10 Defining Moments for Mulder/Scully [Contributor: Lizzie]

First, there were Mulder and Scully.

Then came romance and shipping and OTPs. We’ve talked about this subject before, and yet for as much as we’ve discussed Mulder/Scully as an entity, we’ve barely discussed them as an actual couple. Because, despite what Chris Carter wants to say in his revisionist history, Mulder and Scully had a romantic progression that, though slow, was always certain. In fact, you could even say that, in the world of The X-Files, it was Mulder/Scully or bust. After all, there were never any other viable prospective candidates for either of them.

They were partners first, and then friends, and then lovers — but they never stopped being one to become the other. Maybe that’s why, over twenty years after they first appeared on our TV screens, the revival of The X-Files got us as excited as a new season of any other show. For many of us, these two were our first OTP, and they remain the standard. The golden couple, if you will. The one that made all the others possible.

So join me in this journey from “platonic” to “OTP” as we count down ten defining moments in the ship that started it all. Not all of them are obvious “romantic” moments, necessarily, but I dare you to take a look at this list and agree with that platonic nonsense.

No, really. I dare you.

Scully goes to Mulder for help. (“Pilot”)

They had no reason to like each other, must less trust each other yet, but when Scully finds two suspicious looking marks in her back who does she run to? That’s right — her new partner, Fox Mulder. It seems like a little thing in the grand scheme of events that unfold later on, but it’s the moment that broke the proverbial ice. This moment took them from being two agents forced to work together to two human beings who just so happen to work for the FBI. After that, Mulder sort of opens up to Scully, and she stops seeing him like a crazy person who’s trying to wind her up.

A sick Mulder goes to Scully’s apartment. (“Anasazi”)

We jump to the season two finale, and we find our favorite duo to now be a well-oiled machine, but more importantly, friends. Real friends. Friends who defy authority to protect each other. And, of course, the type of friends who — when drugged — go to each other’s apartment. Because who else are you going to turn when you’re not in total control of yourself? Worth noting is that the scene after Mulder shows up in Scully’s apartment, he’s in his underwear, which leaves us to assume that the level of intimacy between these two has gone up to the point that Scully felt comfortable divesting him of his clothes. Which, yeah, I’m here for. I approve.

Scully grabs Mulder’s hand. (“Pusher”)

Before Olicity, before Bellarke, and before many many others, there were Mulder and Scully — the first couple that became iconic because of the chemistry between two actors and not because of the actual writing. And part of that magic are the unscripted touches and the little things that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson added to these two characters, like this first instance of hand-holding and what it represents. Dana Scully is not a touchy-feely person, especially not at work. She’s worked very hard to get where she is, and she’s done it by being anything but the stereotypical woman. But it’s not only her comfort that she’s seeking when she reaches out for Mulder — it’s his. He’s, after all, the one just got controlled by Modell, and the one who almost shot her. (Yes, to recap: she was almost shot, and she’s comforting him. How can you not love that?)

Mulder and Scully hug. (“Memento Mori”)

If you want two characters to get closer, angst is the way to go. Or so they say. For someone who claims he wasn’t trying to get his two main characters together, Chris Carter sure threw a lot of personal angst their way during Scully’s cancer arc in seasons four through five. There are tons of moments to choose from in that whole arc — from Scully calling Mulder first when she gets the diagnosis, to Mulder losing it when Scully’s in the hospital, to her journal, and the sobbing at her bedside. And that’s without even mentioning Scully offering to take the blame for something he’s being accused of, since she’s going to die anyway, Mulder fighting until he finds the cure, and Scully believing him when he does.

But none of those moments are quite as important in the overall journey from separate entities to coupledom as the hug of absolute tenderness, love, and relief when Scully decides to return to work and keep fighting by his side.

“You’re my one in five billion.” (“Folie a Deux”)

If you need affirmation, Mulder and Scully are not the couple for you. Really, they’re not. Romantic declarations are not the norm for these two, though Mulder does like to reaffirm their bond from time to time. Scully always acts like she doesn’t need it/like it, but we know better. Mulder might not be saying "I love you," but considering the lessons of this episode, saying “You’re my one in five billion” is just as poignant. In a way, it means more than I love you. It means: "I need you. I want you. I can’t do this without you."

