Field Trip

I love how Wallace and Angela Schiff mirror Mulder and Scully down to the tiniest details, including his pyjamas and her bathrobe, and the fact that they're obviously in love.

When they arrive in North Carolina to investigate the case, M&S are already in (color matching) casual outdoor clothes. Well, Scully's clothes and shoes are less hiking style than Mulder's ones, but let's pretend.

Ahhh! I already know that this episode will be a nice outdoor trip, as in Darkness Falls or Detour. A field trip, into mind wildness and hallucinogenic spaces. That's how I like my X Files.

This scene completely calls out the show with one of the most common criticisms: Why can't Scully give Mulder the benefit of the doubt when time after time he's been proven right? She clearly doesn't believe her own theory, she's just posing it to be contrary. And then, brilliantly, the episode proceeds to offer the justification for this dynamic, showing us that only when Scully challenges Mulder are they able--together--to hone their theories into the correct solution.

Just after Scully's anger (See Best Scully Scene) and Mulder's doubts (after the alien scene), Mulder and Scully are reunited somehow, at last, just the two of them. And then they can discuss about what happens to them. It's first about all the weird things occurring, especially to Mulder : the knock on his door, his abduction, his return by aliens straight to his apartment (LOL), all the people attending his wake (LOL 2)... Then Scully is able to understand -scientifically, even if it's bizarre- what is going on.

I find the end of the scene very frightening: a wild mushroom digesting them while they discuss!

She just walks right under his arm. He doesn't have to move, she doesn't have to duck. You just know they've done this countless times before. It's second nature at this point. In some respects their relationship is a well-oiled machine. In others...they could use some work.

The whole episode is about MSR, and it's certainly obviously noticeable.

So, I choose to focus on the Schiff married couple. In the teaser, they are mirroring Mulder and Scully relationship: they have made a trip outdoor, because of Wallace's passion, and Angela had difficulties to follow him physically and in spirit. There are troubling details recalling some earlier M&S characters, lines or scenes: red hair and brown hair, mosquito bites (Pilot), length of legs (Syzygy), "Not my idea of a good time" ("normal life" in Dreamland). And the final scene foreshadows the motel scene in Requiem, the way they hold each other. There's also the line "Just hold me", making me thinking at "Can you hold me?" in Plus One.

The teaser gives us the tone of the episode, gives us clues that the whole story will be in fact about MSR, how they will endure a similar fate as the Schiffs. We can then appreciate what are the specificities of M&S characters and relationship that prevents them to die (well, not completely alone! They would need a rescue team).

I find this moment delightful. After all this time hearing about people being abducted by aliens, Mulder turned the tables and abducted a grey, and he's completely tickled with himself.

The episode begins with a light tone in the basement. I like the problem with the screen, and Scully's line about the aliens having nothing else to do than buzz one mountain over and over again for 700 years. It's funny!!

A slide show and a back and forth as we like them.

We knew Mulder had realized they were still trapped underground and he had to convince Scully they were hallucinating. But seeing Mulder shoot Skinner was still very surprising! You have to wonder if the thought of doing this was rattling around in Mulder's brain somewhere? Or maybe he had to do something completely out of character to break the spell. Yeah, I'm going with that one.

I love the final surprising twist, that continues to surprise me every time I watch the episode, even if I know it.

Thanks to Mulder, now, they finish to "solve" the case, and would be able to escape for good (well, not exactly by themselves...).

I love that Mulder becomes completely nuts here, shouting at Skinner and posing 'à la Bond' (I can imagine him saying "hey, my name is Mulder, Fox Mulder"). Surely, this LSD wild mushroom made Mulder think he's in a movie -Close Encounters of the Third Kind, then Licence to Kill?-.

"We'll make that monkey pay." All Americans say this at least once or twice a day. Just kidding! I chose this line because it seemed like such a bizarre thing for Frohike to say, and I couldn't think of anything else to put here. It's not a term I would ever use. But it's been pointed out to me that it has a racist connotation. Although I don't think that's how it's being used here, it's true that American parlance includes a lot of terms that are hate-filled or hurtful, even when not intended in that way.

Seems so American to me to use an acronym "PO", moreover as a verb : "PO'd".

I had to think hard when I heard/read that line!

