[per manum 8x13]
© The X-Files

Per Manum - By the Hand

This episode posed a problem for me: How do I write objectively about the nature of Scully's pregnancy when I have such mixed feelings about it? As a plot device, it was one hell of a way to end last season. As a story development, however, I am leery about where this might take our heroes.

Well, much to my relief and my chagrin, in true X-Files fashion Per Manum posed more questions than it answered.

Possible Origins of Scully's baby, as I see them:

- A sexual encounter with Mulder? - As plausible as that is, it still doesn't feel right to me, regardless of my relationship fence-sitting. I honestly don't believe that Scully would be reacting the way she has from the moment she found out if the pregnancy was the result of a night with Mulder. Let's just call it a "gut" feeling. The arguments are equally strong either way, but in my view, the personal lives of the main characters have always been closely linked to the mythology.

- A false-negative on the last invitro attempt? - Although we know that an attempt was made by Mulder and Scully to conceive a child via the petri dish, we were also led to believe that the attempt had failed. I suppose it is possible that the negative result on the final attempt was incorrect; however, this theory greatly depends on the timing of the flashbacks, and since we can't rely on 1013's timeline at all, I tend to think that this is not the case.

- An abduction and implantation during the night? - Possibly when she was on that road trip with CSM in En Ami? A pretty plausible theory, especially considering what we were shown in Per Manum. Haskell says, "They came right into our bedroom and implanted an alien embryo in Kath." How much we can trust what he says, though is in doubt.

- A miracle? - Mulder himself said at the end of Per Manum, "Never give up on a miracle." Could we be talking spontaneous conception? Christian symbolism has been used to great effect in the series so far - could 1013 have been foreshadowing Scully as the mother of our next savior?

- A combination of a miracle and implantation? - Maybe it wasn't "spontaneous" - maybe the aliens-as-God that we were shown in The Sixth Extinction have chosen Scully to bear this child. Maybe she was taken in the night and impregnated and she will give birth to the next stage in human evolution. Maybe that child will represent humanity's future.

Questions as they relate to the mythology of the show:

~~ I guess the biggest question I was left with was WHY? Why such an elaborate plan just to get Mary Hendershot's baby? Scully must have been chosen for a reason. Why raise her suspicions so early in the pregnancy? Could it be that the conspirators suspect that Scully is carrying a special child, a savior if you will, and are hoping to frighten her to the point that she will terminate the pregnancy?

~~ If this was all orchestrated to get the Hendershot baby, then logically the doctors at the hospital were involved. How did they know that Scully would go to a military hospital, of all places? Did Haskell perhaps tell Scully that he trusted those particular doctors and recommended them to her?

~~ And who is this Haskell person, anyway? Apparently he has been working under deep cover for many years as president of the Ohio chapter of MUFON. I wonder what the purpose of those threatening letters were? And was he just pretending to be Mary's 'husband'? How many other women has he coached through this process? Could he be any more of a creep?

~~ How does Zeus Genetics fit into the conspiracy? Nice tie-in to Zeus Storage (and the Zeus Faber), btw.

~~ What were Scully's "complications"? Were the nice doctors at Zeus messing around with the baby's DNA?

~~ How is Doggett's friend Noel (sorry, I don't know his name) linked to the conspiracy, aside from the fact that he is a government employee? And didn't he look like Krycek on steroids?

General Observations:

~~ That Doggett just keeps getting cooler and cooler. There has been speculation as to when he first became suspicious of Scully's pregnancy. I think he knew right from the first scene they had together. After Haskell leaves, he says to Scully, "That's your story, Agent Scully, down to a "t"....I mean, except for the pregnancy." Between the pregnant pause (pardon the expression) and the look on his face, I would say he's giving her the opportunity to fess up. The final scene, where he reassures Scully that he will help her to find Mulder, is extremely touching.

~~ There has also been much to-do about Scully's treatment of Doggett, especially in this episode. Personally, I don't blame her one bit for not trusting him or the FBI. After what she's been through, it would be out of character for her to open up to him so soon. I think much of her standoffishness in Per Manum, and in previous eps as well, is a result of her intense fear - fear of what her baby is as well as her fear of never finding Mulder. It helps us as viewers to see Scully in a vulnerable state, such as in the scene in the beginning where she is looking at herself in the mirror. GA is able to express both her fear and her wonder, simultaneously, without saying a word. It would be easy to forget the depth of her humanity if all we were to see is her treatment of John Doggett in this episode.

Finally, what do they mean by "per manum", or "by the hand". There is the obvious answer: Mulder's contribution to the reproductive process. I wonder though if it could have another significance. Maybe the doctors at Zeus and the powers-that-be are doing God's work by hand. Doing manually what nature is supposed to control. Yet another question.

[back to ex post facto]

©2001, Regina M. Dardis, All Rights Reserved