"I've come so far in my life on simple faith"
~Dana Scully
"We all have our faith. Mine is in the Truth."
~Fox Mulder
I've noticed a pattern that it seems one must just accept and not fight
if one is going to survive watching this show: when you are utterly confused,
frustrated and wondering how the Hell Carter is going to write his way out
of this one, he usually comes through. We waited through
"Gethesmane" and "Redux." We deserved "Redux II."
And for me it could not have been more worth the wait.
There were many aspects to this episode that I found exciting: the resurrection,
so to speak, of Mulder's faith in the Truth (see Paula Graves' reviews for
a full treatment on this), a furthering of Scully's faith in God, in science
and in her partner, the manner in which their transcendent bond shone through
and some real developments in the Uberstory (even if I didn't believe all
of them-- for example, did anyone really think CancerMan was dead?)
We have in "Redux II" a Scully as desperate as we've ever seen
her, with the possible exception of when Mulder is in danger. She has tried
science; that has seemingly failed. Mulder, too, seems to have failed in
his attempts to save her. Even God seeems to have deserted her, though Mrs.
Scully refuses to let her daughter believe that and Scully does little to
no resisting this time (in stark contrast to the first two episodes of the
trilogy). In scenes that were all heartrending,
beautiful, and real, Scully challenges her doctor for not believing in miracles,
weeps on her mother's shoulder and, in a moment ripe with irony, whispers
a prayer as Mulder gives his report to the F.B.I. explaining why he is no
longer dead. So much can be said here for who Dana Scully is as a person--
even from her deathbed she provides guidance and comfort to Mulder. Even
from her deathbed she fights and is not quite able to give up hope. The
honesty of her struggle was for me inspiring ("I fight and I fight
and I fight but I've been so stupid!") I wonder if it is Scully's brutal
self-honesty taht enables Mulder to confront himself similarly when he needs
to. And it is no wonder Gillian Anderson requested that the writers give
her character more pain; she captivates the screen with utter honesty. I
also loved that when all is said and done, we don't know which of our choices--
the doctor, Mulder's remission chip or God-- saved her in the end. This
is an excellent example of this show using ambguity for an effective purpose
and not as a plot device.
Needless to say, I loved the Mulder I saw in "Redux II" as well.
Duchovny gave one of his best performances of the season. I won't soon forget
how he glowed from within telling Skinner that Scully's cancer had gone
into remission. His scenes with Bill Scully were also quite good; I was
touched to see Mulder trying to be friendly with him, seemingly so pleased
that Bill knew a bit of all they had been through together. This made it
all the more painful when Bill blames him for
all Scully and her family is suffering. Naturally, Mulder blames himself
too, as he always does. I also liked that this Mulder seemed far more unselfish
and much stronger, more mature, than he sometimes is. As in "Redux",
his focus, the purpose of his quest, is Scully. He can't even bring himself
to wake her up for advice, instead breaking down and weeping at her beside
in a powerful moment. He is also more than able to handle himself with the
bad guys, answering their questions with questions and refusing to play
CancerMan's game (for the most part): "That helps you-- how does it
help me?" or my personal favorite Mulderism of the night, "Please
tell me you're here with sever chest pains" come to mind. And his scene
with Samantha was shocking and wonderful. Duchovny was excellent in this
scene was well. I *wanted* him to get what he needed from her. And I think
my heart broke when she said, "Let me go" (all complaints about
subtely aside). I had a lump in my throat when he grabbed her hand and pleaded,
"Please don't." It was Gillian-worthy.
I mentioned that priceless bond between Mulder and Scully. I am convinced
no two characters elsewhere on T.V. interact quite the way they do. Accept
no subsitutes. Duchovny and Anderson have created a partership that is real,
complex, sad, hopeful, layered, honest,
intimate-- I could go on. No wonder the OBSSE adopted Scully's deeply moving
(to put it lightly) offer "If I can save you, let me" as Scully's
mantra on the Abbey homepage. Only she would offer to take the blame for
a murder while dying of cancer. And I personally think Mulder is the only
one she'd do it for ("I wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody
but you). Anderson wore Scully's affection for her partner all over her
face. For Mulder's part, I loved that he threatened to kill CancerMan if
Scully should die. And in my favorite scene of the episode, Mulder professes
the same faith in Scully- to her, no less- she so often demonstrates in
him when he says, "I knew if I was making the wrong decision, you'd
talk me out of it." Don't ever tell me he doesn't respect her. I was
also intrigued by his quickly following declaration that his faith is in
"the truth." This seems to cast Scully as a personification of
Truth, which is interesting on many levels (leaving aside my concerns about
this achingly real woman suddenly becoming a symbol of Mulder's quest).
Mulder and Scully's devotion highlighted nicely the theme of trust and friendship
that is so important to the show overall but was specifically important
to this episode. I was fascinated by the set-up of choices Mulder was given
here as he's forced to choose who he must trust. As
Skinner says, "It's important to know who your friends are." (applause
to Pleggi, as always, for an intense performance that kept me guessing.)
Mulder must be discerning if he and Scully are to survive. Since 1013 went
there with the Star Wars metaphor, I will continue it: Mulder is Luke, choosing
between the advice of Yoda and Ben Kenobi or Darth Vader. It <yawn>
doesn't reall matter if Cancer Man really is Mulder's biological dark father
if they interact like he is. I love "Star Wars" and love watching
the development of heroes on a quest, but I have to say I wish they would
not make such a big deal of whether or not CSM really fathered Mulder and
just let it work on its subconscious, mythic levels. Ah, well.
This wonderful script also managed to mix some heavy pain for our heroes
with a bit of humor, which the Lone Gunmen are always good for. Mulder's
scene with them was adorable-- "too freakin' amazing." And I was
glad for Mulder's sweet little attempts at humor with Scully ("so
Scully how 'bout those Metts?" or "Have the Father say a few Hail
Mulders for me, okay?") since most of her lines to him went straight
through me. I also appreaicated that, if this relationship between Mulder,
Scully and Skinner is indeed some sort of warped love triangle
(or at least, two men interested in the same woman), that was not the focus
of the epsiode nor were Mulder and Skinner made to be at each other's throats.
In fact, Mulder is the one defending Skinner to Scully, who believes that
Skinner is the FBI man who sold them out.
(This does, however, raise questions about why 1013 can't let Scully work
with another woman who is interested in Mulder without being jealous; There
is a real discrepancy here, though I admit I loved "The End.")
But I did have a couple of nagging questions. For one, how
the Hell did Mulder figure out it was Section Chief Blevins who had sold
them out-- He GUESSED? He freakin' GUESSED? What a cop-out. Nice job there,
Spooky. And I also wanted to know why, after Scully was saved from the jaws
of death, he still breaks down crying (for the record, I much prefered the
"Gethesmane" crying scene.) Built-up tension? That
picture of Samantha? Carter's keen-jerk refusal to give us a happy ending?
This hardly ruined the episode for me, but it did leave me wondering.
I'll give it nine and a half tic tacs out of ten.
Main