X-Files 5.12: "Bad Blood"

Written by Vince Gilligan
Directed by Clifford Bole

In which Mulder and Scully investigate a rash of cattle and human killings in Texas that appear to be vampiric in nature, but when something goes wrong, they differ in their accounts…


Status Report

With the departure of Darin Morgan, the series was left with a giant hole where its clever self-awareness used to be. Some episodes maintained a high level of self-parody, but as the seasons would wear on, the “clever” aspect was more and more absent. Many of the humorous episodes of the sixth season lacked the bite of a classic Morgan episode, for instance. Thankfully, in the fourth and fifth seasons, Vince Gilligan was more than happy to grab hold of the banner and run with it.

“Bad Blood” doesn’t have the intricate layering of “Humbug” or “Jose Chung”, but part of that is an issue of timing. Gilligan wrote this episode on a very tight deadline, because his original idea refused to pan out (an “Unsolved Mysteries” spoof) and he couldn’t get the hook of the story firmly in mind. This particular version takes the commentary on perspective that was explored so well in “Jose Chung” and turns it inward; instead of detailing how a central concept of Mulder’s quest is seen from several outside points of view, this is all about Mulder and Scully and how they think about each other.

Morgan was always very good about delving into the complicated psyches of the main characters, and Gilligan continued in that direction. Prior to this episode, Mulder and Scully come to a certain understanding of one another. They recognize, in episodes like “Redux II” and “Chinga”, that they can’t operate as individuals quite as well as they used to. Mulder needs Scully to keep his hope and purpose clear of his own bias, and Scully needs Mulder to provide a direction in her life.

But it’s not quite love, at least not yet, and they get on each other’s nerves. There are plenty of perceived slights, and like any couple-in-waiting, they harp on the limitations and flaws in each other. Thus seeing events from both perspectives says more about each character’s own assumptions and flaws. When this subject is approached in a serious episode, it’s frequently overwrought and all about how they support one another. It’s the more absurd moments that reveal their grievances.

Thankfully, there is another side to this episode. It’s not just Scully’s thoughts on Mulder, and Mulder’s thoughts on Scully. It’s a commentary on how some of the more extreme factions of the fandom had characterized the agents as well. A lot of Scully’s issues with Mulder are the same issues that Scully supporters would list as reasons to hate Mulder, and vice versa. In the end, of course, it’s clear that those characteristics are not the whole story.

That said, there’s plenty of truth. Scully sees Mulder as overly excited about the possibility of investigating vampires in Texas, and quite often, Mulder is exactly that exuberant (at least, he is on the inside). It sometimes feels like Mulder dismisses Scully and her attempts at scientific explanation. Is it a shock to know that Scully feels the same way?

But more importantly, Scully sometimes feels like Mulder dismisses her own sense of identity. This was a running theme in several Scully-centric episodes, where she realized that Mulder’s personal crusade was subsuming her own existence. So when another man (an authority figure, of course) notices how very hot she is, and he’s not hard to look at himself, she naturally responds (though not to an extreme, from her point of view).

Scully is damned pleased to have someone treat her theories with respect, especially since her proven expertise is often overlooked. Similarly, from her point of view, Mulder’s propensity to make leaps of logic based on little or no evidence is exaggerated. And sure enough, from her point of view, Mulder only pays attention to her when there’s an autopsy to be performed and there’s someplace far more interesting for him to go.

Many find it rather amusing that the “magic fingers” give Scully such obvious relief. There’s a simple message underneath it all, of course: Mulder seems to always deprive Scully of her own happiness in favor of his own wants and desires. What doesn’t come through, of course, is why Scully would continue to play along. That’s what some anti-Mulder fans don’t see or acknowledge. For all of Scully’s gripes, she puts up with it because she can’t imagine it being any other way.

