I’ve reached the end of season one. This morning I’m watching Born Again, Roland, and The Erlenmeyer Flask. I won’t spend much time talking about Born Again for it was one of my least favorite episodes even by season one standards. Even David Duchovny reportedly stated that he detested the episode about a couple of mysterious deaths surrounding a little girl. There were uninteresting plot points about telekinesis and a ghost commandeering the little girl’s body to seek revenge on perceived enemies. These themes were already done earlier in the season, and done better so I’ll move on.
Roland is about a mentally disabled man whose twin brother was a brilliant scientist until his untimely death. When the deceased brother’s work is somehow being completed after his death, Mulder and Scully investigate what they believe to be something paranormal only for the real genius to be the disabled brother. It’s a red herring episode that zigs when it pretended to zag, but the performance of Zeljko Ivanek as both Roland and the brother is one of the better guest appearances on the show, and certainly a standout that first season. He has had a long career in both film and television, most notably in The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Last Duel.
What I really want to discuss is the finale, The Erlenmeyer Flask. Chris Carter described writing this episode as a year-long learning experience for season one was more about the monster of the week episodes than it was about the overarching mythology of the show. Walter Skinner and the Lone Gunman were not introduced until later in the season, so Deep Throat was really the thread that wove its way throughout. A character who would show up at random moments, often in episodes that had no real bearing on later seasons. More than once, Deep Throat seemed to lead Mulder down rabbit holes while also refusing to close the X-Files. This final episode in season one is no different. Mulder and Scully are sent down rabbit holes in search of an alien lifeform. They find it, but not before it disappears and they cannot find the proof that Mulder so desperately wants.
This episode is the defining moment for Agent Scully who finally believes in the existence of extraterrestrials after having seen the body of one herself when she lifts the frozen embryo out of that freezer. Everything she had been taught as a scientist has now been altered. It is the episode during which she truly starts to believe.
It is also the episode where it becomes noticeable that Gillian Anderson was pregnant in real life. Chris Carter chose not to include this in the series at that point, but she was just starting to gain weight at the end of season one. The events in this episode would lead to plot points in season two during which Scully is missing – smartly written around her maternity leave. They may not have written in her pregnancy, but they did use it to their advantage.
Deep Throat, played by Jerry Hardin, is killed at the end of the episode, leaving Mulder and Scully without an inside man. At least at that point. And in a true full circle moment, the episode mimics the pilot episode by Mulder calling Scully at 11:21 p.m. to inform her that the higher ups had shut down the X-Files and Cigarette Smoking Man putting the body of the extraterrestrial into storage. A blunt reminder of what Mulder and Scully are up against.
I remember thirteen-year-old me, a week shy of my fourteenth birthday, staring open mouthed at the television after it was over. Like, what just happened? Deep Throat is dead? Who will help them now? And how will they get the X-Files reinstated so they can continue their work? These thoughts stayed with me long after I popped one of the Friday the 13th movies into the VCR (it was a May, Friday the 13th after all). The only other show that made me think about what had happened or what would come next long after episodes ended at that point was Twin Peaks, so even at the end of season one of The X-Files, I knew the show was something special.
A couple years later, Mission: Impossible was released. When I first watched it, constantly hearing the word ‘disavowed’ in reference to Ethan Hunt’s team really reminded me of this finale of season one. Even now, with the release of The Final Reckoning this Friday, the similarities are there. While Mulder and Scully investigated the paranormal and Hunt’s team practiced in espionage, what my two favorite FBI agents have in common with Ethan Hunt and crew is the constant disapproval from their own government when things do not go as planned. And don’t get me started on how often both groups had to contend with their own governments working against them on missions they were assigned. ‘Disavowed’ is the equivalent of, “they’re shutting us down, Scully.”
Can you guess where I’ll be seated on May 23rd? For Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt… one last time. And, if you’ve been paying attention, yes, it’s my birthday week. Twenty one years after that season one finale, I’ll be sitting in the theater thinking about the similarities between Mission Impossible and the trials and tribulations of Mulder and Scully. Happiest of birthdays to me.
Until next week where I start season two, TRUST NO ONE.
