Pilot

This is the first time we see Mulder place his hand on the small of Scully's back, a detail that will come to define their relationship in years to come. It shows their connection, that things make more sense when they're united. (Mulder also touched Scully's back at the accident scene when they were told about the fire, but it was her upper back, not this iconic gesture).

Well... don't know if it's a tiny detail, maybe it's on the contrary a huge one: Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny are able to turn a gentle intimate scene into a highly flammable one!

Yep, it's true chemistry: a hot chemical reaction without any catalyst.

In this scene in the motel room Scully and Mulder bare themselves to each other, literally and figuratively, showing they've developed a remarkable amount of trust in the brief time they've known each other. It's powerful within the episode and within the series as a whole.

Mulder's confession of his childhood trauma, his journey from there to the X Files, his actual hard work, the obstructions he stepped on, his hypnosis...

Great scene to get deep insights into his character. The viewers are likewise Scully, all ears, moved by his tale.

Moreover, great moment for their relationship. Mulder now completely trusts Scully.

They're able to make eye contact through one-way glass. It's pure instinct. Mulder can't see Scully, yet he knows just where she is, and she responds as if he's looking into her heart, mind, and soul (is that a little melodramatic? oh well, I'm sticking by it).

There is a huge ellipsis here: what does happen between these two scenes?

How long do they stay on the chair? How long does Scully take her time? Which one suggests to move towards the bed? Does Mulder settle Scully comfortably? Does he put the blanket over Scully?

I wonder how their gestures are already set in this first intimate moment...

Mulder has just told Scully his outrageous theory, and Scully realizes it explains the evidence she's seen. It's so startling to her that all she can do is laugh. Mulder laughs because he's so relieved Scully believes him (or is starting to), and her laugh is contagious. It's a silly, funny moment, and I enjoy it a lot.

Not much fun in the second part of the Pilot... save these few seconds.

I don't know if it's their 90s outdoor outfits, their postures, Mulder's line... or just the whole!

The idea that someone can lose time--specifically nine minutes--is surprising. As Scully says, time just can't disappear, it's a universal invariant. And yet it seems that we see it happen to our two agents. And the phenomenon appears to be confirmed by the X Mulder used to mark the location of the anomaly they experienced earlier in the episode.

The famous nine minutes of time loss... It has always intrigued and surprised me, and we would never have an explanation of this phenomenon.

Why nine minutes?

What is the true nature of time? What Einstein tells us about time? And, now, what about quantum physics?

Well... huge subject.

The idea of powerful connections in Congress, clandestinely supporting Mulder in his work, seems to me a very American conspiracy theme.

The FBI in the beginning, the Pentagon in the end...

Welcome in the US and its iconic agencies!

"Agent Mulder believes we are not alone."

It was very hard to choose a quote from among the many good ones in this half of the episode. But I chose this because it represents the differences between Mulder and Scully, and it leaves us wanting to know more as the show progresses.

"Mulder, what are they?"

"Mosquito bites."

We all know that insects would do great things during the series. Though here, actually, mosquitoes are very nice. Aren't they the first MSR shippers? Allowing them to have a great intimate scene in a motel bedroom?

Maybe I'd be nicer with mosquitoes from now.

For the first time we see Mulder's ability to use an intuitive leap to make sense of seemingly senseless circumstances. He solves the case in a way no one else would be able to.

First phone call of the series between them!

This is Mulder who is the first to call Scully late in the evening. And he even doesn't present himself, just says "Scully, it's me."

It's the final proof (of the episode) of Mulder's trust towards Scully, the final proof that she's completely his partner, that she belongs now entirely to the X Files.

So, it's my best Mulder's final moment!

Scully's integrity and earnestness make this her best moment for me. She doesn't know what to think about everything Mulder is telling her, but she knows she has a job to do, and that job is to solve the case, not spy on her partner. She tells Mulder to trust her, and we know he can.

I didn't know what precise moment to choose between these different moments you can see in the pics. They are presenting all the scenes when Scully focuses on hard evidences. While Mulder does I don't know what for the investigation (just going on hunch?), Scully investigates, notices things and collects clues: the ashes in the forest, Peggy O' Dell watch, the dirt on Billy's feet, the implant.

Actually, maybe the final scene between Scully and Blevins could summarize these best Scully moments.

The obvious choice here would be Requiem, an episode that brings Mulder and Scully back to Bellefleur and reintroduces the characters we met in the Pilot. But because that link was made so obviously for us, I went with this one instead. In this episode, just as in Fire, Mulder bravely disregards his deathly fear of fire, almost as though it doesn't even exist...

I can't help to link this episode to Memento Mori.

Is Scully's abduction linked to the former abductions happening in the Pilot? Is Scully's cancer linked to Billy Miles' communication device?

Billy Miles hypnosis regression is very powerful (it's was my other choice for our so called item), and it foreshadows important events that would come later.

Again, there's so much to love here. I love the way the episode takes time to develop the relationship between Mulder and Scully. We see them go from being reluctant partners to a true team, working together to solve the case, and realizing they can't trust anyone but each other. And there are so many firsts! Some favorites: first time Mulder runs through the woods shouting "Sculllay", first appearance of 11:21, first late night phone call, first "Scully it's me". And finally, the episode ends with this menacing figure we know nothing about hiding away the only tangible evidence of what was happening. It's a wonderfully chilling end to this Pilot episode.

Well, I like the whole episode and this second part. I really appreciate the way the relationship evolves towards more intimacy/friendship and trust, the way opposite forces are in game, and the way their investigation leads into something very complex, crazy, and with no real answers...

It's not clear what happens in the forest in the end, what is the bright light, or what Mulder has seen. Of course, Scully has been knocked out and she was out of the paranormal event, that would be usual! We can remark that Mulder calls her, but too late!

The end is chilling: Billy's hypnosis, all the men in suits watching it, CSM in the Pentagon, the lots and lots of secret files/stuff...

The Pilot is a great first episode to make you want to watch the sequel, which contains all the fundamental ingredients of the series, and also with a lot of elements you will see again, sometimes very further in the series.

I truly dislike the disparaging references to patients as vegetables and produce. It's a cheap shot, it's unprofessional, and it's not at all funny.

In this second part of the episode there's a few things I don't like much.

First, and I think I'll disappoint many people, I'm not really fond of the graveyard scene under the pouring rain. Actually, it's because there are details that bothered me and take me out of the story. There's Mulder leap about Billy Miles as being the killer. Well, I like Mulder's intuition, but usually there are more grounds to support it. Here, I don't know why seeing the grave degradation makes him guess what happened. Moreover, there's a mistake in the script: they talk about Teresa Nemman summoned in the forest tonight, taken by Billy Miles, it's false, it would happen later!!

Second, I don't really understand the action happening between the sheriff, his son and Mulder. Why suddenly does the sheriff want to shoot at his son? Why Mulder and the sheriff don't rush into Billy and try to take Teresa from him? Is it because of the wind? the light? another invisible force?