Well, now I know what producer Paul Rabwin meant when he said
that the cliffhanger on this one would be worse than "Anasazi".
Thank God we didn't have to spend all summer with Skinner &
Scully pointing guns at each other. 

I'm feeling a little wordy tonight. Maybe it's just the 
excitement of being able to actually comment on a new show 
again, but here goes. I thought this show was great. An 
incredible acting Tour-de-force for Ms. Anderson and it also 
did a lot to forward the "Mulder/Scully" mythology. There are 
themes from this show that I think we will be seeing for a long 
time.

Major Important Themes
----------------------------------

-Memory (Mulder searching/Scully repressing)  "Something lives 
only as long as the last person who remembers it". This is key 
to the memory/truth parallels we see for both Mulder & Scully 
and central to Mulder's continued quest for Samantha. It reappears 
in Bill Mulder's speech "You are the memory Fox - it live in you".

-Mulder's father's speech: "Hello son. I did not dare hope to 
see you so soon nor ever again hope to broker fate with a life 
to which I gave life." I take this "again" statement as a basic 
admission that he had a part in Samantha's abduction.

-CancerMan is definitely in trouble. Remember how cool he was 
under gunpoint in "One Breath"? Parallel that to the scene where 
he is downright panic-ridden in Albert's house and the fact that 
he lied to his group about having the tape. He needs that tape 
and bad.

-Skinner walking the line. He is between the rock & hard place 
here. He appears very afraid of the FBI higher ups (to the point 
of being nervous of the crack in his door when confronting 
Scully outside his office and lying to her when CM is in his 
office. He needs to make a decision about which side he's on 
because playing both isn't going to work anymore. 

-What binds Mulder & Scully together. Mulder's dream speech 
explains it all. He sensed Scully's struggle for the truth 
"You were here today" through her hypnosis. It is looking for 
truth that "binds us together in a dangerous purpose".


Classic Scully Moments (lots of Scullyangst in this one there was)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

-oooo folks. How 'bout that "F*ck You" look she gave Skinner 
after he had the gall to tell her it had been a difficult time 
for everyone. Scared me. 

-What was her "terrible mistake"? Not being with Mulder? Lying 
for Mulder? Being in trouble with the FBI? It is interesting 
that she is still so fixated on her father and what he would 
think that she says "Dad would be so ashamed of me". 

-Loved the look on Scully's face when she saw it was Frohike 
(who's "Do you recycle?" line was the best "ism" in the show) 
at the door. I found it interesting how uncomfortable she seemed 
at his "passing the torch" comment.

-I *knew* she should have got X-rays a LONG time ago. God 
only knows why she hasn't been setting off the airport scanners 
left and right. A theory about the implant. I have been wondering 
how CM & gang found them so quickly in New Mexico - once they 
got Mulder's location they choppered right over. Do you suppose 
they've been using Scully as a tracking device? 

-I sincerely hope that "Missy" is not dead. Her scene with Dana 
was great. And, she appears to me to be the character with the 
most dead-on analysis of others. She hit the nail on the head 
with Scully's fears, walls, grief, repression, etc. *And* 
finally got Dana to do what we've been wanting her to do for 
a long time (even if she does appear to chicken out in the end). 
I think that Melissa's statement "It's like you've lost all touch 
with your own intuition" is the reason that Dana actually 
believes her dream of Mulder without science or facts: "I just 
have a very strong feeling". 

-Doncha think that GA does the *best* therapy scenes?

-Scully on the edge is downright frightening. Those last moments 
were some of the most tense we've seen on this show. When she 
says "Don't think I won't do it you SOB" it gave me chills. 


Other Random Notes & Questions that MUST be answered
------------------------------------------------------

-Were we meant to imply from the shrieking alien scene that 
they had dug a way out that Mulder found?

-Why is Scully not wearing her cross?

-What did we learn about the abduction? Not much: men, lights, 
loud sounds, alarm, powerless.

-Couldn't Mulder have bothered to call Scully? Or did he think 
dropping in on her dream was enough?

-How 'bout that photo with CM, DT, BM, and WMM all in it taken 
*before* Samantha's abduction?

-Given the events of this show how could Scully be anything but 
totally paranoid from now on?

OK. I need to rest now.
Autumn