“You kept me honest. You made me a whole person.” (The X-Files: Fight the Future)

This is a movie, so the drama needs to be amped up. It doesn’t feel out of character, however, for Scully to think that’s she’s bringing Mulder down. She’s, after all, the one who always has a "... but." Maybe without her, he’d be better off, she tells him.

And that’s when Mulder sets her straight. Boy, does he. He starts by telling her that she’s saved him. He hasn’t always liked it, he hasn’t always appreciated it, but she’s grounded him. She’s made him a better man. And, in the most heartbreaking admission ever, he also lets out that he doesn’t feel he’s done the same for her. He doesn’t feel he’s bringing anything to the relationship. And to think: this conversation started because Scully thought he’d be better off without her.

“Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant. My touchstone.” (“The Sixth Extinction, Part II: Amor Fati”)

It’s always Mulder with the words, even though it’s not always Mulder with the actions. This time, it's Scully rescuing him. It is Scully who needs the reassurance, and — since these two are partners in everything — though he’s still not close to 100%, it's Mulder who utters what could almost be marriage vows, and Scully the one that’s left to agree. And it’s not just the part I quoted above. It’s also this: “... my world was unrecognizable and upside down. There was one thing that remained the same. You.”

Platonic indeed.

First kiss. (“Millennium”)

It’s not just that they kissed for the first time (that we know of, but considering the next moment, who knows what revisionist history Chris Carter might be telling tomorrow) — it’s how they looked at each other AFTERWARDS. It’s how Mulder got a little meta with his whole “the world didn’t end,” comment. It’s that they carried on as if nothing had changed, because — deep down — nothing had. They already knew.

“What if there was only one choice? And all the other choices were wrong?” (“All Things”)

The consensus is that THIS is when Mulder and Scully finally became a thing. After all, the episode ends with a shot of Scully IN Mulder’s bathroom, getting ready, while Mulder sleeps on, apparently sans clothes. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out something happened. But the actual sex scene that Chris Carter deprived us of isn’t even as important as Scully taking a walk down memory lane, exploring the what-ifs and definitively choosing Mulder, accepting him as her destiny. After all, like Mulder says, in response to the question I quoted above: “All the choices would then lead to this very moment.”

Just about every scene they have together in the series finale. (“The Truth”)

The only bright spot in season nine, this episode almost made up for Duchovny’s absence (almost). From that first somewhat-awkward reunion in jail (where Mulder calls her Dana instead of Scully as a way of warning her they’re being watched), to how they almost ignore that Skinner is right there and get to kissing as soon as they’re not being watched, to how they cannot let go of each other after (Mulder even kisses Scully’s hand like it’s nothing — like he does it every day). And, of course, there’s also how the two very literally run away together at the end, only to give us a final scene that’s so reminiscent of the first moment that it makes my heart ache. Mulder and Scully together in a nondescript hotel room. They’re even discussing the same things. Except, this time, they’re finally on the same page.

And then they just spoon, and it’s the end, but it’s not — because it’s them against the world, and we don’t know how or when, but we know they won’t give up.

BONUS SCENE: Mulder and Scully share a bed. (The X-Files: I Want to Believe)

Six years after the events of “The Truth,” Mulder and Scully are still together, and still partners. Except now, they’re what they were always meant to be — what they always were, and the show never actually allowed. They are 100% in a relationship. They joke about how well-endowed Mulder is; she complains about his scratchy beard, and he nuzzles her neck. It’s like they tore a page out of one of the fandom’s most recognizable fanfics and decided to play it out. It’s glorious, amazing, and a dream come true.

Agree? Disagree? Have a moment you think should have made the list? Share with us in the comments!

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Of Mulder/Scully and the Birth of the "Shipping" Phenomenon [Contributor: Lizzie]

Shipper: short for relationshipper; one who believes there is, was, should, and could be a relationship between two characters in a certain fandom.

IN THE BEGINNING...

The definition above is mostly, for the uninitiated. I’m not even sure there’s a person online right now who needs the term "shipping" described to them, but I decided to play it safe and include it anyway. After all, my mom could be reading this article. And she would probably need the definition.

