changeling]

The beginning of "Redux I" is another one of those scenes that would have greatly profited from more lights. Or any lights at all, really, he should NOT have turned off that television and stolen any visibility by doing so.

Once again, video editing saves the day, so it's 7:0 for me in the fight against Chris Carter's horrible lighting choices.

You can find the masterpost for all the edits I have done right here. Anything you want to see (pun intended)? Tell me and I'll put it on the list.

If you, like me, often forget how badly lit the scenes really are, have some before vs after comparisons! Definitely not an excuse to include even more Mulder angst, no sir.

[msrdisease]

scully's cancer

the song of achilles, madeline miller

[bakedbakermom]

txf + text posts (9/?)

[bisexualfbiagents]

Can I see her?

THE X FILES | Redux II (5.02) and Requiem (7.22)

[benoitblanc]

david duchovny you are NOT seeing heaven

[deathsbestgirl]

okay. writing about why never again should come before leonard betts is actually hard. because it's really just a few small moments in leonard betts make more sense if they're after never again, and it's so much better to go to memento mori right after the reveal at the end of leonard betts.

never again ends with silence. mulder cutting off his sentence. if it were going to happen, it would be then. but it doesn't, and so the silence persists.

leonard betts has a similar feel to arcadia, where they're trying to get on the same page, slip back into their roles. mulder uses humor at crazy moments, and scully pretends not to think it's funny and stays focused on the case.

in the end, she sits alone in the car in silence. waiting for mulder. he tells her she did a good job, she should proud. a verbal validation he doesn't often give, something she craves & loves, a little taste of something she wanted from him in never again. and she can't enjoy it because she's terrified. scully believes leonard betts and she just wants to go home.

it really strikes me the way there's no physical comfort. in paper hearts, scully was fierce. she tried so hard for mulder and failed. but in the end, he leans into her, they hug, she pets his head. in never again there was no comfort either. mulder was petty and he didn't understand. this time he's kinder when she was attacked, but there's a physical distance that isn't typical.

then in memento mori, she calls only mulder. scully tells him so tenderly. she has no idea what to do, and she know what this will do to mulder. he's with her when they go to skinner so they can officially open a case on it & investigate. when she doesn't explain it to skinner, mulder steps in for her. he tries so hard to be strong when they both know he isn't. but scully is being forced to face something she's left buried. now she can't.

in the hospital, she calls mulder to ask him to bring her stuff & call her mom. she writes letter after letter to mulder. begging forgiveness, telling him she'll only get through this because she knows he's out there, following his own path.

but their path is the same. he will follow her to her death.

they have never been as physically affectionate as they are in memento mori and the reduxes.

in elegy, she sees the ghosts, an omen of her impending death. when she finally tells mulder, he's hurt. he wants to be there for her. in demons, he believes she's dying and that he can't save her, and they both deserve answers. he doesn't want to live without her, he can't keep on his search for the truth without her. but he also won't ask her to follow him into this and he only calls her when he can't remember what happened, there's blood & he's in shock. she knows his suicidal tendencies, it's exactly what has her so worried. who will be there for him when she's gone?

mulder + scully know exactly what they have. scully will give him everything she has, even when it's only her dignity so that he won't rot in prison for something he had to do. mulder will follow her to end of the earth, to the grace without any hesitation.

small potatoes is so painful because of the unspoken agreement not to address their feelings. "mulder" shows up at scully's apartment, and she gives in. she's soaking up the attention she's always wanted from him. they don't kiss, she doesn't move to bridge the gap, she just waits. and then the real mulder comes crashing in and the pain is face is clearly visible. he knew exactly where van blundht was going. it wasn't even a question.

mulder isn't heartbroken that van blundht had a chance with scully and he doesn't, he's heartbroken because they chose silence and now she has a deadly cancer.

in detour, scully makes an attempt to open the door and mulder flees. he knew what was on her mind, but he still can't take it from her. she can't even be mad, but the silence persists and the gap grows.

