SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

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Mulder and Scully are knocking at the door of a bungalow-style house with all sorts of cutesy garden signs. If I lived there, I’d be begging the aliens to take me for a good probing. One of the signs says – The Hoeses. A woman opens the door, and OMG! It’s Theresa Nemman! Or Theresa Hoese, I suppose now. She takes a moment to recognise them, but as she does, her baby cries out and she is distracted and invites them in as she goes to tend to the baby. The next shot is in Theresa’s living room, and she’s holding the baby and apologising for losing it when she realised who they were. Scully asks if there’s anything she can tell them that might help them find her husband. Mulder pipes up to say that they had no idea she was his wife. Theresa then goes on to tell them that she and Ray had a deep connection because he was also an alien abductee. The actress still has the same stop-start line delivery that annoyed so many in the Pilot, but her hair is much, much better. She tells Mulder and Scully that Ray’s experiences were a lot more terrifying than hers. She says that she has extensive medical records and photos of Ray’s scars, and offers to get the files for them. She gets straight up and just hands her fussy baby to Scully, who at first looks a little uncomfortable, but finally gets him settled by distracting him with a Big Bird toy and singing to him while Mulder watches on. I have to stop to say that Duchovny does an amazing job in this scene – you can see Mulder’s heart in his eyes; his wish that he and Scully could have children and his guilt over her barrenness.

8.07pm and we’re in a non-descript motel watching Mulder examine the photographic evidence of Deputy Ray’s abduction experiences. He’s wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. There’s a knock at the door and he calls out, “Who is it?” Scully answers, “It’s me.” Drink. He opens the door and she’s visibly shaking – he asks her what’s wrong and she says she doesn’t know. She comes in and sits on his bed while Mulder kneels in front of her and she tells him she was starting to get ready for bed when she began to feel dizzy and get chills. Again, an indication of just how far their relationship has come. When she was dying of cancer in Season 4, she was fine. Now, she’s a bit dizzy and has chills and she runs straight to Mulder to tell him all about it. And damn! That black T-shirt suits him. He asks her if she wants him to call a doctor, as he’s pulling back the bedcovers. She says no to the doctor, instead she climbs on into Mulder’s bed, as he tucks her in, saying she just wants to get warm. I have to mention, that chequered pattern on the bedclothes is just hideous. You may wish to avert your eyes. But then you’d miss this – Mulder climbs up onto the bed behind her in a spooning position and puts his arm around her and she thanks him. He’s really snuggled into her shoulder and neck and it seems as though he is sniffing her. It’s quite intimate, even though they’re both fully clothed with the bedding between them. I have to recap this conversation in its entirety.

“It’s not worth it, Scully.”

“What?”

“I want you to go home.”

“Mulder, I’m gonna be fine.”

“No, no, I’ve been thinking about it. Looking at you today holding that baby and knowing everything that’s been taken away from you – a chance for motherhood and your health – and that made me think that maybe they’re right.”

“Who’s right?”

“The FBI. Maybe what they say is true, but for all the wrong reasons. It’s the personal costs that are too high. There’s so much more you need to do with your life. There’s so much more than this.”

Then he just reaches up and caresses her face really lightly. I think I just got something in my eye. I’ll be OK in a minute, I’m sure.

“There has to be an end, Scully.” He kisses her gently on the cheek.

Sounds to me like Mulder had decided that it was time for both of them to get out of the car. Makes you wonder what would be different if he hadn’t been abducted – remember that Scully’s already pregnant, even thought neither of them know it yet. Season 8 Mulder was so angry after his return from the dead that it just fuelled his fight against the conspiracy. If they’d left him alone, perhaps he would have just let it all go, thinking that his work was done. Sometimes the alien/shadow government conspiracy just doesn’t think things through. Shouldn’t have booked Mulder on that Princess cruise. Gilly does a great job of showing Scully’s ambivalence – on the one hand, she’s happy that Mulder wants something approaching a normal life, even if it’s only for her, and on the other, she fell in love with his drive and it’s her quest as much as his. A dilemma, to be sure.

Outside, in a darkened car, Ratboy is on the phone to CSM, bitching about not being able to find the UFO. CSM’s getting unpleasant medical things done to him – serves him right. CSM is a bit put out when Ratboy tells him that Moose and Squirrel are there looking for the UFO, but Ratboy says that they’re actually looking for a missing Deputy. He is well informed. CSM busts out with one of his patented non-answers: “Well, they’re looking for the right thing, but in the wrong place.” Whatever. Ratboy bitches some more, making the point that CSM sent him to look for a ship. CSM seems angered by Ratboy’s unaccustomed denseness and snaps out, “Find the deputy, find the ship.” Well, why didn’t you just say that in the first place, instead of being so darn obscure? It must be habit, so that even if your phone is tapped, no one knows what the hell it is you’re talking about.

Knock, knock, knock. Theresa runs down the stairs in her night attire, asking who is knocking at her door. All she can see is a cop-shaped shadow through the curtain. She says, “Ray?” questioningly, but why would he be knocking on the door of his own house? Maybe the aliens were playing a game of keep-away with his keys. She opens the door, and it looks like Ray, so she hugs him and tells him she was worried. She finally twigs that there’s something wrong when Ray won’t talk to her. He’s not her husband. D’oh! She turns and runs up the stairs, with Not-Ray behind her. She’s lying in wait at the top of the stairs and she stabs Not-Ray with a pair of scissors. Bad mistake. He’s oozing green blood and she’s clutching at her eyes. She tries to crawl away from him to get to her baby who must have been woken by the ruckus and is screaming, but Not-Ray just picks her up bodily and takes her away.