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randomfoggytiger · 5 months

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X-Files IWTB: First Time React (Part I)

I needed to watch I Want to Believe for a Christmas present project; and, going into the movie, I knew it would be bad.

I didn't know it would be "broken within ten minutes before Mulder and Scully even get into the helicopter" bad.

On the positive side, I'm enjoying David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's acting; and they're doing the best they can with the scripts, so A+ for effort!

Now, reaction below the cut:

Eyyyyyyyy, looky looky where we are.

An IWTB reaction.

Me, the canon denier after S8.

Yep.

But never fear! I shall have an absolute blast demolishing all the aspects that don’t make sense and enjoying the parts that deserve praise or kudos. :DDD

My Position Going Into This

When it comes to any art form, I stand absolute on the position that, yes, if it was created to be art, it is art; but art can also be critiqued on its merits or demerits. Otherwise, we all wouldn’t acknowledge what makes one piece of art masterful compared to another piece.

For movies, I focus on writing: does this plot point make sense in the context of generalized or specific circumstances; or, more specifically, do the actions of X person fit into their pre-established character or break it entirely without providing a reasonable motive? Pointing out the flaws of x/y/z character or moment doesn’t ruin my enjoyment-- every movie, tv show, book, etc. has them-- unless the flaw is noticeably glaring; in which case, what can I do about that?

In conclusion: this will be very snarky, but I mean no hate towards CC or anyone who helped create this movie. I have criticisms, justly; but I separate art from the artist always, and judge both on completely different scales and metrics. Any and all snark is exaggerated for comedic purposes... or that's my story and I'm sticking with it. ;)))

And now, onto the reaction~

Live Reaction

The movie’s gorgeous, I’ll give it that: tone, atmosphere, lighting, etc., all spectacular.

For a split second I wished that the man running past the woman victim had been a supernatural creature of some sort-- more X-Files in tone; and would eliminate the Father Joe character completely.

Dakota Whitney (not given her name yet, think it's her) seems in-tune with Father Joe’s strangeness-- another shame, because her character was squandered on a love triangle.

I will say, though, the spectacle seems… a little repetitive already? “Let him go, let him go” repeated three times with three different cuts.

Hmmm, I think this is the thought: compared to FTF, this movie seems like its plot is paper-thin, relying on spectacle or repetitive dialogue (or inane plotpoints? we’ll see) to keep it chugging along.

Scully is here!

After comparing her intro to the Pilot and Fight the Future and the previous five minutes, it seems… bland? The spectacle is gone, but that's not the problem. Everything is medical jargon as she’s giving an account of her patient to an overhead on a screen. The problem is-- and why I mentioned her previous introductions-- when a main character is introduced, their first scene establishes core aspects of their personality. Now would be a good time to get a thumb on how Scully has changed as she's navigated life on the run and in this hospital... instead, we're given nothing, really, just a medical spiel with no point other than to set up that she has a patient who needs experimental treatment. Nothing that is personal to her as an individual, other than she's more muted, downtrodden, etc. It's a very rushed and criminally underutilized scene.

I understand what CC and Spotnitz are going for: defanged Scully, hands tied and trying to keep her head down and live low-profile. Pouring her exhausted energy into trying to do some good, at least for the boy (since she can’t for Mulder.) It sets her up as frazzled and frustrated; and it makes sense why she pitches the FBI’s offer to Mulder when given the chance.

FBI agent just bounces in and disrupts her talk with her patient… that’s a plot point, definitely--

Wait, Scully kept referring to Mulder as Fox Mulder… which, yes, she’s parroting the man’s words back exactly to him but also Scully only ever referred to him as “Mulder”, “my partner”, “Agent Mulder”; and didn’t mention him by name otherwise. This is a nitpick, I know.

Also, from the interviews I’ve read, Gillian Anderson (and David Duchovny) struggled to get back into character in 2008 as well as the Revival (link here.) GA also notes (link here) that she agrees with Scully's characterization: "How she is in this film follows perfectly with where we last saw her and who she has always been." And, if lumping IWTB together with S9, I agree; and, interestingly, it's an aspect of Scully that GA seems to retain in the Revival (I think): saddened, withdrawn, only sparing animation when directly talking to Mulder. It makes sense after the William arc; but it’s sad to think about, regardless.

THAT’S THE FENCE?????