But the rest of us… we’re clear. We know what shipping is. We’ve probably actively engaged in shipping (or currently "engage," present tense, whatever). We’ve discussed the merits of one ship over another; we’ve written fanfic, created GIF sets, analyzed every little word and/or touch to distraction, and written thousands of words about character motives. And we’ve probably even told our friends -- or maybe our editors -- that they’re wrong to ship a certain pairing (Jenn, I still love you, but Harry/Hermione?!).

Shipping is a part of life. Well, it's a part of fandom life, at least. And something pretty great is that shipping not a rational thing: we don’t always ship two people because the writing is dictating that they become a couple, though that’s a reason. Sometimes, honestly, we ship two characters because of the chemistry. Other times, it’s just purely for the sake of aesthetics – we want the pretty people to get together, dang it! We may even ship two characters because their interactions speak to a part of ourselves and our lives that we keep hidden from the rest of the world.

The point is, there are many reasons to ship one couple or another. I’m not here to discuss, in-depth, those particular reasons or my own preference of ships. I have mine (many, many ships... too many to count, really but hit me up on Twitter if you want to know) and you have yours. You probably won’t change your mind about your ships, and I won’t change mine. And, actually, that doesn’t even really matter.

What matters is this: this whole shipping phenomenon, as we know, it started a little over twenty years ago, because of David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and a purposely vague relationship between the male and female leads of The X-Files.

The rest, as they say, is TV history.

Now, this isn't to say that Mulder and Scully were the original ship. They were not the first time people looked at two people and said: "I want THOSE two to get together." People have been shipping characters for as long as there have been books, TV, and movies. Heck, I would not be surprised if people shipped Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare's day. But the actual term and the frenzy associated with it? Well – you can thank fans of The X-Files for that.

ANCIENT HISTORY

In the old days of usenet groups and modems, when fanfiction.net and Tumblr were still pipe dreams, X-Files fans were divided in two groups: those who wanted Mulder and Scully to get together (a.k.a, the relationshippers) and those who wanted the relationship to remain platonic (a.k.a. the noromos). One of those terms stuck, the other one… well, the other one went the way of their desires.

Since this is the Internet, of course, and the word relationshippers is far too long of a word to use in normal conversation, the term was pretty quickly thereafter shortened just to "shippers."

How’s that for an ancient history lesson?

Even during the show’s run, however, the term "shipping" was rarely talked about outside of specific fan circles (namely, nerds on the Internet). Yes, there was media coverage focused on the fans who liked the idea of the couple getting together, but that coverage was never as widespread as it is today.

It’s not that people were less passionate about shipping back in the day though, lest you think that – they just had less of an opportunity to connect with the people behind the show and actually affect outcomes. Think of Mulder/Scully as the little ship that could – the relationship that developed despite the creator's best intentions (you can’t rewrite history now, Chris Carter, we know), and despite the fact that, for at least half of its run, the shippers weren’t even that vocal. In fact, for the inevitability of a Mulder/Scully romance I see in retrospect, watching live I was often convinced that it was never, ever going to happen.

(... Did it happen? Did I dream it? Are Mulder and Scully together right now?)

For me, shipping started with these two characters. I’ve evolved now, of course. I ship just about everything there is. But there was a time I didn't. And I spent much of my teenage years obsessing over gestures between Mulder and Scully and/or hoping for at least a hug between the two. And I wasn’t the only one, obviously. So what was it about them, you ask? (If you’ve never seen the show, this is a valid question. If you have, then… are you a noromo?) What was it about Mulder and Scully as characters and as a ship that drew such a passionate fanbase that we’re all still here -- talking about them -- twenty-two years after the pilot first aired?

Okay, I’m going to try my best to answer you. I really am. It’s probably going to take a lot of words in order to do so, because, well… the show lasted for eight eight seasons (technically nine, but we all try to ignore season nine), and there’s a lot to analyze. Too much, maybe.

And it started right from the pilot episode.

A LITTLE BIT OF CHEMISTRY GOES A LONG WAY

Chemistry between actors is a funny and an inexplicable thing. Sometimes the spark is there, sometimes it isn’t (and sometimes shows attempt to force chemistry out of two actors who don't, but that's another case altogether). And boy, do David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have chemistry. They have so much chemistry, in fact, that sometimes I find myself wondering about if that chemistry translated to real life or originated there. As Mulder and Scully, though, the spark and sizzle was readily apparent from day one.

