#firewalker

INTO THE INFERNO

The pertinent portion of this meta begins after Pierce’s evidence and explanation in the basement office. 

Scully (on the verge of emoting over Pierce's last comment) is called over by Mulder, who drops their professional distance by whispering, “Scully? I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go.” 

Her answer from “Beyond the Sea” remains the same: “Mulder, I appreciate your concern. But I’m ready. I want to work.” 

Unlike “Beyond the Sea,” Mulder presses. “Well, maybe you should take some time off.”

Not only has their partnership changed since then but their personal relationship has evolved. There is an understanding between them that didn’t exist the first time she sought solace in work: now, they’ve been separated and further separated by her abduction. It doesn’t take a genius psychologist to know that Scully is repressing her experiences-- fleeing them via her trauma response, (post here)-- but it also doesn’t take a mind reader to guess that Mulder himself is shaken by her missing time-- that he is afraid. That he doesn’t want to jeopardize her return by watching her jump too swiftly into danger.

And Scully is aware of this, though she dismisses it in the moment-- “I’ve already lost too much time”-- because she is not ready to acknowledge the toll of the past few weeks, despite Season 2 shadowing it (and complicated matters of the heart) in the episodes leading up to her breakdown (“Irresistible.”) She will, however, reference it later on location, if only to attempt to convince Mulder that she doesn’t need protection. If only to announce that she is still struggling with her lost time, and that she knows he is, too; but that they can’t focus on that.

REWRITING PAST MISTAKES

At the site, it is Scully who asks probing questions, confronting Pierce’s impulse to look around the vicinity rather than talk to the isolated crew. Mulder, as is their habit, doesn’t stall, butt in, or undermine her authority.

“Firewalker” hands them both an action bone once they enter the research facility, with one of the men mistaking Mulder for Trepkos (the lead researcher) in the dark-- nearly killing him, had not Mulder dodged at the last second. While he tackles his assailant successfully, Scully hears their commotion and comes running into the room, gun drawn. 

Two considerations: 

Danger is an ever-present part of their job-- uniquely so on the X-Files, where humanity’s last shreds of decency are tested under the pressures of the unknown. However, this scene and this series often puts Mulder and Scully in harm's way while also giving them the opportunity to save themselves-- to prove, in short, that they are equally capable as well as equally respectful and protective. 

There is a high possibility that both Mulder and Scully would have survived Mount Avalon separately had they investigated solo. Mulder batted off Ludwig and would have stayed with Trepkos until the rest of the crew perished (a matter of hours, per Trepkos’s surveillance.) Scully would have been drawn to figuring out the spores, and deduced their cause in time to avoid sharing Jesse’s death. But while they might have survived on their own, they still needed each other to solve the case efficiently: Scully’s caution and science backed up Mulder and Trepkos’s theory; and Mulder’s off-trail activities pulled together the missing pieces for their final reports.

Jesse O’Neill’s character strikes an interesting parallel to Scully’s history with her own Daniel (Waterston instead of Trepkos.) The most obvious difference between the two women are the lines they were willing to cross: Scully (according to Gillian’s fuller idea) never consummated her relationship with Waterston, leaving when she learned he was still with his wife. Jesse, on the other hand, stayed in Trepkos’s bed despite his spouse at home. But these considerations must be tempered with what we are shown onscreen: 

Scully’s past with Waterston is not canonical at this point in the series.

But even if it were, Scully’s resistance to Waterston’s overtures does not canonically save her from her own misfortunes. Neither her nor Mulder’s virtues-- not to mention the innocence of their sisters and daughters-- saves them from loss or reoccurring tragedies.

Building off the previous points, Jesse O'Neill is not killed because of her participation in an affair: she is a victim of circumstance, as are the rest of the team (and one of the more sympathetic victims, at that.)

In hindsight, it’s fun to draw connections between “Firewalker,” “Aubrey,” and “all things;” but it doesn’t lessen the impact of Season 2's interactions if one excludes Daniel Waterston. It is, however, canonically chronological to connect the doomed love between Jesse (a woman swept up in chaos) and Trepkos (the man who led the woman he loved into chaos and death) to Mulder and Scully’s recent experiences. In fact, this episode is built around that exact connection, riling up their fears and casting it in Mulder’s face when he spares Trepkos from further investigation (to be explored below.)

Mulder discovers Trepkos’s work, hyperfixating on the man’s discovery and (rightly) deducing that to explore the man’s claims would lead them to the heart of the mystery. Scully, by contrast, is convinced this path is a goose chase when there are real victims that need to be assessed and evacuated. She shelves the notion of an alternative life form and dismisses herself from the discussion, focused on the practicalities ahead of them. 

