SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

< PREVIOUS

Mulder has driven from DC to Quonochontaug without having slept, but he’s still looking sexy. He enters the house, which is still wrapped in so much plastic you’d mistake it for Laura Palmer (palm again – do you think there’s a connection?). The door his mother noticed is still ajar and he heads outside – is that meant to be sand or snow on the top step? I ask because I am no expert, as I have never seen snow. Considering the sound of seagulls in the background I will go with sand, but feel free to write and correct me if I am wrong. Awww, poor Mulder. He’s got a nasty white stain on his lovely trench coat, probably from leaning up against something. Unexpectedly, X appears from inside the house, saying: “He was here with her.” Mulder shows off that Oxford University education and says, “What?” To which X answers, “With your mother.” Mulder still doesn’t understand, so X explicates further. “The Cancer Man.” Mulder still thinks X has taken a few hits off Chris Carter’s bong, but I think X is just one of those people who thinks knowledge is power and is deliberately unclear when he speaks to keep other people off balance. He shows Mulder the photographs of Teena arguing with Old Smokey, and drops the bomb that Teena and CSM were acquainted. Here we see the first real cracks in the relationship between Mulder and his mother that comes to a climax in Demons. Mulder asked if CSM hurt his mother, but X tells him that she collapsed after CSM left. It turns out that X made the 911 call that saved Teena’s life. Instead of thanking him, Mulder is back on the conspiracy trail, wanting to know what they were arguing about. X doesn’t know – he says he was forced to keep a discreet distance. Now, I’m deaf but you’d think a heated argument like that would carry a bit. X thinks that Teena kept something in the house that Old Smokey wants – perhaps he left his water skis behind? Mulder looks pretty cut-up about the connection between his mother and CSM and tells X that she swore never to set foot in the house again after the divorce from Bill. Then he says: “I know my mother. She kept her word.” Duchovny puts a little wobble in his voice when he says this that just breaks my heart. It makes me want to put my arms around Mulder and stroke his hair and tell him it will be all right. He has such lovely hair, thick and chestnut brown and it looks soft and silky…..OK, I’m back. X is telling Mulder that whatever CSM is looking for could be very old, and Mulder is saying he has no idea, but X keeps pushing. I’m thinking that X is either trying to find out how much Mulder knows, or doesn’t know himself and is trying to get Mulder to give him information without admitting he doesn’t know. Mulder’s finally had enough of the double talk and heads back inside.

Meanwhile, back at FBI Headquarters in Washington DC, Distinguished Roy walks up to Scully and says that there’s been a mistake and that he’s there to clear it up. Wha???? Isn’t he banged up in some sort of secret military prison doing his impression of Anthony Hopkins’ Oscar-winning shenanigans? I don’t think I’ve been hitting the crack pipe too much this week. Scully looks rather confused, even though she’s unaware of the Doppelganger goings-on. Distinguished Roy now has to explain himself to Scully and a group of FBI people, and he claims the whole incident was like a dream and he remembers none of it and certainly doesn’t remember leaving the crime scene. Detective Donut (where did he come from?) is still pissed about being given a phoney address, but Distinguished Roy only apologises and says he doesn’t remember. Skinner asks him what he does remember, and DR says that his memory kicks in the next day at work. Scully reassures DR that he hasn’t done anything wrong and he asks if he can go. Scully looks at Skinner, who says yes, but doesn’t look happy about it and goes on to say that DR needs to notify the FBI if he is going to be out of town for any reason until the matter is cleared up. Distinguished Roy looks pleased enough with that, and goes out the door, leaving a roomful of confused investigators in his wake.

It seems we’re back in the house at Quonochontaug, but it’s hard to tell because someone’s stumbling around in the dark. Turn the bloody lights on, so we can see what’s happening! Oh, it’s Mulder with a flashlight. Not a Maglite, just an ordinary flashlight that appears to be of limited use. Now Mulder has found a light switch, and we can see what’s going on. Weird. This house has a mirror in the kitchen, with a foofy little ruffly thing over it. What’s that about? It’s hideous! And it looks like there’s a spoon collection hanging on the wall next to it. Where do you even find shit like that? No wonder Teena didn’t want to go back inside the house. Mulder’s having a snoop through the cupboards, but not finding much of interest. There appears to be clothes in plastic dry-cleaning bags in the wardrobe – why would you leave good clothes in a house that you were not going to use? I’m too cheap to do that. There’s a truly ugly straw hat there too – I can just see Bill Mulder wearing that with his thin-lipped grimace and his protuberant eyes. I admit it; I don’t like Bill Mulder much. Mulder is totally tossing the place, going through all the drawers and little tchotchkes. He’s even pulling books out of the book-case (and there’s no way I’d ever leave books anywhere) and one of them looks to be an historical romance, but it’s been put on the shelf upside down. I’m supposing that one was Teena’s. There’s even linen left on the beds. Those Mulders must have had more money than sense. Mulder pulls the plastic off a couch and flops down into it, dispirited. Aww, you want some cocoa, Mulder? I’ll get the milk heating on the stove. He pulls out the notepaper with PALM written on it and studies it some more. Ooh, now he’s written LAMP – perhaps Teena’s scrambled speech centres got all the letters right, but they’re all in the wrong order? There are at least half a dozen lamps in shot – who the hell owns that many lamps? - and Mulder starts unscrewing and examining, only to think that maybe something’s hidden in the base, so he throws the ceramic base at the brick fireplace and smashes it to pieces. Just as well Teena’s not coming back here. Fox is going to be in big trouble for smashing the lamps. This is only the beginning of a lamp-smashing frenzy, but on his second attempt, Mulder finds something odd in the lamp base. It looks like a metal cylinder, and irrepressibly curious as always, Mulder presses a little button on the side, to be startled when an ice-pick style thing shoots up and almost takes out one of his eyes. I have to stop here to remark how this chiaroscuro lighting style suits Duchovny – it brings out his great bone structure.