I THOUGHT IT WAS A TINY WOODEN FENCE THAT COULD BE HOPPED OVER.

…That makes a lot of sense, actually. I definitely can see Mulder rigging it up with all the time he had to spare (because, I mean, look at it: rusty, rinky, weirdly tied to the poles.)

I will say: I give Chris Carter props here because that man had a vision and he executed it: atmosphere, ~vibes~, and the kitchen sink. It’s why I maintain he was the ideas man and Frank Spotnitz was his refiner.

WAIT. Is that… is that orange juice on the table? (They remembered Mulder’s orange juice but forgot to iron out the plot. The irony. If this were an indie film, I’d find it endearing and charming. …But it’s not.)

Okay, intro to Mulder now.

Immediately we are shown the nest he’s built, with Samantha taking center-stage on his door. THAT’S how you do an intro; and, to the credit of the people behind the camera, it strikes a descriptive balance between Scully’s dispirited silence and his animated clutter.

OKAY. Mulder’s “What’s up, Doc?” was worth it. (Don’t you just love when creators behind really cool, innovative series make alternate universe stories in their own universe? The “what if”s? The “glad this didn’t happen but it’s not all that bad, yet” one-offs with big budgets behind them? Visionaries, I tell ya.)

Mulder’s going off on a tangent and Scully’s back in her element and I would be content if the movie skipped from here to the almost end with Skinner and Scully finding him and we (meaning me) the audience wonder “WAIT, WHAT HAPPENED” and then there’s the vacation and it ends.

Also, pertinent to stop here and reflect on the first Big Issue of the film:

Mulder and Scully have been living in this house for five years-- as confirmed by the cut lines in IWTB’s script (link here, thank you @dunhamhairograpy)-- which means they were on the run only one year before settling back in Virginia. To satisfy my suspicions, I looked up (on Wikipedia) criminals on the FBI’s wanted list between 2000 to 2003 to see how many years each person evaded capture (if they were ever caught.) In summary, those who were on the run more than a year most likely fled the country and at the very least did not settle back in the state they originally fled; and those who remained locked on American soil were caught within a few weeks to (maximum) a year (three years was the most, I believe. Longer or still at large dipped into other countries, at least temporarily.) The script also confirms that Mulder and Scully are aware that Skinner is aiding and abetting them behind the scenes; and since the agent who interrupted Scully at her hospital immediately cut to the chase-- with the implication that Scully knew where to find her partner-- the FBI likely knew how to find Mulder easily and just… let him be.

Despite the absolute dumpster fire of S9’s mytharc, we are led to assume that, somehow, Skinner and Doggett and Reyes stamped out the interest of alien-men-in-government and every other enemy that wanted Mulder's head and they all… proceeded as normal? Or Doggett and Reyes didn’t but Skinner did somehow…?

BUT THAT DOESN’T MATTER, LOOK AT THIS SHINY MOVIE AND THE PRETTY GOATMAN.

Also, yes, the beard needs work. However, I just remembered that beard oil is a thing but also that hair oil is a thing; and the idea that men might be taking better care of their beards than I do my own locks makes me wanna give them a thumbs up. (…But not Mulder: the texture on his face makes me want to cringe backward from the epidermis to the dermis to the subcutaneous layer of my skin.)

Mulder “who believes that anymore” was a great line for his first facial introduction (not bothering with technical phrases, gotta keep chuggin’); and his reaction at Scully’s snarky “they do at the FBI, apparently” and both of them being like “uhuh, they wouldn’t listen to you/us years ago” was a great nanosecond of screentime and I want more.

Mulder's walking wonky with a feverish passion behind his eyes; and I recognize that insanity from the fervor of spending too many hours indoors and online with nothing else to do but brood.

ALSO, he and Scully both make complete sense here and I cosign this scene.

(...Yeah, I know, we’ll get to those ones later.)

Scully getting around Mulder’s mood and straight to his interest and then igniting his sarcastic “oh” within a sentence or two is masterfully them and yep, I cosign.

Mulder choking on the “I am just as happy having them out of mine” denial stuck in his throat…. also: yes, Scully has a point about the FBI as discussed above but WHY do they want him out of their hair?? There were more people who had death wishes against him than there could be people in positions of power that support him; and with no CSM or Consortium hand-holding their superstar through trials and tribulations because he could “expose” them… again, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Mulder’s being really petulant and I love it but also he’s being too petulant but in a good way, in a sarcastic “at the end of my rope and I’m only barely being polite” One Son way.

