Cheryl Duckworth
A Review of "Memento Mori"
written by Carter, Shiban, Spotnitz and St. Gilligan

"Mulder, I need to know you're out there if I'm ever to see through 
this."
	~Dana Scully

"You will find it, Scully, to save yourself."
	~Fox Mulder

Something about this episode soars.  The performances from David 
Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were exquisite.  The storyline of Scully 
stoically facing down an inward enemy while a desperate Mulder races to 
save her is to die for.  The script was well-written and the direction 
enhanced it.  The supporting characters were well-used (especially one 
Walter Skinner.)  But a lot of episodes have all that.  "Memento Mori" 
one stands out above them.

I always appreciate an episode where the mythology is actually advanced.  
Not only was it advanced here, it was done so evenly and clearly as we 
learn more about what happened to Scully, who those MUFON women are, the 
Project and Kurt Crawford, a clone result of the Project, is introduced.  
Rob Bowman's direction worked for me, too.  I loved the shots of Mulder 
and Scully's faces bathed in computer light or a flashlight while all 
else was dark.  And the shot of Dr. Scanlon through the blinding 
sunlight in Scully's hospital bedroom was well done, recalling her 
abducting and visually suggesting he might be involved.  The themes 
running through this episode affected me, too.  If I'm not mistaken, 
"memento mori" means "a remembrance of death."  How would someone handle 
facing sudden death-- of herself or a loved one?  But I think the most 
lovely aspect of this episode (besides the soul-melding between Mulder 
and Scully) was its focus not on death or darkness but on hope.  I have 
to agree with Carter here;  that hope is what keeps this show alive.  A 
light at the end of the tunnel is nice on occasion (albeit an angsty, 
unresolved, tense light, just the way I like it.)  

If I was not officially a Skinner fan by the end of "One Breath", I was 
by the end of this hour.  His scene with Mulder, ordering him to "find 
another way" crackled with the stubborn strength of both men.  After his 
making a deal with the devil not only to save Scully but to save Mulder 
from destroying himself trying to save her, I don't see how anyone can 
question whether or not he's on their side.  That closing shot of 
Skinner realizing the full impact of what he did when he dealt "the 
devil" was chilling (another reason to love this episode-- a chilling 
final scene that actually was!)

David Duchovny's tender, loving Mulder in this hour amazed me, too.  
There was no "acting" here.  He used his voice and that soft, brooding 
face expertly to convey Mulder's feelings for Scully and her ordeal more 
powerfully than words ever could have.  His "I'll be right there" when 
Scully calls him from the hospital breaks my heart every time as he 
moves from shocked grief to silent fury.  His childlike, stubborn "I 
refuse to believe that" when Scully first tells Mulder about her brain 
tumor was perfect.  And I loved the intimate, hushed both he and 
Anderson played the scene where he confronts her with the fact that she 
is denying what has really happened to her.  This was not Mulder arguing 
with her at one of the lowest points of Scully's life for his own sake;  
this was a man who loves someone (however he might love her) trying to 
get her to see what he believes to be the truth.  It struck me that for 
once, Mulder was actually good for Scully in this episode.  She was 
denying where her cancer was from, or  at the least refusing to look 
into the possibility: "You have one remaining witness, Agent Scully.  
I'd think you'd want to know what her story is."  I also loved that he 
was able to find it in himself to put aside his quest for a bit and open 
up and comfort her.  Even the investigation he did was geared toward 
getting her the answers he needed.  Ah, but I do adore Sensitive!Mulder.

So, it seems, does Scully.  I've never seen her feelings about him, 
herself or her journey with Mulder more on display and I loved it.  Her 
journals were intimate and personal, saying these experiences "belonged" 
to him, expressing the desire for him to "know it [her ordeal] and know 
me", asking him to accept this "stranger" and not "cast her out" and 
admitting "I need to know you're out there if I'm ever to see through 
this."  Anderson, as always, was a mirror to Scully's soul.  She gives 
us a woman who is determined, bowed but not broken, passionate and 
intelligent, unable to be passive.  Her expression over her mother's 
(wonderfully played by Sheila Larken) shoulder was a masterpiece, giving 
us in one look all Scully's anger and grief and determination.  Her 
expression when Scully recognizes the house she and Mulder are in, with 
her hand on the chip in her neck, was very affecting.  I loved that 
Scully was able to develop a relationship with Penny Northern, who 
evidently cared for Scully during her abduction-- how nice to see her 
with a simple friend!  But Anderson in the famous-to-philes Conversation 
in the Hallway stunned me as Scully opens up to Mulder ("I've got things 
to prove...to myself...my family") was unforgetable.  This episode, I 
think, was a real  turning point for Scully, the point at which I 
believe she decides she is in this with Mulder, dare I say, for better 
or her worse, till death (ah, the irony) does them part.  This hour 
makes the quest personal for her too, helping to save her from anyone 
still under the delusion that she's just a tagalog.  I loved Penny's 
suggestion, for example, that it is Scully who was chosen to expose the 
truth about whatever really did happen to the other abducted women.  By 
the end of the episode, she is the sole survivor of that group and is 
determined that their deaths will not be for nothing.  So much of what 
is done to these women is utterly invasive in such a frighteningly 
personal way, in a way that is specific to their   gender, that the only 
way I can stomach it as a woman is to have another woman fighting back.  
How wonderful that this intelligent, strong, passionate woman who loves 
life despite its trials and who is by definition a survivor "for [her] 
own reasons" exists on TV, and that she is in the hands of an actress 
who understands those wonderful traits.

So much happened during the Conversation in the Hallway between Mulder 
and Scully that no review could cover it all.  Duchovny and Anderson 
were simply at their best here;  Mulder and Scully glowed in one 
another's presence.  I loved Mulder's boyish, halting admission that 
he'd feared the worst when he'd found Scully's room empty.  Duchovny 
conveys without words that it had nearly killed him.  His nervousness 
spoke volumes to me about his feeling for Scully, feelings he could be 
just realizing or admitting having almost just lost her.  I said I'd 
never seen Scully's feelings more on display-- I don't think I've ever 
seen Mulder this open, either, as he embraces Scully, caresses her face, 
rocks her, kisses her cheek and forehead.  He was clearly overwhelmed at 
her near-death and overjoyed that she was alive and was not planning to 
give up.  His words to her, as well, were wonderful-- supportive and 
intimate and respectful.  I loved that he said she'd save herself.  My 
heart really went out to him when she      finally walks away and 
waddles down in the hall in her white bathrobe (how cute was that?).  I 
might have felt even more sympathy if he'd not had a vial of her ova 
perched on those elegant fingers....  For her part, Scully's shock that 
Mulder was willing and able to be there for her for once so unselfishly 
stunned her.  Anderson nailed Scully's shocked joy as Scully realizes 
this and shows him her grief, finally letting him in and expressing some 
of her hopes and dreams and fears to him.  Her school-girl embarrassment 
at his having read her journal spoke volumes to me, too.  The dialogue 
was perfect from a character stand-point.  Yes, they open up and are 
bone-meltingly tender.  Yes, they are overjoyed to share this moment 
together.  And no, they did not become other people or forget about the 
case at hand.  Paula Graves guessed that St. Vince himself wrote this 
scene, and I agree for this reason.  

No question at all, ten tic tacs out of ten.  Maybe even eleven .  
Please, sir.  Might I have some more?

SWILS Note:  She somehow just looked stunning in that first scene where 
she tells him she has cancer.  

MulderDrooling:  David's voice in this once, again, intimate and 
gravelly and silky all at once, was lovely.

Cheryl

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