Theatre of the Mind ~ Demons

I'll warn you right up front; "Demons" is one of my favorites for lots of reasons not the least of which is a fine looking Mulder all the way through. But I'll try to keep the totally worthless commentary to a minimum! I'm a sucker for Mulder in peril and Protective!Scully, what can I say?

1. Oooh. This looks like a bad trip in the WABAC Machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

2. This new Kid!Mulder is a little more geeky than the one in "Little Green Men."

3. Have you ever noticed that Mulder looks so different in his right profile? Weird.

4. You wake up covered in blood, all alone in a strange motel room. Who else you gonna call?

5. Great acting by GA! Fumbling for the phone, squinting in the light. You didn't wake her Mulder, she had to get up to answer the phone anyway.

6. Mulder called at just before 5 a.m. Scully squeals her way into the motel parking lot at 6:15 a.m. She got up, got dressed, packed a bag, found some type of appropriate transportation (I am thinking the bullet train or supersonic jet), rented a car and made it to Providence in 1 hour and 15 minutes? Maybe she has some awesome thrusters on her car, so she just drove all the way. However she did it, Scully makes it in record time, which sort of makes up for being such a slowpoke in "Kaddish."

7. TWC1: HOLY FLAMING COW! There are other points in this episode where Mulder *looks* better than he does in the shower, but give me a break! The boy is nekkid! He's wet! He's in shock! HOLY FLAMING COW!

8. And did you see the way she whipped open that shower curtain without blinking an eye. She *had* to know Mulder was nekkid in there. Too bad he wasn't standing up.

9. In the many times I've watched this episode, I've never been able to figure out what DD is doing with his hand when he comes out of the bathroom wrapped in that towel Scully provided. (And you could have helped him dry off, Scully! He is in shock, after all.) It almost looks like he's crossing himself. Well, I guess he could be praying. Things don't look so good.

10. Did the TV Guide say, "Mulder and Scully play doctor"? They've gotta work on those descriptions.

11. I am fairly happy to learn that they spent Friday night chatting on the phone.

12. If Scully already looked in his bag (which she did cause she said there was a change of clothes in there), how come she didn't see his gun?

13. No time for hospitals when a crime has been committed!

14. TWC2: HOLY FLAMING COW! (Is there a rule there can't be two?) Standing on those steps in those jeans, that white tee, and those Timberlands! And then he adds the leather jacket? Hoo-boy!

15. I don't like my photographs either, but isn't that a bit extreme?

16. David & Amy Cassandra are named for the Greek Prophet Cassandra. The god Apollo fell in love with Cassandra and granted her the gift of prophecy. However, since she did not love him back, he cursed the gift by having no one ever believe her prophecies. Everything she said was true, but no one believed her. (Sort of like a certain G-man we know.) Applicable to Cassandra Spender too, of course.

17. I guess if you paint the same thing over and over again, you eventually get pretty good. This one is so good the house almost looks real . . . wow, great dissolve!

18. TWC3: HOLY FLAMING COW! (Do you see a pattern developing here?) Oh, those shades!

19. "You're a little spy." That's the pot calling the kettle black.

20. This flashback must have lasted a long time. Mulder didn't have a 5 o'clock shadow when it started.

21. Scully, maybe his heart is racing because you've got your fingers on his neck . . .

22. "Mulder, you are not really good." Please be more specific or speak for yourself, Scully.

23. Be still my heart! A blurry Timberland footwear close-up!

24. Awww. She refuses to believe he had any part in this. As much as anything, this episode is about faith and loyalty and trust. It's sort of a Reverse!Wetwired.

25. Did he say O.J.? I hate to disappoint, but Mulder's goin' to the joint.

26. Everything old is new again. Detective Curtis is become Duffy Haskell!

27. TWC4: HOLY FLAMING COW! I'm not confused at all. He looks so sweet (and a bit confused) looking up at the detective.

28. I just love when MamaBear!Scully takes command! He's not going anywhere but to a hospital!

29. The Medical Examiner is an XF regular! He was Col. Budahas in "Deep Throat" and Agent Weiss in "Colony." (This time, he gets to perform an autopsy instead of be the subject of one, and he doesn't get stripped down to his skivvies and stuffed in a trunk!)

30. If you keep picking at it, it won't heal!

31. Aww. He's all alone, so forlorn with his head resting on his arm.

32. I don't think there's an iced tea in that bag, Mulder. Or even a root beer for that matter.

33. Love that defensive posture with the arms crossed. But then the little facial expressions creep in and I think Mulder is just a little bit worried. He should be. He has the right to remain silent.

34. I think they put Mulder in that orange jumpsuit for his own safety. In that other outfit he would have been in too much demand while in the big house.

35. :::sigh::: Love how he hangs his head when Scully approaches; doesn't want her to see him this way.

36. "You're a doctor, not a lawyer, Scully." Are you sure? Why didn't she check his scalp for a scab?

37. Despite the evidence, her faith and loyalty and trust is still unshaken. That's love.

38. Yes, Mulder, we all know you are a par-tay animal.

39. I always wanted to know what Mulder was getting ready to say when Curtis carted him off.

40. The ill-fated Officer Fazekas was named for Spotsy's assistant. It seems to be a bad luck name as another Officer Fazekas fell down a moth-man-made hole in "Detour."

41. It's not really necessary to announce you're a doctor before ordering people to call the paramedics. I don't think that only doctors can order paramedics to be called. You usually just dial 9-1-1.

42. Oops. Cancel the paramedics.

43. Another scab. Sorry you didn't give Mulder an above-the-neck check now, aren't you?

44. Looks like everybody who believes in extraterrestrials becomes a joke in their profession.

45. I don't think it would be too profitable publishing Abductee Magazine. If all your subscribers are going to get abducted eventually, their subscriptions are going to lapse.

