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The Appeal of the X-Files

How does a television series with a premise of two F.B.I. agents investigating mysteries beyond man's perceptions or beliefs become a 90s pop-culture icon and an international critical and commercial success? It isn't easily explainable, but it breaks down to three main elements that the show has strived for since its inception: truth, trust and romance.

The Truth is Out There. Those five words appear on roughly 98% of every X-Files episode shown around the world and is now part of the pop-culture lexicon. It may change or even be in another language, but that is the initial premise of the show. Truth. We all seek the truth. We all desire the truth. We all want to know the truth.

However, truth is not something we will easily find on the "X-Files." Deception, ambiguity, and intrigue are such main staples of the show that finding the "truth", whatever that may be, can be fleeting. One of the few remaining plot devices carried from the first season is the lack of true closure of an episode. There may be occasional voiceovers from one of the lead characters, and the viewer might be able to see a peek at what the characters don't see. Yet, many episodes can leave a fan overly frustrated and upset.

Many of the so-called "mythology" episodes play the deception, ambiguity and intrigue angle extremely well. "Herrenvolk," for instance, was an episode that showed so much and explained *very little*. Not until midway through the sixth season has there been any real explanation about those pesky bees. "Tunguska" and "Terma" mentioned a black oil substance but not until the X-Files movie was released did we find out what was so lethal about it.

The biggest truth that Agent Mulder has been seeking in which the show was fundamentally based on was Samantha Mulder's abduction. From the episodes that have been shown, we assume that Samantha was taken by the same black ops government Smoking Man works for. If that was the case, why aren't more children abducted? Why has Scully and other women been more prominantly abducted? If Scully and the other women were used to harvest their ova, what is the purpose for abducting children such as Samantha?

These questions and many others are out there, but the show has not touched upon them in any kind of cohesive detail. The fifth season episode, "Redux II," brought Samantha back for a very brief period. With all the emotional angst that both Mulder and Scully were already enduring in this episode, adding Samantha to the mix simply overloaded our emotional heartstrings. On any other occasion, Mulder would have been overjoyed to finally meet his long-lost sister, who appears to be healthy, happy and leading a semblance of a normal life. But just as quickly, she left him and nothing was ever explained. As beautiful an episode as "Redux II" was, we still did not find out the truth about Samantha. But it only shows how much Mulder's character and the show has evolved. He had other more pressing matters distracting him at the time, particularly Scully.

Which leads us to the next element of the show: trust. The other familiar catch phrase of the series is "Trust No One." Mulder grew up in a very dysfunctional family. Until Samantha disappeared, he appeared to have a normal childhood. Once she was gone, his parents divorced, he became more introverted and was obsessed with Samantha's disappearance. In essence, he becomes the lonely, self-absorbed, cynical, antagonistic, paranoid Mulder that we all know and love. Trust is not something that he will easily achieve with anyone.

Ironically, he is willing to trust his deep-regression hypnosis sessions as the answer to Samantha's disappearance. For someone with a keen mind in interpreting facts and using logic, Mulder takes a GIANT leap of faith in this area. In fact, his memories are the only "tangible" evidence that he trusts since his parents do not give up any clues to help him. Since Mulder is so introverted, he does not allow any distractions to hinder his investigations, hence his phenomenal success as a profiler. However, because he is introverted and does not allow himself to trust anyone, he is ridiculed and becomes an outcast by fellow agents and stuck with a moniker of "Spooky."

Yet, his world suddenly turns upside down when he is finally partnered with Dana Scully. Though they are initially polar opposites, he being the believer and she being the skeptic, Mulder sees a kindred spirit in Scully. Someone who shares his purpose in pursuing the truth. Not only does Mulder respect her rather irritating lack of open-mindedness but also begins to *trust* her like noone else before. As Mulder stated to her in the feature film, "...As difficult and as frustrating as it's been sometimes, your goddamned strict rationalism and science have saved me a thousand times over! You've kept me honest; you've made me a whole person. I owe you everything Scully, and you owe me nothing. I don't know if I wanna do this alone. I don't even know if I can ..." Thus, Mulder reveals that finding the truth without her by his side is meaningless to him now.

Compare this to the Pilot episode when Mulder tells Scully the story of Samantha's abduction. At that time, "nothing else mattered" to Mulder than finding his sister. He didn't fully trust Scully at the time, but the fact that he revealed a family secret to her on their very first case reveals how desperate Mulder truly wanted to be accepted. He had been an outcast within the Bureau for so long that he longed to be understood by *someone*, and Scully showed that she was willing to try.