In fact, it was so apparent that before there were real signs of the ship in the writing itself, Chris Carter was already answering questions about the possibility of romance between the two leads. In an interview published before "Ghost in the Machine" (literally THE FIFTH EPISODE OF THE FIRST SEASON) aired, the show’s creator gave this response to a question about the nature of Mulder and Scully’s relationship.

“No, it’s a relationship that is much stronger and more passionate. First of all I would call it a cerebral romance, in that these characters sort of delight in each other’s approaches and it isn’t the pat or standard or expected television romance between them. There is no physicality between them. I don’t see it in the near future here. They don’t end up in the sack together. At least I don’t see it happening yet. I think it’s refreshing. I mean I was raised on shows like The Avengers which are smart and the characters were very attractive for those aspects. They didn’t have to end up in bed together.”

We should have known just by how defensive Chris Carter got (and by the fact that he felt compelled to deny the possibility of a romantic relationship three times in one paragraph) that he didn’t really understand what was happening between the two leads on his own show. (No physicality, Carter? What’s with the whole Mulder straightening out Scully’s necklace in episode three?!). But we’re not here to talk about Chris Carter and what he did or didn’t understand about the romantic relationship between Mulder and Scully. We already had that chat. We’re here to talk about what we saw, not what he saw.

(Hint: we saw plenty)

From the very beginning, the whole set-up of the series felt like a slow-burn couple with a clear endgame in sight. After all, Mulder and Scully were, in the early days of The X-Files, the only two characters you saw episode in and episode out. Have you heard the phrase “it’s you and me against the world”? Well, it WAS Mulder and Scully against the world.

And what a world it was.

A strange, strange world where unexplained was the norm, where evidence disappeared, where you were expected to report on your partner. A world where you’re given a job that -- just by accepting it -- would make you a pariah. A world where you’re the only one who can see the truth, and are ridiculed for it.

So, it was only natural that these two people would develop chemistry, that we would be drawn to them as viewers and invested in their relationship. When there’s no evidence of the crazy stuff you’ve seen, the only person who’ll believe you’ve seen some crazy stuff... is the person who was there with you for it. And yes, the show took Scully’s skepticism to extremes sometimes, mainly by having her conveniently “miss” most of the moments that would have proven Mulder right. But in general, Scully was always there for the weird and for the unexplained. She just usually managed to have a rational explanation for it.

This is the beginning, the basis for everything in their relationship. You have this person, this one person who’s there with you – there for you, and you sort of end up trusting that person by default. And then that trust is put to the test. (See "Ice" and "Darkness Falls" just in season one alone). And after a while, it’s not that you trust them because they’re there, and it’s easy. You trust them because they’ve proven themselves to you. That person has become your friend, your confidant – your partner.

THE EVOLUTION OF A SHIP

Early on in the show, we see Scully attempting to maintain a normal life outside of work. If we hadn’t, we might have -- as an audience -- wondered about her or have been concerned for her. Mulder was wholly devoted to his work from the start, for many, many reasons. He’d given up the pretense of a life outside of it. Scully, however, had to choose to join him on his quest. And join him she did – to the detriment of most of the relationships in her life.

There’s a moment in the season one episode "Jersey Devil" where Scully turns down a date to join Mulder in an investigation. He teases her about having a life, but it’s clear from that instance early on that Scully is choosing to make Mulder her life. She’s not choosing the quest, but him. She’s following him.

(Now read that line three times and tell me you don’t ship them.)

At the end of season one, after time spent fighting against the system all by themselves, our heroes are put in the stereotypical season-finale cliffhanger of being separated from one another. The X-Files are terminated, and Mulder and Scully must go their own ways. And I promise you that if you somehow made it through an X-Files initial watch (or re-watch) without somehow shipping Mulder and Scully, the premiere of season two is the moment you would start.

Because Mulder is depressed in that premiere. He has no evidence to back any of his claims. And, look, that doesn’t seem like a big deal. But understand this – HE’S NEVER HAD EVIDENCE. That has never really bothered him before. He was that lonely guy screaming at the sky before Scully. Now he’s better. He’s grown. He might not have all the answers, but at least now, thanks to the woman The Powers that Be assigned to debunk him, he’s asking the right questions.

And Scully’s grown, too. She’s the one to encourage Mulder not to give up. He’s expanded her world, just as she provided a foundation for his.