there's nothing they won't do for each other, but leaving their feelings unsaid hurts them. to the point scully thinks all she's done is hold him back. and in fight the future, he finally says so many of the things she has desperately needed to hear. and she clings to her skeptic role because it still wasn't quite enough. their kiss was interrupted and they don't bring it up and fowley is present, driving another wedge.

from scully's perspective, mulder didn't trust her in never again, and then she lives it all over again because of diana. he doesn't trust her judgment, reduces it to jealousy because they both know her feelings. and she's still unsure of mulder's because of this, and the ever persistent silence. even after one son, he doesn't accept it. only after amor fati, when he was able to hear diana's thoughts and she consequently dies for helping scully save him, does he understand that scully's right. and once again, gives a beautiful speech. between all of this there's been "you're my one in five billion" and "i love you" and "you saved the world scully" and the hallway/bee scene and they play baseball & flirt. until he says to her, looking into her eyes, that she was his friend, his constant, his touchstone.

scully never hears what he says to diana about her. which could have helped her. but she only saw him holding her hand, clinging to diana's shared beliefs, because he knows her. and like in never again, she feels invisible. she feels useless. she's holding him back.

it isn't until the end of amor fati that the tension breaks. things become lighter when scully feels more secure. when he starts giving her the attention she has always wanted, when he lets her take the lead on cases, when she's allowed to believe sometimes without it turning their world upside down.

it's just a better progression. never again shouldn't be about scully's cancer diagnosis & impending death. it's about her, her patterns, mulder. it's about her struggles with what's expected of her, what she should want and the reality of what she wants & chose. her fear that mulder is an authority, and that she gives him that authority.

[randomfoggytiger]

Maggie and Dana: Everything's Alright: (the Musical)

This took longer than I was expecting; but it was worth it!

[agent-troi]

the most heartbreaking scene ever😭😭😭

[backintimeforstuff]

that scene in redux ii where mulder comes back into scully's hospital room after he's just spent the night sobbing by her bedside trying to contemplate living without her and he says 'good morning' like he's just walked into a business meeting

[baronessblixen]

Hi Anika! What are your top 10 or top 20 favorite TXF episodes? If you have time, maybe you can briefly say why you like them? I love hearing your thoughts.

Hi anon! There are so many good episodes. I have a few core favorites and a few that seem to change around a bit. They're in no particular order - and my thoughts are basically "Mulder and Scully are hot/cute/adorable" 😁

The Pine Bluff Variant - it's so good. I feel like it's underrated. Mulder trying to keep a secret from Scully! Mulder running! Scully setting his finger! Her following him!! It also has the whole "evil government" aspect to it.

Wetwired - another underrated episode! It's a monster-of-the-week episode but with mytharc elements. Scully being affected and becoming paranoid is amazing. And Mrs. Scully is in the episode too, of course!

Bad Blood - I mean that's a given, right? I like the comedy of it and I love the whole he said/she said spiel. It's a very fun episode.

Rain King - another fun episode. As a huge rom-com fan this one has to make my list. It's cute. I love Mulder and Scully being mistaken for a couple by *everyone*. Not to mention the room sharing and Scully's speech.

Pilot - I think this episode sets the show up so well. Mulder and Scully as baby agents meeting for the first time and bonding and clashing immediately. What's not to love?

Redux 2: I can't tell you why I love this episode so much. Or the whole three parter really. All I know is that for a while when I was a kid I watched it almost daily. It's Mulder crying at her hospital bed and both of them fighting their own fight and Scully going into remission.

Colony/End Game - I often forget about this episode but the mytharc in the early seasons was really good. Fake Mulder hurting Scully and then real Mulder choosing Scully over (fake) Samantha is so much drama and I LOVE it. The whole Mulder and his family part is heartbreaking.

Anasazi/The Blessing Way/Paper Clip - I cannot tear these episodes apart. They belong together. From Mulder being drugged to Scully shooting him and driving gim across country, being a total badass, to thinking he died and then losing her sister. There's so much here.

Squeeze - I just enjoy season one so much. They're all comfort episodes to me (except Space. That episode can fuck off). I love the case, I love Scully's answer when Colton asks her whose side she's on. Scully saying Mulder is territorial. I know it's not a two-parter per se, but I have to mention Tooms here, too, cause technically I like that one even better (that MSR moment in the car alone!).

