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

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

It's hard for me to even believe it now, but I came to XF pretty late. (About S6.) Maybe I'd seen bits here and there, but not regularly.

So this is an episode that I didn't get to see for the longest time. For whatever reasons, it didn't seem to come on reruns very often. And I didn't own the tapes/DVDs until way later.

Nitpick: Is it too much to ask that you get a reference correct? How in the world do you write John 52:54, when the correct reference is 6:54? I can see maybe putting the chapter or verse directly after or before... but 52? Errors like that make me cringe in embarrassment. And they did that sort of thing several times in this series!

In this post-Twilight world, it's good to have vampires portrayed as what they are - hideous monsters. I've never understood the "vampires are sexy" thing. Blood squicks me out in general, so I've never found anything remotely appealing about the genre. And this ep had needles too, which doubles the squick factor for me!

I'd almost forgotten how dark early episodes were. (Visually as well as thematically.)

The Son: Don't you want to live forever?
Mulder: Not if drawstring pants come back into style.

LOL! Oh, Mulder. We love you so.

It's been a long time since I'd seen this. So Mulder... for once in his life, DIDN'T believe someone? He didn't believe Son was a vampire? Hm. Isn't that completely unlike him? Do we just chalk it up to exhaustion and grief?

Tho' he can't be grieving too much since he's off chasing monsters instead of, y'know, looking for his partner.

THIS (http://www.chrisnu.com/s2/index.php?spgmGal=3&spgmPic=55#spgmPicture/)

reminded me so much of THIS (http://youtu.be/svpqmV1iY9g/)!


I'm not sure I ever fully understood this episode. I guess it's just what it is - creepy and dark.

[fueschgast]

It bothers me that I can clearly see that the LA sky is photshopped.

"Don't you wanna live forever?" - "Not if drawstring pants come back into style."

It fascinates me how people look in red light, it seems to sort of photoshop them, makes their faces smoother. Green light has the opposite effect. Is it because skin is on the red side of the color spectrum?

[chinapatterns.livejournal.com]

Ok, confession time. I have never seen this episode before. I missed it when I was watching the show and when I got the DVD boxset there were that many grumbles regarding this episode that up till now I have voided it. Sooo first time round.

I like the calendar flip denoting the passing of time

Tracking the case for three months, how does that fit in with Scully's abduction? Was Mulder going to take her on a vampire hunt with the X-Files closed?

The detective's quick exit when the janitor (son) said he only wanted to speak to Mulder was amusing

Looks like our vampire friend has 5th and 6th degree burns ;)

Mulder didn't believe in Vampires?

You've lost someone, not a lover a friend - I like the fact that is stated, perhaps to ward off shippers at the time this went out?

The whole blood licking scene was just uncomfortable, I suppose that was its intent. When Mulder pulls up outside "The Ra Restaurant" I almost imagine a scene from Dusk till dawn starting.
The blood bread is disgusting!
I’m uncomfortable with the fact that he wears Scully’s cross whilst getting down and dirty with the vampire and then gives it back to her. That’s not something you can just drop into conversation at a later date even in a friendly platonic setting.
Overall, not the best episode in the world but passable.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Being very late to comment has become my insignia. I wear it proudly.

This is an ep many hate but I dont. I love the tortured Mulder carrying on without his partner. "I don't sleep anymore." He is in a personal hell. I speak as a lifelong insomniac.

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.

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.

Someone wants to argue about whether M thinks vampires are real? Oh, gee, must we decide? In the last twenty years, vampires have become the popular choice of thousands more than those who ever watched The X-Files. Frankly, I think Mulder is not thinking straight here about non/extreme possibilities.

I have decided that I love 3. And, yeah, I know it doesn't make a lot of sense. Don't care.