(Crying? Nah, I’m not crying. I just have a little something in my eye.)

And to think I've written this entire article and haven’t even gone into Scully’s abduction, Mulder’s rage, Mulder wearing her cross necklace for the entirety of that horrible episode where she was missing, Mulder’s rage again, when she returned, Scully’s family being all like: "we know you’re in love with her, dude," and that little moment when Mulder decides being with Scully is more important than revenge. We haven’t even talked about any of that yet, you guys.

And we won’t, mostly because we need to talk about something even more important that’s not often discussed. Mulder’s entire reason for – well, for everything, is his sister, Samantha. Samantha was abducted when he was 12 years old, and he not only blames himself for it, but dedicates his life to figuring out what happened. To finding her.

... ONLY TO TRADE HER LIFE FOR SCULLY’S WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT.

(And, yes, fine, that wasn’t the real Samantha, just clone Samantha. But he didn’t know that. Mulder really thought he was giving up his long-lost sister. Remember when you asked me, like a thousand words ago, why I shipped them? THIS IS EVIDENCE OF WHY.)

As an aside, just for those uninitiated into The X-Files, I’m not even up to the end of season three here.

There’s more of this throughout the series -- more of the same, and more of different ways to show love. I’m not here to do a play-by-play of all the Mulder/Scully moments for you, though. (For the record, I totally would be, but this has already taken many more words than I planned). I’m merely here to give you a glimpse into what made these two idiots the couple to ship back in the 90’s. I'm here to explain to you what made people who never watched the show when it originally aired be as invested in their relationship as I was when I was a teenager.

I'm here to explain to you what made Mulder/Scully the jump-off point for this crazy, beautiful, wonderful phenomenon called shipping. (And I hope I managed to do that.)

Because they were the starting point, there’s no doubt about it. Do you love a couple on TV today? Have you ever fallen in love with a fictional character’s love story? Do you enjoy fanfiction, the GIF sets, even the debates and meta commentary? Then take a moment to thank Mulder and Scully. Or, better yet, go watch them and THEN thank them.

The original ship always has room for one more member.

The X-Files returns with six new episodes beginning January 24th, 2016 on FOX.

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When Stories and Characters Develop Minds of Their Own: Of Mulder/Scully and Chris Carter [Contributor: Lizzie]

Everyone who calls themselves a writer dreams of one day getting one of those characters. You know what I’m talking about: the characters who write themselves, the stories that seem to develop without your input, and sometimes, even without your consent. As a writer, you create these characters -- these individuals, and then you turn around... and it’s like your kids grew up when you were busy with something else, and now they’re eighteen and running off with a motorcycle-riding boyfriend that you don’t approve of.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present you exhibit number one: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully
Once upon a time (because that’s how every great story starts) Chris Carter had an idea. It was a revolutionary idea at the time, and he spent a lot of time developing it. He put a lot of himself into both Mulder and Scully -- his main characters. Carter created a strong woman who relied on science. He created a strong man who wanted to believe. And then he brought them together. And by "together," I mean he put them in the same space and time. He didn’t really mean for them to be together, together.

What Chris Carter really, truly wanted was to write about conspiracies. He was interested in the big picture, in the special effects, in the monsters-of-the-week. He wanted to write the weird stuff, the legends, the paranormal -- the things everyone had said again and again wouldn’t work on TV. He wanted an overarching mythology tying it all together. Mulder and Scully were his babies, yes, but in a way, they were just means to an end. He certainly wasn’t thinking about the romance.

The story has changed with the years, but the clues are everywhere. You might even say they’re unmistakable. "Chris Carter played the long-game with the Mulder/Scully romance," is the version they tell these days. And, who knows. That might be somewhat true. Or that might just be what Chris Carter wants to tell himself now that the romance is canon: people love it, and he’s basically got no other choice but to smile and say that, yes, he planned it that way all along.

Mulder and Scully have always loved each other, were always meant to be together; theirs just wasn’t a sexual kind of love, Carter’s said. (Which, if you think about it, really, really hard… no, no wait… it still doesn’t make sense). Currently, Chris Carter is saying that they are soul mates, but life has different kinds of soul mates. Soul mates, he is seemingly insinuating, don’t mean you’re going to be together forever and have babies; that’s just the mainstream ideal. Soul mates means something deeper, something ethereal, something that we can’t define. And we nod, and smile. Because he created these characters and he should know them better than us, shouldn’t he?

