Theatre of the Mind ~ Gethsemane
"Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."
Matthew 26:451. What would happen if we learned there was other sentient life in the universe? We'd probably sit around and talk about it at BU. Oh, and make movies about it, of course.
2. There are billions and billions of things I thought I'd never see on the X-Files. And Carl Sagan is one of them.
3. What are all those people doing in Mulder's apartment? Is he having a par-tay?
4. Scully looks a little worried. Wasn't she invited to the par-tay?
5. What's with the sheet? Was it a toga par-tay?
6. "It him?" Him who? "Yeah." What? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
7. Section Chief Blevins. We haven't seen him since the "Pilot."
8. For all those joining the series late, Scully will now sum up everything you've missed.
9. "Believe the Lie." Geez, you can't even go to the bathroom during the credits.
10. I have a sudden urge for a Peppermint Patty.
11. Those aliens are always ahead of us. They were freezing themselves in ice long before that magician guy David Blaine thought of it.
12. For all those who thought that CC just thought of retroactive storytelling in Season 8, please see this story arc.
13. Mrs. Scully must have won the lottery or something. This is a pretty fancy dinner party, complete with a uniformed maid. Unfortunately, Ma didn't get to do much but light the candles.
14. Scully, you never laugh at Mulder's jokes like that. And his are much funnier.
15. At least Mulder remembers her birthday every four years; that's better than "once a decade."
16. Bill's telling more jokes, and they're *still* not as funny as Mulder's.
17. "I have strength." Brrrring! We know; Mr. Strength is calling on the phone right now.
18. Does something have to be the matter every time Mulder calls? (Well, actually, when he calls Mrs. Scully's number, it usually is.)
19. Bill is looking like he thinks Mulder is one sorry son-of-a-bitch.
20. Mulder, I know sometimes Scully is psychic, but she can't hear you nod goodbye on the phone.
21. You find a 200-year-old alien, you either call the Enquirer or Fox Mulder.
22. TWC1: Woo-hoo, what a cute Mulder face!
23. Banter like only they can do it, and we get some nice correlation between the aliens and God. You can believe in either one, but you can't prove either one, and is anything going to change your mind about the existence of either one?
24. "I can't go with you, Mulder."
25. She can tell the committee what she can't tell him: the cancer has spread.
26. Can you get an art credit for Chainsaw Ice Sculpting 101?
27. It might not be an awful long way to go for a hoax after all.
28. In genetics, a "chimera" is an organism consisting of two or more tissues of different genetic composition, produced as a result of a mutation, grafting, or the mixture of cell populations from different zygotes - a hybrid. In Greek mythology, a "Chimera" was a fire-breathing she-monster, or an imaginary monster made up of grotesquely disparate parts. Hence the Season 7 Episode. "Chimerical" means created by or as if by a wildly fanciful imagination. Hence the DD website!
29. Ooh, bad footwear! Bad, bad!
30. TWC2: Hoo-boy, rugged mountain-climbing Mulder is a manly kind of man with manly-man footwear. Love those boots!
31. I'm frankly surprised that Mulder didn't stick his fingers in the red snow. Perhaps he knows that the same rules as yellow snow apply.
32. Scully gives chase! Look out for that . . . ouch!
33. I think a trip to the Yukon called for the Big Ass Flashlights. What's with the little one?
34. Where's "doctor" Scully when you really need her?
35. Call me skeptical, but I think there is something seriously fishy going on here.
36. Those must have been some sharp stairs. How'd Scully get all that blood on her back?
37. Somehow, it makes me feel good to know that even though it is "very personal," Scully told Mulder about her cancer (first, I might add), but didn't tell brother Bill. It says a lot, a lot, a lot.
38. Hey, Billy boy, don't be picking on Mulder. He'd be there if she'd told him the truth.
39. TWC3: Just look at those gunboats, would you? This episode is a regular footwearapalooza! And Mulder with a crowbar . . . I love a man who has a good tool and knows how to use it!
40. I'm melting! Melting!
41. Mulder mentions the Piltdown Man Hoax. Piltdown Man was the name given to human remains found in 1908 at Piltdown Common, Sussex. They were supposed to belong to a Piltdown man who lived 200,000 to 1,000,000 years ago. For forty years they were considered one of the archaeological finds of the century: A fragment of jaw and a part of a skull that could prove man evolved from the apes, the bones of the "Missing Link." Not. In 1953, a group of scientists attempted to use the new method of fluorine testing to get a more exact date on the bones. The test showed that the jaw was modern and the skull only 600 years old. Additional analysis confirmed the jaw was that of an orangutan. Both pieces had been treated to suggest great age.