Memento Mori - it's as heartbreaking as it is brilliant. Gillian is amazing in it and Scully choosing to fight is everything to me. As is that hug at the end. And Mulder watching her walk away. That one's just sad.

Demons - one of my absolute favorites. Yes, psrt of it is Mulder being a burrito at the beginning and him being insanely hot in jeans and a white t-shirt. But I also like seeing how far he's willing to go for this quest. Scully being worried sick (and she IS sick in late season 4 😭) is a bonus.

Je Souhaite - another fun episode. No one is dying. Well, Anson Stokes dies, but he doesn't count. Scully and her invisible man are so precious. The ending of course. Mulder being a sweetie, asking for world peace and then looking for Scully.

Detour - I love the case and suspense with person after person going missing. The beginning with them and the other two agents in the car is so funny. The singing of course and the whole raining sleeping bags thing. My personal favorite though is Mulder jumping into that hole to be with Scully.

I'm gonna stop here and do a few honorable mentions: The Jersey Devil, Dreamland 1+2, Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, War of the Coprophages, Ice, Pusher(!) and Aqua Mala.

This got long. This show has way too many good episodes! I know I forgot several that I love.

[actual-changeling]

And you play along because // it's all you know.

welcome back to me finding soul-killing, probably completely unintentional parallels so i can make it worse with a richard siken quote.

[mulderscully]

hiiiiiii. favorite & least favorite txf episode(s)?

ugh i have libra disorder so i'll just choose 3 faves: squeeze, bad blood, redux

least faves: anything with csm or diana in them lol

[freckleslikestars]

TXF asks: 10, 15, & 36!

10. Favourite character aside from Mulder and Scully? I think Melissa Scully. We didn’t get nearly enough Melissa Scully content and she deserved so much better

15. Favourite MSR moments? So so many. All of the Pilot, just the whole episode. Closet worm inspection in Ice. Pusher end scene where they’re holding hands. Convo on the bench in home. Their hug when he returns from Russia after she’s been held in contempt of court for him. Forehead kiss in momento mori. Scully wanting to take the fall for him in redux. Wine and cheese, a lack of sleeping bags and jeramiah was a bullfrog. He 👏🏻 went 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 Antarctica 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 save 👏🏻 her 👏🏻 (he went to the end of the earth for her is what I’m saying - no offence to my coworkers but I think the furthest I’d go is maybe a four hour drive if they needed saving. I’d look at a map, look at my bank account and maybe go to their funeral when I decide nah I’m not that close to them that I’m going to leave the country and or risk my own life for them). “Mulder is that really you in there”/“I’d kiss you if you weren’t so damn ugly” dreamland moment. Millennium kiss. All things. “Well, I’m fairly happy - that’s something.” The whole having a kid thing together - I like that for them. The Truth kiss and the end of The Truth.

36. Do you read fics and what kind? Oh boy, do I. Most things I’ll read, but it depends what mood I’m in. I love fics that explore their relationship as it develops. I do enjoy a good case fic every so often. AUs sometimes - it’ depends on the situation and how in character they are (historical AUs I find more enjoyable than modern AUs, it has to be said). Love a fix it fic. Where would the world be without smut. And like…I’m a real big fan of seeing little vignettes of their lives together. Love some hurt/comfort. I mean I really will read most things. (Though I haven’t been reading much lately, cause I can’t sit down and settle to it, which sucks)

[benoitblanc]

off to bed now because i'm trying to winnow my way down into going to bed at 9 for the 3:30 wakeup i have to do next week to get to the airport, but last elegy thought. i really shouldn't have watched this now because i forgot to take into account that elegy-demons-gethsemane-reduxes are a spiritual five-parter

[deathsbestgirl]

Please talk more about how not fine Dana Scully is, people really tend to underestimate how fucked up she truly is, honestly the way she manages to hold onto her kindness and integrity through so much violation is kind of miraculous

sometimes it makes me a little crazy. like, dana scully was so light in season one. she smiled and laughed a lot, she teased mulder, she loved working on the x files with mulder and it was obvious. even on the days she would get frustrated with mulder for doing something crazy. and i think that's true throughout the show, until the later years where it meant losing mulder, giving up her child, going on the run...