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
I’ve reached the end of season one. This morning I’m watching Born Again, Roland, and The Erlenmeyer Flask. I won’t spend much time talking about Born Again for it was one of my least favorite episodes even by season one standards. Even David Duchovny reportedly stated that he detested the episode about a couple of mysterious deaths surrounding a little girl. There were uninteresting plot points about telekinesis and a ghost commandeering the little girl’s body to seek revenge on perceived enemies. These themes were already done earlier in the season, and done better so I’ll move on.
Roland is about a mentally disabled man whose twin brother was a brilliant scientist until his untimely death. When the deceased brother’s work is somehow being completed after his death, Mulder and Scully investigate what they believe to be something paranormal only for the real genius to be the disabled brother. It’s a red herring episode that zigs when it pretended to zag, but the performance of Zeljko Ivanek as both Roland and the brother is one of the better guest appearances on the show, and certainly a standout that first season. He has had a long career in both film and television, most notably in The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Last Duel.
What I really want to discuss is the finale, The Erlenmeyer Flask. Chris Carter described writing this episode as a year-long learning experience for season one was more about the monster of the week episodes than it was about the overarching mythology of the show. Walter Skinner and the Lone Gunman were not introduced until later in the season, so Deep Throat was really the thread that wove its way throughout. A character who would show up at random moments, often in episodes that had no real bearing on later seasons. More than once, Deep Throat seemed to lead Mulder down rabbit holes while also refusing to close the X-Files. This final episode in season one is no different. Mulder and Scully are sent down rabbit holes in search of an alien lifeform. They find it, but not before it disappears and they cannot find the proof that Mulder so desperately wants.
This episode is the defining moment for Agent Scully who finally believes in the existence of extraterrestrials after having seen the body of one herself when she lifts the frozen embryo out of that freezer. Everything she had been taught as a scientist has now been altered. It is the episode during which she truly starts to believe.
It is also the episode where it becomes noticeable that Gillian Anderson was pregnant in real life. Chris Carter chose not to include this in the series at that point, but she was just starting to gain weight at the end of season one. The events in this episode would lead to plot points in season two during which Scully is missing – smartly written around her maternity leave. They may not have written in her pregnancy, but they did use it to their advantage.
Deep Throat, played by Jerry Hardin, is killed at the end of the episode, leaving Mulder and Scully without an inside man. At least at that point. And in a true full circle moment, the episode mimics the pilot episode by Mulder calling Scully at 11:21 p.m. to inform her that the higher ups had shut down the X-Files and Cigarette Smoking Man putting the body of the extraterrestrial into storage. A blunt reminder of what Mulder and Scully are up against.
I remember thirteen-year-old me, a week shy of my fourteenth birthday, staring open mouthed at the television after it was over. Like, what just happened? Deep Throat is dead? Who will help them now? And how will they get the X-Files reinstated so they can continue their work? These thoughts stayed with me long after I popped one of the Friday the 13th movies into the VCR (it was a May, Friday the 13th after all). The only other show that made me think about what had happened or what would come next long after episodes ended at that point was Twin Peaks, so even at the end of season one of The X-Files, I knew the show was something special.
A couple years later, Mission: Impossible was released. When I first watched it, constantly hearing the word ‘disavowed’ in reference to Ethan Hunt’s team really reminded me of this finale of season one. Even now, with the release of The Final Reckoning this Friday, the similarities are there. While Mulder and Scully investigated the paranormal and Hunt’s team practiced in espionage, what my two favorite FBI agents have in common with Ethan Hunt and crew is the constant disapproval from their own government when things do not go as planned. And don’t get me started on how often both groups had to contend with their own governments working against them on missions they were assigned. ‘Disavowed’ is the equivalent of, “they’re shutting us down, Scully.”
Can you guess where I’ll be seated on May 23rd? For Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt… one last time. And, if you’ve been paying attention, yes, it’s my birthday week. Twenty one years after that season one finale, I’ll be sitting in the theater thinking about the similarities between Mission Impossible and the trials and tribulations of Mulder and Scully. Happiest of birthdays to me.
Until next week where I start season two, TRUST NO ONE.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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