THE XFILES ROUNDTABLE: Home Again

After last week’s hilarious Were-Lizard episode, this week’s episode had a lot to live up to, and it often didn’t succeed in trying to mesh two very different storylines – Scully’s family tragedy and the trash monster/homeless/street artist. However, we got some witty dialogue and some deeply emotional scenes between Scully and her mother and then Mulder.

Melissa, Liz and I share our thoughts on the episode below. Please share your thoughts in the comments or on twitter (@nicegirlstv).

Poor Scully, between her mother and her guilt over William, she’s got a lot going on emotionally. 

Liz: Scully did have a lot to deal with but I’m glad that Mulder was there for her. At least she had someone to lean on and sound off on.

Cay: I spent a lot of time this summer and fall re-watching the first 6 seasons and I really enjoyed watching Mulder and Scully’s relationship development and seeing the emotional intimacy that they had long before they became a romantic couple. It was just so well done – they started out rather adversarial and then grew so close. This episode was a great reminder of that relationship and how only they understand what both of them have been through. I thought Gillian Anderson did a great job portraying Scully’s confusion and sadness when her mother asked for Charlie and when she didn’t know she’d changed her living will or why she was wearing the quarter around her neck and then her grief not only for her mother, but once again for the loss of her son William, which has been a thread that has run through all 4 episodes of season 10 so far.

Melissa: She went through the wringer in this episode, definitely. Every time she expresses guilt over William, I wonder why Mulder isn’t exhibiting the same. Is it because he was, in essence, merely a sperm donor? It was nice to see Mulder comforting Scully during her mother’s decline and death, though. He isn’t completely unsympathetic.

The homeless certain deserve a champion, but a rotten limb-ripping I-don’t-know-what conjured up by a street artist is weird, even by X-Files standards…and then there were the maggots…

Liz: It seemed to me that this Trashman was a Golem for the homeless. It reminded me of an episode of “Sleepy Hollow”, where the Golem was created out of the need to protect a child. It was a nod to folk lore.

Cay: But it was not near as awesome as the “Tulpa” (a Tibetian thoughtform as Mulder explains in this episode) we saw in the original season 6 episode “Arcadia” where Mulder and Scully posed as a married couple and went to battle against the thing that was enforcing the strict HOA rules in a planned community. Interestingly enough, that neighborhood was built on a landfill, so there’s the trash motif. I’m not sure if this episode was supposed to reference back to that one or not.

I can appreciate a spirit who looks out for the homeless, but the whole story was weird and not really in a good way.

Melissa: Confession: I “watched” most of those scenes with my eyes closed. It was only a matter of time before we got the ooey, gooey monster of the week episode, and this was it. I’m not sure I buy the tie-in between the street artist being responsible for what his monster is doing to people and Scully feeling guilt over William.

Speaking of throwbacks to original episodes, this episode was called Home Again, which seems like a throwback to the original episode of Home (both written by Glen Morgan, BTW). What similarities/references did you notice?

Cay: I still can’t hear the song Wonderful, Wonderful without a rather unwelcome trip down memory lane to the mutant Peacock brothers, who played the song on their car radio while they went on a killing spree. I fear that Downtown will now forever bring to mind a limb-ripping, maggott-ridden trash man. Scully also first really pondered motherhood during that episode, which parallels her guilt and concern for William in this episode. Both episodes also took place in Pennsylvania, but I believe Home was on the west side of the state.

Liz: I only vaguely remember “Home” from the original series. I don’t remember enough of it to compare this episode with that one.

Melissa: The use of “Downtown” mirrored “Wonderful, Wonderful” in “Home”. That’s all I noticed.

Favorite Lines/Scenes:

Liz: I didn’t really have a favorite line or scene

Cay: Mulder had some great snarky lines – he went from a dry sense of humor in the original seasons to now a bit more like a sarcastic curmudgeon, but I like it. My favorite scene was where Scully told Mulder that she always took the stairs in heels and also when Scully called Mulder “a dark Wizard”.

Melissa: Mulder comforting Scully (any of the times)

Scully: Back in the day, didn’t we ever come across a way to just wish someone back to life?
Mulder: I invented it. When you were in the hospital. Like this.
Scully: You’re a dark wizard, Mulder.
Mulder [laughs]: What else is new?

Mulder: It looks like this person was born without footprints. Which is impossible, by the way.

Overall Thoughts:

Cay: I liked the Scully plot, but could have done without most of the Band-aid Nose Man plot (it even sounds lame!). After all the discussion of William, I will be disappointed if it doesn’t go anywhere in the next two episodes – I want to actually see him or have M&S make some strides toward him. It seems like any danger he may have been in 13 years ago is probably past, unless Mulder is going to really drag up the conspiracy stuff in the next two episodes (which he might!)

Liz: I didn’t like this one at all. I couldn’t connect with any of it, wasn’t really moved by the death of Scully’s mother, and felt like Mulder was there only for product placement, so to speak. Maybe it’s too soon after last week’s comical episode, where they seemed to have fun making fun of themselves. This one was a bust for me.

Melissa: Angst much? This was pretty heavy after last week’s lighter episode, but I appreciated the further exploration of Scully and Mulder’s relationship. We filled in a few blanks and saw how much their partnership has evolved over the years. That was satisfying. And all the hugging made my ‘shipper heart happy.

Memorable Quotes:

Douche bag? Whoa, are you guys married? – Mulder

You’re a dark wizard, Mulder. – Scully
What else is new? – Mulder

Mulder, back in the day, I used to do stairs and in 3 inch heels. – Scully

I want to believe. I *need* to believe that we didn’t treat him like trash. – Scully

Watch the final two episodes of The X-Files on Mondays at 8/7c on FOX!