but. for me, a change occurs in beyond the sea. probably more for the audience than scully or mulder.

scully sees her dad's ghost before she even learns he's gone. she had her parents over for dinner and wanted him to be interested in her work, instead of being disappointed with her career choice. he only asks how it's going right before they walk out the door, and then he's gone. part of her wants to believe she really saw him, but it's also really scary. she almost looks for x files with similar happenings but as she finds them, slams the door instead.

she buries herself in the case as soon as the services are over. she believes boggs as mulder nearly begs her not to. when mulder is shot, she loses it on boggs. and in the end, she tells mulder she's afraid to believe.

scully was afraid to believe before she was abducted. after her abduction, believing is more terrifying. she clings to skepticism and focuses on proof. in their line of work, only what you can prove really matters. it's what mulder needs her for, and later on, she clings to it harder even though she can't deny there are certain fantastic things she believes in.

after her abduction, everything is heavier for both mulder and scully. we saw how lost he was in 3, how self punishing & self hating. and when scully comes back, she's determined to get back to work. she won't take any time before heading back because that would mean sitting alone with what happened to her and she can't possibly deal with that. fear of the unknown to the extreme.

scully never believed samantha was taken by aliens. then she was taken like her, returned completely battered an inch from death with no memory of what happened. whether that was the work of whoever (or whatever) took her or her own mind...either thought is terrifying.

in firewalker, mulder is so cautious with scully. he can't bear her disappearing on him again. he tries to keep her safe and it ultimately puts in a dangerous position. but she's quick, and she saves herself while the girl handcuffed to her dies on the other side of the door.

mulder was so gentle with her after her father died, calling her dana for the first time that we see. he does it again in lazarus when jack willis/dupre kidnapped her. he's careful with her feelings whenever she's vulnerable. after her abduction, in firewalker, when he finds her alive, he cups her cheek like he did in beyond the sea. she is so precious to him, they're best friends. and she tells him she's fine over and over again.

in irresistible, the case already disturned scully on a core level. she couldn't comprehend the violence and violation of what donnie pfaster did to the dead, and later his victims. as a pathologist, she can't imagine desecrating a body. what she does, she does because she cares about people and justice. she can't save them when they're already gone, but she can find the truth and honor them.

in season two when they're separated and she's teaching again, she goes on about the man lying dead in front of her.

"what this man imagined...his dreams, who he loved, saw, heard, remembered...what he feared...somehow it's all locked inside this small mass of tissue and fluid."

and her student calls her spooky.

although scully doesn't love people the way mulder does -- untethered, unchecked -- she loves humanity & her country, and she wanted to do something important with her life. she decided in squeeze to be on the victims' side, like mulder. with mulder.

all through irresistible she is so disturbed and trying to be strong and hide her feelings from mulder, so she goes back to d.c. for a therapy session & to get them some leads. and then as soon as she comes back to work the case with mulder, donnie pfaster makes her a victim again. so shortly after her abduction and almost dying in firewalker. karen kosseff tells her how vulnerable she was, and it's like it almost doesn't seem real. because she doesn't remember, she healed, and if it weren't for the missing time & everyone around her having lived those horrible months without her, it would be like it didn't happen.

she fought like hell against pfaster. injured from a car accident, bound & gagged, in a house she didn't know. hallucinating him as other evil men & the devil. she was spiraling and she only had herself to depend on in the moment. hoping that mulder & co would find her in time. but ... the man worked quickly.

she didn't seem too affected after lazarus, but she believed it was her friend and that he was sick. after her abduction, she didn't have anything to cling to. after pfaster, she had mulder and she only leaned on him when she was completely overwhelmed & he wouldn't let her deal with it alone.

she has new fears.

she loses her sister and mulder loses his dad. both murdered by the same people. aliens or the shadow government, when they decide scully is a problem they have her abducted or attempt to have her killed. and she can't really do anything to prevent it when she has no idea what or who she needs to protect herself from.