Though Scully does not always share Mulder's leaps of logic, she does trust his instincts. Her faith in his beliefs are what drive her as well. She has seen Mulder solve many of their toughest cases with very few clues and has first-hand experience of his brilliant but misunderstood mind. In a way, her partnership with Mulder has given the X-Files a certain respectability. Scully had an excellent reputation at Quantico for her work with forensic medicine. Because of her scientific background, she was initially partnered with Mulder to debunk his work. However, she has more than proven the legitimacy of the X-Files, because many of their cases could not be explained by scientific or rational means. In essence, her work has allowed Mulder to continue his quest for the truth. Once Scully proved to Mulder that she was on the same quest, he knew that she was a person that he could trust over anyone. Mulder himself has stated to Scully time and time again that she is the "only one" he trusts.

This trust brings us to the final element to the appeal of the series: romance. Chris Carter had stated for the longest time how the relationship between Mulder and Scully was purely professional and that they would never be together as a couple. However, his tune has changed somewhat in the past couple of years. He had already admitted on an X-Files special that they do love each other in the most ideal romantic way but not physically or sexually. Yet, isn't that the essence of romance? After all, we don't think of romance as pornographic sex but as a dreamy, exciting sense of being. Sex could be the culmination of such intense feelings but never a long-lasting factor in romance.

Inherently, "The X-Files" is mainly a fictional tale about two heroic characters experiencing extraordinary events. Thus, the very premise of the show is romantic in nature. Carter was brilliant in pairing his male hero with a female heroine. Previous all-male partner cop shows such as "Starsky & Hutch," "New York Undercover," and "NYPD Blue" show a very strong bond between the partners. However, distractions outside of their partnership, particularly from their significant others, often put a strain within their partnership. Also, in a conventional sense, the relationship between the two male leads is limited because of the same-sex situation. Though, with today's progressive attititudes, it may not be too long before a groundbreaking series changes that.

Also, Mulder and Scully reveal a chemistry that has never truly been seen before in series television. They are partners who try not to be lovers but subtly reveal their love to everyone and yet deny their love even to themselves. Their feelings are disguised in subtext: slight touches, short intense gazes, obvious jealousy of outside "influences" and unspoken fear of losing the other. It would be difficult to justify how two people would be together constantly through six plus years and *not* develop romantic feelings for each other. Even the producers and writers of the show cannot escape this blatant fact. The feature film only enhanced this incredible chemistry. Executive producer, Frank Spotnitz, confessed that there were times, looking at the dailies coming in from the movie, that Mulder and Scully looked like two people in love.

However, the writers are smart in letting the plot drive the characters rather than letting the characters drive the plot. That was a fatal mistake for "Moonlighting," another ground-breaking show in the 1980s, where the male and female leads, David and Maddie, also had incredible chemistry. However, once the leads got together, the show collapsed. Another 1980s show, "Remington Steele," more closely resembles the plot-driven device of "The X-Files." The relationship between Laura and Steele were shown in small glimpses in each episode, while their case was the main focus. Thus, the lead characters were not solely responsible to carry each episode. If you think about it, some of "The X-Files" worst episodes still revealed a small aspect of the Mulder/Scully relationship to make it somewhat watchable (i.e. "Ghost in the Machine," "Firewalker," "Teso Dos Bichos," and "Teliko" to name a few). In that respect, the enticing chemistry made people want to keep watching.

With the Mulder/Scully relationship, it has evolved beyond just mere friendship or deep trust but a love that transcends many different levels. Mulder has grown from being obsessed with finding Samantha to showing that he would be willing to give up his soul to save Scully's life. While Scully has proven time and time again that she will protect and follow Mulder beyond any hope or reason. But Mulder truly needs Scully in more ways than just as a partner. Scully is the only one that makes Mulder feel "normal" in his otherwise paranoid world. He values her judgement and companionship as well as her trust. Without the romance factor added in, the series most likely would not have survived as long as it has and certainly would not have *increased* in popularity over the years.

The series does not make itself easy to dissect. However, it has many aspects that is universally accepted. Three of them, truth, trust and romance, are explained here, but I'm sure that there are so many more aspects that could be written about. It will be sad to see the show conclude after the seventh season, but good things have to come to an end sometime. Let's just enjoy it and talk about it for many years to come!

P.S. I don't claim any of the stuff above to be correct, but just my own twisted point-of-view. Please feel free to send me comments if you have a different take. Thanks!

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