the only love story

It would appear that a platonic relationship is Carter’s comfort zone. Even though there are hints of romance sprinkled throughout the original series, it’s mostly in season finales (“Requiem,” “Existence,” “The Truth”) where we see a clear, undeniable romance between the two. The second movie – “I Want To Believe” – is an exception. It definitely portrays them as a couple, but it also makes one wonder about the revival. It’s no secret that the second movie was not a big success. And although logically the reasons for this have nothing to do with Mulder and Scully being a couple in it, one has to wonder whether Carter believes otherwise. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that he thinks the romance in that movie was a big mistake, and one that needed to be fixed as soon as possible, the next chance he got. He truly seems uncomfortable depicting them as a couple while they work together and solve cases, therefore only allowing the real romance to show its face in various season finales. Perhaps the second movie’s romance was an experiment in Carter’s mind to see if it’ll work, and he interprets the movie’s lack of success as proof that platonic is the only way to go, except for endings. So maybe, he begins season 10 by fixing that “mistake,” and then, similar to the original series, proceeds to sprinkle hints of romance throughout the revival, and then finally portrays them as a true romantic couple again at the very end, in the season 11 finale “My Struggle IV.”

During “X-Files Redacted,” a 30-minute special that aired during the revival, Carter has said that “Mulder and Scully, for 9 years, had a platonic relationship.” This makes no sense, but Carter clearly wishes for it to be true. Sometimes I think he wants them to be soulmates in an unusual, non-romantic, almost spiritual type of way. Look at “Babylon” for example. Did that entire sequence, while being quite beautiful visually, really need to be about mother love and the power of suggestion? Seeing how the season began with the break-up, wouldn’t it have been plausible to devote at least a portion of this sequence to talk specifically about their relationship? Shippers expected much more and they see it as a missed opportunity, especially considering the fact that Mulder and Scully were apart during the entire season 10 finale, except for the final scene in which Mulder was almost unconscious.

Their behavior and dialogue in “Plus One” is quite bizarre, and while it’s clear that they had sex in that episode, they appear to be much more like “friends with benefits” instead of how they’re portrayed in let’s say “Requiem” or “I Want To Believe.” And while one could argue that this entire issue of the break-up has been resolved because they’re a couple again at the end of season 11, there’s still something about the break-up, the mere pointlessness and terrible handling of it with zero backstory, which destroys something special about these two: a powerful bond that they had, considering their extraordinary journey together since day one. The break-up has ruined and taken away something special these two possessed, and I’m afraid it can’t be fixed by simply saying they’re back together “again” at the end of season 11. The break-up has caused irreversible damage in that regard, and it was, like most things in this revival, just so completely unnecessary in every way.

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There seems to have been a lack of coordination between the writers as well. In an interview with Glen Morgan (SyfyWire – Tara Bennett – Jan 10, 2018), he goes on to say: “We never had a writers’ room. We would laugh because things would change in production and argue, “No, we did that!” and others saying, “We did?” We just put a panel with index cards for this, this, this, and then Darin and Jim throw rocks at that writer and it gets adjusted, which is how it goes.”

And there’s also the following from an interview with James Wong (TVInsider – Marisa Roffman – Jan 31, 2008), when asked about the casting of Miles Robbins: “It was interesting, because Chris and I didn’t talk about how important Jackson/William’s character could be to the show and its impact on the rest of the season. When I cast that, I cast Miles just for this episode. And it was really to the credit of Miles—he’s so great. He has a quality that really reminds me of how David is.”

In another interview (SyfyWire – Tara Bennett – Jan 31, 2008) Wong says “It’s that kind of Mulder coolness that he has that made him attractive to me,” which is pretty odd considering William is not Mulder’s son. But of course, Carter being Carter could always place a twist on a previous twist and declare in a future season that William is indeed Mulder and Scully’s child. Because nothing can be considered permanent anymore, and there’s no point in trying to find answers, since (a) true answers simply don’t exist, and (b) everything can change at any time. I actually learned that all the way back after Samantha’s “Closure” in season 7. I learned that there’s no point in trying to put pieces together to find out answers regarding mysteries on the show. Although both “Sein und Zeit” and “Closure” are extraordinary episodes, with the latter being especially emotional and beautiful, looking at it realistically, the end of Samantha’s arc did not fit with all the previous hints and clues related to her. Yes, I know we can fix all of that with a generous amount of creative mental gymnastics, but it would simply be artificial. And it’s similar with William too, because his “purpose,” true nature and everything else, can change at any time, depending on Carter’s mood.