Scully's honest “I worry about you” is touching, that’s nice.

I just realized: y’know how DD wrote The Unnatural because he wanted to hear Mulder and Scully talk like normal people, not just regurgitate the plot points back to each other with flowery, long-winded expressions (which are great, don’t get me wrong)? Welp, they sound more… human? natural? broken in? here; and I like that aspect.

Mulder looking at Samantha’s pic and knowing he can’t not help an innocent was a perfect character moment: great writing, thumbs up. (Reminiscent of his prior pattern of reluctantly helping people he disliked or was annoyed by-- Max Fenig in Fallen Angel, Krycek in Sleepless, Skinner in Zero Sum, Crump in Drive, Doggett in Alone, etc.)

He accepts the FBI’s offer; and Scully’s relieved; and I advise you to keep that in mind for later.

The Big Problems Set In

Whether Mulder and Scully called and told the FBI where to pick them up or the FBI sent a helicopter out, unprompted, as a power move is unimportant in the minutiae but incredibly crippling in the larger narrative: it flew TO Mulder’s house to pick him up. There is no way Mulder is undercover or in hiding any longer; and that means, at this point, Mulder is committed. The end, full stop, point blank, period.

The movie is broken and it's only 10 minutes in. From here on out, it will try to claim that Mulder is losing Scully by running further into the darkness; but the reality is, he has no other choice because there is nowhere else to run to regain his freedom AND to not put Scully at cross ends (or in danger) with the FBI.

He CANNOT back out: if Mulder withdraws from this deal with the FBI, he has to leave his home, go on the run again, and risk more aggressive recapture and imprisonment and probably broker another deal to escape full penalty at. a. minimum.

It would be insane for him to back out at any point in the future. He knows it, the FBI knows it, and more importantly SCULLY knows it: she’s the cautious one in this relationship; and she would have weighed the pros and cons before telling Mulder the FBI's offer. Yes, she tends to react without thinking at times-- asking Mulder for his IVF donation without long-term plans, for example, (link here)-- but something as precious as her partner’s life, the only person she sacrificed everything for, would be carefully guarded and protected.

Surely, she wouldn’t want him to back out at any point; especially because she has constantly suspected their own allies in the FBI all the years they’d been there, even Skinner, over and over and over. There would be no inducement or reason for her to trust the FBI to let Mulder stop on his whim (or hers, or theirs); and it’s a good thing she doesn’t do that. …Right?

NOW: would it be in her character to want him to stop? Absolutely-- that’s who she is. But to place him in an impossible position then demand something even more impossible on top of it, after Mulder’s hands are effectively tied until the case is solved? That’s what’s character breaking for her. We’ll get to that.

What’s going to be even more frustrating is that Scully will ultimately break their partnership (or start to) because of jealousy over another woman... for script reasons. (Don’t believe me? I don't blame you. But we'll get to it in a future part.) And that’s the show’s greatest flaw: the writers enjoy playing “are they, aren’t they” with Mulder’s driven passion and Scully’s jealousy and wish to be his priority. What’s worse is he prioritizes her more than any other human on the planet, even in this movie; and, at this point, Scully knows and has made peace with how Mulder is (all things.) To sacrifice their growth and trust in each other because of illogical reasons... we’ll get to that.

“Past is the past” says Dakota Whitney. That might be enough for Mulder in the long run but it certainly won’t be for Scully. …RIGHT?

Monica name recycle which is a staple and yet not a Monica Reyes who could have had pull to have Mulder and Scully pulled in on the case… oh, well.

Yes, Mulder has precedent to write off psychic phenomenon evidence when given to him by his enemies-- he’s petty that way-- but can you imagine how annoyed he was when it came out the psychic was a religious guy? A former Father? An issue that used to pit he and Scully against each other? (I see what you did there, writers.)

So: we have religious angle to separate Mulder and Scully in this movie. Also, we have jealousy over Dakota Whitney-- this movie’s nicer variant of Diana Fowley and Detective White and Phoebe Green: a gal who wants Mulder and writes Scully out of the picture despite very obvious rumors and even more obvious clues in the present-- to drive a further wedge (will be discussed next time.) What else could go wrong?

What I do like is that this movie sets up Mulder’s priority list that aligns with his previous character iteration: he wants to chase monsters, but not at the expense of people; and, further, when he doesn’t want to chase monsters, he still will for the sake of others' lives.