42. The FBI Sci-Crime Lab . . . Agent Pendrell's old stomping grounds. (We miss him!) What's that zombie nurse from "Folie a Deux" doing there?
43. Michael Kritschgau is named for a former drama teacher of GA's.
44. Mulder didn't have to pay $29.95 to witness this alien autopsy. Good thing cause I think he's getting a bit squeamish. But I can't figure out one thing: why didn't he have Scully witness this autopsy as well?
45. TWC4: But I'd pay $29.95 to witness Mulder witnessing this autopsy. The man looks incredible.
46. Why is Babcock the only unmasked man? Does he know something we don't know?
47. I didn't think Scully was gonna stop there for a minute. Kritschgau thinks turnabout is fair play.
48. I guess when your days are numbered, standing in front of a speeding car isn't all that risky.
49. Would you look at that Big-Ass Holster hanging out of Scully's jacket? How come we never see that bulge under all those lovely suits?
50. "The people who gave you your cancer." *Gave* you? What?
51. Darn! They cheated us out of a "Mulder, it's me" moment.
52. Well, at least Dr. Arlinsky died with his sneakers on. (More footwear closeups!)
53. I knew that Babcock guy was up to no good. What goes around, comes around, bud!
54. TWC5: Holy Flaming Cow! I'm having trouble concentrating on Kritschgau's elaborate hoax tale because I'm so busy concentrating on Agent Mulder!
55. "That's just like you, Agent Mulder. Suspicious of everything but what you should be." Boy, does Kritschgau have him pegged.
56. I like the way Mulder keeps stealing glances at Scully while he listens to Kritschgau, and Scully stands silently. Sort of reminds me of "En Ami" in reverse.
57. The body is gone, as Kritschgau said it would be. But it's still easier to believe the lie . . .
58. Until the truth hits you like a hammer right between the eyes. "He said that the men behind this hoax . . . behind these lies . . . gave me this disease to make you believe." The look of utter disbelief and despair is instantaneous. The realization that he is indirectly responsible for her impending death.
59. So we are back to the beginning, the tape of the 1972 symposium concerning extraterrestrial life. The lie that Mulder has so steadfastly believed all these years. Except now he knows the truth. And the truth is too devastating to bear: it is all a lie.
60. MSRM: The morphing of Mulder's tear-stained face to Scully's face and eyes welling with tears to me shows the connection better than anything else in this episode. Though they are two separate people, with their separate belief systems, they are still so connected-a connection that cannot be broken, no matter what.
61. "Agent Mulder died late last night from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head." Was Mulder really so distraught that he committed suicide (the "ditch" to end all "ditches")? Did he decide he couldn't face a future without the most important person in his life, a person whose approaching death he now believes he most certainly contributed to? Or more importantly, has DD's contract expired? Is he not signed on for Season 5? Is this how it all ends for our heroes? One dead and one dying all in the name of their quest for the truth? Guess we'll just have to tune in next season to find out.
62. CC's usually subtle religious references aren't so subtle in this episode. The Garden of "Gethsemene" was, of course, the place where Jesus went on the night before he was crucified to pray, to keep vigil, and to struggle with his fate (Matthew 26:36-46). It was here that his disciples "abandoned" him as they could not stay awake and "watch with him for one hour." And it was here that Judas Iscariot betrayed him. So "Gethsemene" certainly points to Mulder serving in the Jesus role in CC's little allegory. Like Jesus, Mulder knows what it is like to be misunderstood; he knows what it is like to be abandoned; and he knows what it is like to be betrayed. It appears he is about to be "crucified" by the F.B.I. In the garden, Jesus says about his disciples, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." As "Gethsemene" ends, Mulder's spirit is no longer willing; he is a broken man, he has lost his faith (in the truth), and is about to lose the remainder of what he holds dear (Scully). And if we believe what we see, it appears that he has lost his life as well in one final act of lonely desperation.
63. It's easy to believe the lie, isn't it?
And so ends Season 4. The XF is no longer just a "cult" show; it is a bona-fide huge hit at its peak. The gang is off to make a movie during the summer, and (despite appearances to the contrary), everyone will be back for Season 5. How CC is going to resurrect Mulder is anybody's guess; but he's done it before (after Mulder was "dead" at the end of Season 2), and as we know, he's gonna do it again in Season 8. He oughta be an expert by now.
So given the XF is at its pinnacle, perhaps this would be a good time to stop the TOTMs. Maybe call it quits with these silly little analyses while the show is on top. What do ya think? Naw. "If you're gonna go, why not go all the way?"
So if you wanted me to stop, I'm sending my apologies in advance.
Polly