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xf_is_love2013-10-05 10:00 am
ruuger) wrote in xf_is_love2013-10-05 10:00 am
7x22 Requiem
In a way, this is the end of an era. The events come a full circle as Mulder and Scully return to the scene of their very first case in the Pilot. Mulder finally gets his truth and is taken away by the aliens. Scully finds out that she's pregnant. Nothing's the same anymore.
I love Doggett and Reyes so I'm glad that the series continued for two more seasons, but I know that not many people agree with me. What do you think, would this have been a good ending had the show been cancelled? Should the show have just ended here?
Writer: Chris Carter
Director: Kim Manners
Originally aired: May 21, 2000 (in the US)
Synopsis:
Mulder and Scully return to Bellefleur when the abductions they investigated seven years earlier begin again.
Most Memorable Quote:
BILLY MILES: My name is Billy Miles. I don't know if you remember me.
Links:
Requiem transcript
I love Doggett and Reyes so I'm glad that the series continued for two more seasons, but I know that not many people agree with me. What do you think, would this have been a good ending had the show been cancelled? Should the show have just ended here?
Writer: Chris Carter
Director: Kim Manners
Originally aired: May 21, 2000 (in the US)
Synopsis:
Mulder and Scully return to Bellefleur when the abductions they investigated seven years earlier begin again.
Most Memorable Quote:
BILLY MILES: My name is Billy Miles. I don't know if you remember me.
Links:
Requiem transcript
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These two long stories encompass the entire season. There are over 1,000 stories in the Spoilers section for this episode. I have not so much as glanced at it. Sorry...
I've re-watched season seven from beginning to end twice in the last five years.
The first time was when we discussed Parabiosis by Penumbra at fictalk. I liked the story better after I could place it in context but I still thought the season sucked. Also at Gossamer if this link should go wonky.
The second time was for our discussion at
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This episode does set up a lot of things I like later in the series, such as Billy Miles becoming a super soldier. I actually think it would have been cool if Mulder had turned into a super soldier, but I know I'm alone on that one.
What kind of spray paint was Mulder using that it lasted 7 years and even seemed to get brighter with age?
Chris Carter wrote the final two pages the day before they shot them. It's pretty amazing to me when I hear something like that that these things turn out as well as they do.
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The second time I watched it was right after reading "Parabiosis". That time I cried. I knew how it was all going to play out. Same with the third time through. It was like turning on a faucet. This time I was less emotional. Maybe it's because of how much I've come to hate the pregnancy plotline, and not just because of what happened to William.
If they had ended the series here, I think a lot of fans would have been upset, and back then maybe I would have been among them. But having thought it through, even as a noromo, I now think ending the series with Mulder finally getting his answers, and Scully losing Mulder but getting to bear his child, has a nice symmetry to it. I wouldn't even need a movie.
Things I liked. Bringing the series full circle, back to their first case together is a dramatic structure I am very fond of. I liked seeing all of the major players who were left alive together in the same room, scheming to get that downed spacecraft. I liked that the CSM was dying. He deserved to die a horrible death. I liked that Mulder was so solicitous of Scully and that she allowed herself to be cared for by him. Character development for the win.
Things I didn't like. I thought it was odd that they were the only people on earth who were aware of the spacecraft. If it wasn't on anyone's radar as a downed aircraft, how did Cancerman know to send Marita for Krycek and set the plan in motion? Does he have a telepathic link with the aliens? If so, that should have been spelled out. How could the CSM possibly think two people alone were going to take possession of it? Why did Mulder think he and Skinner could do it?
Another thing I didn't like was how they handled Scully's pregnancy. Pregnancy is not an abnormal medical condition. Pregnancy in and of itself doesn't generally cause dizziness or fainting, not unless the woman is severely anemic or has a drop in blood pressure or low blood sugar. So what was causing her to pass out, if not the pregnancy?
Scully figures out that Mulder is in danger--and then conveniently faints again--so she can't do anything to stop him. What is it with the fainting? Damn. I hated that. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer for pete's sake and she was still able to walk around and do her job up until literally days before she was going to die. Here she's a few weeks pregnant, and suddenly she's portrayed as not able to do anything. I worked up until five friggin' days before my due date! Pregnancy is not an illness! It makes for a crappy plot device.
I thought David Duchovny's performance was excellent. That scene where he steps into the circle of light with the other abductees--chilling. Gillian's face at the end when she tells Skinner she's pregnant. She shows us Scully's disbelief, joy, sorrow and grief. Amazing.
