Musings of an X-Phile - The Red and the Black

[Salome]

The Red and the Black 5×14: I heard about this office. It really is in the basement.

Cigarette-Smoking Man is back. You didn’t really think he was dead, did you? You can’t have Christmas without the Grinch.

Interestingly enough, he still fancies himself a sophisticated writer if the letters he’s vainly churning out for his son Agent Spender are anything to judge by.

That’s right. His son. And here we were puzzling over whether Mulder or his sister Samantha was Cigarette-Smoking Man’s illegitimate child. It turns out he had a legitimate one all along. If Cassandra’s tales of abduction have even a modicum of truth to them, then the Mulder family isn’t the only one to sacrifice a member to the Colonists. Does this have something to do with whatever arrangement the Syndicate has with the Alien Colonists? Regardless, it looks like that arrangement is in danger.

The Syndicate now realizes that there’s another species out there fighting the Colonists and they’re the ones staging these mass killings in an effort to prevent colonization. The Syndicate now has two choices, as Krycek so aptly put it, Resist or Serve; they can take up arms with the Rebels to avoid the enslavement of the human race and risk utter destruction at the hands of the Colonists, or they can continue to cooperate, save themselves, and secretly plan and scheme against the Colonists in hopes eventually being able to deliver humanity.

I’m not so sure one choice is actually more righteous than the other, but one is clearly more idealistic and that’s to joint the Rebels and openly fight. Well-Manicured Man is sure leaning that way, Krycek too, ostensibly, although he’ll lean any way the wind blows. The rest of the Syndicate, however, doesn’t see potential for success that’s worth bucking the status quo for and in order to preserve their relationship with the Colonists hand over the Rebel Alien they capture against Well-Manicured Man’s wishes. After all, if the more advanced vaccine that the Russian’s have developed can’t save Marita Covarrubias, how can they hope to oppose the Colonists? Too bad they made their decision before the vaccine kicked in.

Watching the tensions play out in these group is probably more enjoyable than it should be. Back in Season 3, Cigarette-Smoking Man was on the outs, held in loathing by Well-Manicured Man more than anyone. To say he saw him as…. Is to put it mildly. The whole thing culminated in an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Cigarette-Smoking Man’s life in “Redux II” (5×3). How many people know you can’t kill a cockroach?

Now it appears that new tensions are simmering as Well-Manicured Man’s conscience is the least seared among his peers and he’s desperate enough to enlist Krycek to beg Mulder for help behind the Syndicate’s collective back. How will it end? Wait for the movie.

Onto the subject of our two leads, the last time Scully was hypnotized in “The Blessing Way” (3×1), she thought it was nonsense and walked out. The last time Mulder went through a similar process, in “Demons” (4×23), it nearly killed him. So I’m not sure why Scully is so willing to jump into the experience again here except that recent events have scared her into being open and maybe in some perverse way Mulder’s resistance spurs her on because if Mulder is currently in denial about the existence of aliens, Scully believes her own story way too willingly. She’s nearly as well versed in abduction lingo at this point as Mulder is and yet it doesn’t occur to her without Spender’s prodding that she could have made up the memories she “recovered” during the hypnotherapy session?

Poor Mulder, for his part, is clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing. It’s touching, really, because his discomfort is both for and because of Scully. Mulder refuses to believe in aliens any longer because of what these men in the Syndicate have done to her and now here she is crossing over to the dark side herself. Now that he’s come to his senses she’s mentally abandoning him in a way. Mulder has a hard time hiding his disappointment at that.

Fortunately, it doesn’t last because Krycek kisses some sense into Mulder in a scene that’s probably my favorite ever between the two of them. By the end, Mulder and Scully’s reversed opinions are reversed yet again… sort of. They both still seem a little unsure of themselves.

I, on the other hand, am left more sure than I’ve ever been at the end of a mythology episode. “The Red and the Black” is the clearest, most straight-forward presentation of the mythology plot we’ve received to date and even I can follow it. No doubt we’re being prepped for the feature film.

Verdict:

I love Mulder and Scully. I love them. Love them. Love. As in I could bust out some Nat King Cole and sing L-O-V-E in their honor right now.

For all the distance that Mulder’s current belief system puts between them in “The Red and the Black”, this episode is kind of a Shipper’s Joy. The hair stroking, the handholding, the hypnosis scene where I melt into a puddle of DNA on cue – proof that these two are connected even on a subconscious level.

The X-Files is proof that makeout scenes on television are grossly overrated.

A

For more random musings on this episode, quotes, and commentary from your fellow Philes, you can follow up at: http://musingsofanxphile.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/the-red-and-the-black-5x14-i-heard-about-this-office-it-really-is-in-the-basement/

Or you can keep things simple and share your own responses below!

[TruthIsOutThere]

Fantastic review! I too really love this episode, as they really get into some of the meat and potatoes of the heart of the conspiracy. Your observations were spot on, and I am reminded how much I was liking the Well Manicured Man at this point. Before this we were always wondering if he was another duplicitous Syndicate member, but it was here that we were seeing that he was one of the most honorable of the group.

It's too bad that more of the Syndicate didn't listen to him, as I think taking up with the Rebels would have been the wiser choice. Certainly it couldn't have worked out any worse for the Syndicate.

This episode is a classic, and one of my favorites.

[Salome]

Thanks much!

I loved WMM to death from his oily introduction back in Season 3, but this is where he really became interesting. No doubt it's because Chris Carter already had the trajectory of his character arc planned out and he couldn't kill him later on without giving the audience more of a reason to be involved in him.

This is the first, if memory serves, that we get strong hints that the Syndicate may be playing out a greek tragedy of their own. Before, they were just evil. Now we begin to realize that they're a scared group of men who have deceived themselves into thinking they're doing the right thing and their hubris is set to cause the destruction of all they hold dear.