Anyone who has watched The X-Files with any regularity knows that it was filmed in Vancouver. So, when it came to episodes like Anasazi, they had to get inventive by painting a rock quarry with 1600 gallons of red paint to make it look like the New Mexico desert. They used some special effects shots to make it look like Mulder was really walking around in New Mexico and even now its convincing. Some great work from an inventive group of people.
The episode involves Mulder and Scully getting their hands on an encrypted tape containing government files and their need to decipher it. The tape came from a hacker who broke into the department of defense to get it, sending The Syndicate into a tizzy. If you’ve forgotten, The Syndicate are the group of men who will stop at nothing to cover up their alien agendas and includes the Smoking Man.
Mulder’s mental health takes a hit in this episode as he believes that his case assignments were a distraction from greater conspiracies and that he is being used to do the government’s dirty work since half of his cases get covered up after he investigates them. Mulder is so frustrated that he assaults Skinner leading to Scully being brought in to give testimony about Mulder’s mental stability. She isn’t happy about it either for she has to lie and she lets Mulder know of her displeasure.
While Scully meets with the Navajo interpreter so she can understand the contents of the tape, Mulder’s father is paid a visit by the Smoking Man who informs him that Mulder has the tape. When Mulder meets with his father, Alex Krycek appears for the first time in many episodes and kills Mulder’s father with a gun he knows Mulder will use, essentially framing him.
Scully has the bullet analyzed and Mulder starts to distrust her prompting Scully to wonder what is really going on with him. She finds that the water in his apartment is contaminated and he is being drugged which helps explain the violent behavior. Alex Krycek reappears and Scully shoots Mulder before he can shoot Krycek with the very gun that was used to kill his father. Finally, she introduces Mulder to the man translating the tapes for them and this leads him to New Mexico.
Once translated, Scully see her name as well as that of Duane Barry listed among many others. She tells Mulder this when he is in New Mexico. He is led to a buried boxcar that houses many dead corpses of what look like aliens. They all have vaccination scars on their arms. Smoking Man arrives hoping to find Mulder but he does not appear to be there so he orders the boxcar burned. Mulder is hidden inside. The episode ends.
As far as cliffhangers go, this one was really a painful wait until the fall for the season three premiere. With each new viewing, I find Mulder’s behavior to be very disconcerting because without knowing that he was being drugged, a plot point I always forget between viewings, it seems so out of character for him. But then, he IS being drugged and suddenly his behavior makes more sense.
It’s always difficult for me to watch him go after Skinner after Skinner went out of his way to help him multiple times throughout the season, and I think that is the point. To watch this new found trust erode so quickly. Kudos to Chris Carter for that. For carrying the theme of distrust in all things government throughout the series.
So, in a full circle moment, using her real life pregnancy to have her fictional character be abducted, Gillian Anderson’s Scully will now have her life upended as the series progresses. All because she was brought onto the X-Files to watch over Mulder and report back to the powers that be, which she never ended up doing. Now she’s a problem. Now she’s someone who needs to be watched. And her relationship with Mulder is all the more important for her own survival.
Season three, as a whole, is probably my favorite of the series. I’m looking forward to watching it again. At least now I don’t have to wait an ENTIRE summer before finding out if Mulder makes it out alive, but I really do miss the reliability of knowing that the fall premiere would be there waiting for me come September or October. My biggest pet peeve nowadays in the streaming era is waiting three years between seasons for certain shows. Luckily, owning The X-Files on DVD means I can watch it at my own pace.
Until next week, TRUST NO ONE. Except the Anasazi.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
Anyone who has watched The X-Files with any regularity knows that it was filmed in Vancouver. So, when it came to episodes like Anasazi, they had to get inventive by painting a rock quarry with 1600 gallons of red paint to make it look like the New Mexico desert. They used some special effects shots to make it look like Mulder was really walking around in New Mexico and even now its convincing. Some great work from an inventive group of people.
The episode involves Mulder and Scully getting their hands on an encrypted tape containing government files and their need to decipher it. The tape came from a hacker who broke into the department of defense to get it, sending The Syndicate into a tizzy. If you’ve forgotten, The Syndicate are the group of men who will stop at nothing to cover up their alien agendas and includes the Smoking Man.
Mulder’s mental health takes a hit in this episode as he believes that his case assignments were a distraction from greater conspiracies and that he is being used to do the government’s dirty work since half of his cases get covered up after he investigates them. Mulder is so frustrated that he assaults Skinner leading to Scully being brought in to give testimony about Mulder’s mental stability. She isn’t happy about it either for she has to lie and she lets Mulder know of her displeasure.
While Scully meets with the Navajo interpreter so she can understand the contents of the tape, Mulder’s father is paid a visit by the Smoking Man who informs him that Mulder has the tape. When Mulder meets with his father, Alex Krycek appears for the first time in many episodes and kills Mulder’s father with a gun he knows Mulder will use, essentially framing him.
Scully has the bullet analyzed and Mulder starts to distrust her prompting Scully to wonder what is really going on with him. She finds that the water in his apartment is contaminated and he is being drugged which helps explain the violent behavior. Alex Krycek reappears and Scully shoots Mulder before he can shoot Krycek with the very gun that was used to kill his father. Finally, she introduces Mulder to the man translating the tapes for them and this leads him to New Mexico.
Once translated, Scully see her name as well as that of Duane Barry listed among many others. She tells Mulder this when he is in New Mexico. He is led to a buried boxcar that houses many dead corpses of what look like aliens. They all have vaccination scars on their arms. Smoking Man arrives hoping to find Mulder but he does not appear to be there so he orders the boxcar burned. Mulder is hidden inside. The episode ends.
As far as cliffhangers go, this one was really a painful wait until the fall for the season three premiere. With each new viewing, I find Mulder’s behavior to be very disconcerting because without knowing that he was being drugged, a plot point I always forget between viewings, it seems so out of character for him. But then, he IS being drugged and suddenly his behavior makes more sense.
It’s always difficult for me to watch him go after Skinner after Skinner went out of his way to help him multiple times throughout the season, and I think that is the point. To watch this new found trust erode so quickly. Kudos to Chris Carter for that. For carrying the theme of distrust in all things government throughout the series.
So, in a full circle moment, using her real life pregnancy to have her fictional character be abducted, Gillian Anderson’s Scully will now have her life upended as the series progresses. All because she was brought onto the X-Files to watch over Mulder and report back to the powers that be, which she never ended up doing. Now she’s a problem. Now she’s someone who needs to be watched. And her relationship with Mulder is all the more important for her own survival.
Season three, as a whole, is probably my favorite of the series. I’m looking forward to watching it again. At least now I don’t have to wait an ENTIRE summer before finding out if Mulder makes it out alive, but I really do miss the reliability of knowing that the fall premiere would be there waiting for me come September or October. My biggest pet peeve nowadays in the streaming era is waiting three years between seasons for certain shows. Luckily, owning The X-Files on DVD means I can watch it at my own pace.
Until next week, TRUST NO ONE. Except the Anasazi.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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