there are a few moments that really stick out for me, that i just think it's clear she's not okay. scully bottles things up and keeps her pain close. she doesn't unleash it, does her best to hide it & bear it alone.

but in piper maru, skinner tells her they're letting melissa's case go inactive. cold. she's opened her eyes to government conspiracies. and she flat out tells skinner "if i may say so, sir, it has everything to do with interest. just not yours, and not mine."

there's no reason they couldn't solve her sister's murder. they have the weapon, and like scully says, they can catch people with much less. and then she goes down to the basement office where mulder is working on a case. he's going through everything, actually doing some normal pre-investigation things. and he won't ignore what's going on when so many men have suffered and may well die, just because the government is trying to sweep it under the rug.

and scully loves him so much for this.

(side note: i always love when mulder does this. it's like "do you think i'm spooky?" he wants her to think of him as well as he thinks of her. they're best friends. it matters to him what scully thinks of him. a rarity.)

then there's wetwired. scully watches all the tapes they find and very quickly becomes paranoid about mulder, specifically. now, i don't think she really believes it, i think it's a thought that scares her when she's at her lowest. but she was assigned to the x files to debunk his work, he gets neck deep in alien & government conspiracies. she didn't always understand the specific dangers of their particular work. she's so ashamed when she's back to herself, and mulder doesn't blame her at all. and when she starts talking about what she remembers, mulder takes her so seriously. mulder believes she saw something, but like the others, she misinterpreted what she saw because of the heightened paranoia & anxiety. one woman thought she saw her husband cheating with a blonde, and it was her neighbor with his golden retriever. so it's very possible she did see someone having a meeting with the cigarette smoking man outside their motel, or at least someone involved with their case.

scully is always afraid to be taken again, to be murdered. she knows the smoking man has something to do with all of it. she knows she stayed because of mulder. and she will continue to work on the x files with him. because it isn't just about him anymore. she needs answers too.

and then there's the cancer arc. i wrote all about memento mori already, and i think that all says a lot. but then there's gethsemane. kritchsgau told scully the shadow men gave her cancer to make mulder believe. it guts her, it almost kills him, but they know where her cancer came from and they haven't been able to do anything about it. i can't get over the way her voice cracks in redux. mulder is waiting for her in darkened bedroom and tells her that everything goes back to the fbi. her abduction, her cancer. she wasn't ready to face where her cancer came from, and mulder tries to help her. and any time she almost has a grip, another thing makes it come crashing down around her. the men who had her abducted, her sister killed, gave her cancer being part of the same institution she is...that's unbearable.

scully grew up with a father in the navy. they love their country, they trust their government & military & law enforcement. the x files turns everything she's ever known and understood about the world upside down.

and then there's seasons 8-11. i don't have anything to say except: scully is NOT okay. she gave up her son and has never forgiven herself. she thinks about william everyday and prays he's safe, that she did the right thing. as if there even was a right thing. you never see a more raw or vulnerable scully than in the revival. and if mulder wasn't there holding her together and doing what she couldn't...i don't think there would be a scully.

[swiftzeldas]

what are your top 5 episodes per season of txf?

per SEASON? i love this question. i've only watched through s8 so that's what we're doing but join me under the cut where we list our favorite episodes and count two-parters as one

season 1

beyond the sea

ice

tooms

the erlenmeyer flask

fire (this is like a random choice but it made me love mulder so much)

season 2

duane barry/ascension

one breath

colony/end game (I LOVE YOU ALIEN BOUNTY HUNTER)

irresistible

firewalker

season 3

pusher

piper maru/apocrypha

the blessing way/paper clip

quagmire

wetwired

(honorable mention to avatar my beloved)

season 4

memento mori

tunguska/terma

tempus fugit/max

never again

paper hearts/zero sum/elegy/i CANNOT choose

season 5

the pine bluff variant

bad blood

patient x/the red and the black

kitsunegari

redux/redux ii

season 6

triangle

field trip

monday

SR819

the rain king

season 7

requiem

sein und zeit/closure

the sixth extinction/the sixth extinction ii

all things

hungry

season 8

within/without

this is not happening/deadalive

essence/existence

via negativa

redrum