As usual, their dynamic is important to the mission: Mulder’s “blind spots” (a fixation on theory over pragmatic to-dos) are key to the case while Scully’s “blind spots” (proven application over meditative speculation) are essential to not only backing up his hypothesis but saving her life.

Scully’s ensuing conversation with Jesse underlines some of her own dark realities: new discoveries revealing themselves to be punishable dangers; devotion to a cause (and a person) that might, perhaps, only end in pain. In answer to her question (“What are you so afraid of, Jesse?”), O’Neil laments, “Daniel. The only reason I even came here was because of him. He promised me that this would be an adventure, and that it would change my life. But eight months is a long time; and I just want to go home now.” 

While a connection to Daniel Waterston was mentioned further up, it’s more expedient at this point to compare Trepkos to (yes) Mulder and Scully’s late ex Jack Willis. All three men are (to quote her description in “The Jersey Devil”) obsessed with their work; all three men are “intense” and “relentlessly determined.” All three men charge head-first into danger at the risk of their own lives. 

Unlike Willis, Mulder and Trepkos are on another intoxicating level: they're considered “prophets” by their peers-- able to anticipate great, even revolutionary, leaps forward in their work. And unlike Willis, they both want to include their partners (professional and personal) in those discoveries. 

But there is a marked difference between Mulder and Trepkos (and Scully’s other romantic partners, for that matter): Mulder will risk everything-- his work, his life-- for Scully. While Trepkos sinks into a cave, anguishing over the inevitable, Mulder chooses to sit by Scully’s bedside and talk her back to life. That is why “One Breath” was the first pivotal change for his personal growth: he had to decide to set his own ambitions and goals to meet Scully's needs first-- to be present, even if her death was inevitable. It takes self-denial, and courage, to face the truths you wish to avoid; and it was Mulder’s courage that hit upon Trepkos’s conscience, bringing him back to Jesse after her death. 

One of the researcher’s health takes a sharp decline.

When Mulder insists that they need to find Trepkos before everyone leaves, Scully rides over that suggestion with a firm, “Give me [the radio],” signalling an end to the conversation (for now.) Mulder complies, helping Ludwig carry Tanaka out on a stretcher (and witnessing his gruesome death.)

After studying Tanaka’s body, Scully finally reaches her partner’s conclusion: a silicon-based life form. 

(In a hilarious beat, Mulder purses his lips into an irritated ‘I told you so,’ prompting his partner to assert, “Maybe now there is [a silicon-based organism]; but we won’t have conclusive proof until we determine its molecular structure.”)

Cutting through their brief back-and-forth, Jesse probes, “Daniel knew about this?”, muting Mulder’s enthusiasm.

Scully looks down and away while he quietly explains his discovery. 

Their interaction with Jesse is a there-and-gone tidbit. Jesse believes Trepkos would have told her everything, yet he didn’t; Mulder and Scully, too, often withhold painful information from each other for extended periods of time-- in Mulder’s dysfunctional case, often a long time (i.e. Scully’s ova, a former chickadee, the list goes on.) What prevents Mulder and Scully from becoming another Jesse and Trepkos is the demand for integrity from each other. Scully left her teacher for initiating a (potential) affair, Scully left Willis when she couldn’t compete with his obsessions, and Scully squared off with and demanded trust from Mulder in the Pilot to do the work right; Mulder demanded transparency and honesty from the Pilot and reciprocated ten-fold when she gave it. They hold each other to account: "touchstones," despite their differences.

An immediate example: Mulder looks to Scully while calling in her advised lockdown, pausing to weigh if they both want to commit to this course of action. She remains stalwart, and he trusts her instincts. 

FLIGHT AND FREEZE, RETREAT AND REASSURANCE

Believing themselves to be alone, Mulder confesses: “I’m going to find Trepkos.”

Scully is immediately (and strongly) concerned, eyes flashing in repressed panic before switching quickly to rationale-- a comfort zone. “What if he’s already dead?”

Mulder won’t budge, so she pushes, “Will you at least let me go with you?”

At this, Mulder balks, movements distressed, jaw ticking as he softly refuses, “No.”

Here we have reached the heart of “Firewalker”: Scully and Mulder in pain over the abduction arc. Mulder remains frozen in it, unable to move past it (per his traumatic Freeze response, post here); Scully flees from it, unable to face it.

