I remember there was a discussion on Twitter recently about how many suspects Mulder and Scully shoot, which I think is funny because A) as far as Iâm aware this is a pretty common feature of police procedurals and B) there is a whole ass episode where Scully shoots and kills someone who has kidnapped and assaulted her TWICE, and sheâs so distraught about it that she wonders if the Devil caused her to pull the trigger lmao
Further thoughts on this. I think about Scully in medical school, learning about all the different parts of the human body and what they do, how they keep us alive. I think about Scully at Quantico, using her knowledge of life to find answers for the dead. I think about Scully the forensic pathologist, slicing open corpses in the autopsy bay, looking carefully at each part of this shell that once held a life to painstakingly find what ended it. I think about Scully the Catholic, consuming the flesh and blood of Christ every week, confessing her sins and searching for redemption she doesnât need, being inundated with words and songs about the value of selflessness and sacrifice. Given all of these things, the act of callously ending a life for her own sakeâno matter whose it isâwould be abhorrent to her. âOrisonâ has never been a favorite of mine (it drags and Pfaster isnât as effective the second time) but it characterized Scully perfectly in this situation.
Itâs interesting that you point this out op because this was actually one of the things that put me off when watching the Revival for the first time. I donât remember about Scully so much, but I do remember feeling that Mulder was just constantly & callously killing off nameless people when heâd previously held a gun to CSMâs or Krycekâs head countless times without being able to pull the trigger.
(Now one could of course argue that he hoped to gain information out of CSM or Krycek, but I personally sensed dissonance between these two versions of Mulder, especially when it came to violence and specifically killing.)
I remember arguing with fans back in the day who joked it was sexy when Mulder slit a guy's throat to save Scully's life and got blood all over her. I get they were joking, but it bothered me all the same. At the time I said it was the "sexy" thing I objected to, but now I think it had less to do with that and more that I just found it very out of character. I try to remember that this is a different Mulder than we've seen, he's been through a lot, he's desperate, and also slicing someone's throat open with a scalpel is more exciting than just shooting them, if you're making a TV show. Notably, it's the one time (I think) we see Mulder use a scalpel, and it's to save Scully's life.