Along the way, of course, there’s the hilarity of Scully trying to talk while the bed is vibrating, her ruminations over the pizza in the stomach contents, and her memory of Mulder’s unbelievable rendition of the theme from “Shaft”. After hearing all of that, of course, it’s no wonder that Mulder chooses to see the same events from a very different perspective.

Mulder, of course, doesn’t see his exuberance for what it is. From his perspective, his approach is a lot more measured, and Scully’s reaction is shrill and hostile. Mulder’s conclusions are always based on careful consideration of evidence, and there are no leaps of logic at all. Anti-Scully fans would see this as vindication, not taking into account that her strident skepticism is actually a symptom of her own reaction to Mulder’s more dismissive attitudes.

In Mulder’s version, his competition is suddenly a buck-toothed idiot, dazzled by Scully’s beauty. More to the point, Scully is instantly ga-ga for Hartwell, leaving Mulder as the odd man out. Yet Mulder sees Hartwell as being led to ignore his wealth of knowledge by a petulant Scully. And of course, he’s faced with a world that doesn’t recognize his brilliance. It’s actually amazing, then, that he doesn’t see how Scully feels the same way about Mulder and her expertise. And for all that, he completely misses the wealth of information right under his nose.

Once the story shifts away from the exploration of Mulder and Scully’s exaggerated looks at each other and their odd relationship, the episode slows down a bit. And considering how little ground is actually covered before that, it’s not a minor point. There’s the small matter of getting Mulder out of hot water, and that means making progress beyond the sniping. And since Mulder is ultimately right about the vampire angle, it puts Scully in a compromised position, as if she’s wrong about everything.

This is partly remedied by the fact that Mulder is so obviously in over his head, despite all the folklore running around in his brain. He misses nearly every clue, and he certainly doesn’t have one of his best showings while wrangling with the coffin! Neither agent comes out looking better than the other, and it’s largely because of the fact that they’re unable to acknowledge the fact that they have the flaws they see in each other.

No insult intended to Mr. Gilligan, but it might have been interesting to see how Darin Morgan would have handled the same concept. For that matter, a little bit more time to work on the script would have helped a bit. There are some classic moments throughout, but too often, there’s a lull in the action. It’s also a bit odd to think that Mulder and Scully ran across a bunch of domesticated nomad vampires, and yet so many other things are never substantiated to such a degree.

For all that, this is still one of the gems of the fifth season, a sign of how casually the series could take an abrupt turn into the absurdly psychoanalytical without losing its creative flare. The same wouldn’t be true in later seasons, after all. And since this was the episode before a mythology two-part tale that would introduce several unnecessary (though intriguing) complications, this episode was a nice way to transition from the “guest writer” phase of sweeps into the more Byzantine complexities of the series.


Memorable Quotes

SCULLY: “Is there any sign of…?”
MULDER: “Two small puncture wounds on the neck?”
SCULLY: “I wasn’t asking that.”
MULDER: “Too bad! We got ‘em!”

MULDER: “Dana? He never even knew your first name!”
SCULLY: “You’re gonna interrupt me or what?”
MULDER: “No, go ahead…Dana…”

SCULLY: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…what am I even looking for?”
MULDER: “I don’t know.”

SCULLY: “Tonight? I just put money in the magic fingers!”

MULDER: “Who’s the black private dick who’s a sex machine with all the chicks? Shaft! Can you dig it…”

RONNIE: “Oh, man…what’d you have to go and do that for? You are in big trouble!”

CORONER: “Probably cause of death…gee, that’s a tough one…”

SCULLY: “Mulder, please just keep reminding him that you were drugged.”
MULDER: “Would you stop that?”
SCULLY: “It wouldn’t hurt.”
MULDER: “Stop it…”
SKINNER: “Scully, Mulder…”
MULDER: “I was drugged!”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode was a clever look at how Mulder and Scully see themselves and each other, all in the midst of a particularly absurd situation. While some parts of the episode drag a bit due to the format, especially when some bits fall a little flat, the episode as a whole provides a good jolt of humor in a season dominated by serious issues.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10