All Souls

Theatre of the Mind ~ All Souls

1. Hey - I just saw that house on "The Lone Gunmen" a few weeks ago!
2. Scully's priest makes a house call.
3. Six toes. Must be pretty tough to get footwear.
4. Ewww. Her eyes are burned out.
5. See the telephone pole stand in for a cross. Nice imagery.
6. I think this is the annual episode with religious overtones. I just knew.
7. Please, please, please let this be the confession about having unprotected sex with a handsome federal agent. Darn it!
8. GA - best crier in the business.
9. "An innocent girl is dead because of me. I could've saved her life, but I let her die." Hmmm. That sounds like another case of the not so distant past.
10. Nice Scully Easter dress. Where's her bonnet? With all the frills upon it?
11. Didn't Father McCue know what this case would do to Scully? You think maybe that's why he asked her to help? To help herself as well? Very sneaky, those priests.
12. "Science only teaches us how. Not why." Remember in "Unruhe" when Scully said she didn't care why? She's come a long way.
13. I like how the two women of science, Scully and the coroner, are considering the power of God.
14. "I have someone I can ask. Somebody I'd like to confer with, actually." We know who that is.
15. What does the upside down cross mean? Maybe we'll find out later.
16. Paula Koklos is identical to Dara Kernof. What's up with that?
17. Argh! I guess not even God can get around bureaucratic red tape.
18. Wow, heavy rain! Since this is the religious episode, we might want to round up the Ark.
19. TWC1: Woo-hoo! Casual!Mulder! In leather.
20. I'm sure there is some "tail" involved here, but I don't think it has anything to do with a suspect. (P.S. Be careful, Mulder. Look what happened to Pee Wee Herman.)
21. You could give him a little more info, Scully, like spell her name for instance.
22. I guess Mulder couldn't wait for "A Decade of Dirty Delinquents" to come out on video.
23. Paula is touched by an angel, leaving but a haunted look in her burned-out eyes behind.
24. There's that upside down cross again. Are they gonna tell us what that means?
25. "Aren't you the secret squirrel." She's gotta be, with nuts like you around, Mulder!
26. TWC2: Hoo-boy! More Casual!Mulder! Have I mentioned those sideburns lately?
27. "You've got a bona-fide, super-crazy, religious wacko on your hands." Thanks for that professional assessment. Care to explain to us the scientific nature of the "wacko"?
28. Welcome to the Upside Down Cross Church.
29. The script to "Apocrypha" is in that book? Any spoilers? Oh, I forgot, we already saw that episode.
30. Mulder is very suspicious and thinks he has found his bona-fide, super-crazy, religious wacko.
31. Scully thinks not.
32. Today's Religious Education: The All Souls' Day holiday in the Roman Catholic calendar falls on November 2. The Roman Catholic church sets aside All Souls' Day to remember members of the faith who have died, especially those believed to be suffering in purgatory. Through prayers, masses, and almsgiving, the living pay tribute to the dead and hope to help them enter into heaven. All Saints' Day, which honors saints and martyrs, had been celebrated on November 1 since at least the 9th century, so the following day was chosen to remember those whose souls need assistance in becoming worthy of heaven.
33. It's interesting to note that the confessional scenes were not added to this episode until after it had been completed. After viewing the finished product, the producers determined that it needed more, and thus the new scenes were added. Producer J.P. Finn asked to play the part of the priest in return for his smoothing over the access to his parish where the church scenes were filmed. Finn and GA didn't perform any of the confessional scenes together. Then the original episode had to be pared down in order to fit in the new scenes (seven pages worth of dialogue). Thanks to that, I guess we'll never know if Mulder stayed for the double feature at the XXX-rated theater.
34. TWC3: Woo-freakin'-hoo! Isn't he sweet to hold the door? And he's still Casual!Mulder!
35. Mulder seems to be back in skeptic mode in this episode. I thought that phase was over! Maybe he's just a skeptic when the issue is religion.
36. I'm not an expert, but those sure look like wings to me . . . or really big shoulder pads.
37. GA always does her best acting when she says nothing at all, and she deserves kudos for this important scene where she "sees" Emily. The initial shock, the disbelieving second look, struggling to regain her composure, trying to rationalize what she is seeing. Scientific!Scully says it's a hallucination, but Spiritual!Scully knows "I was meant to see Emily." Why? "To save these girls."
