Medusa

Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
He'll fly his astral plane,
Takes you trips around the bay,
Brings you back the same day,
Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.

     Moody Blues, In Search of the Lost Chord, 1968

Perseus was sent to bring the snake-haired head of Medusa back to Polydectes, the king of Seriphus. Of course, whoever looked upon Medusa was immediately turned to stone, so Perseus was, in effect, being sent to his death. And all because Polydectes fancied the young hero’s mother!
The young must learn from the old the lessons they need if they are to succeed in life.
It is a taut relationship because the old strive to retain control, while the young strive to breakaway. Too much control by the elders stifles – or kills – the life of the young. Not enough control and the young fail to learn all that they will later need. There is a sense, of course, in which the kids can kill the life of their parents – lack of sleep, effects upon professional life, regrets over things not done, etc. All of this, as is so often the case, is encapsulated in the myth of Perseus and Medusa.
None of which appears to be the case in the eighth season’s twelfth episode, ‘Medusa’.
Maybe it’s just one of those quirks of history that, without the head of the woman he’d murdered, Perseus would have achieved none of what he is famous for – though, bear in mind, this includes rescuing his mother from the evil clutches of Polydectes. And maybe London wouldn’t have been the first city to build an underground railway system if it wasn’t for the monarch being female. Maybe not now, but at the time, it must have been somewhat ironic that the greatest and fastest technological advancement ever experienced occurred under the rule of a woman.
As much as Londoners quibble about the Underground, it remains a huge achievement and still is probably more reliable than the quite useless British surface rail system. But this has even less to do with ‘Medusa’ than does Perseus himself.
Think about that taut relationship, though. What do we live for if not to leave something for those who come after us? On a personal level, this would be our own children, whom we’d like to have a better life than we maybe had. On a grand scale, it is posterity. Same drive really.
Imagine if that solicitor, Charles Pearson, was to see the London Underground today? Visionary though he was, how amazed would he be? Not a name many could readily recall, yet his vision has such a huge impact on modern life. Now there’s an epitaph!
Polydectes wants something Perseus does not want him to have. Deputy Chief Karras wants something which Dana Scully does not want him to have. Polydectes sends Perseus on a mission which is suicidal, just as Doggett is sent on a mission which could well be no less so. To encounter Medusa is certain death, just as to come in contact with what is down there in them tunnels is a death warrant. Perseus confronts the danger and overcomes it, just as Doggett does. And just as Perseus saves his mother, so Doggett grows ever more entrusted by Scully.
It’s all about that taut relationship – finding the balance between keeping the trains running and enabling commuters to travel safely. Finding the balance between just doing your job and making epoch changing TV. By this point in its run, the X Files is no longer epoch making but neither is Obi Wan Kenobi by the time Luke Skywalker meets him. Doesn’t make him any less worthy of Luke’s admiration.
We live in the age of disposable culture. And so we quibble over what was achieved before we were born. Yet, for the most part, what was done before – what Charles Pearson achieved – had never been done. Most of what we do now, we do because of the likes of Charles Pearson. Would Breaking Bad have been done if not for the X Files?
It is necessary that we rail against the strictures of what is imposed upon us from those who went before us. It is also necessary that we don’t forget what was achieved and the debt we owe. What is the World Wide Web if not, like the Underground system, just another way to travel?