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But I have to ask if Jinn was still hanging around their lives! Mulder learns aliens really exist...As they take him away to torture him! Scully finally gets pregnant...When the probably daddy has disappeared and if it's not his, it's Much Worse. Just another day in the XFverse...
Scully had a serious case of Soap Opera Pregnancy...Or, I could be charitable and say whatever made it possible for a woman both missing her ova and having fried ovaries to become pregnant, came with conveniently nasty side effects.
I thought David Duchovny's performance was excellent. That scene where he steps into the circle of light with the other abductees--chilling. Gillian's face at the end when she tells Skinner she's pregnant. She shows us Scully's disbelief, joy, sorrow and grief. Amazing.
There was some fabulous face acting in this episode. As I mentioned, I found MP's work the best of the series as well. Frankly, I find DD's expression as he sees the ABH and realizes his fate, is way more frightening to me than all his screaming through S8.
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And then there's the utterly hilarious/ridiculous elements. The attempts to both tip the pregnancy and hide it are as subtle as a clunk on the head if you know what you're looking for. Let me count the clunks!
As a civil servant, I can attest, there's nothing worse than an audit. I actually love when real life touches dare to interfere with The Cause.
I appreciate that Scully defends their work so well, but there's our first clunk--barren womb, right here! But as she's going to be carrying the show for the next 2 years, it's nice to know her heart is in the work.
For some reason, the blocking on the shot where Mulder comes in to explain that he's beat up the auditor cracks me up. Now DD is the one standing on the box? 'cause it's freakin' me out!
*clunk on the head* as Scully's gazing on the I Want to Believe poster.
"You're married, Billy?" *clunk*
Billy's dad driving the jacked up car cracks me up as well.
Why does no one says to Scully, no, as a matter of fact, I don't remember you! What the hell with the skintight light-colored tops and black bras!? Where's our adorable little frump!? And when did you get your eyebrows plucked, because they're fantastic!
Scully asking Billy if the missing deputy is married...Lord, you'd think she was looking for a date! *clunk*
Hilarious moment when Scully is way more comfortable with the baby than the supposed birth mother. But we can't pass up the easy *clunk* !! This Not Baby Person could watch GA/Scully with babies/kids all day long, so it's all good. And extra points for Mulder gazing upon her with goo-goo eyes.
I've always wondered if there was a lighting dude in charge of making sure that Scully's cross glistened in certain scenes where her Mother Mary-ness needed to come through.
Shallow, shallow bugs: the slow pan up the Mulder legs...yes, please. Then, gods, the Mulder forearms in the bed scene. Uh, it's all so much I nearly miss the *clunk* of Mulder's dialogue!
That scene is why Scully is so sure that Mulder hasn't left her. He's only talking about the future...Of course, there's the whole supposedly dying thing. But since when had he let a little thing like dying keep him from her side?
Scully watching Teresa's baby being taken away by Child Protective Services. *clunk*
If the *clunking* wasn't so heavy, we could think that it's the ALIENS making Scully all swoony.
What is this strange power you have over women, CSM? The smile his nurse gave him, Teena hanging onto him for years, the gardening woman in En Ami, Cassandra...Only Scully seems to be able to call him the bastard that he is.
Out in the woods--Swooning Scully/Tender Mulder...A dude's always the sweetest right before he beats it. *clunk*
Back in DC: Damn, could M/S know she was pregnant already? DD's read of the line, "I won't risk...Losing you." after saying he wouldn't allow her to go back to OR, Scully's obsession with other babies/marriage...They rush out for a pregnancy test after she's not feeling well in the motel? I love that I can still ask questions after all these years.
Love GA's reading of the line, "I won't let you go alone." then the cut to that poor bastard, Skinner, going on his snipe hunt. That scene uses a technique she uses a lot in Scully's scenes with Mulder, how she often doesn't meet his eyes during the dialogue, making when she does all the more powerful. She's playing a woman who can be inside her mind and yet very present.
And Scully faints before she can rush off to save Mulder! *clunk*
I sorta adore that Skinner gets to finally go on one of these alien hunts. And is an instant believer!
Skinner's apology for losing Mulder is so sweet! The focus is just a tiny bit soft in his coverage and that has always driven me crazy. But I'm sure they wanted MP's best take, not the best focus. I love that Scully calls him Sir when she says she's knocked up.
"We must find him" = my baby daddy!
That's all I got.
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1. Auditors are evul. As a govvie, I can attest.
2. Going for walks in the woods is evul. Bye, Mulder. *sniffle*