2x07 "3"

[wendelah1]

Critical opinion is so divided on this episode, it's hard to know where to begin. Even the writers weren't exactly happy with how it turned out. Sarah Stegall gave it an A for no reason that I can see except David Duchovny is hot. The critic at The A.V. Club must feel differently about DD's sex appeal because he gave "3" a D+. My non-X-Phile spouse's verdict: "They really jumped the shark with that one." After this latest viewing, I stand somewhere in the middle. I give it a solid B-. With Scully missing, Mulder has hit bottom. It was good to see the emotional fallout from her kidnapping addressed, even if it was only briefly and in the middle of a mediocre vampire pastiche.

Everyone agreed on one thing: The Unheard Music by X was an excellent, atmospheric choice for the scene at Club Tepes.


Writer: Chris Ruppenthal, Glen Morgan, James Wong
Director: David Nutter
Originally aired: November 4, 1994

Synopsis:
After reopening the X-Files, Mulder heads to Los Angeles to investigate a series of ritualistic killings.

Most Memorable Quote:
Kristen Kilar: Are you about to ask what a normal person like me is doing in a place like this?
Mulder: How do you define normal?
Kristen Kilar: Misha, red wine... I don't. How do you?
Mulder: All I know is... normal is not what I feel.

Links:
Transcript
Musings of an X-Phile.
A Surreal X-File Captures Earthlings - LA Times article about filming the episode in Vancouver.

Fanfiction:
There should be more but I like this early season two story.
Under the Rose by bugsfic
Summary: The Christmas holidays are always so stressful. 1994 is even more so for Dana Scully, bringing painful memories, a perplexing Mulder, and vampires.

Comments

[wendelah1]

His sexuality is aroused in what many assume is an inappropriate way. Trust me, the death (presumed here) of a loved one triggers an odd sexual response. It's as though the universe is saying to get it up lest the race die out. And there is another reason that Mulder is attracted to the victimized female played by DD's girlfriend. The reason is that she is a masochistic woman, due to die. He sleeps with her partly out of sympathy and a desire to aid, mostly out of empathy and a desire to die. Also lust. But this sexual adventure is not a fun outing for Mulder. It is a ritualistic suicide. He let Scully die.

It's not for me to say whether or not his attraction to Kristin is inappropriate but I think we can all agree that acting on it was self-destructive, and potentially career-ending were the facts to come out, which they won't since dead girls tell no tales. I don't think Mulder believes in his heart of hearts that Scully is dead, unless you think he's bullshitting when he tells her mother in "One Breath" that it's too soon to think about getting a headstone. I think he hit bottom emotionally before he arrived in LA. Kristin might have temporarily raised his spirits, in fact. After all, he thought he was going to save her. For that reason, I can't see this sex act as ritualistic suicide.

Someone wants to argue about whether M thinks vampires are real? Oh, gee, must we decide?

I wasn't aware that we were arguing about what he believes re: vampirism. He says exactly what he believes.

MULDER: I’m familiar with porphyria. It’s an affliction which causes lesions and blisters when skin is exposed to sunlight, not fourth degree burns. Sufferers may have a hema deficiency which can be supplemented by a small ingestion of blood, not the kind of bloodthirst this man had. It’s probably ignorance of porphyria as a disease that led to the creation of vampire myths in Asia in the Middle Ages. I had dismissed the possibility of the actual existence of such a creature as myth.

DR. BROWNING: (staring at MULDER throughout his speech) You are really upsetting me. On several levels.

Frankly, I think Mulder is not thinking straight here about non/extreme possibilities.

Okay, but that's not anywhere in the text. And he seems completely lucid to me in this scene and even throughout the episode. I think we were discussing whether or not the writer's characterization seemed consistent with what we know about Mulder. The general public's enduring fascination with vampires isn't at issue--or relevant.

The cross. It certainly is not meaningless. Scully is in the bed with Mulder. Her religion may be meaningless to him, but it is all he has left of her. And it symbolically--maybe--saves him from the vampire non-death.

I don't think anyone here has said the cross was meaningless, to us or to Mulder. It belonged to Scully, it was given back to him by her mother. I see the cross as a symbol of his quest to find her, his cross to bear literally and figuratively, along with his search for his sister. And it's not the only item laden with symbolism left in his possession in any case: he has her glasses (her clarity of purpose) and he has her badge (her pursuit of justice). For now he's put those two things away in her case file. He takes the cross out of the evidence folder and takes it with him. That's not a sign of defeat to me. He's taking up his burden, even as he resumes his regular duties on the X-Files and heads to LA in pursuit of the Trinity Killers.

And it symbolically--maybe--saves him from the vampire non-death.

Okay, now you've lost me. When was he at risk of becoming a vampire? How can something symbolically save someone from a real and present danger?