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Chris, did you have to make Father Joe a pedophile?

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I understand, I do, that it’s about people who want to redeem themselves, who are afraid of the monsters within, who are burdened with a greater purpose, BUT NONE OF THE PEDO STUFF HAS TO DO WITH THE PLOT.

For instance: Roland’s autism directly correlated with the X-File of his case, Marty’s blindness with hers, as well as all the other men and monsters with supernatural powers or inhibitions. Having a random and prominent flaw that doesn’t contribute to anything in the movie is, quite honestly, a waste of precious run-time; and is another example of the movie’s paper-thin story structure that it tosses around willy-nilly.

Tune’s catchy, though.

Okay, the movie’s editing is weird again. We’ve already “seen” Father Joe in the beginning; so repeating Mulder’s introduction style (angling towards everything but the man’s face) is noticeably repetitive and out of place.

Scully going for the man’s throat is a great set up for her and Mulder’s banter but

issssssssssssssssssss out of place, especially considering they need information out of the man and don’t know how he’ll react to fierce, off-topic interrogation. Yes, harming children is a no-no for Scully, and harming them especially in the name of her faith is a BIGGER no-no; however, she was never this tactless before, not even with John Lee Roche. Further, she stipulates this is Mulder's case, which means she jeopardized his interrogation with her sniping. Not only was it out-of-character, but it could have put an end to the only lead Mulder had to help out the FBI. Her professionalism is rusty, and further, she is sacrificing the high ground for a dig at the man’s ethics. It’s not very Scully, is it?

“Maybe it’s not God doing the sending” so this was personal, Scully, that dig had nothing to do with the case except for your own want to defend your beliefs against this pedophile. You’ve never done this in the past; and you and Mulder have worked past any insecurities you might have had with regards to your faith. So, THIS means you’re insecure. Maybe those years on the road have you overthinking or rethinking; but, regardless. it’s rolling back the character growth you achieved in all things and needed to be handled with defter care.

If the writers were trying to establish her as a bloodhound in this movie ala her old self, they can’t start it out with her being listless and downtrodden and suddenly break that in ways that would harm Mulder’s (and her) investigation and then shove her back into listlessness... and then repeat that cycle over and over with no rhyme or reason.

Also, Whitney is being established as the woman who looks to Mulder, always, because she has a big, fat crush on him that the writers will exploit for maximum drama.

FATHER JOE SENDS SCULLY OUT-- why. Negative energy didn’t inhibit psychic ability in previous cases. If Father Joe's so wimpy that someone watching him with disdain while he does his whammo makes him insecure and unable to… I was gonna say perform, remembered his altar boys, and cringed internally. Anyway, then he needs to be reminded who's in charge here.

The dialogue cracks are beginning to show: Scully’s parting line is cringe. Even though it doesn’t sound natural to say-- that’s never stopped The X-Files before-- what makes it egregious is that there is no connective tissue to her statement. When talking, there is a leadup to a point and a comment that follows it, etc. etc. Scully’s statement-- “Maybe what you see is a way to try to make people forget what you really are”-- is responding to nothing; and is randomly stated. The equivalent of the teacher telling Timmy to go sit in the corner and Timmy randomly yelling "You're not my mom!" before doing so. It achieved nothing; and made her look like a five year old that can't grasp the finer points of communication (because she only reiterated what everyone else in the room already knew.) Also, it sets up Scully as a disbeliever to Mulder and Whitney as believers; and, of course, this puts Scully through a hackneyed journey back to belief even though she doesn’t disbelieve in psychic ability any longer, etc. etc.

The question becomes: if this is a new pattern in her behavior, it will remain consistent. Another problem, too, remains. We (the audience) are not given a good reason why this rational character is behaving outside of her own interests. Scully has training and years of experience that being on the run for a year and in medicine for four? is not going to erase. It’s setting her up to be sloppy and messy with her decision-making skills; and we are given no reason why Scully is this way now; and, further, why she directly contradicts this new pattern in other scenes.

Scully getting scared by Mulder on the pedo colony balcony is a scene I didn’t know existed and I like and he was a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal snot for doing that and yay, it’s Mulder.

