[deadalive 8x15]
© The X-Files

"I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John 11:25-26

Or, if you prefer,

"I was a dead man. Now I'm back." Mulder, Paper Clip

DeadAlive was yet another great outing for The X-Files. Once again an episode in which I could not find a wasted scene. And Mulder is back, at last. So much went on here - Mulder's aforementioned return, Krycek's reappearance (yay!) and his new agenda, an apparently new form of alien virus and gestation, Doggett's loyalties were tested and yes, Scully is finally showing! And glowing, I might add.

Speaking of showing, I might as well tackle this now and get it over with - the timeline. All I'm going to say is it looks like they made an effort to resolve the timeline issue with references to when Mulder's abduction took place (May), Kersh's tenure in his new job, and the fact that Scully is due in 6 weeks. This puts the timestamp for DeadAlive somewhere at the end of last year. As far as I'm concerned, the timeline issue is resolved.

There's really not much I can say about Mulder, except that it's good to have him back. Very good. His "wake-up" scene was written perfectly - Mulder is a wiseass and pretending to not know Scully is exactly what I would expect from him. Especially since he really has no idea how long he's been gone or what she's been through. Their chemistry and general easiness around each other was so evident in that scene. Watching them together was like putting on an old comfy pair of shoes I found in the back of my closet. I didn't know what I was missing until I saw them together again. And I liked the inside-jokiness of Mulder's question, "Did anyone miss me?"

Scully, well, she's Scully, ya know? I rarely find fault with her or GA's performance. I will say that we are certainly being repaid for the lack of Scully early on in the season. Woohoo! GA made mention of making Scully a little on the clumsy side due to her pregnancy, and you can see that in the scene where the nurse finds her in Billy Miles' hospital room. She can't get out of her own way, let alone the nurse's and she seems to be having a little difficulty forming coherent speech.

There is no going back now, for Scully. She has fully embraced the notion that the virus is alien, that Billy himself is alien. You can see how far she has come in the scene where she reprimands Doggett for not wanting to open Mulder's casket. His reasoning was sound and practical - Mulder was very dead when they found him and he has been in the ground for 3 months for crying out loud. Besides, opening his casket would only re-open Scully's barely healed emotional wounds. But Scully has come to realize that you can't think like that if you're going to work on the x-files - "The truth may hurt, but it's all that matters." It seems she hasn't totally abandoned her skepticism, though. When Doggett asked her if she believed Billy's line about aliens saving the world, she couldn't quite cop to that one.

So, the Rat is back in town, huh? And looking fine, I might add. Just what his motives are has always been a mystery and he still has his own agenda, but I believe that despite his nefarious methods, he comes from a well-informed standpoint and that he perceives his actions to be well-intended. Sort of a Mini-CSM. Who, I might add, was the one thing missing in this episode. He was there in spirit, though. I was floored when Krycek told Skinner the price of the vaccine. That he would demand termination of Scully's pregnancy was not something I saw coming. Skinner's shock at his request and resoluteness in his denial of it was played well by MP. He's really had some great opportunities this season to expand on his Skinner repertoire. I wonder if they'll ever show a scene with him telling Mulder that he saw that spaceship. Probably not. But now the scales are tipped to the believer side - Mulder, Scully, Skinner, all aboard the mothership called Truth - and I wonder if Mulder will find it weird that no one will be telling him he's crazy anymore. Except for Doggett, of course, and from the trailer for next week we see they get off on the wrong foot right away. Three Words, huh? How about "kiss my a$$"?

DeadAlive brought us yet another twist in the convoluted mythology of The X-Files, and I can't say that I'm all that clear on exactly what's going on either.

The verse from John 11 above was spoken by Jesus to Lazarus' sister just prior to beckoning Lazarus forth from his grave. Another religious parallel that I so desperately love to see? I think so, yes, but with an x-files twist. The meaning of the title of this week's episode is pretty apparent - both Mulder and Billy Miles started the episode dead and buried and both were miraculously alive by the end. I think the syntax of the title is important. The space between the 2 words 'dead' and 'alive' has been omitted, making it one word, a word that perfectly describes the state in which both Mulder and Billy were left after their abductions. By all outward appearances, they were indeed dead - indiscernible life signs, decomposing flesh - yet they were in fact alive, their bodies placed in a dormant state in preparation for the incubation of another alien life form. They weren't dead, they weren't alive. They were deadalive.