46. I don't think keeping the cell block awake all night is going to go over too well at roll call.

47. TWC5: HOLY FLAMING COW! It's not the orange jumpsuit, so guess I'm attracted to bad boys.

48. Scully backs up her faith with science. He didn't do it. But what was he doing there?

49. I know Scully likes to run her fingers through those lovely locks. Do it now, Scully! The scab is out there!

50. A procedure that involves drilling a hole in one's head is *not* invasive? I think perhaps Dr. Goldstein is suffering from Waxman-Geschwind syndrome himself.

51. TWC6: HOLY FLAMING COW! In Dr. Goldstein's office, it's all coming back to him now.

52. "I know what you do." There's nothing more frightening than a pissed-off Scully.

53. Why would Mulder undergo something as crazy and dangerous as that? I have a theory I'll share later.

54. Scully's not going to accept "I'm fine" as an answer? That's a good one. Don't think he'll forget that, either.

55. Not looking at his mom while Scully is there-he's such a little boy! :::awww:::

56. TWC7: HOLY FLAMING COW!! He looks pretty damn good while confronting dear old mom. Even after she slaps him around.

57. Kind of sad to realize this is how these two probably leave things until mom comes to spring Zombie!Mulder from the hospital in "Amor Fati." And then she'll be gone.

58. Mulder finally asks the question I want an answer to. Who is his father? (I'm one of those who believes that "Amor Fati" was a dream and maybe Mulder's *subconscious* thinks that CSM is his daddy, but it doesn't make it so.) I don't know why it's important to me-it just is.

59. If blood isn't dripping out of Scully's nose, it's running down Mulder's forehead. Good grief.

60. Put stealing a car on Mulder's long list of nefarious abilities. But how'd he do it? Hot wire? I don't think so. It appears to me he's definitely putting car keys in his pocket when he exits the car after meeting up with Dr. Goldstein. So how'd he get the keys? Is he a pickpocket too? Or maybe, like their apartment keys, he and Scully have keys to each other's cars as well! How romantic!!

61. TWC8: HOLY FLAMING COW! Couldn't we have gotten a different camera angle while Mulder was getting that injection? Just a little left cheek sneak?

62. That's some fast acting drug. If I were that stoned . . . . And what is he thinking? He now knows what the effects of hole-drilling are and he does it anyway. Scully is gonna kick his ass.

63. Best flashback yet . . . a Quonochontaug/Chilmark combo!

64. Look out! Here comes the non-invasive drill!

65. Don't you just love KickAss!Scully? You'd better answer her, you little weasel, or she'll make mincemeat outta you!

66. "He said he was going to exorcise his demons." I got a bad feeling about this.

67. I must have missed Scully saying, "Huddle up," before she gives the policeman the low-down on Mulder's condition. She obviously was ready for the big game as she gives him a pat on the butt for good luck.

68. I wonder who cleaned up the summer house? The last time Mulder was there, he left quite a mess and a lot of broke palms . . . er, I mean lamps.

69. "Mulder, it's me." She knows where he is; she doesn't have to ask.

70. TWC9: HOLY FLAMING COW! Even in his drug-induced state, he's looking pretty good. Woo-hoo! And in that half light/half dark-oh my! Let me add one HOLY FLAMING COW for good measure!

71. He picked Scully over Samantha in "End Game," and he does it again here. Let it go.

72. MSRM: She's not happy with him, she knows what this has cost him, she knows what could have happened, but she saved him, and she's there to comfort him.

73. If I wanted to get really critical about this episode, I could say that in the end, we don't know much more than we did when the episode started. Why did Mulder stand by and watch a murder/suicide and didn't do anything about it? He still doesn't know what part Ma and Pa Mulder, and good old CSM, played in Samantha's disappearance. He still doesn't know who his father is. So what? He was wet. He was nekkid. And Scully took care of him. That's good enough for me.

74. You may not want to hear my theory about why Mulder had this "non-invasive" procedure, but I'll tell you anyway. Over the years, I've heard many people say, "How could Mulder be so insensitive at this time? Scully is dying, he should be attentive to her every need. Instead, he's running around getting holes drilled in his head, and she has to come save him. It's all about Mulder! What a jerk!" But I think the reason Mulder is getting holes drilled in his head is *because* Scully is dying. If you believe the events of "Elegy" (and Mulder certainly has reason to), Scully's death is imminent. I think for Mulder, this is just too much to bear. He can't "focus on her" and "be attentive," because now it's right there staring him in the face and he can't accept it. The woman who makes him a whole person is going to die. So he has to run away from it and takes off on some wild ketamine chase so that he doesn't have to face the inevitable, perhaps even hoping that going down this path will be his undoing and he won't have to live without her. But he doesn't count on the fact that old habits die hard and even in his despair and confusion he will reach out to the only one who can save him once again: Scully. And of course, even at a time when she should have told him to "go to hell," she doesn't waste a second getting to his side, proving his innocence, and saving him from himself. I believe Scully's thoughts at the end of the episode reflect her fears for Mulder once she is no longer there to keep him on course, as she knows herself now that her time is short, and that Mulder will be driving dangerously forward in impossible pursuit without her by his side.

75. Okay, there were 10 worthless commentaries, but there could have been so many more. I tried hard to control myself. I know this T.O.T.M. should have been more absorbing and had more meaning; I should be exploring its depth rather than commenting on shallow good looks and footwear. I know I should be ashamed. But you know what? "I feel really good right now."


I'll apologize, but I'll confess "only to my own ignorance."

Polly