Case 04, File 13: Never Again

AKA: The First Men's Rights Activist

Mulder and Scully are a team. I feel like I don't need to elaborate on that, it's a fact of The X-Files' existence. The series would not have lasted a single season, much less a full 11 and 2 movies, if Mulder and Scully weren't one of the all time best teams to ever grace television. But that doesn't mean we can't find an interesting story by splitting them up. Okay, so the first time they tried (Three) didn't work out great, but that doesn't mean it can't work.

Our episode kicks off with our villain (sorta) Ed getting divorced and doing what every sensible person would do in that situation: Getting absolutely hammered and getting a tattoo of a pin up girl with the caption "Never Again." Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully are meeting a possible informant, who gives them information that Scully dismisses, because...well because it's from an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle. But that doesn't matter, because the FBI is mandating that Mulder take a vacation, so he throws all the work from this case in Scully's lap and she, despite her verbalized annoyance with it, decides she's still going to do it.

So she heads off to Philly to spy on the Russian and discover he has nothing to with aliens but is involved with the Russian mob. Meanwhile, Ed is still handling his divorce well, hallucinating his tattoo talking to him and attacking his female coworkers on its advice. After getting fired, he decides to cap off this whirlwind of good decision making with murdering his downstairs neighbor, again on the advice of his tattoo.

While following the Russian guy around, Scully happens upon the tattoo parlor where Ed got his tattoo and Ed is complaining about his tattoo uh, talking to him (although he doesn't phrase it that way). He and Scully briefly hit it off and, after an annoyed phone call with Mulder (who is at Graceland doing karate moves), she goes out on a date with Ed, gets a tattoo and sleeps with him. First actual good decision Ed made.

Hey, wasn't the tattoo winking a second ag-ohhhhhhh.

In the morning Ed goes out to get some breakfast, but while he's gone some cops show up, asking about the dead neighbor, at which point Scully gets her own Mulder moment and, after a few minutes of investigating the dyes in the tattoos they got, find that the red in his tattoo is driving him insane. She tries to talk him down, but he's back on the bad decision train and tries to murder her. She manages to talk him down, but his bad decision train has one last stop and he shoves his arm in the furnace to burn off the tattoo. The episode ends with Mulder and Scully trying to awkwardly discuss the events of the episode and the emotions Scully felt leading to them.

Never Again is a bit of an odd episode, by The X-Files' standards, and not just because it's a Scully solo episode. It continues the emotional arc of the previous episode without being a direct continuation, but it's also an episode that interrogates the central relationship of the series and finds it a little wanting. It's an episode I remember disliking as a teenager who was more interested in cool monsters and weird aliens than theme and emotions, but its an episode I've only connected with more and more as I've gotten older.

Perhaps one of the reasons it didn't sit well with me as a teenager is that I unconditionally admired Mulder as a teenager and this episode portrays Mulder as something of a self involved jerk. But what makes this especially painful is that it is not at all inconsistent with who he is. I love Mulder with all my heart and soul, but he's very self involved and he can be something of a jerk. By putting this aspect front and center, it makes you question your love for him and really see him as a flawed person. I particularly love the final scene, where he babbles uncontrollably, trying to cover how guilty he feels for his role in the events of the episode.

Mulder doing karate moves at Graceland is all I really want or need out of his subplot.

Not that it's a totally anti-Mulder episode, it's mostly an episode devoted to Scully and her exploring her darker side as she faces down her own mortality (which we'll discuss in the next episode). I really like her conversation in the bar with Ed, where she talks about her relationship with male authority figures and her eventual need to rebel. I'm not sure if this was something planned beforehand or the result of the writers throwing stuff that had already been established together and hammering it into a character, but it works for Scully. She wants approval and she wants to be a rebel at the same time, and these conflicting desires inform everything from entrance to the FBI to her work on the X-Files.

Giving the entire episode over to Scully is also a smart choice, reminding us that The X-Files was never her passion and while she's emotionally attached to the project (and Mulder), she's a whole person who is starting to realize she could die soon and maybe had desires and dreams outside of Mulder's pursuit of the truth.  It's painful to watch the final scene, as they sit across the desk from each other, trying to reconcile this gap between them. The central relationship of the show is beautiful and wonderful, but it's not perfect.

Man, I've spent three paragraphs talking about the emotional relationships that are core to the episode, I've barely even thought about our monster of the week. It's a pretty odd concept (although compared to the last episode...) but it works in the context of the episode. It's kind of gratifying that Scully's first solo outing has a mundane explanation and one she gets out of on her own, rather than having to call Mulder.

No really caption here, I just adore this final shot.

It's not a very scary episode, more devoted to the emotions of the characters than any horror movie setpieces, but that doesn't mean it's not effective. Ed's actual actions, a recent divorcee driven to violence against women, is just realistic enough to be unnerving, Jodie Foster's vocal performance as Betty oozes menace and I really like the murder scene, it's well put together. I dunno if the concept would work without Scully's emotional journey to be the backbone of an episode, but as a marriage of a good concept and a great story, it's a fantastic little episode, and another example of how The X-Files is stretching out and trying new things.