And also, I have another nitpick: Mulder, although he has backed off and let Scully handle her own issues with sexist cops and the like in the past, would never let a crook dictate the terms of where Scully is supposed to be: Scully would decide to walk out when she didn’t believe a word their suspect was saying, not because she was expected to leave. Mulder didn’t advocate for her here, put his foot down, or even blaze up and insist Father Joe stop playing games. Strike one against Mulder's characterization.

JUST AFTER I MADE THOSE POINTS Scully admits she was wrong and Mulder immediately defers to her. Which… uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, time to break that down.

This doesn’t seem like a lot; but that tiny detail completely demolished Father Joe’s introductory scene AND Mulder and Scully’s first scene back in the FBI saddle.

“All I had were questions-- you challenged him.” That’s a very Mulder thing to say… in other circumstances, but not in this one. Here, Mulder shouldn’t have “just had questions” especially because he was bugged that the other FBI people were a little too doe-eyed about Father Joe; and that annoyance would have made him act out on the priest. Furthermore, Scully’s fury against criminals IS something he loves about her BUT was out of place here, too. And all of this is negated because Scully left, anyway, and he didn’t stick up for her. It’s like if Scully and he were middle schoolers and their classmates kicked her out of a group discussion only for him to wander over after it's done and say, “you did great back there, sweetie!” without sticking his neck out for her at all. It smacks of spinelessness, the opposite of Fox Mulder.

Great acting by DD and GA; but terrible, terrible scenario.

The precedent has been set that Scully will lash out, get shunned to an outer circle, and Mulder will ho-hum, let it happen, get his info, and give her a pat on the head later. That’s never been them; and this pattern is immediately broken by a following contradictory scene. This back-and-forth cycle continues, over and over, flip-flopping Mulder and Scully in and out of character, and further damaging the script with one-off, disconnected responses.

Also, aren’t Mulder and Scully past this unnecessary drama of poking the bear (an old, Irish? pedo priest) before they get their necessary information? ESPECIALLY NOW WHEN MULDER'S FREEDOM IS ON THE LINE.

Scully finding out Mulder is humoring Father Joe and deciding to leave the situation and beat them all to the car NOW is in-character; but--

wait. WAIT. NO, I WAS WRONG. SCULLY’S JUST LEAVING LEAVING??? WHAT.

Okay, another essay time-- wow, I’m not even 20 minutes into this movie, HOW-- before we keep going: Scully leaving, now, because she doesn’t want to humor Father Joe has never stopped her in the past. Ten seconds ago she and Mulder were bantering, five seconds ago she bantered as she left, one cut later she’s somber and serious and dour and down and Mulder has to chase after her. WHAT HAPPENED IN A MILLISECOND to change her entire attitude, especially since she doesn't have a new piece of information to react to?????

In order:

Sees Father Joe is being humored (tilts head back in her normal, almost-amused, incredulous style):

Makes a bantery “It’s been fuuuuuuuuuun” remark and an upbeat “no thanks” remark:

Walks off (which is dangerous to her partner, will talk about that in the below paragraph) with a bantery “anyway, he doesn’t want me here” handwave:

Mulder is amused (but knows he has to go convince her):

MILLISECOND LATER with no new info or reaction “This isn’t my life anymore, Mulder”:

SO, we’re supposed to assume Scully wanted to hand Mulder over to the FBI from the start, sit back, and just let him run willy nilly around with them without her being there; and only came along because he asked her to come but still bailed on him when she didn’t like the case…?

Let’s take John Lee Roche as an example of why Scully wouldn’t react this way: during that and Grotesque and even Folie a Deux, Scully had Mulder’s back even against her own professional interests. She only left him in FTF and One Son because she thought Mulder didn’t need her any longer. Scully’s nature has always been to ride along, even when she doesn’t want to-- How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, an excellent example: even before her keys were stolen, she was still trying to talk herself out of joining Mulder. But now, NOW when it’s inconvenient, she decides to skip out? Now she has even less excuse: this is her partner’s freedom on the line; and he stipulated FROM THE GET-GO that he needs HER to work WITH him to solve this, BEFORE she called the FBI to agree.

THIS is not Scully. THIS is ridiculous.

