The Scully Rebellion

Dana Scully was recruited out of medical school and joined the F.B.I. because it was somewhere she felt she would be able to distinguish herself. While this admission seems not to make much of an impact upon Section Chief Blevins and the other two men in the room, the fact that Scully has been called into this meeting implies that she has already, to some degree, distinguished herself. How else would she come to the notice of men who obviously sit in positions of significant authority? At this point, Scully has been with the Bureau for only two years. Unlike the agent she is asked about, Scully has not achieved a reputation for success. There is no mention, throughout the whole interview, of any particular accomplishment. So what is it about Scully that has drawn her to the attention of these men?

Section Chief Blevins, with who knows what influence of the mysterious cigarette-smoking, silent man in the corner, has judged Scully appropriate to the task simply because she appears to be the very antithesis of Special Agent Fox Mulder. This is how she distinguishes herself in the eyes of the F.B.I. Probably not what she had in mind for herself. 

These men, however, have made a fatal mistake in their assessment of this demure, conservatively dressed, seemingly by-the-book agent. To be fair to Scully, she does give them the opportunity to reassess their decision to partner her with Fox Mulder. Being the very definition of officious, these men fail to even notice the clue Scully provides. With this detail, Scully is clearly trying to strike a rapport with these impersonalities who see her only as a means to an end. She fails in her objective but reveals an insight into her character that will enable her to form a bond with the agent  they set her to spy on - whether they are willing to admit it or not. 

It is fortunate for the show, if unfortunate for their intended goals, that Scully has this aspect to her personality. If these men had noted it, she probably would have been shunted out of the office and some other agent called in to replace her.

The vital little snippet comes when, in response to Blevins’ question about how she came to work for the F.B.I., Scully reveals that her parents “still think it was an act of rebellion”. One can only think that this comment was ignored - or simply failed to register - because, in all other respects, Scully fit perfectly the requirements deemed pertinent to the task. If they acknowledged that their ideal candidate was capable of an act of rebellion they would be forced to find a replacement - maybe one who had not distinguished themself to the extent that Scully obviously has.

The irony is, of course, that they are appointing Scully to work with - to rein in - an agent who has, in his own way, also rebelled - this time against the F.B.I. mainstream. 

On the surface, it looks as if these men had made a wise choice. Scully is respectful of authority. She is dedicated to her work (how else would she have come to Blevins’ notice?), she is a scientist and all that that entails, she is diplomatic (notice how she steps in to salve Jay Nemman’s feelings at the graveyard) and she makes an effort to get on with those with whom she works (that little tidbit about her parents is a friendly aside to the smoking man in the corner). These are also the very qualities which make her a very dangerous partner (from Blevins’ point of view) for Special Agent Fox Mulder.

Mulder is also dedicated - some might say obsessed - with his work, so there is bound to be mutual respect between the new partners. Mulder is fervently in search of evidence to support his belief in the reality of the X-Files. Who better to have as a partner than the person who rewrote Einstein? Scully’s diplomatic skills will also prove useful on many occasions during their work together. Altogether, these two agents together make up one formidable team. Such is the irony of Blevins’ selection of Dana Scully as Fox Mulder’s new partner.

It is worth taking notice of that dissertation that Mulder professes to have read and liked. Scully did her undergraduate degree in Physics and wrote a dissertation on Einstein entitled: Einstein’s Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation. Certainly, this dissertation proves her credentials as a scientist. But, it does far more than that! Scully may be a scientist and devoted to the scientific method but this, in itself, is evidence that she is open to alternative theories. The willingness to be proven wrong is a much vaunted quality of the scientific method. Scully may not have set out to prove Einstein wrong, but she is clearly willing to look at the evidence from angles that might not lie within the box. Of course, it will take years of working with Mulder before she is fully able to accept the truth that lies out there but, right from the outset, it was evident that she would get there if the evidence proved sufficiently strong enough. 

The Pilot episode of The X-Files serves to set the scene for the entire series. Already, we are made aware that nothing is what it seems. Not even the two agents at the very heart of the show.