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I’d (unsurprisingly) blocked/forgotten a lot of the plot (just like CC! 😉) so it was fun to watch an effectively new episode. I’m very glad that the original title sequence is back (and now with Skinner!). Mark Snow’s music is as great as ever and the revival’s bigger budget gives some cool special effects.
Scully/Gillian is even more gorgeous than she was back in the day. And now in new super!doctor mode!
Mulder/David … has aged. But Scully still loves him!
They’re not broken up. They’re just not. It was a temporary change in their living arrangements. Scully must’ve had somewhere else to live while she was legal and Mulder was still in hiding. He never questioned where she’d stay when she said she wouldn’t be coming home in IWTB. She had a rented place close to the hospital for night shifts/official records. She’s currently living there to give them both some space but FULLY INTENDS TO RETURN HOME.
Depression sucks. For the one who’s living with it and their loved ones. Of course I’d have rather CC hadn’t done that to them but it does show that they have a real, complicated and non-perfect relationship. Scully hasn’t left Mulder. She hasn’t abandoned him. She’s doing what she can to help him get better but knows that ultimately he has to do himself and for himself. She has to look after herself in order to be able to look after him.
Incidentally, we only have Sveta's word that depression "killed" their relationship. Sveta who is then shown to be either a liar and/or easily manipulated. M&S kill for each other, die for each and go to the literal ends of the earth for each other. Again, depression sucks, but it has not, WILL NOT, kill their relationship. It's just temporarily shifted it back into the intense friendship it used to be before fun sexy!times happened.
Their street corner meet up makes it clear they’re still seeing a lot of each other – they’re casual and comfortable together despite the temporary alteration in their relationship. They’re happy to see each other and still love each other deeply. Yes the deleted kiss would’ve been nice but we had years of eking out all of the meaning in a stolen glance!
DD is right - they are SO married (“for better or for worse”). Perhaps under assumed names during the on-the-run years. Or during their post-IWTB tropical get-away. Or even just in their own minds. It still counts.
Whatever personal troubles they’re having, they’re still a team. Mulder’s “Don’t pretend I’m going alone” and Scully’s “How can WE help you?” to Tad make it clear they’re in this together.
I love how Scully shuts down Sveta in the hospital when she psycho-analyses their relationship and then jabs her with the needle – don’t mess with the ’ship Sveta!
Mulder is “The most intense and challenging relationship” Scully will ever have. And we know how she loves a challenge!
Despite the limo ride Scully clearly has no time for Tad, shaking his hand off when he touches her shoulder and moving away to talk to Mulder in private. Stark contrast to how Mulder keeps his hands on her shoulders the entire time he’s ranting at the house after she comes over after a long day of superSurgery because she cares about him as a ‘friend.’ Year right! 🤥
Scully’s pain when she sees Sveta is in the unremarkable house is very reminiscent of the Diana car scene in The End. It’s not that Scully sees Sveta as any kind of personal threat to her relationship with Mulder, but rather that she sees the danger in him finding a new lost little girl to ‘save’ when he’s still recovering himself. Sometimes the saddest moments in the show reveal the most about the M&S relationship and Scully walking away from her home, knowing that at this point she can’t help Mulder, is heart-breaking in the love it displays.
I have a great fondness for the Unremarkable House and love the chance to nose around inside. While Scully re-trained as super surgeon, Mulder clearly spent a lot of his time reading by all the books around the place!
“Because we have a child together.” Yes indeed you do. Scully will argue with him in public and try to stop him from sabotaging 30 years of belief on the word of an internet hoaxer, but when it comes down to it she’ll always support him. And Skinner knows they’ll be together when he messages!
Don’t give up. She hadn't. She won't. ♥️
Flash-back to Kill Switch with Sveta's 'Death from above' – even the aliens don’t want anyone to come between M&S! 😂
Summary: The first eps of any season have always been a bit hit and miss imo (with the exception of Little Green Men) as CC tries to cram in too much mythology and exposition. But we're back and ready to go now. And things can only get better … right?!🤞