"Not everything is about you, Mulder. This is my life."
~Dana Scully

The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."
~C.S. Lewis

Sometimes it's in character to be out of character. This is especially true when you are caught in a angry depression the cause of which you don't understand, as Scully is in this layered, elegant, sorrowful tale of what happens when two people who care for each other as much as Mulder
and Scully do can't or won't communicate. "Never Again" is an episode that *had* to happen.

The first reaction to this episode is not necessarily to be trusted. I at first felt that while the conception was brilliant, the execution was a flawed. That may well be; some of the footage of the MOTW, Ed Jerse, burning his victims, I don't think was necessary, and the script had
some missteps but that's hardly the point. The more I watch this episode, the more impressive and compelling I find it to be. *Everything* worked together.

The little things impressed me, as they always do, especially in the performances, the script itself and the direction. The lighting helped set a somber, eerie mood. The shot of the blood-red rose that faded into the drop of blood on the toilet paper was brilliant. The symbolic circular shape of Scully's tattoo reinforced the shape she tells Ed Jerse her life has taken. I loved that Scully's
appearance in the first shot and the last is nearly unchanged, reinforcing that she has learned and gained nothing. This was what broke my heart (which, being the masochistic viewer that I am, was what I wanted from this episode). Even the way the camera panned up her legs and regulation knee-length black skirt in the final scene somehow showed her diminutiveness; I just wanted to hug her. And how ironic was it that Betty the Evil Tattoo (well played by Jodie Foster) ordered Ed to trash his co-worker's desk as Scully was demanding from Mulder why she doesn't even have one? Or that Betty tells Ed "It's all about you" when Scully tells Mulder the exact opposite.

The script by Morgan and Wong was a brilliant exploration of Dana Scully, the woman behind the Special Agent, and of her tortured, intense quasi-romance with Fox Mulder. I loved her refusal to be passive, her stubborn resistance, her desire to be happy, her introspection. She
believes in her work and the man she works with. But she's not happy, so what's a girl to do? She can't and won't leave Mulder or her circumstances, so she has to change them or him or herself. She sets out to change Scully.

Forced to take a vacation by FBI rules, Mulder reluctantly leaves "his" files in Scully's hands, informing her of her assignment while he's away. Anderson's controlled, depressed, icy presence in this scene is wonderful; at first I wanted more anger, but that's not Scully. Besides, annoyed with Mulder though she is, she's not one to blame this man who so readily blames himself. I was touched and delighted to see her try to open up to him about what was going on inside her when
hesitantly tells him "I feel like I've lost sight of myself." Confused and angry and hurt and more than any of that, scared by her anger at him, Mulder softly tries to offer some advice and leaves. She stares at her wilted rose petal, a symbol of dead love if there ever was one, and sighs. The stage is set for her near-disaster. As always, Scully begins "to do as told", but when Mulder's contacts seem to be exactly what Scully thought they'd be (utterly terrestrial-- dare I classify this as a "Scully was RIGHT" episode?), she wanders into a parlor, meets handsome and really, really built Ed Jerse and is immediately flattered by his appreciative attention. What woman can't relate to that, or to wondering if she really is accomplishing the goals she wants to? Or...to feeling overwhelmed and swallowed whole by a man I believe she finds exciting and fascinating whether she wants to or not (thanks to Paula Graves for saying this better than I would have;).

Like Eddie VanBlundht, Jerse's treatment of Scully is a wonderful foil for Mulder; clueless Moose's fumbling phone calls do nothing but send Squirrel straight into Ed's arms (another brilliant touch-- that reference to Moose and Squirrel Mulder makes, the pet names of fans for the Dynamic Duo). One incredulous "What do you have, a date or something" from Mulder, a nice talk with an interested Ed, sincerely and convincingly played by Rodney Rowland, and a few drinks later, and Scully's ready to do the exact opposite of what everyone, particularly her partner, would expect. She spends the night with Ed-- and here's where the biggest flaw of this episode happens. They do nothing. After Scully getting drunk (well, drunkish) with him, letting him enjoy her as much as she apparently was and begging oh so seductively to see his while offering her doctorly aid, they do nothing. Now, I certainly can't claim I'd want my Saint to get screwed, blued and tattooed, so to speak, but the whole point of Scully's actions up to the scene where she goes back to his apartment was that she's acting impulsively, consciously not being herself. By wimping out, Morgan and Wong weakened the point of their otherwise stunning story. When one compares Mulder's sexual experiences to Scully's, especially this one, the double standard is clear.

