Non-contradiction
Ordinary decent people don’t go chasing pizza delivery boys through the woods at night and, upon catching them, stake them through the heart. Whatever else ‘Bad Blood’ may be, it is a testament to Mulder’s belief in the supernatural. So firm is his belief that he unhesitatingly does what needs to be done. Van Helsing would be so proud – but Van Helsing had the luxury of others’ belief. Mulder lives in a world where the default is unbelief, a world just waiting for him to make the kind of misstep that Ronnie’s killing appears to be.
Season Five, of which ‘Bad Blood’ is the twelfth episode, is the season in which Mulder loses his faith. ‘Redux’ and ‘Redux II’ spun a version of events which apparently persuaded Mulder that his life had been given over to a fruitless task. This loss of faith is very specific though. Aliens and their conspiracy to take over the world can now be explained by Kritschgau’s elaborate alternate history. Ironically, just as Mulder ceases to believe the conspiracy he has spent his adult life striving to uncover, Scully and Skinner show signs of believing. Neither give any indication of believing any more securely in the supernatural generally.
Mulder is only a sceptic where aliens are involved. As ‘Bad Blood’ makes patently obvious, his belief in the supernatural is unaffected by his new-found skepticism. Aliens are not supernatural creatures! They either exist or they don’t. They either do the things claimed of them, or they don’t. They are subject to all the laws of Scully’s science and evidence will have the final say. If aliens eventually colonise the world, we will all know it. It will not be a case subject to a difference in perception. Scully can remain doubtful of Mulder’s belief in vampires, but there will come a time – in about fifteen years – when doubting the existence of extraterrestrials will be the delusion.
The supernatural remains a matter of personal belief precisely because there is no proof that can be presented to substantiate its existence. This is why Mulder can eschew his belief in aliens and yet unhesitatingly stake Ronnie. There is nothing contradictory in his actions.
‘Bad Blood’ works on a number of levels. We do not perceive the world objectively, leading inevitably to the differing views of Mulder and Scully in this episode.
Mulder wants to believe, whereas Scully will only accept the evidence. Mulder is bound to see things that Scully will never witness for we tend to see what we want to see. Mulder will see evidence of vampiric behavior because he is predisposed to see it. Scully waits for the evidence. At that moment when Mulder stakes Ronnie there is not enough evidence to convince Scully. Mulder acted on belief. We should question whether an FBI agent has the luxury of acting on belief – how many Americans die by the hand of a cop because of the belief that their life was threatened?
After Mulder is attacked by Ronnie, only to be saved by Scully, he chases his assailant with the sole intent of acting out his own version of justice. Why else would he have a stake at the ready? Scully is right to be horrified.
Even if Mulder is correct and the supernatural exists, why is he always so ready to shoot ’n' stake? He had Ronnie bang to rights. Do FBI agents not carry handcuffs? Well, we know they do, at least in the X Files, because both Mulder and Scully have used them often enough. So, why the stake and not the handcuffs?
Scully may not often have the satisfaction of being proven right but we root for her because we know, even those of us who are not worshipful of science, that her need for evidence is a basic requirement of acceptance. There is a reason why those who accept outlandish beliefs feel the need to expound theories and justifications. H2 thrives off such verbiage.
Mulder is a complex human being and doesn’t always act the way we, who are less believing or not as insightful, hope and expect. Those with the propensity for greatness will always act in ways puzzling to us less gifted. They are no more human than the rest of us, they just don’t see things as mundanely as we do. Mulder is extremely fortunate to have Scully, as he acknowledges (cf. Fight the Future). Scully is a beautifully drawn character for she does not anchor Mulder, she strives only to help him keep his feet on the ground. An anchor would root him to the spot, which she clearly never does.
It is just one of the beautiful ironies of the X Files that it is Scully who appears in the filing cabinet a record number of times. Mulder is an X File waiting to happen.
Season Five, of which ‘Bad Blood’ is the twelfth episode, is the season in which Mulder loses his faith. ‘Redux’ and ‘Redux II’ spun a version of events which apparently persuaded Mulder that his life had been given over to a fruitless task. This loss of faith is very specific though. Aliens and their conspiracy to take over the world can now be explained by Kritschgau’s elaborate alternate history. Ironically, just as Mulder ceases to believe the conspiracy he has spent his adult life striving to uncover, Scully and Skinner show signs of believing. Neither give any indication of believing any more securely in the supernatural generally.
Mulder is only a sceptic where aliens are involved. As ‘Bad Blood’ makes patently obvious, his belief in the supernatural is unaffected by his new-found skepticism. Aliens are not supernatural creatures! They either exist or they don’t. They either do the things claimed of them, or they don’t. They are subject to all the laws of Scully’s science and evidence will have the final say. If aliens eventually colonise the world, we will all know it. It will not be a case subject to a difference in perception. Scully can remain doubtful of Mulder’s belief in vampires, but there will come a time – in about fifteen years – when doubting the existence of extraterrestrials will be the delusion.
The supernatural remains a matter of personal belief precisely because there is no proof that can be presented to substantiate its existence. This is why Mulder can eschew his belief in aliens and yet unhesitatingly stake Ronnie. There is nothing contradictory in his actions.
‘Bad Blood’ works on a number of levels. We do not perceive the world objectively, leading inevitably to the differing views of Mulder and Scully in this episode.
Mulder wants to believe, whereas Scully will only accept the evidence. Mulder is bound to see things that Scully will never witness for we tend to see what we want to see. Mulder will see evidence of vampiric behavior because he is predisposed to see it. Scully waits for the evidence. At that moment when Mulder stakes Ronnie there is not enough evidence to convince Scully. Mulder acted on belief. We should question whether an FBI agent has the luxury of acting on belief – how many Americans die by the hand of a cop because of the belief that their life was threatened?
After Mulder is attacked by Ronnie, only to be saved by Scully, he chases his assailant with the sole intent of acting out his own version of justice. Why else would he have a stake at the ready? Scully is right to be horrified.
Even if Mulder is correct and the supernatural exists, why is he always so ready to shoot ’n' stake? He had Ronnie bang to rights. Do FBI agents not carry handcuffs? Well, we know they do, at least in the X Files, because both Mulder and Scully have used them often enough. So, why the stake and not the handcuffs?
Scully may not often have the satisfaction of being proven right but we root for her because we know, even those of us who are not worshipful of science, that her need for evidence is a basic requirement of acceptance. There is a reason why those who accept outlandish beliefs feel the need to expound theories and justifications. H2 thrives off such verbiage.
Mulder is a complex human being and doesn’t always act the way we, who are less believing or not as insightful, hope and expect. Those with the propensity for greatness will always act in ways puzzling to us less gifted. They are no more human than the rest of us, they just don’t see things as mundanely as we do. Mulder is extremely fortunate to have Scully, as he acknowledges (cf. Fight the Future). Scully is a beautifully drawn character for she does not anchor Mulder, she strives only to help him keep his feet on the ground. An anchor would root him to the spot, which she clearly never does.
It is just one of the beautiful ironies of the X Files that it is Scully who appears in the filing cabinet a record number of times. Mulder is an X File waiting to happen.
Comments
Post a Comment