With all our favorite shows taking their usual break in the summer months, this opens up an opportunity to watch some of our old favorites. That’s where the Multiversity Summer Binge comes in. Last year, I took a look at the entire first season of my favorite show ever, The X-Files and this summer, I’m back with a vengeance covering season two. The first season of this show was more of a prelude. It teased all the things that were to come and spent a lot of time doing the ground work. In the second season, the show really kicks into gear. Truth be told, of the 11 seasons, this is easily top three for me. I’m really excited to be writing about these episodes, particularly the middle of the season. This week, I’m looking at “3,” a snoozer episode that is awkward to watch from start to finish.
1. The Premise
Scully is still missing but Mulder has to keep going with his work because this is a television show and also it’s bad to wallow in self pity. He opens up Scully’s X-File and he takes out her badge and glasses. He’s keeping her close and we’ll get into this in a later point. Mulder’s next case and his first without Scully, takes him to Los Angeles to investigate the bloody death of a businessman. Mulder is told the details of the case and he’s told that they are sort of vampiric in nature. They leave behind biblical passages and it leads Mulder on a deep decent into a dark side of L.A. You’d think that vampires and Mulder would make for something great but this episode really doesn’t work and is pretty boring. In fact, in my rewatch, I almost fell asleep.
2. Vampires Are Actually Real
In “3,” the question of whether or not vampires are real is answered, because that’s why this show is great. They are in L.A. but as far as we know, it’s just this little group that Mulder encounters. What’s very interesting about this whole thing is that initially, Mulder is apprehensive about seeing this as anything other than unfortunate murders. When he interrogates the guy he catches at the blood bank, he think he’s delusional. He goes along with him but he doesn’t outright believe him until the following morning when this guy literally bursts into flames when the sun hits him. I know there are a lot of “X Philes” who do not like this kind of skepticism from Mulder but Mulder’s beliefs are often rooted in some kind of logic. Believing in extra terrestrial life is not completely ridiculous because it is a big universe. His belief in creatures in the wild is rooted in the logic that there are things out there that science hasn’t found yet. Believing in the undead draining blood from people is a little out there because he can’t entirely root that in something. It’s a skepticism level that works for him because it doesn’t take anything away from the character and it makes different from guys like The Lone Gunmen.
3. Is This Love? No, It’s Not.
One of the weirdest things about this episode is the romance that exists between Mulder and Kristen. I use romance here very loosely because it’s so bad. David Duchovny has a pretty well known romantic track record. He dated lots of up and coming actresses in the early 90’s and Perrey Reeves, who plays Kristen, was one of them. In the absence of Scully, for whatever reason, the writers of this episode decided to shoehorn this attraction into the episode. Kristen and Mulder have no chemistry and their scenes don’t even feel like they exist in The X-Files. Their attraction to each other just suddenly happens and had Kristen been a vampire, it would have made more sense. Mulder getting sucked (ha) into this vampire group would have made for a good story but trying to make it sexy doesn’t really match up with what the show is. This isn’t an erotic show but this could have worked better if Kristen was actually a vampire and was trying to trick Mulder but instead, the whole thing reads as a vanity project for everyone involved. This couple just wanted to make out on TV and they got their wish.
Continued below4. Little Substance
One of the biggest crimes of this episode is that there isn’t much substance in the story itself. It’s all about this trio of vampires but we don’t get nearly enough of them and their ties to each other are tenuous. Vampires are awesome and it was a huge missed opportunity to not do more with it. There will be an episode far later down the road that gets back to vampires but this was a mess that didn’t even contain a compelling enough story. The investigation side of things falls apart and the episode isn’t strong enough to keep going and become something meaningful. It even ends on the weirdest note with everything literally just being blown up and now the vampires are gone. Okay, I guess.
5. The Guilt
I want to end this by talking about how Scully’s absence is felt because it’s a mixed bag. Scully is gone and Mulder has no idea where she is. It’s here that we start to see guilt in Mulder that will eat away at him for years to come. He feels responsible for a lot of what goes on for Scully in the years to come. He feels like the put her in this position time after time and with her gone, he feels immense guilt. He’s wearing her gold cross and even Kristen mentions to him that she hopes he finds the person he’s lost. Even she knows how deep this bond is. Mulder’s guilt is also strongly hinting right now at something deeper being there. Wearing the cross is like his way of being closer to this person he’s lost. Even at the end, he finds himself holding her cross. This is a loss that’s a little different from what he’s experienced with his sister and this will be explored more next week. However, the episode doesn’t do a great job at addressing her absence more. The investigation doesn’t feel different. It doesn’t feel like he’s missing her expertise and advisement and that comes off weird.