At this point, I’m starting to think the answer to that is no.

I was with The X-Files from the beginning. I was a little kid, sure, but I saw these characters grow from acquaintances to friends. I saw Mulder and Scully prove things to each other, time and time again. I saw them develop that trust, become partners. I was part of the journey, even if they couldn’t see me. I was the person they were selling this story to. And once they were partners, when you thought two people could not possibly get any closer without jumping in bed with one another, I saw Mulder and Scully move beyond even that. I saw them become family.

"Best friends" was always a label that somehow didn’t seem to encompass all that Mulder and Scully were to each other, and yet, for many years, it was the best phrase we could use to describe them. Sheila Larken, who plays Margaret Scully, once said “they’re [Mulder and Scully] best friends beyond what lovers could ever be.” And thoug that doesn’t really explain the depth of their relationship either, at least it goes beyond the bare facts, tries to explain that the relationship is an exception to a rule.

David Duchovny went even further, when he summed up the Mulder/Scully relationship this way: “It’s like the one friend, I guess, that he has in the world. I mean I heard a phrase once; somebody was talking about their wife. This was a person who was very inept socially, not the wife but the man. There were many things said about him that weren’t kind, and he said: 'My wife, who is lovely and social and everything like that, is my human credential.' And that makes him a human being, because people think, well if she can stand him, he must have some humanity within him. Sometimes I think about Scully as Mulder’s human credential. It’s the only thing that makes him not crazy, in many ways.”

Both quotes are right, and yet, in a way, neither one comes close to explaining all that Mulder and Scully were to each other. Not that my words will be any better. If you want to know what Mulder and Scully were all about, you have to watch the show, just like I did.

You see, this is not a second-hand story someone told me, not the legend of Mulder and Scully that was told through Tumblr posts or Facebook statuses. I was a front row witness to their journey from "You’re the only one I trust" to "I can’t live without you." It was slow, but it happened. And it didn’t happen in spite of their creator. I think Chris Carter meant it to happen.

... Okay, you're sitting there bewildered at your screen. You’re contradicting yourself, Lizzie. That is NOT what you said earlier. You said he was clueless. You said he didn’t know. Tell us... which one is it?

Bear with me and I’ll explain.

Chris Carter meant to create these wonderful characters. He was trying to meld them into partners. He wanted them to become close and depend on each other. I just think he didn’t see the romantic nature of what he was doing until it hit him right in the face. And, no, I’m actually not joking around here. So how can you create one of the most iconic romances in television without meaning to? you wonder. How can you have two people who defined the term UST (unsolved sexual tension) and not have it all be part of a grand plan?

Easy. With two very, very good actors who are excellent at seeing beyond the obvious, and a rabid fanbase who was just discovering the power of the Internet.

Welcome to Chris Carter’s personal hell.

One season in, The X-Files the questions were all about the conspiracy. Who was the Cigarette-Smoking Man? Who was Deep Throat? Were they really among us? Four years later, the questions were all about the characters: Were Mulder and Scully in love? Was Scully’s cancer incurable? Would Scully ever get to have a child? I’m not saying these were questions the writing team behind The X-Files was afraid of. I’m not even saying that they didn’t focus on these two wonderful characters, sometimes in detriment of the plot. All I’m saying is that they did not mean for the characters to overshadow the mythology. They did not mean for this to become the Mulder and Scully Show. And the certainly didn’t intend to create the gold standard for will-they-won’t-they couples.

Because for them, there was no real question. The answer was obvious: yes, Mulder and Scully loved each other. They loved each other as siblings, and they loved each other as spouses. They took care of one another. They were always there for each other, in good times or bad times. And that was much more important than whether they were actually having sex or not.

Okay, I hesitate to call them naïve, but boy, were they naïve.

Television is much easier to understand these days. Maybe it’s because actors, writers and producers get the chance to interact with fans more often on a deeper level. Perhaps it’s because of things like focus groups and test audiences. Shows today have so much more information than they did twenty years ago. Lead actors routinely go through chemistry tests before they get to actually film. They don’t often meet up randomly in the waiting room and just so happen to practice lines with each other and then, surprisingly get the roles.

