XF Love

[shipperx]

It's my day off, so I slept late, and when I was making breakfast, they were playing two X-Files episodes back-to-back on Sci-Fi. These weren't even two of the all-time great XF's. Just standard "good" XF episodes, and while watching I'm struck again how freaking much I loved Mulder and Scully! Those two characters and their relationship really were made of awesome.

In the first episode, the plot itself was mostly forgettable, but there was this moment where Mulder and Scully were standing at the door of some building ringing the bell and the two of them were just talking. Actually, the two of them were snarking -- about the case and about each other, and I loves some good snark. Scully cracked a joke and looked up at Mulder. Mulder had this small "I totally get you" smile, and the eye flirt between them was a thing of beauty. It struck me then how much of X-Files's fun was fully set on Mulder and Scully's ability to snark intelligently and to eye flirt. They were true masters. Snark, "I get you", and eye flirting are the direct line to my fandom shipping heart (and, thinking about it, that was what attracted me to Spuffy in Season 5. They also snarked, always saw beneath put-ons of "I'm so good and infinitely strong"/"I've changed!"), and they had that whole eye-lust thing).

Re-watching, as much as I loved Dogget (and I did love Dogget), I wonder why they tried to extend the show beyond the Mulder (and later the Mulder/Scully) era. The heart and the bedrock of that show was the Mulder/Scully relationship. Both Mulder and Scully were smart (although in different ways). They were equals. They could save each other's asses, and they would walk through the bowels of hell for one another. Unquestioningly. Unwaveringly. And probably bitching about the other person as they went, but --oh-- they would go. Anywhere.

*Sigh.* I loved them.

Second episode was the Donnie Phaster returns episode, and it reminded me of why I loved Scully in particular.

I had as much a girlcrush on Scully as I did with Farscape's Aeryn Sun. Both are my all-time favorite heroines. Scully always had this quiet strength and unwavering determination. The woman would walk into a dark hole that I sure as hell would never go into. There could be creepy crawly things in there!

If you never followed X-Files, or were casual instead of obsessed and thus don't remember Donnie Phaster, he was Riley's military leader at the Initiative he was the serial killer who had a fetish for women's hair, hands, and red fingernails. In Phaster's first episode in... Season 1(?), he almost got Scully. I remember the great shippy moment at the end where Scully fell into Mulder's arms sobbing after it was all over and order was restored (because the woman never, ever fell apart while shit was going down). Today's episode was the second Phaster episode, the one where Donnie escaped prison. Scully is obsessed with re-capturing him and sending his ass away and he has become obsessed with Scully as "the one who got away." At the end of the episode, he has slipped into her apartment to capture her. Gillian Anderson is a small person, but jeez, Scully can kick butt! No super powers needed. The woman just fought like a hellcat, complete with eye-gouging, ball kicking, elbows to the jaw, and use of heavy and/or blunt objects. It's not the pretty, neat fighting of faux martial arts of more stylized super heroines. It was self-defense courses and FBI training in action. She would not go quietly into that good night. And, when his size overcame her fighting skills, she was one cool-headed hostage. Tied up, she still managed to escape, hide, and cut her own bonds. And, though Mulder and the FBI arrive for the rescue, Scully doesn't need rescuing (though it's always nice to have Mulder there for comfort afterward). By the time "rescue" arrives she's released herself, gotten her gun, and is hella pissed, ending with her shooting Donnie in cold blood, killing the creepy bastard.

But Scully was not just an action hero. She was a smart, compassionate woman. The episode ends with her questioning her shooting of the man. She doesn't regret it, per se. She knows he would have killed again. But she wonders whether what she did was justice or vengeance. And that was why she rocked. Smart. Level-headed. The woman never squealed like a helpless girly-girl (though Mulder did once in the Jose Chung episode, and that never ceases to be funny). She could kick butt. But she also pondered things like justice, vengeance, and God. She could be fierce, uncompromising, and compassionate. Any wonder why she, along with Aeryn Sun, continues to be my high water mark where heroines are concerned?

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Comments

[philips.livejournal.com]

Hi, here from friendsfriends. Yes to everything. But she wonders whether what she did was justice or vengeance. And that was why she rocked. But especially to this.
Reading this made my day and I just wanted to say thanks.

[cy-girl.livejournal.com]

I join you in the Scully/Mulder shipping and the ScullyLove. Scully has so much integrity and such a presence that she never seemed tiny. She always had Mulder's back no matter how kooky the boy was acting. They are my all time favorite screen couple.

I loved Gillian Anderson as Lady Deadlock in Bleak House.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

I stopped watching X-Files in season 8, and although I have the DVDs, I have yet to watch all of it or season 9. And, no, I've never seen the final episode. And as much as I love Robert Patrick, Doggett, as cool as he was, wasn't Mulder. And Mulder and Scully and their snark, and their deep caring for each other, were the heart and soul of the show. I was never really a Mulder/Scully shipper, but any fool could see how much they loved each other - even if that love was only as best friends and partners.

What a wonderful show.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I generally watch (ie: sort of listen to) whatever SciFi's marathoning as I edit, but XF days are always my favorites, reminding me why I loved - and still love - this show so much. I confess I lifted my eyes and watched with glee as they shared their New Year's 2000 kiss and the world didn't end.

They really did share an amazing chemistry and communication as actors, and I loved so much that they - like John and Aeryn years later - weren't perfect but were perfect for each other, both so strong and so able, but needing the other's contribution to reach completion. It's so good not to be alone in the love.

[goodbyebird]

This show is definately due for a rewieving on my part. The due used to be the highlight of my week. You know, before the conspiracy muddled everything completely up.

Any final word on the new X-Files movie yet? Scully's in it, Scully's not in it, Scully's in it, bleh! Get it over with allready.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

There's a question about her being in it? I had simply assumed she was. How could they possibly have an XF movie without Scully?

[goodbyebird]

Taking the words out of my mouth.

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

I share your love for both Dana Scully and Aeryn Sun. I remember the episode you reference where Phister is in Scully's apartment as scaring the hell out of me. I always loved how capable she was under pressure, but was always caring and compassionate, too.

[mlgm.livejournal.com]

Both Scully & Sun were the perfect actor in the perfect role situation. Both gave their heroine strength and emotion and great, great range.

Unlike something "Feminist" characters I could mention.

[jerrymcl89.livejournal.com]

I think Dana Scully benefitted greatly from the fact that no one on the X-F staff ever felt like she had to be the embodiment of feminism. I never heard Chris Carter or anyone else talk about her that way, and as a result she was allowed to just be a character, and a strong and capable one, which served the cause of feminism more than the more self-consciously "feminist" characters like Buffy, or Veronica Mars.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Oh so, so with you on the early X-files love! I was never a "shipper per say, but I love their friendship and snarking. It was just never the same for me after Mulder left-- too bad the kept it on the air instead of letting the show die peacefully.