Blood

Mulder's hair is so very fluffy!

To understand this tiny detail, you have to watch and listen carefully to the sound in these few seconds. We can hear an engine sound: surely an helicopter spraying LSDM ! (At about 10:13 in the timeline !)

Mulder is already noticing it....

In this scene we see Ed Funsch finally controlled by whatever force is using his exposure to chemicals and his phobia. He's been fighting the command to "kill 'em all" the whole episode, and even though he's shooting from the clock tower he's still fighting against his actions, trying to make himself stop.

We really empathize with Ed Funsch from the beginning to the end, a poor guy who seems nice and sweet when not controlled. The peak and most powerful scene is of course the shooting scene in the tower. We can feel its conflicted emotions.

Scully flew 300 miles in the middle of the night because Mulder needed her help. They're not even assigned to the same department at this point, but they're still partners.

I like this moment when Mulder and Scully can finally stay close together, in an intimate corner of a wall. I mean, very, very close. Alas ! Just a few seconds...

Anytime the Lone Gunmen show up there are going to be laughs. I love the ribbing between them and Mulder. I love that compared to them Mulder hardly seems nerdy at all. I love Frohike's infatuation with Scully, but I want to believe Mulder gave him a fake number, not Scully's, in exchange for their help.

I find funny the whole scenes involving the flies, especially when Frohike has put the fly in whatever-is-in-the-Petri-box, to prove what ? Later, Mr Winter corroborates the irradiated-flies thing !

Until this point all the murders have happened off screen. But we see Mrs. McRoberts kill the mechanic, and it's surprisingly brutal.

Mrs Mc Roberts, whose we first think as a victim, is a complete fury when assaulting men !

Notice some explicit subliminal visual messages: the phallic pump, the way she slides on the knife with her thumb, and her position upon Mulder. Maybe it's just me ?

I lived on an Army base when I was about 4 years old. There were trucks that drove through the residential area spraying DDT, and I can still remember what it smelled like. I feel like a test subject at the hands of the government!

I find it shocking: you enter in a store where you can buy a TV, or paint pots for decorating your home sweet home, and then, in the back there's a collection of rifles and guns ! It frightens me. I couldn't let my children go in there.

I know, I know, it's the US... And a very sensitive topic at the moment... Hang on, american X Philes !

Mulder talks about fear being the oldest tool of power, "If you're distracted by fear of those around you, it keeps you from seeing the actions of those above." This quote so nicely sums up what's going on in this small, formerly peaceful town, but also applies to the methodology of the Syndicate throughout the series.

Classical line coming from Scully by phone: "Mulder ? Mulder, where are you ?".

I like that it appears in the end titles, just below Chris Carter's name.

Mulder understands that people are being controlled by their fears, he understands that Funsch's fear is blood, and he understands that Funsch doesn't want to do what he's doing. He's able to put a stop to the killing by using that knowledge and empathy, as well as some of those "disarm the suspect" skills he learned at Quantico.

Mulder is at his best from the beginning, gradually understanding the case with his great intuitions and his skills to notice tiny details.

And we have a great sweaty action-Mulder and psychological-Mulder in the end, dealing expertly with Ed. Mulder won't let the situation become a cop suicide !

I like the sheriff's line in the end, Mulder knows more than Ed what's happening !

I love this scene where Scully is reading Mulder's report, hearing it in his voice, and talking back to him. It could easily be my MSR moment. But I chose it for Scully's best moment because it shows her devotion to Mulder and his/their work. This is clearly after hours, at the end of her day teaching, and she's taking the time to help him when he can't come up with the answers he needs.

Scully as always is doing her background job, first far from Mulder, and then in Franklin (of course: whenever Mulder is wounded, she'll be there in the minute, kinda).

But what I like best are her lighthearted moments, when she mocks Mulder.

Ok, here's how my mind works: As soon as I heard the TV announcer describing the blood test as "just a little prick" I thought of Scully saying that same thing when she gets an injection in Three of a Kind. But as I think about it, the episodes have other commonalities. Mulder is altered by a substance in Blood, Scully is altered by a substance in Three of a Kind. Both substances are being developed to control people against their will. It's a pretty good link, even if it was a strange way to get there.

The beginning made me think at the episode "Home": the quiet little town where suddenly horrible things happen, the kind sheriff, and the reference to baseball and Mulder's interest in it (softball is quite the same, isn't it ?).

Hopefully, here, the sheriff stays alive. I like him ! And his line: "Folks here don't drink much" !

I absolutely love that the voice overs in this episode are Mulder writing to Scully and Scully writing to Mulder.

I like the way the episode draws on very common fears to show how easily anyone could be manipulated under the right circumstances.

I'm not sure what I think about the suggestion that Mulder is still being influenced at the end. I might like it, I might not.

I like very much this episode, particularly the pace, the driecting, the messages written on all the devices, and the way music and sounds are used. It's very efficient !

I find the story creepy, almost believable and very pertinent nowadays. In real life I'm frightened to be manipulated by people (for instance by sellers), or by trends, so this episode is significant to me !

The writers and the director have managed to include Scully satisfactorily in the story, despite her pregnancy. We can appreciate the big coat she wears, whereas other people are in summer outfits !

I'm not sure what I think about the suggestion that Mulder is still being influenced at the end. I might like it, I might not.

Was he exposed to the chemical enough to control his actions? Scully didn't think so. How long will he be susceptible? This could be a nice ambiguity, or it could be a plot hole. I haven't decided.

But I know I don't like the "Bye Bye!" It's just a little too silly for me.

Nothing I dislike in this episode.

But, wait, what ? I have the weird impression that I've been mind-controlled when watching it. As Mulder says : "Are you familiar with subliminal messages ?".

What I see: psychedelic/hypnotic Mulder's ties, naked or wounded forearms, sweaty or grinning Mulder in close-up, Vertigo or North by Northwest references, explicit words (do it, rubber, skin, crazy, finger).

OMG, I'm not sure of the effects on me ! Call the firemen !