"What the hell is wrong with everybody?" This quote perfectly sums up the episode. Things just aren't right, and the wrongness builds to the point that it makes you want to scream. Incidentally, I think Gillian Anderson's performance in this act was absolutely brilliant. Her portrayal of Scully's grief and frustration was so real and moving that I was crying and screaming along with her.

"You tell me I'm not being scientifically rigorous and that I'm off my nut, and then in the end, who turns out to be right like 98.9% of the time?"

Yep, it can be a little bit annoying to hear Mulder says that because we would want Scully's scientific work and theories more significant in the series. But it's the nature of the X Files... we have to accept that.

In fact Mulder is too presumptuous, most of the times he has hunches and rough theories, and thanks to Scully's work they can reach a more accurate truth.

What I appreciate in this episode is that finally both of their initial theories turn to be wrong (not 98.9%, Mulder!), and that the case is scientifically explained but has nevertheless a slight touch of paranormal in it.

In this episode, Mulder is at his best when he's skeptical, Scully's usual stance. Only when he questions the questionable theories does he figure out what's really going on.

I like that Mulder achieves a goal in his reverie. He has managed to abduct an alien (isn't it funny too?), this grey one had told him everything (what? 'All the Answers' as in The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat?). He's even more delighted when seeing Scully completely amazed.

Mulder is so happy in this moment. It's the best joyful moment of his trip, I think.

If you listen carefully at the score in the end of this little scene, you can hear slightly the tune of the XF. It makes the scene more moving.

Scully, on the other hand, is at her best when she believes in more extreme possibilities, the way Mulder normally does. It's because she looked for the less obvious answer that her scientific knowledge about carnivorous plants and hallucinogenic spores led her to the truth.

Scully's "dream" is a complete nightmare... And when for the third time she hears her initial theory of ritualistic murders validated -with the exact same words, it's so weird-, she knows that something is wrong. She clearly cannot accept that, and becomes angry in front of The Lone Gunmen, and then Skinner. It's what will allow her to reach Mulder's thoughts (see Most Powerful Scene above).

Seriously, how many times have we seen Mulder stick his finger in some disgusting goo? Squeeze, Revelations, Schizogeny to name a few. At least this time he didn't taste it!

This episode is linked to How the Ghosts Stole Christmas: Mulder and Scully trapped in weird decors, weird and illogical things happening around them, discussions with dead people, insights of their psyche, mind struggles to understand what is reality or not, and an escape from the trap.

Of course, both episodes are a pretext to revisit the relationship between Mulder and Scully, from a professional POV in FT, and from a more personal one in HTGSC. Both episodes end with a nice intimate moment between them.

I love the way this episode shows us what a perfect team Mulder and Scully are. Their dynamic works. They know what to expect from each other and they each give the other what they need. It's funny (and telling) that the reason Mulder knows he's hallucinating is that Scully agrees with him, and Scully knows she's hallucinating because her theory is apparently right. And the episode leaves no room for doubt about their connection--they were sharing a hallucination! The ending scene, where Scully knows without looking that Mulder is reaching for her and she puts her hand in his, is a beautiful depiction of their relationship.

I adore this episode!!!

The story is a wonderful way to revisit what is the essence of the series, to justify somehow that it deals almost exclusively with paranormal, that Scully's scientific approach can't fully explain the cases they investigate, and that M&S dynamic and (paranormal?) bonds are essential to solve them. You can't have Mulder without Scully (and vice versa), period.

I like the coroner's character: I think that it's him who saves M&S in fine. He deserves awards.

I like the music score, the directing with great visual effects in transitions, the decors, and all the details that makes the story weird. I love how Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny act, especially in the dream scenes. I like that we can have insights of Mulder and Scully fears or obsessions via their hallucinations: alien abduction for Mulder (he's moving when he discovers the scar on Angela's neck), Mulder's death for Scully.

Last but not least, I like the end in the ambulance, it's so cute!

I honestly couldn't think of anything to dislike about this episode. It works perfectly on every level. But, okay, who are all these people at Mulder's wake?

In fact, I dislike nothing at all in this episode!!

Well, if I have to find something, here it is: it somehow annoys me that Mulder has not a perfect dental record. I don't really know what we see in this X Ray, but it seems that he has a flaw on one teeth. Mulder is not perfect. Damn!