Point is, in this day and age, show runners don’t have to guess what people want. They know. In fact, they so thoroughly know that, sometimes, they even delight in not giving fans what they know they want (at least not right away).

That was not what Chris Carter was doing, though (ignoring what fans wanted). At least, not at first. No, Chris Carter was just telling a story. A story about aliens, a big conspiracy, and the men behind it. An epic story. A story other shows would seek to emulate. Sometimes I see Chris Cater's interviews and can almost feel his frustration at the fact that even though he managed to create an iconic show... it really isn’t the plot we’re still talking about today, so much as the characters. I always remember this quote, and if you’re a die-hard X-Files fan like me, you probably remember it.

"Scully loves Mulder, and Mulder loves Scully. It's a wonderful romance. It's just not a sexual romance. It's not a physical romance. It is a caring, tender, respectful relationship. It's an ideal, and I would never want to do anything to threaten it, to change it."

That, from the mouth of their creator. I remember going through the five stages of grief after reading this. I’m serious; I actually went through the stages. Because this was Chris Carter acknowledging something, and yet, at the same time, not acknowledging it. This was him saying, yes, I see it, there’s love, but the rest is not there… the rest (that physical romance) is just your imagination.

(Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.)

This particular quote is probably the reason I sat down to write this article. At the time when Chris Carter said this, I was still young enough to put stock in his words. I’ve learned my lesson, of course. Never trust a show runner. They change their minds (Or, sometimes, like in this case, they have their minds changed for them). This is an important lesson, and it holds true for every fandom. But it especially holds true when it comes to Chris Carter, and I feel like I need to repeat it over and over again until it sinks in.

Never trust Chris Carter.

Ever.

In fact, let’s make that the tagline for the new episodes.

Mulder and Scully are what they are primarily because of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. From the beginning, David and Gillian were the ambassadors of MSR (Mulder/Scully romance). Back in the day, that was actually a pretty unusual thing. I don’t want to turn this into a fandom history lesson, but The X-Files was really the first big fandom to exist online at the same time as the product it derived from. Of course, that has a lot to do with timing. The X-Files was at its most popular just when the Internet was becoming something other than a cool thing you could use in the school computer lab. And, boy, were the fans loud. I would know. I was one of them.

And Chris Carter didn’t like it. Or he did. He loved it. He just didn’t love the reasoning. If nothing else, he wanted his audience to pay the same degree of passion and attention to the Mulder/Scully relationship as to the conspiracy. But love makes the world go 'round, and all that. Chris Carter was never actually going to get his way.

It’s funny how I keep thinking about all of this now that we’re so close to getting new episodes on FOX. You’re bitter, my friends say. You’ve been holding a grudge for ages. And, in a way, they’re right. I’m bitter. I’m scared. I don’t believe Chris Carter truly understands what he created, and because of that, I don’t trust him to treat these two characters with the respect they deserve.

There’s a beautiful quote from a sixth season episode called "The Rain King," that pretty much explains all these two characters are, and all that Chris Carter ended up creating:

"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with."

If you ask me, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson flipped that switch long before Chris Carter wanted them to. They might have even flipped that switch without even recognizing what they were doing. They were these people, and when the natural progression of things felt right – they did them. And maybe after that, their creator, and the writing team in general, looked around and said: "Well, yes. Okay. That really does make sense. Let’s go for that. Let’s just do it our way."

And do it their way is precisely what they did, through nine seasons and two movies. They’ll probably continue to do it their way through the six episodes we’ll be getting next year. What "their way" means is anyone’s guess at this point. It probably means less of the explicit romance and more of the deep connection. But that’s okay. You want to know why? Because at this point, they can’t take it back. They can’t deny it. And, even if they make it hard for us, in truth, they’re not really trying. They’ve surrendered to the truth. Millions of fans and two actors saw way before they did.

Mulder/Scully is the OTP to end all OTPs. The one that started it all.

I have to end with this quote from Frank Spotniz, because if anything sums up what The X-Files ended up being, is these words: “You can’t get the truth. You can’t. There’s a larger truth, though: that you can’t harness the forces of the cosmos, but you may find somebody else. You may find another human being. That may be kind of corny and all of that, but that’s what it is: Love is the only truth we can hope to know, as human beings. That’s what Mulder and Scully found after nine years. And that’s a lot.”

Cheers to that!

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