The X-Files: Anasazi (Part 1/3) Rewatch
April 15, 2020 7:48 PM - Season 2, Episode 25 - Subscribe
Mulder receives a tape containing encoded information about alien visitations, which leads him and Scully to New Mexico.
Are there any good resources/ discourse on The X-Files' treatment of First Nations?
s01e19 'Shapes' wasn't great but not absolutely terribad - they pointed out the abysmal historical treatment and continued neglect unless a white person was involved.
I've found a couple of academic abstracts (I've lost my access to paywalled academic journals) and they seem neutral-good (especially within the greater context of popular media) while I've run into online critiques that are pretty harsh about the handling of First Nations.
Is anyone aware of any comments from First Nations persons in general/ specific-Nation-in-particular responses to portrayals in The X-Files?
posted by porpoise at 9:22 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
s01e19 'Shapes' wasn't great but not absolutely terribad - they pointed out the abysmal historical treatment and continued neglect unless a white person was involved.
I've found a couple of academic abstracts (I've lost my access to paywalled academic journals) and they seem neutral-good (especially within the greater context of popular media) while I've run into online critiques that are pretty harsh about the handling of First Nations.
Is anyone aware of any comments from First Nations persons in general/ specific-Nation-in-particular responses to portrayals in The X-Files?
posted by porpoise at 9:22 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
iirc, around this time kind of launched The X-Files from popular and fully into popular consciousness.
Epic reveal of Bill Mulder's past and acquaintence of CSM. Bill's reveal puts his response to a returned (and lost again) "Samantha" in new light.
Krycek becomes a real foil for Scully and Mulder instead of just-some-jerk. I had forgotten exactly how that came to be.
Revisiting Mulder as not being a fighter, I really liked how Skinner could have ripped his head off but refrained. I recall in a late-series episode that made fun ofT-1000 Doggett not being that tough and tongue-in-cheek inflating his personal pushup counts.
Though savvy of him to notice Krycek stalking him and held his own, albeit with an edge of extra rage.
Scully has keys to Mulder's apartment? The second scene where she enters Mulder's apartment, she clearly has a key to the deadbolt. I once had a concerned co-worker check in on me and she had to pretend to be my girlfriend (before she actually was) to convince the building super to let her in.
"You have my files and you have my gun. Don't ask me for my trust." was pretty heartbreaking. But... it turned out that he was dosed.
I... I wouldn't have been so trusting to go into a burried refrigeration boxcar alone, although the kid almost certainly meant well.
posted by porpoise at 9:32 PM on April 15, 2020
Epic reveal of Bill Mulder's past and acquaintence of CSM. Bill's reveal puts his response to a returned (and lost again) "Samantha" in new light.
Krycek becomes a real foil for Scully and Mulder instead of just-some-jerk. I had forgotten exactly how that came to be.
Revisiting Mulder as not being a fighter, I really liked how Skinner could have ripped his head off but refrained. I recall in a late-series episode that made fun of
Though savvy of him to notice Krycek stalking him and held his own, albeit with an edge of extra rage.
Scully has keys to Mulder's apartment? The second scene where she enters Mulder's apartment, she clearly has a key to the deadbolt. I once had a concerned co-worker check in on me and she had to pretend to be my girlfriend (before she actually was) to convince the building super to let her in.
"You have my files and you have my gun. Don't ask me for my trust." was pretty heartbreaking. But... it turned out that he was dosed.
I... I wouldn't have been so trusting to go into a burried refrigeration boxcar alone, although the kid almost certainly meant well.
posted by porpoise at 9:32 PM on April 15, 2020
Scully has had the keys to Mulder's apartment at least since "Little Green Men", the first episode of season two.
Skinner taking down Mulder was fun to watch. Don't mess with Skinner, stick boy.
For someone who believes in trusting no one, Mulder certainly does seem to be credulous.
This episode was a LOT. A woman in Mulder's apartment building is murdered. Mulder gets top secret encrypted files. Mulder attacks Skinner. We find out Mulder's father is working with CSM. Mulder's father is murdered. Krycek reappears, and Mulder nearly kills him. Scully shoots Mulder, then somehow transports him to New Mexico. We get the first sense of what the Syndicate is. And we get a cliffhanger ending.
Scully shoots her partner through the shoulder and it's all just in a day's work. The woman is stone cold calculation.
Mulder slept in Scully's bed. Um, where did she sleep? I'm guessing she didn't, as the other side didn't look slept in.
According to the Wikia page for this episode, even years after this episode aired, David Duchovny routinely left phone messages for Nicholas Lea that jokingly accused Lea of having murdered Duchovny's father, due to Krycek killing Mulder's father in this episode. You'd think he would have accused him of also murdering Anderson's sister while he was at it.
posted by orange swan at 11:15 AM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
Skinner taking down Mulder was fun to watch. Don't mess with Skinner, stick boy.
For someone who believes in trusting no one, Mulder certainly does seem to be credulous.
This episode was a LOT. A woman in Mulder's apartment building is murdered. Mulder gets top secret encrypted files. Mulder attacks Skinner. We find out Mulder's father is working with CSM. Mulder's father is murdered. Krycek reappears, and Mulder nearly kills him. Scully shoots Mulder, then somehow transports him to New Mexico. We get the first sense of what the Syndicate is. And we get a cliffhanger ending.
Scully shoots her partner through the shoulder and it's all just in a day's work. The woman is stone cold calculation.
Mulder slept in Scully's bed. Um, where did she sleep? I'm guessing she didn't, as the other side didn't look slept in.
According to the Wikia page for this episode, even years after this episode aired, David Duchovny routinely left phone messages for Nicholas Lea that jokingly accused Lea of having murdered Duchovny's father, due to Krycek killing Mulder's father in this episode. You'd think he would have accused him of also murdering Anderson's sister while he was at it.
posted by orange swan at 11:15 AM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
Is anyone aware of any comments from First Nations persons in general/ specific-Nation-in-particular responses to portrayals in The X-Files?
The great podcast "Métis in Space" covered The X-Files episode "Shapes" in one of their very first episodes.
They've given very insightful (and funny) Indigenous perspectives on many genre films and franchises.
posted by mcbaya at 3:44 PM on April 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
The great podcast "Métis in Space" covered The X-Files episode "Shapes" in one of their very first episodes.
They've given very insightful (and funny) Indigenous perspectives on many genre films and franchises.
posted by mcbaya at 3:44 PM on April 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
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Although I should say that as much as I snark on the mytharc stuff this cycle in the next couple of episodes is actually pretty solid. These first two are pretty much just table-setting for "Paper Clip", though.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:10 PM on April 15, 2020