X-Files Episode Guide: all things

Written & Directed by Gillian Anderson

More than sixteen years after Anderson's sole contribution to the X-Files pantheon, I'm still not sure what to make of it. I know what the critics thought of it, I know what the shippers think of it, I know what I thought about it at the time, but it's a maddening episode nevertheless. It's not terrible or self-indulgent, but considering that it doesn't fit into any part of the series canon, I can understand why so many people were frustrated with it.  That said, there are certain parts of that actually would only have worked in Season 7, a season that has been incredibly erratic.

I can understand why Anderson might have wanted to write and direct an episode at this juncture - Duchovny had done so sporadically and had another one just two episodes down the road. (More on that later.) And considering how little information we've gotten on Scully's backstory outside of her family, one could understand why she'd want to try and pursue it before the series closed up shop. However, I can understand why so many people would be frustrated by her attempt. Mainly because, strictly speaking this isn't an X-File at all. A lot of fans were irritated by the attempt to look inside Scully back in Never Again because it seemed to be exploring the flaws in the Mulder-Scully dynamic. And the fact that Mulder is absent for the majority of the episode, this time by design, one could understand why a lot of them got a sinking feeling.

But considering the journey that Scully has been taking for much of Season 7, finally starting to acknowledge that Mulder's beliefs have been right this whole time, all things could not be better placed. And in order to show the parallels between the path that Scully has been taking throughout the series, it's fitting that the path also takes back into Scully's past. Admittedly, the coincidences that seem to follow the episode seem a little far-fetched, but that's the point. Without Mulder here to point out the possibility of the paranormal, it makes Scully's journey seem all the more emotional.  When Scully encounters a man she studied under, and once had a vital relationship with, we begin to see part of what made her go down this path in the first place. It sort of plays into the attraction she's always had to authority figures, but for the first time, we start to see some of the consequences. And it's fitting that the man she loves is so much like her, despite the age difference we can see why Scully would've been attracted to him, and why she left feeling the consequences of her actions.

It's not clear whether the spiritual presence is something that has always been part of Gillian Anderson's own history, but it's fitting that most of what we see is more holistic than spooky. The idea that Scully is trying to follow a certain road is actually well illustrated, particularly in the episodes really climax, where she seems to have a vision. She isn't willing, even to Mulder, to say that God showed her a path, but it is something that might be something she'd be willing to accept.. And it's also fitting that Daniel Waterston doesn't believe that what she tried to do for him worked - in a sense, it represents the trail Scully has blazed. The old Scully would've agreed with Waterston that medicine brought him out of his coma; the Scully who has reached this point now can accept that their might be other things beyond her scope.

So Anderson the writer does a pretty good job. Where the episode fails is under Anderson the director. The viewer is supposed to accept that the pace of all things is supposed to be a suggest as to what Scully should do. But it makes it point very clear the first time it happens, maybe the second. By the time the pace has slowed down for the eighth time, you begin to think there's a lack of confidence in the point that Anderson just wasn't comfortable making. As a result, the episode seems sluggish at time, and it seems to dwell on the fact that very little is actually happening. This in an emotional and spiritual journey, not a physical one, but it doesn't change the fact that a lot of the episode is godawful slow.

Of course, a lot of the viewers of the episode don't give a hill of beans about the spiritual journey or the vaguely coincidental plotlines. All they give a damn about is the overwhelming possibility that the episode hints in at the teaser, where Mulder and Scully finally, finally do the wild thing. Never mind that the episode seems to end with Scully falling asleep before Mulder can even kiss her, this is where the magic finally happened. It's fitting that at this point Anderson both as writer and star is willing to accept something that Carter, even at this late date, wasn't going to allow to happen. (As a side note, how long has Mulder had a bed in his apartment? Did he get one for just this occasion?). You'd think by this juncture the writers would've been able to loosen up on their rule that Mulder and Scully were never, ever going to sleep together. It sure would've made the last two seasons of the series easier to deal with.

Leaving aside that, all things is a pretty good episode. It's not as self-indulgent as some of the other scripts have been this seasons, and it actually gives Anderson a chance to flex her acting muscles in a way she hasn't done much this season either. One could make the argument that nothing really happens in this episode, and considering that the X-Files was supposedly in its final stretch, that could've been even more of a disappointment. But as part of the trip that the most skeptical character in the world has been taking this season, it actually seems vital. Even Mulder admits as much.

My score: 3.25 stars.