38. TWC4: A "Scully, it's me." And Mulder!Shades and Five O'Clock Shadow. (Dig those sideburns too.)
39. Mulder, you disappoint me! Scully gives you the big "wing" discovery and all you have is a snarky reply! Bad Mulder! Bad, bad!!
40. We don't know the third girl's name, but she is touched by an angel as well. Roma Downey or Della Reese . . . or maybe Valerie Bertinelli now . . . I gotta know.
41. TWC5: Holy Flaming Cow (and I mean that like it's a religious experience!)! Mulder is getting more casual by the minute and he looks good!
42. Thanks for asking, Mulder. I thought we would *never* find out about that upside down cross.
43. This time Leaping!Scully has it all figured out.
44. I always get all a-tingle at those Gaithersburg references!
45. "Sometimes the most twisted ones are the most persuasive." Yes, well I know *that*.
46. MSRM: I knew Sensitive!Mulder would make a return when the chips were down! He's scared not because she's vulnerable but because he doesn't know why. And Scully actually told him that she had a vision, another big step for her. The hand on the shoulder, the close "just between us" talk. It's a wonderful moment.
47. Father Gregory finds out the hard way that Starkey is the Devil. Ouch!!
48. TWC6: Unshaven!Mulder. And not a necktie in sight. Kicking in the door. Oh, my.
49. Just whip out the flashlight, don't bother looking for the light switch.
50. Another "Scully, it's me." Who else would it be?
51. Wow! We finally find out that Scully does use that Apollo 11 key chain after all! Well, at least till Season 8, but for the sake of the spoiler impaired, I won't go there.
52. I'm always struck by the similarities between Scully seeing the Seraphim in this episode and Mulder seeing the alien in "Little Green Men." Their body positions are the same, the looks on their faces are the same, the bright light is the same, both are pretty sure of what they saw but may have seen nothing. Whether this was intentional or not, I think it was a great juxtaposition. Each seeing what their faith commands them to see.
53. I loved the story of the Seraphim as it relates to these four girls and seeing Scully correlate that to Emily ("the souls of angels, but they weren't meant to be"). But based on Father McCue's explanation, I'm not sure how she survived the vision, if it means "giving up your soul to heaven."
54. I don't know a lot about Catholicism, but I find it odd that Father McCue dismisses Dana's vision as a figment of her imagination. It would seem to me this would qualify as a very spiritual occurrence, even if the church doesn't recognize the story.
55. I've seen this episode a lot of times, and I still don't understand why the devil just doesn't take the girls. He knows where they are obviously. For instance, why does he have to get Scully to deliver Roberta Dyer to him. Can't he do his own dirty work? I guess that's why he's the devil!
56. Cool how Scully sees Starkey's horns in his shadow and thus figures out his secret.
57. Scully's last vision of Emily is heartbreaking. "Mommy, please let me go." And Scully does.
58. In the end, as always Scully is having a hard time reconciling her faith with her science. Her faith allowed her to believe that she was releasing the girl's soul (and Emily's) to heaven, but her scientific mind knows that a girl is dead because of her (which she also relates back to Emily).
59. In the beginning . . . er, the first time I saw this episode, I remember quite distinctly that I didn't like it. Too much religious imagery and not enough Mulder (LOL). But each time I watch it now, I find I have a new appreciation for it. GA's fine performance, the struggle with one's beliefs, wondering why God does let bad things happen to good people. That's one thing that I have found in rewatching these older episodes: most are so multilayered and multifaceted that you can watch them again and again and still find something new in each viewing. That's the way it is with the X-Files. Even when I get down on certain plot twists or begin to worry about character development, something just makes me believe that it's all gonna work out okay in the end.
60. "Maybe that's what faith is."

Theology is not my strong suit, and I did my best. But I know what some of you are thinking:

"I'm surprised there's nothing here from 'Jesus Christ Superstar.'" Well, it's a good thing "I'm immune to your mockery."

With that, I will send you my apologies and pray for forgiveness.

Polly