4X05 - The Field Where I Died [REVISITED]

Summary

I dunno, was this stupid or brilliant? I can't go with the latter because while this one is so Mulder-centric and DD actually does very good work in it, I don't have a copy of this episode and I rarely watch it when it comes on. But I've seen many that are worse, so I guess it's neither stupid nor brilliant. Just that it's hard to sell me on the past life thing and this was the worst example of how Mulder sometimes wants to believe way too much for his own good! And while I didn't necessarily take that "history of always being friends" thing between Mulder and Scully as an affront to a potential future as a couple, I wondered how Mulder could get so wrapped up in Melissa so quickly. Overall, this one failed to make me believe.

" Perchance I perished in an arrogant
self-reliance..."

Was that the shortest teaser sequence ever in TXF history? And just what the heck was Mulder saying in that monologue? I know Morgan & Wong wrote this episode, but that sounded a lot like a CC contribution.

Anyway, seventeen years later, I believe. This episode doesn't deserve just two stars, so I will upgrade it to three. Because I've actually only seen this a couple of times at best, I sought this one out for my re-watch, determined that a "fresh" (but significantly older) set of eyes might raise my appreciation of it.

I still have very little patience with eps that deal with religion, churches and interpretations of quotes from the bible, but within that element, I found it easier to go on this journey into the past with Mulder in 2013, than I originally did in 1996. I don't know if reincarnation is real any more than I know what happens to us after we die. But I have always believed in the forces of fate and the concept of "flows in time" where we intersect with the same lives on a regular basis. (How else is it possible that we go far away on vacation and yet run into someone we know from home?) Maybe it also means that if our souls are eternal, they are also forever travelling in the same group. It becomes an interesting thing to contemplate. Like Melissa says, "It's a beautiful idea. I want to believe."

Mulder is, of course, being Mulder as usual. Always determined to follow his gut instinct, even when he knows that it won't hold up in Skinner's realm of reasoning, never mind in a court of law. During this re-watch, I wasn't as convinced of his being "wrapped up" in Melissa as much as he was perhaps honestly intrigued with the whole idea of past lives and experiencing how souls may actually be intertwined. It's in his nature to be curious about such matters, just as it is in Scully's to be dismissive of the same. When he asks her, "Wouldn't you, Scully?" I can imagine that her absolute truthful response would have been "no". But she's supportive about what he thinks he needs to do. Throughout this episode, Scully has to deal with an abnormally prickly Mulder and for the most part, she still stays supportive.

Otherwise, the nod to Waco (and Jonestown, to a certain extent) were lost on me; I maintain a Darwinian outlook on religious cultism. Let's just leave it at that.

Best or Worst Moment

Was this the last time he addressed her as "Dana"? (I mean outside of the Bad Blood tease and the instances in which he has introduced or referred to her as Dana, like in The End?) This was the only "real" scene to me in this episode, the introspective moment when Mulder asks Scully if she would change anything about their relationship if she had it to live all over again. I really think that she replied honestly and that her response doesn't negate a desire for more. She merely thinks that this is the road on which they should be traveling to get to where they want to be.

Original Rating: * *
Revised Rating: * * *