Scully surges forward, addressing the unspoken-- “Look, I know what you’re thinking but you have to get past that,”-- believing she is bravely facing this pain head-on when she is really attempting to minimize and dismiss it forever.

(As a side note, it’s no coincidence either that Melissa-- the instrument behind Mulder's choice to face his fears and grow as a person-- post here-- is the guide that confronts this evasion: “What are you so afraid of, Dana? You afraid you might actually learn something about yourself? …It’s like you’ve lost all touch with your own intuition.”)

“We both do,” Scully admits, becoming more vulnerably honest in an attempt to reason with her partner. “I’m back, and I’m not going anywhere.” 

She is right, as this episode and future canon will prove: Scully is back; and their fear won’t save her from future perils. But she is also wrong, because that fear is still present and lingering, not categorized or easily referenced. And, therefore, untreated and liable to compound into further trauma (i.e. “Irresistible.”) 

And Mulder is right and wrong, as well: “You have to finish the autopsy on Tanaka. Hopefully, that will give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with, whatever it is.” He is weaving around Scully’s admission, not willing to offer similar disclosures or openly discuss the subject yet. Moreover, he doesn’t really believe what she’s proffering-- that it’s behind them, that they need to move on.

Scully is slightly stung, feeling embarrassed by her unreciprocated admission-- never comfortable expressing emotions or weaknesses, she purses her lips, looks away, and tenses her jaw and neck. 

Mulder sees this and reaches out: his version of an admission, what he can do. A gesture that speaks to his understanding-- she is not alone in these thoughts or struggles. 

“I’m counting on you to keep us all from ending up on that slab.” 

He is also appealing to her natural coping mechanism, what she appealed to earlier: the work. And it works. 

A BETTER MAN, A STRONGER WOMAN

After discovering Trepkos in the volcano, Mulder's return is temporarily thwarted by the other man's gun-- there is no way to save the others at the facility, Scully included, the researcher warns. A belief which Mulder not only flatly rejects but outright refuses: “Then you’re going to have to shoot me. Because I’m walking out of here.”

In an eerily similar recreation of his pursuit in Ascension, Mulder races after his partner, arriving too late to save her.

But this time, Scully refuses to go down without a fight. Able to maneuver the slighter frame of Jesse O’Neil, she drags her to a table to break their handcuffs; and when that doesn’t work, wedges the infected woman’s body on the other side of a door to protect herself from the blooming spores. 

She watches in horror as Jesse is brutally killed, sinking down by the door in abject defeat.

When Mulder bursts in, yelling her name, she rapidly hides her feelings behind reassurance, steadily calling out, “I’m okay, I’m okay.” 

Despite the danger, he immediately swoops to her side, cradling her face and asking, “Are you alright?” (To which she repeats, “I’m okay.”) 

After giving him a couple seconds to regroup, Scully turns her face away, looking towards the handcuff wedged through the door. A reminder, yes; but also an end to their intense intimacy-- a symptom of discomfort with her own recently-exposed emotions (per Jesse’s death.) 

As Mulder fumbles for the keys, she closes her eyes and purses her lips, a personal regrouping for herself.

Trepkos appears (prompting both agents to step a healthy distance back); but when he crouches by the glass, mourning over Jesse’s body (“I told her it would change her life”)--

--Mulder is particularly struck, hunching in on himself and avoiding eye contact.

While not subtle, “Firewalker” is tasteful with its parallel: Mulder and Scully have narrowly escaped mirroring that fate by mere minutes-- mere months if you count her disappearance, his dispassionate existence, and her nearly-fatal coma.

Mulder, still avoiding eye contact, calls in a rescue team. 

When he doesn’t report Trepkos (to the other man’s relief), Scully challenges him on this lapse: “Mulder, what are you doing? They’re going to want to question him.” 

Mulder’s answer-- “It’s all over, Scully. He won’t talk”-- raises a few intriguing ideas. 

The intimation of his and Trepkos’s similarities suggests that he, too, would have slipped into deeper apathy, curling in on himself in guilt, had Scully not survived in “One Breath.” 

Perhaps that is another part of why Mulder fights so hard for the truth, because he knows intimately the cloak of silence a survivor is wont to guard themselves in. One he resists to right the wrongs of his past. 

Mulder again skirts the deeper meaning behind his gesture: the hope that someone would do the same for him had he been in the Trepkos’s place. 

Scully understands enough not to fight him on this decision; yet remains puzzled-- the gray area between guessing and completely knowing. 

CONCLUSION

What is there to conclude but that they choose each other, despite the risk and the pain and the hurt?

Mulder and Scully, firewalkers.

Thanks for reading~