So she rescues herself, is treated for the chemicals that were in the 's dye which (maybe) causes Ed's psychosis and, having learned nothing for all her pain, goes back to her nondesk and a Mulder who still ridicules her because god help him, if he stops chattering, he might break down or shake her for scaring him like that or admit that her anger with him cuts to the core. Duchovny was wonderful in this scene, and throughout the episode, communicating Mulder's mix of
emotions. I loved his desperate, frustrated tension here. I must say, I would have preferred that Scully come out of all this humiliation and torture feeling stronger and more at peace, but for some reason, this flaw didn't detract for me-- if indeed it *was* a flaw. And so this tale ends, coming full circle like Scully's , with nothing changed or gained.

An episode like this can't help but shed all sorts of light on the Relationship. Many questions are asked that have need to be asked for a while, which is again part of this episode's brilliance (like why the HELL she doesn't have a desk, for one). Is this a partnership that can work? Can Scully be happy with Mulder, doing what they do? What exactly *are* this woman's goals? She's never been able to decide. And Mulder, angry lone wolf with some very deep trust and communication issues of his own, is the last person who can deal with the fact that she's asking them at last.

It broke my shippy little heart to see them almost blindly groping their way towards each other, knowing things were wrong but neither knowing what to do. That they constantly called each other spoke volumes to me, especially for Mulder. Had anyone else but Scully treated him with the anger that she did, he'd of ended the partnership. But this IS Scully, so he calls repeatedly and asks not about the case but about her. And I was pleased that her first question when he did call was not "What the Hell do you want" (which is most likely what I would have said but "What's wrong?" And we have another scene in which Scully instinctively calls Mulder for help and then hangs up (how's *that* for symbolizing failure to communicate?)

As Paula Graves points out in her wonderful review, Mulder and Scully (mis)communicate in a way very typical of men and women. She asks for a desk; she wants his respect and the knowledge that she's as important to him and as he is to her and why isn't she more proud of what she's done?; ironically, in a way, it *was* about him, which annoyed me a bit. She was pretty clearly reacting to his unwitting jibes, which made him right at least in part when he asked if she'd done all this because he didn't get her a desk.He's thinking, "Where the hell will we put another clunky piece of furniture?", not at *all* getting her metaphor. Mars and Venus Solve a
Case. The impact of this was heightened by the fact that again, in the end, neither really figures that out. That's the way life works sometimes. It's oddly fitting that just as Mulder and Scully's
strengths cover one another's weaknesses and bring out the best in one another, so do their faults bring out the worst.

And as if all that weren't cool enough for just one episode, like any good piece of "literature", I found this episode to be both specific and universal. It commented on men and women and relationships (professional and otherwise) in general as on Our Heroes specifically. The theme of misogyny, most clearly seen in Betty the Evil , was unsettling and fascinating to me. If she wasn't the evil jealous shrew destroying an otherwise seemingly okay man just trying to get along, I
don't know what is. The lesson is clear: women and sex can be dangerous. And Scully is clearly a foil for her, telling Ed to "take control" as Betty taunts him to lose it. Thank god for this and
for the fact that Mulder in this episode does not come to the rescue or I'm not sure I could have been able to rewatch it to peel away the layers.

In thinking about "Never Again", I keep coming back to that rose petal. I've watched it now I think four times; I could watch it fourteen more, I believe, and still not have peeled away all the petals. That alone, and two searing performances, get this one at *least* nine and a half
tic tacs, with Morgan and Wongs's choice of flavor since it was their last episode.

SWILS Note: I refuse to comment on The Scene, though I can't exactly call it gratuitous, since my exact first thoughts at first viewing where "That's IT?" So I will just thank Anderson for all the wonderful Angst!Scullyface she gave us.

Mulder Drooling: He's just so adorable when he's lost and confused. David, you've patented the Whipped Puppy look.

Back