You know, for the number of times that Mulder has been presumed dead, only to rise again, his middle name should be Lazarus.

Was Lazarus in this 'deadalive' state? After all, when Doggett visits Absolom in jail he recites the verse from the Gospel of John and then asks Doggett if he knows it. Doggett answers that it's from the bible and Absolom says, "What is the bible? Preaching? Prophecy? Misread?" Is this verse actually a prophecy of future alien resurrection? I don't think you can re-interpret the entire bible under the God-alien theory, but this is just television and it's fun to speculate.

Once again, I've got more questions than anything else. Is this a mutation of the old virus or a brand new one? When AlienBilly said that the aliens were coming to save us, was that just propaganda from the evil alien colonizers? The aliens were gathering up people who exhibited the abnormal brain activity - are they the best hosts for these alien resurrections? Tissue was taken from the inside of the mouth and the abdomen - was DNA from this material used to make alien clones that were put into a dormant state only to be activated once the virus was incubated? Or did the alien clone not develop until the virus was incubated? The latter, I think -that's why Mulder was not transformed while Billy was.

Why does Krycek want Scully's pregnancy terminated? What threat does that baby pose? I suppose that depends on which side Krycek is on. If he's working for colonization, then one would have to assume that the baby represents some form of immunity against the colonizing forces. If he's working against colonization, then one would have to assume that the birth of the baby will hasten colonization in some way. Of course, one also has to consider the nature of this colonization - they could very well be here to save us - so what side does that put Krycek on? And who's to say there isn't someone standing behind a door somewhere with a nano-bot palm pilot pointed at him? Oh, my brain hurts.

I want to finish this up (and the crowd goes wild) with Doggett, and a confession. I think I'm in love with him. Well, maybe not in love with him (he is fictional, after all), but I do want one just like him at home. This episode was as much about Doggett's loyalties and the strategic positioning of his character as anything else I've mentioned. The Ever Watchful Doggett got an eyeful this week. His powers of observation are so keen that he was able to smell a rat when he passed Krycek in the hall (mixing my sensory metaphors, I know). Within a few minutes he learned Krycek's name and what he looks like, which is more than most people get in a whole season; he learned that Krycek is an extortionist and an intricate part of this whole "Mulder thing"; that he is vile enough to make such a demand of Skinner and untrustworthy enough that Skinner would rather kill Mulder than take the deal; in short, that he's no good. What a scene in the parking garage! It was the shot in the arm that this episode needed. The look he gives Krycek after he drops the vial (which I don't think really contained a vaccine) would be enough to scare any man, and it certainly makes Krycek re-think things. I can see these 2 having a great hate relationship in future seasons.

Watching the successive scenes in Kersh's office was like watching Doggett's career take a dive in slow motion. At the end, Kersh in effect asks Doggett where his allegiance lies and he says in response that "I was with Agent Scully." Kersh then makes it clear that the promotion is no longer an option. It will indeed be crowded in that basement office. At this point, I am going to trust Doggett and his motivations. I have been shown nothing yet to make me think he is anything other than above-board, and if he's going to carry the show for another season or 2, I doubt they will make him a bad guy. However, I don't think he has made his choice because of any particular loyalty to the X-Files themselves. He doesn't believe in most of that mumbo-jumbo. Yes, the Mulder case is still an open one, but I don't think that's his main reason for staying, either. I think he's getting sucked into the world of shadowy figures and conspiracies and being the good guy that he is, he thinks he can put a stop to it. And I think there's another reason. He said it himself, in a way: "I was with Agent Scully." Or would you prefer, "Concerns for your well-being, Agent Scully, that's all it's ever for."? I really do think that one of the major reasons he has chosen to stay with the x-files is his partner and his concern for her. He has become attached to her, I think, and does truly care what happens to her (and the baby). The disappointment is evident on his face when he walks in on Mulder and Scully at the end. He has just professed his loyalties to Scully in his meeting with Kersh, effectively destroying his fast-track career at the FBI. To walk in and see her sharing such an intimate, tender moment with her 'real' partner just had to hurt. Things are definitely getting interesting.

"We all have a life in our hands. I have yours. You have Mulder's. Scully has her unborn child. The question is who's willing to sacrifice."

[back to ex post facto]

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©2002, Regina M. Dardis, All Rights Reserved