Now, to those who are reading this and thinking, “well, she could have done that”-- true, Scully could have. Anyone can do anything, IF there is a logical reason or it’s in a person’s best interest to take that action. For instance: Never Again was in-character for Scully because it fit into the mold of previously established reactions to father figures and feeling second place. Why this isn’t in her character is because the two keys to Scully’s loyalty-- being prioritized and depended upon as well as valued and trusted-- are being handed to her on a silver platter and she’s rejecting them (AND her partner’s safety) because she doesn’t wanna do it. Again, that’s never been who Scully is: Scully does the hard thing because it needs to be done; and she only shirks or avoids the emotional mirror being held up to her while still doing her job. There’s a life on the line here-- two, possibly, if Mulder doesn’t follow through on the deal-- and Scully would rather dump the problem in his lap when the logical, realistic, and easily graspable answer is do this case for a few rough weeks or months (because Mulder has always worked fast), then have unlimited freedom and time to go back to doing what she wants. This is not the place to write in this reaction: have one for Scully if, in the discussion for his freedom, Mulder starts pushing for reinstatement instead of simply finishing this case and letting his past go. That’s not what happens here (at the very least); so it makes no sense for her to be doing these actions-- especially with the information she and Mulder are working on-- now.

Scully says “You’ve done all they’ve asked for you to do” as if implying that Mulder’s finished his task NOW, RIGHT NOW-- that one talk with a psychic has won his freedom. …I’m sorry, how did she conclude this and where was this established?

Mulder was brought on to find an agent; Scully thinks that agent is dead, so oh, well! You’re done here, Mulder, let’s go~.

Scully. You know and Mulder knows and I know that the FBI said one agent but really meant the whole case. Don’t be stupid. You’re not a stupid person. They never stipulated either way, c'mon, you were there, you know this.

The problems aren't over AND IT'S ONLY 20 MINUTES IN.

Next pet peeve: as a general rule, Mulder is understanding with those on the wrong side of the law; however, Father Joes is a pedophile. Further, we’re not shown the scene where Father Joe has humanized himself, his reasons, or even his current character enough to justify the soft way Mulder is dealing with him.

All we have is that--

Father Joe isolates himself in a compound.

Father Joe told Scully to leave the room when she barked at him.

Mulder handles Father Joe gently despite him being a pedophile and despite him kicking Scully out of the interrogation (which sets up her feeling left out.)

Mulder is sitting in the car with Father Joe (and Whitney) and not Scully despite the two of them driving to the same place together.

Father Joe’s castration and inner torment is not brought up until later when he wants to appeal to Scully.

So, for all intents and purposes, Mulder is being needlessly sweet to a guy that confessed (at this point) to touching more than a couple altar boys and ostracized Mulder's partner just because he’s… psychic. Does Chris not remember how Mulder was initially not nice to Samuel in Miracle Man until after he pulled the Samantha card, was never nice to Modell in Pusher, and still picked fights with various witnesses because of their personal decisions? Again, the only time Mulder was nice or at least professionally kind with flawed characters was AFTER they owned up to or tried to atone for their sins…and, AGAIN, we aren’t shown that scene between he and Father Joe. AND THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENES BETWEEN THEM BECAUSE IT SETS THE TONE FOR THEIR PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP. It falls into the “reply without a preceding remark” territory that I mentioned about the dialogue, except this time it's with characters. Really bad.

The writers try to save the interaction by having Father Joe sympathize about Samantha whereas the other agent up front doesn’t… but that only breaks the scene even more.

Male agent up front believed in psychic Father Joe before Mulder was even asked aboard the case.

Male agent up front believes in psychic abilities but still pokes at the man who was an “authority” on them by mocking Samantha’s “E.T.” abduction.

Male agent has been professionally distant and disdainful from the get-go; but it’s in HIS best interest to not create rifts with Mulder who is helping Father Joe help the FBI (and him) find their missing agent.

There is nothing in male agent’s character to suggest he is an irrational man; so, therefore, his random poke only serves to undercut his teammates’ efforts thus far to find and bring Mulder on board. This would waste everyone’s effort and precious time.

This scene only serves as a convenient excuse to simultaneously lore dump about Samantha and attempt, too late, to humanize Father Joe. Lore about Samantha is fine, but not if it contradicts (read: breaks) male agent's character. And humanizing Father Joe is pointless here because every monster can sympathize with others in their own crooked way. A truer test of character would be to show him go out of his way or comfort zone to help another person-- and that isn't what happens here.

Conclusion

Will I do a part two? Yeah, probably: I need to get to "the split" and Skinner and the vacation-- can't leave it (not even) half-done, after all.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

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