A kingdom of conscience, or nothing

"You people, incapable of accepting the world as it is," says the man to whom the world handed everything. If no Anne, if no rescue, if this is defeat for me, then know this. You and I were neck and neck in this race right till the end. But, Jesus, did I make up a lot of ground to catch you.

as the snake sheds her skin 🐍🩸

I think it's more complicated than Mulder and Scully's relationship. Which isn't a surprise, since both are shades of Dark!Mulder and Dark!Scully: hands-on in the work, but 100% self-interested and 0% sacrificial. They keep a few buttons loose, give in to their desires, and prove why the lead characters don't often indulge in frenetic passions: Krycek loses his evidence, Marita is infected with black oil. (You can't afford distraction in a world that's waiting to destroy you.)

Also, Nick Lea enjoyed that side of Krycek--

June 1998: Nevertheless, Krycek's comeback in the latest X-Files two-parter – released on video this month as 'File 12: Patient X' – is well worth waiting for. This is mainly because Lea gets to have a steamy, stormy and totally unexpected 'love scene' with Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), Special Representative to the UN Secretary General.

"The fact that you got to see Krycek actually have a personal slash-sexual encounter with somebody was exciting, because you'd never seen that aspect of the character before there was never any hint of that fire," he says. "It came out of left-field, and I think it surprised a lot of people."

It isn't love. It's loathing and passion, and later shades of disgust and surprise and acceptance. In my opinion, there isn't much love or hate lost between them: they glower, they undress with unrighteous motives, they soften when the world is falling apart. In One Son and Requiem they realize there is no one else left to do what needs to be done except each other. They throw Mulder to the stars and leave Scully bereaved with as little emotion as they toss CSM down the stairs and walk away toward freedom: a mutual selfishness that will split them inevitably if they don't aim for the same goal.

Cover art of official Criterion Collection release of Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" 2025 movie version. Art drawn by Denver Balbaboco. The director personally handpicked said artist as a poster designer of the movie.