Case Notes:

• The cold opening is almost entirely dialogue-less, which is a gutsy choice, and choosing to use Tattooed Love Boys by the Pretenders for a scene that's depressing is pretty strange but it works.
• There's a solid amount of pathos in the opening scene with Scully at the Vietnam memorial, but I wanna hear what the Russian guy is saying!
• Part of what makes this episode engaging is that it walking right up to that line of believeability. The scene with Ed attacking his female coworker feels like it could really happen.
• Mulder doesn't want to take a week off but he has to or else the FBI will stop paying him. That is so very very Mulder.
• Also, I get that him talking about it when Scully is clearly distracted is an example of Mulder being self centered (which, let's not beat around the bush, he is) but it's a weird time to bring up the fact that she doesn't have a desk.
• I wonder if this episode works without knowing that Scully suspects she has cancer, giving her existential ennui. I guess most of this stuff has been building for a while.
• The conversation between Mulder and Scully in the office is really good and really uncomfortable, because its one of those moments that reveals a kind of ugly side to Mulder that is also really consistent with how he always acts.
• Also, can we talk about Scully remembering every scene from an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle?
• I know that Betty uses it to taunt him but seriously, it takes a lot to scare off a Jehova's Witness.
• I'd forgotten the murder in this episode is set to Doesn't Somebody Want to be Wanted. This is a pop song heavy episode.
• I love the really long tracking shot during the murder, it's great when The X-Files gets to stretch out and try new things.
• Even though she hates the assignment and thinks it's bullshit, Scully still goes down to Philly to do the surveillance. That is a very Scully thing to do.
• The scene where Scully talks to the tattoo artist while Ed gets talked to by Betty is great. It both sets up our solution and really helps us see into Ed's increasingly frayed state of mind. Solid editing.
• Mulder can read Scully's facial expressions over the phone. I love them so much.
• Mulder's spiritual journey is to Graceland, where he does karate moves. This is amazing.
• This is a really dark episode, and I don't just mean in content. Ed's apartment is constantly underlit, but it's only later that I notice that it's a good window into his psyche. After he shuts up Betty via cigarette to the face, his apartment lights up.
• Hey, call back to the "Scully smoking the cigarette story" from Beyond the Sea.
• Apparently Gillian Anderson wanted to get a real tattoo, but they decided against it.
• I like the kind of trance like music during the scene where Scully gets the tattoo and bangs Ed.
• Look Scully, I know that when you and Mulder are separated you have the instinct to bang someone (to wit: Three) but Mulder banged a weird vampire lady, you banged a murderer.
• Oh man, 90s computers. It weighs twice as much and has half the power of the chromebook I'm using to write this.
• Scully is in danger and her first instinct is to call Mulder. Aw.
• The reveal that the tattoo is responsible for Ed going psycho via parasite is good.
• I can't tell if the shot of Betty, minus the burn, is a plot hole or supposed to show that the tattoo is regenerating.
• This is the second episode in a row that ends with Scully in a punch up with the main villain. Hm. The music they play is really good though.
• Ed sticking his arm in the furnace is horrifying. I have no further notes just...yikes.
• The final scene, with Mulder basically talking at Scully is very good. It's pretty clear Mulder is trying to cover feeling ultra-guilty by babbling.
• I kinda wanna see the episode about the image of the missing girl appearing on a billboard though.
• As always, these reviews are supported by my Patreon. My X-Files: Resist or Serve stream has officially begun and we're working on getting my first video essay out soon, so support me if you want to see some more content like that.

Current Celebrity Watch:

Uh, the guy who plays Ed, Rodney Rowland, was a main character on Space: Above and Beyond, continuing Glen Morgan and James Wong's habit of giving everyone who appeared on their old show a job. But you don't wanna hear about that, you wanna hear about the big one:

Yes, the voice of Ed's tattoo is of course, Oscar winning actress Jodie Foster. This is the definition of stunt casting, especially how the opening credits parade her name, but it works really well. Foster is a great actress and as stated above, she brings an incredible amount of menace and nastiness into every line she reads.

Also, minor bit of trivia, but Quentin Tarantino was originally supposed to direct this episode, but had to drop out due to some argument with the DGA. I'm not too broken up about it, I'm not sure this episode would be improved by a bunch of lingering close ups on Scully's feet.

Audio Observations:

We've got two pop songs showing up here. First Tattooed Love Boys by the Pretenders plays over the opening scene of Ed in the bar, the relevance of which I shouldn't have to state. And second, Doesn't Somebody Want to be Wanted by the Partridge Family of all things plays over the murder scene, which is Ed's driving motivation. It's a creepy music choice and it works with the murder scene.